Reading Big Ideas and Guiding Questions

1.1 Reading a variety of texts

-Reading a wide range of texts builds an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of different cultures.

1.2 Purpose
-Different types of texts place different demands on the reader. Identifying the purpose for reading prepares the reader’s
to make meaning of the text.
-Different purposes to read include: reading to acquire new information and reading for personal fulfillment.
-Different forms of writing are appropriate for different purposes and audiences and have different features (e.g.,
personal narrative, informational reports/articles, poetry, response to text).
-Different types of texts have different purposes and structures (fiction vs. nonfiction)

1.3 Comprehension Strategies

-Good readers employ strategies to help them understand text. Strategic readers can develop select, and apply
strategies to enhance their comprehension.
-Reading is a process that includes: applying a variety of strategies to comprehend,, and questioning and interpreting
ideas in text.

1.5 Making Inferences/Interpreting Texts

-references from texts provide evidence to support conclusions
-understanding text features, text structures, and characteristics associated with different text genres (including print and
non-print) facilitates the reader’s ability to make meaning of the text
-interpretations of text involve linking information across parts of a text and determining importance of the information
presented.
-references from texts provide evidence to support conclusions drawn about the message, the information presented, or
the author’s perspective.

-what are ways I can show I have understood the text?

-Why are making inferences and drawing conclusions important in understanding our world?
-How can making inferences about various types of information and drawing conclusions help me understand our
world?
-How can we use various types of information to make inferences about various types of information?
-How can I use a variety of sources to draw conclusions?
-Why should I use a variety of information and sources to make inferences and to draw conclusions?

1.6 Extending Understanding

-strategic readers compare, infer, and make meaningful connections to make text personally relevant and useful.
-relating my life and my prior knowledge to different ideas in the text, helps me better understand the author’s message.
-making reader-text connections involves thinking beyond the text and applying the text to a variety of situations.
-connections can be expressed as comparisons, analogies, inferences, or the synthesis of ideas.
-references from texts provide evidence of applying ideas and making connections between text and self, text and other
texts, and texts and the real world.

1.7 Analysing Texts

-understanding of a text’s features, structures, and characteristics helps readers to make meaning of the text.
-word choice: words powerfully affect meaning
-authors make intentional choices that are designed to produce a desired effect on the reader
1.8 Responding to and Evaluating Texts
-authors make intentional choices that are designed to produce a desired effect on the reader
-references from texts provide evidence to support conclusions drawn about the message, the information presented, or
the author’s perspective.
-authors make intentional choices that are designed to produce a desired effect on the reader
-it’s important for me to critically consider media messages in order to make informed decisions.

-What does it sound like to think critically about a text, and an author’s choices?

1.9 Point of View

-authors make intentional choices that are designed to produce a desired effect on the reader
-writing often reveals the feelings, values and beliefs of the writer.

-How is language influenced by bias and perspective?

-How can an author’s purpose impact the reader?
-Can the same event/situation be (justifiably) experienced, remembered, and/or recounted differently by different
people?
-Why should we recognize and analyze multiple points of view? Why should we care about the perspectives of
others?
-How can looking at multiple points of view help us explain the ideas and actions of individuals and groups?
-How can examining viewpoints that are different from our own help us explain the actions of others?
-How can looking at different perspectives help us better understand ourselves?
-How can the perspectives of a group affect their use of and impact on the environment?

2.1 Text Forms

-different forms of writing are appropriate for different purposes and audiences and have different features (e.g.,
personal narrative, informational reports/articles, poetry, response to text).
-different types of texts have different purposes and structures (fiction vs. nonfiction)

-What is nonfiction and what are some different forms of this genre?
-What are the different forms of writing?

2.2 Text Patterns

-textual features allow readers allow readers to easily navigate text
-graphic features enhance the meaning of text and allow readers to extend their understanding
-understanding a text’s purpose and structure helps a reader better understand its meaning

-How do the features of a nonfiction text help me gather information?

2.3 Text Features

-common organizational structures convey information in a predictable way
-text features help readers to locate and organize information
-understanding of a text’s features, structures, and characteristics helps the reader to make meaning of the text.
-authors use dialog to fully develop characters in stories

-What are some features of nonfiction and how do those elements affect my understanding of and reaction to
nonfiction texts?

2.4 Elements of Style

-Understanding of a text’s features, structures, and characteristics helps readers to make meaning of the text.
-Authors use sensory details to appeal to readers’ senses to help them connect to the story.
-Authors make intentional (stylistic) choices that are designed to produce a desired effect on the reader
-Word choice: words powerfully affect meaning, and convey tone
-Literacy devices enhance the meaning of texts
-Authors make intentional choices that are designed to produce a desired effect on the reader
-How do authors attempt to make an impression on others by the way they communicate?
-How does an understanding of literary techniques support the reader’s interpretation and analysis of literature?
-What are the elements of nonfiction and how do those elements affect my understanding of and reaction to
nonfiction texts?