Understanding Implied Main Ideas in Academic

WritingUnit One: The Value of Life

Ms. Marshall-Harper

Reading 883

September 17, 2014

Today’s Objectives

• Analyze a complex set of ideas and explain how specific ideas, individuals, or events interact in an academic conversation

• Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media and genres in order to address a question or solve a problem

• Analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone

• Determine an author’s purpose in a text

• Discuss main ideas (implied or directly stated), key points, supporting details

• Discuss craft and structure (key words and phrases used to support topics and main ideas)

Surveying the Text

• Identify, mark and annotate the following:

1. Title

2. Author

3. Source

4. Genre

5. Date

6. Author

7. Headings/Subheadings (if applicable)

8. Endnotes/Footnotes (if applicable)

Reading to Get the Gist

• Together we will read the beginning of the article and identify significant information

• By the end of the article we will identify the following information:

1. Topic:

2. Main Points:

3. Supporting details:

4. Main idea (direct or implied):

Reading for Craft and Structure Annotating and Questioning the Text

• Choose two highlighter or pencil colors, and revisit the text of the article on 9/11. The two colors will be used to mark two different aspects of the article. With the first color, highlight the words, phrases, and sentences from the article that describe valuing life in legal and financial terms. With the second color, highlight the words, phrases, and sentences that describe valuing life in human and emotional terms.

Further Analysis of Significant StatementsCraft and Structure using Say, Mean, Matter

Say (Direct Quote for Text)

Mean (Explanation of Quote)

Matter (How does it support the Main Idea?)

“Feinberg the citizen should trump Feinberg the lawyer”?

He believed that both sets of identities and values were equally important to making an ethical and effective decision.

Making Personal ConnectionsReading Summary

• Based on what you have read, write a short summary identifying the main ideas and key points made in the reading. How has this article or has this article changed your understanding of how human beings “value” life? Why or why not?

Text- What is the Value of A Human Life?By Kenneth Feinberg

• Survey the text

• Read for Key Ideas and Details (topic, key points, supporting details, main idea)

• Reread for significant statements and vocabulary (you may choose to use the Say, Mean, Matter graphic to organize your ideas)

• Briefly explain the similarities and differences between the Feinberg article and the Ripley article (you may choose to use a Venn Diagram to organize your ideas)

Further Analysis of Significant StatementsCraft and Structure using Say, Mean, Matter

Say (Direct Quote for Text)

Mean (Explanation of Quote)

Matter (How does it support the Main Idea?)

“Feinberg the citizen should trump Feinberg the lawyer”?

He believed that both sets of identities and values were equally important to making an ethical and effective decision.

Text – A Human Life Value Calculator

• For this text, you may use one of the online resources below or choose your own example from a life insurance company. Most Human Life Value Calculators have similar features and a shared purpose: to calculate the value of a person’s future earnings and determine the amount of life insurance needed to replace the income lost due to that person’s death.

Online Texts

• Lifetime Economic Value Calculator from MassMutual Financial Group https://www.massmutual.com/secure/planningtools/life-value-calculator

• Human Life Value Calculator from Gleaner Life Insurance http://www.gleanerlife.org/portal/content.aspx?id=99&aud=Member

• Human Life Value Calculator from www.CalculatorsPlus.com http://www.calculatorplus.com/insurance/human_life.html Human Life

• Value Calculator from Transamerica http://finsecurity.com/finsecurity/kje/HumanLifeValue.html?bwilliamsjr

Pre reading- Surveying the Text

• Since website may be counted as nontraditional texts, use the following questions to pre read and draw inferences about the text:

1. What do you believe to be the purpose of this text?

2. Who might use this text? (audience)

3. Do you think this text will best connect with your personal views about the value of life or some of the views from the article “What is A Life Worth? Why or why not?

Reading – Identifying Key Identifiers and Details and Making Connections

• Read through the website and take notes on the way life’s value is determined by the Human Life Value Calculator.

• After identifying the identifiers, choose from at least three different data inputs and see how to results vary (e.g. age, gender, occupation, income) and examine the results.

• Lastly, make notes about any connections you see to the previous text we read or to your personal analysis

Final Reflection- Human Life Calculator

• Write a brief response—no more than eight sentences—to a Human Life Value Calculator Web site. The response should describe what the Web site asserts about a human life’s value and your reactions to those assertions as well as how the information on this site is similar to different from your original perspective on the value of life and the previous reading selections.