Questions to ask your student as they read nonfiction texts in this unit

1. Summarize the text. When summarizing, remember to:

   • write about more than one main idea

   • include carefully selected details to support each main idea

   • keep your summary brief

   • write about the ideas in the text, not your own opinions

2. Explain why this part of the text is important to the whole text. When analyzing part to whole, remember to:

   • explain how the part in question fits into the whole structure of the text and with the main ideas

   • use academic language: This part explains / describes / supports / introduces…

   • include evidence or details from the text to support your explanation

   • write just a few sentences

3. What is the author’s point of view in text? How does your knowledge of the point of view help you think about the text’s content? When analyzing point of view, remember to:

   • name who the author is, as well as his role/ age or the group he belongs to

   • discuss how the author’s points are influenced by the above

   • write about why the narrator probably thinks or feels the way he does

4. Based on this set of texts on the same topic, decide where you stand on the issue. Map out a plan for a persuasive letter on the topic making sure you reference the texts. (You do not need to write the actual letter, just write your plan.) When synthesizing among texts, remember to:

   • pull together relevant and important information from different texts (or different parts of a longer text)

   • organize that information