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 * Before **

Before I engaged in this study, I was already a proficient reader. I liked to read Stephen King, and still do. I also tried to take on __War and Peace__ once. I like others did sometimes get frustrated in reading, specifically when I was reading __War and Peace__. I’m not saying that this necessarily helped me, but I like being introduced to the actual different types of strategies and what kind of strategies I use. I was not aware of the reading strategies before the marsi test, as in the global, problem solving, and support reading strategies. I tested high in global and close behind that was problem solving. Far behind was the support reading strategy. I would expect that after reading what you do in each one. I believe that using the support strategies would just take too long, while the other ones are fast easy strategies to use. I would get frustrated when I got to a word I didn’t understand, which happened a lot in __War and Peace__. I would have to use a dictionary every time and it would get very repetitive. Before this experiment I was already predicting, using tables/graphs, using context clues, critically analyzed and evaluated data, identified what the material was about, and I would check my predictions and guesses. By using those I made my way through a lot of things. I also used many problem-solving strategies as well. The list there included: read slowly and carefully, adjusting my reading speed, paying closer attention to difficult text, stop and think about what is being read, visualize information, and tried guessing the meaning of unknown words. I used these strategies when reading large books or in math class. Barely did I ever use the support strategies. I never take notes, unless forced to in class, and I never read out loud. On my own time I don’t summarize readings or discuss the reading. I can’t recall me underlining or circling text either. The only ones I did use were: using reference materials, finding relationships, and ask questions about the reading. I didn’t like using the strategies and they took too long. Not only did I use these reading strategies in books, I also read quite a few articles. Most of the articles involving politics or economics. It was quite fancy language that was used in the articles. Without the strategies I would have never been able to finish the articles.

Using my own preferred strategies really helped. I was, and still am, a straight ‘A’ student. It was sort of like eating honey rather than sugar. Honey is healthy and very sweet, while sugar is unhealthy and very sweet. I was already eating the honey, but this helped me differentiate the honey and sugar even better.

** During ** While participating in this study, I gained a better understanding of the different reading strategies. Overall though, I don’t believe participating in this experiment has helped me. I know it hasn’t hurt me, but it probably didn’t help. The different strategies I saw as a hassle. Having to fill out the journal two times a week and not knowing what to put was extremely annoying. I usually ended up saying a lot of things about the reading being easy and boring. I would prefer to read higher-level readings in school and more interesting ones.

** After ** After the experiment I haven’t changed much. I understand the different strategies better, but never plan on using them. It was a long and boring process that I came out of with nothing. Using strategies other than the ones I already used would just confuse me. In general I believe that this process was a waste of good learning time. I’m sure some people used this to their advantage; the literately challenged. But other people, like me, saw it to be very boring. I’m sure some won’t admit it, but it’s true. My group’s experiment also didn’t tell me anything, as it was inconclusive. We asked if using pictures, definitions, or neither helped with reading comprehension. All of the quiz scores generally remained the same, with some dropping by one point, and others rising by the same.