Determining a Purpose for Reading

This text, Do I Really Have to Teaching Reading:  Content Comprehension, Grades 6-12, by Cris Tovani, has a lot of practical advice for working with secondary students, across the curriculum, who are struggling readers.

In the chapter, "Why Am I Reading This?"  p 59, she lays out 5 steps for setting your instructional purpose for reading.

1. Decide what students should know after reading the piece.  Focus on essential information only.
2. Anticipate what might cause students difficulty. 
• Are students lacking background knowledge?
• Will difficult vocabulary interfere with meaning?
• Will difficult concepts need to be explained further?
• Is the text about challenging subject matter?
• Is the text organized in a confusing manner?
3. Model how you would negotiate difficulty.  Try thinking out loud at one of the places where you anticipate students will experience difficulty.  Give them a tip on how to negotiate the next part.
4. What do you want them to be able to do with the information once they have finished reading?  How will they hold their thinking so they can return to it later to use in a discussion, a paper, or a project?
5. Model how they should hold their thinking and provide tools.  Should they mark the text, use sticky notes, complete a double-entry diary?

In the appendix, there are sample templates for double-entry diaries, comprehension constructors, an instructional purpose guide for teachers, and a few other things I find helpful.  

At the end of each chapter she also has a section entitled, "What Works," with specific teaching points.  There are also sections on how to model your thinking, something I always find difficult. I hope it doesn't mean I'm not thinking!  :)