Learning by doing 10 docx

GETTING MORE OUT OF READING

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Once you know which parts you understand, you have a key to help

you with the parts you don’t understand. Ask yourself, “What do I need

to know to make the pictures and order clear?” Perhaps some answers

will be found in a passage that comes before the section you’re reading.

Start with the part you do understand, and use information from the dif￾ficult section to add to your picture or order.

If more questions come to mind, read the text over again until you’ve

discovered your answers. You’re putting new material into the file cabinet

in your head. Don’t rush; it takes time. (You may wish to review Chapter 4,

“Making Images, Making Order, Making Sense.”)

Use Your Learning Style

Use your learning style or styles as you stop and become comfortable

with the new material, thinking about what you just read or listened to.

Your brain needs time to file what you’re learning so you can pull out the

file later when you need it for a test. Read aloud, draw pictures or car￾toons, make a timeline—whatever works for you. (You might also want

to review Chapters 2 through 5 about the different learning styles.)

Go to a chapter you haven’t seen yet in this book. Choose a para￾graph toward the end of the chapter. Make sure you don’t read what

comes before the paragraph! Follow the suggestions above for pre-read￾ing and beginning to read. Then read the paragraph, and write your

observations and questions in your notebook.

AFTER YOU’VE READ

Most everyone can remember what came first and what came last better

than they remember what was in the middle—be it a shopping list or

scenes in a play. That’s why writers and teachers generally put the nitty￾gritty, the main idea, of what you’re reading in the beginning, and repeat

it at the end.

Every time you complete an assignment, think about what you got

out of it. In your reading log, answer these questions:

• What was most useful or interesting about what you read?

• How did the beginning compare with the end?

Try It!