The RUNNERS Reading Strategy

Tackling a Text with the

by Jessica Parker

​Objectives

• ​Understand what RUNNERS mean

• ​Understand why we use RUNNERS when we read.

• ​Practice using the strategy with a text.

Poll

How familiar are you with the RUNNERS strategy?

• I've never heard of it

• I've heard of it but have never used it

• I've heard of it and have used it before

​Give me a R!

​When we first approach a text we have to get our mind right before reading so it is ready to absorb the ideas and details from a text.

​

​In this step we:

​FIRST, we read the title.

​THEN, we predict what the text could be about.

​Last we write an I if its informational or a F if is fiction

Open Ended

Can you elaborate on the reason why it is important to read the title, name the genre and predict what you the text could be about before reading?

Multiple Choice

What are the the major genres of text? 

• Rap, R&B, Soul

• Literature, Informational, Poetry

• Cause and Effect, Problem and Solution, Compare and Contrast

• In the text questions, In my head questions. 

​Give me an U!

Second, we bypass the text and read the questions!

​

​The most important parts of this step of the strategy are

• ​to underline key words in the question.

• ​to learn more about what you are going to learn in the text.

• ​make sure you understand the question and can restate it in your own words.

Open Ended

Can you elaborate on the reason why it is important to read the questions and underline key terms before reading the text?

Poll

To be honest I . . .

• I never read the text before reading the questions.

• I read the questions before reading the text sometimes.

• I have read the questions before reading the text and it helped me understand better.

• I do not normally read the questions first, but I will on my next passage.

​Give me an N !

Third, we NOTICE by looking over the text to see how many paragraphs there are read any headings, captions, and text features!

​

​The most important parts of this step of the strategy are

• ​to notice and number the paragraphs

• ​study any text features to become familiar with what you are about to read.

(charts, photos, bolded words, footnotes)

Open Ended

Can you elaborate on the reason why it is important to notice the paragraphs and text features before you begin to read the passage?

​Give me an N. . . (again)!

Fourth, NOW READ the text !

​

​The most important parts of this step of the strategy are

• ​to stop after each paragraph and underline/highlight the key details.

• ​after reading, notice your highlights and think to yourself what connections can you make to the text's purpose, topic, theme, or characters.

Open Ended

Can you elaborate on the reason why it is important to stop and underline/highlight key details after each paragraph when you read the passage?

Poll

To be honest I . . .

• I never stop and highlight/underline when reading.

• I stop and think while reading the text sometimes.

• I have stopped to highlight/underline  the text and it helped me understand better.

• I do not normally stop and underline, but I will on my next passage to test out this theory.

​Give me an E!

Fifth, we ELIMINATE wrong answers as you read the question!

​

​The most important parts of this step of the strategy are

• ​to read the question

• ​read ALL OF the answer choices

• ​mark out the one you know for sure is incorrect..... there is always ONE very obvious wrong answer ;o)

​Give me an R!

Sixth, we RE read the answer choices!

​

​The most important parts of this step of the strategy are

• ​to SWITCH IT UP and read the answer choices from D to C to B to A.

• ​Decide is this an "In the TEXT question" that you search for the answer.

​or

• ​an "In my HEAD question" where you think about what you know, and about what the author was thinking while writing.

Open Ended

Why it is important to re-read each answer choice and look in the text before selecting the best choice?

​Give me an S!

• ​Last we SELECT the best answer.

• ​If we are unsure think about the question in your own words.

• ​Think about what the answer would be in your own words if it was not a multiple-choice question.

• ​Select the best answer and move on.

• **Add a star, or write the number down to go back at check before submitting your test.

Open Ended

What do you do when you are unsure of which answer to select?

Poll

I understand the RUNNERS strategy and why it is important to take these steps as I read.

• 100% Agree

• Somewhat Agree

• 100% Disagree

• I need to repeat the lesson.