Active Reading

Briefly discuss how you might teach or convey the ideas in "Active Reading" to a developmental reading writing class.  How would you help students to understand these processes and strategies? And how might we use writing to practice some of these readings processes and strategies?   I've posted a graphic organizer below to help you organize your ideas.

The article “The Active Reader: What is Active” by Cees van Woerkum splits the reading process into steps a reader takes before, during and after reading. Before reading, readers select (choosing to read the text), make inferences such as setting expectations, and activate questions. To explain these steps to a class, I’d ask students to consider texts that they are excited to read vs texts they feel drained and unmotivated to read:  what’s the difference? did the text make them feel this way or something else? how do students motive themselves to read a text that wouldn’t normally excite them? To incorporate writing, some pre-writing could be useful. I would have students jot down their expectations for a text (what will it be about, will they enjoy it, how long will it take to read?) and write a few questions they anticipate the text being able to answer.

Within the first few paragraphs of reading, a reader establishes a contextual framework for the text. As he or she continues to read, the reader creates ongoing inferences (reader-centric associations). The reader will focus—reading slower or faster as necessary for comprehension. And the reader will reflect—refuting and agreeing with the text. To explain this level of reading, I would ask students to consider their schema and write down what they already know about the topic—this is their contextual framework. What images come to mind as they read (ongoing inferences)? Finally, I could have students write a dialogue with the text, imagining a conversation with the author—what do they agree and disagree on?

After reading, a reader reflects on the text, seeks out further reading and discusses the information. I would explain to students that what they do after reading depends on their motivations for reading. Readers think about whether they want to know more and must consider how they will use the information from the text. To activate reflection, students could write a brief reaction to the piece and share it with their classmates. Some pre-research may also be useful:  ask student to consider what they might still want to know about the topic, text or author and how they would go about finding it.