Web Site Purpose Folder (Excerpted from the S.P.O.K.E.S. Teacher’s Manual)

PURPOSE:  What does it mean to have a purpose for reading?      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.

Why is purpose important?   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.

Who decides on the purpose for reading?   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 Purposes 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.

BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE BASE FOR ADDRESSING PURPOSE: 

*Explain to students why you have set a particular purpose for reading.

*Explain to students the idea of short and long term purposes in addressing a topic or question

*Teach the student to ask for guidelines, checklists, and rubrics, 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 now consider important issues and questions.

*Teach students to design questions, tasks, and tests or assignments for other students based on specific purposes.

*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 purposes 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:                                                                                

P4      KWOL:  Identify What Know, Want to Know…

P5      Keeping a Personal Reading Journal