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Middle School Reading Comprehension Tips

 
Alexa Hale
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  • How can I remember the difference between a simile and a metaphor?
  • How can I remember what I've read?
  • What are the types of literary conflict and why are they important?
  • What's the secret to memorizing vocabulary words?
  • What's the secret to remembering the meaning of vocabulary words?
  • How can "visual learners" memorize vocabulary words?
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Middle School
 Middle School Basics 
  1. Alexa Hale
  2. What is "middle school"? 
  3. How do middle school academics differ from elementary school academics? 
  4. What subjects do middle school students study? 
  5. What math skills are taught in middle school? 
  6. What English skills are taught in middle school? 
  7. What science skills are taught in middle school? 
  8. What history/social study skills are taught in middle school? 
Middle School Reading Comprehension Tips (Now Playing)
  1. Alexa Hale
 Middle School Essay Tips 
  1. Alexa Hale
  2. What is an "essay"? 
  3. What are the most common mistakes that students make on essays? 
  4. What is an outline and how can it help me write a great essay? 
  5. What's the secret to writing an effective outline? 
  6. How can making revisions improve my essays? 
  7. What is an effective approach to revising my essays? 
  8. What are some secrets to writing effectively? 
 Middle School Research Paper Tips 
  1. Alexa Hale
  2. What's a "research paper"? 
  3. What's the secret to picking a good topic for my research paper? 
  4. What is a "thesis statement"? 
  5. What's the secret to writing a great thesis statement? 
  6. What is the "rule of three" regarding research papers? 
  7. How can I effectively cite my sources in a research paper? 
  8. What are the rules regarding plagiarism? 
 Middle School Test Tips 
  1. Alexa Hale
  2. When should I start studying for a school test? 
  3. How can I memorize test material more quickly? 
  4. What's an "essay question" on a test? 
  5. What are secrets of writing a good essay question answer? 
  6. What's the secret to getting started on an essay question on a test? 
  7. How can I write essay question answers that impress my teachers? 
 Middle School Math Tips 
  1. Alexa Hale
  2. What are the secrets to understanding sines, cosines and tangents? 
  3. How can I remember the functions of sine, cosine and tangent? 
  4. What are the most common algebra mistakes? 
  5. How can I check my answers on an algebra test? 
  6. How can I correctly multiply decimals? 
  7. What's an easy way to divide fractions? 
 Middle School Study Skills 
  1. Alexa Hale
  2. How can busy kids make time to study? 
  3. My class notes are a mess- how can I improve them? 
  4. How should I keep track of my assignments? 
  5. How can a "glossary" help me study? 
 Middle School Studying For Your Learning Style 
  1. Alexa Hale
  2. Do individuals learn in different ways? 
  3. What kinds of "learning styles" are there? 
  4. How can I determine my learning style? 
  5. What are some study tips for visual learners? 
  6. What are some study tips for "auditory learners"? 
  7. What are some study tips for "tactile learners"? 
 Supporting Your Middle School Student 
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  2. When should my child do homework? 
  3. Should I let my child use a calculator for math homework? 
  4. How can I help my child to stop procrastinating? 
  5. What is a "tutor"? 
  6. How can a tutor help my child? 
  7. What does a tutor NOT do? 
  8. What should I look for in a tutor? 
  9. How much homework should a middle school student have? 
  10. Should I help my child with her homework? 
  11. How can I encourage school success without applying undue pressure? 
 Roseanne On Education 
  1. Roseanne Barr
  2. How would you play Robin Hood to help schools? 
  3. Why did you homeschool your son? 
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Middle School Reading Comprehension Tips

How can I remember the difference between a simile and a metaphor?

With middle school reading comprehension, similes and metaphors are both types of figurative language, this means that they're taking something literal and turning it to something almost poetic. In middle school reading comprehension, metaphors are a literal comparison, meaning "the sky was the ocean." The sky is not actually the ocean, it's a comparison to show how vast and great and powerful the sky is appearing. Similes, on the other hand, are not a direct comparison; it uses "like" or "as", meaning "the sky was as blue as the ocean." Now we're not doing a direct comparison likening the two things as being the same; now they're only similar, which is a slightly less strong comparison but still gives it a poetic feel.

How can I remember what I've read?

In order to better remember what you've been reading make sure you set aside a quiet place where you can read in peace without any distractions. Make sure there is no music on, nothing is going on in the background thats going to distract you from what you're reading and make sure you're asking yourself questions while you're reading. Who's speaking right now, why would they be telling me this information, does this mean anything important for the rest of the story? Next, after each paragraph make sure you pause for a moment and think about what youve read. It's also a great time to jot down any vocabulary words you might not know and to check them out and see if there's any extra meaning you can get from that paragraph.

What are the types of literary conflict and why are they important?

Whenever you're reading a story, conflict is the main thing that's going to drive a story ahead. Conflict is a problem in the story for one of the major characters. There are many different types of conflict you may encounter, first being "character vs. character." Meaning, one person versus somebody else in the story that's causing them problems. The second type of conflict would be "character vs. nature," meaning some kind of natural disaster--hurricane, tornado, earthquake--that is beyond the character's control that is causing them problems. The next type of conflict would be the "character vs. society or technology," meaning some kind of machine or some kind of government or something completely beyond their control that is a large element to society is causing problems for them. The last form of conflict would be the "character vs. themselves." Think about a character that has problems inside themselves. This is an internal conflict, meaning nobody else in the story will necessarily know about the conflict. They're often wrestling with their morals to make a particular decision, "should I rob the bank; should I turn in the money; what should I be doing?" Think of that as "character vs. themselves."

What's the secret to memorizing vocabulary words?

One of the best ways to memorize vocabulary words, and my personal favorite, is to use flashcards. Write the word on the front, and on the back, write the definition and the part of speech. This is going to help you, because not only can you take the flashcards with you wherever you go, and test yourself on the go, you also now have a visual of the word, and you have something that you can physically shuffle and go through all the words. Another way I suggest using vocabulary cards is you should set up three distinct piles while you're going through them. The pile of the words which you definitely know, which you won't have to review as much, a middle pile of the words that you kind of know, but you might forget one thing on them, and the last pile is the words that you completely do not know. That last pile, the third pile, the words you don't know, you should continually go over until all your flashcards should be in the "I know them pile." You should be able to go through them with ease.

What's the secret to remembering the meaning of vocabulary words?

A good way to help learn vocabulary words is to write them in a sentence that reflects their meaning. It's easy to put a word in any sentence, for example "Ann is benevolent." but you need to explain what benevolent means by the sentence you're creating. So: "Ann is benevolent because she gives to many charities and does lots of non profit work." meaning that Ann is an extremely generous person based on what you've written in that other part the sentence. Always think back. You need to know what that word means based on the sentence you've written. This may seem kind of tedious when you're doing it, but when you're back on a test you can think; "Benevolent. What does that mean?" and you can think back to your sentence and remember what you had to write in order to explain that word to yourself.

How can "visual learners" memorize vocabulary words?

Another tip to help learn vocabulary words is to visualize them. Draw a picture or scene that might help you remember this item of vocabulary. For "versatile", for example, you might draw a Swiss army knife; it can be used in many different situations, which is what versatile means, which will help you do better on your vocabulary test and remember the word.

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  • How can I remember the difference between a simile and a metaphor?
  • How can I remember what I've read?
  • What are the types of literary conflict and why are they important?
  • What's the secret to memorizing vocabulary words?
  • What's the secret to remembering the meaning of vocabulary words?
  • How can "visual learners" memorize vocabulary words?

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