Engaging Students With Rereading, Part 2--Lesson Plan Included!

Yesterday, I explained how I begin getting students excited for the idea that we will reread many texts throughout the year. Today, I'll be talking about the clincher of that lesson, when students can actually see the impact of this practice immediately. I call this a "Power Read," and it's always a powerful tool.

Step 1: Give students an article of your choosing (I like this one that I have slightly modified), and instruct students that all they are to do is read it. Don't write on it, don't highlight it, just read and think about the big ideas of the article.

Step 2: After students have finished reading, I ask them to write, in 1-2 sentences on the bottom of the page about what the article was about. I give a couple of minutes to share ideas with tablemates and make adjustments as needed.

Step 3: Instruct students that this time, they will be reading the article for vocabulary. Instruct them to circle any unfamiliar or interesting words. (For this lesson, I guide them using the poster below.)

Step 4: This time, students will be rereading for context clues. They should use a wavy underline any time they find a hint about the meaning of their interesting or unknown words. Allow students to share at their table. (This will be the toughest step, as many students may not have much experience finding context clues in an authentic text. I always make sure to model this.)  

Step 5: Students will highlight or underline any evidence that supports the main idea they listed at the bottom of the page.

Step 6: Have students rate, on a scale of 1-5, how well they understand the article.

Step 7: This is the most exciting part. I usually let students guess the reading level of the article we have just read. They are shocked when I pull up the readability statistics in Microsoft Word (instructions for how to do this here) and discover that it is written at a 9th-grade reading level. We use this moment of excitement to discuss why rereading a text made it so easy to understand a complex article.

If you really want your kids to be excited, make them solemnly vow to go home and tell their parents that they read a 9th-grade-level article at school today! This is a great way to give your struggling readers confidence; while they may not understand many of the ideas in the article, most will grasp the overarching ones, and will be empowered by knowing that they can do so even in high-level texts. It's a powerful way to start our reading experience together!

Cheers,