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

Textbook response sheet
Different types of reading

A Textbook Response Sheet is a handy way to break the code because you can read some of the textbook, put it down, and then come back to it later. If you don’t have enough time to read a whole chapter but you want to at least get started on the reading, or if your teacher gives you some time to read in class but not enough to finish, then using this tool is a good strategy. Using the Textbook Response Sheet is similar to what happens at the beginning of a television drama show. Before you get to see today’s show, they always say, “Previously on the show . . .” and then show highlights from the previous show, so you can recall what happened and better understand what you are about to watch.

The Textbook Response Sheet allows you to simply log or jot down notes about what you read so that when you revisit the reading, you can know where you left off. It includes five elements.

1. Chapter title:

2. Pages read today:

3. Subheadings read today:

4. List one important idea learned from each subheading:

5. Write a paragraph (at least five sentences) summarizing what you read today:

PAINLESS TIP

Remember, it’s important to think about what you are reading and to take notes while you are reading to keep your brain alert. Textbook reading takes more of your brain power than reading a story.

Let’s practice!

Read the first five pages of Chapter Four, “Decoding Versus Reading.” Look at the student model, and see how the student recorded the appropriate information.

Student example: Textbook Response Sheet

1. Chapter title:

Decoding Versus Reading

2. Pages read today:

From 1 to 5

3. Subheadings read today:

Do You Really Get What You Are Reading? How Do You Connect with the Words? and Flag words.

4. List one important idea learned from each subheading.

Decoding Versus Reading—Reading is more than just saying and pronouncing the words. You have to understand the text, too.

Making Connections—You have to read first in parts and then put it all together to make sense.

Flag words—Certain words give clues about what is important in the text.

5. Write a paragraph (at least five sentences) summarizing what you read today.

Just because you know how to say a word doesn’t mean you know what the word means. Reading means putting all the words and their meanings together to get the message. Words have different meanings depending on how they are used, like the word heart. It can be an organ in the body. It can also mean courage or a person’s innermost emotion.

Let’s practice!

Read the next five pages of Chapter Four and complete the Textbook Response Sheet.

1. Chapter title:

2. Pages read today:

3. Subheadings read today:

4. List one important idea learned from each subheading.

5. Write a paragraph (at least five sentences) summarizing what you read today.

Two-Sided Notes

Two-Sided Notes are easy, fun, and versatile. You can use them with almost anything and for anything. Simply draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper or insert two columns on your computer document. You can use Two-Sided Notes with a whole chapter or just one section.

Now you need to create headings for each side or column. This is easy to do on a sheet of paper or on your computer. Some possible headings for Two-Sided Notes are Subheadings/Facts, Facts/Questions, and Questions/Answers. These three pairs are good to use in a series. As you are reading, jot down the information below.

CAUTION—Major Mistake Territory!

Warning! If you are folding your paper, stop after the first fold. Do not continue folding until you have an airplane. You might be tempted to throw it. Your teachers really dislike objects flying around their classrooms, and your notes will be lost in flight.

Another way to organize your Two-Sided Notes is with Cause and Effect. Your social studies or science textbooks will explain historical events or element combinations that clearly follow a cause-and-effect pattern.

Let’s practice!

Read the following section, which is from Chapter Three. Complete the three Two-Sided Notes: Subheadings/Facts, Facts/Questions, and Questions/Answers.

Inferences

Making inferences is one of the most important strategies to use while reading. An inference is something that is deduced from evidence in the text (much like what a detective does). When you make an inference, you interpret or draw conclusions from what is not exactly said. Meaning, you use what you know to make a guess about what you can’t see or read in the text. To infer is to deduce, reason, and read between the lines.

Inferences are not seen text. Seen text is anything you can see when you read—words, pictures, charts, graphs, and any visual cues that can be used to make meaning—it is what is actually on the page. Inferences are not directly stated by the author. Unseen text is the information that lives inside your head. Inferences come from inside your head. Remember, to infer is to read between the lines. You put together your background knowledge (what you know about a topic) with the author’s clues to produce answers or solutions to what you are reading.⁶

Let’s practice!

Read the section in Chapter Two titled “Reading Organizers” (page 10) and complete the three Two-Sided Notes or choose a section in a textbook of your choice and complete either all three Two-Sided Notes or just the Cause and Effect one if it applies. Remember that Two-Sided Notes are a way to write down what you are reading, which helps to keep you alert while you are reading and helps you to think about the information you are reading.

Transfiguration

Another fun and useful way to break the cryptic code of textbook language is to change it from textbook language to something more interesting like a poem, a song, a rap, a letter, a newspaper article, or an advertisement. You don’t have to be Harry Potter or a superhero to accomplish this feat. You just need your creative brain and crafty writing.

Take a section of a textbook chapter or an entire chapter and rewrite it. Turn those informative words into something fun to read. Not only will you enjoy doing it, but you will learn the information in that section. In order to transfigure it, you need to know what it is you are transfiguring. And, who knows, your teacher may like your version better and use it instead of the textbook!

Let’s practice!

Read the following selection, and then check out the spoken-word slam poem I wrote.

“The Periodic Table” by Tom Petersen

Background Information

Everything is made of atoms, and when I say everything, I mean just about everything. The nails that hold up your house to the plastic case that holds your cell phone are all made of atoms. There are some things smaller than atoms, and as logic would dictate they are not made of atoms.

(After all, how can something smaller than an atom be made of atoms?) But with these few exceptions aside, everything is made of atoms.

Introduction

It should come as no surprise to you that scientists love to collect things. Last year in science you learned about the different plants and animals that scientists have collected. In sixth grade you learned about the different rocks that scientists have collected. In fact, you learned that scientists have used these collections to better understand how things work. For example, scientists place rocks in groups such as sedimentary or metamorphic, etc. Similarly, animals have been placed in groups such as Kingdom and Phylum.

Chemistry is no different. What scientists have been doing the past two hundred years is collecting different atoms and grouping them together. This activity has led to the creation of the “Periodic Table of Elements.”

Periodic Table of Elements

The periodic table of elements lists all of the different kinds of atoms that have been discovered. Each kind of atom is called an element. For example, element number 1 is a kind of atom called Hydrogen, and element number 79 is a kind of atom called Gold. The most up-to-date periodic tables will show that there are 114 different kinds of atoms that have been discovered. Some of these atoms have been discovered within the past ten years and may not be included on older tables. Most tables I come across show at least 110 elements, and for this class that will suit us just fine.

There are a few patterns in the periodic table of which you should be aware. First of all, the elements are arranged according to how heavy they are. Hydrogen (element number one) is the lightest element, while element number 116 is the heaviest. Also, you will notice that there is a zigzag line on the right side of the periodic table. This divides the elements into two groups: metals and nonmetals. The large group of elements on the left of the zigzag line are metals, and they have certain characteristics (or properties) that we associate with metals; specifically, they are shiny, ductile (they can be drawn into wires), malleable (they can be formed into shapes), and they conduct electricity. The elements on the right side are nonmetals, and as the name would imply, they are described as not being shiny, ductile, malleable, and they do not conduct electricity. The elements that touch the zigzag line (corners don’t count) are called metalloids and they have properties of both metals and nonmetals. There are two exceptions to the metalloid grouping. Even though Aluminum and Polonium touch the zigzag line, they are considered metals.

In addition to numbering and naming each element, you will notice that each element has a symbol. Symbols are either one or two letters long. The first letter is always capitalized. You might also notice that very often, the symbol is a kind of abbreviation for the element name. He is a symbol for Helium, and Ne is the symbol for Neon. But sometimes the symbol looks nothing like the name. This is true for Gold, which has the symbol Au, or Sodium, which has the symbol Na. In these cases, the element was discovered long ago before scientists started making the periodic table, and so they used the old name of the element to create the symbol.

The last pattern I would like you to note is the fact that some elements on the table have symbols made of clear letters and others have a solid color. The solid letters are naturally occurring elements. In other words, scientists found these elements already in existence. The elements with the clear letters were created by scientists. They are called synthetic. The larger atoms, for example, are synthetic. (You might be wondering how a scientist would make a big atom. It’s a good question but outside the scope of this lesson, so suffice it to say that scientists use a device called a nuclear accelerator and smash different atoms together to make bigger atoms.)

“Atoms Are Not Random!” by Darolyn “Lyn” Jones

Atoms are not random;

Everything is made up of Atoms.

Your hi-fi, which is so fly,

Is made up of Atoms.

Your Fubu, which is so cool,

Is made up of Atoms.

Your girl, who has your head in a swirl,

She’s made up of Atoms.

Because Atoms are not random,

Everything is made up of Atoms.

Because Atoms are not random,

We cannot mishandle the Atoms.

We collect them and store them

In a table, a special and important table.

Poised and proud,

praise the Periodic Table!

The table, so important, is made up of elements.

So relevant because Atoms are not random;

Everything is made up of Atoms.

Organized heavy to light

metal to nonmetal,

No one has to settle.

Because Atoms are not random,

Everything is made up of Atoms.

Atoms have a symbol,

An He for Helium,

An Ne for Neon,

And an Na for Sodium.

Atoms are not random,

Everything is made up of Atoms.

Man-made Atoms are clear;

But Natural Atoms are SOLID!

Remember, Atoms are not random,

Everything is made up of Atoms.

You probably figured out that while I love listening to poetry slams, I’m not very good at them. I showed you my attempt to prove to you that if I can take a chance at transfiguring what I read to keep it in my head, you can, too!

I showed you my spoken word slam poem to prove that if I can do it, you can, too. To tell you the truth, I have read that selection many times in the writing of this book, but until I wrote that poem, I never really understood what it said. Science is hard for me, and to write that poem, I had to reread the selection several times and try to come up with catchy words and phrases to include in my poem. Notice that I only highlight the major ideas and a few details in my poem. But putting all those ideas and details together creates a summary and an understanding of the periodic table.

Let’s practice!

Take the reading selection on Gandhi from Chapter Three, pages 29—30, and rewrite it as a poem, song lyrics, or a series of Instagram posts. Remember to pull out the major ideas and details. Look for keywords or phrases that you can reuse in your music, poetry, or posts!

You can also transfigure a textbook reading selection into a story. For example, I could have had the element of Helium, He, tell the story of the periodic table. I could have personified Helium (made him human) and started with Once upon a time. . .. Or, I could have asked He (Helium) to tell me the story of what happened when the periodic table was formed.

For the Gandhi piece, you could create a series of Instagram posts as though you were Gandhi explaining how he came to know and then adopt and practice civil disobedience as his way of leading. You could comment and respond as other individuals from the reading, agreeing and disagreeing.

Or, you can create a movie or story trailer. For example, create a story trailer (sixty- to ninety-second clip with sound, images, and words) to try and entice other readers to read the “A School Ghost Story” from Chapter Five.

In and out

When you read a textbook, you aren’t as involved as when you read for pleasure. You aren’t living in the characters’ lives; rather you are taking information out. That’s part of what makes it harder. It’s a two-step process. You need to read the information, let it go into your brain, and then take it out for an assignment, a quiz, or a test. When you read for pleasure, you take it in and let it stay in! You may choose to share your reading or talk about what you are reading with someone else, but there is no pressure to do so. It’s nothing formal like an assignment.

Reflect on what you have learned!

1. Why do you think it is important to understand how a textbook is set up before reading it? What did you find out about how this book is set up that you didn’t realize before?

2. Which of the information tips on how to read for information and break the cryptic code worked best for you? Why?

3. Which strategies used in this chapter will you use again when reading a textbook, or which tools will you add to your toolbox for textbook reading?

BRAIN TICKLERSSet # 7

Answer the following multiple-choice questions. Choose the best and most complete answer to the question. Remember to use the strategies outlined earlier, and don’t look at the answers until you have tried to answer them first!

1. The number one trick to reading a textbook successfully is knowing

a. how to read a chapter.

b. how the textbook is set up.

c. how to speak the textbook language.

d. how to use Two-Sided Notes.

2. When you first examine a textbook, it’s useful to find all of the following sections except

a. the glossary.

b. the table of contents.

c. the first chapter.

d. the index.

3. When you read a chapter of a textbook, pay special attention to

a. the words, the first page, and the summary.

b. the goals, special markings such as boldfaced or italicized subtitles, and any graphic images.

c. the chapter prior to the chapter you are reading, the images, and the last page of summary.

d. the introduction, the graphics, and the exercises.

(Answers are on page 124.)