Purpose Folder (Excerpted from the S.P.O.K.E.S. Teacher’s Manual)
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TASK: BEFORE YOU READ EACH SECTION, ANSWER THE QUESTION AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH SECTION BASED ON YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE. FOR EXAMPLE, THE FIRST QUESTION IS "WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HAVE A PURPOSE FOR READING?". TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT THAT QUESTION BEFORE YOU MOVE ON TO THE NEXT SECTION. |
PURPOSE addresses:
*What you want to learn about a topic.
*How you will use that knowledge? (How you will mentally manipulate the knowledge?)
*When and where you will use that knowledge?
It creates coherence in the text and in learning!
*It helps you to keep tract of where you are, where you are going, and where you have been.
The Teacher, The Author, and/or The Reader
When the Teacher sets the PURPOSE, students need to pay attention to:
*what the teacher writes on the board,
*the types of information/ideas the teacher usually expects students to get from the reading,
*the kinds of assignments the teacher usually makes, (for homework, for a test, for a project, for class discussion)
*the kinds of questions a teacher usually asks during class,
*the information the teacher has already addressed/covered,
*any rubrics or guidelines the teacher gives,
*the teacher’s explanation of why the reading is important,
*understanding where the teacher’s PURPOSE came from.
When the Author sets the PURPOSE, students need to pay attention to:
The way the author formats the text to highlight what is important, including:
*titles and subtitles,
*stated Objectives or PURPOSE(S) at the beginning of a selection,
*introductions,
*questions embedded in or at the end of a chapter,
*words or phrases that are in bold or italics or in the margins,
*highlights or introductions to the textbook itself, especially those addressing:
*particular skills in that subject area,
*overviews of the topic,
*the author’s use of “emphasis” words to signal the reader about what is most important.
*who the author is: background, perspective, biases, reputation.
When the reader sets the PURPOSE, he or she needs to:
*determine what she or he really wants to know, given the intended use of the information or ideas,
*determine what she or he already knows about the topic, taking note of what is missing, confusions, misconceptions,
*determine how the reading is or is not consistent with what teachers and authors have said or written on this topic,
*decide how to use or develop strategies for locating and evaluating information in a variety of texts.
*Explain to students why you have set a particular PURPOSE for reading.
*Explain to students the idea of short and long term PURPOSE(S) in addressing a topic or question.
*Teach the students to ask for guidelines, checklists, rubrics, and grading systems that will be used to evaluate work.
*Help students to understand what the teacher wants by looking at oral and written feedback.
*Teach students to locate, determine, and understand what “authorities” in a field currently consider important issues and questions.
*Teach students to design questions, tasks, and tests or assignments for other students based on specific PURPOSE(S).
*Teach students to identify an author’s PURPOSE by looking at the formats of textbook chapters.
*Teach students to make concept maps of a topic. As individuals and a class add to the map as each chapter or selection is read.
*Have students interview authors—in person or via e-mail-- about why they wrote a particular selection.
*Have students use their own writing and talk about why they wrote the particular piece.
*Keep a list of PURPOSE(S) on a class poster. Discuss the vocabulary of PURPOSE, particularly the “cognitive operations.”
Partial List of Strategies to address PUPROSE.
P1 Ask Before & After Reading Questions
P2 Ask Text Features Questions
P3 Identify Prior Knowledge: List/Group/Label
P4 KWOL: Identify What is Known, Want to Know…
P5 Keeping a Personal Reading Journal
PURPOSE sets the stage and guides the other tasks. Authors don't just write, they write about a particular topic in a particular way. They ORGANIZE relevant ideas and information (KNOWLEDGE) in order to achieve their purpose. Given the author's PURPOSE, ORGANIZATION, and key words and ideas, we have a sense of what kind of notes to STOP and RECORD. Depending on the reader's PURPOSE, the reader will choose to ELABORATE on the ideas given.