Using 'comment codes'
Using 'comment codes' (PDF, 27 KB)
Progression Tags:
- RdCrit
The purpose of the activity
To encourage the learners to engage actively with the text and respond to the ideas presented. The learners annotate a piece of text by using ‘comment codes’ to indicate the content or to note their responses to it.
The teaching points
- Thinking logically and analysing critically.
Resources
- A piece of suitable text, copied onto an overhead transparency (OH T) (or individual copies).
- Overhead projector, markers.
The guided teaching and learning sequence
Discuss the use of comment codes as a way of thinking about a text during reading. Give the learners examples of comment codes, such as:
A for agree, DA for disagree, MI for main idea, D for detail, CTO for check this out and I for interesting.
1. Model annotating a text with these codes, using a text on an OH T. Read the text aloud and think aloud as you do this.
2. Have the learners work in pairs or small groups to read another suitable text and annotate it independently.
3. Discuss the annotations and what they reveal about the learners’ responses to the ideas in the text.
Downloads
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