Reading the text in appropriate length sections is the most effective way for students to begin reading and monitoring their reading skills. Reading the text and stopping at natural text breaks, such as at the ends of sentences, paragraphs and pages, before continuing to the next section gives the reader time to absorb what they've read and time to ask questions before continuing.
Once students have read the assigned text or an appropriate amount of text, ask them to answer the following questions: Does this make sense? Can I retell the important points of the section I just read? Can I tell this part of the story in my own words? Are my predictions holding up or do I need to rethink where I believe the story is going?
Once students have asked the initial questions on their checklist, have them continue by thinking about whether they answered yes or no to whether the section makes sense and whether they can summarize in their own words. If they answered yes, let them continue to the next section. If they answered no, have them analyze where their understanding broke down.
If students did not understand the section they read, have them determine where the difficulty happened by asking these questions: Is the vocabulary too difficult? Did I read too fast? Did I struggle to connect it to the previous section? Did I try a reading strategy that didn't work?
If students need to change their reading strategy, use the following items to help them re-read the text before moving on: have them define all words that they don't understand or recognize; instruct them to do some research if they need more background information; help them create an image in their mind that helps them make sense of the text; teach them to use text features and cues such as captions, headings, illustrations and charts; have them keep reading to see if the confusion clears up with the next section of text.