I read it, but I don’t get it

I read it, but I don’t get it *

What is a teacher, a parent, or tutor to do when a student remarks, “I read it, but I don’t get it?”
Have you heard your child say any of these statements?

“I’m just not a very good reader.”
“I read it but I don’t get it.
“It takes too long to read.”
“I’m an OK reader, I am just not interested.”
“I like to read sometimes, but there isn’t anything good to read.”
“Reading is boring.”

What causes students to be successful in class and struggle with reading? Often, students approach a text without strategies, ways of decoding the text and using reading strategies. Below are a few strategies to aid in the reading process:

1. Setting a purpose for reading

a. People read for different reasons. For example, you may read a horror story to be entertained and a history of World War II to learn more about the subject that interests you. When you read, it is often helpful to set a purpose for reading, or determine what you’d like to get out of a piece of writing. To get an idea of that purpose, try asking yourself questions that begin with who, what, when, where, why and how.

2. Annotating a text

Annotating a text involves the following:
· circling important phrases
· underlining key sentences
· taking notes in the margins of a text/document
· rephrasing the author's language into your own words
· raising questions

3. Rereading a text

Just as having more than one conversation with another person leads to closer understanding, conducting a number of readings leads to a richer and more meaningful relationship with, and understanding of, a text.

If your first reading is for basic information and evaluation, subsequent readings can take on different levels of focus (on style and tone, on details, on examples, on intellectual or ideological tradition, etc.).

In re-reading, work to separate parts of arguments (e.g., thesis idea, evidence, preview, counterarguments) and to understand how these parts work to support the author’s thesis.
(http://writing.umn.edu/sws/quicktips/process/crit_read.htm)

The strategies above are a few of the many reading strategies to assist in critical reading.

-Joel Neft
English Teacher

* Title borrowed from Cris Tovani’s book, I read it, but I don’t get it