During Reading Activities

After reading each chapter of your book, choose two things to do from the list provided below.   Record your work in your blog post.
Use the title and number of the chapter you are responding to as labels for each pair.

Example:

Chapter 1:  The Most Natural Act in the World
"Things to Do" choice #1
"Things to Do" choice #2

You should not use any one "Things to Do" more than three (3) times.

Example:  You should only use "Things to Do" #1:  Complete the stem "My favorite part of this chapter was _____!" for a maximum of three chapters.

When you have completed responding to all of your chapters, move on to the "After Reading" post.

Things to Do  

1. Complete the stem:  "My favorite part of this chapter was ______________!
2. Complete the stem:  "If we as a campus applied what I read about _____ then ______."* 
3. Complete the stem:  "I would like to ask the author ____.  This is important to me because ___."
4. Complete the stem:  "Because I now know or was reminded of _____ I will commit to ______. This is important because ________."
5. Complete the stem:  "Reading about ____ makes me uncertain of my thinking about ______."*
6. Complete the stem:  "Reading about _____ makes me more confident of my thinking about ___."
7. Complete the stem:  "I had to re-read when ___________.  Doing so helped me to learn _____."
8. Complete the stem:  "I am still unclear about ___________."
9. Complete the stem:  "What I learned about ____ helps me to understand _____."
10. Complete the stem:  "The author is essentially saying. . ."*
11. Complete the stem:  "The author uses the concrete idea of ____ to describe/explain the abstract   concept of _____."*
12. Complete the stem:  "_______ teaches us that __________"*
13. Complete the stem:  "If the author(s) of the text had his or her/their way, then _________."
14. Complete the stem:  "Something that concerns me in this chapter is ____because ______.
15. Write a text to self connection you made while reading this chapter.  
16. Write a text to text (from you book of choice or another text) connection you made while reading this chapter.
17. Pull and post a passage from this chapter that you have questions about.  What are your questions?
18. Find an article or blog post that connects (which is not a synonym for supports) to what you are reading.  Post the article or blog post.
19. Consider an argument made in this chapter, identify it and provide a counterargument that could   be made?
20. Identify a non-education idea presented in the chapter that could be applied to education.  What difference do you think this idea would make?
21. Identify something you thought in earlier chapters that you have now changed your position on.   What led you to change your position?
22. Find a quote from GoodReads that connects to this chapter.  Why did you choose this particular   quote?  How does it connect with the ideas in the chapter?
23. Pull and post a passage from your chapter, include your annotations or briefly state why you chose this particular passage.
24. How has your understanding of thinking and learning increased after reading this chapter?
25. The idea presented in the chapter most applicable to me now is _____________.  The idea presented in the chapter least applicable to me now is _____________.
26. Pull three terms or concepts from the text that you were previously unfamiliar with (whether in terms of usage or definition).  Define them and provide the context they were used in.
27. Identify your favorite illustration, anecdote, or story from the chapter.  Why did you chose this particular one?  What role did it play in supporting the author's premise?  
28. Reader's choice. . .respond to your chapter in any way you choose.   

* From Developing Academic Thinking Skills in Grades 6-12 by Jeff Zwiers

Action Steps:
1.  Complete two different "Things to Do" per chapter.
2.  Check to make sure that you have not used any individual "Things to Do" more than three times.
3.  Post your work as you go.  The intent is for you to respond to the text.