Marking Text

I realized about a week ago that my students didn't have much they could take with them when they left my classroom. I don't mean physically. Physically, they have the Reader Bibles we've been adding to each week, as well as the vocabulary CDs and all the other crap I've copied/written/drawn over the weeks. But, honestly, are they ever going to use those? If it was me, I'd say, "Wow, that's great," and then toss each and every one of those items squarely in the trash. (I mean, we're being honest here, right?!)

My students needed a solid, usable tool that they could use when nobody else was around to help them. Something that works the same way, every single time, and produces real results. I also realized that whatever it was would have to be physical, because my students are mostly whole-body learners and wouldn't know what to do with yet another "concept". The answer was...marking text.

Cris Tovani talks about marking text as a comprehension exercise in her excellent book I Read It, but I Don't Get It. But she would have students mark text for different purposes each time, focusing on questioning, vocabulary, or whatever depending on the lesson. I adapted it slightly to make it more all-encompassing. And you know what? MY STUDENTS LOVED IT. They loooooooooooved it. My teenagers, in particular, looked up at me in astonishment after we did it for the first time. "It makes reading so much easier, Miss," one of them exclaimed. "I actually remember what happened."

Here's what we did:

Marking Text

Materials:

-Strips of paper, about the size of a bookmark
-a short story, anywhere from one to three pages long

1. Pass out the strips of paper (one for each page of text) and stories to your students. Explain that you are going to show them a new way to keep track of what they are reading and that this is something they will do when they read in your class from now on.

2. Tell them that people who are confused by what they read have to read the same story over and over again. They read it all the way through the first time. Then, when they get asked a question about it, they read the whole thing again to find the answer. Then, when they get a second question, they read the whole thing yet again. And so on, and so forth. (You'll see some students nodding their heads in agreement at this point.) But strong readers only need to read a story once all the way through. If they are asked questions, they either remember the information or know where to find it in the story. Taking notes will help them slow down and force them to use comprehension strategies.

3. Project the first page of the story you've chosen onto the board. Have students preview the story by looking at the title and pictures to get an idea of what they will be reading about. Ask someone to read the title out loud for you. Then write down the title at the top of a strip of paper. Have them do the same.

4. Next, ask them to count the number of paragraphs on the page. Write a number for each paragraph, with space for notes after the numbers. (For example, if there are four paragraphs, there should be four spaces.) Have them do the same.

5. Now, read the first paragraph aloud while the students read along silently. At the end of the paragraph, stop. Ask them what the most important idea was in the paragraph. Then, make a note of it on the strip of paper under the space for #1. Encourage them to write their own notes--whatever gets the idea across and makes sense to them, even if it's not just like yours.

6. Continue to write down the main ideas for each paragraph until you have completed the story. It is important to do this after EACH paragraph and not to move on until a note has been made. (If this means that students need to read the paragraph again to identify the main idea, have them do so.) It's also important that you make NOTES, not whole sentences. The idea is that this exercise is done quickly and painlessly.

7. At the end of the exercise, ask students a series of questions about the story. Start with, "Who is this story about?" If they're not sure, tell them to look at their notes and see whose name appears the most often. Then, ask them to identify the main event. Again, if they're not sure, refer them to their notes. Ask them a few questions that you know they didn't take notes on. If they don't know the answer, show them how to use their notes to find the paragraph that will contain the answer.

8. Finally, wrap up by asking students whether this makes reading easier or harder. Remind them that although it may take a little longer to read the story the first time, it will actually save them time in the long-run.

Practice this a few times with your students. Integrate the techniques you've been working on with them. For example, we'd been working on graphic organizers, so I showed them how to use those instead of writing out a sentence in their notes. At first, your students will want to write out every little detail. Discourage this. Get them to create simple, quick, shorthand notes. Remember, if you make it too hard, they'll never actually do it.

I demonstrated the technique several times for my students. And then I had them do it several times by themselves. Suddenly, students who never volunteered answers were participating in class. I could talk to my students about themes and higher-level concepts, because we didn't have to spend so much time reviewing the events. And my students were just delighted. For the first time for some of them, they read through a story and actually understood it.

Now, I have my students do this every single time they read. I do it, too, when we're reading together. And it has made a huge difference. They can really talk about things now. Plus, it makes it much easier to check on student progress as you walk around the classroom. If someone's making notes, leave them alone. If they're not, you know there's a problem.

I really, really encourage teachers of all subjects to give it a try. Try it for a week. If you don't see an improvement in your students' reading comprehension, I'll eat my hat. Seriously.