What Are The
Thinking Jobs For...
Thinking Jobs For...
Informational/Nonfiction Text
What is the Big Topic?
What is the author Mostly Teaching?
What is the APOV (author's point of view) of the Big Topic?
The bitterly cold Arctic winters may seem to be completely unfit for life, but there are creatures that thrive there and in other severe environments. Polar bears, Arctic foxes, and seals have bodies that are designed for the cold. Ways of adapting to an extreme environment are not uncommon in the animal world.
Nonfiction
BONUS: What are the thinking jobs?
BONUS BONUS: What do you predict this will be about?
Before you start reading, what should you do?
A Strong Preview:
Read the directions, title, look for text features, identify genre and thinking jobs.
Help you visualize what you're reading about
Characters: a boy and his dog
Problem/Goal: they are lost in the woods
Solution/Goal Accomplished?: the dog remembers certain smells and can use this to help them get out of the woods
LL: Help can come in unexpected ways
MI Jot: This story tells about a boy and his dog wander away from a picnic and become lost in the woods. The dog smells the picnic food and they find their way out.
Poetry
What is the literal meaning?
What is the deeper meaning?
Crickets talk in the tall grass
All late summer long.
When summer is gone,
The dry grass whispers alone.
Poetry!
BONUS: What are the thinking jobs?
BONUS BONUS: Tell about this poem!
What do you do after your Strong Preview?
Read the Passage Straight Through, using your Thinking Jobs as a guide.
Ask, "what's the Big Topic?" or "what's the main character's problem or goal?"
A caption
Explains a photograph or drawing
Big Topic: Sharks
What the author is Mostly Teaching: People are hunting sharks so much that it's affecting life cycles in the ocean
APOV: The author wants hunting to stop
This passage is about how sharks are being over-hunted. When the number of sharks goes down, some kinds of fish can become overpopulated and change the balance of the life cycles of the ocean.
Fiction
Characters
Problem (or character's goal)
Solution (or does the character reach the goal)
Lesson Learned
The boy stood on the track looking around. It was a hot July afternoon and he had been training since dawn. He thought he should probably go home...Mom would be worried about him exercising so hard in this heat. "Hey Jesse!" his coach yelled. "Once more around!" And Jesse Owens kept running, so well that in 1938 he was the first African American to compete in an Olympic games. Owens also won two gold medals at the Olympics, and he broke a world record for the 800-meter sprint.
Biography!
BONUS: What are the thinking jobs?
BONUS BONUS: What else do you think you'll learn about here?
What do you do after you've read a passage straight through?
Subheadings
Tell you what the next section is mostly about
Key Accomplishments: overcame polio to become the first African American woman to win Olympic gold medals in track
So What? Her life story teaches resilience and never giving up, despite tremendous odds.
MI Jot: This passage tells about Wilma Rudolph, the first African American woman to win gold medals in track at the Olympics. She amazingly overcame polio as a little girl and taught her self to walk and run.
Biography
Who is the Important Person?
What are the Key Accomplishments?
So What? (Why is all this important?)
My favorite US President is Abraham Lincoln. From my youngest years, after I visited the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., I tried to learn everything I could about the great President. At school, Kayla and Justin were working on a project on Lincoln, and they asked me to join them. I was thrilled, and I ran home to get my scrapbook, which was stuffed with articles, drawings, maps, photographs...all about Abraham Lincoln.
Fiction (Realistic Fiction)
BONUS: What are the Thinking Jobs?
BONUS BONUS: What do you predict the rest of the story will tell about?
What do you do if you come to a word you can't pronounce?
Break it down and sound it out, then read the whole sentence again and see if that helps you.
Graphs, Charts or Maps
Compares important numbers from the passage
Shows you places and surroundings mentioned in the passage
Literal meaning: A dandelion flower going through it's life cycle
Deeper meaning: every day is a gift and life is short
MI Jot: The poem "Dandelion" tells how a dandelion goes through its life cycle, from sprout to its seeds floating away in the wind. It tells how life is short but that every day is a wonderful gift.
Realistic Fiction
Characters
Problem/Goal and Big Topic (what is the character's goal and what is the Big Topic?)
Solution (how the story ends)
Lesson Learned
In New York City, many events herald the end of winter. Flowering trees blossom, baseball teams open their seasons, students have spring break from school. The following is a tale about a young girl who is having a hard time saying goodbye to the winter.
Fiction!
BONUS: What are the Thinking Jobs?
BONUS BONUS: What are you going to read about?
What do you do when you're reading and you realize that you're confused and forgot what you just read?
Read it again! Use your Thinking Jobs to help get you back on track!
Ask, "Ok, who are the important characters?" or "Ok, what is this author MOSTLY teaching me?"
Italic introductory paragraph
Gives you important background information to help you understand the passage
Big Topic: Electricity
What is the author Mostly Teaching: the history of how we came to use electricity
APOV: The author thinks this is an entertaining and educational bit of history