7 Keys to Comprehension

What do good readers do?

Visualize:

• Run a movie in your head.
• Try to make what you read as real as possible.
• Imagine sensory details (sights, sounds, smells, etc.)

Make Connections:

• CONNECT what you read to:  Your own life (Text to Self), Another book/movie (Text to Text), Something in life (Text to World).

Ask Questions:

• Who?, What? When? How?, Where?, Why?, What if?

Make Inferences:

• Go beyond the words on the page.
• Put clues together to figure out things that aren't even written down.
• Draw conclusions, make predictions.

Determine What is Important:

• Have a purpose for reading.
• Use publisher's clues for determining importance.
• Title, headings, bold print, italics, highlighting, pictures, captions, graphs, etc.

Synthesize:

• Think about what you read.
• What does it mean to you?
• How does it fit with what you know?

Use "Fix Up" Strategies:

• Re-read
• Read ahead
• Ask questions
• Draw inferences
• Make predictions
• Figure out new words
• Ask for help
• Connect with background knowledge
• Get a mental image
• Inspect pictures & other text features
• Read captions
• Recheck the purpose for reading
• Take a break, then try again