Step 2: Acquire Information

Goal: Content Acquisition

STEP TOOLS
BRAINSTORM

DEFINE YOUR QUESTION

Define Your Question Grading Criteria

  

Question Strategies/Stems

Plan Project

Plan Your Research Grading Criteria

 

 
Active Reading Stategies (1)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hunt for Information Grading Criteria

 

CUBS Source Evaluation Rubric:
--1 page Word format
--Interactive format

SCHEMA: 

Using what is already known to understand text.

Connecting with what you Read: A strategy for making connections between text and personal experience

Facts / Values List

See also "Engage the Topic" for strategy suggestions for this skill.
DETERMINING IMPORTANCE

Reading for Meaning

  • Word Level:
    • Meaning
    • Connotation / Denotation
  • Sentence Level:
    • Main / Subordinate idea
    • Key words (transitions)
    • Text Features (bold, italic, location in passage--beginning, middle, end.
    • References to graphs, tables, maps, other texts, etc.
  • Text Level
    • Ideas / Concepts / Theme
  • Reader's proximity
    • Purpose in reading
    • Background knowledge
    • Beliefs, opinions, values
    • Experiences with similar texts

 

Overviewing Text & Skimming/Scanning Electronic Sources

 

Leave in / Leave out: A strategy for developing a summary.

Identifying main ideas and details

Identifying Main Ideas and the Functions of Details

ASKING QUESTIONS

Proficient readers

  • spontaneously generate questions
  • ask questions to clarify, predict / speculate, determine author's intent, find information.
  • use questions to focus
  • use questions to deepen their understanding
  • build on the questions of others
  • ask questions that go beyond the text.

Socratic Questioning

Above and Below the Surface Questions: a strategy for asking deeper questions

Leaf and Root Questions

Before During and After "Self Questions" for the Reader

“Level 1” Before, During, After Wonder Chart

“Level 2” Before, During, After Wonder Chart

Word Attack: A strategy for clarifying words that you don't know the meaning of.

Posing Questions, Finding Answers, Still Working

Questioning the Author

Questioning Web

Questions, Facts, Guesses chart

VISUALIZING

Proficient readers

  • spontaneously and purposefully create mental images during and after reading.
  • use images to deepen their reading experience
  • use images to draw conclusions, remember details, and interpret the text
  • adapt their images as they read and discuss.

 
FORMING INFERENCES

Combining what is already known with the interpretation of the text to create personal meaning.

Proficient readers

  • draw conclusion from text
  • make predictions and revise their predictions.
  • make connections between what they have read and their knowledge/ experiences outside the text.
  • make critical / analytical judgments about text.
Making Inferences Book + Brain

Making Inferences: It Says, I Say, So...

Making Inferences: Using evidence

Making Inferences about a Character

Making Inferences about Word Meanings

Reading On, Between, and Beyond the Lines

Predict with Evidence: A strategy for developing the skills of prediction

SYNTHESIS

Understand the overall meaning.

Proficient readers

while they read

  • monitor text elements and patterns found in specific genres to predict and understand
  • elements of fiction
  • organizational patterns such as description, cause and effect, comparison / contrast, problem / solution, etc.
  • techniques such as simile, metaphor, imagery, etc.
  • Change their interpretations as they read.

after they read

  • discusses themes relevant to the overall meaning of the text.
  • share, recommend, and critically review books they have read.
  • Puts together several comprehension strategies.

Important elements in Fictional Text

Story Map I

Story Map II

Analyzing Characters / Historical Figures

SIFT Poetry Analysis

Self Monitor

Adjusts strategies as reading to make sense of difficult text.

Proficient readers

  • uses what is known about the sounds of letters to pronounce unfamiliar words.
  • Uses context clues to infer word meaning.
  • Prefix, suffix, root word, base word
  • Adjust rate of reading
  • Consider how the word is being used (connotation/denotation)
  • Considering personal experience and knowledge to understand.

 
Multipass (Day)--a technique for reading non-fiction text
Reciprocal Teaching

Clarifying

Word Attack: A strategy for clarifying words that you don't know the meaning of.

Defining a Word / Concept I

Defining a Word /Concept II

Questioning

See "Asking Questions" above

Summarizing

Leave in / Leave out: A strategy for developing a summary.

Predicting

Predict with Evidence: A strategy for developing the skills of prediction

Read for Understanding (Ditch)

This is a strategy that attempts to fuse elements of Reciprocal Teaching and Multipass.

Step 1: Source Information

Step 2: Preview

Step 3: Substitute any of the strategies found in the active reading strategies section for step three of this activity or use the general exercises below.

Step 4: Make Sense of  Your Information --Use any strategy from the Make Sense of Info section for step 4.

 

Reading Primary Sources

Note Taking Strategies

Create a Works Cited List