Before, during, and after reading strategies for 6th grade readers of nonfiction texts.

DuringBefore After

By: Joseph Share

Reading StrategiesBefore

These strategies will help the reader activate prior

knowledge and prepare him/her for

the passage presented.

DuringThese strategies

will help the student

understand what he/she is reading

while they are reading it.

AfterThese strategies will help the student to comprehend what they have read and

to reinforce the knowledge they

obtained from the passage.

1. Pre-Teach Vocabulary• Find words that may be difficult for students. • Give the words meaning and have students use them in sentences.• Students can be put into groups or called on one by one.

Before

When dealing with 6th grade students and using nonfiction texts the most common source of text would be the students’ textbooks. The textbook often provides a word list at the beginning of the chapter or unit. Before reading, students are encouraged to create a vocabulary list with the new words and their definitions so that they understand the new material that is being presented to them.

EXAMPLE

2. Preview the Text• Skim the passage looking for headings, bold, underlined, or italic

words, pictures or graphs, this is referred to as the text structure.

Before

Hopefully students have learned to use context clues and examine text structures. If you teach students to look through the pages and look at any headings, bold, underlined, or italic words, pictures, graphs, charts, text boxes, or anything not written in normal text, it should give the students many clues as to what the text is about.

In this sample the author has bold and highlighted words within the text, colored headings and subheadings, pictures and side notes.

EXAMPLE

3. Establish a Purpose• Why are we reading this?• Are we reading this for leisure?• Are we reading this for specific information?– What information are we looking

for?

Before

EXAMPLE

Usually when students read 6th grade nonfiction texts they are reading for specific information. For example: You might need to find out how sharks breathe

4. Use Background Knowledge• “What do I already know about this topic?”• A KWL chart is a great graphic organizer to use for this question.

Before

EXAMPLE

For nonfiction texts a KWL chart is a great tool to use. Chances are most children will have some knowledge on the topic. The chart provides sections for students to write information they know, want to know, and learned. Before reading, you should only fill out the know and want to know sections.

5. Consider the Text Structure• What kind of passage is this?• Cause and effect• Descriptive• Sequence/procedural• Problem/solution• Comparison/contrast• enumerative

Before

EXAMPLE

If the students know what the author is trying to write about he/she will be prepared to look for certain words. If students know it is a compare/contrast text, they know that there are at least two main ideas with details to be aware of.

1. Think-Aloud• Think-alouds are great to use for the during reading process.

During

EXAMPLE

A teacher could model a think-aloud to the students by simply thinking out loud about his/her process of defining a vocabulary word using context clues.

2. Monitor Comprehension• Fix-Up Strategies• Sound out unknown words• Look up words in a dictionary or use context clues to define them• Reflect or make a connection to the text

During

EXAMPLE

Students need to be conscious of what they're reading while they're reading it. A fix-up strategy such as sounding out a word, defining it, or making a connection to the text is a great way to monitor comprehension.

3. Stop-And-Jot• Using post-it or sticky notes during

reading can help the reader remember his/her thought process while they were reading.

During

Stress to your students to make notes about anything they find interesting or confusing.

EXAMPLE

4. Make Inferences• Making inferences can be a before reading strategy. It can also be

used during the reading process.

During

EXAMPLE

When reading nonfiction texts there aren’t many opportunities to infer the text. It is still important for the students to infer during these texts.

5. Visualize• Try to encourage the reader to go back in time and put themselves into the text. • Have students draw a picture of what they’re visualizing.

During

1. Ask Questions• Encourage students to ask questions about the text. Remember, there

aren’t any bad questions.• The teacher can come up with some interesting questions to ask as well.

After

EXAMPLE

Ask the students questions from the text that will ignite their critical thinking skills! Why do you think some sharks can jump out of the water? Are they all capable of jumping out of the water? Why or why not?

2. Create a Graphic Organizer• Graphic organizer are great for nonfiction texts.• T-charts, outlines, and concept maps are some of the most used

graphic organizers for nonfiction texts.

After

EXAMPLEGraphic organizers can help you organize the information in a clear and easy to understand way.

3. Summarize• Encourage students to retell the story in their own words.

After

By summarizing the text, you show that understood the main ideas of the passage.

4. Answer Questions• Students should be finding answers for important questions from the

during stage of reading.• Group work is a great strategy to employ when asking questions.

After

There are four types of questions that you should be able to answer after reading a passage. These questions will help you with the comprehension of the passage. They are called QAR’s. Each one can help you with a different level of comprehension.

5. Reread• Rereading is a strategy that will work better for some students.

After

EXAMPLE

Tell the students to look back at their notes from the during process of reading. The students can reread only the sections they were unsure about to save some time. Rereading can help because, since you read it once, you should already know the words and can now focus on the information in the text instead of reading it fluently.

Works Cited• Bursuck, W. D., & Damer, M. (2011). Comprehension. In Teaching reading

to students who are at risk or have disabilities: A multi-tier approach (pp. 272-322). Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson• Phonological Instruction for Older Students. (n.d.). Retrieved November

4, 2015, from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/phonological-instruction-older-students • Tangient LLC (2013). NBJEnglish - NONFICTION READING.

Retrieved November 3, 2015, from http://nbjenglish.wikispaces.com/NONFICTION+READING• Images taken from Google Images