Abstract
In this final lesson on reading strategies,
students will apply their knowledge in order to read,
comprehend, and write about a challenging text concerning
a current environmental health issue. Students have
had many opportunities to discuss and evaluate the
uses of different strategies, and at this point should
be familiar with a wide range of tools for reading
comprehension.
This lesson asks the students
to apply their reading skills to read and analyze a
given article, and then compose a timed writing in
order to thoroughly explain the process of reading
and comprehending the text. In the
timed essay students will not be focusing on
the article’s meaning, but rather the mental
process of reading and understanding the article.
Purpose – In
this lesson, students will apply what they have learned
about reading strategy to compose
an essay in which they carefully outline the mental
process of reading and comprehending a text.
Objectives
Students will be able to:
1. Identify and use reading strategies to comprehend
a challenging text.
2. Compose a well organized essay in which the mental
process of reading and comprehending a text is explained. National English Education
Standard
Standard
3: Students apply a wide range of strategies
to comprehend,
interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts.
They draw on their prior experience,
their interactions with other readers
and writers, their knowledge of word
meaning and of other texts, their word
identification strategies, and their
understanding of textual features (e.g.,
sound-letter correspondence, sentence
structure, context, graphics).
Standard
5: Students employ a wide range of strategies
as
they write and use different writing
process elements appropriately to communicate
with different audiences for a variety
of purposes.
Teacher Background
The teacher should be familiar with various
reading strategies and how they are used. Also, many
school districts require a timed writing once a month,
or once a quarter, in order to assess student essay writing
skills and to prepare students for timed essays which
they may encounter on standardized tests. The timed writing
simply consists of giving students a topic to write on
in a fixed period of time (usually one class period or
block period works best). Most teachers make allowances
for minor errors in conventions and sentence structure,
in consideration for the time constraints; however the
content and organization should reflect the students’ abilities.
Related
and Resource Websites
Doing Your Best
On Timed Writings:
http://www3.cerritos.edu/fquaas/resources/timedwrite.htm
http://www.writingthejourney.com/exercises/timed.htm
Pollution
Moves on Trans-Oceanic Air Currents, NASA Finds article:
http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2004/May/20040504131255CMretroP0.434231.html
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