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To practice our reading strategies, you will read the short story "Lather and Nothing Else." As you read you will use five of our "During Reading" Strategies.

Question: As you read and become aware that something seems unlikely or doesn't make sense, you can stop and ask questions. Asking questions can reveal what the author intends for the readers to know. For example, have you wondered why characters act as they do, what causes events to happen, or why the writer includes certain information? As you reread look for the answers to your questions.

Visualize: Use details in the story to make a picture in your mind. As you reread, change the picture as the story unfolds and your understanding increases. If you get confused, try to describe what confuses you. Use what you see in your mind to help clarify what you didn't understand at first.

Predict: As the events of a story unfold, ask yourself what will happen next. Be on the lookout for clues that hint of events to come. As you read, you can check if you predictions are right. For example, if a policeman is walking an isolated beat a night, you might predict that he will meet someone committing a crime or he may arrest someone.

Connect: Bring to the story what you know and what you have done. Make connections with your own knowledge and with situations or people you have known in your life. Also, make connections between different events in the story. Try to figure out how all the pieces of story fit together.

Respond: Think about what the story means. What does it say to you? What feelings do you have as you read? How has the story helped you to understand people and events?

Activity: Each of the above active reading strategies is a problem-solving technique to help you understand and appreciate the story you are reading. In the margins of "Lather and Nothing Else," you will find side notes, which demonstrate how to apply these strategies to your reading; however, the book does some differently. Be sure to use the definitions listed above, and interact with the story in your own way. In the chart below, practice using the reading strategies in places they have not already been done by choosing locations in the story where you could use the strategies to help you understand the story. Make sure you are choosing your places wisely; pick appropriate spots where meaningful information is included. Do not force these strategies in unnecessary places. Use each active reading strategy at least twice. Please include the page number, the paragraph number and the line number(s) to identify where you are interacting with the story.

Link to text of "Lather and Nothing Else":

Audio of "Lather and Nothing Else": Click here to access our podcast site and listen to "Lather and Nothing Else"

You will each complete this worksheet on your own and then log on to the wiki and fill in one section of the chart.
Active Reading Strategy
Direct Passage from Book