Standard 11-12-13

Love that date today.  I heard from Gabe Spencer in period three that a couple got married at 9:10 on 11-12-13.  That's funny.  Or creative.  Or weird.  But it's memorable regardless.

Today should be memorable for you because you turned in your Giver papers.  From this point forward this quarter, we will be focusing on nonfiction writing as you undoubtedly could tell from today's discussion. We broke down the key differences between fiction and nonfiction.  I highlighted that two big differences are that a nonfiction text will often have a works cited page and an index in the back of the book.  They become more reliable if they are able to demonstrate where all their information came from.  Works cited page and an index.  Don't forget them!

We also went over some key questions that you need to be thinking about whenever you begin reading a nonfiction text.  Based on our discussion we settled on several key questions.  I shared them below and offered a little elaboration in parentheses.

1) What is the purpose of the article?  (What is the main idea the article is trying to get across?)
2) What evidence does the article offer for support?  (What are the arguments? Are the arguments credible?)
3) What are the sources for that evidence/those arguments?  (Are they credible sources?)
4) Are both sides equally represented?  (Is there bias in the presentation?)
5) Who is the author? (What are his credentials?  Is he credible? Is he biased?)

Often we accept what we read as true, especially if it is in a newspaper or magazine.  However, to become better readers, we need to be more discerning readers.  We need to be skeptical sometimes.  If we keep those questions in mind when we read, we are less likely to be duped into believing something that isn't true or supporting something that is not worthy of our support.  Read with your eyes open.

Tomorrow, we will look at another short nonfiction article and apply our questions to it.  Will we also have a quiz over the questions?

We will visit the IMC for a nonfiction book.  Do you know what you will be reading?

See you soon.