Understanding What You Read

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Reported by: Jolina Mae G. Natuel (BEED IV)
1. They use existing knowledge to make sense of new
information.
2. They ask questions about the text before, during, and
after reading.
3. They draw inferences from the text.
4. They monitor their comprehension.
5. They use “fix-up” strategies when meaning breaks
down.
6. They determine what is important.
7. They synthesize information to create new thinking
1. The voice inside the reader’s head isn’t interacting
with the text.
2. The camera inside the reader’s head shuts of.
3. The reader’s mind begins to wander.
4. The reader can’t remember what has been read.
5. Clarifying questions asked by the reader are not
answered.
6.The reader reencounters a character and has no
recollection when that character was introduced.
• Make a connection between the text and your
life, your knowledge of the world, or another text.
• Make a prediction.
• Stop and think about what you have already
read.
• Ask yourself a question and try to answer it.
• Reflect in writing on what you have read.
• Visualize.
• Use print conventions.
• Retell what you’ve read.
• Reread.
• Notice patterns in text structure.
• Adjust your reading rate: slow down or speed up.
Remember the following techniques to make connections:
• Relate to characters.
• Visualize.
• Avoid boredom, if you start to get bored…take a short
break.
• Pay attention, take your reading seriously.
• Listen to others’ ideas about the reading.
• Read actively.
• Remember what they read.
• Ask questions.
What you “hear” when you are reading:

• Reciting Voice- The voice a reader hears when he is only reciting

the words and not drawing meaning from the text.

• Conversation Voice- The voice that has a conversation with the

text. It represents the reader’s thinking as he/she talks back to
the text in an interactive way. It can take two forms:

1. Interacting Voice- This voice encourages the reader to infer,

make connections, ask questions, and synthesize information.
2. Distracting Voice -This voice pulls the reader away from the
text.
How to relate to your reading:
• Text to self: Connections between the text and the
reader’s experiences and memories. The more
experiences and memories a reader has about a topic,
the easier the material is to read.
• Text to world: Connections the reader makes between
the text and what he knows about the world (facts and
information).
• Text to text: Connections the reader makes between
two or more types of texts. The reader may make
connections relative to plot, content, structure, or style.
Questions can be more powerful than answers. Good
readers ask questions throughout the reading process:
before, during, and after reading. Readers who ask
questions when they read assume responsibility for
their learning and improve their comprehension in four
ways:
• By interacting with text.
• By motivating themselves to read.
• By clarifying information in the text.
• By inferring beyond the literal meaning.
Comprehension Technique

• Sticky Notes- Place sticky notes next to passages

that cause confusion so that you can return to them.

• Highlighters- Use highlighters to mark places you

understand (pink) and places that are confusing
(yellow).
A reader’s purpose affects everything about reading. It determines
what’s important in the text, what is remembered, and what
comprehension strategy a reader uses to enhance meaning.
Comprehension Technique:
• Read the article and circle what you think is important.
• Read the piece again, and this time use a pink highlighter to
mark places in the text that a _____ would find important.
• Read the piece again, and this time use a yellow highlighter to
mark places in the text that a _____ would find important.
• What did you notice about the three times you highlighted.
The first time was probably the hardest because you had no
purpose.
What to do when you find a new word when you’re
reading…

1. Ignore it. Continue reading.

2. Look at it.
3. Cover it up with your finger and try to read the
sentence.
4. Think about the general idea of the text.
5. And if nothing else works and you still can’t
understand the main idea of the text, use the dictionary.
 Predicting / previewing: Looking quickly at the
text before beginning reading

 Skimming: Reading quickly to get a main idea.

 Finding the main idea: Understanding the

writer’s principal message.
Good readers engage in mental processes before, during, and
after they read in order to comprehend text. They stop often to
think out loud and describe what is going on in their minds as
they read.
Comprehension Technique:
• Select a short piece of text.
• Foresee difficulty.
• Read the text out loud and stop often to share your thinking.
• Point out the words in the text that trigger your thinking.
1. I am reminded of _____
2. I wonder _________
3. I am confused _____________
4. I notice that this piece is organize like this _________.
Marking text helps readers pay attention and remember
what they read.
Comprehension Technique:
• Assign codes to the types of thinking in which you
engage. As you read, mark these codes next to the
passages in the text that trigger these kinds of thinking
and explain the connection.
C = connection reader makes to own life and text.
? = questions reader has about text.
I = inference or conclusion reader draws from text.
• Read the text.
• Use sticky notes to attach to appropriate spots.
• Use highlighters.
-Use yellow to highlight portion not understood.
Write a fix-up strategy next to it.
DEDs are similar to taking notes.

Comprehension Techniques:
• Divide page in half with questions and main ideas
on the left and specific information on the right.
• Divide page in half with direct quote from text and
page number on the left and thinking options on the
right (reader’s reactions).
• Divide page in half with facts or details on the left
and author’s message on the right.
• Divide page in half with confusing part in text on
the left and reader’s attempt to get unstuck on the
right.
• Divide page in half with new/confusing vocabulary
on the left and reader’s knowledge on the right.
This requires readers to use two or more thinking
strategies.

Comprehension Technique:
• Call up any background knowledge you have about
topic in the text.
• Read the text.
• As you read the piece, you should have a number of
questions. Jot them down (at least 3) in the margins
where they occur to you.
• At the end of the piece, write a response. It should
be a paragraph of at least four sentences.
• Look back at the questions you asked. Write the
three best questions below and then decide where
the answers to the questions can be found: in the
text, in your head, in another source.