Reading closely, writing and talking to learn about a topic
GUIDING QUESTIONS:
How can I use writing and talk to think through and question what I’m learning?
How can I re-read closely to be sure I’m understanding complicated concepts
How can I analyze the author’s use of craft to help better understand key points about the topic?
Bend Two Teaching Points:
Readers orient themselves to a topic by building background knowledge. One way to do this is by finding easy texts on a topic and reading to understand key concepts and vocabulary.
Readers notice when a nonfiction text or part of a text is structured as a narrative, and read to think about the story elements and themes of that text or section, as well as to gather information about the topic.
Readers accumulate and sort knowledge as they read across texts, working to figure out where new information belongs - as more about a concept or subtopic that has already been explored, or as a revision to prior knowledge or a brand new central idea or concept.
Readers synthesize narrative nonfiction by finding big underlying ideas, and then they support these ideas with small moments and details from the text.
Readers write long to think about their topic. They use the structure of essay to push their thinking to be logical and evidence-based.
Readers analyze the craft nonfiction writers use when teaching others through writing.
Readers not only call on all they know to read harder nonfiction, they also expect to do some rapid rereading to make sense of parts.
As readers become passionate about a subject they find more stuff – they find websites and videos, they borrow books from the library and each other – they keep going!”
Readers develop a technical vocabulary as they learn more about a topic, and they incorporate it into their writing and conversation.
Readers celebrate their learning by teaching others what they’ve learned, by creating annotated bibliographies to help future researchers, and by reflecting on their progress as readers and thinkers.