Have you ever been reading something and felt that you had no idea about what you had read? It has not only happened to you. Many are facing this issue while reading. Incredibly, every student will lack at some point while reading.

Are you looking for a better way to improve comprehension skills for your kid? Then this blog is for you.

In this article, we’ve listed some of the Key comprehension skills to improve. Here we go with them:

Key comprehensive skills to improve

1. Raise questions

One of the best comprehension skills is: raising questions while reading.

This comprehension skill helps the students to think about what they read. Alongside, it will help the students to enhance their sense of curiosity.

Additionally, raising questions will stimulate their thinking skills. As well, it will engage them to go close with the text.

But how to teach the students with this comprehension skill?

All you need to do is, teach them to question themselves before and after reading a text. It will lead your students to focus on their reading. Students can raise questions for understanding characters, to get a precise meaning, etc.

2. Activate prior knowledge

A good reader tries to figure out what they read by picturizing it with their prior experience. Activating prior knowledge will be more meaningful. That is, the more prior knowledge, the better you’ll comprehend what you read.

But how to make kids learn this strategy? Teach your kid to preview the book to examine what they view. Please discuss with the kids to know what they think about what they’ve observed from the book.

3. Monitoring

Monitoring is nothing but the process of analyzing the understanding ability of a reader. This strategy will help the students to pay attention to the text while learning. Alongside this skill will enhance the metacognition (think about thinking) skill in students.

Do you know how to teach monitoring strategies to your kid? The simple way to teach your kid is, read aloud with them. This technique will enable the kids or readers to think about their reading comprehension. Also, teach them to identify what they do understand and what they do not understand. It will help them to find the solution for the issue in reading comprehension.

4. Visualization

While reading, visualization is an essential skill for kids because it enables them to imagine or illustrate the concepts and characters in a text.

Students who adept at this comprehension strategy will not only imagine pictures in their minds. It includes smells, tastes, sounds, and feelings in their imaging when reading the text.

How to teach visualizing skills? The best way to teach this strategy is, make them read aloud. Reading aloud will make the students enhance their imagination and creativity skills in their minds.

If you’ve given insight into the kids’ thought process, make them read one or two-sentence to understand. Most importantly, one should continue this manner until the completion of a passage. By doing this, you’ll empathize with what you are reading.

5. Inferring

Inferring is a great comprehension strategy that leads the students to detect the text. With this strategy, students can identify the concepts that are not made explicit in the text. Instead of relying on the writer’s text, inferring can help the students look for clues hidden behind the text.

So, how to teach Inferring strategy to a reader? Choose a section and read with the kid aloud. At some point, press pause and ask them about their thoughts about the text. Then, the teacher should provide a clear conclusion about the text to the readers.

6. Predicting

This comprehension strategy helps the readers to get meaning from the text. Usually, a good reader predicts everything to connect the new data with the existing knowledge. For instance, if they know about the author before, they may guess what the text is.

Even the title of the content may lead you to predict what the text is about. Also, it will tend the reader to evaluate the text to understand the concept.

7. Determining the importance

In this strategy, you should demand the students to pay attention to all the text elements. It tends them to analyze everything from headings to the end of the chapter. One of the simple ways to practice this strategy is, teach students to take notes. Taking notes is a great technique to sort the information from the text based on its importance.

8. Summarizing

Summarizing is not a big deal. After reading, the student should retell the story’s concept in their own words. By doing this, they can pull out the main points and express things in their way. So, teach them to sum up a concept when reading a text.

Final thoughts

It’s time to wrap up. The strategies mentioned above are some of the key comprehension strategies to teach.

Teaching these reading strategies will ensure that students have a grip when reading. If one method fails, they can make use of the other until they understand a text.

Practice to teach these strategies, make a proficient reader with better skills! Good luck:)

Public Speaking – Tips to help you overcome the fear, make you more confident, captivating, and charming.

Do you aim for a good position in your career or take a step forward in life with your speech?

Whatever the case, Public speaking is a compelling skill needed for both professional and personal life. To articulate, connect and persuade are all skills needed for career growth. When you address a group on a common platform, a lot of people recognize your talent.

Not everyone is born with great communication skills. But with practice and time, one masters the same. Many are us dread the idea of speaking in front of an audience. It puts you in a spotlight where it demands a lot of attention and courage. Some might feel nervous, others might fear messing things up. Whatever the reason, Public speaking has a powerful impact on you and your career.

Let us explore ways in expanding these skills for career and business growth.

1. Ways to be comfortable in front of an audience

To do professionally well, one has to be good at talking effectively. Speaking in front of an audience doesn’t have to be always intimidating. Being nervous is part of human nature that can be controlled. Some feel more, some less. It doesn’t matter as long as we don’t let it overpower us. The key is to trust yourself and feel comfortable.

One has to delicately prepare notes and write things down before speaking. It will help you in preparing better presentations. The key is to believe in yourself and build confidence as you go up. Because at some point, you will need to get out of your comfort zones. Especially in a working environment, where you make people listen to you.

2. How to be an engaging speaker

The ultimate goal to capture people’s attention and engage them is to have a conversational tone. It is very important to prepare charts, presentations, and slides to convey. This prep will help you put your points across much better. The conversation should be a free-flowing talk that’s not too structured. I have seen people deliver friendly talking.

Some people shed that weight off and talk light. It should seem more of a casual talk rather than a formal one. Your audience will soon lose out on your talk if it is vaguely familiar or less understood. Choosing accessible talk will create fewer bridges and more spaces that include everyone. You can also convey through stories to keep them engaged. The better we can explain, the better appreciation.

3. Perfecting your skills of communication

Communication skills are needed to succeed in your workplace and otherwise. It tops the list of basic fundamental skills needed to survive in the workplace. This generation, where social media has taken over the world, may not know its importance. The act of talking or exchanging words has become casual—especially the younger generation, who think that it is cool to thrive on texting.

Using your body language to convey also is an important aspect of communication. To talk effectively, one has to listen and think before talking. Also, putting your points across in a brief note yet realistic and specific is crucial too. With strong ideas, you will impress the people around you and maintain a positive attitude with them.

4. Being confident can make you go a long way

Being confident is always very attractive. It breeds charisma and attracts people. The more confident you are, the better. When a confident speaker talks, we get driven with their speech, and it creates an influence. They grab our attention, and we listen to them in detail. To be confident, one has to work hard, know the agenda and be prepared. If you are not sure of yourself, then how can people be! You don’t have to be perfect; you have to be YOU.

Public speaking is not easy. Not everyone is comfortable standing in front of a crowd and conveying. Nevertheless, the ones who try to speak should be themselves. Never try to put up an act. Keep a smiling face and accept challenges with an open heart. Don’t feel bad if someone shows or points a mistake. Connect with the audience and clear doubts. Learn, correct, and grow. A positive and confident mind helps you to concentrate and stay calm.

Final thoughts

People remember and praise your ideas in a convincing conversation in a group. If you master the art of conveying your ideas convincingly, then you are moving forward. Moreover, if you incorporate a great story in your speech, you can win hearts.

Confident public speaking comes in handy both in private and professional life. It truly is a gift and something we can imply in our daily lives. You can learn how to speak in public create an unforgettable impression.

When you can stand out, why delay?

Maybe a hike in your career is just around the corner?!!

7 Ways to organize and improve your daily routine

We all have this vision in our heads to be a better person than we were yesterday. Everyone’s goal in life is different. Getting organized is a fundamental building block to reach your goal. Getting organized is easier said than done. Taking a slow and steady step will help you get there. Sometimes keeping things systematic is therapeutic for many.

Don’t we all like to find our car keys immediately when we are looking for them? Rather than searching for the keys all over the place? The idea of putting things in designated places helps avoids confusion. This holds good for storing and sorting information as well. Good organization can lead to better thinking. With a clear mind, one can start with small goals and reach for higher ones in the process. Some simple hacks will save time. This will relieve you from the burden of remembering and keeping track of everything.

Checklists:

Do you know that successful people don’t store everything in their brain? They use the tools available to jot down their ideas. Write a to-do list every day and cross off completed items, this gives a sense of accomplishment. Even if you are not into making checklists, start simple and you will enjoy the benefits. Go through the list of tasks and start with one task and as you finish it, go for the next. By doing this, you enter a world where things are sorted, uncluttered, and organized.

Fun fact: Do you know when you write down tasks and strike off , your body generated happy harmones called “Dopamine“. 

If you don’t write down the to-dos, certain tasks can fall apart. You can use any media to make checklists. You can use as simple as paper and pen, to complex productivity tools out there in the market. Some tools that you can use are:

• Sticky Notes
• Paper Diaries
• Whiteboard
• To-do note
• Web tools
• Scribbling pads

Plan ahead:

The next important step towards getting organized is planning. Planning saves time and saves us from chaos. Writing what needs to be done and sticking to the routine will make us feel happy and create good habits. Rewarding oneself in the process will help to motivate. We all have so many goals like Staying healthy, eating healthy, meditating, or even waking up early. Without a proper plan and schedule, it is impossible to achieve these goals. One of the best habits to cultivate is to workout. By planning, we can push ourselves to achieve this goal. So how do you plan?

• Place your workout clothes and shoes
• Pack your gym bag the previous night
• set an alarm for gym time
• As soon as alarm rings step out of the house 

Now with consistency this becomes an habit. So planning is important part to becoming organized.

Use online scheduling apps :

Thanks to science and technology we have so many interesting apps and scheduling software, which makes our life very simple. You can use one of many online scheduling apps including Google calendar, to set reminders about due dates, birthdays, anniversaries, project completion dates, etc. You can also share calendars across different people, so it is easier to manage all your schedules and your kids’ schedules all in one place. Using color-coded tasks to differentiate between different tasks or giving priority to different tasks is now possible with technology.

• Mobile apps
• Calendars
• Electronic calendar

Decluttering:

Cupboards, kitchens, and all things at home should have proper storage. Organize your workspace using separate bins for different items. You don’t need to invest a lot for organizing, you can use simple plastic boxes to get things done. Practice putting unwanted things away immediately after using them. When the space is clean there is more energy and you feel fresh to use that space.

If you have everything within your reach and the same place, you can find it later. They help you keep all the files, documents, papers in one place. Also managing to schedule is very important to stay organized. Several great tools help you manage your time. Scheduling different tasks for different days makes planning easier.

• Mondays – Laundry
• Tuesdays – Emptying the trash
• Wednesdays – Office cabin dusting
• Thursdays – Menu Prep
• Fridays – Gardening

Procrastination:

Why we procrastinate? – Fear of failure

• No motivation for completing a task
• The task itself is boring and mundane

Sometimes getting things done is easier than thinking about doing it. Taking smaller steps in completing a task helps too. Also scheduling and setting aside time to do tasks will be helpful. Reduce the distractions from your work environment. This helps you focus more on the task at hand. For a mundane task like cleaning the house, you can listen to music or call your friends to remove the burden from doing the task.

Delegating work:

You don’t have to do all by yourself. Delegating work makes you a good team player. Create a list of things-to-do for each member of the family. It’s easier to plan and execute things when it’s a team effort. Go through the list of things every week and find tasks that you can delegate to your family. Distributing the tasks and having accomplished them at the end of the day or week will be satisfying.

Having a disorganized place can be very frustrating. Even getting simple housekeeping responsibilities right, like keeping the remote in its place, can have a major impact on your mood. By teaching your kids how to get organized, you are making them independent in their actions and work. Getting kids to help around your house is the best lesson you can teach them.

Understand the priority:

After you identify your tasks, now go ahead and rank the tasks based on priority/urgency. Pick the task based on priority and finish it to closure. This way you are on top of your schedule and have some time to reward yourself with a glass of wine or chocolate. The amount of information available continues to grow as do the demands on our time. So when we delay our work, we lose time. It’s like searching for a needle in the haystack.

Good organizational skills take time, but it is not impossible with the right set of tools and mindset. Use these ideas in your life and be more productive.