Setting purpose--
This is an easy way to help students understand the purpose of their reading, their homework, and why we are asking them to do what we do. Once I have started communicating the purpose of assignments to my students, it first focused my purpose for the assignment and made me outline and focus what I wanted the students to learn and get out of a text, an assignment, etc.

According to Cris Tovani in I Read It, but I Don’t Get It, “A reader’s purpose affects everything about reading. PURPOSE determines what’s important in the text, what is remembered, and what comprehension strategy a reader uses to enhance meaning.”

When teaching PURPOSE, have the students ASK:
~ How does this prepare me for a discussion of main ideas?
~ Am I looking for details to support a specific position?
~ Am I identifying steps in a process?
~ Am I recognizing the causes and effects of a particular event?

For post-reading, students should self-evaluate how reading with a specific purpose in mind improved their comprehension and enabled them to stay focused.