Annotating Your Reading
Take out paper and prepare to take
notes!
What do I do?
• As you read, choose passages that stand out
to you and make note of them (ALWAYS
include page numbers).
• Write your response to the text. These could
be insights you have about what is going on in
the story, questions, reflections, or
identification of some kind of literary
technique.
CHOOSING PASSAGES FROM THE TEXT:
When deciding what to make note of, look for quotes that seem
significant, powerful, thought provoking or puzzling. For example, you
might make not of:
1.
2.
Use of stylistic or literary devices
Passages that remind you of something you’ve seen earlier in the
book or in another reading
3. Shifts or turns in the plot
4. A passage that makes you realize something you hadn’t seen before
5. Examples of patterns: recurring images, ideas, colors, symbols or
motifs.
6. Passages with confusing language or unfamiliar vocabulary
7. Events you find surprising or confusing
8. Passages that say something about a particular character or setting
9. Make connections between different characters or events in the text
10. Analyze a passage and its relationship to the story as a whole
Example
Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I
first knew it. In
rainy
weather
the streets
to red slop . . .
I might
annotate
this passage
becauseturned
there is an
[s]omehow itALLUSION
was hotter
then
. . . isbony
mules
in it. The
narrator
alluding
to, or hitched
making to
Hoover carts flicked
flies
in the sweltering
shade
of the live
a reference
to president
Roosevelt’s speech:
“We
oaks on the square.
Men’s
stiffbutcollars
wilted
by us
nine in the
have nothing
to fear
fear itself.”
This lets
know
that thebefore
story takes
place during
great
morning. Ladies
bathed
noon,
after the
their
three-o’clock
naps, and by nightfall were depression.
like soft teacakes with frostings of
sweat and sweet talcum. . . . There was no hurry, for there was
might annotate this passage because it describes
nowhere Ito
go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with,
of Maycomb. The narrator shows the
nothing tothe
seetown
outside
the boundaries of Maycomb County.
reader that it was “tired” and “old.” We also notice
But it was
a time of vague optimism for some of the people:
that the streets are not paved (“red slop”) and that
Maycomb
County
had
recently
been
told
that itit had nothing to
I
might
annotate
this
passage
because
“Hoover carts” which point to the fact that
fear but there
fear are
itself.
has figurative language. The narrator
this is not a wealthy town.
uses a simile to compare the women to
“soft teacakes with frostings of sweat
and talcum”
Example #2 – Why is this important?
“I told Calpurnia to just wait, I'd fix her: one of
these days when she wasn't looking I'd go off
and drown myself in Barker's Eddy and then
she'd be sorry. Besides, I added, she'd already
gotten me in trouble once today: she had
taught me to write and it was all her fault."
Who usually
teaches a child to
read (besides a
teacher)?
What does this
reveal about
Calpurnia’s
relationship with tis
family?
What race is
Calpurnia?
Your Assignment:
• In groups of 3-4 you will…
• Read chapter Five together – you may
designate one reader or you can take turns,
but you must read ALOUD.
• Find THREE things to annotate and explain
your choices.
• Make sure this is analysis – don’t just pick
randomly. Your group will be asked to share
their findings with the class.