1. ACT Reading: Day 1 Warm-up: Identifying Tone
Directions: Read the passage below and fill out the grid. *
“I’m boiling with rage and yet I mustn’t show it. I’d like to stamp my feet, scream, give Mummy a good shaking, cry, and I don’t know what else, because of the horrible words, mocking looks, and accusations that are leveled at me repeatedly every day, and find their mark, like shafts from a tightly strung bow, and which are just as hard to draw from my body.” (Anne Frank, Diary of a Young Girl)
Element of Voice
How it shapes tone
Diction: boiling
Detail: I’d like to stamp my foot, scream, etc.
Syntax: Difference in sentence length 1st & 2nd
Imagery: a tightly strung bow
Figurative Language: like shafts from a tightly strung bow…

2. ACT Reading: Day 1 Overview
Test format
Looking over practice test: What do you notice?
Take timed practice test
Correct & scare score

3. ACT Reading: Test Format
General Information:
35 minutes to read 4 passages & answer 40 questions
Always in the same order:
Prose fiction, Social Science, Humanities, Natural Science
Question Types:
Main Idea: of a paragraph or passage (theme)
Inference: what is suggested, implied, inferred
Detail: facts, people, theories, relationships, etc.
Vocabulary: in context w/line reference
National Average: 21

4. ACT Reading: Practice Test
Hand out Practice Test
Look over the test for a few moments
What do you notice?
Questions? Answers? Length? Difficulty? Passages? Topics?
List Class Ideas:

5. ACT Reading: Practice Test
35 minutes
Give 5 minute warning
Correct when done
# correct/40
Scale Score:
(Raw score X 36)/40 = Scale Score
Example: 30 (right answers) X 36/40 = 27 (scale score)

6. ACT Reading: Day 2
Warm-up: read over the citations used on various ACT reading passages. What do they tell us as a reader? Why read them first?
PROSE FICTION: This passage is adapted from the novel The Men of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor (©1998 by Gloria Naylor).
HUMANITIES: This passage is adapted from “A Poem of One’s Own,“ an essay by Mary Jo Salter The essay was taken from Audiences and Intentions: A Book of Arguments (©1994 by Macmillan College Publishing Company, Inc.).
SOCIAL SCIENCE: This passage is adapted from the chapter “Personality Disorders” in Introduction to Psychology, edited by Rita L. Atkinson and Richard C. Atkinson (©1981 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.).
NATURAL SCIENCE: This passage is adapted from the article “How to Build a Baby’s Brain” by Sharon Begley (©1997 by Newsweek, Inc.).

7. ACT Reading: Day 2 Overview
Indexing Strategy
Practice indexing
Question types
Question Stems

8. ACT Reading Strategies
1) See the “big picture”
a. Look at passage as a whole
b. # of paragraphs
c. Size/lines
d. Structure
e. Dialogue?
2) Read the Citation: “preheat” your brain!
3) While Reading
a. Identify main idea and tone
b. Identify the purpose of the passage
c. INDEX the passage

9. Indexing Focuses you on the main arguments of each paragraph
Breaks passage into manageable chunks
Notes the major transitions in the passage

10. “Indexing” a Passage 1) Read the paragraph
* Focus on the main argument or claim
* Main argument = combination of the
topic & the author’s opinion on the topic
* Don’t “skim”, but don’t get bogged
down in a lot of detail

11. “Indexing” a Passage 2) Summarize the Main Idea
* of the paragraph in your head, put in your own words
* Narrow your summary to the central
argument/angle

12. “Indexing” a Passage
Choose a key word or short phrase to write in the margin
* Do this before moving on to the next paragraph
* Needs to make sense only to you
* Will trigger your memory when answering the questions

13. Indexing Practice
Read
Summarize the main argument in your head
Write a key word or phrase in the margin
Soon the government of the United States and its allies enthusiastically pursued a “peace dividend” slashing military budgets and manpower levels in order to reduce taxes or divert resources to other pursuits. By the late 1990’s sobering international challenges had taken the bloom off, however; the enduring complexities of national security were apparent to many. Indeed, although the stakes were never as high as they had been during the potential life-or-death struggle with the Soviet Union, American armed forces found their operational tempo of deployment to distance theaters and into harm’s way greater than it had been since the Vietnam War.
Possible Summary:
Governments cut military budgets after the Cold War but eventually realized they were still deploying forces for other challenges.
Possible Key Words:
“still deploying”

14. Indexing Practice
Read
Summarize the main argument in your head
Write a key word or phrase in the margin
Click on the Header above; the link will take you to act.org. (natural science passage IV)
Practice more indexing with the sample provided
You cannot see what is going on inside your new-born’s brain. You cannot see the electrical activity as her eyes lock onto yours and, almost instantaneously, a neuron in her retina makes a connection to one in her brain’s visual cortex that will last all her life. The image of your face has become an enduring memory in her mind. And you cannot see the explosive release of a neurotransmitter—brain chemical—as a neuron from your baby’s ear, carrying the electrically encoded sound of “ma,” connects to a neuron in her auditory cortex. “Ma” has now commandeered a cluster of cells in the infant’s brain that will, as long as the child lives, respond to no other sound.

15. After Reading: Guess first, then find answer!
Look for line numbers, key words, and dates within questions
Use your index to guide your answers
Question Types:
Main Idea: of a paragraph or passage (theme)
Inference: what is suggested, implied, inferred
Detail: facts, people, theories, relationships, etc.
Vocabulary: in context w/line reference

16. Application:
Go to your lowest scoring passage on the reading practice test
Apply the indexing strategy
Identify the types of questions (main idea, inference, detail, vocab.)
Discuss/partner up

17. ACT Reading: Day 3 Warm-up: Match! 1. Plot 2. Characters 3. Conflict
4. Theme
The problem(s) in a story
The sequence of events in a story
The main idea/life lesson involved in a story
The people in the story

18. ACT Reading: Day 3 Overview
Prose Fiction
Four pillars of fiction
Practice Passages
Full Prose Fiction Practice Passage
Score & Discuss

19. Prose Fiction: COST Four Pillars of Fiction Characterization
* How many central characters are there?
* From whose point of view is the passage told?
* How do the central characters look, feel, and act?
* What are the relationships of the central characters?
* What conflicts exist among central characters?
* What conflicts exist within the minds of the central characters?

20. Prose Fiction: COST Four Pillars of Fiction
2. Overview (Theme, Big Picture, Main idea…)
* Have a general sense of the passage
* Helps to answer detail & inference questions

21. Prose Fiction: COST Four Pillars of Fiction 3. Structure
* Observe paragraph sequence & role
* Create your index as you go; 1-2 words

22. Prose Fiction: COST Four Pillars of Fiction 4. Tone & Mood
* Get a feel for the “voice” elements
* Tone: narrator’s attitude toward subject
* Mood: emotion/feeling the reader receives from the passage

23. Prose Fiction: Practice
Complete practice passages
Complete Full Prose fiction practice
Score & discuss

24. ACT Reading: Day 4 Subject: Occasion: Audience: Purpose: Tone:
Warm-up:
Define the following elements of non-fiction:
Subject:
Occasion:
Audience:
Purpose:
Tone:

25. ACT Reading: Day 4 Overview
Non-Fiction Passages
Strategies for approaching
the reading & questions
Types of passages
Social Science Practice
Natural Science Practice

26. Non-Fiction Strategies
1) It’s all in the timing! a. options: do the easiest first do the hardest first b. Spend about 4 minutes reading c. Spend about 4 minutes answering q’s d. You won’t have enough time to read the questions first then the passage

27. Non-Fiction Strategies
2) See the big picture! a. Look at the passage as a whole b. Prepare your brain for efficient reading c. Remind yourself of time constraints

28. Non-Fiction Strategies
3) Zoom in & Preheat your Brain a. Zoom in & read the citation b. Make a brief connection to the topic c. Look for key words in 1st paragraph

29. Non-Fiction Strategies
4) Clear your mind! a. Remove all mental clutter! b. Remain focused on the passage

30. Non-Fiction Strategies
5) Identify the main idea and tone a. What is the author saying about the topic? b. What is the author’s attitude toward the subject?

31. Non-Fiction Strategies
6) Index the passage a. Summarize the purpose and function of each paragraph b. Take brief margin notes c. Refer to index when answering q’s

32. Non-Fiction Strategies
7) Guess first, then find the answer a. Read question stem & guess b. Identify key words or line numbers in the question stem c. Use your index to help answer d. Eliminate wrong answers; narrow down

33. Types of Non-Fiction Passages
Social Science:
anthropology, economics, sociology, political science, psychology, business, education, geography, history…
Humanities:
art, music, architecture, theater, dance, literary history, critiques, etc.
Natural Science:
biology, ecology, chemistry, physics,
geology, etc.

34. Non-Fiction Passages: Practice
Complete practice passages for Social Science and Natural Science
Score & discuss

35. ACT Reading: Day 5 Warm-up: 1. How many passages on the Reading test?
2. How many questions?
3. How much time is given?
4. Why is this important to know?

36. ACT Reading: Day 5 Overview
Apply strategies to
sample test
Time: complete each
section in 9 minute
intervals
Score & discuss after each passage
Discuss & Identify strength areas and weaknesses

37. ACT Reading: Day 6 Warm-up:
List in order your best section to your worst section of the ACT Reading test.
Passages in test order:
1. Prose Fiction
2. Social Science
3. Humanities
4. Natural Science

38. ACT Reading: Day 6 Overview
Take full timed practice test
Correct & Scale score
Discuss, review, etc.