COMPREHENDING WHAT WE READ:

Pay attention to and even write down (when studying) the 5 W’s and 1H:
1. WHO is in the story/reading?
2. WHAT do they do?
3. WHY do they do it?
(2 and 3 together create THEME in Fiction and PURPOSE in Non-Fiction)

4. WHEN do they do it?

5. WHERE do they do it?
(4 and 5 create MILIEU in Fiction and CONTEXT in Non-Fiction)

6. HOW is an action or series of actions performed or important?

7. HOW do people react to these actions and their possible results?
(6 and 7 should cause you to respond personally to your life and world)
RETAINING WHAT WE READ:
1. Make and consult notes, know Essential Questions
2. Pursue vocabulary
-Use contextual clues (how a word is used, what the words around it mean)
-Google meaning, pronunciation, and syllabification
-Discern prefixes, suffixes, and roots
3. Use MNEUMONIC DEVICES (personal/social/academic inventions to help memory)
(Use Interactive Notes, especially via hand writing in order to engage body memory. See
Below.)
4. INTERNALIZE (by connecting the reading to personal experience)
5. DIFFERENTIATE characters by utilizing different/appropriate voices
6. SHARE the reading with someone else
 Title Author(s)
Brief Summary of Theme/Content
Page # Who What When Where Why How
Who are the What When do Where do Knowing “How” can
people in the actions do they they perform why also be
article? perform these historical
they figures do
“why”
(In fiction, a these actions?
perform? (In Fiction, what they do except in
character can be actions?
“When” and helps us readings
a “Protagonist” (Dates are
“Where” are understand that
(the “Good Guy,” vital in why others
or the Social combined explore the
react they
“Antagonist” (the Studies; with Pre-
way they do.
process of
dominant doing an
“Bad” Guy”). “Time” is (In Fiction,
Political, action.
Other characters important to knowing why
Social, characters do
can be a “Foil” or “Milieu”
Cultural what they do
a “Nemesis” (aka and factors to
“arch-Enemy.” “Setting” in help us
create understand
Protagonists can Fiction.) “Milieu.”) “Theme” and
also be “Tragic
the writer’s
Heroes.”) purpose.

SAVED AS ELA 20-2 PRECISION READING Comprehending What We Read