Here’s what I did….

1) Survey

First, I looked at the web page without reading it yet. It says “The Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945″ at the top, so I know about what time it’s talking about. The page says “The Dust Bowl” and “Overview,” so it must tell basically what the Dust Bowl is. There’s a picture, and you can click on it to see better. it’s got some wagon wheels and a house, and it’s all sort of buried in some sand or dirt. The caption says “Results of a Dust Storm, Oklahoma, 1936.” So I’m getting the idea of where this is… Oklahoma, or sort of in the Midwest. And the year, 1936, gives me a more specific time, right in the middle of the years at the top of the page. And it talks about a dust storm, so I’m getting that “Dust Bowl” has to do with storms of dust… There’s more photographs and songs on the right. I just looked at the titles… “I’d Rather Not Be on Relief.” “Life in the Camps.” “On the Road.”

2) Question

Now, I ask some questions:

What is relief? What kinds of camps are they talking about? What caused the dust storms? What happened because of the dust storms? Did a lot of things get damaged? What exactly is the “dust bowl”? Is it a place or an event?

3) Read

I read the article next. Since it’s a web site, I took down some notes…

1930-1940.

Southwest Great Plains.

drought=no rain, no water.

Lots of people settled there to raise cattle (cows) and wheat. Plowed and planted (made farms.) What does this have to do with drought? Did the farms dry up?

“systematic destruction of prairie grasses” This is like something in science… when you hurt part of nature (an ecosystem), it changes other things. Farms destroyed grasses…then what? Did wildlife die?

Strong winds = devastating (very harmful)

Drought–1930. Land was dry, no grass, dirt blew away!!! Sky dark for days! Picture it. Covered houses.

Nineteen states = “dust bowl.” Farmers our of business, left, went west.

400,000 people left Great Plains. drought + “poor soil conservation” (not treating the soil right to keep it well for the future.)

4) Respond

Here’s what I responded to my questions:
What is relief? It doesn’t say in the article. I clicked on the link, and it’s about living with only the government help. I guess that’s what relief is… government help. Sounds terrible!

What kinds of camps are they talking about? The song helped with this on, too. People lived in camps when they couldn’t stay on their farms.

What caused the dust storms? The article talks about this. There were three things, I think. (1) bad ways of farming that killed grasses, (2) a natural period with no rain, and (3) lots of wind in the area.

What happened because of the dust storms? Farms were destroyed, people were out of work and poor. Lots of people moved west, and the government tried to help people.
Did a lot of things get damaged? Yes! Farms, mostly.

What exactly is the “dust bowl”? Is it a place or an event? It’s both a place and an event, I guess. Nineteen states in the center of the U.S. were turned into a “Dust Bowl”…really like a bowl of dust, where there were all kinds of dust storms… because of drought and how farmers treated the land.

5) Review

I looked back over it. I guess I want to know more about what life was like. Also, there’s a quote from a book about the dust bowl, and I wonder about that book by Steinbeck. Does it tell more about what happened to the people? Also, maybe I should look at all the pictures now that I understand more about what happened.

6) Reflect

I think it’s very sad that this happened. Farmers probably didn’t know that they were hurting the soil by killing so many of the grasses. In a way, it’s kind of like global warming, isn’t it? People start doing something and then they don’t realize it’s hurting the world until something bad happens. Then, it causes lots of problems!

So, did this help you study at all? I guess when I read this I got some information about science and about social science, so it’s all kind of related together, isn’t it? Maybe I should show Dwaynee this, too.

SQ4R stands for “Survey, Question, Read, Respond, Review, Reflect.” This is really good for reading study books. Here’s what you do:

1) Survey

Don’t start reading right away! Instead, you look at the page. What are the titles? Headings? Bold words? Pictures? Captions? Graphs? Look at the big things on the page, and try to get an idea what it’s all about.

2) Question

Don’t start reading yet! Based on what you looked at in your survey, ask some questions. What do you want to know? If it’s your book, write questions on the page, next to the title and pictures. Or, you can write on a piece of paper. Ask as many questions as you can think of.

3) Read

Now it’s time to read! If it’s your book, underline things, circle new words, and write down ideas while you read. If it’s not your book, write notes on a piece of paper. This is active reading… you’re thinking while you’re reading!

4) Respond

While you’re reading, you want to find the answers to your questions, too. You either have your questions written on the page or on a separate paper. Now, write the answers that you find by the questions.

5) Review

After you’re done reading, look back at what you did. Look over the pages you read. Did you find all the answers to your questions? Did you miss anything? Do you understand what you read? Do you have some new questions?

6) Reflect

Put what you read away. Now, stop and think about it. Talk about it with a friend, or write a diary entry about what you think. Do you agree with what was said? Did you find something interesting or new? Did you learn something? Are you still confused about anything?

Give this SQ4R a try… I’m going to use it for looking at a web page. Becca said I should take a look at this one: http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/depwwii/dustbowl/dustbowl.html

It’s about the Dust Bowl in the 1930s in America. I don’t think I ever heard of that. I’ll try to learn about it, and I’ll let you know how I did the SQ4R reading.

I know, you probably never thought too much about taking notes while you were in school. I mean, what’s taking notes really for? How does it help? Well, I figured out that, if I’m taking notes, it makes me think about what I’m learning. You know, so it doesn’t just pass right in one ear and out the other. Thinking about your GED studying makes it “stick” better, and that means you learn more. And the more you learn from studying, the quicker you get your GED!

One way to take notes is called the Cornell Notes system. It’s just a way to keep your notes and thoughts organized while you’re studying. You could use it during a class or lesson, or even use it to take notes from a book you’re studying. Here’s what a Cornell Notes page looks like:

Remember, part of what you get out of your notes is looking over them afterwards, too, so you remember what you learned. Give it a try!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

Here’s the question that I got:

Maria, I am having so much trouble with understanding what I’m reading on the social study and science subject. I also get stuck on the Graphic trying to make sense of it. What can I do to improve my comprehension when studying?

Reading can be a hard job…and you have to read a lot on the GED test and to study for the test. So, you’ve got a good question. One really good study strategy is called SQ4R. That stands for:

Survey (look over what you’re going to read before you read)
Question (ask questions before you read)
Read
Respond (find answers to your questions while you read)
Review (look back at what you read)
Reflect (think about what you read)

Going through this process helps you think about what you’re reading and understand it better. I wrote an article on it in my blog that gives more information about it:
http://www.passged.com/student_blogs/maria/2007/11/12/sq4r-for-ged-reading/

Another thing that causes problems is vocabulary…if you don’t understand all the words, how can you know what it says!? I know, it takes time to build up vocabulary, but it’s important, too. And most things get done in small steps! Keeping track of words you don’t know, highlighting them, trying to understand them from context (what’s around them), and looking them up in the dictionary. Here’s a couple of articles I wrote about vocabulary that might help:
http://www.passged.com/student_blogs/maria/2008/01/22/ged-vocabulary-building/
http://www.passged.com/student_blogs/maria/2007/11/26/ged-vocabulary-understanding-words-on-the-ged-test/

Here’s another tip… take notes! The SQ4R system has you taking a lot of notes while you read, and it’s always a good idea. Whatever you’re reading, it will help you remember and understand if you:
–write down questions about what you’re reading
–mark parts that you don’t understand, and go back later to try to understand better
–underline important ideas

After you’re done reading something, or after you’ve studied for a while, something that helps a lot is summarizing. Summarizing means restating the important ideas you read in your own words. It helps you figure out what’s important and remember it. By putting something in your own words, you’ll remember better and understand more… Here’s a link to an article I wrote about it:
http://www.passged.com/student_blogs/maria/2007/11/05/ged-test-reading-for-meaning/

Also, there’s a reading strategy called KWL… that stands for “Know, Want to Know, Learned.” It’s sort of like SQ4R, because you think about what you’re going to read before you read it, then you pay attention while you’re reading, and then you think about it after you read it. In the first step, you ask what you already know about the topic you’re going to read about. If it’s about voting, ask what you know about voting? Thinking of things you know gives you background that helps you understand what you’re reading more.

The second step is when you make a list of things you want to know from what you’re going to read. What do you hope to learn? While you’re reading, you can write down the answers when you find them, or other new information that’s important. After you read, you can go over everything you wrote and think about what you learned.

I wrote some articles on this, too, explaining how it’s done and then giving an example:
http://www.passged.com/student_blogs/maria/2007/10/09/kewl-reading-for-the-ged/
http://www.passged.com/student_blogs/maria/2007/10/22/more-kewl-reading/

You also mentioned graphics. Do you mean, charts and graphs? That’s a good point! Reading charts and graphs, and even pictures, is an important part of the GED. Here are some links that can help you with reading charts and graphs:
http://www.42explore.com/graphs.htm
http://www.passged.com/leonards_mail/2007/10/22/interpreting-charts-and-graphs-on-the-ged/

I hope this helps! Good luck with your GED.
Maria

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.