How teaching students to take notes while they read can increase their understanding, critical thinking and concentration. Reading comprehension is one of the most difficult areas of reading to assess. Most of what students use to comprehend a text happens in their mind, making it challenging to correct problems.
I decided to teach my students how to take notes on paper while reading on technology. The results? Students who were focused while they read; students who were thinking critically about what they read; students who were able to write a developed constructed response answer because they understood what they read.
How Reading Comprehension with Notes Looked in My Classroom
In my upper elementary classroom, we take weekly cold reads* to assess comprehension. To help support students and prepare them for state testing at the end of the year, my teammate and I took time to teach students how to take notes as they read throughout the year.
The 5 Reading Comprehension Stages I Developed: (info graphic below)
1: Learn how to think about reading & to take notes.
To be successful with this strategy, students first need to learn what it means to think about their reading and how to take notes on what they’ve read. The most effective way I found to teach this practice is through demonstration.
Students learned various ways to think about reading (ie- comprehension strategies. Into the Book is a great FREE resource to practice each one.) then applied them to our read aloud book. They used sticky notes to write down what they were thinking as I read. Another way to visualized their notes would be through Google Classroom discussions or a digital whiteboard.
2: Notes directly on the passage.
Like learning how to think about reading, this stage is best taught through demonstration. In small groups, I read the first few paragraphs of a passage while stopping to think out loud and take notes on my page. Students followed along on their own copies then tried their hand at note taking on the second half of the passage. Once everyone was finished, we reviewed their notes and discussed what they were thinking and how their notes supported their reading. Finally, students applied this strategy on their weekly cold reads for a couple of months.
3: Notes on guided cold read page with paper passage.
After using my first year as a practice, incorporating guided notes is so important for helping students structure what and how to note important information to boost reading comprehension. Transition students to the guided notes after they’ve had significant practice with finding information on their own (maybe 6-8 weekly cold reads).
Don’t forget to review the notes page before having students begin, giving them a chance to ask questions about the format. Download my FREE guided notes pages below to get started.
Bonus: At random points during stages 3 and 4 I would allow students to take a “group cold read”. Read more about that idea!
4: Notes on guided cold read page with digital passage.
This step is just like step 3 but the passage is online instead of printed. To further help my students prepare for state testing, I designed a Google Site with their passage and comprehension questions in a side-by-side layout. This helps students practice transitioning between the passage and the questions.
5: Notes on blank paper with digital passage.
The final stage is all about student independence to support reading comprehension. I spend a few minutes reviewing all the ways we can format information like bullet points, graphic organizers, or lists.
I keep the same Google Site format for cold reads, but students use a blank piece of paper to take their notes. At this stage I also encourage students to read over the comprehension questions and note what information they need to know after reading the passage once through.
*Cold read: students are asked to read a passage and answer comprehension questions without any prior knowledge of what they are reading.
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