Metacogitive Reading Strategies: Part 1 Activating Schema What Good Readers Do to Build Meaning From Text

Let’s Get to Know Ourselves as Readers Share out of influential book? Purposes of Literacy in Life Survey? Motivation to Read Profile? Reader Self-Perception Scale?

Metacognition Remember what this means? Thinking about your thinking! One form of metacognition is hearing the “voice in your head” when you read. Good readers have an abundant, active stream of thoughts going through their heads as they read. “But what if I don’t?” Some people have to train that voice to speak because they are not used to thinking while reading. They’re not sure what to think about, and that’s ok! We’ll learn!

What should the voice be saying? “I hate reading.” NO! Of course not! The reason that many kids don’t like reading is because they are passive. They’re not involved in their reading, so they’re bored. Teaching yourself to be engaged and active in your reading is your first step to enjoying it and understanding it more. No “space out”!

1. Activating Schema Our first strategy is “Activating Schema.” “Schema” is all of your prior knowledge. This includes… Everything you’ve learned, seen, or read, everyone you know, every conversation you’ve had, EVERYTHING that is in your brain. I think of your brain as full of rows and rows and file cabinets with all of the knowledge you’ve acquired throughout your life.

1. Activating Schema When you “Activate your Schema,” you relate what you read to what you already know. If you’re able to file new information in a file cabinet, you’re more likely to KEEP it than if it’s floating around all alone in your brain! Just like your BINDERS! Sometimes new reading changes your schema! i.e. “Where the Sidewalk Ends” Good readers also recognize when they have inadequate schema to understand reading and know how to build schema to get the information they need. How could we do this?

1. Activating Schema There are three general ways to activate your schema: 1. Connecting text to personal knowledge (Text-to-Self) Something you experienced, something someone you know experienced, a conversation, anything personal! Aids empathy The easiest to make, and not always meaningful. i.e. “Oh my gosh, this character has a red hat! I have a red hat too!” 2. Connecting text to other text knowledge (Text-to-Text) Authors, style, content Visuals (charts, films, images) count as “texts” too! 3. Connecting text to world knowledge (Text-to-World) History, current events The most difficult connections to make, and often the most sophisticated!

Practice. 1) What type of schema is being activated Practice! 1) What type of schema is being activated? 2) How is it facilitating comprehension? As I read this article about the Occupy Wall Street rallies, it reminds me of the recent downtown rallies of striking teachers.

Practice. 1) What type of schema is being activated Practice! 1) What type of schema is being activated? 2) How is it facilitating comprehension? This story says, “There is within me…a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love…and at times I was mean to Doodle.” This reminds me of the fact that at times, I was deliberately cruel to my sister when I was younger. Although I love her, I used to say things that would deliberately hurt her. I’d claim her tagalong presence wasn’t wanted among our friends, or insult her saying she was annoying.

Practice. 1) What type of schema is being activated Practice! 1) What type of schema is being activated? 2) How is it facilitating comprehension? This article about cliques in schools sounds so much like the type of bullying described in The Outsiders. Because the Greasers didn’t conform with the popular Socs, they were constantly targeted and demeaned. Anyone who associated with them turned out to be a target too, like Cherry Valance.

How to Make Connections! Some ways to start connections that activate your schema are… This reminds me of… This makes me think of… This sounds like… This is similar to…

Why Does it Matter? Activating your schema facilitates: Comprehension of text Retention of text! The more you activate your schema, the more you build your schema! The larger your schema becomes, the more texts you will be able to comprehend!                

The End! …or is it? Possible readings: Glass Castle, Intro to Mango Street, The Outsiders, Wallflower