Engaged reading is something I continuously practice with learners. When explaining this practice with students I often tell them to interact with the text by highlighting important details, jotting down short gist statements, and making connections along the way. While these practices are all sound, many learners still struggle to hone in on the most important details in a passage – this results in them highlighting every word or writing something about every sentence. In the end, while they have interacted with the text, they still have not identified the key points in the literature. Here are a few things I do to help students better analyze a text:
- Provide an Essential Question: Prior to reading a passage, I provide an essential question. I explain to learners that our goal is to answer that question. I challenge them to highlight details that help answer the essential question. This helps students focus on one thing and prevents them from highlighting everything.
- Provide Space for Reader Input: I encourage students to own their personal views and opinions about a text by providing a place for them to record their thoughts. I often refer to this as “Notice, Wonder”. As they read, I encourage them to pause and record things they notice and wonder about the text. I explain that there is no right or wrong with this, so feel free to record it all. When learners are reading, they are thinking all sorts of things already, now they have a place to reflect and release those thoughts. They also know that they are safe to do so, because their teacher is encouraging it.
- Practice Key Comprehension Skills: One year I taught a group of students who struggled with identifying Central Idea and Central Theme; they always had the two mixed up. In an attempt to help them, I decided to have them identify the central idea and central theme of every passage we ever read. With this continuous practice throughout the school year, they mastered the skill of identifying both elements. I chose to focus on central idea and central theme, but teachers can exercise this repetitive practice with any comprehension skill.
Need a resource? The Reading Engagement Sheet provides an opportunity for students to practice engaged reading. The sheet is easy to implement as it is low prep, it allows educators to provide students with a customized essential question, and it can be used with any text. It is also a great resource to have when you need to break up the monotony of the day or when you don’t have as much planning time as you’d like but still want to provide learners with an engaging and rich learning experience.
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