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Posted to ACW-L, WCenter, NCTE-Talk,
and TEACH on 01/10/99.
After an extended holiday break, I'm back with
another list. These reading comprehension activities focus students'
attention on the various ways of reading a text, with an eye toward
helping them differentiate among skills such as comprehension,
summary, interpretation, and analysis.
As I wrote these items, I was thinking
exercises that I might use with students to prepare them for
standardized testing (e.g., Texas' TAAS or the NY Regents Exam).
These exercises alone won't prepare them for the test, but I think
that the discussion that could ensue from completing more than one of
these exercises on a text and talking about the skills that were used
could help students become more knowledgeable about the ways that
they can think about something that they read. Then I'd ask students
to think about which skills relate to which questions on the
tests.
- [MAIN POINT] The text that we've
read for today is teaching a lesson. The events that occur, the
interaction between the characters, and the movement of the plot
from beginning to end are the author's way of making a point. What
is the author's lesson? What is the author trying to teach
readers? After you've decided on the lesson of the text, support
your conclusion. How do the events in the text come together to
teach the lesson? (If it helps, think about the reading as a fable
-- what is the moral?)
- [STEPS] Read the text that we're
considering as if it were a set of instructions. What are the
instructions telling readers how to do? What are the steps to
completing the tasks? For your paper, translate the text into
step-by-step instructions. Remember to number the steps in the
process, to use active, imperative verbs, and to appeal to your
audience by using words like "you" and "your."
- [FACT vs. OPINION] Choose any
paragraph from the text that we're reading and find three facts
and three opinions. Try to find a paragraph with at least 25 to 50
words (or choose two or three shorter paragraphs). Once you've
found your facts and opinions, write a paragraph that explains how
you can tell the difference. How can you tell the material that is
fact from the material that is an opinion? Are there words and
phrases that tip you off? Are the details of what is said
important? If you were trying to tell a classmate the difference
between fact and opinion, what would you say? How could you use
the three facts and opinions that you've found to illustrate your
point?
- [PERSPECTIVE] Choose a passage from
the text that we've read and rewrite it from a different
perspective. First, cast the events from another character's point
of view. Determine whose point of view the passage relies on;
then, choose another character who knows about the events that are
described in the passage. How does the character's point of view
affect the things that you see? Consider how another character's
perspective changes the scene.
- [PREDICTION] Consider the last
section of the text that we've read. Based on everything that's
happened so far and the behavior of the characters in the story,
what will happen next? Sketch out the events that will occur --
what will the characters do? what will they say to one another?
how will their actions affect the plot of the story or the
author's main point? In addition to outlining the things that will
happen next, support your predictions by explaining the details
and actions in the text that support your conclusions. What about
the characters or their actions make your prediction seem
accurate? The point of this assignment is not to guess the next
events correctly, but to show that you can make a logical
prediction based on the facts at hand.
- [PARAPHRASE & SUMMARY] Choose a
passage of about 75 to 100 words, several nice paragraphs. Begin
by writing a paraphrase of the paragraphs. Explain all the points
of the passage in your own words, but stick to the facts and the
order of the original. Don't insert your own opinions or ideas.
Your paraphrase will be several sentences long. After you've
written a paraphrase, write a one-sentence summary of the passage
-- You should have one sentence of about 10 to 15 words that
captures the gist of the paragraphs that you've chosen from the
text. Begin by sketching out the key points or facts from the
paragraphs; then, bring those ideas into a single sentence. You
may have to condense or combine related ideas to reduce your notes
to a single sentence.
- [CREATIVE RESPONSE] What if today's
reading were a myth or folk legend? How would it be different? Who
would be the "mere mortals," and who would be the gods or the
human with super abilities? Is there an important hero? Is there a
test or some trickery involved? Does the tale explain the way that
something was created or how something got to be the way that it
is? Once you've thought through your reading, rewrite it as a
myth. Be creative, and explore the ideas. If the text seems too
long to write as one myth, choose one particular episode that
occurs and rewrite only that episode as a myth.
- [JOURNALIST'S QUESTIONS] Who wrote
the text that you've read for today? What do you know about the
author (why is the author qualified to write this text)? Why did
the author write this text (what point is the author trying to
make)? Where was the text published first (what can you tell about
the text by the where it was published)? When was the text
written? After you've answered all the journalist's questions,
what conclusions can you make about the text? How might the text
be biased? How would it be different if it were written in another
time or published in another place?
- [PRE-READING & POST-READING]
Before you begin reading today's assignment, take a few minutes to
write down everything that you know about the subject. What have
you heard others say about it? Have you read other things that
talk about the same topic? Have you seen television programs or
movies about the ideas that the reading covers (or heard radio
broadcasts)? Next, take several minutes write down what you would
like to know about the subject. What questions do you have about
the ideas or subject that are covered? If you could know only one
more thing about the issue, what one thing would that be and why?
After you've done your pre-reading notes on what you know and what
you want to know, go ahead and read the text. Once you've
finished, return to your notes and write a paragraph or so on what
you've learned from the reading. You might think about how the
reading compared to what you already knew about the topic. Were
any of the ideas that were included surprising or shocking? Were
they thing that you really knew already? Was there any new
information that you hadn't heard or seen before? You might think
about the ways that the text related to other things that you've
read, seen, or heard about the topic -- how different was the
writer's perspective? Finally, did the text answer any of the
question that you had about the subject? Did you learn any of the
things that you wanted to?
- [TITLE] Look closely at the title
of the text that you've read for today. If you're looking at a
novel, you might consider the title of the novel or the title of a
specific chapter. An author uses a title to catch your attention
and to forecast the main ideas of the text. How does the title
relate to the text? Before you read the text, what did the title
lead you to expect? After you read the text, did your way of
thinking about the title change? If so, how? If you were given the
chance to change the title of the text, would you -- and if you
would, what would you change it to?
Originally
Posted February 8, 1999 on
the Daedalus Website.
Posted Sunday, 12-Jun-2005 09:09:18 PDT
Copyright © 1998-2011 Traci Gardner, P. O. Box 11836, Blacksburg, VA 24060-1836.
These materials may be referenced, linked to, and indexed, but their contents
may not be duplicated without express written consent of the author. See the
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