Lesson Plan
Decoding Tricky Texts
Students will be able to identify and apply at least three active reading strategies (e.g., annotating, questioning, summarizing) to improve comprehension of challenging texts.
Understanding complex texts is a fundamental skill for academic success and navigating information in the real world. This lesson provides students with concrete strategies to tackle difficult readings, fostering independence and confidence.
Audience
9th Grade
Time
30 minutes
Approach
Direct instruction, guided practice, and independent application of active reading strategies.
Materials
Whiteboard or projector, Active Reading Strategies Slide Deck, Unlocking The Text Activity, Reading Comprehension Worksheet, Pens/Pencils, Highlighters (optional), and Copies of a short, complex text (provided in activity/worksheet)
Prep
Teacher Preparation
15 minutes
- Review the Active Reading Strategies Slide Deck and familiarize yourself with the content.
- Print copies of the Unlocking The Text Activity and the Reading Comprehension Worksheet for each student.
- Select a short, complex text suitable for 9th graders (e.g., an excerpt from a literary classic, a challenging non-fiction article) to be used in the activity and worksheet. Ensure this text is also included in the student materials.
- Gather pens, pencils, and optional highlighters.
- Prepare the whiteboard or projector for the slide deck presentation.
- Review all generated materials as needed to ensure comfort with the content and activities.
Step 1
Warm-Up: Reading Challenges (5 minutes)
5 minutes
- Begin by asking students: "What makes a text 'difficult' to read?" Allow for brief partner or whole-class discussion.
- Introduce the concept of active reading as a way to overcome these challenges.
- Transition to the Active Reading Strategies Slide Deck.
Step 2
Introducing Active Reading Strategies (10 minutes)
10 minutes
- Present the Active Reading Strategies Slide Deck, focusing on 3-4 key strategies (e.g., annotating, asking questions, summarizing paragraphs).
- Explain each strategy with clear examples.
- Encourage students to take notes.
- Facilitate a brief Q&A session to clarify any confusion.
Step 3
Guided Practice: Unlocking The Text (10 minutes)
10 minutes
- Distribute the Unlocking The Text Activity.
- As a class, read the first paragraph of the provided complex text aloud.
- Model how to apply one or two active reading strategies (e.g., underline a key idea, write a question in the margin).
- Guide students to apply a different strategy to the next paragraph in small groups or pairs.
- Circulate and provide support, feedback, and answer questions.
Step 4
Independent Practice: Reading Comprehension Worksheet (5 minutes)
5 minutes
- Distribute the Reading Comprehension Worksheet.
- Instruct students to continue reading the provided text independently, applying the active reading strategies they learned.
- Students should answer the comprehension questions on the worksheet.
- Explain that the worksheet will be collected for assessment and practice.
- Conclude the lesson by briefly reiterating the importance of active reading.
Slide Deck
Decoding Tricky Texts
Strategies for Better Reading Comprehension
What makes a text 'difficult' to read?
- New vocabulary?
- Long sentences?
- Complex ideas?
- Lack of interest?
Welcome students and introduce the day's topic: tackling tough texts. Ask them to think about what makes reading difficult for them.
What is Active Reading?
It's not just reading words on a page. It's about engaging with the text.
Active readers:
- Think about what they're reading.
- Ask questions as they go.
- Make connections.
- Pay attention to details.
Explain that active reading isn't just about reading the words, but interacting with them. It's like having a conversation with the text.
Strategy 1: Annotating
What is it? Writing notes, underlining, highlighting key ideas as you read.
Why do it?
- Helps you focus.
- Makes important information stand out.
- Connects new ideas to what you already know.
- Provides a study guide later.
How to do it? Underline main ideas, circle new vocabulary, write questions or reactions in the margins.
Introduce annotation. Emphasize that there's no single 'right' way to annotate, but it's about making the text your own.
Strategy 2: Asking Questions
What is it? Posing questions about the text before, during, and after you read.
Why do it?
- Helps you set a purpose for reading.
- Promotes critical thinking.
- Clarifies confusion.
- Connects ideas.
How to do it? Ask: Who is this about? What's happening? Why is it important? What does this word mean? What's the author's main point?
Explain the importance of asking questions before, during, and after reading. This helps set a purpose and check understanding.
Strategy 3: Summarizing
What is it? Briefly restating the main ideas of a paragraph, section, or entire text in your own words.
Why do it?
- Checks your understanding.
- Helps you remember key information.
- Forces you to identify the most important points.
How to do it? After each paragraph or section, pause and think: "What was the main point here?" Write it down in a sentence or two.
Introduce summarizing as a way to consolidate understanding. Emphasize brevity and focusing on the main idea.
Practice Makes Perfect!
Active reading strategies are tools. The more you use them, the better you'll become at understanding even the trickiest texts.
Today, we'll practice:
- Annotating
- Asking Questions
- Summarizing
Let's get started!
Conclude by reminding students that these strategies take practice but are powerful tools for any reader.
Activity
Unlocking The Text: Active Reading Practice
Directions: Read the following excerpt. As you read, actively engage with the text using the strategies we discussed:
- Annotate: Underline key ideas, circle new vocabulary, and write brief notes or reactions in the margins.
- Ask Questions: Write down any questions that come to mind as you read.
- Summarize: After each paragraph, pause and write a 1-2 sentence summary of the main idea in your own words.
Excerpt from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Chapter 11 (Abridged)
It was a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.
How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with the watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, and the shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.
Oh! No mortal could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch. I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then, but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived.
Your Active Reading Notes:
Paragraph 1 Summary:
Questions for Paragraph 1:
Paragraph 2 Summary:
Questions for Paragraph 2:
Paragraph 3 Summary:
Questions for Paragraph 3:
Worksheet
Reading Comprehension Worksheet: Frankenstein
Directions: Refer to the excerpt from Frankenstein provided in the "Unlocking The Text Activity." Answer the following questions using complete sentences. Your answers should reflect your understanding gained from using active reading strategies.
- What is the narrator (Victor Frankenstein) describing in the first paragraph? What