Why do we need to keep track of our thinking?? Annotating Text Why do we need to keep track of our thinking?? Introduce the need for metacognition.

What is annotating??? Annotating puts you actively in a "dialogue” with an author and the issues and ideas you encounter in a written text. It's also a way to have a conversation with yourself as you move through the text and to record what that encounter was like for you. Here's how to make your reading thinking-intensive from start to finish:

Throw away your highlighter: Highlighting can seem like an active reading strategy, but it can actually distract from the business of learning and dilute your comprehension. you have to have a method for remembering why they were important to you at another moment in time. Pen or pencil will allow you to do more to a text you have to wrestle with.

Mark up the margins of your text with words and phrases: ideas that occur to you notes about things that seem important to you reminders of how issues in a text may connect with class discussion or course themes. This kind of interaction keeps you conscious of the reasons you are reading as well as the purposes your instructor has in mind.

Develop your own symbol system: asterisk (*) a key idea, for example, or use an exclamation point (!) for the surprising, absurd, bizarre. Your personalized way will allow you to capture the important -- and often fleeting -- insights that occur to you as you're reading. Like notes in your margins, they'll prove indispensable when you return to a text in search of that perfect passage to use in a paper, or are preparing for a big exam.

Get in the habit of hearing yourself ask questions: “What does this mean?” “Why is the writer drawing that conclusion?” “Why am I being asked to read this text?” etc. Write the questions down (in your margins, at the beginning or end of the reading, in a notebook, or elsewhere. They are reminders of the unfinished business you still have with a text: something to ask during class discussion, or to come to terms with on your own, once you’ve had a chance to digest the material further or have done other course reading.

We annotate text to keep track of our thinking over time. We can ask questions, record our connections, identify important information, analyze the way the author writes, formulate our own opinions, look for patterns and themes, make predictions, write reflections/comments/reactions, and summarize! We can see how our thoughts evolve and develop through the course of the text. Today, and everyday you will be asked to annotate your reading. You can do it on sticky notes or paper.

Graphic Organizers and More! Sometimes you can annotate directly on the text you are reading. Use an FQR chart Sticky Notes

Suggestions of what to annotate for Beginning of Each Chapter: Provide a quick summary of what happens in the chapter. Title each chapter or section as soon as you finish it, especially if the text does not provide headings for chapters or sections. Top margins: provide plot notes—a quick few words or phrases that summarize what happens here. Go back after a chapter, scene, or assignment and then mark it carefully. (Useful for quick location of passages in discussion and for writing assignments). Bottom and Side Page Margins: Interpretive notes (see list below), questions, and/or remarks that refer to meaning of the page. Markings or notes to tie in with notes on the inside back cover.

More helpful hints • Use an S for Symbols: A symbol is a literal thing that also stands for something else, like a flag, or a cross, or fire. Symbols help to discover new layers of meaning. • Use an I for Imagery: Imagery includes words that appeal to one or more of the five senses. Close attention to imagery is important in understanding an author’s message and attitude toward a subject. • Use an F for Figurative Language: Figurative language includes things like similes, metaphors, and personification. Figurative language often reveals deeper layers of meaning.

Continued • Use a T for Tone: Tone is the overall mood of a piece of literature. Tone can carry as much meaning to the story as the plot does. • Use a Th – Theme: In literature, a theme is a broad idea in a story, or a message or lesson conveyed by a work. This message is usually about life, society or human nature. Themes explore timeless and universal ideas. Most themes are implied rather than explicitly stated. • Plot elements (setting, mood, conflict, etc.) • Diction (effective or unusual word choice) Any time you see these in the text, label them and then DEFINE/EXPLAIN what they mean or their importance to the text

As you mark, you begin to notice patterns the author has or where he or she deviates from a pattern and much of the work of a critical or analytical reader is noticing these patterns and variations. Notice that annotations are meant to be more than a “scavenger hunt” for literary techniques and rhetorical devices. Along with marking these you should comment on the effectiveness or significance of the device. It’s great if you can detect alliteration in a passage, but that in and of itself is useless unless you can tell that this alliteration demonstrates the mental breakdown of the character, for example. It’s amazing if you recognize the hubris of a character, but how does this instance differ from those occurring previously in the novel?

Inside the front cover of your book, keep an orderly, legible list of "key information" with page references. themes passages that relate to the book's title characters' names important quotes important scenes, passages, and chapters key definitions or vocabulary