Monday, September 20, 2010

Hey Readers, Catch Your Brain in the Act

Your brain is a sneaky thing.  The whole time you are reading it is thinking things without you telling it to.  It sneaks around making connections to your past.  It compares the problems in the book to situations from your life.  It takes the characters and  examines them and matches them with people you know.  And it does it without your permission.  In fact, you can't even stop your brain if you try.  This inner voice has a mind of its own. 

The process of reading is when a person reads text and their inner voice makes connections between the meaning of the words, and relates it to their life and prior knowledge. The more closely the reader connects to the text, the higher the level of comprehension.  So, the key to being a good reader is learning to hear and control that inner voice.  What is it telling you?  How does it relate to the book?

At times connecting is simple. At others, especially when the text is not in an area that the reader has background knowledge, comprehension is difficult. As students build their ability to connect with text, monitor their understanding of a passage, and compare it to things they already know, their ability to understand what they read increases.

Do you want to be a better reader?  Get control of your brain.  Listen to your inner voice.  You are the boss of your brain.  Take charge of it when you read.
 

38 comments:

Jessica W. said...

My inner voice triggers when I get a good book.

My inner voice triggered when I got to reading The Mother To Embarrass Me. When I read "her awful singing" I thought of my mom singing to the radio. It just brings back times when she was jamming to the car radio and I was in the conner trying to ignore her.

Seth V. said...

My inner voice usually just connects the book to a part of my life. Like in the book I am reading now there is a bear that gets hit by a bolder and it breaks it's back and it didn't die quickly. I can connect that to my life because one time I shot a deer and the bullet hit it on the spine and it didn't kill it.

Megan B. said...

My inner voice triggers when I read a good
book. I read the book Vamped and my inner voice told me this is a very exciting book and it was really interesting so I couldn't stop reading it.

Ashlee J said...

Usually I hear my inner voice when I get into a good book. Like in the book I am reading now called Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen. I was at this one part where my main character Cole got his bones crushed by the Spirit bear. The whole time I was reading that part my inner voice was saying ouch!

Cade V. said...

In On The Run 4 my inner voice told me that Aiden is the person that gets them through everything. He got them off of the freight boat by taking one of their inflatable life boats and threw it off and then jumped off after it. I could write more but my lamp has a bad light balb or something,it keeps flickering and we can't fix it. My inner voice was telling me give me a hammer.

Caitlin W. said...

In Charlotte's Web my inner voice told me Wilbur didn't want Charlotte to talk about drinking blood out of bugs. My inner voice says drinking blood is gross, my inner voice also says it make me want to throw-up and also skip that part too.

dustinf2222 said...

Wired I can never catch my inner voice but sometimes when I want to catch my inner voice I can't. When I am not thinking about it I catch my inner voice. I just wish I could catch it some times when I want to but I just can't catch it.It is to fast. When I am reading sometimes when I am in a good part and I just can't stop reading. I did not like to read in the fifth grade but now I am in the sixth grade but now I love to read.

Brook E said...

In The One Left Behind the people were talking about blue berry cobbler and my inner voice was saying yum blue berries yum. My inner voice sounds like a little bug that has a squeaky voice in my head.

My inner voice triggers when I'm in a good book

Nick U said...

Before today I didn't listen to my inner voice. I say this because in the book I'm reading The Spiderwick Chronicles book #4 there is these kids named Jared, Simon, and, Mallory. Mallory gets kidnapped by these little dwarfs and Jared and Simon traded the filled guide but was not the filled guide it was a math book and my inner voice said don't do that because they will lock them up

Austin D said...

My inner voice tells me what is going to happen next in a good book I read. My inner voice told me in Public Enemies before I finished it that is Hunting The Hunter book number 6 is going to be about what Aiden and Meg say before the book ends.
If you ever read the whole series you will get it... believe me, it took me half a year to read all of them. :)

Tyler Hart said...

My inner voice tells me that I couldn't do what the character just did. In the book called The Big Field, my inner voice told me that I couldn't make a play from right field to second base, if I even tried to make a play from right field to second base.

Shala S. said...

My inner voice connects with the characters. In the book Granny Torrelli Makes Soup. The character my inner voice connects with is Rosie. Rosie is the one that always wants to help someone with almost everything. I try to help people when I can. Most of the time Rosie has a sassy side and likes to argue with her friend Bailey. Sometimes I has a sassy side and sometimes I argue with friend but not very often.

stephen d said...

My inner voice helps me understand the character and the book better! Like say if it's a girl voice I would put my voice higher. If it was a boy voice then I would keep it the way I talk. Inner voices for different characters are so helpful I cant explain how helpful it is. Try it you'll understand the book better. The book its the best book ever! I just understand it so well.

Katie R. said...

In the book I'm reading Diary Of A Wimpy Kid Rodrick Rules. Rodrick is the older brother and he always picks on his younger brother. Whenever Rodrick does something wrong my inner voice tells me that he is going to get caught or blame it on his younger brother. So my inner voice tells me whats going to happen next.

Lisa B. said...

In the book My Last Best Friend by Julie Bowe. My inner voice tells me that is just like your life. In the book Ida (the main character) her best friend Elizabeth moves away. That is just like my life because my best friend Mollie has just moved away.

ALISON G. said...

In my book Wait Till Helen Comes my inner voice helps me picture whats going on. Also what the characters look like and if I connect to them some how. But that only happens when I got a book that I'm really interested in. Otherwise my inner voice is like I'm so tired I wish I could get out of here.

Andrew M said...

In my book National Treasure Book Of Secrets, my inner voice tells me that Ben is good at figuring out puzzles. I get information from the book and that's when my inner voice starts telling me things about the characters and the places they're in. Sometimes my inner voice tells me it's time to get a different book. A book that I can understand and relate to.

Cassie D. said...

My inner voice questions the characters and what they do.One way I questioned the characters and what they do was when the main character in the book Flushjumps of a boat and lands head first in the water.My inner voice said it was stupid when he did that.I was also wondering what the two other friends were thinking.I also thought it was a little weird how he risks his life to get someone in to a lot of trouble.I would never do that.My inner voice said that this character is nice and crazy at the same time.

Jaredb said...

Shiloh
My inner voice tells me to get a book if I find one that looks interesting. My inner voice and I have connections of what happened in that book like seeing a dog get abused. Like in the book Shiloh Judd Travers abuses a dog called Shiloh which Marty names. If I were to see a dog getting hurt like that I would think in my mind how Marty felt seeing that dog getting beat.

Micah H said...

In Mr.Tucket by Gary Paulson my inner voice usually pictures what it is like to be the main character. Like when Mr.Tucket gets captured by the Pawnee Indians I try to Imagen what it would be like to be captured by Indians.

Blaize said...

My inner voice blasts in when I'm reading my favorite type of genre.

I really feel connected in a book when It's my favorite, Poetry. I think one reason I like poetry because I would like to be a singer later on in life! I believe that singing and poetry have some things in common,like in singing you can rhyme and in poetry you can rhyme also, but you don't have to.

HeathJ22 said...

In 39 Clues my inner voice was think about Dan and Amy's mom and dad. What they look like. What they did.

Danny said...

In the book Hero.com my inner voice says these people are crazy fighting with an evil master mind and groups of well trained killing machines. The only thing keeping them alive is their super powers.
My inner voice also says it would be cool if there was a web site that would really give you super powers.If there was I would want the teleporting power because I could travel anywhere in the world in a blink of an eye.

Mark S . said...

When I am reading Heat my inner voice tells me what to think about Micheal.I think to myself what is he feeling like.One example is when he sees a girl looking through the fence watching him pitch a baseball.I think what is she doing, and who is she.Then again I think does Micheal know her.

Belle H. said...

When I read my inner voice always says man, I could not do that, or that would be the easiest thing ever. In the book Touching Spirit Bear, Cole is sent of on to an island instead of going to jail. My inner voice says, how could he stay on a dangerous island with none of his family or without anybody that cares about him. That would be the hardest thing ever for me.

catelyn said...

The book that I'm reading is On The Run #5. My inner voice helps me really connect with the book by me figuring out what that I didn't understand in the book. Another thing is that my inner voice helps me connect with the book by it making comments, concerns, regrets or what I think is sad, silly or what just make me plain angry. Like why is it that when the main character is about to solve the most important part of the book that the bad guy[the most important thing gets away] Or they have to figure out some kind of code or password to get it.

Chase said...

I can hear my inner voice when I am reading a good book.  I can hear my inner voice in the book I am reading now. It is called Safe At Home by Mike Lupica. The reason why I can hear my inner voice so good in the book I am reading is because I can understand it really good.

Nicholas K said...

The book I am reading is called Toys In The Attic. It's about a boy that lives in orphanage. And this guy hands tin soldiers to every kid there. Then the soldiers become evil. The book is by:Daniel Ransom.


My inner voice was going wild when Brain turned into a skeleton. The girl with him said get away from me. Thats what my inner voice said.

EmilyD said...

My inner voice tells me that what happened to my character I could never put myself through.In the book called 23 Minutes In Hell my inner voice told me I could never set there with demons staring at me. My inner voice told me I can't set by a pit of fire that people are thrown into,or set naked in a cell with demons looking at you like your dinner.

Ridge Y. said...

My inner voice tells what I think the characters feel like and helps me predict what will happen next in The Stowaway Solution. At one point in this book I predicted that Meg and Aiden were feeling depressed. I also predicted that they felt sick because they both went overboard in the Pacific Ocean and they were in a big storm. This is all thanks to my inner voice.

Dylan H said...

My inner voice told me when I read the book I'm reading now, Rangers Apprentice really knows how to make me want to read more. Other times it says, "Take a break so you don't read the whole book in one day!" So after reading a long time I start to think I should do something else. If I can't then I just ignore my inner voice and keep reading.

Hayley F said...

My inner voice tells me that I should get my concentration back because my mind thinks of food instead of writing this comment. My inner voice says that food is just a distraction of writing anything at all. About my inner voice is with Blood Bothers my inner voice says that why did Joey get drunk at the party? Why is Joey's parents blaming Clay for every thing that Joey did. That is what my inner voice told me.

DawnB said...

My inner voice helps me know what is going on with the character. Today it helped me because in Skeleton Creek this boy named Ryan has a broken leg and he was complaining about it. So I know Ryan wasn't feeling good that day.
My inner voice also helps me by getting pictures or a video inside my head.Everyday I get a video or a picture inside my head. It is because when I read I slow down and think about what I read each day. Example in Skeleton Creek Ryan and Sara try and figure out what is at the dredge.

sabrina b said...

My inner voice lets me see what the character dose in the book. Like today I was reading and all the sudden I saw the characters, they are Clare,Shane,and Eve. They were in a bus full of vampires and some humans, and Eve's boy friend Michael who is also a vampire went onto the bus and unstrapped Clare. So he broke the bus window and then the sun light came in and Michael's skin started to burn. So clear had to jump out of the window and on to the pavement.Clare might have sprained her ankle. That is what my inner voice lets me hear and see how the characters act.

Alex H. said...

My inner voice helps me hear what the characters sound like. If the book says the character has a high voice then my inner voice makes a high voice . If the book says the character has a low voice then my inner voice makes a low voice.

In my book Chasing Yesterday #2 Betrayal there is a lot of places where it says "the man had a low voice" or " the man had a high voice". It would be hard not having a inner voice.

KyraS. said...

My inner voice tells me that I would never be able to do some of the things Adien and Meg do in my book Chasing The Falconers . Reason being because Adien set the barn on fire and put every ones life at risk. Adien and Meg escaped Sunny Dale after Adien burnt down the barn. Then Sunny Dale sent out a serch party to find all the people who escaped they did not find Adien or Meg.

austinp22 said...

Why do people fake read? Is it because they don't get the book? Or do they just don't like to read at all? I know that I fake read all the time and it's just because I don't get the book or I just don't like to read one single darn bit. I don't know which one it is but I just don't like reading at all sometimes.

Mr. McGuire said...

Austin, when you said,

I know that I fake read all the time and it's just because I don't get the book it really makes me wish that you would only read books that you can get.