Active
Reading summarized from John Bean, Engaging Ideas, Chap. 8
1.
Show students how your own reading process works, especially how you
vary reading strategies
2.
Show students your own notes, marginalia, quotations, etc.
3.
Encourage students to use the dictionary. Try to get them to tick off
one unknown word per page and define it; offer extra credit, in-class writing
based on vocabulary
4.
Teach students two levels of glossing: SUMMARY (what it says) and
RHETORIC (what it does) for each paragraph. Then add a third level: REACTION
(what do you think?)
5.
Have students present reports, notes for texts not covered in class
6.
Try non-graded pretests, collaborative brainstorming or writing before
a text is assigned
7.
Present two readings from sharply contrasting perspectives to show the impact
of authorial frame of reference. Have students do brief research/presentations
on authors to help understand their perspectives
8.
Unlock cultural codes in a text through discussion and
student-generated reading guides
9.
Have students realize all texts are persuasive. Have students write
down their beliefs on a topic before and after reading a text.
10. Teach students to role-play,
first as a believer in a text, second as a skeptic
1.
Have students turn in photocopies of texts with their marginal notes
2.
Have students keep column notes, where you provide subject headings for
each column
3.
Have students keep two-column journals, one column for summary, one for
response
4.
Have students keep an open-ended record of engagement with a text
5.
Devise reading questions—and make students respond in writing to them
6.
Ask students to write dialogues with the author, or several authors
assigned
7.
Have students write abstracts of articles
8.
Have students map, or outline, the writer’s argument
9.
Have students devise multiple-choice or essay test questions on
readings
10. Have students write
translations, or reading guides, for classmates, other classes, succeeding
students, etc.