Reading Skills
The "voice" of a work; the narrator's perspective
What is point of view?
The character or force in conflict with the main character.
What is the antagonist?
Grouped lines in a poem.
What is a stanza?
Identify 5 different genres.
Answers will vary. Below are some genres
Fiction (Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, etc.)
Informational (article, essay)
Argumentative/Persuasive
Poetry
Memoir
Biography
Autobiography
Identify the type of figurative language: "John's answer to the problem was just a Band-Aid, not a solution."
What is a metaphor?
Three reasons that explain an author's purpose for writing a text.
What are persuade, inform, and entertain?
The overall lesson that can be learned from the story; a repeated idea or lesson in a literary text that often deals with abstract questions, beliefs, or truths.
What is theme?
Get a good night's sleep.
A factual claim can be found in what genre(s)?
Informational, memoir, biography, autobiography
BONUS: Do you think all memoirs, biographies, and autobiographies are 100% factual? Why or why not?
Identify the type of figurative language: "I wanted to play in the park on Sunday but it was raining cats and dogs."
What is an idiom?
The narrator is an observer, but can also zoom in on the thoughts and emotions of any character.
What is third person omniscient?
BONUS: What are the other kinds of narrators?
Written conversation between two or more characters, usually identifiable by quotation marks.
What is dialogue?
BONUS: What are the two other ways we have seen authors handle dialogue without using quotation marks?
The morning of the STAAR test, it is important to.....
eat a healthy breakfast.
True or False: It is possible for a text to have elements of more than one genre.
If you answer true, provide one example of a work that we have read in class that has elements of more than one genre. Be specific: which two genre elements does the story have.
True.
Examples will vary.
"The Veldt"
Identify the figurative language: "The thunder clapped angrily in the distance."
What is personification?
How the author creates the passage and puts it together (ex. cause and effect, sequencing, problem-solution, etc.).
What is organization (or structure)?
The information that must be included in a summary.
What is BME (beginning, middle, and end)?
BONUS: Who can summarize The House on Mango Street in no more than 3 sentences?
What strategies can you use when there are paired texts? List as many as you can.
You can:
- use an H-chart
- read the questions for passage 1 first (not the questions for passage 2) and then read passage 1
- answer the questions over both passages last.
List as many text features of an informational text as you can.
pictures, charts, captions, headings, sub-headings, footnotes, data/graphs, etc.
Identify the figurative language: "His hair is stiff as a broom."
What is a simile?
The writer's or speaker's attitude toward a subject of a poem, story, or other literary work.
What is tone?
BONUS: How is mood different from tone?
Draw and label a plot diagram.
Your chart must include the following:
- exposition
- conflict
- rising action
- climax/turning point
- falling action
- resolution
When answering questions on the STAAR test, always try to find ______ in the text.
evidence for your answer
Answers will vary.
"They're Made Out of Meat"
The message is about how prejudice is silly.
Identify the figurative language: "Alice's aunt ate apples and acorns around August."
What is alliteration?