Unit One Reading Focus Essays

1. Unit OneReading Focus Essays Collection 1: Paraphrasing Collection 2: Analyzing Style: Key Details

2. Collection 1 Reading Focus Paraphrasing • An efficient way of checking your own understanding of what you are reading is to paraphrase, or put into your own words, what you’ve read.

3. Paraphrasing • When you paraphrase what you’ve read,you keep the author’s intent but use language that’s your own. • Paraphrasing is probably a harder skill than memorizing a portion of the text. • It requires complete comprehension of the text. • It shows you can explain what the author means in your own way.

4. Paraphrasing • The author of an epic such as Beowulf uses poetic language to share ideas about events, characters, and beliefs. • Unlike modern readers, the original audiences of this epic poem would have been familiar with . . . • the hero and his adventures • the rhymes and rhythms of the language

5. Paraphrasing • Although the style of Beowulf makes the poem beautiful, it can sometimes be difficult for a modern reader to understand. • Paraphrasing is a good way to capture the meaning of the poem’s details.

6. Paraphrasing • To paraphrase a passage, • First look for words that represent nouns you recognize— People, Places, Things Write them in order on a Column Style Chart

7. Paraphrasing 2. Then, read again and identify the actions or verbs that seem to go with these nouns and write them in order, next to the nouns on your chart. • Also note any phrases that complement or are related to each group of nouns and verbs.

8. Paraphrasing 3. Re-read each group of words in your chart; then re-read the original passage. Example passage:As skyward swept the night-black plumes of dragon breath, how every heart of man did pound to flee.

9. Paraphrasing • Use the chart to rewrite the passage in your own words: Example: When smoke from dragons rose in the air, men wanted to run away.

10. Paraphrasing Your Turn • Read the lines from an early passage of Beowulf, “The Monster Grendel” (lines 5-14) in your textbook. Then, create a paraphrase by putting the text into your own words. • Share your version of the paraphrase with the class. • Notice that a paraphrase is shorter than the original and combines repetitions into a single statement.

11. Paraphrasing • Share your version of the paraphrase with the class!