Give yourself some time between readings to let your ideas and impressions settle. Your second reading will let you refine and correct first impressions, answer many of your initial questions, and find some new problems of meaning. You may want to concentrate on specific portions of the selection that interest or puzzle you, analyzing them and relating them to the work as a whole. Because you already know the outcome of the story or understand the general thrust of the author's argument, you can more clearly recognize the connections among incidents in the plot or points in the argument. Note any word that the author seems to use in a special way and trace it throughout the work to understand what it means in different contexts.
Some leaders find it helpful to distinguish the notes from their first and second readings.
They use different-colored pens or different markings, or switch from pen to pencil. Leaders also find it helpful to do the note-taking activity for the unit, suggested in the Teacher's Edition or Leader's Guide, on their second reading. If a character says or does something that puzzles you, note it in the margin. If you find some aspect of an author's argument unclear, make a note of what perplexes you. Note anything you think is especially important.