Page 8 - SpringBoard_CloseReading_Workshop_Grade7_Flipbook

Check your Understanding
Now that you have read closely and worked to understand challenging portions
of this passage, choose a sentence that you think is important to understanding Douglass’s point of view. Explain in your own words what the sentence means and why it is important to understanding the passage.
Synthesizing your Understanding
Now that you have read the passage three times and studied its vocabulary
and sentences, work with your classmates and your teacher to synthesize your understanding by thinking about the speaker, the subject, the purpose, and the author’s tone or attitude. Respond to the following questions as a way of bringing all your knowledge together.
1. Who is the speaker and what is the subject of the passage? What is the speaker’s perspective on the subject? What experiences or beliefs contribute to his point of view?
2. What is the purpose of the passage? Now that you have identified the subject and speaker of the passage, explain Douglass’s reasons for writing these paragraphs. What does he hope to communicate to the audience about his subject?
3. What is the author’s attitude toward the subject of the passage? Tone describes the attitude of the author about the subject being discussed. Now that you have identified the subject and the purpose, explain how Douglass feels about this subject.
Close Reading Workshop 1 • Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts 7
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