reading for details - notes

8/14/2019 Reading for Details - NOTES

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Reading for details

About single-sex education

Important details in a text

With a partner, list some examples of types or forms of information that can carry importance ina text about single-sex education. (For example, statistics.)

When reading, what signs can you look for in a text that indicate when details are more

important than other details?

If you come upon sentences that are difficult to understand, what do you do to make sense ofwhat the text is saying? How consistently does this work?

Simplifying sentences (Nuttall 2005)

The following principles we look at probably wont be fully understood in class today, but are a

point of exposure for you to practice on your own. These are strategies forunderstandingproblem sentences.

1. Identify the cohesive elements (reference words) in the sentence and what theyre

referring to.

Beyond predictable reference words, look to words in the sentence that refer to other words in

the text.

2. Remove coordinating conjunctions to simplify sentence structure.

Example: He looked at the child with surprise that he should know such words at his age and

indignation that he should be permitted to use them.


3. Isolate the nouns from their noun groups.

Noun groups can precede (adjectives or other modifiers) or proceed (like phrases or clauses)

nouns in a sentence.

Example: . . . good pedagogical reasons for beginning to give conscious attention to intonation

in connection with utterances where there is a fairly predictable relationship between tidysyntactic forms on the one hand and phonological forms on the other . . .

What nouns can you isolate from their groups?

4. Identify nominalizations in the text.

These are often head nouns derived from verbs with a familiar suffix, or are related to adjectives.



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Can initially be dealt like noun groups, and then identify the underlying/unstated proposition

and where it fits in the meaning of the sentence.

Example: The implementation of the recommendation that child allowances should be restricted

to the first three children was delayed for several years.

What are the underlying propositions?

A. Someone recommended that child allowances should be restricted.

B. Someone implemented (the recommendation in) A.


5. Identify verbs, their subject/object/complement, and then their boundaries using the

following questions: (Someone share a problem sentence from your article.)

Who or what (verb from sentence)? then

(Verb from sentence) what? then

Observe rules of verb patterns for what information typically follows that verb type to mark the

limits of the action taken.

6. Use these questions with any remaining participle, infinitive, or preposition

clause/phrase.


Now, choose one paragraph from the article you read for class, and attempt applying the listed

principles to simplify the content of any difficult sentences.

1. Identify the cohesive elements (reference words) in the sentence and what theyre

referring to.

2. Remove coordinating conjunctions to simplify sentence structure.

3. Isolate the nouns from their noun groups.

4. Identify nominalizations in the text.

5. Identify verbs, their subject/object/complement, and their boundaries with questions.

Group discussion

Get into the 5 groups of your assigned group leader.

The group leader facilitates all discussion that takes place and you must follow according to her

requests.

If she wants to finish with discussion about one question or point, let her do so, or conclude your

thoughts.


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The role you play as a group member is you can make the discussion much more rich and

meaningful by the perspective you have of the article.

Group members are free to comment on what each other says, but the group leader determines

what comments are appropriate.

Be careful with what you say, as the group leader will be noting down what everyone sharesthroughout the discussion of the topic, which she will summarize before the class.

For the teacher question that follows the group leaders summaries, everyone discusses it,

then shares as a class.

Teacher question:

If men and women exist togetherin life anyway, does single-sex education risk estranging the

sexes from each other, or is that not a problem? Explain.

Class feedback

Please answer the following questions on a small piece of paper to turn in to me. You do not

need to write your name. Ill use this during each class to improve upon what is done in and out

of class. You dont need to write the question, but do number your responses:

1. What (if anything) did you find helpful from todays class?

2. What (if anything) did you find unhelpful from todays class?

3. What would have made class better for you?

4. In your opinion, what was todays class really about? (if you felt it had a purpose

different than what was stated)

Homework:

1. Group 1 gives their test and lesson

2. First portfolio peer progress report due

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