"I read it but I don't get it"

How many times have you read something but you aren't able to access, remember, or use the information you read? There are many strategies to improve reading comprehension and support memory and application. What do you do to make sure that you are understanding and remembering what you read?

Here are a few strategies to try:

1) Vary your pacing and your strategies for different texts. I read a novel differently from a textbook or a legal document or a scholarly article.

2) Think about your purpose for reading. If you are reading to answer questions, read them before you read. If you are reading to research a topic, know that you want to pay attention to that topic.

3) Take notes on the margins or on post-it notes.

4) Highlight or underline main ideas or important information.

5) Before you read, look over the text for title, subject headings, bolded words, questions, diagrams.

6) Make predictions.

What other strategies have you used?

("I read it but I don't get it" is the title of a great book on adolescent literacy by Chris Tovani but I use it here because it is a phrase teachers and tutors hear over and over again and because it summarizes the problem really well.)