Painless Reading Comprehension - Darolyn “Lyn” Jones Ed.D. 2021

How students read
Your reading voices

Did you know that you forget up to 50% of what you read fifteen minutes after you read it? While you are reading, stop often to check that you understand what you are reading.

Several strategies can help you remember what you read:

✵ If you are getting bored with what you are reading but need to finish the reading assignment because you are running out of time, then read it aloud in different accents, like French or British. It’s more fun that way, too!

✵ Imagine yourself as the character or person you are reading about or as a person experiencing or watching what you are reading about.

✵ Stop and reread a passage if you don’t get it.

✵ Start reading your assignment early so if you get tired, you can stop and come back to it later.

✵ Use a Google Chrome extension tool like Read Aloud to read the text out loud to you so you just listen.

✵ Stop periodically and try summarizing in two sentences what you have just read. Say it out loud. Write it down or even text it to yourself!

✵ Carry your reading assignment around with you. When you have a few free minutes, read or reread a few pages. The more you read it, the more you will understand it.

✵ If you don’t understand a word and you can’t just skip it, then look it up in the glossary in the back of the book or on an online dictionary on your smartphone. Looking it up online is sometimes better because there are often pictures, and that helps you visualize what you are reading.

✵ Take breaks when you can’t concentrate on your reading and there are millions of distracting voices in your head, or when you can’t picture what you are reading.

Your reading attitude

It is important for your brain to be warmed before you read, but it’s equally important that it remain warm while you read. If you don’t keep your reading brain awake and alert, then the meaning of the words won’t stick.

When you read, the text is talking to you. When a friend, your mom, or your teacher talks to you, you talk back. The same is true when you read. When the book is talking to you, talk back. Have a conversation. The Make an Inference, Text-to-Self Connections, and SAM the Summarizer are just notes from your conversation with the reading. They help to pull out the thoughts you would say back to the book if the book were standing right in front of you, speaking to you what you are reading from it.

Mark Twain, a famous author, once said, “You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” If you cannot imagine, then your eyes can’t see. If your video camera is turned off and you aren’t visualizing what you are reading, then you can’t make sense of the words. Reading organizers help you see, feel, and think about the words you are reading so you can keep what you read in your head!

Reflect on what you have learned!

1. Which one of the reading organizers—Make an Inference, Text-to-Self Connections, or SAM the Summarizer—worked best for you?

2. Why do you think it worked so well for you?

3. Which one or ones, then, will you add to your toolbox and use again?

4. Do you have a teen reading tip?

5. What does work for you when you are reading?

6. What doesn’t work for you when you are reading?

BRAIN TICKLERSSet # 3

Answer the following questions.

Remember to use the strategies discussed in Chapter Two.

1. There are three types of voices that speak to you while you are reading. They are

a. the word-calling voice, the conversation voice, and the party voice.

b. the conversation voice, the distracting voice, and the summarizer voice.

c. the reciting voice, the party voice, and the word-calling voice.

d. the reciting voice, the conversation voice, and the distracting voice.

2. Making an inference is like

a. being a mathematician who is solving a math problem.

b. being a detective who looks for clues to solve a mystery.

c. being a writer who writes down his or her thoughts.

d. being a reader who reads for answers.

3. Good readers use many tools while reading, including which of the following?

a. A video camera to record their thoughts and images while they read

b. A paintbrush to paint their images

c. A pencil or pen to write down their thoughts

d. A book to read

(Answers are on page 44.)