Below are various strategies you can use while reading to improve your comprehension:

 

 

Alphaboxes  

Alphaboxes can be completed as you read the book by placing words that relate to the letter and reading in each box. It is OK to have more than one word in each box. I am sure all your Alphaboxes will be full when you finish the book!       

 

A

 

 

 

 

B

C

D

E

F

 

 

 

 

G

H

I

J

K

 

 

 

 

L

M

N

O

P

 

 

Q

R

S

T

 

 

 

 

U

V

W

X, Y, Z

 

 

 

 

 


Print the document below to create your own. 


Character

 

Use an online chart to match the character traits of a character in a book with specific actions the character takes. Compile a list of powerful adjectives supported with details from the reading.  Print your chart for your notes.

 

BIOPOEM

 

Follow this pattern:

 

Line 1: Your character's first name

Line 2: Four words that describe your character

Line 3: Brother or sister of...

Line 4: Lover of...(three ideas or people)

Line 5: Who feels...(three ideas)

Line 6: Who needs...(three ideas)

Line 7: Who gives...(three ideas)

Line 8: Who fears...(three ideas)

Line 9: Who would like to see...

Line 10: Resident of

Line 11: His or her last name

In at least one of the lines refer to some symbol in the book that helps describe the personality, emotions, or actions of the character featured in your poem.

 

 

Many of you have read To Kill a Mockingbird and know the characters in that novel.  Here's a sample bio poem featuring Scout as the main character. 

Scout

Tomboy, brave, intelligent, loving

Sister of Jem

Lover of justice, chewing gum, reading, and Alabama summers

Who feels outrage when her dad is maligned, happiness when school is over, and fright on a dark Halloween night.

Who needs her dad's acceptance, Jem's loyalty, and Dill's admiration

Who gives friendship easily, black eyes to cousins, and sassy words to Calpurnia

Who fears Boo's dark house, owls in the night, and giving her open palms to the teacher

Who would like to see all mockingbirds sing freely whether they are creatures of flight, shy neighbors, or kind handymen

Resident of Maycomb, Alabama

Finch

 

DIALECTIC

 

Another way to improve your understanding of the piece of literature we are reading is to consider other people's ideas and begin a DIALECTIC. 
DIALECTIC is discussion and reasoning by dialogue as a method of intellectual investigation.
Click on this link to check out the DISCUSSION BOARD responses for the book you are investigating.

Sticky Notes Strategy

Put sticky notes on the text as you are reading. 

  Use them for :
 Definitions -Define words in the text with which you are unfamiliar.

 Sum-ups - Write down what just happened.  For example, "George just stole cookies from the cookie jar."

 Predictions - Guess what will happen next in the story.  For example, "George may get grounded if his parents find out."

  Questions - Write down what you are wondering.  For example, "What does 'justice' mean?"  Or, "I don't understand this part."

  Connections -
Text-to-self - Compare a character or an event to yourself.  For example, "I stole a cookie once."

Text-to-text - Compare a character or an event to another book.  For example, "This reminds me of how Stanley got in trouble for stealing in Holes."

Text-to-world - Compare a character or an event to what might be going on in the world.  For example, "People steal other people's things in the real world, too."

Text-to-media - Compare a character or an event to movies, TV, computer games, video games etc.  For example, George reminds me of the character from "Dennis the Menace." 



Note Taking 

 

The Cornell method of note taking offers several advantages. It results in more organized notes. It allows students to quickly identify key words and key concepts. The notes can easily be used as a study guide. The arrangement of information is easy to scan, making it easy to locate particular pieces of information.  

Directions for using the Cornell method are as follows.  

1. Divide the paper

o   Use loose leaf notebook paper and write on one side of the page only.

o   Divide the paper vertically by drawing a line from top to bottom about 2" from the left side of the page.

2. Documentation

o   Write the following information at the top of each page: student name, course, date, and page number.

3. Record notes

o   Record the main ideas and concepts on the right side of the page. This is the notes column.

o   Rephrase the information in your own words before writing it down.

o   Skip one line between ideas and several lines between topics.

o   Avoid writing in complete sentences; use symbols and abbreviations instead.

4. Review and Clarify

o   As soon after as possible, review the notes in the right column and clarify any unclear information.

o   Compare the information with the book and/or other students' notes.

o   Then pull the main ideas, concepts, terms, places, dates, and people from the right column and record them in the left-hand recall column.

5. Summarize

o   Prepare a summary of the material and record it at the end of the notes.

o   The summary may be in sentences or short phrases. It should include only the main ideas.

6. Study

o   Use both sections of the notes to prepare for quizzes and exams.

The format provides the perfect opportunity for following through with the 5 R's of note-taking. Here they are:

 1. Record.  Record in the main column as many meaningful facts and ideas as you can. Write legibly.

 2. Reduce.  As soon after as possible, summarize these ideas and facts concisely in the Recall Column. Summarizing clarifies meanings and relationships, reinforces continuity, and strengthens memory. Also, it is a way of preparing for tests gradually and well ahead of time.

 3. Recite.  Now cover the column, using only your jottings in the Recall Column as cues or "flags" to help you recall, repeat facts and ideas as fully as you can, not mechanically, but in your own words and with as much appreciation of the meaning as you can. Then, uncovering your notes, verify what you have said. This procedure helps to transfer the facts and ideas of your long term memory.

4. Reflect.  Reflective students distill their opinions from their notes. They make such opinions the starting point for their own musings upon the subjects they are studying. Such musings aid them in making sense out of their courses and academic experiences by finding relationships among them. Reflective students continually label and index their experiences and ideas, put them into structures, outlines, summaries, and frames of reference. They rearrange and file them. Best of all, they have an eye for the vital-for the essential. Unless ideas are placed in categories, unless they are taken up from time to time for re-examination, they will become inert and soon forgotten.

5. Review. If you will spend 10 minutes every week or so in a quick review of these notes, you will retain most of what you have learned, and you will be able to use your knowledge to greater and greater effectiveness.  

 

Generate Questions

Approach the notes as a series of answers to questions. Translate the answers into questions. If you can't think of a question for a section of notes, put a "?" in the margin and seek clarification from the instructor or book.

Write the questions as soon after class as possible. If you generate questions while the information is still fresh, you'll find that the process of asking questions helps you focus on the essential material. Since question-asking helps you understand things more clearly, you'll begin to anticipate questions.

Write questions for all information recorded in the notes: names, terms, concepts, dates, numbers, symbols, formulas, and illustrations.

 

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