The document discusses the importance of reading in college and the workplace. It identifies three stages of reading: before, during, and after. For each stage, it provides strategies to improve comprehension and retention, such as preparing by setting goals, eliminating distractions, and taking notes while reading to engage with the text. These strategies can help readers identify when they disconnect from the text and aid understanding. The document emphasizes the importance of reading skills for success in college and career.
Presentation I made at the Language Center of the Faculty of Arts from San Marcos University on the topic of Critical Reading. This workshop was given together with Yony Cardenas, who was in charge of the part of Critical Thinking.
This is part of the follow up ELT Upgrade workshop Series which was organized by RELO Andes with the Support of U.S. Embassy, U.S. Department of State.
Presentation I made at the Language Center of the Faculty of Arts from San Marcos University on the topic of Critical Reading. This workshop was given together with Yony Cardenas, who was in charge of the part of Critical Thinking.
This is part of the follow up ELT Upgrade workshop Series which was organized by RELO Andes with the Support of U.S. Embassy, U.S. Department of State.
Paraphrasing is a restatement of the meaning of a text using other words (instead of original words) Summarizing means taking the main ideas from a text and rewriting them in your own words in a brief manner.
Paraphrasing is a restatement of the meaning of a text using other words (instead of original words) Summarizing means taking the main ideas from a text and rewriting them in your own words in a brief manner.
Leveraging Your Learning Style & Effective Study Strategies
Do you know how you learn best?
Your learning style is the way you prefer to learn. It doesn't have anything to do with how intelligent you are or what skills you have learned. It has to do with how your brain works most efficiently to learn new information. This workshop will focus on helping you identify your own learning style and show you how to develop learning strategies that work for you so you can create a customized approach to achieving academic success.
English: Introduction to study skills (Complete Intro)Muhammad Qasim
This paper will enable us to have a complete introduction of Study Skills. Many other topics have been included which will enlighten us about distance learning and its aids.
This resource addresses inclusion with respect to different forms of face-to-face teaching (e.g., lectures, seminars/tutorials, and practice-based sessions) and associated materials (e.g., hand-outs and lecture slides).
2. Objectives:
•Identify the importance of reading –
effectively, critically – in college and the
workplace
•Recognize the three stages of reading
•Implement a reading success strategy for
each stage of reading to improve
comprehension and retention
3. How Important is Reading Anyway?
• After listening, reading is the most common form of
communication in which college students engage.¹
• Reading doesn’t end with graduation; reading in the
workplace is directly connected to productivity²
• In other words, the better reader you are, the more
productive you are. The more productive you are, the
greater likelihood you will be promoted and the higher
one is promoted, the more money s/he earns.
4. Steps in the Reading Process
Before
Reading
During
Reading
After
Reading
5. Before Reading
•Prepare to read
• Set a goal or calculate how many pages you need to read
• Set aside sufficient time to read – for college reading plan on half-
an-hour segments at least
• Turn off/eliminate ALL distractions – music, cell phone, TV, etc.
• Have materials for reading convenient – pencil, pen, highlighter,
sticky notes or notebook paper, lecture slides, dictionary, …
• Establish a PURPOSE for reading
Image credit: http://www.huntsvillelibrary.ca/en/booksCollectionsMore/resources/Parent_Teacher_Resource/books_on_their_side.jpg
6. During Reading
•How do you know
when you’ve
disconnected with
what you’re reading?
•Identify when & where
you first disconnect
with the text
Image Retrieved from: http://www.mediccast.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Frustrated-student-white.gif
7. During Reading – continued
• Do mark the text by
writing in the margins or
taking notes.
• Don’t simply highlight text
•Write what?
• Questions (I wonder… What
if… How does this…)
• Examples from lecture/lab
• Prior knowledge (This
reminds me of… This is a
result of… )
• Personal experience(s) or
knowledge (I saw a movie
about… I heard on the
news… I remember visiting…
Image retrieved from: http://www.textbookdollars.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/highlighted-textbook-300x225.jpg
8. During Reading – final tips
•Read out loud – engaging additional senses
improves comprehension and helps pinpoint when &
where disconnections occur
•Speed up or slow down reading speed
•Re-read a passage or section of text
•Be sure to look at the pictures, graphs, and other
visuals
•Continue reading even if you are a little confused;
sometimes additional examples will help clarify
meaning
9. After Reading
• Review your text notes and make connections to
lecture topics
• If you have questions about the reading, write them
down to ask in class
• Answer any questions in the text, at the end of the
section, or at the end of the chapter whether the
questions were “assigned” or not
• Summarize the notes, questions, predictions, or
connections you wrote while reading and summarize
10. References
Emanuel, R., Adams, J., Baker, K., Daufin, E. K., Elington, C. Fitts, E. … Okeowo, D. (2008). How College
Students Spend Their Time Communicating [Abstract]. International Journal of Listening, 22, 13 –
28. doi: 10.1080/10904010701802139 Retrieved from
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10904010701802139
Gardner, J. N. & Barefoot, B. O. (2016). Your College Experience: Strategies for Success. Boston, MA: Bedford/St.
Martin’s.
Gore, P. A., Leuwerke, W. & Metz, A. J. (2016). Connections: Empowering College and Career Success. Boston, MA:
Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Myth vs. Truth: How to Read a Textbook. (2013, September 26). [Web log]. Retrieved from Aristotle Circle Peers at:
http://blog.aristotlecircle.com/2013/09/myth-vs-truth-how-to-read-a-textbook/
OECD (2013), OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills, OECD Publishing.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264204256-en
Piscitelli, S. (2015). Choices for College Success (3rd ed.). J. McPherson (Ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Tovani, C. (2000). I Read It, But I Don’t Get It. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
Editor's Notes
“This study sought to assess how college students spend their time communicating and what impact, if any, communications devices may be having on how that time is spent. Undergraduates (N = 696) at four southeastern colleges were surveyed. Results revealed that listening comprises 55.4% of the total average communication day followed by reading (17.1%), speaking (16.1%), and writing (11.4%). Each of these communication behaviors includes some aspect of Internet use. College students spend as much time listening to media as they do engaged in interpersonal interactions. New technology is changing the way mediated communication activities are perceived. A different paradigm of expressive, receptive, and interactive communication is offered. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)”
¹ Emanuel, R., Adams, J., Baker, K., Daufin, E. K., Elington, C. Fitts, E. … Okeowo, D. (2008). How College Students Spend Their Time Communicating [Abstract]. International Journal of Listening, 22, 13 – 28. doi: 10.1080/10904010701802139 Retrieved from
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10904010701802139
² OECD (2013), OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264204256-en
This may be a good opportunity to remind/discuss with students how to “chunk” and schedule their reading assignments into study time. For Example: If you have a Psychology test in 2 weeks covering chapters 5, 6 and 8, first total the number of pages you need to read. (Let’s say it’s 175.) Next, subtract a couple of days from today until test day. (2 weeks = 14 days; subtract 4 days so you are not reading the night before the test and you have time to review your reading) OK. Now you have to read 175 pages in 10 days. Divide 175 by 10 and you get 17.5 or 17 ½ pages a day. Now, isn’t it easier to imagine 17 ½ pages a day instead of 175 pages?!?
Slide will appear blank, with only the title visible initially.
ASK: What – if anything – do you do to Prepare to read? Allow time to participants to consider and maybe even jot down a thought or two on scrap paper. Alternately, you may provide participants with a list of ideas from the slide and ask them to check off all the ones they do.
[*The reason for the ½ hour rule is that even if you are only able to read a section of text in that time, it is still text you’ve read; something is better than nothing. As you grow as a reader, you will be able to better estimate how much time you need for different subjects. Also, brain research shows that ½ hour segments of time are the most effective for subject retention. Students should always switch subjects every 30 minutes or so to facilitate/maximize learning and retention.]
PURPOSE – Activity: Have participants take out a pencil, a pen, and a highlighter. Distribute copies of “The House”. Instruct students to read through the passage and underline everything they think is important or which might be asked on a test. Allow 3 – 5 minutes for the class to read through the passage. Next, direct the students to take out their pen and read through the passage a second time. This time, instruct the participants to circle the things in the text which would be important to a robber or thief. Again, allow a few minutes to for them to complete this process. Finally, direct the class to use a highlighter to highlight everything in the text which would be important to a real estate agent who might be selling the house. Once completed, ask participants which time was the easiest. - - Most likely, the 2nd and 3rd readings were easiest. Ask why. (ASNWER: The purpose for reading the text the 2nd and 3rd times was clear and specific; the first time was too general.) “Having a purpose helps readers remember what they read and helps them determine what is important” (Tovani, 2000).
ASK: How do you know when you’ve stopped making meaning of the text and are now just reading the words on the page? - - Allow time for students to consider this question. Possibly provide participants with an example from a textbook or other literature to practice with in order to frame their answers.
Answers will vary, but some possible responses may include: “What I’m reading no longer connects to information I already know”; “I can no longer ‘see’ a picture in my head”; “I can’t imagine what is being described”; “It’s like reading or listening to a foreign language”; “I can’t ask or answer questions about what I’m reading”; “I can’t explain or summarize what I’ve just read in my own words”….
Reading without comprehension is called “decoding” and it is something every literate person is capable of. Think about the teacher in the classroom scenes of Peanuts comics/cartoons. What does she sound like? “whah-whah-whah-whah-whah-whan…” There’s intonation, but no meaning. Or, consider the first stanza from the poem, Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll: “’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves/ Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: / All mimsy were the borogoves, / And the mome raths outgrabe.” We are all capable of reading the words, but can we make sense of them?
Informational (college) texts often use superfluous language. Key information is not likely to be contained in prepositional phrases. On the other hand, reading or skimming too quickly just to “get through” material without comprehending it is a waste of time.
Visual aids are not put in the text to just make it “look pretty” or to break up the writing. Most graphics can significantly improve comprehension by providing the reader with an image s/he can relate the text to. Remember: A picture is worth 1,000 words!
Invite participants to volunteer any additional suggestions for studying/retaining the information.
