Literary Elements
How did others treat the main character? Use details from the passage to support your answer. / What can we infer about the main character in the story? Use evidence from the text to support your response. / How does the narrator feel about the main character? How does the character feel about him/herself? Use details from the passage to support your response.What major challenge do the characters face? Use evidence from the text. / What traits does the main character seem to possess? Do you find him/her to be an admirable character? Why or why not? Use details from the text to support your ideas. / Compare two characters you have read about. What is similar about them? What is different?
Where does most of this passage take place? How would the story change if it was a different setting? / From whose perspective is the story told? How might the story be different if it were told from a different perspective? / How would you describe the mood of most of this passage? Use details from the passage to support your answer.
What imagery is used to describe the main character? What does the imagery tell you about the character? / Describe how a character responds to major events or challenges. / How does the author describe what the character looks like (facial expressions, clothing, hair, etc.)? What can you infer about the character?
Who is the speaker in the poem? Use evidence from the poem to support your answer. / Find a part when a character does something significant and describe it. What can you infer about the character’s motive? / How would you describe the mood created in the first few paragraphs? Support your answer with details from the text.
How would you describe the author’s tone? Explain your answer. / What evidence does the author provide to prove his/her viewpoint? / What can you infer about the time period/society from the passage? Use details from the text to support your response.
What is the author’s viewpoint? How does the author feel about the topic? Use evidence from the text to support your inference. / What words do the author use to describe the character’s inner thoughts? What can you infer about the character’s feelings or mood? / What do the character’s actions suggest about him/her?
Find dialogue between two characters. Write what one character says. What might the character be thinking and feeling when saying these words? / What does the dialogue tell you about the characters’ personalities? Use evidence from the text to support your answer. / What most influenced the character’s feelings?
How does the character feel at the beginning of the story? / How would the story be different if it were told from another character’s point of view? / What is emphasized by telling the story from this point of view?
What internal conflict is presented in this story? / What is the main conflict in this paragraph/story? / How does the character help resolve the story’s conflict?
Which describes the change in the character’s attitude from the beginning to the end of the story? / Which detail about the setting is most important to the story? / Which event is presented as the climax of the story?
Which event marks the resolution? / Which is the initiating event in the story? / Which paragraph best shows the main conflict of the story?
If the story were told from another character’s point of view, the reader would better understand – / Based on what the character says in paragraph ___, the reader may conclude that the character – / How does the setting influence the character’s point of view?
Based on the selection, which words would NOT be used to describe the character?
Main Idea/ Summary/ Theme/ Fact and Opinion
Choose a paragraph in your reading. What is a good heading for this paragraph? / Both selections express the idea that/address the theme of– / Identify a sentence from the article that is a fact—what clues let you know it is a fact?Which paragraph is most important to the story? Use details to prove your view. / Which details are most essential (important) to include in a summary of the story (or article)? / Identify a sentence from the article that is an opinion—what signal words/ clues let you know it is an opinion?
What statement best describes the theme suggested in the selection? / A summary of the article should include a fact about – / Which detail best reflects the author’s main point/ the main idea?
Summarize the passage in two or three sentences. Share your summary with a partner. / What is the passage mostly about? Turn to a partner and summarize the passage. / What is the big idea in this passage? Turn to a partner and summarize the passage.
How are the themes of the two texts similar? Use details from both texts to support your response. / Does the majority of the text express an opinion? Explain your answer. / What is the topic?
What is the main idea?
(topic + 1 point)
Find key details to describe who/ what/ when/ where/ why/ how. / Determine the central message, lesson or moral and provide evidence for it.
What is the theme or central message? What clues from the text helped you to make that inference? / Use details to describe the exposition/ rising action/ climax/ falling action/ resolution. / What reasons does the author give to support the main points?
Inference
Which word/phrase from this paragraph best shows the author’s attitude about the topic? / Authors of both selections help the reader gain a better understanding of what topic/ idea? / Both selections would be most helpful in describing –With what statement would both the author of the article and the author of the poem agree? / The author assumes the reader already knows that – / Pick 2-3 detail sentences. The author includes these sentences mainly to help the reader understand that –
The author’s main purpose is to – / Using this paragraph, what may a reader infer about the author’s position? / What does the author most likely believe about this topic/subject?
Based on what you have read so far, what can you predict will happen next? / Based on what you have read so far, what is the story most likely going to be about? / Identify and record a key detail. Make an inference based on that information.
What is the purpose of this passage? Does the author have a clear opinion? Explain your answer. / What are some differences between the information given about the topic in the first text and the information about the topic in the second text? What is the advantage of each type of information? / What do you think the author wants you to understand about the topic? What key details helped you to form that inference?
Text Features/Organization
Which is the best heading for this paragraph? / The author uses (boldface/ italics/ links) in this section in order to— / How can the reader tell this is a (technical/ persuasive/ expository) text?What is the purpose of the text? Support your answer with evidence from the text. / Which word(s) shows a (contrast/ comparison/ cause-effect/ generalization)? / How does the author mainly organize the text? How is the structure helpful to the reader?
The author uses a cause and effect structure. Choose an example of this and tell why that information is important to the passage. / Which sentence shows a (cause-effect/comparison) relationship? / What text features does the author use to help the reader understand the text? Explain your answer.
Find a text feature and explain what it helps you to understand. / Describe how an illustration helps you to understand a character/setting/plot. / Look at the headings, charts or other text features. What do you think will be the main idea of the text?
How does the author help the reader visualize the text? / How does the imagery in the end of the story compare to the beginning? What is the effect of this? / Why do you think the author wrote the passage? What clues lead you to think that way?
What does the author want to answer, explain, or describe?
Figurative Language
Find a simile or metaphor. How does the comparison affect the tone of the poem? / In the paragraph, the author’s word choice conveys a mood of – / Based on both selections, the author and poet each use sensory language in order to –Select examples of personification in the text. / Find a simile in the text. Which two items are being compared? / Select all the words that do NOT contribute to the author’s tone.
The author’s word choice in the section is best described as – / Select the words/phrases the poet uses to create a sense of
______. / Pick out and label a figurative language device we have studied. The author includes this sentence/figure of speech to show the reader –
The author/poet includes description to emphasize – / The poet repeats words and phrases throughout the poem most likely to emphasize – / Which word in this sentence is used figuratively?
The purpose of the figurative language in the passage is to foreshadow – / The purpose of the figurative language is to suggest – / Which sentence from the article contains a comparison?
Vocabulary
Pick out a “wow” phrase/line. How does this affect the tone of the text? What other details in the text support your thinking? / Pick out a “wow” word or repeated phrase. Why might the author have chosen to use this word/phrase? What is the significance of the author’s repeated use of the phrase? / Which words in the sentence have negative connotations?Which two words are antonyms? / Find an unknown word. What do you think it means? What context clues (or text features) helped you to infer its meaning? / In these sentences from paragraph ______, which words have the most positive connotation?
Which words are synonyms of
______? / In this sentence/paragraph, which words or phrases help define the word ______? / Which word from the story comes from the root that means
“______”