1. Important Points for Being a “Good” Reader

2. Good readers read for different purposes. Having a purpose helps readers remember what they read and helps them determine what is important. What’s important? What isn’t? How do you decide what to read? Purpose is vital to all reading.

3. Good readers know that reading involves several thinking processes (i.e. decoding, pronouncing, analyzing, questioning, etc.) Watch yourself make meaning Talk to others – book clubs

4. Good readers don’t remember everything they read, they use tools to help hold onto their thinking. Post-It Notes Write in the margin* (in your own books please) Take notes with page number Make an outline (Like College Finals)

5. Good readers perceive reading as something they will do for their entire life, not just to pass a class. Professional vs. Leisure Reading is fun No reader is perfect (see below)

6. A Valentine From Ernest Mann

7. You can’t order a poem like you order a taco Walk up to the counter, say, “I’ll take two” and expect it to be handed back to you on a shiny plate. Still I like your spirit. Anyone who says, “Here’s my address, write me a poem,” deserves something in reply. So I’ll tell you a secret instead: poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes, drifting across our ceilings the moment before we wake up. What we have to do is live in a way that lets us find them.

8. Once I knew a man who gave his wife two skunks for a valentine. He couldn’t understand why she was crying. “I thought they had such beautiful eyes.” And he was serious. He was a serous man who lived in a serious way. Nothing was ugly just because the world said so. He really liked those skunks. So, he re-invented them as valentines and they became beautiful. At least, to him. An the poems that had been hiding in the eyes of skunks for centuries crawled out and curled up at his feet.

9. Maybe if we re-invented whatever our lives give us we find poems. Check your garage, the odd sock in your drawer, the person you almost like, but not quite. And let me know.

10. Common Writing Errors – Social Studies 1.) Do NOT use contractions (i.e. don’t, won’t, wouldn’t, can’t, etc.) 2.) Do NOT use abbreviations (i.e. gov’t, b/c, w/o, etc.) 3.) Never use the word “stuff”, use a bigger vocabulary. 4.) Do NOT use the 1 st or 2 nd person view (I, me, my, you, your, etc.), we know it’s your paper, you don’t need to state it. 5.) Do NOT use slang, use educational “language”

11. Common Writing Errors – Social Studies 6.) Watch your spelling—Use spell check or have someone look at it. 7.) Watch your tenses—Keep it consistent 8.) Do NOT ask questions in your essay…ever. 9.) Make sure your thesis is at the end of your 1 st paragraph. 10.) Make sure your thesis is not the only sentence in the 1 st paragraph.