We pick up the newspaper and read it with complete understanding. Children avidly read their comics and story books without effort.  Yet, if we pick up a text book and use the same method of reading, we do not understand it to the same extent. We find that it’s a ‘hard’ read and we have to re-read and go back for meaning.  So what is wrong, or should we say, what are the differences between reading for learning and other forms of reading?

How can we develop reading habits in children, to enable them to access learning books without tears?
There are two kinds of reading: Receptive and Reflective. When we sit down to read a novel, newspaper or magazine we are engaged in receptive reading. Receptive means that we are quick and willing to receive ideas.
To study and to understand the content of a text book or difficult novel, we need reflective reading - when we stop, think, pause, think again, work back over the text and check points. Reading in this way ensures that we have time for thorough understanding of new complex material. This kind of reading is often referred to as ‘broken reading,’ as it is through this method that the learner has time to break down portions and bring their own understanding to bear on new material.

To enable children to expand their experience of words, language and ideas, it is necessary to read harder texts with them and to them every day.  Engage children in discussion of the topics within stories and encourage thinking and enquiry.  Use questions like “How do you think he feels?” or “I wonder where those birds go in winter?” or “Do you think that’s a problem? Why?” Make the children wonder about the story and relate information to events which interest the children.  

Point out that titles and headings tell us what a book is about and help children identify main ideas. Point out the connection between text and graphics. 

Pick out unfamiliar words and explore their meaning. Re-visit these words frequently and encourage the children to use them in their own work and conversation. Make vocabulary quizzes and work sheets, joining word to meaning. Note that when we give a meaning and ask for the word it makes more fun than giving a word and finding the meaning!  Show the children how to use contextual clues to understand the meaning of unfamiliar words.

Always do feed-back after reading a portion of a book or story.  This is a useful format: 
* Quick questions with a one line answer, to gauge the amount of understanding the children have of the story element. Written answers are best.
* Vocabulary: Give the meanings and put the words up into a word bank at the top of the page.  They pick the word and write it in the gap.
* Encourage using the words they know and fill up as many blanks, then guess the others. 
* Follow up with a multiple choice of answers for a single vocabulary word.  
* Then finish off with a word search of the words.  You can make an ‘unscramble’ page, followed by a list of correct words and a choice of three or four misspelled words, the children have to pick out the correct spelling.
Tracking is also a great way to look at words and hold the shape of a word in your mind. Tracking is where you print a series of random letters in a straight line, with specific words hidden amongst them. Tracking exercises help students to strengthen left to right progression, by scanning print to find specific words.

Constantly use Close to aid understanding of difficult portions of text.

Use words like narrative, context, text, author, title, main character and secondary characters, hero, protagonist and victim. Children enjoy the new found world of difficult words and use them with confidence.

Never let a child write in a book if it is a school book meant to be shared with other children. However, if the book is their own, encourage them to edit and annotate in the margin of the book.

If it is not their own book, they should have a note book for this purpose.
Editing and making notes is an important part of learning and understanding, it enables a child to highlight key points and underline what they want to remember.  

The pupils should read and write key points and supporting points. Make spider diagrams and word maps – use highlighters for key points.  They should always analyse the key points at the end of a chapter which has to be really understood.  

Write down those key points and make lists.  Prepare a set of cards with key points for the children, encourage the children to make a quick cartoon book with key points on each page.  The use of mnemonics is helpful in remembering facts. Make cartoons with stick figure men saying key words. It’s a great way to memorise  key facts and key ideas.

When a child reaches Middle School level, they start to move away from literal comprehension to inferential comprehension.  The necessity for reflective reading, especially in literature, is of the greatest importance at this stage, as higher level strategies need to be developed.

Pupils need to be introduced to a range of question and answer relationships to enable increased comprehension and personal awareness of their own reading processes. One system which works well with Middle School and High School students is the Question-Answer-Relationships (QAR) system.  Pupils are taught to identify different question types. They need to practice till they become perfect, as the process of devising questions is an internal thing and internal dialogue will be required of the children.

Internal dialogue whilst reading, develops comprehension. QAR’s make the student pay attention to detail. Questions need to be of types and the pupil needs to be able to identify the types:
*Quick Find Question/Answer.
*Search to Find Questions.
*Reader and Author questions.
*Personal questions – The pupil’s.

Introduce a short text to pupils; get them to read silently. In the meantime hand out a paper, which will be referred to as; ‘Traffic Lights’.  These are the places where the pupil will be required to stop and think. Questions will be given under the 4 titles, as shown above. Pupils will then become aware of the type of question which is being asked. They will complete the paper. 

Next, the difficult twist in the tale!  The second stage will require another short story – this time the students have to devise their own questions at Traffic Light points, in the 4 categories given. Groups can work at the second stage – one group can pose the questions to another group.    The Traffic Lights symbolise our own stop and think processes which are required for reflective reading. Pupils need to become aware of ‘What they Read’ and the PROCESS of reading. They need to think about questions mentally and ask themselves these questions, as they read.

Young people have to apply a wide variety of strategies to comprehend, evaluate and interpret text. Children today need to be knowledgeable, reflective and creative members of our community.  They need spoken and written language to accomplish their purpose. We need to enable them to develop reading habits that give access to knowledge. Developing Reflective Reading is one of the most important tools we can give our children in school.