Reading
is not just about reading every word on the page, turning the page or finishing
the reading as quickly as possible. Reading incorporates many elements like
looking at the main points of each chapter, looking at the main characters and
themes etc. When students read, the main benefits don’t come from the actual
reading, but more from things like reading the summary at the start and
imagining what is going to happen during the reading, stopping at certain parts
of the reading and reminiscing on what just happened, jotting down the main
points of different elements of the story, while at the same time thinking of how
every idea of the story relates to each other. Everyone interprets the reading
differently, so jotting down these notes can help the teacher and student make
sure that the students are understanding the reading and on the right track. Looking
in-depth at the content while reading and taking notes allows the students to
keep up with the reading and understand what is happening at each part, have
something to look back at when they have finished the novel so that if they
need to look back and check something they don’t have to read the whole book
again or go through every page to find what they are looking for. This also
allows the teacher to see how much attention the students have been paying to
the reading and whether they are on the right track or not when it comes to the
main points of the novel they need to concentrate on.
Even
though we don’t see it all the time, reading incorporates many different
aspects into the classroom. As well as the reading aspect, students are
learning how to reflect on the readings and look for the main content in each
part, pay attention to what they are reading, and make sure they are understanding and are concentrating on the reading as a whole, not just some parts here and
there. Students should go over what the reading is about at some parts and mark
the main objectives. This allows them to keep focused on what
they are reading and remember what they have just read so that they can
understand how it connects to the next part. This will help them understand the
reading as a whole at the end. Writing notes down is also a good way to remember the information, not just reading it once and trying to remember everything.
