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Use Humor To Teach Comprehension

This document presents a method called SQ3R for effectively reading and comprehending textbooks. SQ3R stands for Survey, Question, Read, Review, Recite. It advises students to first Survey the chapter by looking over titles, headings, pictures and questions to get an overview. They should then Question what the chapter is about and what will be expected. Students then Read while actively thinking about related topics. As they read sections, they should Recite what is important or unclear. Using this method helps students comprehend instead of just pronouncing words without understanding. The document claims SQ3R is successful for most students who try it.

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236 views5 pages

Use Humor To Teach Comprehension

This document presents a method called SQ3R for effectively reading and comprehending textbooks. SQ3R stands for Survey, Question, Read, Review, Recite. It advises students to first Survey the chapter by looking over titles, headings, pictures and questions to get an overview. They should then Question what the chapter is about and what will be expected. Students then Read while actively thinking about related topics. As they read sections, they should Recite what is important or unclear. Using this method helps students comprehend instead of just pronouncing words without understanding. The document claims SQ3R is successful for most students who try it.

Uploaded by

AVKO Foundation
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Using Humor to Teach Comprehension

And a Note Taking Method to Teach Students.


A Presentation for the INCH 2008 Conference by Don McCabe
www.avko.org

Vocabulary Word Meaning


Date in History What happened
Name of Person Famous for
Correct Spelling “Fuh NET ik ren DISH un”
Comprehension is NOT Answering questions after the
reading has taken place. Even the
best “comprehension programs”
just get you to start thinking by
giving you “thought” questions.
Comprehension is: Thinking AS (not after) you are
reading

What interferes with comprehension Lack of vocabulary


Lack of background information
Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes
are calling
from glen to glen and down the
mountain side
The summer’s gone and all the
flowers are dying
’Tis you, ’tis you must go and I must
bide.
But come ye back when summer’s in
the meadow Or when the valley’s
hushed and white with snow
’Tis I’ll be here in sunshine or in
shadow
Oh, Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love
you so. And if ye come and all the
flow’rs are dying

HC-1
If I am dead, as dead I well may be,
Ye’ll come and find the place where I
am lying and kneel and say an Ave
there for me.
And I shall hear, though soft you
tread above me, And all my grave
will warmer, sweeter be,
For you will bend and tell me that
you love me, And I shall sleep in
peace until you come to me.

Pledge of Allegiance Syndrome Not knowing that you don’t know


Pledge Dust remover
Allegiance to the flag ???????
And to the Republic After thought?
for which it stands
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing Listen up! The messengers from
God are singing an announcement
(heralds announce by blowing a
trumpet first!)
A Monk Swimming Blessed art thou amongst women
He who laughs last, thinks slowest
Everyone has a photographic Some don't have film.
memory.
A day without sunshine is like, well, night.
On the other hand, you have different fingers.
Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory.
I always know God won't give me but there are times I wish He didn't
more than I can handle, trust me quite so much.
Just going to church doesn't make any more than standing in a garage
you a Christian makes you a car.
Just going to a mosque doesn't any more than standing in a bakery
make you a good Moslem makes you a baker.
Never be too open-minded. Your brains might fall out.
If you look like your passport you probably need the trip.
picture,

HC-2
Remember, amateurs built the Professionals built the Titanic.
ark.
There's two theories to arguin' with Neither one works.
a ____.
Dijon vu - the same mustard as before.
My inferiority complex is not as good as yours.

Politicians and diapers have one They should both be changed


thing in common. regularly and for the same reason.
Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand.
Junk is something you've kept for and throw away three weeks
years before you need it.
I have kleptomania, but when it I take something for it
gets really bad,

HC-3
Section 6, Chapter 49: from The Teaching of Reading
and Spelling: a Continuum from Kindergarten through
College.
The SQ3R Reading Formula Really Works
Perhaps the most common error by students in studying is the way they read an assignment.
For example, when students come home from school, they quite commonly just throw their
history books on the table and head straight for the refrigerator. Sound familiar?
They know they have a chapter to read, but they don't want to read it right away. So, instead,
they procrastinate. They put it off until later, and too often the "later" never comes. I’ll bet that
sounds familiar, too. If they eventually do get their book out and open it up, they do so, not
because they want to, but because either their parents have reminded them or they feel like they
just have to get the nasty business of reading the chapter done and out of the way. So, they open
the book to the chapter and begin what they believe is reading.
Actually, what they are doing is simply pronouncing words mentally, in a deadly monotone,
inside their heads. They begin with the first sentence and plod on to the last. When they have
finished listening to themselves read, they can't remember what it is they have read. In fact,
sometimes they never even finish because they have lulled themselves to sleep. This, of course,
is an absolute waste of time.
Students who don't like to waste their time and who want to be able to comprehend what it is
they are reading must learn to approach their reading assignment differently. First of all, they
should set a time and a place for their study. This avoids the psychological block of having to do
something distasteful. The reason is that once we start doing something out of HABIT, we just
do it. We don't think about it. It's a habit. If we don't think about it and just do it, it's a lot easier.
Secondly, students should get into the habit of using what many reading experts call the SQ3R
reading formula. Instead of starting with the first sentence and plowing on through to the end,
students who are using SQ3R begin by using the S in SQ3R which stands for survey as in:
SURVEY
QUESTION
READ REVIEW RECITE
Students should look at the chapter title, the headings, the pictures, graphs, etc. Students
should even look at the questions at the end. This is just SURVEYING. This is looking over
what it is they are supposed to learn.
All the time that they are SURVEYING the chapter, their minds should be actively involved.
They should be trying to figure out what the chapter is really concerned with and what it is that
the teacher will expect them to know and how it might relate to things they have already learned.
This, of course, is the QUESTION step. In today's academic jargon it would be called
establishing a general schema for a specific reading.
Then, after the students have previewed or SURVEYED the chapter and have certain
QUESTIONS in mind that need answering, they begin to READ.
REMEMBER: SQ3R S = SURVEY
Q = QUESTION
R #1 = READ

HC-4
As students READ the chapter, their minds should be active. They should let their mind recall
other related items. In fact, it is a form of R#3, REVIEWing related material —or in today's
jargon, it is activating relevant schemata.
As they read, students should also try to anticipate what will be coming next. When they
come to the end of sections within the chapter, the serious students will RECITE (R#3 of
SQ3R). They will recite to themselves what they think the author is trying to get at, what they
think is important to remember, and what it is they still don't understand or — equally important
— don't agree with.
Good readers don't just nod their heads yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, until they fall asleep. Good
readers think while they are reading. Good readers question. Good readers ask themselves while
they are reading:
Is that really so?
Is that really a fact?
Or is that merely the author's opinion?
Is that the opinion of most experts?
Students who honestly try the SQ3R approach to studying almost universally find it
successful. (Fact? Opinion? Would quoting one, two, or three studies make a difference?) So,
why don't you stop boring yourself when you're studying. Instead of just listening to that voice
inside your skull calling out words when you pick up your history book, why don't you, just once,
follow the SQ3R formula by Surveying Questioning Reading Reviewing Reciting.
You will be glad you did.

HC-5

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