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by Carol Fraser Hagen, Reading Specialist
The thought process children (or anyone) go through to understand what they are reading involves a specific sequence of steps. These steps are:
• Predicting – Requires the student to scan a book or text, then make viable predictions about what he thinks he is going to read.
• Reading – Student reads a short portion of the story/text.
• Verifying –After reading several passages, or a chapter the student then verifies whether his predictions were correct. At this point, the student also summarizes what he has just learned.
• Reading – Student continues reading the story/text.
• Clarifying – Student stops reading, thinks about what he has read, retrieves previous knowledge, attaches new knowledge (the information he has just read) to this previous knowledge, then assimilates this new knowledge into his mind. Again, the student is also summarizing what he has just learned from what he read.
Basically, while reading a book or a story or other text, readers keep repeating all the steps in this thought process.
Making students aware of this thought process allows them to learn to monitor their own thinking. Accomplished readers instantly know whether they understand (comprehend) what they are reading, and conversely when they are not. When the latter is the case, good readers automatically re-read for clarification and understanding.
NOTE: Today’s post is for the letter “R” for the Blogging A to Z Challenge.