Being able to read effectively and efficiently is one of the fundamental keys to academic success. But managing the sheer volume and navigating the complexity of college reading assignments in order to retain critical information while warding off distractions can be tough for students, especially when they first get to college. This 50-minute lesson provides tips on focus, the concentration cycle, and reading strategies that help students maximize what they learn from what they read. 

Objectives

• Contrast academic reading with reading for pleasure
• Distinguish between active and passive reading
• Utilize different academic reading strategies that help students learn from what they read
• Learn to align reading strategies with levels of understanding required by the assignment and/or course objectives
• Understand the importance of purpose in a reading assignment
• Examine factors that affect comprehension, such as environment, context, preparation, and review.

Instructor resources

Sellers, D., Dochen, C., and Hodges R (2015). Academic Transformation: The Road to College Success (pp 63-69). Pearson.

Pauk, W., and Owens, RJQ. (2008). How to study in college (pp. 106-170). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. http://college.cengage.com/psychology/bernstein/essentials/4e/assets/students/succeed/ch_01.pdf

Summary of actions

• Introduce the session with this video (4:24) and/or slides. 
• Distinguish between academic reading and pleasure-reading and stress the importance of reading skills to academic success.
• Ask students if they have ever thought about different ways to read or reading strategies; encourage metacognition.
• Introduce different reading strategies (Reading for Success; Reading Strategies—KWL Method; Reading Strategies—SQ3R Method).
• Summarize what all reading strategies have in common (preview, active reading, review).
• Discuss Bloom’s taxonomy to highlight different levels of understanding and the potential of what students can do with knowledge they acquire.
• Model SQ3R Reading Strategy using history textbook passage.
• Model active reading strategies using the maritime expansion passage.
• Have students apply the SQ3R or KWL reading method to the POLS textbook excerpt.
• Discuss.