Before Reading Activities:

 

 

1) Look at the cover page and guess what the book is going to be about based on the picture.  Look at the back page and read the synopsis, or what Mr. Cook likes to call the “blurb.”  Count the chapters and the average number of pages in each chapter and ask yourself how long it will take you to read this book if you read for a certain amount of time each and every day.

 

2) Make Connections:  Based on what you think this book will be about, can you make any of the following connections:

Text to Text (T-T):  This is when something you read reminds you of another book, movie, newspaper article, television show, or magazine article.

 

Text to Self (T-S):  This is when something you read reminds you of something you have experienced in your own life.

 

Text to World (T-W):  This is when something you read relates to the world in some way.  This includes, but is not limited to, historical and current events.

 

3) Make Predictions: Make an educated guess about what the book will be about.  Predictions need to be based on information you have gathered from the pre-reading activities.

 

 

During Reading Activities:

 

1) Connections / Predictions:  These two strategies should be used as you are reading as well as during the “before reading activity.”

 

2) Ask Questions: Ask questions about characters (Who is this character?  Why do they act the way they do?).  Ask questions about the plot (Why did that happen?  How did that happen?).  Ask questions about believability (Could this happen in real life?  Is this historically accurate?  What different cultural norms are at work in this work?)

 

3) Make A Movie:  While you read you need to continually visualize what is happening.  Often the writer will help you do this by:

            - giving a description of a scene (including landscape, buildings etc.)

            - giving a description of an event (including battles, accidents, conflicts etc.)

            - giving a description of a character (including personal appearance and attitude)

 

Often the descriptions refers to one or more of the five senses, including sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch.

 

4) Figurative Language: You need to look for this while you read.  Often metaphors, similes, and personification will confuse a reader.  We’ll talk more about these as we read.

 

5) Conflict: Conflict drives the plot of the story; characters act and react to each other which creates tension, and this also creates the actual events that make up the plot.  Conflict can occur between:

            - one character and another character (including jealousy, spite, etc.)

            - a character and an institution (including government, religion, etc.)

            - a character and themselves (including issues of conscience and divided loyalty)