FICTION:
1) Contemporary, historical, science, fable, myth.
2) Characters: Not just the “people” in a story. Identify their traits and motivations.
3) Setting – Time AND place. Look for clues. Think about how a setting may affect how a character behaves.
4) Plot – The events that happen in a story. Usually connected by cause and effect.
5) Theme – The lesson of a story. Not always told to us. We have to guess, based on the hints the author gives.
6) Point of view: 1st person – I was going to the store to get my mother some food. I was so hungry I thought I might pass out. (Tells a story about what happened to the narrator.)
3rd person – He went to the store to get his mother some food. He bought a
sandwich, chips and a soda. (The only thing a 3rd person narrator tells us is what
they can see or hear the character doing.)
3rd person limited – He went to the store to get his mother some food. She told him to buy something for himself and he hoped that he could still get a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. (3rd person limited tells us what ONE CHARACTER only is thinking and feeling in the story.)
3rd person omniscient – He went to the store to get his mother some food. She hoped that he would come right home because she was hungry, but he wanted to walk past the playground first to see if his friends were there. (3rd person omniscient tells us what ALL characters in a story are thinking and feeling.)
POETRY:
1) Lines – Rows of words in a poem. They DO NOT have to follow usual rules of grammar, capitalization or punctuation.
2) Stanzas – Paragraphs in a poem. A stanza ends at a place where the poet has finished talking about one idea and is ready to start a new one.
3) Sounds of Poetry: Sometimes the actual SOUND of a poem is part of its meaning. The following are poetry words that describe the SOUND of a poem:
- Rhyme: Words with the same ending sound as others. Usually, but not always, come at the end of a line of poetry.
- Rhyme scheme: The pattern of rhymes used in a poem. Usually written like abba or ababcdcd. Remember – to find the rhyme scheme, the first line of the poem is always a. If the next line rhymes with the first line, it’s also an a. If it doesn’t, it’s b. You keep checking the last word of every line of a poem, finding the ones that rhyme and matching the letters.
- Rhythm – The beat of the poem. The use of stressed and unstressed syllables in the words of each line. (Remember – it’s She-RI-dan, not SHE-ri-dan or She-ri-DAN.)
- Repetition – Using repeated words or lines in a poem. If you see this, pay attention. It’s the author’s way of telling you that it’s an important idea.
- Alliteration – Repeating a consonant sound at the start of each word. These are tongue twisters.
4) Figurative Language. Poetry doesn’t always describe things exactly the way they are. They describe the feeling that something gives them.
- Simile: Comparing two things using the words “like” or “as.” You eat LIKE a pig. I’m AS hungry AS a horse.
- Metaphor: Comparing two things WITHOUT using “like” or “as.” You ARE a pig. Life IS a rollercoaster.
- Personification: Describing something that’s not human using human terms. Lightning danced across the sky.
- Symbolism: Using an image or object in place of something else. Hearts = love, black = sadness.
- Allusion: When a story makes a reference to another story, well-known person or event. “You’re a regular Einstein, huh?” “Your backyard is as nice as the Garden of Eden.”
4) Forms of Poetry: Some kinds of poems have rules you have to follow. Some examples are:
- Lyric poem: A short poem that can be sung like a song.
- Ode: A poem paying tribute to something the writer loves. Has two or more stanzas with identical structures.
- Haiku: a Japanese poem that is only 3 lines long. Line 1 is 5 syllables, line 2 is 7 syllables, line 3 is 5 syllables. Usually about nature.
- Sonnet: The poem is 14 lines long. Each line is either 10 or 12 syllables long. The first 8 lines talk about something from one point of view, the last 6 lines change the point of view to the opposite.
- Ballad: A poem that tells a story, each stanza is either 2 or 4 lines long, followed by a group of 2 lines that repeat themselves throughout the poem.
- Free Verse: Poetry with no rules.
DRAMA:
1) Drama is a story written to be performed by actors and watched on stage, TV or in a movie theater. The information in a drama comes from what the characters say and do. We do not get a chance to learn the thoughts or feelings of the characters unless they tell them to us.
Elements of Drama:
- Cast of characters: The list of all people who will be in the story
- Scene: a short section of the story, usually taking place in one location.
- Act: A collection of scenes. The act usually ends when a section of the story has finished.
- Setting: Time and place of the events of the story. Helps to control the MOOD of the story.
- Dialogue: The lines spoken by the characters.
- Stage directions: Information written into the drama telling the characters how to move and deliver certain lines of dialogue, also describes props, sound and lighting effects going on in the story at that time
2) Dialogue: In a drama we learn everything about the characters from what they say and do. Pay close attention to what the characters say and what that tells us about them as people, as if they were real. Ways that an author can use dialogue to give the audience information:
- Monologue: A long speech given by one character to the other characters.
- Soliloquy: A speech where the character talks to the audience and none of the other characters can hear them. Often the character tells their thoughts and feelings to the audience this way.
- Aside: A quick comment made by a character meant for the audience to hear, but not the other characters.
- Dramatic irony: When the audience knows more about what’s going on in a story than the characters in the story do. (EXAMPLE – A horror movie.)
- Verbal irony: When a character says something that’s the opposite of how they really feel. Usually done in a sarcastic way.
NONFICTION – ARTICLES:
Articles are 100% fact-based. No opinions are included. Pure information.
1) Genres of article:
- biography – The story of someone’s life written by another person.
- essay – An information-based story.
- speech – A written version of a speech delivered to a group of people.
- textbook – What you read in classrooms.
- letter/journal – A personal explanation of events.
- interview – A conversation between 2 people that’s recorded and written down to be read later.
3) Identify the CENTRAL IDEA and SUPPORTING DETAILS of your article.
4) Author’s purpose: Always to inform. Objective is when you tell only things that are true and provable. Subjective is when the writer includes their opinion.
5) Text Structures: The way that an author chooses to list out the information in an article. – chronological. Tell events in the order that they happened.
- compare and contrast. Talks about two or more items and their similarities and differences.
- Problem/Solution. The first half of an article describes a problem, the second describes a solution.
- Cause/Effect. Describes things that happened, that caused other things to happen, then others…
6) Text and Graphic Features: charts, maps, photos, headings, subheadings. All provide extra information beyond what the story itself tells us.
NONFICTION – PERSUASIVE TEXTS/EDITORIALS
1) Identify the point of view. In an editorial, author’s opinions are the whole point. Ask yourself 2 things when reading them: 1) How does the author feel about the subject of the essay? 2) What does the author get if they are able to convince you to do or think what they want? This is finding Bias.
2) Structure - What we practiced all year. Introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion.
3) Evaluating evidence: Relevant – there is a connection between the evidence/explanations in the letter and the thesis statement the author is trying to prove. Irrelevant – the evidence is not connected to the thesis statement.
REMEMBER: Quality and quantity. There needs to be a good amount of good quality evidence used
to prove a thesis statement.
4) Types of evidence: The ways an author can try to prove their thesis is correct.
- example: using something that happened in real life to explain why your idea is correct.
- case study: using information that you learned based on someone else’s experiments or research.
- statistics: Use numbers to try and prove your idea is correct.
- expert opinions: Find people who are absolute experts on the topic and use their ideas to prove yours.
4) Counterclaims – When an author admits that not everyone agrees with them, but then proves these people wrong with more pieces of information.
5) Persuasive techniques: Ways that a writer creates their sentences to try and have the greatest effect on the reader.
- propaganda. Trying to use information to scare people into behaving the way you want them to.
- Bandwagon appeal. Tries to convince you by saying a lot of other people are behaving one way, so you probably should too. (“So many people like hip hop, but you like country. You should give hip hop a try like everyone else.”)
- Generalizations. Says something that sounds true because you say it with enough authority. (“Everybody knows that students should be able to use cell phones in the classroom.”)
- Stereotypes. Making a statement about a group of people, saying that something is true about all of them equally. (“Students are lazy and don’t care about their education.”)
NONFICTION – HISTORICAL TEXTS.
1) Primary/Secondary sources. Primary Sources are things that the person writing the story experienced for themselves. They either saw it, heard it or were a part of it. Secondary sources are when you find information from someone else, then report it.