R = r e a d A = a c t iv e le a r n e r S = s y s t e m P = p r o c e s s

B E A N A C T I V E P A R T I C I P A N T I N Y O U R O W N L E A R N I N G .

B E F O R E

A F T E R

D U R I N G

U S E T H E R E A D I N G P R O C E S S .

D E V E L O P Y O U R O W N S Y S T E M O F L E A R N I N G .

R E A D W I T H A P E N C I L I N Y O U R H A N D .

Did youmemorizemy tenets forthe test?

STUDY GUIDEPACKET #3

Main Idea & Inferences

MAIN IDEACENTRAL POINT

(stated or implied)

Major Details = Proof

Minor Details = Fluff

1st: find real TOPIC

• Specific angle about a subject

(best way to hold a football-not just football)• Phrase

(2 or more words)

Hint: ask “what is this about? Raising kids, feeding cats, or

Training dogs? No, it’s about…”

Ask: so what about the best way to hold a football?

• You’ll find the ‘main idea’

• You’ll find the central message

• You’ll be able to write a general summary of the section of writing

• You’ll find a possible test question

What is a topic? 1 or 2 wordsNOT A SENTENCE

Topic is theanchor

Thesis: what I want to proveI. Main Idea sentence

A. Proof (major detail) 1. Example (minor detail)

II. Main Idea sentenceA. Proof (major detail) 1. Example (minor detail)

What is a main idea?

• Central message/all-inclusive or general summary

• It’s the answer to

“so what about the TOPIC?”“The author thinks that…..”

“He’s trying to get across that…..”• IT’S ALWAYS A SENTENCE.

Recognizing the main idea in a piece of writing.

• Someone’s most important point• Someone’s main argument• Someone’s stand on an issue• Someone’s central focus bout a thing, a person• Someone’s controlling idea• Someone’s central thought in an essay• Someone’s thesis in a longer piece of writing

What are details?

• MAJOR details prove your point

who – what – when – where – how -

• MINOR details

what kind of – colors – times - feelings

Title: “My Years as a BLAH”

Topic: How to succeed at Blah Blah

Thesis: You should Blah Blah Blah (introductory paragraph gives youropinion and how you will prove it.)

I. Main idea for success reason 1A. Major Detail proof

1. Minor Detail Fluff

II. Main idea for success reason 2A. Major Detail proof

1. Minor Detail Fluff

MAIN IDEAS

CAN

NEVER

BE A

DETAIL!!!

Hubble’s Hint

• In a multiple choice situation, find the details first.

• Mark off• Left with MAIN IDEA

BECAUSEMain ideas/central points can’t be in 2 places

at once-can you?

Lab Reports

Speeches

COMPI & II

DrawConclusions

Grasp VocabInfer Meaning:

MetaphorsSimilesIrony

You must get the MAIN IDEA from someone’s thoughts

Test items

essays

See others’ point of view

Think back to AnnotatingThink back to Reading Process

• Before = previewing• During = integrating new to old• Recall = after each section recall what they

said. It forces you to select the main idea THENPut those thoughts in the margins as you read

and only re-read your ANNOTATIONS!!

What is

Annotating?

Remember!

• We usually talk in main ideas so talk out loud to yourself as you study.

• You will spit out main ideas!!

• Keep paying attention =concentration= for sentences that summarize all his/her points.

Watch out for implied main ideas or unstated thoughts.

– Don’t panic – you do this all the time!– You say: what did you mean by that?– So, I see how it is.– Do I have to spell it out for you?

The main idea may be in the details or hints or veiled words someone is saying to you.

All writing is someone talking to you.

STYLE = SUGGESTIONSthey just don’t come out and and say it!!

SPEAKERS

AND

WRITERS

IMPLY ideas

LISTENERS

AND

READERS

INFER ideas

ForInstance…

Authors can infer point of view…

ONEMy name was Salmon, like the fish; first name,

Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. In newspaper photos of missing girls from the seventies, most looked like me: white girls with mousy brown hair. This was before kids of all races and genders started appearing on milk cartons or in the daily mail. It was back when people still believed things like that didn't happen.

Let’s review…

• What is the difference between the topic and the man idea in someone’s writing?

• What is the difference between a main idea that is stated and one that is implied?

• Why is it important for students to know how to determine the main ideas of paragraphs?

NEXT STEPS

• Complete Cornell notes and Exercises in packet

• Complete practices in textbook as assigned

Reading Skill

Anyone can draw an inference….

Monkey see, monkey infer

Monkeys draw novel conclusions, researchers say

By William J. Cromie Harvard News Office

Monkeys keep turning out to be smarter than people think they are. Researchers have shown that they can count to four and are aware of differences between languages like Dutch and Japanese, even though they don't known what is being said. Now, Harvard psychologists find that monkeys can draw correct conclusions about novel situations. For example, shown a white towel that turns blue, a blue knife, and a glass of blue paint, they can figure out that the paint not the knife is responsible for the change in color.

"Our studies reveal a striking continuity between humans and monkeys in their capacity to draw causal inferences …….

Getting the M.I. Through Inferences

Inferences are ideas that are:

Suggested, assumed, hinted

NOT literalInferential Reading describes:

Motives, feelings, Judgments Uses figurative language [similes, metaphors]

Figurative Language Types:

Simile: comparing using like or as

“Your brain is like a walnut in many ways.”

Metaphors: direct comparison (no like or as)

My mother was the oak in my life.

Keep on the right pathway to be a success!

Not the usual metaphor….

• Nobel Prize winner G. Becker says, “children are really refrigerators: expensive to have them, to maintain them and to repair them, but they live a long time and can return great services to their parents for years.”

Personification: human characteristics to nonhuman things

•My mirror has a mean streak in it.

•The wind sang her mournful song.

•The microwave timer told me it was time to eat.•The video camera observed the whole scene.

•The rain kissed my cheeks as it fell.

•The water beckoned invitingly to the hot swimmers.

Idioms: phrases, expressions to make a point, not literal

•Don’t get stuck in the rat race at work!•Sometimes I feel like a fish out of water here.•I always put my foot in my mouth around my boss.

Verbal Irony: used to express a thought that is the opposite of what you mean

• My bosses are a regular

Laurel and Hardy!

• You break a date with your girlfriend so you can go to the ball game with the guys. When you go to the concession stand, you run into your date who is with another guy!

MARK TWAINon ‘irony’

• It’s ironic that every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail. It won't fatten the dog.speech 11/23/1900

To understand comedy & jokes…is to understand main ideas, inferences & figurative language. Have you ever said “I don’t get it!”

when listening to a comedian?

"Comedy is the only branch of writing that is defined by the effect it has on people," he said. "It's no easy task; but you're always able to tell if you've succeeded."

Garrison Keillor

Warning: Warning:

•When detecting inferences, keep When detecting inferences, keep your prejudices in check. Listen.your prejudices in check. Listen.

•Don’t leap to conclusions-- check Don’t leap to conclusions-- check your facts! Printed words are not your facts! Printed words are not absolute truth.absolute truth.

•If you can’t back up what you say, If you can’t back up what you say, you’re inferring; called gossiping!!you’re inferring; called gossiping!!

To Get Ready for Test #3

• Complete ‘Metacognitive Thoughts’

• Complete Study Guide in Packet #3

• Finish 5 worksheets in Packet #3

• Finish the questions about “Scouts”

• Complete book assignments

• Complete Vocab Quizzes on Blackboard