The document outlines 15 reading strategies that can be used before, during, or after reading. Some strategies outlined include having students make predictions about a text before reading using a think aloud or anticipation guide. During reading, teachers can have students question the author, create concept maps, or do jigsaw reading. After reading, students can answer questions about different levels, write exit slips, summarize, or make collages to represent what they learned. The strategies are meant to engage students and check their comprehension.

1. 15 reading strategies for
before, during, or after reading

2. Before reading: Think aloud
A think aloud is an easy to use strategy that can be used with little preparation
by the teacher. It consists of the teacher modelling what an active reader would
think about before reading a book. After the teacher models, the students can
try making predictions of their own about what they are about to read.

3. Before reading: Anticipation guide
An anticipation guide is a series of questions provided by the teacher to the
students to answer regarding different things that they expect to find in the
text. More important than simply having the students answer, however, is to
have the students justify their answers with critical thinking skills.

4. Before reading: First lines
In this strategy the teacher reads the first few lines from the story, and then has
the class predict what the rest of the story will contain. This strategy is flexible
because the students can respond in several different ways, such as writing on
whiteboards, responding orally to the teacher, or telling their prediction to a
partner.

5. Before reading: Possible sentences
Students are given a list of vocabulary words that are in the text that they are
about to read, and then asked to create sentences that use some of those
words. This activity helps build vocabulary, as well as gets the students more
interested in reading the text to see if their sentences are in the story.

6. Before reading: List-group-label
Students are told what the main topic of the story is, and are then asked to list
words that relate to that topic. The students then break the words up into 3
groups based on similarities, and are asked to give each group a label to define
them. The students should be pressed to not only group each word, but more
importantly to explain their reasoning as to why they grouped the words the
way that they did.

7. During reading: Question the author
The teacher will prompt the students to come up with questions for the author
as they read, and use the text to answer those questions. Questions that can
apply to most writing, and require critical thinking, are good to use for this
strategy. Example questions would include “What is the author’s main point?”
and “How does the author feel about [topic]?”

8. During reading: Concept maps
After the teacher models how to find major ideas in a text, the class will
construct a concept map showing the relationships between different ideas in
the text as it is read. Concept maps usually take the form of bubbles with
arrows connecting them to show a relation.

9. During reading: Jigsaw reading
To use this strategy the teacher will first assign either small groups or
individual students different parts of a text. Those students will then be
responsible for understanding their own section, and explaining it to the rest of
the class. The students’ presentations can take the form of simple oral
explanations, or more involved presentations that involve visual components.

10. During reading: Paragraph shrinking
Students are paired heterogeneously and given a text. The lower level student
then reads the text, and after every paragraph will summarize the paragraph to
the higher level student, who will either agree with the summarization, or
disagree and offer advice on how to better summarize it.

11. During reading: Structured note-taking
After having read the text, the teacher will provide the students with a series of
questions to be answered while reading through the text. The questions should
be plainly answered by the text, and be able to be reflected on regarding the
relationships between the different answers written.

12. After reading: Question-answer relationship
The students will be given examples of the different levels of questions that
can be posed about a text. The students will then be given some questions
from each level to answer using the text. The students can also create their
own questions to give to each other using the different levels.

13. After reading: Exit slips
Exit slips are a strategy that can be easily used in combination with other
strategies as a way to check for understanding of content at the end of a
lesson. Students are given short quizzes, which can come in different forms, on
the topic of the text that they have read.

14. After reading: Summarizing
Summarizing can take the form of having students sum up the most important
ideas of a text either orally, or through writing after reading. This strategy can
be used for any content area, and can be used in almost any classroom setting
by adjusting the expected level of detail of the answers.

15. After reading: Making collages
Students can use the information that they gained from a text to make collages
that visually represent what they learned. These collages can take the form of
clay models, cut-out pictures, or one of many other possible ideas. This activity
a great way to help students who learn best through physically interacting as
opposed to reading or listening.

16. After reading: Student-made test
After reading the text, the students are given an opportunity to create questions
that will go on a test which will be given to the whole class. The questions
should all have clear answers supported by the text. This strategy doubles as
an activity, as well as an assessment which students will be more engaged with
than a normal test.

17. Resources
http://www.eflmagazine.com/10-fun-post-reading-activities/
http://www.adlit.org/strategy_library/
http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies
Bursuck, W. D., & Damer, M. (2015). Teaching reading to students who are at
risk or have disabilities: a multi-tier, RTI approach (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson.