Lesson 6 Activity 6.1 Tough Text in the Past

Lesson 6 Activity 6.2 Tough Text in the Present

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Image of stacks of books

Summary: Text complexity is a reality for all readers. The writings from the Romantic Period in American literature can be challenging to comprehend- why is that? Reading complex text is like eating your vegetables; it is hard to do sometimes but definitely worth it in the end.

Benchmark:         11.4.10.10 By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literature and other texts including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 11–CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Learning Target:

I can defend the value and importance of reading complex texts.

Essential Question:        

How does reading and comprehending literary nonfiction at a high level of complexity benefit a reader? 

You will need 2 class periods

                Internet Access

                Journal

STEP 1:  

Reflect on your own reading experience. Think about when you thought that what you were reading was too hard.

STEP 2:

Answer these reading reflection questions in your e-Portfolio journal. Title this entry Unit 4: Lesson 6 - Difficult Text Reflection

1. If something was too hard for you to read, what does that mean for you?

2. What kinds of things were ‘hard’ for you to read? ( ie textbooks, novels in English class, dialect, etc.).

3. What kinds of things were ‘easy’ for you to read?

4. What helped you to get through text that was too hard to read and understand?

5. What made a text too easy to read and understand?

6 .Was there ever a time where something was definitely too hard for you to read, but you got through it? Explain. If you didn’t get through it, what would you have needed?

STEP 3: 

After having read both fiction and nonfiction Romantic writing, click on the link The Great Bad Writer by Kevin Jackson. Read the article.

STEP 4

In your e-Portfolio journal, summarize Jackson’s views on Poe as an author. Title this journal entry Unit 4: Lesson 6- Poe.

STEP 5:

Click on the link for this article, Reading Challenging Text.^[2] Think about your own reading. What can you do when you come across challenging text?

Step 6.

In your e-Portfolio journal, summarize this article. Title this entry Unit 4: Challenging Text Article Summary

STEP 7:

Submit all of your journal entries from steps 2, 4 and 6 by copying and pasting each URL. Hyperlink all 3 links before submitting.