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secondary readers reading successfully carol porter-o donnell beyond the yellow highlighter teaching annotation skills to improve reading comprehension and material encourage annotatinga text can be a powerfulstrategyto comprehenddifficult and active reading.highschool teachercarolporter-o donnell severalactivities tools provides markup what they read to help studentslearnto purposefully he hottest-selling item at the university bookstore when i was a college student was the yellow highlighter i know because i stocked and sold them while working my way through college i also purchasedthem and made the pages of my books very colorful annotating or marking the text to identify important information and record the reader sideas was a skill i had observed other learners using but never practiced myself because i did not own the books i read in high school the yellow marks in my college textbooks which left little of the page in its original color did not help me to learn very much unfortunately i was nearly a junior in college before i knew how to highlight key ideas and write marginal notes that helped me make connections pose questions and interpret ideas i still did not know how to teach this skill effectively until two yearsago when i worked with two teachers one who had the language for teaching annotating and one who was making the process of marking a text visible to his students janell cleland and tom o donnell co-taught a reading class and by bringing janell s language and tom s methodology together their students and mine are no longer left to learn this process by chance t active reading it makes the reader s dialogue with the text probst a visible record of the thoughts that emerge while making sense of the reading determiningcategories for respondingto text before teaching annotating we ask that students examine their written responsesto a short story and determine the ways readers think about text after reading.students reada sentence from their responses and we ask the class what type of comment is this what category would that sentence fit into once a category is named and recorded on newsprint or an overhead transparency,we have students read additional sentences that would fit into the category.students can hear what each type of responsesounds like and see the varietyof ways to reactor respondto a text typically classes generate six or seven ways of responding readers usually make predictions ask questions state opinions analyzeauthor scraft make connections and reflect on the content or their reading process once the list of categories is completed we have students createa cluster or anothervisual aid that they can use as a referencewhile writing about their reading depending on the class and the responsesthat emerged we might continue adding categories and specifics related to the categories as we examine more responses to text for example students might make connections to similar personalexperiences or their actions in similar situations but they might add connections to other texts books short stories movies tv shows lyrics artwork and so forth on their visuals to remind them of the varied ways of making connections what is annotating and how do i teach students to do it annotating is a writing-to-learn strategy for use while reading or rereading annotating helps readers reach a deeper level of engagement and promotes 82 english journal vol 93 no 5 may 2004

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carolporter-o donnell to usingthe categories teachannotating to introduce annotating we use a short story that can be read aloud in one class period we make each student a copy of a story from the class anthology and make an overheadtransparency each page in addiof we make a transparency the annotating text of tion bookmark,shown in figure 1 with ideas for symbols to use and marginalcomments to make my colleague monica fairmanwas influential in designing this format to support active reading we also help students to distinguish between marksand marginalnotes they might use for surface meaning and other marks for identifyingdeep-meaningideas.forexample,students might create a coding system of circles squares and underlining to identify informationrelatedto the surface meaning vocabulary,who what when where and why of the text while annotatingfor deep meaning or underlying messages students might mark these areaswith a symbol such as an asterisk,and marginal notes would be shortened versions of the types of responsesreaderswrite after reading while listening to the first page of the short story,students use the symbols listed on the overhead to mark information typically found in the opening pages at the end of the first page or at a naturalpause in the text we stop reading and give students time to go back and add marks next we ask them to share what they have marked,and we make the same markof ings on the transparency the first page of the story we also ask if anyone wrote any comments in the margins.typically,if the problem or conflict has been introduced several students will have written a prediction if this happens we write the prediction on the overhead if there are none the teacher can write a prediction a question or a connection to the story that has been read to this point finally we ask that students go back and make at least one marginalcomment related to this portion of the text we continue reading aloud and stopping every few paragraphs at the end of the page or at a natural breakin the text and we continue to solicit marginal comments from the class and record them on the overhead transparency.if we see that some types of comments are not being used we ask for annotations based on a certain type after going through a short story in this way we provide each student with an individual bookmark with the same information that was on the overhead many students use it as a figure annotatingtext 1 before reading the examine front and backcoversbooks readthe title and any subtitles examine illustrations the the examine printbold italics,etc the examine way the text is set up book short story,diary,dialogue,article,etc as you examineand readthese writequestions and make predictions and/or connectionsnear these partsof the text during reading markin the text when setting f wheresetting vocabulary information important writein the margins summarize make predictions formulate opinions make connections ask questions analyzethe author scraft writereflections/reactions/comments lookfor patterns/repetitions after reading rereadannotations-draw conclusions and rereadintroduction conclusion-try to figureout somethingnew examine patterns/repetitions-determine possiblemeanings determinewhat the title might mean use the afterreading strategiesto write a notebookentry who o characters referencewhile they read and to guide their written responses in the next days of class students practice annotating short stories or the opening chapters of a novel that they purchase annotations improving throughanalysis examining and analyzing models of annotated texts have been successfulways for students to see what can be done when using annotation as a reading strategy students have found that models of the same annotated texts that they are reading are the most helpful these models can be from former students see fig 2 and we often shareour own annotations of the english journal 83

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carol porter-o donnell texts we are reading with them they will see that specific marginal comments recorded in these texts may vary from one readerto another and comments can change with the demands of the text the purpose for the reading and the background experiences of the reader.they can also see that there is no one right way to annotate but that there are patterns and categories that seem to be used by readersas they work to make sense of their reading cellent tool to use with informational texts because the journals can be used as study guides for testsespecially if they are designed so that class notes can be added a variation is to use index cards-one for each bold heading in a textbook one side of the card can be used to recordimportant information and the other side for writing a response use stickynotes or highlighter tape readers can make their comments on removable pieces of paper and then stick them on the margins of the text or students can highlight texts that don t belong to them with highlighter tape which can later be erased with an eraseror their fingertips with either tool students mark the portion of the text they want to comment on and then record their thoughts in their dialectical journal alternativesto annotating my studentsdon t have books selecteddocuments photocopy domain texts and public reading aloud portions of informational texts provides students with a foundation for understanding topics that they will encounter in later readings this is also an opportunity to model the interplay between written and visual texts and the thinking processes requiredto put the parts together newspaper magazine or online articles are also excellent sources for annotating that can provide alternate viewpoints more in-depth information or present-day applications of topics being studied many students have developed the habit of reading without pausing to consider the ideas by reading aloud and having students annotate the teacher can force this pausing and students can begin to see the benefits this is especially helpful when students are first learning annotation skills benefits of annotating some students complain about annotating by asking probing questions and having students reflect on their growth as readers through the use of annotations we are able to see the source of their complaints and either offer them solutions or talk to them about the difference between reading for enjoyment and reading to learn information at the end of their first semester i asked students in my ninth-grade english classes and my ninth-grade reading class to reflect on their changes as readersand their use of reading strategies to support comprehension.from their reflections,i saw that annotating had helped students see that readingis a and that applying the ways of responding to process because text through annotation changes comprehension slowsthereading down,students discoverand annotating uncoverideas that would not have emerged otherwise many students discovered that this helps them bethe come more activereaders italicized phrasesare the categories that emerged from my sorting of student reflections students statements and my interpretations and insights explain the categories more fully journal use a dialectical in a dialectical journal berthoff students record a quote phrase,or word with a page number in the first column and in the second column they record their reactions or interpretationssee fig 3 this is an exfigure dialectical 3 journal information interpretation annotating helpsteachreading as a process i had intended to teach the struggling readers that reading is a process but i worried that proficient english journal 85

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beyond the yellow highlighter teaching annotation skills to improve reading comprehension readerswould find such teaching to be a hoop they had to jump through ratherthan a technique to help them process information.daniel a proficient reader revealsthat he understood the surfacemeaning of the text beforehe learnedto annotate but he now understands reading as a process he can flexibly apply different ways of thinking about the reading which changes both his process and his understanding at the beginningof the yeari reallyenjoyedreading but i do not think that i knew how to really whatthe bookwastryingto tell me as comprehend well at that point i saw readingas a formof ennot as tertainment necessarily a wayto learn.deep andsurface not havebeenas clearly meaningmight interpreteda few months ago i have learned how to effectively annotate tryingto understand by the author scraft connecting the story to other ideas reflecting and most importantlytrying to find deep meaning my attitude towardsreading has remained same,but the way that i readhas the i cannow readby using writingas a comchanged skill prehension manny s reflection in his reading portfolio reveals that his cluster of the different ways to respond to text made the invisible mental reading process visible to him he then applied this newly found understanding through the use of annotating and writing responses this helped him to really read the clusterwasthe thing that helpedme a lot before making the cluster,i didn t even know there would be so manydifferent waysto thinkaboutthe and or storywhile reading annotating waysto write about the storyafteri read annotatingmakes me understand betterbecausei canlook back,and i m writing so it gets morein my head daniel is using his knowledge of annotating and other writing-to-learn strategies to become a more sophisticated reader,while manny is finally seeing the complex thought process involved in making sense of text that previously remainedhidden to him annotating changes comprehension the many differentways to think about a text in particular analyzing the author scraft and making connections beyond similar personal experiences,change the ideas readers consider and the associations they make the act of connecting the new to the known is enhanced because both the new and the known have been expandedto include many more sourcesof information in her reading portfolio lucy describesthis change in comprehension as simply thinking more about things she is no longer just asking questions to clearup partsof the text that she didn t understand she is now curiouslyand confidently asking questions for which the answersdon t specificallyreside in the text my readingnow has changed.it has changedbecausenow when i readi understand things that i am not alwaysinterestedin the annotatingand writtenresponses help me understand things now this has slowed my readingdown wherei think about more things i think more about what the meaning is and when i think that i analyzethat more and think why could they have said that andwhy did thathappen stufflike that.it sweird because now when i reada bookat home i feel like annotatingit and writing a written responseso i can put all my thoughtsdown on a piece of paper i don tknow,it would feel weirdnot to do that daniel reveals that annotations have helped him readmore carefullyand distinguish between literal information and underlying inferential analysis i feel challengedby the analysisof books we read i without feeling overwhelmed think that the extensiveuse of annotations taught me howto be has a morecareful reader the sametime i sometimes at feel frustrationby the amount of annotationsrethe quiredbecausethey interrupt flow of my readsurface waswhat i was taughtto ing meaning look for in middle school but deep meaningand underlyingthemeshavebecomethe focusof literthis [with ideasfor aryanalysis year.the bookmark was usefulin cutting throughthe surannotating face meaningand finding commonways to locate deepthoughtsandthemes while this wasvery time consuming my annotationsallowed me to makegreatmeaningof the text daniel s frustration with annotations interrupting the flow of his reading led to our designing a short lesson for the class becausemany students sharedthis concern we decided that marking important quotations or passages with an asterisk while reading would help with the problem of interrupting the flow these students would then go back into the text to reflect on the importance of the passage and record their thoughts in the margins of the text and/or write about these important passages in their journals or use some other writing-to-learn strategy 86 may 2004

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carol porter-o donnell slowsdownthe reading annotating interestingly slowing down the reading was not as much of a problem or a source of complaint for struggling readers because they found that the time it took to annotate was less than the time it took to reread the text several times manny indicates that annotating takes more time because now he really has to read in part he is being forced to read because he is required to record his thoughts annotations do make me read a lot slower and i wish i didn t have to do them it is so much harder to fake read if you have to annotate like we have to do now so now i actually read because it s too hard to fake annotate lucy s reading portfolio reflection is not unlike those of other students in the class who have difficulty focusing on the reading i find it a lot easier to annotate or make notes about what i am reading because it is easier to comprehend i have also learned how to be less distracted when i am reading annotating basically helps me comprehend and focus easier when i am reading i used to get distracted easily which would cause me to read something over and over so that i can completely understand i have found reading a lot easier for me and more enjoyable students who felt that they could read and understand without annotating seemed to be the ones who complained the most about annotating it took them longer to read when they had to mark in their texts because students examined their annotations and written responses over time and reflected on how their reading had changed with the use of these strategies they discovered that they understood in different ways when they slowed downthey became more actively involved in the reading and their comprehension changed in her english portfolio sunny writes i think i really understand texts a lot more than i used to i really don t mind annotating i think pausing to comprehend what is going on helps me rather than just swallowing a lot of information and then trying to analyze it lauren describes the ways that annotating made her think which along with slowing down the process changed her comprehension it [annotatingi has helped me gain understanding of the text and it is easier to connect my readings to real life situations it also is an easier way to make predictions and see what the author does to write the piece i have learned to not read very fast so i can comprehend the reading better i used to read fast and it made me not understand what exactly i was reading i discovered that even if annotating is an annoyance it can really help in the end it helped me with studying and writing responses in writing their reflections students discovered for themselves that annotations were serving their intended purpose when the reflections were shared in class students who were concerned about annotations consuming their free time were able to see from their peers that slowing down may not be such a bad thing especially when they considered the learning activities and assignments that required a close reading of the text promotes more annotating activereading the previous reflections hint at and the ones that follow state explicitly the belief that when readers slow down they become more active readers give themselves the opportunity to become more aware of their thinking process when they are active and they consider and work to make sense of ideas that they may not have been aware even existed when they read quickly many students found themselves reading to make meaning rather than reading to complete the assignment or to prove to the teacher that they understood the information presented katie describes this change in her reading i have found that by annotating i am a much more active reader i understand the literature a lot better and have interesting responses to it which makes reading more enjoyable daniel describes a similar change that produces different results [alt the beginning of the year i was more of a factual reader.i would absorb all of the main facts but i would miss some important details that aren t exactly in the text this is the information that you really need to read between the lines to find that may help understanding the deep meaning of the story annotating and writing written responses english journal 87

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beyond the yellow highlighter teaching annotation skills to improve reading comprehension made me more of an active reader i have really thought about what i was actually reading more the sorting of student reflections into these categories was easy but also difficult it was easy because when i consider my use of annotating i am able to see how all of these categories apply to my own experiences the difficult part has been writing about them as if they are separate and distinct my movement of student quotations from one category to another while writing and revising attests to that fact for example annotating changes comprehension because it slows the reading down which helps readers to be more active and they are more active because they have more thinking tools available to them now that they see reading as a thinking process becca s reflection shows the interconnectedness of these reading skills and approaches to making meaning of text and she describes how they work together to support her comprehension i have found that my style of reading and comprehending has changed drastically instead of approaching a book passively i have used the skills i have acquired through annotating to really analyze the book as i read i truly believe that my comprehension has improved through the development of these skills and i believe this is why i am not so frustrated with complicated stories the skills of being an active readerthrough annotating allow me to grasp a better understanding of the literature and now i feel more confident taking on more complex pieces of writing through this new level of comprehension i have noticed another big difference in my reading i still love getting very emotionally involved with a book and still feel strongly about reading material that appeals to these emotions however i acknowledge that this won t always be possible for me in school and that i will need to read literature that i wouldn t have otherwise picked on my own but now i am able to achieve many more deep meanings through reading that aren t so obvious so i am still able to find interest in stories that i least expected for example in of mice and men i didn t originally like the setting style of writing or characters of the story but by analyzing the story through my annotations i found many ways in which this story related to friendship desire and many other rich and layered human emotions that intrigued me having students reflecton their growth and the experiences or reading strategies that helped or did not help to move their learning forwardis beneficial to the learneron a metacognitivelevel however,these reflectionsare just as important to the teacherbecause they provideimportantinstructionalfeedback.forexample from becca i learnedthat annotating can help students connect to a piece of literature on an emotional level-something i want to learn more about fromseveralother students i learnedthat annotating supported them in their writing annotating writing helpsimprove since i hadn t specifically taught students to use their annotations while writing i was surprised to read katie s reflection i have also found annotating extremely helpful wheni waswritingresponses literature i feel to that i didn thavea verygood writingqualityat the beginning of the year.i would jump from ideato ideaand only coverthe surface meanings.yet as i i becamemoreexperienced wasableto focuson importantideasin my writing.i usedmy annotations as a resource uncoverdeep meanings,andwrote to aboutmy finding in my responses raven writes that annotations helped her writing by providing her with a recordof her ongoing thoughts knowing how to annotatehas resulted in better responsesbecausei am reflecting thoughts that thanjust struckme throughoutthe readingrather at the end and in her reading portfolio chelsea reveals that annotating helped her find supporting evidence to incorporate into her writing annotatinghelpsme becauseif i haveto writean essayandi needto knowsomethingout of the book i canquicklyfind it also annotatinghelpsme becausei can keep bettertrackof what is going on the use of annotating to help with writing was something i hadn t intentionally taught i m wondering if i can make it work for more learners by structuring my teaching to focus on the use of marginal notes to support students writing 88 may2004

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carolporter-o donnell as a reading teacher i have introduced students to many reading strategies they can use before reading a chapter short story article or novel like many teachers i have students use a variety of strategies after they complete their reading to assist them in clarifying what they don t understand and in arriving at interpretations and new ideas about the text but aside from reading aloud and then stopping and discussing i haven tlearnedof many strategies to help readerswhile they re reading marking a text while reading is something that readersdo outside of school it is what we need to do with the students in school too workscited berthoff ann e dialectical notebooks and the audit of mouth boynton/cook 1987 11-18 book portsfulwiler meaning thejournal ed.toby with a text englishjournal probst,roberte dialogue 77.1 1988 32-38 carol porter-o donnellteachesreading english and classesat deerfield illinois thanks to highschoolin deerfield special district and deerfield 113 of as and cleland tom and highschool s support teacherinquiry professional development to janell o donnell theircollaboration continued for in and interest approaches teachingreading to email:codonnell@dist1 13.org jointhe ncte a initiative professional network reading development in a making difference schoolsacrossthe country ncte s reading initiative can make a difference at your school educators who have worked with this versatile professional development program find it valuable read on to learn of their experiences southridge high school in huntingburg indiana is completing its third year of affiliation with the reading initiative network group leader keith younker pulled together staff from across the curriculum the vice principal who teaches one class and math science english social studies health and business teachers affiliation with ncte was one component of a school plan to increase the literacy achievement of students in this rural low ses school community the spring 2002 state test scores reflected the time the study group committed as well as the inclusion of silent sustained reading two mornings a week and writing throughout the day southridge is one of sixteen indiana high schools that received four-star status in 2002-03 due to increased scores group members shared key strategies that led to their success at the atlanta 2002 convention read more about their efforts at http www.ncte.org/profdev/onsite/readinit/groups/tour/110177.htm http www.ncte.org/profdev/onsite/readinit/groups discovery k-8 school in glendale arizona sought out the ncte reading initiative to better focus their commitment to offering quality literacy experiences and hands-on project-based instruction an investment in teacher knowledge and decision-making rather than in the scripted literacy curricula adopted by nearby schools classified in 2002 as a low-performing school discovery experienced overall gains on 2003 reading test scores and achieved adequate yearly progress ayp but more important to this school community was the movement toward a research-basedunderstanding of the reading process teachersreport that connections between the reading initiative experiences and classroom research have made a significant impact on discovery s classroom instruction see more at http www.ncte.org/profdev/onsite/readinit/site/111126.htm visit our web site at http www.ncte.org/profdev/onsite/readinit to read more about how the ncte reading initiative is effecting k-12 school change across the country contact us at 800/369-6283 ext 3627 or 3604 to learn more about how your school community might share this professional development resource in support of literacy teaching and learning english journal 89

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