Second-Draft Reading

Say/Mean Chart

Students create a simple t chart: on the left the students write what the passage literally says and on the right they write what it means/what can be inferred. (Figure 5.3)

Multi-Layered Time Lines

First students create a timeline of what happened. Then they write what questions arise from each occurrence. Then they write predictions and/or cite passages to support their predictions. (Figure 5.6)

Other variations include having the base timeline of what happened with a second layer explaining why it happened (the what/why timeline) or having a character timeline describing what the character did, why they did, and how they felt about it.

Literary Dominoes

Students plot out the series of events in a literary work in a domino fashion- they consider what actions led to other actions which eventually led to the outcome, creating a sort of chain of events, which may or may not be linear. (Figure 5.8)

Positive-Negative Chart

Students are asked to track positives and negatives in a novel or play. There are several variations on this. They might track the positive and negative actions of a particular character. Or they might track the positive and negative influences on a a character. Or they might track the highs and lows of the story (the travails and victories, etc.). This is done in graphical fashion, where the y-axis is a subjective positive-negative scale, and the x-axis is the timeline. (Figure 5.9)

Responsibility Pie Chart

After reading, students are asked to consider which parties/characters are responsible for the outcome. They then make a pie chart dividing up responsibility and assigning percentages of the overall responsibility to the various parties involved. (Figure 5.10)