Reading Strategy: Determine Importance

People enjoy reading about ideas and experiences that remind them of their own lives. It makes the text more meaningful. As you read, look for information and ideas that are important to you in some way.

Reading Strategy: Determine Importance
    How to Determine Personal Relevance

  • 1. Read Carefully As you read, ask yourself what the text means to you. Why is it important? What does it remind you of?

  • 2. Record Your Ideas Record the words or phrases that are meaningful to you.

  • 3. Make It Your Own Write why the details are meaningful. How do they connect to your personal experiences? This will help you understand the text better.

Strategy in Action

Here’s how one student determined personal relevance.

Look Into the Text

Eventually, I realized that football wasn’t my best sport. I discovered basketball. I hung around the playground after school, shooting baskets with anyone who’d let me play. Since it wasn’t always easy to convince others to allow me to join their game, what I really wanted was my own basketball. I begged my parents to get me one. I pleaded.

Personal Relevance Chart
What I ReadWhat It Means to Me
When I discovered basketball, I hung around shooting baskets after school.When I started dancing, I wanted to dance all the time. I practiced everywhere I went.

Practice Together

Reread the passage above. Look for ideas that remind you of something from your own life. Follow the steps in the How-To box. Record your ideas in a Personal Relevance Chart.