Read for Detail and the Big Picture

Description

Verb 

Summarize 

Place in the Hybrid Sequence 

  • ✔️Prepare for Class 
  • In-Class 
  • After Class 

Template 

  1. Students read an assigned passage with a “close reading strategy” where students interrogate how statements and sentences are constructed and its use of detail and word choice. Students summarize three takeaway points obtained by the close reading strategy.  
  2. Students read the same passage again with a “big picture reading strategy” where students focus more on the claims made and how they relate to the discipline. Students summarize three takeaway points obtained by this big picture reading strategy. 
  3. Students compare their results from the two different reading strategies.  

Example 

A related technique is Dialectic Notes (or a double-entry notebook). This technique is especially useful for close reading of difficult texts. Below is adapted from Linda B. Nilson’s Teaching at its Best. 

  1. Students read and take notes on a relatively short, important self-contained passage from the course readings.  
  2. Students divide a blank piece of paper or document. On the left side, they write down reactions to the text as they read it. These reactions are to specific details of the text as well as where they agree, disagree, are unsure, or have questions.  
  3. After some time, perhaps in-class, students review the passage and their notes on the left side and write their impressions on the right side. These impressions can answer some of the questions they had, or the claims made, and how they relate to their discipline or the wider world. Students can share their reactions.   

References 

Cohn, J. (2021). Skim, dive, surface: Teaching digital reading (First edition.). West Virginia University Press. 

Zakrajsek, T. D., & Nilson, L. B. (2023). Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors (5th edition). Jossey-Bass.