Topic: Reading to Learn

10-second review: Learning to read is not an end in itself. Reading must become a tool for learning. All teachers need to teach students how to study; students need to learn how to learn. They need to move from dependence on the teacher to independence in reading.

Title: “Reading in the Learning Process.” Psychology in Teaching Reading. HP Smith and EV Dechant, pp. 326-352.

Comment: A basic study skill is SQ3R, Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review. It’s a good example of how students move from a teacher-directed technique for reading to its use independently by students in studying a textbook chapter.

Teacher directed: Teacher directs students in the SURVEY to read the title and speculate about it, to read sub-titles, the first paragraph of the chapter, the first sentence of each succeeding paragraph and the last paragraph. The teacher then provides questions to answer as they READ. (The first paragraph introduces the topic of the chapter, the topic sentences introduce important details and the last paragraph summarizes the chapter.) Students then discuss what they have learned (RECITE) and REVIEW.

Student directed: The student reads the title, reflects on it, reads the first paragraph, the first sentence of each succeeding paragraph and the last paragraph. The student then raises questions to read to answer. RayS.