TEXTS:

1. Choice Readings, by Clarke, Dobson, and Silberstein; University of Michigan Press, 1996.
2. The Pearl, by John Steinbeck; Penguin edition

GRADES:

• Attendance can affect your final grade. Be sure to read the section above carefully.
• Numerical equivalents
• Homework must be handed in on the day it is due. Late homework will only be accepted if you are absent, and hand it in on the same day that you return to class. Late homework will be marked, but will receive a grade of zero.
• No make-up tests or classwork will be given or accepted.

 

 
 
 

HOMEWORK/CLASSWORK/PARTICIPATION.........25%

NOVEL READING JOURNAL.......................................20%

QUIZZES.........................................................................25%

FINAL EXAM.................................................................30%

In this course, we will quickly review various skills and content covered in Level 2: prefixes, suffixes, and word roots; guessing vocabulary from context; skimming; identifying main ideas of paragraphs and passages; identifying supporting details; reading under timed conditions; and analyzing word forms.

We will read a novel and identify the conflict, climax, and resolution; we will also read a variety of other original texts, including short academic readings, and newspaper and magazine articles. Skills that we will practice and develop are: distinguishing fact from opinion; semantic mapping; papraphrasing and summarizing; identifying rhetorical patterns in texts; inferring; predicting; and developing critical thinking skills through small group discussions run by you.

OBJECTIVES:

By the end of the term, you should be able to do the following.

• Read at a rate of 100-150 words per minute from a variety of sources;
• Demonstrate previewing, skimming and scanning techniques to locate information and build schemata during pre-reading activities;
• Distinguish general from specific ideas and locate them in a passage;
• Distinguish fact from opinion in a passage;
• Identify and restate the main idea of a passage;
• Read and understand a(n) [adapted] novel;
• Identify conflict, climax, and resolution in works of fiction;
• Paraphrase key ideas from a passage;
• Make inferences about information in a passage;
• Identify basic rhetorical patterns in reading passages;
• Lead a small group discussion that analyzes assigned reading passages.