KWL

Strategic Lesson Planning for Teaching Reading

Strategic teaching using the K-W-L technique activates students' prior knowledge, which is important for engaging them during the stages of teaching reading.

students from the beginning of a reading lesson by activating prior knowledge. The K-W-L technique also helps teachers keep students interested as they think about what they want to know and what they have learned. If you’re a new teacher and you’d like to avoid behavior problems right from the start, take control of your classroom with reading activities and strategies that engage students right away.

With that said, how can new teachers use the K-W-L technique effectively all throughout the lesson? First, teachers need to create a K-W-L chart to help guide the students. This can be done on a large chart or on the chalkboard. Very simply, just divide the space into three columns and label them "Know", "Want to Know", "Learned". Use each space to record students' thoughts as they work through the K-W-L process described below.

Activate Prior Knowledge

As a reading strategy, the K-W-L technique consists of three main parts. The first part or, "what students know" can be represented by a ten minute (maximum) brainstorming about a particular subject connected with the reading text. As students brainstorm, record their ideas under the "Know" column of the chart.

Brainstorming is a great way to begin a reading lesson because it engages all students including the more silent ones who may not be talking, but are in fact listening to their peers. Other great beginnings include:

• prediction exercises
• anticipation guides

Beginnings set the stage for the main part of the lesson which should be an engaging middle.

What Students Want To Know

Once students get in touch with the knowledge they already have before reading the text by brainstorming what they know about the subject, it’s time for an engaging middle to your lesson. The second part of the "K-W-L" formula is the what do students want to find out prior to reading the text.

Read on 

• Teaching Prediction in Picture Books and Non-Fiction Texts
• Successful Strategic Teaching Techniques
• Middle School Content Area Reading Strategies

Having students write a list of questions in the "W" part of the "K-W-L" chart before they start to read the text is the most effective way to do this. As they begin to read, they will confirm or verify any of their questions. Hopefully, they will find the answers to some of their questions as they read the text. They can take notes of any new information they acquire as they read that is directly or indirectly related to their questions.

What Students Have Learned

The last ten minutes of the lesson should help the students become aware of what they have just learned as they reflect on their reading in a fun and engaging way. Students can do this by answering the following questions:

• Name one or two surprising or interesting facts or ideas that you didn't know before.
• Name one or two new vocabulary words students learned.
• Write a question you would like to ask the writer?

Record students' answers to these and other questions in the "Learned" column of the chart. Alternatively, students can also give a short presentation of what they have just learned.

The K-W-L technique focuses on activating prior knowledge and confirming what students have learned during the reading lesson. If you are able to effectively engage your students using strategic reading, they will be much more active in your lessons and as a result, fewer discipline problems will occur.

http://www.suite101.com/content/strategic-lesson-planning-for-teaching-reading-a60272

KWL is intended to be an exercise for a study group or class

that can guide you in reading and understanding a text.

You can adapt it to working alone, but discussions definitely help.

It is composed of only three stages that reflect a worksheet of three columns with the three letters

What we

Know

what we Want to know

and what we Learned

K stands for Know

This first stage may surprise you:

Think first about, then list, what you know about the topic.

This advanced organizer provides you with a background to the new material, building a scaffold to support it.

Think of it as a pre-reading inventory.

• Brainstorm!
  Before looking at the text, think of keywords, terms, or phrases about the topic, either in your class or a study group.
• Record these in the K column of your chart until you cannot think of more.
• Engage your group in a discussion about what you wrote in the K column.
• Organize the entries into general categories.

W stands for Will or Want The second stage is to list a series of questions of what you want to know more of the subject, based upon what you listed in K.

• Preview the text’s table of contents, headings, pictures, charts etc.
  Discuss what you want to learn
• List some thoughts on what you want, or expect to learn, generally or specifically.
  Think in terms of what you will learn, or what do you want to learn about this.
• Turn all sentences into questions before writing them down.
  They will help you focus your attention during reading.
• List the questions by importance.

L stands for Learned

The final stage is to answer your questions,

as well as to list what new information you have learned.

Either while reading or after you have finished.

• List out what you learn as you read,
  either by section, or after the whole work, whichever is comfortable for you.
• Check it against the W column, what you wanted to learn
• Create symbols to indicate main ideas, surprising ideas, questionable ideas, and those you don’t understand!

Expand this exercise beyond K W L:

Add an H! Stands for HOW you can learn more.

• Pose new questions about the topic
• How can I learn more or answer questions not answered in my worksheet
  These include other sources of information, including:  organizations, experts, tutors, websites, librarians, etc.

What’s missing?

Another strategy is to answer the questions that form the basis of good journalism:

Who What When Where Why and How (5 W's and an H)

Who are the main characters?

What does the author say happened?

Where did the action occur?

When did it happen or what is the span of time?

Why did this happen?

How did it happen?

I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who.

I send them over land and sea,

I send them east and west;

But after they have worked for me,

I give them all a rest.

SQ4R

Textbook Reading Strategies
Reading is Important
Reading is probably the most important activity we can do to "get ahead" in life. However, many of us take reading for granted. We feel we are too busy to read, or maybe we don't enjoy reading. Not only is it important to read effectively when you study, but reading for pleasure at least 20 minutes a day will improve your life and your ability to read. Read whatever interests you - just read, be flexible, and remember to keep reading every day.
Flexibility in what you read is extremely important. Being flexible means reading different types of materials. Reading novels, newspapers, magazines, periodicals, or poetry will enable you to adopt different approaches to the different materials. Words may be words, but you read the daily newspaper differently than you read a novel and much differently than you read your textbook. An effective approach to reading is in the development of a successful strategy.
One successful strategy for textbook reading is: SQ4R

• Step 1:   Survey
• Step 2:   Question
• Step 3:   Read
• Step 4:   Record
• Step 5:   Recite
• Step 6:   Reflect

S = Survey / Preview
Rationale:
To become familiar with the material before you read, and to activate any prior knowledge you have of the subject.
Make the book your friend; look at the cover; review the Table of Contents, Introduction, and Index, and back cover to become familiar with the format and the material.
Survey the assigned chapter. Look at the chapter title and topic headings. See how the chapter is organized and how many pages are in the chapter.
Quickly read the chapter introduction, the first sentence of each paragraph and the chapter summary to see what material will be discussed in the chapter and how it is presented.
Q = Question
Rationale:
To make the reading process a critical thinking exercise and to focus your attention on what information you need to get from the reading.
Reading with a purpose (to answer questions) increases concentration, comprehension, retention, and interest in the subject matter.
Questions to have in mind to answer as you read may come from:

• your instructor;
• worksheets, take home tests, quizzes;
• questions throughout and at the end of the chapter;

Change the main headings into questions, e.g., "Reduce Study Stress" to "How can I reduce study stress?" Then as you read the section write down the answers to your questions or make a notation in the margin. Get engaged with the material.
R = Read
Rationale:
The information is necessary in order to master the course material.
Read one section at a time to understand the material and answer your questions. Do not read to memorize the information. On paper write down chapter headings and titles to use as outline notes later in this process.
Keep focused on your reading. Helpful hints include:

• write down problems on paper to be handled later;
• schedule reading breaks every hour or half-hour if it is a difficult subject;
• make associations or visualize the information to make it more meaningful;
• do not take notes while reading;
• read aggressively, with the intent of getting answers, noting supporting details, and remembering major points;
• As you read, use a pencil to put check marks in the margin by important ideas. Be sure all your questions have been answered.
• Reread sections as needed. Be an active reader.

R = Record
Rationale:
By incorporating the motor activity of writing information down, you will have review notes and you will better establish the information into your long-term memory.
After reading each section and page, reflect and summarize the information in your notes. Put ideas into your own words to reinforce your understanding of what you have read. Taking notes at this point in time will almost ensure that you are noting the important parts of the section. Go back over the paragraph and highlight or underline only the main ideas and supporting details with no more than 10-15% of the page highlighted. Use marginal notations as a way to separate main ideas from examples and each of those from new terminology.
Write brief study notes under your chapter headings and titles, which will help encode the information in your long-term memory for easier retrieval and recall.
R = Recite
Rationale:
Activating long-term memory storage is aided tremendously by hearing and verbalizing the material. If you can explain the concepts to another, you have mastered the material.
Recite out loud the information you have read. Tell yourself the major concepts of the section using your own words. Ask yourself questions on your reading and answer those questions out loud.
Study with a friend or in a group to discuss and reinforce the material. Studies show that students who recite forget only 20% of learned material within a two-week period. Those who do not recite or discuss the material forget 80% of the information in the same time period.
R = Reflect / Review
Rationale:
This is a metacognitive activity to make you a more self-aware learner. It also enhances long-term memory storage for successful retrieval at a later date.
Reflection weaves new ideas into old, by comparing the new ideas with ones you already know. By asking yourself, "Upon what evidence are these new ideas and information based?" and "How can I use this new material?" you should increase your creativity, your knowledge, and critical thinking skills.
Review the material within 24 hours. This moves the information from short-term to long-term memory. Review often. Revise study notes as needed. The more you review, the more information you will learn and retain. This avoids last minute "cramming" for a test.
Practice the SQ4R technique with one subject over a two-week period to become familiar with the process and to begin realizing the benefits.
There are many textbook reading strategies available, SQ4R being just one, which can aid you in mastering the volumes of content found in college texts. The importance of adopting a strategy, which is comfortable for you, cannot be underscored enough. Use a strategy to tackle those textbooks before they tackle you!

taken from : http://academic.cuesta.edu/acasupp/as/208.HTM

QAR

1.  QAR

QAR, or "Question Answer Relationship", was developed by Taffy Raphael (1988) to help students understand the relationship between different types of questions and their (the students) use of the text to find the answers. This is because answers can be either explicit, implicit (implied), or not found in the text - depending upon the nature of the question.

The four basic question-answer relationships are:

1. Right There - The answer is found in a single sentence or phrase.
2. Think and Search - The answer is found in several sentences or phrases which are scattered throughout the text.
3. Author and You - The answer comes from connecting the overall information provided by the author with the reader's prior knowledge.
4. On My Own - The answer can be found only by using the reader's prior knowledge; no text is necessary.

QAR Guidelines and Sample Handout

• Questions-Answer Relationship
• Question-Answer Relationships

1. 2.    RAFT

A RAFT helps students process a reading by asking them to communicate information from a chosen point of view to an appropriate audience using the most effective product for their purpose. That was mouthful! It’s difficult to explain but once understood or seen in action it becomes a versatile and helpful way of ensuring all students understand and participate in the deconstructing of a text. The RAFT acronym stands for:

1. Role - the person or object to represented
2. Audience - a person or object addressed
3. Format - the type of communication for the chosen audience (spoken, written, video)
4. Topic - the point of view and content communicated (Hint: it should answer all the journalistic questions as appropriate - who, what, where, when, why, and how)

Sample RAFT Ideas and Example

• RAFT: Role, Audience, Format, Topic
• A Sample for writing

1. 3.    I Charts and Venn diagrams

The Inquiry Chart (I-Chart) is a strategy that enables students to generate meaningful questions about a topic and organize their thoughts and writing. Students integrate prior knowledge or thoughts about the topic with additional information found from the reading source(s). This instructional strategy fosters critical thinking and strengthens reading skills. I-Charts can be used with the entire class, small groups, or individual work. Here is an example: See a sample completed I-Chart.*

A Venn Diagram is a graphic organizer which allows students to compare concepts, ideas, people, events, and places by examining their similarities and differences. When used as a Post-Reading primary source strategy, students evaluate their findings in light of their investigative question.

Further Information and Venn Charts

• http://allaboutvenndiagrams (includes instructions and samples and templates)

1. 4.    History & News Frames

History and News Frames help students appreciate that history is simply stories we remember. They learn this by reading a primary source as if it were literature or a newspaper article. Students deepen understanding by creating story maps which analyze character, setting, plot, and themes or by answering the journalistic questions (Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How?, or the 5 Ws)

Further Information and History Frames Samples

• http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/readquest/strat/storymaps.html

1. 5.    Compose the test

       

Preparing an actual test is a valuable tool in helping students decide the main purpose and the most relevant information given in an assignment.

Have each student write 1-2 test questions.  Compile these and actually create the test from students' questions.  Divide students into small groups and ask them to make a short test with 4 or 5 questions.  These tests are distributed around the class until each group has another groups' test to answer. They are handed back to the group who originated the test to be corrected.  Have the students compile a class test that you will use for future classes.  They can complete the questions individually or in groups.  The test they create can be a valuable tool in reviewing for the actual test. Guide them by giving several different examples of kinds of questions.

1. 6.    Three-Point Review

A three-point review is recommended as a post reading review strategy.  Students are placed in groups of three.  Two students are given a checklist of the words or phrases that represent major ideas and information in the chapter or section being studied.  The third student reviews the chapter and tells the other two students in his group everything he or she remembers about chapter.  (The third student does not have a checklist of the key words or phrases).

As student 3 recalls information, students 1 and 2 check it off on their sheets.  When student 3 can no longer recall information, students 1 and 2 ask questions based on the ideas not checked off their lists.  As student 3 answers these correctly, an X is placed next to the word or phrase.  The review is finished when all words on the checklist are marked or when student 3 can no longer answer questions and begs for freedom.

Student 3 is given a copy of the checklist and knows what information he is lacking and what information he needs to review. Rotate student numbers with each section or chapter studied.  This allows all students the opportunity of either asking or answering questions. This activity would take prep from the teacher, and require at least half a class to do – but is an effective (And surprisingly fun) way of engaging all students in post-reading activities.

Other variations: 

Have one student ask the question, a second student locate the answer, a third student write the answer 

1. 7.    Add-on Information

This strategy is not only useful as a review, but greatly improves listening skills. The entire class adds to existing information in this exercise.  Student 1 recalls a piece of information.  Student 2 repeats that information and adds another piece of information.  Student 3 repeats what was given by 1 and 2 and adds a third piece of information.  This continues until all class members have had an opportunity to contribute or beg for mercy.

1. 8.     How to Infer

Younger students sometimes have difficulty with critical thinking and making inferences. As we will see tomorrow, there are many different ways of drawing conclusions based on a reading. One fun way of helping students create internal text that comes from the external text is to ask them to bring their favourite comic strip to class and explain to classmates why it is funny. Have a class discussion which highlights the inference that we have to use in order to ‘get’ a joke. As illustration you can show funny bumper stickers in English.

The PQRST Reading Method

The PQRST Reading Method!

P Q R S T stands for:

Preview

Question

Read

Self-recite

Test

1. Preview:

When previewing, you are looking for the best overall picture of what you are about to read. This tells you what the chapter, section, or book is about, and what particular issues within that topic will be discussed. Also, previewing allows you to determine your purpose for the reading, and how quickly or slowly you should read.

To preview a book:

• Read the preface or introduction, to note the author�s purpose in writing.
• Look at the table of contents.
• Page through the book, glancing at the chapter headings and subheadings, and at occasional sentences. Also note the terms in italics or boldface, pictures, graphs, and chapter summaries.

To preview a chapter or article:

• Read the headings or section titles, to see the main topics and their organization.
• Note the subheadings and subtopic under each heading.
• Pay attention to the order of the topics and subtopics.
• Skim over the first and last sentences under each topic.
• Skim over the chapter summary.

One of the best things about previewing is that it takes very little time to do. Once you've had some practice, you'll usually be able to preview a chapter in 5 minutes or less, and a book in 10 minutes or less. Better yet the previewing ultimately SAVES you time - lots! If you have a general idea about what a reading assignment covers, you will be able to determine how it relates to the course for which you're reading, and what your want to learn from it. This will make your reading more focused and efficient. If after previewing, you can answer the questions, "What is the chapter or book about?" and "What main points will be discussed?", your preview was successful!

2. Question:

With specific questions in mind about a reading assignment, you will know exactly what information to look for - and you'll be motivated to find it! This will help you to learn as much as you can from reading.

• Start by turning the chapter headings and subheadings into questions. For example, if your Precalculus textbook has a chapter headed "Trigonometric Identities", your question could be "What are trigonometric identities?" New terms can also be made into questions easily.
• If other parts of the reading raised your curiosity during your Preview, make up a question about this, too.
• Of course, if your textbook has study questions, you can use these!
• Keep flexible when forming questions. The number you generate will depend on the length of the assignment and the amount of detail you want to learn.
• You may also want to add or change questions as you read, if you notice important points that your original questions did not address.

3. Read:

Your Preview and Questions have prepared you to read carefully and actively, so do this!

• Remember the features that you noticed during the last two steps: headings, subheadings, special terms, pictures, and summaries. Use these to guide you toward the main ideas.
• Remember also that each paragraph contains a main idea, and supporting ideas that elaborate on this. Look for these, and underline or highlight them. You may also want to jot down the main ideas in the margins.
• Read for ideas rather than single words: train your eyes to look at cluster of related words rather than at each individual word. Use your pen as you guide, by highlighting or underlining phrases or clusters of related words.
• This "cluster reading" will (a) increase your reading speed, by reducing the number of times your eyes stop, and (b) increase your comprehension, since you are training yourself to look at whole ideas at once. Also, if you only underline main idea phrases, this prevents you from underlining too much.
• Following these guidelines will ensure that you are answering your Questions as you read. Also, stay alert to terms or ideas your questions did not address.
• After each section (or about every 10 minutes, whichever makes sense), ask yourself, "Do I understand this? Am I learning what I wanted to?" This will lead you into the next step...

4. Self-Recite:

In this step, you summarize for yourself what you just read. This allows you to check your understanding of the material, and will aid retention of it.

• How to do it: Without looking at the book, recite the main headings and the main idea under each. Then - still without looking - tell yourself in a sentence or two what you read. Finally, scan over the section QUICKLY to pick up any essential points you may have missed.
• Usually, it is helpful to stop and recite after each major section of a chapter, especially if the chapters are long.
• You can recite in your head or aloud, but many students find it most effective if they jot down what they recite. This, of course, also makes it much easier to review later.
• Many students also find Self-Reciting helpful because it requires monitoring their attention carefully, and improving it! If you are having difficulty Self-Reciting, this may mean you are not concentrating fully on the reading - but can also provide incentive for improving your concentration.
• If you are studying subjects in which the pieces of information are not very meaningful by themselves (such as another language, or formulas, rules, and laws in math and science courses), you will spend a lot of your study time - often 90% or more - reciting. If you are studying a subject that involves well-connected narrative or descriptive material, such as history, sociology, philosophy, or literature, you will probably spend 30% or less of your study time reciting. However, reciting is an important step for all types of material, and it sets you up to...

5. Test:

In this final step of PQRST, you make certain that you know and remember what you read. Testing yourself seals the material into your long-term memory - and every time your test yourself, you ensure that you will keep it there!

• You should first test yourself within 24 hours of reading the material - without this, you are likely to forget most of it.
• Start by recalling as much as you can without looking at the book or your recitation notes. If you have difficulty, look at the questions you wrote to jog your memory, but don't look at your answers or other notes until you have given your memory a chance to work!
• Now, look back over your recitation notes to make sure you remembered all the important points and main ideas. If you still think you missed something, look over the reading assignment, too.
• After this initial Test session, do at least one more before you'll be tested on the material. Again, the more you Test yourself, the more firmly the information will be planted in your long-term memory.
• Many students find it helpful to test themselves on lecture notes from the class sessions related to a reading assignment at the same time they test themselves on the reading. This helps to clarify and solidify connections between lectures and readings.
• The best part of the Test step is that it can be VERY BRIEF - and will be, as long as you've followed the PQRST process this far. And when it's time to do a major review before an exam, you'll be amazed at how much you already remember!

http://www.uccs.umn.edu/oldsite/lasc/handouts/PQRST.html

Reading Efficiently by Reading Intelligently

Reading Strategies

Reading Efficiently by Reading Intelligently

Get the most from your reading.

Whether they're project documents, trade journals, blogs, business books or ebooks, most of us read regularly as part of our jobs, and to develop our skills and knowledge.

But do you ever read what should be a useful document, yet fail to gain any helpful information from it? Or, do you have to re-read something several times to get a full understanding of the content?

In this article, we're looking at strategies that will help you read more effectively. These approaches will help you get the maximum benefit from your reading, with the minimum effort.

Think About What You Want to Know

Before you start reading anything, ask yourself why you're reading it. Are you reading with a purpose, or just for pleasure? What do you want to know after you've read it?

Once you know your purpose, you can examine the resource to see whether it's going to help you.

For example, with a book, an easy way of doing this is to look at the introduction and the chapter headings. The introduction should let you know who the book is intended for, and what it covers. Chapter headings will give you an overall view of the structure of the subject.

Ask yourself whether the resource meets your needs, and try to work out if it will give you the right amount of knowledge. If you think that the resource isn't ideal, don't waste time reading it.

Remember that this also applies to content that you subscribe to, such as journals or magazines, and web-based RSS and social media news feeds - don't be afraid to prune these resources if you are not getting value from some publishers.

Know How Deeply to Study the Material

WWhere you only need the shallowest knowledge of a subject, you can skim material. Here you read only chapter headings, introductions, and summaries.

If you need a moderate level of information on a subject, then you can scan the text. This is when you read the chapter introductions and summaries in detail. You can then speed read the contents of the chapters, picking out and understanding key words and concepts. (When looking at material in this way, it's often worth paying attention to diagrams and graphs.)

Only when you need full knowledge of a subject is it worth studying the text in detail. Here it's best to skim the material first to get an overview of the subject. This gives you an understanding of its structure, into which you can then fit the detail gained from a full reading of the material. (SQ3R is a good technique for getting a deep understanding of a text.)

Read Actively

When you're reading a document or book in detail, it helps if you practice "active reading" by highlighting and underlining key information, and taking notes (member-only article) as you progress. (Mind Maps are great for this). This emphasizes information in your mind, and helps you to review important points later.

Doing this also helps you keep your mind focused on the material, and stops you thinking about other things.

Tip:

If you're worried about damaging a book by marking it up, ask yourself how much your investment of time is worth. If the book is inexpensive, or if the benefit that you get from the book substantially exceeds its value, then don't worry too much about marking it. (Of course, only do this if it belongs to you!)

Know How to Study Different Types of Material

Different types of documents hold information in different places and in different ways, and they have different depths and breadths of coverage.

By understanding the layout of the material you're reading, you can extract the information you want efficiently.

Magazines and Newspapers

These tend to give a fragmented coverage of an area. They will typically only concentrate on the most interesting and glamorous parts of a topic - this helps them boost circulation! As such, they will often ignore less interesting information that may be essential to a full understanding of a subject, and they may include low value content to "pad out" advertising.

The most effective way of getting information from magazines is to scan the contents tables or indexes and turn directly to interesting articles. If you find an article useful, then cut it out and file it in a folder specifically covering that sort of information. In this way you will build up sets of related articles that may begin to explain the subject.

Newspapers tend to be arranged in sections. If you read a paper often, you can quickly learn which sections are useful, and which ones you can skip altogether.

Tip:

You can apply the same strategies to reading online versions of newspapers and magazines. However, you need to make sure that you don't get distracted by links to other, non-relevant material..

Reading Individual Articles

There are three main types of article in magazines and newspapers:

• News Articles - these are designed to explain the key points first, and then flesh these out with detail. So, the most important information is presented first, with information being less and less useful as the article progresses.
• Opinion Articles - these present a point of view. Here the most important information is contained in the introduction and the summary, with the middle of the article containing supporting arguments.
• Feature Articles - these are written to provide entertainment or background on a subject. Typically the most important information is in the body of the text.

If you know what you want from an article, and recognize its type, you can get information from it quickly and efficiently.

Tip 1:

Nowadays, you probably read many articles online. You can easily save links to these in a bookmark folder to reference later. Make sure that you title folders so that you can easily find the link again. For instance, you could have separate folders for project research, marketing, client prospects, trade information, and professional growth. Or, it might be helpful to title folders using the website or publication name.

Tip 2:

Remember that there are many online articles and electronic documents that weren't originally designed to be read on a screen. (This will also include documents that are emailed to you.) If you find it hard to read these on screen, print them out. This is especially important for long or detailed documents.

Make Your Own Table of Contents

When you're reading a document or book, it's easy to accept the writer's structure of thought. This means that you may not notice when important information has been left out, or that an irrelevant detail has been included.

An effective way to combat this is to make up your own table of contents before you start reading. Ask yourself what sections or topics you are expecting to see in this document, and what questions you want to have answered by the end of the text.

Although doing this before you start reading the document may sound like a strange strategy, it's useful, because it helps you spot holes in the author's argument. Writing out your own table of contents also helps you address your own questions, and think about what you're expecting to learn from the text.

Use Glossaries with Technical Documents

If you're reading large amounts of difficult technical material, it may be useful to use or compile a glossary. Keep this beside you as you read.

It's also useful to note down the key concepts in your own words, and refer to these when necessary.

Further Reading Tips

• The time when you read a document plays a role in how easy the reading will be, and how much information you'll retain.
• If you need to read a text that is tedious, or requires a great deal of concentration, it's best to tackle it when you have the most energy in the day. Our article, Is This a Morning Task?, (member-only article), helps you work out when this is, so that you can schedule your reading time accordingly.
• Where you read is also important. Reading at night, in bed, doesn't work for many people because it makes them sleepy (which means that you may not remember the information). Everyone is different, however, so read in a place that's comfortable, free of distractions, and that has good light - this is important even if you're reading from a screen.
• It can be helpful to review the information when you've finished reading. When you're done, write a paragraph that explains, in your own words, what you just learned. Often, putting pen to paper can help strengthen your recall of new information, so that you retain it more effectively.

Key Points

If you want to read more effectively, identify what you want to learn from each resource you read, and know how deeply you want to study the material. And, consider "active reading" by making notes and marking-up the material as you go along. It's also useful to know how to study different types of material.

Making your own table of contents before you read material, and using glossaries for technical resources, are other useful reading strategies.

Remember that it takes practice to develop your reading skills - the more you use these strategies, the more effective you'll become.