Across the Centuries - Teaching to Read Effectively

Across the Centuries the textbook I use to supplement History Alive to teach the medieval world.  It is a much better textbook that really challenges the students to think as historians.  I don't use any of the lesson reviews or chapter reviews, but focus the students' efforts on the "Red Box Questions."  These questions at the end of section of the lesson force the students to synthesize the information into one or two concise sentences to demonstrate their understanding.  The students need to learn that more writing is not necessarily better.  Too many of my students have "diarrhea of the pen" and can fill up a page while only providing one sentence of information; a habit which I do my best to break.

I am the anti-outliner for I do not think that it is an effective to teach reading.  The student shouldn't write a whole new system of text to understand their textbook.  How many adults outline the books they are reading?  The students need to learn to condense information to make it their own.  Reading large amounts of information and shrinking it into you own concise verbiage in order to effectively retain it is what I am trying to achieve.  Across the Centuries' "Red Box Questions" are the ideal tool to teach that skill.