CRCB-Ch. 9 summary, PSR Strategies

The letters PSR stand for preview, study-read, and review. This system helps a reader create effective questions about the material they read, it also allows the reader to answer the questions they formulate, and helps them correctly identify the main ideas and the details of what they read. The system allows the reader to participate in a reader-author conversation. In the preview section, the PRS strategy helps the reader build framework for the chapter as they read. Previewing allows the reader to gauge how difficult the chapter will be, and in turn they can determine how much time they will need to study the chapter. There are three steps in the preview stage. Step one: Skim the reading. You should read quickly, skip the details, and focus on the title, introduction, subheadings, and the summary. Step two: Develop questions. Develop questions using the words: who, what, when, why, where, and how about the title and subheadings. Asking questions will help a reader pay closer attention to the material they read. Step three: Predict content. Make a prediction using the questions you have developed. Ask yourself what you think the reading assignment will be about. There are four steps in the study-read stage. Step one: Read and ask questions. Start by reading the first heading or subheading and ask yourself the questions you developed in the preview stage. When you study-read a section, your goal is to look for the answers to the questions you formulated during the preview stage. Step two: Understand sections. Break up a chapter into several parts. Read one part at a time, from heading to heading, or paragraph to paragraph. Once you have read everything in one part you should pause to ask yourself the questions and answer the questions from the previewing stage. Step three: Monitor your reading. Monitor your understanding of what you read in each section before moving on to the next. Step four: Determine main ideas. After reading each section, pause and determine what the main idea of the section was. In the review stage, you ask yourself questions in order to understand what you have read in relation to what you already know about a subject. Step one: Assess your understanding of the entire reading assignment. You can achieve this step by summarizing what you read, attaching new information you learned to old information you already knew about the subject, and completing a comprehension check, by asking yourself, what parts of the reading do you still not understand? Step two: Clarify confusing parts. After completing the whole PRS strategy system, if there are still parts you don’t understand in your reading assignment, then you should get help from your instructor, tutor, or a classmate before you move on in your reading. I can honestly say the only step I used when reading before I read this chapter was the skimming step in the preview section. I hardly ever develop questions from the headings or subheadings and then try to answer them. I also can’t remember a time when I wrote down a prediction about what I thought my assignment would be about. I’m one of those people that might skim, but then just jump in and read the entire chapter. I’ve been doing it my way for so long, that I guess it works for me. In the future I will try the PRS technique to see if it works any better than the way I go about my reading.