active reading
Reading with notes
Active reading is engaging with a text deliberately rather than passively absorbing words.
It involves highlighting, annotating, questioning, and summarizing as you go—treating reading as a conversation with the material rather than a one-way transmission.
Active reading helped me retain more from the textbook.
The approach is standard advice in academic settings, where comprehension and recall matter more than speed.
- annotationAdded explanatory comment
- highlightingEmphasizing key parts
- marginaliaNotes in page edges
- underliningLine drawn beneath text
- notesBrief written records
pencil · questioning · think aloud · engagement · comprehension · summarizing · textbook · sticky-notes · dog-eared · page corners · deep dive · critical · analyzing · passages · absorbing · attentive · focused · studying
- language artsgrammar rules, vocabulary building, phonics, spelling bees, writing prompts
- reading activitiesbrowsing, audiobooks
- study skillsnote-taking, memorization, concentration, time management, studying
- test strategiestime management, elimination, process of elimination, guessing, pacing
- reader responseresponse, meaning-making, gaps, co-creation
- reading skillsvocabulary, literacy skills, decoding, grammar, fluency
active readingskimming
Passing lightly over
scanning · zoning out · going through the motions · browsing · glancing
active readingleisure reading
Unpressured engagement with texts
browsing · flipping through · recreational reading · beach reading · bedtime reading
active, reading, action, actions, actor, actors, actress, activate, activated