Developed by Ingie Hovland
READING MAPS
Most days you will prepare for class by doing the reading for that day and making a map of it. I recommend drawing the map by hand in your workbook. Please bring your workbook to class each day; during the first 5 minutes of each class period, you will share your map with the people sitting next to you.
The skill you’re practicing as you’re making each map is the ability to get a “big picture” view of what the reading is saying. Why did someone write this text? What does the author want you to think, feel, or do by the end of the text? Don’t put too many details on your map. Instead, focus on the main points and big ideas (often these are spelled out most clearly in headings, sub-headings, opening and closing paragraphs, and topic sentences).
You can use any format for the map that helps you make sense of the reading in your mind. You can draw a concept map (an example is given on the next page), or you can draw something else that helps you capture a “big picture” overview of the reading as a whole. Here are some possible format suggestions for your map:
- A concept map
- A flow-chart
- A table
- A series of images
- An annotated storyboard
- A plot diagram
- An argument diagram
- Your own type of diagram
- Or something else
To check the quality of your map, ask yourself these questions. You should be able to answer “yes” to all:
| A map will: | |
| Show the big picture | Does your map focus on the big ideas in the reading, rather than too many details? Does your map show the reading as a whole? |
| Show how each part fits | Does your map include references to each part of the reading that seems important to you (e.g. each main section of the text, each key concept in the argument, or similar)? |
| Try to make sense of the reading in your own mind | Does your map show that you have tried to make sense of what the author is saying to us as readers? When you look at your map, does it help you explain the reading? |
| Use a meaningful format (= a format that is meaningful to you) | Have you put together your map in a way that is meaningful to you? Did you choose a format for your map that helps you better understand this reading? |
| Help you recall the reading later | If you look at your map the next day, or the next week, does it help you remember what the reading as a whole is saying? |
Example of a concept map:
