Directed Reading Thinking Activity For Pride and Prejudice

Purpose of the Strategy

The Directed Reading Thinking Activity is based upon the idea that students can use their own experiences to comprehend the message of the author. This activity will be used in Volume III Chapter IV when Lizzy is in Lampton with the Gardners. She receives the letters from Jane telling about Lydia and later Mr. Darcy comes to visit her. The class will read this chapter together.The students will be able to set their own purposes for what is going on in this chapter. The reading and thinking processes are improved as the students interact with the text while the teacher asks different questions, using effective techniques, throughout the chapter.

Directions

Step One: Predicting

Begin by asking the students what had happened in the chapters prior to this one. ( What do they think will happen next? Who will the events center around?) (Use steps 2 and 3 after each prediction and question break in the text.) Next, after reading the first two paragraphs of the chapter where Jane writes letters to Lizzy telling her something had happened the teacher guides students to predict what will happen next. (Who do the letters concern? What could have happened at Longbourn? How will Lizzy react? Why do think this?) Continue reading the chapter until the letter is completed. Have the students continue to predict the events of the chapter. (Why is this so terrible? What will happen to Lydia? What will Lizzy do now?) Read more of the chapter as Mr. Darcy comes to visit. (Why did Mr. Darcy come in the first place? What will he do when he find Lizzy so upset? Why does this news effect Mr. Darcy?) Read to the end of the chapter as Lizzy leaves to go home then ask the students to further predict how the events will now resolve themselves. This is time to make predictions and hyposthesize about how the characters are feeling and what will they do. The teachers role is to activate and agitate thought by asking students to defend their predictions.

Step Two: Reading

Students are asked to support their predictions by locating the material in the text that will verify their responsess. There are no right or wrong predictions, rather, some responses are judged to more or less accurate than others. Reword the predictions so that they are accurate.

Step Three: Proving

Students read back through the text and point out how they were able to verify their predictions. Students verify the accuracy of their predictions by finding statements in the text then reading them orally to the teacher. The teacher serves as the mentor, refining and deepening the reading/thinking process. Make sure the predictions and the proof from the text are recorded by the students individually so that they can refer back after completing the reading.

Step Four: Repeat

Keep going through the each step when stopping in the chapter to makes predictions or ask questions.

Assessment

The teacher is able to assess several things from the DRTA. First, they are able to determine the ability of the students to read orally. Secondly, the teacher is able to determine the level of comprehension of the students. Third, the DRTA indicates how actively students are searching for meaning within a given text. These assessments inform subsequent instruction in the text, engages readers in the subsequent reading and activates schema.

Elisabeth Thomas, 2000