Reading to Comprehend
Strategy 2: using an Advanced Organizer (illustrated with
Shackel)
Advanced organizers are a visual representation of the argument or key
points of a reading and for college-level students these needn’t be much more
than an outline. They are especially helpful for students who are visual
learners. Give students the
advanced organizer Handout before they start reading.
Students fill in the organizer as an alternative to the notes
they might take using the SQRMR strategy. The filled-in organizers can then be
used in subsequent discussions of the text, especially to help students see how
others have understood the material.
Option: Advanced
Organizers can also be useful to track the relationship of key ideas within the
reading. Thus, it can also be used to help students
read as a writer -- to see the structure of
the presentation of ideas and evidence.
Notes: We often have students work in
small groups to fill in information they may have missed or misunderstood and to
identify places where they have understood the reading differently. We also use
the organizer to elicit class discussion after students have read on their own
or with the SQRMR method.
Handout of Directions for
Students
word file to download
Advanced Organizer for Paul A. Shackel’s “Public Memory and the Search
for Power in American Historical Archaeology”
Fill in the outline as you
read.
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Key facts about
this case |
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Case Study 1:
Robert Gould Shaw Memorial
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Case Study 2: Civil
War Centennial and the Battle at Manassas
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Case Study 3: The
Heyward Shepherd Memorial
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The author uses these cases to illustrate his argument about
how memorial shape public memory. How do the details of these cases, and the
others he mentions with less elaboration, support his argument?
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Memory can be
about: |
elements of
cases that illustrate or support |
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forgetting or
excluding an alternative past
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creating and
reinforcing patriotism
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developing a sense
of nostalgia to legitimize a particular heritage |
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See other resources for Teaching Reading
 
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