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During / Post Reading Strategy
i” format

Overview: The “i” format (Christen, 1987) is designed to help students organize the main idea with supportive details, write a summary, and then develop questions to check for understanding in any subject.

Steps:

1. Distribute the blank “i” to your students.

2. Ask students to preview a chapter, then determine the topic of the chapter and record it in the upper part of the circle.

3. The students actively read the passage, discovering the various main ideas of this topic, recording main idea in circle under topic.

4. Students then read for details of each main idea. They would record these details in words or phrases in the rectangular part of the “i”

5. The students then summarize each of the main ideas, including the details. The summary should not exceed 1-2 sentences.

For each main idea, students need to create questions. Show students how to develop the 4 QAR types of questions. Teacher may request one of each kind of question or offer the option of any two kinds of questions.

This is a crucial step that should NOT be omitted as student-generated questions are highly effective in aiding listening and reading comprehension.

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