Using reading organizers - Your reading voices

Painless Reading Comprehension - Darolyn “Lyn” Jones Ed.D. 2016

Using reading organizers
Your reading voices

Reading organizers can help you understand what you read. Remember, reading organizers can guide you, prompt you, and help you stay connected to what you are reading—so you can keep what you read in your head!

Next, we will look at three examples of reading organizers you can use during reading: Make an Inference, Text to Self Connections, and SAM the Summarizer. Just like in Chapter Two, I will provide you with an assignment so you have a purpose for your reading.

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What is an “inference,” you ask?

Making inferences is one of the most important strategies to use while reading. An inference is something that is deduced from evidence in the text (much like what a detective does). When you make an inference, you interpret or draw conclusions from what is not exactly said. An inference is a reasoning activity. To infer is to reason, to deduce, or to lead to a conclusion.

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Inferences are not seen text. Seen text is anything you can see when you read—words, pictures, charts, graphs, and any visual cues that can be used to make meaning—it is what is actually on the page. Inferences are not directly stated by the author. Unseen text is the information that lives inside your head. Inferences come from inside your head. To infer means to read between the lines. You put together your background knowledge (what you know about a topic) with the author’s clues to produce answers or solutions to what you are reading.6

Let’s Practice!

Read the following passage and check out the student model using the reading organizer on drawing inferences. As in Chapter Two, I will provide you with an assignment to help guide your reading.

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Your Assignment: Why do you think Mohandas Gandhi embraced Thoreau’s ideas and acted upon those ideas as a way to challenge the governments in South Africa and India?

Social Studies Selection: “Civil Disobedience” by Mike Fassold

Gandhi: Introduction

In protest of the United States’ war with Mexico and its de facto support of slavery, Henry David Thoreau (1817—1862) wrote the pamphlet, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience. In it he said, “Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?” He offered a nonviolent option to the masses to stop the actions of a government. In his case, he hoped to inspire others to join him in not paying the federal government’s poll tax, thereby forcing the government to fill its jails with lawbreakers. The resulting financial burden of the loss of tax revenue and prisoner upkeep would force the government to end the Mexican War and take a stand against slavery. While his idea failed at the time, the concept passed to future generations that would realize the power of civil disobedience.

Gandhi: Early Influences

The most famous of all the practitioners of civil disobedience was Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869—1948). He was born in India at the height of Britain’s colonial rule of its “Jewel of the Crown.” Great Britain’s seizure of the once powerful Asian empire brought great wealth to the colonial power and even greater suffering to the masses of India’s majority.

In his youth, Gandhi embraced the ideal of the British Empire and worked to capture its power. He even rebelled against his Hindu beliefs as a teen and sought to capture the power of the British by eating meat. Gandhi adopted British dress and sought to emulate the very British that ruled his country. Gandhi left for Great Britain in his late teens to become a lawyer.

Gandhi: Defeating Discrimination

After Gandhi’s completion of the bar exam, he returned to India to practice. His law practice was not successful. In order to find work, he agreed to travel to South Africa where he would serve as a legal advisor to a Muslim businessman from India. In South Africa he felt the full force of racism and discrimination in his first few days in the British colony. The South Africa government passed laws that imposed special poll taxes on workers from India, required Indians to carry travel passes when traveling, and declared that all non-Christian marriages were invalid. To combat the racism and discrimination, Gandhi decided to make the oppressor realize its injustice and inhumanity through nonviolent resistance. After 20 years in South Africa and countless nonviolent protests and actions, Gandhi was able to defeat the discriminatory legislation against Indians living in South Africa.

In 1915, Gandhi returned to India. For the next 40 years Gandhi would wage nonviolent resistance against the superior military force. In the early years, Gandhi concentrated on local struggles. . . . His success in winning battles against British landlords and local magistrates earned Gandhi a reputation for action. His voice would become a leading voice for Home Rule in India.

Gandhi: Inspiring a Nation

Gandhi would call for complete non-cooperation by Indians. Gandhi wrote: “The British have not taken India; we have given it to them. They are not in India because of their strength, but because we keep them.” In early 1930, the Indian National Congress and Gandhi launched a full-scaled nonviolent resistance campaign against the British. Gandhi notified the British viceroy that they would break the “salt laws” (the British maintained a monopoly on the production of salt) in protest over the lack of progress for Indian home rule. From the middle of March to the early part of April, marchers traveled over 220 miles from Porbander to Dandi. Once the hundreds of thousands arrived at the beach, Gandhi picked up a handful of natural salt to symbolize the breaking of the law. To enforce the law the British arrested Gandhi, leaders of the Indian National Congress, and thousands involved in the breaking of the law. In order to break the campaign, the British viceroy agreed to host talks with Gandhi about independence. Even though the talks were fruitless and Gandhi was arrested again shortly after his return, the success of the campaign would inspire India to continue its path of civil disobedience.

MAKE AN INFERENCE

Choose something from the reading you did not understand. Write it down or type it as a question. Then, using word clues in the text, add any background knowledge (what you know about a topic) you can supply to make an inference. Remember, there may be more than one answer.

What is a question you have from your reading?

What is civil disobedience?

What do you know about this topic?

I saw part of a movie once on TV about Gandhi. I know that Gandhi was from India. I know he stood up for the poor and starved himself. My brother is in high school and he had to read Thoreau, so Thoreau must be some kind of writer.

Go back to the text and write down any actual evidence (words, phrases, or sentences) that might help you answer your question.

For example, what are Thoreau’s ideas? How did Gandhi use them?

Thoreau (1817—1862) wrote the pamphlet, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience. He offered a nonviolent option to the masses to stop the actions of a government. Gandhi would wage nonviolent resistance against the superior military force. To combat racism and discrimination, Gandhi decided to make the oppressor realize its injustice and inhumanity through nonviolent resistance. After 20 years in South Africa and countless nonviolent protests and actions, Gandhi was able to defeat the discriminatory legislation.

Combine all the clues in the text with your background knowledge and try to answer your question, “What is civil disobedience?”

Both men used nonviolence, or civil disobedience, as a way to make changes in the government. So, civil disobedience must mean disobeying, but in a nonviolent or civil way.

Connect with the text

Your Assignment: Write down or type a paragraph explaining Emily Dickinson’s message to you, the reader.

Check out this student example that uses the Text to Self Connections reading organizer, adapted from I Read It, but I Don’t Get It, with the Emily Dickinson poem, “I’m Nobody.”

“I’m Nobody” by Emily Dickinson

I’m nobody! Who are you?

Are you nobody too?

Then there’s a pair of us—don’t tell!

They’d banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!

How public like a frog

To tell your name the livelong day

To an admiring bog!

TEXT TO SELF CONNECTIONS

Copy a sentence or a passage from what you are reading and then write or type the connections you made between what you wrote down—what is from the book—and your own life. Be as specific as possible.

When you read through the student model, read all the answer choices and see which one fits best.

1. When I see these words in the text:

Then there’s a pair of us—don’t tell.

The picture in my head looks like . . .

A. Two people B. A frog C. A ghost

Choice A is the best answer because “a pair” means two.

2. When I see these words in the text:

How dreary to be somebody!

I think they mean . . .

A. that it’s cool to be a somebody!

B. that it’s better to not be popular.

C. that it’s dark and gloomy.

Choice B is the best answer because the author is saying that it would be a drag to be a somebody just like a dreary day outside is no fun either.

3. When I see these words in the text:

I’m nobody! Who are you?

I feel . . .

A. happy because I’m proud to not be “popular.”

B. sad because sometimes I feel like a loser.

C. Both A and B

Choice C is the best answer because depending on your interpretation—whether or not you think being popular is cool—both answers will fit.

4. When I see these words in the text:

Then there’s a pair of us—don’t tell!

I think they are important because . . .7

A. only my best friend and I should know each other’s secrets.

B. she is saying that being a nobody means you really are a somebody, and you’re not alone, but you don’t get bugged all the time like when you are a somebody.

C. it’s a secret—don’t tell the popular people!

Choice B is the best answer. While the author, Emily Dickinson, is saying it’s a secret, she is also saying that the “nobodies” really are important. And, if the nobodies tell the “somebodies” that the nobodies are important, then the somebodies may want to be just like them. It’s like saying that being a nobody is one of the best kept secrets—a secret club that you don’t want anyone else to be a part of!

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SAM THE SUMMARIZER

A summary is a recap in your own words of what you have just read. A summary is typically short—only a few sentences or one paragraph long. Sounds easy, right? Not necessarily, because when you write a summary, you have to take the most important ideas of the author and shorten them—but the end result still has to make sense! Summary writing is very important because it shows that you know how to combine the author’s ideas and your words to create something new that explains what the author is saying. And because it is so short, you have to choose your words carefully!

SAM can help you summarize. When you Summarize, first Analyze, and then Map out the most important ideas.

Step 1: Analyze and decide what is important. Look at your assignment question as a guide. If the passage is short, go through each paragraph one at a time, looking for the important words, explanations, or opinions that provide information regarding the question being asked. If the passage is long, put two or three paragraphs together and again circle, write, or type words that are important. If you feel more comfortable writing in sentences and do not want to just list words or phrases, you can use prompts such as This paragraph is mostly about . . . or This passage talks mainly about . . . (again, list words, explanations, or opinions).

Step 2: Map it out. When you map something out, you have to decide what the most important landmarks and features of that map will be, as well as how those features will combine to present the clearest path. The same is true when writing a summary. After you take in all of the important words, explanations, and opinions of the author, you then have to rewrite the main idea using your own voice. When you rewrite something in your own words, you really show that you understand it, because your words always make more sense to you than someone else’s. Don’t worry if your sentences are short or if your language choice isn’t as fancy as the author’s. You aren’t writing a book; you are summarizing to show that you understand what you read so you can keep it in your head!

SAM THE SUMMARIZER: EXAMPLE

Check out another student example using the social studies selection you read earlier on Civil Disobedience and the reading organizer titled SAM the Summarizer. The student has listed two possible replies for each section of SAM the Summarizer. You decide what the better answer is, A or B.

1. Preparing to summarize: What is your assignment?

A. Why did Mohandas Gandhi accept Thoreau’s ideas and object to the governments in South Africa and India?

B. Mohandas Gandhi disagreed with the term “passive resistance” to describe his actions in South Africa and India. Why do you think he would challenge the use of the phrase “passive resistance?”

A is the only answer possible. Nowhere does the assignment use the question in answer choice B.

2. Analyze and decide what is important. There are six paragraphs. Put two paragraphs together and come up with important words, explanations, or opinions of the author that help to answer your assignment question.

Paragraphs 1 and 2

A. United States, Mexico, slavery, nonviolent options, lawbreakers, Jewel of the Crown, colonial power

B. Thoreau, Civil Disobedience, nonviolent option, force the government, Gandhi, India, Great Britain, and suffering

B is the better answer because the selection is about how Thoreau’s writings on civil disobedience helped to inspire Gandhi to stand up to the oppressive government of Great Britain.

Paragraphs 3 and 4

A. Hindu beliefs, emulate, law practice, legal advisor, racism and discrimination

B. Gandhi embraced British, lawyer, South Africa, racism and discrimination, injustice, and inhumanity

Again, B is the better answer. Think about how the words should tell the story happening in that paragraph. You can see that the words selected by the student in answer choice B show Gandhi moving from favoring the British to seeing racism in South Africa. The words in answer choice A are hard to even understand on their own and make it read as though he was Hindu and then practiced law. Don’t pick words you don’t understand. Find words that alone can be pieced together to recreate what the paragraph is saying.

Paragraphs 5 and 6

A. nonviolent resistance, winning battles, British landlords, non-cooperation, breaking salt laws, marchers, independence, Gandhi arrested, civil disobedience

B. superior military force, local struggle, Home Rule, Indian National Congress, monopoly, beach, breaking the law, talks

The better answer is A. The key words selected highlight Gandhi’s resistance, winning of battles, breaking laws, marching and working toward independence. Answer choice B highlights fragmented words that read like vocabulary words but have no connection. What is Home Rule? What is the Indian National Congress and what does that have to do with a beach?

3. Map it out! Using the author’s words, explanations, and opinions and your own words, summarize the answer to the assignment question.

A. Mohandas Gandhi used David Thoreau’s idea of Civil Disobedience in his own life. He used nonviolence as a way to stand up against the British government ruling in India. At first, Gandhi liked the British government and followed all their rules. But when he left to practice law in South Africa and saw the racism and discrimination that the British were using there, he changed how he felt. He used nonviolence as a way to help the people of South Africa and then came back to India to do the same thing. He fought against British landlords and the monopoly the British had on salt production. He led marchers to the beach where they protested the salt laws. Even though Gandhi was arrested, he made it possible for others to protest using nonviolence.

B. Henry David Thoreau wrote a pamphlet about the United States and war in Mexico. He was against slavery and wanted nonviolent options to protest the government. Gandhi wanted the same thing in India against Great Britain. Gandhi was Hindu and a lawyer and didn’t like the racism and discrimination he saw in South Africa. Gandhi came back to India. The British had a superior military force and Gandhi was in local struggles against the Indian National Congress. He fought against the monopoly and broke the laws and was able then to talk to the government.

A is the better answer. The student who wrote the summary in A used all the key words to recreate the story of Gandhi. The summary in B has information that isn’t even correct because even though the words the student chose are from the reading selection, they don’t go together correctly and don’t explain what the selection is about.

Let’s Practice!

Read the following selection about young adult author Chris Crutcher. Try all three reading organizers that we learned about in this chapter: Make an Inference, Text to Self Connections, and SAM the Summarizer.

Your Assignment: Answer the question: How did Chris Crutcher become a writer, and why does he write for young adults?

English Selection: “Connecting with Young Adult Writer Chris Crutcher” by Tony Sturgeon

Introduction

“What I’m going to do, as a writer, is make the best connection I can make with my characters. If I do that well, the kid will take it from there . . . I trust my readers to do that for themselves.” As with many authors of young adult literature, Chris Crutcher feels the connection his stories have with his readers is the reason he is so popular with teenagers. However, Crutcher’s connections are unique because he attempts to connect himself with his characters, which he feels will lead to a connection with the readers. This approach is one that has helped Chris Crutcher to become one of the most successful, and controversial, young adult authors writing today. The real question is, how is he able to make these connections with his characters? What has Chris Crutcher experienced that has contributed to this talent?

Chris Crutcher’s Beginnings

After reading his novels that focus on issues such as racism, alcoholism, and school violence, one may think that Crutcher’s upbringing was a turbulent one, especially since he claims to make connections with his characters. However, apart from having a mother who was an alcoholic, his family was the same as most of middle America’s. Even his mother’s alcoholism was tame when compared to the abusive drinkers that have appeared in his novels. He is quick to point out that his mother’s drinking did not keep her from holding a job and the “scars were not that deep.”

Other aspects of Crutcher’s teenage years were not that strange either. He grew up in a small town near Boise, Idaho, and because there was not much to do around the town, Chris found himself involved in sports, just like a lot of high school boys. He even continued this involvement as a member of the Eastern Washington State College swim team. Any reader of Crutcher’s novels will be able to attest to the fact that he knows what it is like to be a competition swimmer, as many of his characters are also on their high school’s swim teams. But simply being a member of a sports team will not make a person a successful novelist, although a strong academic career could be a step in the right direction.

Chris Crutcher and School

However, the academic facet of Chris Crutcher’s life is less telling than the others. As a matter of fact, his performance in high school is exactly opposite of what you would have thought a successful novelist would have accomplished. When it came to reading, Crutcher avoided it like the plague. He only read one book his entire high school career, To Kill a Mockingbird. He claims he only read that book because at the time it was new and on the best-seller list. When it came to book reports, he often found himself making up titles and story lines, getting author’s names from the telephone book, or copying the reports of his older brother, the valedictorian of his class. These are hardly the attributes of a future best-selling novelist. So once again, what led Chris Crutcher to write novels with such powerful characters?

Chris Crutcher’s Careers

The real insight into Crutcher’s connections with his teenage characters comes, surprisingly, more from his adult life and experiences than his own teenage years. Upon graduating from college with a teaching degree, Chris spent ten years as director of an alternative school in Oakland, California. During this time he spent much of his day dealing with troubled, inner-city children of all ages. There is little doubt that many of the things he saw and heard while serving as the school’s director had an impact on the stories he would later write.

After spending a decade in California, Chris Crutcher moved back to Washington and found a job as a child and family therapist. He currently works in a mental health center where he focuses on child-abuse cases. He has dealt with children that have had to endure some of the worst experiences imaginable. Once again, his relationships and interactions with these families have allowed him to write more realistic stories to which young adults are drawn.

Chris Crutcher’s Transition to Writing

Chris Crutcher did not begin writing until he was thirty-five years old. Since that time he has published nine young adult novels, one adult novel, numerous short-stories (including a collection of his own), and, most recently, an autobiography. When looking back at his own life, Crutcher agrees that what he has witnessed as a result of his career has allowed him to be a better author, or at least one that writes with realism. However, he does state that there is one important part of his teenage years, besides his involvement in sports, which has contributed to his writing. Chris says that he writes books that he would have liked to have read as a student. Crutcher claims that he was given the wrong stories to read, and that is why he never finished more than one book in high school. He hopes that his stories are ones that today’s students will enjoy and share.

Final Thoughts on Chris Crutcher

As you can see, Chris Crutcher has not had one moment in his life that is dramatically different from most of us. He was a typical teenager, one that was not extremely successful in school. His adult life gave him the opportunity to see inside a world that is troublesome for many, but very real. His characters have come to reflect that reality. So how does Chris Crutcher make these connections with his characters? He answers that very simply, “The bottom line for me is to tell the truth . . . there’s the connection.”

MAKE AN INFERENCE

Choose a question from your reading that hasn’t been answered—something you didn’t understand. Then, using clues in the text, add any background knowledge (what you already know about the topic) and answer the question. Make an inference.

1. What is an unanswered question you have from reading the story of Chris Crutcher? What do you know about Crutcher or any topic he discusses in the essay?

2. What kind of actual evidence (words, phrases, or sentences) can you find in the essay that might help you answer your question?

3. If you combine all the clues in the text with your background knowledge, can you answer your question?

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TEXT TO SELF CONNECTIONS

Select a paragraph or passage from the Crutcher essay, and then write down any connections you made between the text quotations and your own life. Be as specific as possible.

1. Draw a picture of what you see in your head when you read the words in your chosen paragraph or passage.

2. What do you think those words mean?

3. How does it make you feel when you see those words?

4. Why do you think these words are important to understanding the meaning of the essay?

SAM THE SUMMARIZER

1. Preparing to summarize: What is your task? Rewrite it using your own words.

2. Analyze and decide what is important. There are six paragraphs. Put two paragraphs together and come up with important words, explanations, or opinions of the author that help to answer your assignment question.

3. Map it out! Using the author’s words, explanations, and opinions and your own words, summarize the answer to the assignment question, “How did Chris Crutcher become a writer, and why does he write for young adults?