Empress Theodora
Web Article
Feature Menu
Introducing the Selection
Informational Reading Focus:
Note Taking
Informational Reading Focus:
Outlining
Writing Focus: Think as a
Reader/Writer
Empress Theodora
Web Article
Do great leaders achieve greatness on their own?
Who “stands in the gap” for them?
Empress Theodora
Introducing the Selection
At a time when women had little or no political
power,
Empress Theodora of the Byzantine Empire
was a rare exception.
Empress Theodora
Introducing the Selection
Theodora, a bear keeper’s daughter, rose from
humble beginnings
to marry an emperor,
fight for the rights of
women and children,
and save the city of Constantinople
from ruin.
[End of Section]
Empress Theodora
Informational Reading Focus: Note Taking
Note Taking
Jotting down notes as you read will help you
improve your
• understanding of what you’ve read
• recall of details
• organization of ideas or questions
• connections with prior knowledge,
such as history or science
Empress Theodora
Informational Reading Focus: Note Taking
Tips for Taking Notes
Here are some ideas to help you improve your
note-taking process:
• Find the main ideas.
• Be organized.
• Be brief.
Empress Theodora
Informational Reading Focus: Note Taking
Find the Main Ideas
Other times you have to
use clues to figure out the
main ideas.
Sometimes the main
ideas are stated directly.
Empress Theodora
Informational Reading Focus: Note Taking
Find the Main Ideas
The main ideas are the most important ideas in
an informational text.
Here are two tips to help you
find the main ideas:
• Read the heads and subheads.
• Examine the first and last
sentences of each paragraph.
Empress Theodora
Informational Reading Focus: Note Taking
Find the Main Ideas
Finding main ideas helps you understand what
you’ve read. Use this strategy whenever you read
• essays
• textbooks
• newspaper and
magazine articles
• any other
informational texts
Empress Theodora
Informational Reading Focus: Note Taking
Be Organized
Keeping your notes in order will help you find
important information quickly and easily.
Try these tips to stay organized:
• Keep a stack of index cards handy.
• Make a notecard for each main
idea.
• Note the details that support each
main idea.
Empress Theodora
Informational Reading Focus: Note Taking
Be Brief
Keep your notes short and simple. Write only the
words and phrases that are most important.
Empress Theodora
Informational Reading Focus: Outlining
Outlining
Making an outline uncovers the skeleton that
holds the text together.
An outline highlights
• main ideas
• supporting details
Empress Theodora
Informational Reading Focus: Outlining
Take a look at this example of an informal outline.
Outline
Main Idea 1
Supporting detail
Supporting detail
[and so on]
Main Idea 2
Supporting detail
Empress Theodora
Informational Reading Focus: Outlining
Listen to this paragraph from “Empress Theodora.”
Make notes of any main ideas and supporting
details you hear.
[End of Section]
Empress Theodora
Writing Focus: Think as a Reader/Writer
Preparing for Constructed Response: As you
read, jot down clues that show you the type of
relationship Theodora and Justinian had.
Outline
“Modern” relationship
= main idea
Married for love
= supporting detail
Intellectual equals
= supporting detail
Your notes will help you answer questions later.
Vocabulary
Empress Theodora
Vocabulary
profession n.: paid occupation.
forbade v.: ordered not to; outlawed.
facilitate v.: ease; aid.
Empress Theodora
Vocabulary
The sentence below may help you understand how
profession is used in “Empress Theodora.”
Acting in the theater was not considered a
respectable profession by the people of the
Byzantine Empire.
What professions, or occupations, do you think
the people of that empire might have valued?
Empress Theodora
Vocabulary
People of the Byzantine Empire might have valued
professions such as
• philosopher
• clergy member or priest
• lawmaker or judge
• surgeon
What professions do we value most today?
Empress Theodora
Vocabulary
Which profession requires years of college
education?
Empress Theodora
Vocabulary
Read the sentence below to help you understand
how forbade is used in the selection.
A long-standing law forbade important men from
marrying women of a lower rank.
Because Theodora was of a lower rank than
Justinian, they were forbidden, or not allowed, to
marry.
Empress Theodora
Vocabulary
When I stayed out past curfew . . .
my parents forbade me to visit friends, talk on the
phone, or text message for one week.
Empress Theodora
Vocabulary
The university rules forbade weekend parties in
the dorms.
Did Ron’s big brother
get in trouble for
throwing his
roommate a surprise
party last weekend?
Why or why not?
Empress Theodora
Vocabulary
Theodora and Justinian worked to rebuild the city,
building bridges to facilitate transportation.
Why might it have been important for Theodora and
Justinian to facilitate transportation?
Without bridges, getting people and goods across
a river would be difficult. With bridges to
facilitate the crossing, it would be easy.
Empress Theodora
Vocabulary
Facilitate is another way to say . . .
assist
help
make possible
aid
make easy
ease
smooth the progress of
Empress Theodora
Vocabulary
Which tool will facilitate construction of the
treehouse?
[End of Section]
The End