At South Harrison Community School Corporation, a foundational reading skill is taking center stage—annotation. This technique, while often used unconsciously by many of us in various aspects of daily life, is being harnessed to transform young students into meticulous and engaged readers.
Annotation involves more than just passive reading; it’s an active engagement with the text:
Highlight words with purpose, identifying important information and themes.
Pinpoint key words that unlock the meaning of the text.
Take notes in the margins to summarize and question content, enhancing comprehension and retention.
This skill is invaluable not just in academic settings but also in the workplace, aiding in better understanding and retaining information during trainings or routine job tasks.
Activities to Enhance Annotation Skills at Home
Timed Reading Sessions: Set a timer and let your child read uninterrupted during this period. This builds reading endurance, an essential skill for longer texts and exams.
Annotation Relay: After reading a chapter, have your child go back and share new vocabulary words or key points they found important. Discuss why these stood out to them.
Margin Magic: Encourage your child to write questions or comments in the margins of their books or on sticky notes. This could be thoughts about the story, connections they make to their own lives, or questions about words they didn’t understand.
Practicing these activities will not only improve your child’s annotation skills but also their overall engagement with reading. Whether it's a novel, a textbook, or a manual at work, the ability to interact with text through annotation is a crucial skill for lifelong learning. Join us in building strong readers who are prepared to be excellent students and invaluable employees.