Some Reading Tips:

Reading for school is different than reading for pleasure.  When you read for yourself, you're reading for enjoyment.  When you're reading for school, you will hopefully enjoy it, but the teachers have chosen what you're reading because they expect you to learn from the text.

When you read for school, it's not a bad idea to read each piece twice - once to get the basic idea, and once to review the piece.

Reading for Content:

Any time you read, you want to try to figure out, "Why did the author write this? What is the lesson I am supposed to learn from this reading?"

For short pieces, read the entire text, then try to figure out what the author wants you to think about.

For longer pieces, after each chapter or section, pause and try to figure out what specific lesson you might learn from that one part.  As you read farther, see if you notice a theme (recurring idea or lesson) that comes up across different chapters.

Reviewing a Text:

Find the specific words that identify the main idea – What is the topic? What is the author’s view?

As you review, you should try to find details that the author has included that help prove his/her point, or examples that help make the lesson clear.

Look for important facts/details from the text – How is the author proving his/her view of the topic?

Make notes about interesting or unusual facts/ideas/items in the text.

Make notes about items/ideas you disagree with

Drawing Conclusions:

After you have read, ask yourself these questions:

What is my opinion about this topic?

Why do I have this opinion?

What facts/details/examples do I have to support my thoughts?