Language Arts & Social Studies

Reading

       Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that  makes what we read ours.
                                                                                                                       John Locke

    What is reading?  Reading is an active process in which readers shift between sources of information (what they know and what the text says), interpret meaning and use strategies, check their interpretation (revising when appropriate), and use the social context to focus their response.

     Reading can also be defined as the act of simultaneously reading the lines, reading between the lines, and reading beyond the lines. The first part of the definition, reading the lines refers to the act of decoding the words in order to construct the author's basic message. The next part, reading between the lines, refers to the act of making inferences and understanding the author's implied message. And finally, reading beyond the lines involves the judging of the significance of the author's message and applying it to other areas of background and knowledge.

     Finally, making meaning is what reading is really all about.

    In order to read well, there are several factors that play an important role:

• the skills and knowledge to understand how phonemes, or speech sounds, are connected to print;
• the ability to decode unfamiliar words;
• the ability to read fluently;
• sufficient background information and vocabulary to foster reading comprehension;
• the development of appropriate active strategies to construct meaning from print;
• the development and maintenance of a motivation to read.