This document outlines reading strategies for 6th grade non-fiction texts. It divides strategies into three categories: before, during, and after reading. Before reading strategies include activating prior knowledge, introducing new vocabulary, and predicting. During reading strategies consist of fix-up strategies, monitoring comprehension, self-questioning, and making inferences. After reading strategies involve question-answer relationships, outlining, summarizing, identifying main ideas/details, and exit tickets to assess understanding. The document provides details on how teachers can implement each strategy to improve student comprehension.

1. BDA READING
STRATEGIES
B E F O R E D U R I N G A N D A F T E R R E A D I N G
S T R AT I E S F O R 6 T H G R A D E N O N - F I C T I O N
T A Y L O R S I M M
S P R I N G 2 0 1 7
R E D 4 3 4 8

2. READING STRATEGIES
“The process of comprehension begins before we start to ‘read’ and
continues even after the ‘reading’ is finished. Good readers use pre-
reading strategies like previewing the text and use post-reading
strategies like summarizing in addition to the many strategies they use
to make meaning during ‘reading’ itself. By dividing instruction into pre-
reading, during reading and post-reading, teachers can design activities
for each stage that will improve student’s comprehension and also
provide opportunities for teachers to demonstrate strategies that
readers can use at each stage” (Pardo, 2004).

3. BEFORE
READING
STRATEGIES
“ A n e f f e c t i v e w a y t o d i f f e r e n t i a t e i n s t r u c t i o n i s
t h r o u g h f r o n t l o a d i n g t e c h n i q u e s u s e d b e f o r e r e a d i n g
t o a c t i v a t e s t u d e n t s ’ p r i o r k n o w l e d g e , d i s c u s s
c r i t i c a l k n o w l e d g e a n d v o c a b u l a r y n e e d e d t o
u n d e r s t a n d t h e t e x t , a n d p r o v i d e i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t
t h e s t r u c t u r e a n d c o m p r e h e n s i o n s t r a t e g i e s u s e f u l
i n u n d e r s t a n d t h e t e x t ” ( B u r s u c k , 2 0 1 5 )

4. #1: SET A PURPOSE FOR READING
• “The nature and purpose of the reading
task also affect comprehension” (Moats,
2005).
• Motivation to read can depend on
whether the individual is reading for
pleasure or to acquire new information.

5. #3: INTRODUCE NEW VOCABULARY
• Introduce words that are necessary for
students to understand the text
• Allows for more time to summarize and think
critically after reading, instead of learning
what they new/difficult words meant

6. #2: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
• “Prior knowledge is the knowledge or skills
that readers bring to the reading process”
(Bursuck, 2015).
• A good reader makes sense of what they are
reading by fitting it in with what they already
know
• Eventually students will use this strategy
unconsciously

7. #4: PREDICT WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN
THE TEXT
• One effective way to get students
attention before reading a nonfiction
text is to ask them what they think will
happen based on the cover, title and
illustrations
• This strategy challenges the reader to
think outside of the box and inspires
them to jump into the reading

8. #5: INTRODUCE GRAPHIC
ORGANIZERS
• Graphic organizers are visual
representations of information
• Graphic organizers can depict the
relationships between facts, terms,
and ideas within a learning task

9. DURING
READING
STRATEGIES
“ F o r s t u d e n t s t o l e a r n h o w t o m o n i t o r t h e i r
c o m p r e h e n s i o n , t e a c h e r s m u s t t e a c h t h e m n o t o n l y
t o u s e s p e c i f i c c o m p r e h e n s i o n s t r a t e g i e s , b u t a l s o
w h e n t o u s e t h e m . ” ( B u r s u c k , 2 0 1 5 )

10. #1: FIX-UP
STRATEGIES
• Fix-up strategies are comprehension
strategies that readers use when they are not
fully comprehending text
• Proficient readers are aware when they do not
know a word or when the text does not make
sense, and they know how to apply the fix-up
strategies

11. #2: MONITORING TEXT
• Good comprehenders evaluate how well they
understand while they read
• When readers are monitoring, they are
consistently asking themselves, “Is what I’m
reading making sense?”
• While this is not a natural process, it can be
taught

12. #3: SELF-QUESTIONING
• Readers become actively engaged
with text by asking themselves
questions as they read
• This process allows students to
immediately reflect on what they are
reading
• Teachers can prompt students to ask
questions at different points in the text
by starting with the main words: who,
what, where, when, why, and how

13. #4: QUESTIONING THE AUTHOR
• QtA gets students started asking questions by
providing them with strategy questions that
they can eventually ask themselves when they
read
• Developed by Isabel Beck and colleagues
• The teacher gives the students one or more
paragraphs to read and then asks a set serious
of questions

14. #5: MAKING
INFERENCES
• This is a difficult concept to teach because it so
abstract
• An easy rule for students to remember is: “Making an
inference is using clues from the text and your own
knowledge and experience to figure out what the
author is trying to tell you” (Bursuck, 2015).

15. AFTER
READING
STRATEGIES
P o s t r e a d i n g s t r a t e g i e s p r o v i d e s t u d e n t s w i t h a w a y
t o s u m m a r i z e , r e f l e c t , a n d q u e s t i o n w h a t t h e y h a v e
j u s t r e a d . T h i s f i n a l s t e p i n t h e r e a d i n g p r o c e s s i s
w h e r e t e a c h e r s c a n a s s e s s s t u d e n t p r o g r e s s a n d
m a k e m o d i f i c a t i o n s w h e r e n e c e s s a r y .

16. #1: QUESTION ANSWER
RELATIONSHIP
• QAR teachers students how to determine what types of questions they
are being asked and where to find the answers.
• Teachers must explain to students that there are 4 types of questions
– Literal “In the Book” Questions
1. “Right there” questions are literal questions in the text with the answer usually
stated in one sentence.
2. “Think and Search questions are in the text, but students have to take
information from different sentences or pages to answer them.
– “Inferential “In your Head” Questions
3. “Author and you” questions require that students take their background
knowledge and apply it to clues supplied by the author in the text.
4. ”On my own” questions are based on students’ background knowledge related to
the text and can be answered without even reading the selection.

17. #2: WRITE OUTLINES
• Students should learn to outline information they learn from a text
• 2 groups of outlines
– Easy:
• Describe beginning, middle, and end of story
• Describe setting of story
• Describe the main problem
• Describe the outcome of the problem
– Difficult:
• Present a sequence of events
• Provide concrete facts
• Supply missing information through inferences
• Discuss the causes of the events that took place in the story

18. #3: SUMMARIZE
• A summary includes the most important
ideas in a text
• Students should use outlines to help
them construct their summaries
• Summarizing helps students:
– Identify main ideas
– Recognize important story elements
– Evaluate their understanding of the
text
– Recall what they’ve read

19. #4: IDENTIFY
MAIN IDEAS & DETAILS
• The main idea is the central idea around which a piece of text is organized
• Main ideas are what the reading is mostly about and details are just smaller pieces that
tell the reader more about the main idea, the characters, new vocabulary terms, or
other text elements
• This graphic organizer helps students differentiate the difference between main ideas
and details

20. #5: EXIT TICKET
• An exit ticket is a formative assessment that allows the teacher to determine who
understood the reading
• It can be as simple as asking the student: “What was the main idea?” or “Compare
what we just read today to what we learned about in history yesterday.”

21. REFERENCES
Pardo, L. (2004). What Every Teacher Needs to
Know About Comprehension. In The Reading
Teacher. 272-281.
Bursuck, W., & Damer, M. (2015). Teaching
Reading to Students Who Are at Risk or Have
Disabilities. Upper Saddle Rive, NJ: Pearson.