Reading+Guide+-+Process

Reading guides are designed to improve information acquisition and simplify difficult material. Reading guides allow the teacher to guide students' attention on key information, concepts, and vocabulary in a given text, article, or passage. Another advantage is that they require each student to actively engage and respond to at least some points of reference.

PROCESS GUIDES are used to teach students the active thinking strategies that are necessary to construct meaning by combining text with experiences and learnings beyond the text. There is **no one single format** but questions need to be matched to students' background information and experience related to the content being learned and the difficulty of the reading selection.

GUIDELINES for constructing a Process Guide: 1. Pick an important reading selection. Process Guides may be time consuming to construct so make sure the reading selection is of great conceptual value. 2. Read the selection carefully, putting yourself in the students' place: "If I didn't know much about this, what would I need to do?" 3. Construct questions that engage the reader in setting a purpose for reading and in reading actively to reconstruct information and examples. 4. Construct questions that engage students in considering possible interpretations, implications, and applications of new information.

Click here for sample Process Guide

Notice that students do not need to read every word from the beginning to end (in order) of the reading.