SOCIAL STUDIES
STRATEGIES
ANNOLIGHTING A TEXT
Targeted Outcomes:
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Formulate questions in response to text
Analyze and interpret text
Draw conclusions and make inferences based on explicit and implicit meaning
What is it?
We have all had the experience of suggesting that students highlight the text that they are reading, only to watch them
indiscriminately highlight nearly every word on the page. It is clear that learning how to highlight a text as a part of a
reading strategy requires some instruction, including some modeling and guided practice. If done well, highlighting can
become a very effective reading tool; if done poorly, it is most likely a waste of a student’s time, energy and ink.
"Annolighting" a text combines effective highlighting with marginal annotations that help to explain the highlighted words
and phrases.
The following lists provide a simple set of goals and guidelines that students could use to increase the effectiveness of
their annolighting and, as a result, improve their comprehension and understanding of a text.
Purposes/Goals of Annolighting
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Sets a purpose for reading that leads to understanding of the big idea (Unit Understanding)
Capture main ideas / key concepts / details of a reading
Target, reduce and distill the needed information from a text
Improve efficiency in reading and reviewing text
Strengthen reading comprehension
What Does it Look Like?
1. Teacher chooses a focus for the highlighting. Ask yourself: What is the purpose or intended goal of this particular
reading? The teacher will clearly communicate what the intended purpose of the annolighting is by giving
students a prompt. After you determine the purpose and present the prompt, students highlight only the related
targeted information. The teacher should model the steps of this strategy for students as necessary until students
are able to highlight and annotate independently to the given prompt.
2. If possible, students do not highlight on a first reading of a text. Rather, they divide a page into manageable
chunks and read a section once. Then skim the section again and highlight on the second reading. If you try to
highlight on the first reading, you may not have a clear sense of the key ideas/concepts or important/relevant
details.
3. Eliminate every single unnecessary word in a sentence by using a "telegraphic" approach to highlighting.
"Telegraphic highlighting" should still allow you to make sense of a sentence or section when you reread it. It
may sound picky to take 6—20 words out of each sentence, but the longer the reading, the more it will cut down
on unnecessary information as well as re-read time when you return to your highlighted text for review. Rarely
should you highlight entire sentences unless it is absolutely necessary based on your targeted focus.
4. As students highlight, they will annotate in the margin of the paper with an explanation of why they selected that
specific portion of the text. Students’ annotations should be clearly related to the purpose/prompt set by the
teacher at the beginning of the lesson.
Below is an example. Note the "telegraphic approach" to the highlighting; when the highlights are read, they should
make sense to the reader. Notes in the margins represent possible summary annotations.
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Prompt: Highlight any
part of the passage
that shows how a
conflict might develop
between Britain and
the Colonies. Annotate
with an explanation of
why you think it could
lead to conflict.
(Unit Understanding:
After years of relative
neglect, Great Britain’s
attempt to enforce
British law and tax
policies in the colonies
led to the conflict
which ultimately
resulted in the
American Revolution.)
People don’t like to be
restricted.
The Proclamation of 1763
If the colonies
were not used
to this, they
might not
like it.
During the French and Indian War, Britain and the colonies fought side by side. Americans took
great pride in being partners in the victory over the French. However, when the war ended, problems
So when
arose. Britain wanted to govern its 13 colonies and the territories gained in the war in a uniform way. So, they
the British Parliament in London imposed new laws and restrictions. Previously, the colonies had been
allowed to develop largely on their own. This practice is called Salutary Neglect. The British government
simply let the colonist govern themselves and make their own decisions will little to no interference. The
change
this, the
colonists
will be
upset.
new laws that were being passed made the colonist feel that their natural rights and freedoms were
Good
example
of a
restrictio
n that
the
colonists
wouldn’t
like.
being limited.
The first of Parliament’s laws was the Proclamation of 1763. It said that colonists could not
settle west of the Appalachian Mountains. Britain wanted this land to remain in the hands of its Native
American allies to prevent another revolt or war from taking place. The proclamation angered colonists
who had hoped to move to the fertile Ohio Valley. Many of these colonists had no land of their own. It
also upset colonists who had bought land as an investment. As a result, many ignored the law.
The British won’t like this.
Annolighting – An example from American History
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