Reading Comprehension

Strategy:Determining Importance

Reading Comprehension

Strategy:Determining Importance

Catherine M. Wishart

Literacy Coach

Copyright © 2009. All rights reserved.

““The essence of The essence of living is living is

discovering. discovering. Indeed, it is the joy Indeed, it is the joy of discovery that of discovery that makes life worth makes life worth

the effort.”the effort.”

- Vijay Krishna

Reading Comprehension Strategies Reading Comprehension Strategies

Synthesize Information

Make MentalImages

Ask Questions

MakeInferences

Determine Importance

Reading Comprehension

Reading Comprehension

BuildBackground Knowledge

Fix-up Strategies

How Do Readers Determine Importance?

How Do Readers Determine Importance?

• ““Titles, bold headings, pictures with captions, quotations, Titles, bold headings, pictures with captions, quotations, timelines, graphs, and maps give valuable information timelines, graphs, and maps give valuable information about what’s important.” about what’s important.” (Zimmermann and Hutchins, 2003, p. 128). (Zimmermann and Hutchins, 2003, p. 128).

• Readers must determine their own purpose for reading an Readers must determine their own purpose for reading an article in order to decide what is important.article in order to decide what is important.– If you are reading an article about losing weight in order to follow If you are reading an article about losing weight in order to follow

the author’s suggestions, you will note each step the author tells the author’s suggestions, you will note each step the author tells you to take.you to take.

– If you are reading the same article about losing weight in order to If you are reading the same article about losing weight in order to write a research paper on why diets don’t work, you will pay write a research paper on why diets don’t work, you will pay attention to the errors in the author’s suggestions.attention to the errors in the author’s suggestions.

• Readers need to determine the overall message of the Readers need to determine the overall message of the author in order to decide what supportive statements are author in order to decide what supportive statements are important and which statements are superfluous. important and which statements are superfluous.

Determining Importance:Barack Obama BiographyDetermining Importance:Barack Obama Biography

Barack Hussein Obama was born Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father, Barack Obama, Sr., was born of Luo ethnicity in Nyanza Province, Kenya. He grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British. Although reared among Muslims, Obama, Sr., became an atheist at some point.

Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in Wichita, Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he signed up for service in World War II and marched across Europe in Patton’s army. Dunham’s mother went to work on a bomber assembly line. After the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and moved to Hawaii.

Meantime, Barack’s father had won a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya pursue his dreams in Hawaii. At the time of his birth, Obama’s parents were students at the East-West Center of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Obama’s parents separated when he was two years old and later divorced. Obama’s father went to Harvard to purse Ph.D. studies and then returned to Kenya.

Four years later when Barack (commonly known throughout his early years as “Barry”) was ten, he returned to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham, and later his mother (who died of ovarian cancer in 1995).

In his memoir, Obama described how he struggled to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage. He saw his biological father (who died in a 1982 car accident) only once (in 1971) after his parents divorced. And he admitted using alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine during his teenage years. (Bio. “True Story.” http://www.biography.com/featured-biography/barack-obama/index.jsp).

Internal Questions to Help Determine Importance

Internal Questions to Help Determine Importance

• What is my purpose for reading this piece?What is my purpose for reading this piece?

• What has the author done to signal what is What has the author done to signal what is important to remember?important to remember?

• As I read this passage, what is the most As I read this passage, what is the most important point here that is essential for me to important point here that is essential for me to remember?remember?

• How does generating questions help me sort How does generating questions help me sort through all this information to pull out what is through all this information to pull out what is important?important?

• (Zimmermann and Hutchins, 2003, pp. 142-143).

Finding Important InformationFinding Important Information• My purpose is to learn more about Obama. My purpose is to learn more about Obama.

– His mother and father were raised in exceptionally different cultures.His mother and father were raised in exceptionally different cultures.– His grandparents valued education (G.I. Bill).His grandparents valued education (G.I. Bill).

• The author has pointed out the differences between his parents’ The author has pointed out the differences between his parents’ cultures with words like “meantime.”cultures with words like “meantime.”

• Important to remember are Obama’s reflections in his memoirs Important to remember are Obama’s reflections in his memoirs because these statements reveal what Obama thinks about because these statements reveal what Obama thinks about himself. himself.

• Questions I ask myself when I read this include:Questions I ask myself when I read this include:– How did it feel to be abandoned by his father?How did it feel to be abandoned by his father?– What kind of influence did his step-father have on his life?What kind of influence did his step-father have on his life?– Where was his mother at first when he went to live in Hawaii?Where was his mother at first when he went to live in Hawaii?– How does Obama reconcile his experimentation with drugs when he was How does Obama reconcile his experimentation with drugs when he was

younger?younger?

Practicing This StrategyPracticing This Strategy

• The short story, “The Puzzle,” is continued on the next slide.

• Read this portion of the story carefully. You may also decide to review previous portions of the story to assure you recall the highlights of the characters and the plot.

“The Puzzle” by Anonymous

Pugh had left his puzzle box behind him. We had done all we could, together, to solve the puzzle. He had left it behind to see what I could do with it alone. So much had it engrossed my attention that I had even brought it into my bedroom, in order that I might, before retiring to rest, make a final attempt at the solution of the mystery. NOW what possessed the thing?

As I stood, and looked, and listened, one thing began to be clear to me, that some sort of machinery had been set in motion inside the box. How it had been set in motion was another matter. But the box had been subjected to so much handling, to such pressing and such hammering, that it was not strange if, after all, Pugh or I unconsciously hit upon the spring which set the whole thing going. Possibly the mechanism had got so rusty that it had refused to act at once. It had hung fire, and only after some hours had something or other set the imprisoned motive power free.

But what about the screeching? Could there be some living creature concealed within the box? Was I listening to the cries of some small animal in agony? Momentary reflection suggested that the explanation prevented the mechanism from acting at once was causing the screeching now. The uncanny sounds were caused by nothing more or less than the want of a drop or two of oil. Such an explanation would not have satisfied Pugh, it satisfied me.

Picking up the box, I placed it to my ear. “I wonder how long this little performance is going to continue. And what is going to happen when it is

good enough to cease? I hope” – an uncomfortable thought occurred to me – “I hope Pugh hasn’t’ picked up some pleasant little novelty in the way of an infernal machine. It would be a first-rate joke if he and I had been endeavoring to solve the puzzle of how to set it going.”

I don’t mind owning that as this reflection crossed my mind I replaced Pugh’s puzzle on the dressing-table. The idea did not commend itself to me at all. The box evidently contained some curious mechanism. It might be more curious than comfortable. Possibly some agreeable little device in clockwork. The tick, tick, tick suggested clockwork which had been planned to go a certain time, and then - then, for all I knew, ignite an explosive, and – blow up. It would be a charming solution to the puzzle if it were to explode while I stood there, in my nightshirt, looking on. It is true that the box weighed very little. Probably, as I have said, the whole affair would not have turned the scale at a couple of ounces. But then its very lightness might have been part of the ingenious inventor’s little game. There are explosives with which one can work a very satisfactory amount of damage with considerably less than a couple of ounces.

While I was hesitating – I own it! – whether I had not better immerse Pugh’s puzzle in a can of water, or throw it out of the window, or call down Bob with a request to at once remove it to his apartment, both the tick, tick, tick and the screeching ceased, and all within the box was still. If it WAS going to explode, it was now or never. Instinctively, I moved in the direction of the door.

I waited with a certain sense of anxiety. I waited in vain. Nothing happened, not even a renewal of the sound.

“I wish Pugh had kept his precious puzzle at home. This sort of thing tries one’s nerves.”When I thought that I perceived that nothing seemed likely to happen, I returned to the

neighborhood of the table. I looked at the box askance. I took it up gingerly. Something might go off at any moment for all I knew. It would be too much of a joke if Pugh’s precious puzzle exploded in my hand, I shook it doubtfully; nothing rattled. I held it to my ear. There was not a sound. What had taken place? Had the clockwork run down, and was the machine arranged with such a diabolical ingenuity that a certain interval was required, after the clockwork had run down, before an explosion could occur? Or had rust caused the mechanism to again hang fire?

“After making all that commotion the thing might at least come open.” I banged the box viciously against the corner of the table. I felt that I would almost rather that an explosion should take place than that nothing should occur. One does not care to be disturbed from one’s sound slumber in the small hours of the morning for a trifle.

“I’ve half a mind to get a hammer, and try, as they say in the cookery books, another way.”Unfortunately I had promised Pugh to abstain from using force. I might have shivered the box

open with my hammer, and then explained that it had fallen, or got trod upon, or sat upon, or something, and so got shattered, only I was afraid that Pugh would not believe me. The man is himself such an untruthful man that he is in a chronic state of suspicion about the truthfulness of others.

“Well, if you’re not going to blow up, or open, or something, I’ll say good night.”I gave the box a final rap with my knuckles and a final shake, replaced it on the table, put out the

gas, and returned to bed.I was just sinking again into slumber, when that box began again. It was true that Pugh had

purchased the puzzle, but it was evident that the whole enjoyment of the purchase was destined to be mine. It was useless to think of sleep while that performance was going on. I sat up in bed once more.

What Do You Determine as Important?

What Do You Determine as Important?

• In this portion of the text, what is the author’s In this portion of the text, what is the author’s purpose? What is the author trying to do?purpose? What is the author trying to do?

• What questions do you ask yourself that help What questions do you ask yourself that help you determine what is most important?you determine what is most important?

• What prediction can you make about what will What prediction can you make about what will likely happen next? likely happen next?

• Complete the double-entry journal page on this Complete the double-entry journal page on this portion of the story and be prepared to discuss portion of the story and be prepared to discuss the story in class. the story in class.

When Determining Importance, Remember These Tips

When Determining Importance, Remember These Tips

• Determining importance has to do with knowing why you’re reading and Determining importance has to do with knowing why you’re reading and then make decisions about what information or ideas are most critical then make decisions about what information or ideas are most critical to understanding the overall meaning of the piece. to understanding the overall meaning of the piece.

• Knowing your purpose for reading is a big factor in determining what’s Knowing your purpose for reading is a big factor in determining what’s important when you read. It affects how carefully you read and has an important when you read. It affects how carefully you read and has an impact on what you determine to be important. impact on what you determine to be important.

• To determine importance, you consciously prioritize information to To determine importance, you consciously prioritize information to make decisions about what’s essential and what is less essential. make decisions about what’s essential and what is less essential.

• Reading to add background knowledge directs your search for Reading to add background knowledge directs your search for important information. important information.

• Launching a search to determine important information often starts with Launching a search to determine important information often starts with the generation of a question. the generation of a question.

• Authors leave clues as to what they think is important to remember. Authors leave clues as to what they think is important to remember. Phrases like “as a result” and “in summary” alert you to watch for Phrases like “as a result” and “in summary” alert you to watch for essential information. essential information.

(Zimmermann and Hutchins, 2003, p. 139). (Zimmermann and Hutchins, 2003, p. 139).

As you read, stop As you read, stop now and then to now and then to

consider what it’s consider what it’s important to important to remember. remember. Distinguish Distinguish

between facts that between facts that are interesting and are interesting and

those that are those that are important. important.

(Zimmermann and Hutchins, 2003, p. 135). (Zimmermann and Hutchins, 2003, p. 135).

ReferencesReferences• Anonymous. “The Puzzle.” http://www.classicreader.com/book/1409/1. • Bio. “True Story: Barack Obama.” http://www.biography.com/featured-

biography/barack-obama/index.jsp. • Krishna, Vijay. http://www.quoteland.com/topic.asp?

CATEGORY_ID=47.• Zimmerman, Susan, and Hutchins, Chryse. 7 Keys to Comprehension.

NY: Three Rivers Press, 2003.