The Approach
Reading Critically, Writing Creatively
The first part of the Study Guide is the Reading Comprehension section.
The Reading Comprehension section consists of four parts:
* | Before you read
The questions in this section focus on the central theme of the story.
|
* | Investigative Questions
The questions in this section range from simple recall questions to higher-order type of questions that require the learner to make inferences, support her opinions with evidence from the text , make predictions and draw conclusions.
|
* | Reflections: Interpretive and Application questions
Here the learner is asked to evaluate what she has read.
“Did she think what the hero of the story did was right?”
“Did she like the way the writer used descriptive language?” “What does this mean to me?” |
* | Literary Aspects
The questions in this section help the learner to navigate through literary aspects such as setting, characterization, theme, and plot. |
The second part of the Study Guide is the Creative Writing assignment. The Creative Writing assignments are unique in two ways:
* | Scaffolding
A framework is suggested for the writing assignment. This means the learner won’t have to grope for direction when she writes the assignment.This also means that you, the teacher, will able to assess your learner’s work based on the guidelines given.
|
* | Context
The assignments are almost always based on the story that the learner has just read. The story therefore provides a context for her writing. When she writes, she will be expanding her understanding of the story and using her imagination to create fiction .
|