Active Learning: Engaging with Materials
Building on the importance of active learning in the classroom, your student’s reading and study habits should also be practiced actively. Shifting students’ reading from passive (“just reading”) to active (asking questions and note-taking) promotes critical thinking and will not only improve the depth of their understanding, but also create more effective review resources for when a test approaches.
NOT YOUR AVERAGE ANNOTATING: INCORPORATING WRITING INTO READING
Students often hear “annotating” and immediately think of bringing a highlighter to text. While this is one way to emphasize important information as you read, we want to think of annotating more comprehensively. Annotating is the process of interacting with a text to better a student’s understanding of the information and increase their engagement for improved recall. Think of this process as a dialogue between the student and their study material, where the student reads something and then responds to that information (usually with notes, questions, etc). Whether your student is reading a text, taking notes, or working on a homework assignment, incorporating writing, especially handwriting, into these processes can improve the quality of their learning. This advice holds true for any subject.
Researchers at Princeton University and UCLA have studied the impacts of handwritten vs. typed notes on learning outcomes. They found that students who wrote their lecture notes by hand not only learned more, but also had better information recall. Because handwriting is a slower process than typing, it forces our brains to use different cognitive processes to mindfully recall the information and summarize it efficiently.
Synthesizing information into their own words is an effective exercise that your student can add to their active reading process. When reading a passage, students should always be thinking about where they can add comments, ask questions, and summarize information. Writing directly on the text also creates connections between the specific section of information read and the notes taken directly next to that section.
Before any reading or studying begins, your student should quickly skim through the passage or pages they’ll be completing. As suggested by Dartmouth’s Academic Skill Center, they should also take note of the titles and any questions that should be answered while reading, which starts the active dialogue between the student and their text.
Students should practice active reading by doing the following:
Write margin notes: Ask questions, define terms, make connections, and add any comments in the margins of your text. Putting these notes near the relevant part of the passage makes it easier to find important facts and quotes in the text when writing essays and studying for tests.
Use highlighters sparingly: Many students over-highlight and end up with entire pages filled with yellow, highlighted text. These pages are difficult to review because the information is not organized. Instead, you should refrain from overusing a highlighter and reserve it for key terms or big ideas. Princeton University recommends fighting the urge to highlight altogether and instead taking a note next to the section so that you are “talking” with the text. A highlighter tells you “this part is important,” but a margin note reminds you why it is important.
Summarize long paragraphs or chapters: After reading a section of the text, summarize the ideas in 1-2 sentences. Doing so will increase your understanding of the passage, and you can reference these summaries later for context.
The goal in practicing these activities is to make writing a key element of the reading process. Because class texts are typically assigned to be analyzed and examined critically, students need to move beyond simply reading and remembering. They need to engage with the text by writing their thoughts, observations, and summaries near important passages. Annotating regularly will allow your student to develop good habits and also finish a large portion of the prep work that’s necessary for essay writing and test preparation.
Student Action: Pick a reading assignment from any class and apply these annotating exercises.
Parent Action: Share this newsletter with your student so they can practice annotating during their studies.
FURTHER READING AND RESOURCES
“Active Reading.” Princeton University McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning: Discusses many active learning strategies that students can incorporate into their reading process.
“Benefits of Writing by Hand for Learning.” Scientific American: Details the findings of UCLA and Princeton researchers on the advantages of handwritten notes as compared to notes taken on a laptop.
“Reading Techniques.” Dartmouth College Academic Skills Center: Offers detailed descriptions of various reading techniques to improve understanding and identify important ideas in a text.