How Text "Fits" Together

We have been working on the standard RI6.5: Analyze how a particular sentence, paragraph, chapter, or section fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the ideas.

This standard focuses on how pieces of a text fit together to make the whole meaning, much like a puzzle fits together to create an image that you cannot see until it's complete.

This post describes text structure in nonfiction and how the concept was introduced.

11/29 - We learned five examples of how authors create structure in nonfiction text and discussed how structuring text ensures a reader's understanding. The PowerPoint for this lesson is here. We practiced by sorting five articles into the five different text structures.

11/30 - We applied our learning from yesterday by searching for these text structures in nonfiction articles. This is the Symbaloo we used to start with -- a ton of interesting arguments here!

12/1 - We close read Steve Jobs' commencement speech given at Stanford University in 2005. We found four of our five structures in the speech and annotated the speech through close reading.

12/2 - We watched a video of Steve Jobs' speech and listened closely as the structures were presented in audio format. We answered questions about how the speech was structured and analyzed how the message would be different if the speech was not structured that way.

This is important practice for our assessment on Monday, 12/5. The assessment will be online using the same format (EdPuzzle) as the Steve Jobs' speech practice.

The rubric for this assessment is here.