Dealing with Difficulty:

When reading complex text, difficult moments are places to think...

...these are places from which to make meaning or build understanding...

...difficult moments are also places to puzzle things out.

Today's work is primarily about giving you an opportunity to work with this idea of difficulty as the beginning of understanding.

Difficult moments are not

• places to skip over.
• places to give up.
• places to accept confusion.

Difficult moments are places to build an understanding.

To practice puzzling out "difficult moments" in nonfiction, we are going to examine a brief essay, "Joyas Voladoras"

With this in mind, it's important to remember essays are texts which authors write in order to send messages.

1) As you are reading, imagine that in this essay Doyle, the author, is sending a message.

2) Additionally, mark lines or moments in the text that seem difficult, confusing, etc.

3) After hearing and marking difficult moments in the text, we are going to transfer over our notes into a document.

We'll do this to compare our difficult moments with the rest of the class to see where we are struggling together.

In a sense, today we are starting to build an understanding of a difficult text by identifying what we are struggling with specifically.

Overview

• Think about the essay's message.
• Mark difficult moments.
• Transfer notes into a document.
• Identify common areas of struggle.

Questions?

Overview

• Think about the essay's message.
• Mark difficult moments.
• Transfer notes into a document.
• Identify common areas of struggle.

"Chunking" the Text

In our previous lesson we identified confusing moments to start building an understanding of a difficult text.

Today we will continue to puzzle out the message of "Joyas Voladoras" with two activities.

1) We'll do a search and study of at least 4 confusing moments to strengthen our comprehension of the text.

2) Afterwards, we'll revisit "Joyas Voladoras" in order to chunk it into 4 to 6 pieces--chapters so to speak.

To help us figure out where to chunk out pieces, as I read your task is to mark moments that seem IMPORTANT.

We'll use these important moments to lead our conversation tomorrow--What message do you think Doyle is sending in "Joyas Voladoras"?

Overview

• Search and Study for comprehension
• Revisit "Joyas Voladoras" and mark IMPORTANT moments.
• Use these marking to chunk the text into 4 to 6 pieces.

Questions?

Overview

• Search and Study for comprehension
• Revisit "Joyas Voladoras" and mark IMPORTANT moments.
• Use these marking to chunk the text into 4 to 6 pieces.

Socratic Seminar

Difficult moments are places to build an understanding.

What message do you think Doyle is sending in "Joyas Voladoras? Provide evidence to support your claim.