Critical Reading and Thinking Strategies Introduction to Reading, Writing and Thinking Processes and Strategies Across Text Types

Targets General Mechanics: Analyze and deduce the general idea, theme, meaning of words from the given selection following the instructions. Reflect on the strategies employed to accomplish the task. Practice discernment and concensus as a group in arriving at decisions. General Mechanics: You will be working in small groups. Assign among yourselves the roles necessary in a group. Some students will be assigned by the teachers as observers for the different groups. Their task is to record all observations noted in carrying out the tasks (time spent to accomplish each task, behaviors, strategies used by the group, dynamics, etc.).

Task 1: Warm-Up (5 minutes) Jabberwocky What can you say about the word? What comes to your mind? What do you think the selection will be about?

Jabberwocky A poem written by Lewis Carroll From Through the Looking- Glass and What Alice Found There (1872)

Task 2: Initial Impressions (5 minutes) How did you find the poem? What were your initial impressions? Listen to the poem for the second time with an audio recording as aid. Work on the next task.

Task 3: Vocabulary Check (15 minutes) Unfamiliar words from the poem Parts of Speech Similar- sounding words in English Possible meaning

Task 4: Story Chimney (15 minutes) Theme Plot Conflict Setting Characters

Reminders Submission of reply slips and forms Book sale until June 30 @ the HS Library SHS pin and uniform Bring 3 sachets of fabric softener on Thursday for the class offering during Friday’s Mass. School uniform on Friday Dismissal time on Friday: 2 p.m. (shortened periods)

Task 5: Focus Discussion (15 minutes) Did you understand the poem initially? Why or why not? What are your impressions of the poem after analyzing it? What could have contributed to the change in the impression? How did you make sense of the poem? Would you say it is nonsense? Why or why not? How did you arrive at your interpretations and answers? What specific ways did you do accomplish the task? Prepare for a short presentation of the group’s answers to the questions after the focus discussion.

From the observer’s point of view The observers will share with the class key points or insights gained from observing each group in the accomplishment of the tasks.

Critical reading and thinking strategies As employed in the analysis of Lewis Caroll’s Jabberwocky

What is reading? Reading is defined as a cognitive process of decoding symbols in order to derive meaning from a text. It is always an interaction between the text and the reader.

WHY DO WE READ? We read in order to gain and share information and ideas, whether for academic, personal or professional purposes.

IS READING ALSO A SKILL? Reading is also a skill that can be improved through consistent practice. We apply several skills simultaneously while we read.

HOW CAN WE IMPROVE OUR READING SKILLS? We can improve our reading skills by utilizing and optimizing several reading strategies to help us become better and effective readers.

Reading strategies Previewing- To preview a piece of writing is to try to get an idea what it is about. One can preview a text by surveying the entire text or the first sentence of each paragraph or surveying the text features. Activating prior knowledge- using your knowledge and previous personal experience to create meaning in what you reading. Making predictions- helps you become a more active reader as you try to guess what will happen next. Making predictions is also based on your schema or your knowledge about the world. Visualizing- creating an image of something in your mind. You also think about what you hear, feel, taste and smell. Visualizing helps you enjoy reading the text more.

Reading strategies Understanding sequence of events- A sequence of events is the order in which the events in the story happen. You will understand a text better if you note which events come one after the other, which events happened at the same time, and which events caused another event. Identifying main idea and details- The main idea is the most important idea in the text. It may be explicitly or implicitly stated in the text. It expresses the general thought or idea of the text. Details are the supporting ideas to the main idea. Asking questions- Good readers ask questions when they read. Ask questions about how important is the task you are reading, why characters act in a certain way, and how you understand what you are reading. The benefit you get from reading is closely related to the questions you ask. Paraphrasing- stating the text being read in your own words with the purpose of taking the complex ideas to simplify them.

Reading strategies Drawing conclusions- This happens when writers do not reveal everything in the characters or events. The reader relies on clues stated in the text or on situations/ conditions that enable you to draw conclusions based on your schema or knowledge of the world. Recognizing the tone and mood in poetry- Tone refers to the author’s feelings or emotion expressed in the poem. Mood, on the other hand, is what the readers feel. Comparing and contrasting- Comparing is determining how things are the same; contrasting is determining how things are different. Identifying cause and effect- When you identify the cause and effect, you identify the effect that causes another event. It will help if you pay attention to word clues.

Reading strategies Annotating the text- It means making notes on your copy of the reading. This includes highlighting or underlining important passages and writing notes, comments, questions and reactions on the margins. By doing this, you become an active reader by entering into a dialogue with the author and not just passively reading the text. Outlining the text- Creating a rough outline of the text will also be helpful in getting to understand it more critically. By locating the thesis statement, claims and evidence then plotting these into an outline, one can see the structures, sequences, and connects his or her ideas. This will help better evaluate the quality of writing. Summarizing the text- A summary consists of getting the main points of the text and important supporting details. It is a useful strategy and skill in udnerstanding better a text if you can recognize and differentiate major from minor ideas, thesis statement, topic sentences and supporting details.

Reading strategies Synthesizing- When you draw conclusions, you develop judgments or opinions about the author’s message. When you synthesize, you put together these conclusions and other ideas to form new overall understanding. Skimming and scanning- Skimming the text means you look for the main point of the reading and identify the ideas that develop it; scanning the text means looking for the specific information. Using context clues- Context clues are words, phrases and sentences that surround an unfamiliar word. The most common types of context clues are synonyms, antonyms, examples, explanations, definitions and situations. Using connotation and denotation- Denotation is the basic, precise, literal meaning of the word that can be found in the dictionary. Connotation, meanwhile, is defined as the positive, negative, or neutral feelings, attitudes, ideas or associations with a word. These shades of meaning are affected by social overtones, emotional meanings, or cultural implications.