Transcript Determining Importance

Determining Importance
Liz Krupicka and Mona Weatherwax
Niobrara Public Schools
An Overview
Determining Importance is useful for:
Reading Non-fiction
Reading in Core Content Classes
Reading for Research
Reading for Note Taking
Reading Information from the Internet
Essential for 21st Century
If today’s students are unable to
determine importance quickly, they
will find themselves in information
overload as they are bombarded by
materials from around the globe via
the Internet.
Why Emphasize Determining
Importance in the Middle School?
Emphasis changes from fiction to
non-fiction at this level
Greater emphasis on independent
learning and the use of study skills
Therefore, middle school is the prime
time for learning the format of nonfiction to polish expository skills.
Yet, we find …
Well-written material makes it difficult
to decide what is most important.
And, textbook material is the most
difficult of all.
Crafting Sessions
This is where the teacher models how
to make decisions about which
content is most important.
Example lessons for modeling may
include:
Reasons Why Readers Make
Decisions About What Is Most
Important
Reader’s Purpose for Reading
To Answer Specific Questions That
Arise Before or During Reading
To Find Specific Information
Factors Used to
Determine Importance
Experiences - Prior Knowledge
Purpose for Reading
Its Personally Aesthetically Pleasing
Reader’s Beliefs and Opinions
Related to the Text
Focus or Repetition of the Author
Text-features
Text Features:
The Road Signs of Reading
Headings, Subheadings
Italics
Bold Words
Graphs, charts, maps, diagrams
Pictures and captions
Cause/Effect, Compare/Contrast
Conferring
This is where
independent practice
takes place with the
teacher acting in the
role of “the guide on
the side.”
The teacher must
recognize how rich or
dense the text is in
order to effectively
guide the student.
When Conferring….
The teacher needs to be aware of a
student’s background knowledge. Is
the student familiar with words or
concepts presented in the reading? If
not, it is difficult to determine
importance. Everything will seem
important to the student.
When Conferring…..
The teacher should make sure that the
student starts with key words and
phrases in each sentence before
moving on to key concepts.
By beginning with words and
sentences, students have to think as
they read. This will keep them
engaged, helping them to understand
the whole text when they are finished.
Contentives and Functors
It may be helpful to teach students
about contentives and functors in
text they read.
Contentives are the words that hold
the meaning or the content of the
sentence.
Functors are the glue that holds the
sentence together, but they don’t
affect the meaning.
Multiple Main Ideas
Students need to know that only in the
realm of standardized tests do we find only
one main idea.
In the complex text of the real world, we
usually will find multiple main ideas.
We don’t always agree about what the
main ideas are, so we need to be able to
defend our choices. This is the basis of
critical reading. It also reinforces that there
can be multiple main ideas.
Considerate vs. Inconsiderate Text
Considerate text has a predictable
structure with which the reader is
familiar and may have background
knowledge for understanding.
Fiction is often considerate because the plot line
gives it a familiar structure.
Inconsiderate text is written in a way
that is difficult for its intended
audience to understand.
Pedantic, expository text is often inconsiderate text.
Critical to Prioritize for
Efficiency in Reading
Many bright Middle Schoolers have never had to prioritize
before; they could always remember everything they read.
Therefore, everything seemed important. Now to prevent
them from bogging down, we need to explicitly teach these
skills.
These skills are necessary:
 To summarize or write persuasively.
 To read discriminately to recognize propaganda.
 To corroborate questionable information through the use of
multiple sources.
 To make connections between text and self, text and world
and text to text.
After reading:
 Suggest non-examples
 Articulate how to make decisions
 Defend your decisions