2.1: Before, During, and After Reading

Before Reading Strategies

One of the first steps you can take before you read something is to preview the material. Scan the reading by looking at the textual features– the titles, subtitles, pictures, graphs, or bold words. From the textual features, determine the topic of the reading. Knowing the topic can help you decide whether or not you have any background knowledge or experiences with the subject of the reading. If you have some prior knowledge, the material may be easier for you to understand. Conversely, having no background knowledge can make understanding the reading a bit more difficult; thus, you will want to read more slowly and make sure you are understanding and grasping the message.

Exercise 1)

Practice previewing with the first page of “Literacy as Freedom” from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Scan the reading and name the text features that support you in determining what the topic is about. Write those text features here. Do not read the passage as you’re scanning.

 

Some features you may have noticed are the following:

• The reference from where the article came: SAAM Smithsonian American Art Museum
• The bolded title: Literacy as Freedom
• The bolded words Alabama Slave Code of 1833 and Frederick Douglass
• The 2 paintings – the one with a man reading, and the other where a woman is sitting next to a child reading
• Each picture has captions – one is The Lord is My Shepherd and the other is Sunday Morning

These are just a few of the different kinds of text features that can be used to preview a text.

Some additional features may include the following:

• Chapter titles
• Illustrations/photographs/graphs/tables/cartoons
• Headings and subheadings
• Bold words/italicized words
• Biographical information on the author
• Pre- or post- questions

Exercise 2)

Now, think about the textual features you noticed and determine what you think this passage may be about. Decide if you have any background knowledge about the topic. Then, pose a few questions based on what you would like to learn from the reading. Write your questions based on the text features you noticed here:

By reading with some specific questions in mind, you will enter the passage already thinking about the topic. This is called “reading with a purpose.” This specific purpose or purposes will help guide your understanding. After all, understanding is the main purpose of reading in the first place!

Perhaps some of the questions your raised included the following:

• What does literacy have to do with freedom?
• What was the Alabama Slave Code and what did the code mean for enslaved people?
• Who was Frederick Douglass?
• What is the man reading? Is it a Bible?
• Is the woman teaching the child to read?

These questions and many others stimulate thinking and can become your purpose for reading.

Summary of Before Reading Strategies

Preview Read titles, subtitles, summaries, pictures, graphs, tables, captions, bold/italicized content

Activate your Background Knowledge Ask: What do I know about this topic? Do I have knowledge or is it completely new?

Pose Questions or Make Predictions Use the information from previewing to form an expectation about the reading.

Set a Purpose Ask: “Why am I reading this? What do I hope to discover and learn?”

During Reading

With some questions in mind, you are ready to begin reading. As you read, there are several strategies you can utilize to help you understand and remember the reading. Before reviewing these strategies, though, think about what you do when you are reading something for school. Do you highlight or underline parts of the reading you find interesting or important? Most students have been taught to underline or highlight text. However, both of these actions are passive and do not actively help you remember or retain what you’ve read. Moreover, when a topic is new and you do not have much background knowledge, you may get to the end of the passage only to discover you have highlighted the entire passage. That will not be useful to you - unless you have an extremely keen memory.

Annotating the text is a note-taking strategy that is highly useful for processing your thinking and understanding of the text. Annotating the text requires careful reading and selective underlining or highlighting. For anything you decide to underline or highlight, you will include a note of explanation or add a comment in the margin. Your note or comment should be put into your own words. The idea is not for you to just rewrite what is already written in the text, but for you to restate the idea in your own words and to take ownership of the author’s ideas. In the beginning, the process of annotation may be difficult; however, with practice, restating the author's ideas in your own words gets easier. In addition, it is also teaching you the beginning skills of paraphrasing and summarizing.

Now, go back and reread the questions you posed from the article “Literacy as Freedom”. Begin to read and annotate the article. If you find answers to some of your questions, note them in the margins. If you learn some new important ideas, underline or highlight them and restate the ideas in your own words. If you find you have some new questions or are unsure of words or ideas, write those down too.

Below is an example of annotations from the first page of the reading. Your annotations will most likely look different.

Other strategies you may utilize while reading include the following:

During Reading Strategies
Annotate Key Ideas and Themes Sort out main points from supporting details. Paraphrase and write key points.
Create Mental Images Visualize or picture a movie running through your mind of what is happening.
Use Background Knowledge to Make Connections Link what you are reading to your own experiences (text to self), to other texts, shows, or movies (text to text), and to society (text to world).
Self-Question Ask questions about the information you are reading and search for answers.
Make Inferences Use your background knowledge and text information to draw conclusions, answer questions, and figure out the author’s purpose, viewpoint, and underlying themes.
Summarize Stop every 1-2 paragraphs and paraphrase - put the information into your own words.
Use Fix-Up Strategies Identify and note words or ideas that are unclear. o Use word structure – is there a familiar prefix, suffix, base? o Look up unknown words/ideas in dictionary, etymological resource, or Google o Use context clues o Reread and read difficult parts aloud

After Reading Strategies

Once you have read and annotated the reading, think back on your original purpose for reading.

Were you able to answer some of the questions that you had posed? As you read, did you raise and answer new questions? Can you determine what the author’s purpose was for writing the text? What new ideas, concepts, and words did you encounter?

After Reading Strategies

Reflect Back to your Purpose What did you hope to learn and what did you learn?

Make Inferences Draw conclusions: Why did the author write this? What were some underlying themes?

Critically Reflect Ask yourself, what did this author want me to believe and why? Who is the intended audience and what impact is the author trying to make? Whose perspectives were present? Whose views were absent? What do I still want to know?

Make a Judgment Evaluate your understanding of what was learned. Did the reading open your mind to a new opinion or perspective? Did you enjoy the reading, why or why not?

As you are reading for your classes, we encourage you to practice using the before, during, and after reading strategies to support your comprehension and engagement with the readings.