1. Provide students with a semantic map (like the one below) which includes only the center ("transportation" in this example) and the secondary level ("land," "water," and "air" in this example).
LearningTip #50: Strategies Help Reluctant Silent Readers Read to Learn
By Joyce Melton
Pagés, Ed.D.
Middle School Instructional Specialist, President
of KidBibs
Some say they can't do it. Others say they won't do it. Whatever the case, children must learn to read silently.
Some blame it on difficult, sometimes poorly written textbooks. Others blame it on the TV- and videogame-induced short attention span of so many children. Whatever the case, children must learn to read silently.
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KidBibs'
LearningTips For the convenience of our readers, KidBibs offers the following related resources through Amazon.com: Q
& A Books by Why Do Stars Twinkle and Other Nighttime Questions Why is the Sky Blue and Other Outdoor Questions? |
Many children experience difficulty while reading silently. They'd rather read science, social studies, and other content orally in class. But, future success depends on their ability to meaningfully respond to silently read text. There will be no round-robin oral reading in college or the real world. In virtually every job in the information age, individuals will be responsible for reading, writing, and learning independently. Further, of more immediate concern in school settings, are standardized tests. They are being used with increasing frequency to assess the child and evaluate the school. Silent reading passages with multiple choice items are used almost exclusively to assess student reading achievement.
Students complain that silent reading is boring and hard. They maintain that they have trouble staying awake while they're reading silently. Whatever the case, children must learn to read silently.
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These students haven't learned that silent reading is an active process of constructing meaning. In addition they haven't learned how to use effective reading strategies to make the reading easier and more interesting. Further, these students haven't developed a curiosity about things. They haven't developed a love of reading that spurs them to turn to books whenever a question arises. To them, reading is work---a school assignment. For them, reading has not yet become a tool to answer their questions and meet their needs.
Routines and Strategies Which Support Young Readers
Guided Silent Reading of Information
Supported Independent Reading of Information
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Understanding that "target" good reader helps teachers and parents support literacy learning from the very beginning. While reading informational writing silently, good readers:
relate what they are reading to what they already know; they use their prior knowledge, experiences, and vocabulary to support their new learning
use headings, subheadings, typographical features (italics, boldface type, etc.), illustrations, photos, and graphic aids (charts, tables, diagrams, etc.) to support their comprehension
alter their reading strategies to align with their purpose for reading and the material they're reading; they know that when they are reading for pleasure, they can usually read rapidly and that reading to learn information requires them to slow down and read more strategically.
ask questions and read to answer those questions
cognitively organize information while they're reading; they use the author's strategies for explaining the information to support their own mental organization of the information (by mentally putting the events in time order, relating details to topics, etc.)
monitor their comprehension; they know when they are not comprehending and they use fix-up strategies when their comprehension breaks down
Good readers like to read. They have reading preferences---favorite authors, genres, styles, subjects---that they choose to read. Their positive attitude toward reading enables them to read silently for extended periods of time. Further, they use a variety of strategies to support their effective and efficient reading of information.
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Routines and Strategies Which Support Young Readers
Reading to children from birth supports children's language and literacy development in many ways. Reading informational writing to young children stimulates an interest in learning new things, develops vocabulary, builds background for future learning, and develops their understanding of the structure of expository writing. This supports their reading and writing of informational text. Over time, the child can listen to longer reading selections. This increases their attention span and supports comprehension processes.
Young children ask lots of questions. Looking up answers to the questions together inspires curiosity, shows children that you respect their questions, and engages them in using books to locate information.
Surrounding children with books---fiction and nonfiction---makes books a very important part of their world. Children who grow up with books in their room, the living room, the bathroom, the car, etc. naturally reach for a book when there's a spare minute. From paging through and looking at the pictures in the earliest years to reading more and more as literacy develops, the child's time spent with books is very important. That "must have a book" or "can't put the book down" feeling supports independent reading, writing, and learning in later years. Early experiences with informational writing support successful silent reading of expository text later.
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The goal of expository text is to explain information. In their zeal for their subject, authors of textbooks, tradebooks, and reference books often assume a knowledge of vocabulary and content that students don't always possess. Since readers comprehend by relating what they are reading to what they already know, the barrier created by unfamiliar vocabulary and concepts seriously limits comprehension and learning. Activating what students know about the content helps teachers and parents understand what students know about the topic. When limited background is evident, teachers and parents may employ a wide variety of strategies to build background for students. Brainstorming, predicting from titles/headings, background building experiences, etc. should be employed with the following strategies if students have limited background in relation to the content.
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Guided Silent Reading of Information
Guided silent reading instruction engages learners in the processes and strategies that good readers use. These instructional strategies provide children with opportunities to respond actively while reading silently. They should initially be implemented with short reading selections that stimulate interest and support the child's reading success. As the child develops more interest in reading and can manage his/her comprehension and attention better, s/he should experience increasingly longer reading selections.
Directed Reading-Thinking Activity
For children who haven't developed a curiosity for information or the attention span to support their reading of informational writing, question-answer books about interesting topics may be an option. These books usually include a number of questions related to a single topic---the human body, trees, animal babies, etc. A question such as "Why doesn't it hurt when I get my hair cut?" or "Why do dogs pant?" is prominently displayed at the top of the page. Then a small amount of text with pictures is used to answer the question. These books make fun read-together books at home or school. After reading the question, the parent or teacher could have the child generate his/her answer to the question. Then s/he could read to confirm or disconfirm that answer. Many of these books would be appropriate for inclusion in teaching units. Further, these books are also suitable for the child's personal library or the classroom library. They are easy books to pick up and read for a few minutes. With increased experience and success, the child may choose to read this informational writing for increasingly longer periods of time. The following Question-Answer books are linked to Amazon.com. Click here to go to the next section.
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Animal Q and A Books by Shirley Greenway
Ask Kermit series
Does Cheese Grow on Trees? by Michael Teitelbaum
What Can My Ear Hear? A Book About the Human Body by D.K. Sullivan
Do Flies Have Eyes? A Book About Bugs by D.K. Sullivan
Books by Nancy White and illustrated by Gioia Fiammenghi
Question and Answer Storybooks by Catherine Ripley
Do the Doors Open by Magic and Other Supermarket Questions
Why is Soap So Slippery and Other Bathtime Questions
Why Do Stars Twinkle and Other Nighttime Questions
Why is the Sky Blue and Other Outdoor Questions
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Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DRTA)
The DRTA is an excellent strategy for narrative or expository text. Through predicting and confirming, it supports silent reading success. The steps for implementing DRTA are:
Identify the text that the students will be expected to read. Divide the selection into smaller portions of text at meaningful breaking points.
Use the heading to have students generate what they think the selection will be about. List these ideas on a transparency, chalkboard, or chart paper (or a single sheet of paper for an individual child).
Have the students silently read the first short portion of text and retell what they recall. Probe for specific information, if necessary. Have the students identify the previously generated ideas that were included in the text; record a checkmark by each of these ideas. Have students generate additional predictions/ideas that they believe will be included in the next section.
Have the students silently read the next short portion of text and retell it. Probe as needed. Check-off previously generated ideas which they can confirm. Add more predictions.
Continue this procedure for the remaining short portions of text. With time and experience, have students silently read increasingly longer portions of text.
Predicting and confirming keeps students actively reading for meaning. Retelling helps students put what they've read in their own words and requires them to mentally organize the information. In addition, this strategy shows students how to use retelling or summarizing to tell them what they know and what they don't know. Further, effective probe questions support the development of higher level thinking.
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The purpose of Active Comprehension is to stimulate active silent reading by having students generate questions and read silently to answer them. The steps for implementing Active Comprehension are:
Identify the reading selection that the students will read silently.
Direct the students' attention to the heading/title. Have him/her/them generate as many questions as they possibly can about the heading or title. Record these questions on the chalkboard/transparency/chart or sheet of paper.
Have the student(s) read the first paragraph of the selection silently. Then have a student retell the paragraph. Have students identify any of the previously generated questions which were answered in that paragraph.
Have students use the information in the silently read paragraph to generate more questions. Add them to the list.
Direct attention to the next paragraph and have students read silently.
Have a student retell the paragraph and identify any of the previously generated questions which were answered in that paragraph.
Have the students generate more questions and add them to the list.
Continue this process of generating questions and reading to answer questions. Some teachers like to do this for four or five portions of text. Then they leave the questions posted while students read the remainder of the selection silently trying to answer as many as possible.
This strategy helps students learn that reading is an active process of asking and answering questions. When students learn how to do this, they develop the strategies to support their comprehension through increasingly longer portions of text.
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ReQuest stands for Reciprocal Questioning. In the classroom, teachers and students often call this strategy Stump the Teacher! This strategy works well with expository text and narrative text. The steps for implementing Stump the Teacher are:
1. The teacher identifies a small portion of text for the students to read silently.
2. The students read the text silently and write questions to stump the teacher. At the same time, the teacher will read the short selection silently and write down questions that s/he can use to stump the students.
3. Three students ask the teacher questions to stump him/her. Points are recorded. [Note: Students must be able to answer their own questions in order to earn the points.] The teacher asks three students questions about the text. Points are recorded.
Students |
Teacher |
| l | lll |
4. The students and teacher read the next small portion of text silently and write questions. The teacher asks the first three questions; points are recorded. The students ask their three questions; points are recorded.
5. This process is repeated with the teacher and students taking turns going first.
This strategy is very motivating for students. Reading to write questions that have the potential to stump the teacher strengthens comprehension. Further, with time and experience, students will improve in their ability to concentrate and comprehend longer portions of text. In addition, they will learn to pay attention to the way the teacher formulates his/her questions. This helps them learn how to ask better questions and often promotes higher level thinking.
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Supported Independent Reading of Information
As children develop in their ability to engage in effective reading processes with longer portions of text, other strategies can support their reading development. The teacher/parent should continue to focus on helping students develop the strategies to engage in these processes while reading independently. The following strategies should first be used with teacher or parent support. With experience, the child should be able to implement them independently as study reading strategies.
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The name of this strategy, KWL, is derived from the key words in each column of the strategy chart: Know, Want (to know), and Learned. This strategy can be implemented with an individual child or a whole class.
Volcanoes
| K What I Think I Know |
W What I Want to Know |
L What I Learned |
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1. Construct a KWL chart on paper or transparency for use with the student(s). Write the topic to be studied on the top of the chart (as "volcanoes" is shown above). Some teachers (of students in third grade and higher) like to supply their students with paper copies of the KWL to allow them to write down the information as the discussion progresses.
2. Direct the students' attention to the K column. Have them share everything that they think they know about, for example, volcanoes. Write everything down (including the incorrect statements) in the left column. Number the items.
3. Now direct the students' attention to the W column and have them phrase questions that describe what they want to know. These questions will guide their reading. If they phrase an idea as a statement like: "I want to know what causes volcanoes," help them turn it into a question: "So, you're asking the question: 'What causes volcanoes?'" Record their questions in the W column and number them. When they generate these questions, they are setting their own purposes for reading (which they're more motivated to use than the textbook author's questions).
4. Designate the text that students are expected to read silently. It can be a small portion of text or a long portion of text (whatever is appropriate for the students considering their silent reading experience). Tell them to keep the following purposes for reading in mind.
a. Read to answer questions in the middle column.
b. Read to confirm and disconfirm what they thought they knew in the first column. In that way, if they said, "Volcanoes are only in Hawaii" while working on the first column, hopefully they'll catch their error while reading and share it in the discussion that follows. This puts them in charge of their comprehension instead of the teacher or parent. If they don't catch it, probe questions can provide direction.
5. After the students have finished reading the designated text silently, direct them to the KWL (on paper or transparency). Read each statement recorded in the first column and have students tell whether it is true or false based on what they learned while reading. Put a check next to the statements that the students can now confirm. Draw a line through the statements in the first column that the students found to be untrue.
6. Look at the questions in the second column. Read each question; if it was answered in the selection, have them generate the answer and record it in the L column to show what they learned. Record the number of the question by the answer in the L column. As you go down the list of questions in the W column, put a circle around the numbers of the questions that cannot yet be answered.
7. Now have the student(s) generate other information that they recall from the selection. These ideas can be recorded in the L column.
With time and experience, the student(s) will be able to use a KWL to guide their own silent reading of information. This strategy activates what students already know about the topic, helps them set their own purposes for reading, and provides them with the opportunity to read silently to confirm/disconfirm their ideas and answer their own questions about the content. This strategy keeps them focusing on meaning for increasingly longer selections.
Variations of this strategy work for students of all ages. LearningTip #21 provides additional ways that this strategy may be used.
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Semantic mapping uses primary, secondary, and tertiary level "bubbles" to show the relationships that exist between concepts. When used as a read-along strategy, mapping supports comprehension by having students write while they're reading.
1. Provide students with a semantic map (like the one below) which includes only the center ("transportation" in this example) and the secondary level ("land," "water," and "air" in this example).
2. Have them read silently to map the details in the text (the tertiary level) to the appropriate secondary level "bubbles." While students are reading informational writing (textbook, encyclopedia, tradebook, etc.) the chapter heading or tradebook title can often define the primary level (center). The next level of heading often belongs in the secondary level "bubbles." Then the students read to map the information to those "bubbles." This can be done with a whole class initally by reading a little, mapping to the appropriate bubble (on chalkboard or transparency), reading some more, mapping to the appropriate bubble, etc. With experience, students can learn to do this independently.
This strategy provides students with a big picture before they read by showing the mapped topic and subtopics. Adding the third level to the semantic map keeps them focused on organizing the information cognitively while they're reading; this strengthens student comprehension of the information and keeps them actively involved while they're reading.
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1. Before the students read their selection, provide them with a semantic map (on paper or transparency) which includes the primary "bubble" and secondary "bubbles."
2. Have the student(s) tell you what they know about the topic and subtopics. Attach these details to the "bubbles" on the map (using one color of marker).
3. Have the student(s) read with the previously generated ideas in mind.
4. Revisit the semantic map. Move from "bubble" to "bubble" having the students generate the new information that they have learned. Record this information in a different color of marker. Mark through any ideas from the "before reading" phase that students learn are untrue.
This strategy helps the students link new information to what they already know, mentally organize the details into categories, and notice how much they learned because of the before and after reading phases of the map. Further, if students know that they will be adding to the semantic map after they have finished their reading, the map keeps them focused on what they are reading and, as a result, strengthens their comprehension of the information.
With time and experience, older students can learn to develop their own before reading semantic map from the chapter heading and subheadings. They can briefly jot down what they already know. They can then read to add to their semantic map while they're reading.
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Students can use stick-on notes to support their comprehension. Have students mount a medium or large stick-on note at the appropriate heading or subheading. She/he/they should jot down what they expect to read about in the text. They can then phrase one or two questions that they'd like to have answered while they're reading. They can then read silently and check-off the ideas on the stick-on note as they identify them in the text. They can also use small stick-on notes while they're reading to jot down ideas and/or phrase questions that they have about the content. Further, they should read to answer the question(s) that they recorded on their stick-on note. If there's space, they can record the answer(s) to their question(s).
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Conclusion
Silent reading of informational text is very difficult for many students. The vocabulary and concept load of the material is often quite challenging. In addition, students often have trouble maintaining attention while reading. They lack the strategies to monitor their understanding, cognitively organize information, and respond actively to informational text. In addition to the strategies described in this article, the following LearningTips could provide additional support for student textbook reading:
Effective Use of Textbook Features Can Improve Textbook Reading
Using Comparing Strategies to Support Reading, Writing, and Learning
Use Summarizing to Monitor Understanding, Clarify Thinking, Strengthen Learning
Getting the Details to Fit Together While Reading, Writing, and Studying
Using an Author's Style and Text Patterns to Support the Reading of Information
Having students predict, brainstorm, or ask questions before they read can give students good direction while they're reading. Reading to confirm predictions, answer questions, or add to a semantic map can keep students actively involved with text that otherwise could be very boring or challenging. The instructional techniques included in this article ease students into strategic silent reading. With time and experience, students develop the confidence and strategies to support independent reading and learning.
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