AVID Reading Strategies
WICOR
• W: Writing
• I: Inquiry
• C: Collaboration
• O: Organization
• R: Reading
Reading is:
• Strategically gaining meaning, understanding, and knowledge from print and other media
• Purpose driven
• Interactive
Students who read:
• Understand text structures
• Apply prior knowledge and make connections to other texts, self, and world
• Make predictions and ask questions
• Create visual images as they read
Popular AVID Reading Strategies
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Marking-the-Text
Writing-in-the-Margins
Pause to Connect
One-Page Report
Marking-the-Text
• Active reading strategy
• Students should use this strategy to
identify information that is relevant
to the reading purpose while reading
any academic text
• Begin by having students read the
text once through before marking it
on subsequent readings
• Eventually students will mark the
text on their first reading
Why should I use it?
• Students will understand the
information more deeply
• Students will quickly be able to
identify information as EVIDENCE
for writing, discussions, & other postreading activities
• Students will be able to access texts
of higher complexity
How do I use it?
1. Teacher will begin by presenting the reading
purpose
2. Number the paragraphs or lines
3. Circle key terms, names of people or places,
and or dates
4. Underline author’s claims
5. Underline relevant information
Pre-Reading Strategy Suggestions
• Predict what the article will be about based off of the title, subtitles, bold words,
etc.
• Quick-Write to a relevant question
• Build vocabulary
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Provide definitions/have students look up in dictionary
Context clues
Draw the words
Discuss as a class
Writing-in-the-Margins
• Active reading strategy
• 6 different ways highly proficient readers think about the
texts they read
• Students ask questions, draw pictures, write personal
responses, and make connections to the text in the margins
• Great for when students are struggling with following the
meaning of a text so they are forced to slow down to
interact and think about the text
• Strategy goes great with Cornell Notes!
Why should I use it?
• Students are actively engaged with what the
text is saying
• Clarifying, summarizing, questioning, as well
as other strategies provided will increase
students’ comprehension of textual material
• Makes reading experience more interesting
and personal providing students with ways to
make their own meaning of the text
How should I use it?
• Have students make comments in the margins of the texts
• Most likely, they will be responding to information they have underlined or circled
while “Marking-the-Text”
• Students can use “Writing in the Margins: Six Strategies at a Glance” handout to assist
in writing in the margins while reading (you can ask them to focus on one particular
strategy for a certain reading; eventually students will use the skill instinctively and
won’t need to be told which strategy to use)
• Students can use margin notes to write summary in Cornell Notes and can even
apply the strategy to their actual Cornell Notes
Pause to Connect
• An active reading strategy that asks students to pause at
different times throughout the reading to think critically
about the relationships between language and meaning.
Why should I use it?
• Students should pause to connect to:
• Clarify Ideas
• Question the meaning of an idea
• Investigate a relationship between ideas
How should I use it?
• Students can pause to connect by:
• Reflecting on what they read
• Synthesize ideas from one paragraph to the next
• Relate ideas in the text to outside knowledge
• After, students should document their connections in the
margins of their notes.
One Page Report: Poster Activity
• A summary exercise that can be used to assist students as
they work on any skill.
Why should I use it?
• The “one-page report: poster activity” combines visual
and textual elements. Information is presented in
manageable parts, this activity becomes accessible to a
wide range of students. It also works well as a change of
pace.
How should I use it?
• Materials:
• Poster paper or 8.5 x 11 for individuals
• Markers or colored pencils
• Copy of the text for each student
• Provide structure and guidance for students
• Model an example and, or provide a rubric.