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 21 st 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 non- fiction 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