The tools in this guide will help you earn ratings for all the skills in the competency ELA.7 Conducting Research. Read through the skills and indicators on the continuum for ELA.7 Conducting Research so you understand how your teachers will rate your performance.
Competency Area: ELA
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Student Guide: Expressing Ideas
This guide will help prepare you to clearly and effectively express ideas—in written, oral, and other forms—for particular purposes and audiences, using diverse formats and settings to inform, persuade, and connect with others. It will also help you earn ratings for all the skills in the competency ELA.2 Expressing Ideas. Use this guide with other resources (i.e., NGE.2 Presentations, ELA.3 Writing Arguments, etc.).
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Student Guide: Informational Writing
This student-facing performance task guide describes the distinguishing characteristics of informational texts, provides examples and exemplars to analyze, and illustrates various text structures used for different purposes. This task guide provides a step-by-step process that students can use to write their own informational text.
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Learning Activity Template: Photo Drop
People often say, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Photographs have the power to capture a moment and make us think, question, and feel. But because images constantly bombard us, we rarely take the time to look closely.
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Learning Activity Template: Question the Text
Books—and textbooks especially—have lots of features to help readers understand the text. Titles, headings, tables, and pictures are just some of the text features readers encounter. If you’re a reader who skips over an example or doesn’t look ahead at bolded text, you’re missing a lot of clues that can help you make sense of what you’re reading. Use the table below to make the text features work for you by creating questions that will give you a purpose for your reading.
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Learning Activity Template: Text Annotation
It is often helpful to “code” the text as you read to enhance close reading. This will help you remember important pieces of information from the text.
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Learning Activity Template: THIEVES Template
Books—and textbooks especially—have lots of features to help readers understand the text. If you’re a reader who skips over an example or doesn’t look ahead at bolded text, you’re missing a lot of clues that can help you make sense of what you’re reading. Use the THIEVES table below to focus on the text features and make them work for you.
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Learning Activity Template: One-Sentence Summaries
To help you focus on the most important information, it’s helpful to summarize the main ideas in one sentence.
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Learning Activity Guide: Assess Credibility of Sources
Today we have more information available to us than ever before. But, not all that information is created equal. Before you put your academic reputation on the line, it important to consider the credibility–the trustworthiness and believability–of the information you find. With the CRAAP Test you’ll be able to identify reliable sources.
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Learning Activity Guide: Cornell Notes
Note taking is an important skill for recording information—and your response to that information—for later review. When you take notes, you actively process information as you read, listen, or watch. You make meaning as you ask questions, jot down reactions, and summarize.
