Happy New Year!  To kick off 2011, we will move away from our focus on fiction and dive into informational texts.  We will begin by refreshing our memories about the strategic importance of using text features–boldface, italics, headings, and illustrations–to call attention to important information prior to reading.  Next, we will review concepts such as proposition and support, as well as main idea and summary.   After reviewing these terms, we will examine the difference between objective and biased treatment within a piece of text, and we will also continue working on reading skills, such as inference and unsupported inference.

In order to sharpen our skills when reading informational text, we will be working with consumable text–text that we can annotate and mark up!  Our reading selections come from the Holt workbook, and include non-fiction articles from magazines such as Archaeology’s Dig, NOVA Online, and Zillions.  Topics range from the history of music, to the Loch Ness Monster, and recycling.

Students in eighth grade English are currently reading and annotating John Steinbeck’s gripping novel Of Mice and Men.  Throughout the school year, our class has focused on elements of literature that are important to interpreting works of fiction, such as setting, character, conflict, climax, and resolution.  These are the items students are annotating while they read.  Each student has been given his or her own personal copy to annotate–or take notes in–as he or she reads, and so far the result is that students are showing ownership of their work.  Class discussions have been rich in ideas, textual support, analysis, and inferential thinking.  In all, students are continuing to develop their skills as active readers.