Creating Readers for Modern Times

Creating Readers for Modern Times

1. Making the Text Matter: If readers do not connect the text to their own lives it will not impact them the same way

   • How does what I am reading affect or connect with my physical environment?
   • How does what I am reading affect or connect my own knowledge and thinking?
   • How does what I am reading affect or connect how or why I socialize the way that I do?
   • How does what I am reading affect or connect with me emotionally?

2. Reader Responsibility Part One: Readers must stay true to themselves

   • Were my beliefs or way of thinking challenged by what I read and how did I react?
   • Did my beliefs change because of new evidence or a new way of thinking about something, or were they confirmed?
   • Did I read the text objectively, without letting my beliefs or thinking bias me against what the author was trying to say?
   • Did my beliefs or thinking differ from what the author seemed to be trying to say and if so how?

3. Reader Responsibility Part Two: Readers must be able to spot false information

   • Did the story make me feel happy, angry, scared, or any other emotion in an excessive way?
   • Did what I read seem too good to be true or did the writer seem so adamant that it needs to be examined and researched?
   • Did the story appear credible in that it used normal language and did not rely on extreme statements in any way?
   • Did the story look real? Were the headlines, pictures, and links authentic in appearance?
   • If I doubt the authenticity of a story I need to think twice before sharing it with others!

4. Reading with a Sense of Compassion: Readers must be able to use compassion in order to process text fully

   • Did I read this story with an attitude that matches the tone the author tried to set?
   • Did I read with the point of view the author intended the story to be read with?
   • Did I sympathize and/or empathize with characters in the story?
   • Did I consider how the author felt as they wrote this story?
   • Did I give this story a fair chance to mean something to mean regardless of how I felt before I started reading it?

5. Examining the Text: It is not enough to simply read the words, readers must look further into the text

   • Why did the author write this and do they seem biased?
   • What feelings do I have as I am reading?
   • What questions do I have as I am reading?
   • What evidence did the writer give me to help figure things out?
   • What conclusions can I make and are they responsible ones?

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