AVID Reading Strategies

WICOR

• W: Writing

• I: Inquiry

• C: Collaboration

• O: Organization

• R: Reading

Reading is:

• Strategically gaining meaning, understanding, and knowledge from print and other media

• Purpose driven

• Interactive

Students who read:

• Understand text structures

• Apply prior knowledge and make connections to other texts, self, and world

• Make predictions and ask questions

• Create visual images as they read

Popular AVID Reading Strategies

• Marking-the-Text

• Writing-in-the-Margins

• Pause to Connect

• One-Page Report

Marking-the-Text

• Active reading strategy

• Students should use this strategy to identify information that is relevant to the reading purpose while reading any academic text

• Begin by having students read the text once through before marking it on subsequent readings

• Eventually students will mark the text on their first reading

Why should I use it?

• Students will understand the information more deeply

• Students will quickly be able to identify information as EVIDENCE for writing, discussions, & other post-reading activities

• Students will be able to access texts of higher complexity

How do I use it?

1. Teacher will begin by presenting the reading purpose

2. Number the paragraphs or lines

3. Circle key terms, names of people or places, and or dates

4. Underline author’s claims

5. Underline relevant information

Pre-Reading Strategy Suggestions

• Predict what the article will be about based off of the title, subtitles, bold words, etc.

• Quick-Write to a relevant question

• Build vocabulary• Provide definitions/have students look up in dictionary

• Context clues

• Draw the words

• Discuss as a class

Writing-in-the-Margins

• Active reading strategy

• 6 different ways highly proficient readers think about the texts they read

• Students ask questions, draw pictures, write personal responses, and make connections to the text in the margins

• Great for when students are struggling with following the meaning of a text so they are forced to slow down to interact and think about the text

• Strategy goes great with Cornell Notes!

Why should I use it?

• Students are actively engaged with what the text is saying

• Clarifying, summarizing, questioning, as well as other strategies provided will increase students’ comprehension of textual material

• Makes reading experience more interesting and personal providing students with ways to make their own meaning of the text

How should I use it?

• Have students make comments in the margins of the texts

• Most likely, they will be responding to information they have underlined or circled while “Marking-the-Text”

• Students can use “Writing in the Margins: Six Strategies at a Glance” handout to assist in writing in the margins while reading (you can ask them to focus on one particular strategy for a certain reading; eventually students will use the skill instinctively and won’t need to be told which strategy to use)

• Students can use margin notes to write summary in Cornell Notes and can even apply the strategy to their actual Cornell Notes

Pause to Connect

• An active reading strategy that asks students to pause at different times throughout the reading to think critically about the relationships between language and meaning.

Why should I use it?

• Students should pause to connect to:• Clarify Ideas

• Question the meaning of an idea

• Investigate a relationship between ideas

How should I use it?

• Students can pause to connect by:• Reflecting on what they read

• Synthesize ideas from one paragraph to the next

• Relate ideas in the text to outside knowledge

• After, students should document their connections in the margins of their notes.

One Page Report: Poster Activity

• A summary exercise that can be used to assist students as they work on any skill.

Why should I use it?

• The “one-page report: poster activity” combines visual and textual elements. Information is presented in manageable parts, this activity becomes accessible to a wide range of students. It also works well as a change of pace.

How should I use it?

• Materials:• Poster paper or 8.5 x 11 for individuals

• Markers or colored pencils

• Copy of the text for each student

• Provide structure and guidance for students• Model an example and, or provide a rubric.