Stage 1 - Preparing for reading

Preparing for reading

Some students may have difficulties reading independently or with sufficient comprehension to learn from texts used in the classroom. The first stage of the Learning through reading and writing strategies enables all students to follow and comprehend a text as it is read aloud.

Strategies in the ‘preparing for reading’ stage have been divided into two steps. Both steps require teachers to look closely at the text before reading in class commences.

Step 1

The first step is to discuss with students the background knowledge they need to access the text. Often this builds on knowledge that has been studied in preceding lessons.

Any text about a new concept will involve knowledge that is usually beyond the students’ experience. If it is a new topic, five or ten minutes may be needed to build up background knowledge before starting to read.

Step 2

The second step is to give students a step-by-step oral summary of the text, using terms that all students can understand.

The accompanying videos demonstrate the strategies in action across the four stages. Sample lessons based on these strategies have also been provided for Geography, History, PDHPE and Science.