upporting details
Ideas are like
rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle
them, and pretty
soon you have a dozen.
J.
Steinbeck
What Are Supporting Details
It
isn’t possible, or necessary, to remember every piece of information you read
in a textbook chapter. Knowing how to identify the main ideas and supporting
details will help you to evaluate what are the most important points in a
reading assignment. Additionally, being able to differentiate between major and
minor details is a very useful skill as you study your college textbooks and
prepare for exams. Details are:
·
Specific pieces of information that help you to make sense
of what you are reading.
·
Usually presented as facts, opinions, examples,
illustrations, explanations, or definitions.
·
Frequently discovered by asking questions such as Who? What? In what manner? How? or Why? about the main idea.
Major
details provide support to the main idea in a reading.
Knowing how to locate main ideas, and major and minor
supporting details, is the foundation to successful college textbook reading.
CHAPTER OPENER: MAKING DETAILS
FIT
Goal
To help students, especially those with a kinesthetic
preference for learning, understand how ideas fit together in a logical way.
dIRECTIONS
Make enough copies
of the material on page 83 that you have one for each group of three students.
Cut each copy along the lines so the sentences are separate (8 in all), mix
them up, and place each set in a
separate envelope.
1. Pass out one envelope to each group, and ask the
group’s members to assemble a logical paragraph using the sentences it
contains. Do not tell them that
there is one extra sentence strip that doesn’t belong in the paragraph; it
supports nothing and isn’t relevant. Have them figure it out, and discover
other things about details, by asking the following five questions:
1. What is the topic?
(antacids)
2. Which sentence is the main
idea?
(There are several reasons why the best
antacid on the market is Nanosin.)
3. How do you know which sentence is the main idea?
(All of the other sentences are reasons that explain why
Nanosin is the best.)
4. Which sentence doesn't make
sense?
(Brute force, no matter how strongly applied, can
never subdue the basic desire for freedom and dignity.)
5. Why doesn’t this sentence
make sense?
(This sentence has nothing to do with the
main idea, the reasons why Nanocin is the best
antacid on the market. It also doesn’t
support any of the other details.)
Here is an
example of the intact paragraph:
If you suffer from persistent heartburn for two or more
days a week, even though you’ve taken medication and changed your diet,
Nanosin, the stronger antacid, will help you. There are several reasons why
Nanosin is the best antacid on the market. Nanosin works twice as fast as any
other antacid. All of its ingredients are natural. One daily dose provides
complete resolution of heartburn symptoms. Nanocin has none of the side effects
you often experience with other antacids. Not only is Nanosin less expensive compared
to other brands, but order now and you will receive one additional bottle free.
details chapter opener material
______________________________________________________________________________
There are several reasons
why Nanosin is the best antacid on the market.
______________________________________________________________________________
If you suffer from
persistent heartburn for two or more days a week, even though you’ve taken
medication and changed your diet, Nanosin, the stronger antacid, will help you.
______________________________________________________________________________
Nanosin works twice as fast
as any other antacid.
______________________________________________________________________________
All of its ingredients are
natural.
______________________________________________________________________________
Once daily dose provides
complete resolution of heartburn symptoms.
______________________________________________________________________________
Nanocin has none of the side
effects you often experience with other antacids.
______________________________________________________________________________
Not only is Nanosin less
expensive compared to other brands, but order now and you will receive one
additional bottle free.
______________________________________________________________________________
Brute force, no matter how
strongly applied, can never subdue the basic desire for freedom and dignity.
______________________________________________________________________________
supplemental exercises
There
are three supplemental exercises for this chapter. Information about each is
provided on this page and the related material follows on separate pages that
you can print out for use with your students.
Exercise 6-1: Details and Test-Taking (Student material on
page 87)
Directions
Have students complete the test on page 00. Tell them the
information was not covered in class, but you want to see how good they are at
figuring out the right answers. Ask them to read the directions but don’t give
them any other instructions or clues.
The directions
instruct students to read the entire
test first. Test item 3f reads: “Do not follow any of the directions
above this line. Do not make any mark on this test. Any mark on this exam page
will result in a failing grade. Erasures will be considered marks on this test
and will also result in a failing grade.”
If students read the entire test, including the part f in
test item 3, they will answer the test correctly. Those who skip this detail,
because they did not read and follow the directions, will really get the point
of the importance of details.
Exercise 6-2: Details and Outlines (Student material on
pages 88-90)
Directions
Ask students to read the selection on pages 88-89 and
then fill in the missing details of the outline that follows (page 90).
Answers are in
blue below
Socialization and the Life Course
I. The Life
Course
A. Different rites
1. Kota People,
paint themselves blue, the color of death, to
symbolize the death of their childhood.
2. Mexican Americans girls go on a
daylong retreat and then dance all night.
3. In the Soboa ceremony,
Egyptian mothers welcome their week old babies by stepping over them seven
times.
4. When Hispanic
girls celebrate the Quinceanera ceremony at age 15 it means they have reached womanhood.
5.
Naval
Academy Seniors celebrate graduation by throwing their
hats in the air.
6.
Specific ceremonies mark stages of development.
7.
Biological changes mold but do not dictate human behavior.
B. Personal Biography
1. Each individual is influenced by
events both in the family and in the
larger society.
2. The timing of events
depends on such factors as one’s gender,
economic background, where one lives, and when one was born.
3. Sociologists and social scientists have moved away
from identifying
specific life stages.
4. 25% of students attending 4-year colleges
are 25 or older.
5. Researchers are reluctant to offer sweeping
generalizations about
stages of life.
C. Later Years of
Life
1. Assessing one’s accomplishments, coping with declining physical
abilities, experiencing retirement, and facing death may lead to painful
adjustments.
2. However, many older people continue
to lead active, productive, and
fulfilled lives.
II. ANTICIPATORY
SOCIALIZATION AND RESOCIALIZATION
Exercise 6-3: Mind Maps from Personal Interviews (Student
material on pages 91-92)
Directions
Have each student interview one
other student using the list of questions on page 00. (Notice that the
questions are not in order so your students will have to make relationships
between the answers.) Then, have students create a mind map with the
information they collected. The interviewee’s name should be at the top or
center of the mind map, as that is the topic. Each student should be able to
create at least two levels of details building out from the interviewee’s name.
Levels need not be labeled. Here is a partial example:
wants to work Sarah
in
mental health field 
(level 1)
plays soccer (level 1) |
wants
to be a psychiatrist
(level 2)
|
plays center and
sometimes
goalie (level 2)
specializing
in women’s issues (level 3)
chapter six: test (6-1)
Name:
______________________
Directions: Before you start, read the test through once
carefully to make sure you understand all of the directions.
Multiple Choice: Although more than one answer may be
correct, select the best answer.
1. South Dakota was admitted to
the Union as the
a. 4th state
b. 14th state
c. 40th state
d. 49th state
2. The order of mammals known
as Chiroptera includes members, commonly termed bats, which 1. have wings and
fly; 2. possess a pseudocolelom; 3. will not die when infected with rabies; and
4. feed largely on gemmules. Which of the above four statement(s) is (are)
correct?
a. only 3
b. only 4
c. both 1 and 3
d. both 2 and 4
e. all corrected but 1
3.
Follow Directions:
a. Circle every word in the
directions at the beginning that starts with the letter “a.”
b. Underline two nouns in the
above directions.
c. Count and write down the
number of three-letter words in directions b, e, and f.
d. Cross out all commas in the
first two lines of the directions paragraph.
e. Fill in the centers of all
the “o’s” in the third line of the first paragraph of this test.
f. Do not follow any of the
direction above this line. DO not make any mark on this test. Any mark on this
exam page will result in a failing grade. Erasures will be considered marks on
this test and will also result in a failing grade.
chapter six: reading for exercise 6-2
Socialization and the Life Course
The Life Course
Adolescents among the Kota people of the Congo in Africa paint
themselves blue, Mexican American girls go on a daylong religious retreat
before dancing the night away, Egyptian mothers step over their newborn infants
seven times, students in the Naval Academy throw hats in the air. These are all
ways of celebrating rites of passage, a means of dramatizing and validating
changes in a person’s status. The Kota rite marks the passage to adulthood. The
color blue, viewed as the color of death, symbolizes the death of childhood.
Hispanic girls celebrate reaching womanhood with a Quinceanera ceremony at age
15. In the Cuban American community of Miami, the popularity of the quinceanera
supports a network of party planners, caterers, dress designers, and the Miss
Quinceanera Latina pagent. For thousands years, Egyptian mothers have welcomed
their newborns to the world in the Soboa ceremony by stepping over the
seven-day-old infant seven times. The Naval Academy seniors celebrate their
graduation from college by hurling their hats skyward.
These specific ceremonies mark stages of development in the life
course. They indicate that the socialization process continues throughout all
stages of the human life cycle. Sociologists and other scientists use the
life-course approach in recognition that biological changes mold but do not
dictate human behavior from birth until death.
Personal
Biography
In the culture of the United States, each individual has a
“personal biography” that is influenced by events both in the family and in the
larger society. While the completion of religious confirmations, school
graduations, marriage, and parenthood can all be regarded as rites of passage
in our society, people do not necessarily experience them at the same time. The
timing of these events depends on such factors as one’s gender, economic
background, where one lives (central city, suburb, or rural area), and even
when one was born.
Sociologists and other social scientists have moved away from
identifying specific life stages that we are all expected to pass through at
some point. Indeed, people today are much less likely to follow an “orderly”
progression of life events (leaving school, then obtaining their first job,
then getting married) than they were in the past. For example, in 1997, 25
percent of students attending four-year colleges in the United States were 25
years or older. Some of these students undoubtedly started college after
beginning a first job and after marrying. With such changes in mind,
researchers are increasingly reluctant to offer sweeping generalizations about
stages in the life course.
Later Years of
Life
We encounter some of the most difficult socialization challenges
(and rites of passage) in the later years of life. Assessing one’s
accomplishments, coping with declining physical abilities, experiencing
retirement, and facing the inevitability of death my lead to painful
adjustments. Old age is further complicated by the negative way that may
societies, including the United States, view and treat the elderly. The common
stereotypes of the elderly as helpless and dependent may well weaken an older
person’s self-image. However, as we will explore more fully, many older people
continue to lead active, productive, fulfilled lives – whether within the paid
labor force or as retirees.
Anticipatory Socialization and Resocialization
The development of a social self is literally a lifelong
transformation that begins in the crib and continues as one prepares for death.
Source: Schaefer, R. (2002).
Sociology: A Brief Introduction. McGraw Hill: Boston. P. 89
chapter six: exercise 6-2
Socialization
and the Life Course
I. The Life
Course
A. Different rites
1. Kota People,
paint themselves ______ the ________________, to
symbolize_____________________________________________.
2. ____________________
go on a daylong retreat and then _______ all night.
3. In the ________
ceremony, Egyptian mothers welcome their week old babies by
__________________________________________.
4. When Hispanic
girls celebrate the Quinceanera ceremony at age ___ it means they
______________________________________.
5. Naval Academy
Seniors celebrate _____________ by __________
_____________________________________________________.
6. Specific
ceremonies mark ________________________________.
7. Biological
changes _______ but do not _____________________
____________________________________________________.
B.
Personal Biography
1.
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________.
2. The timing of events depends on ____________________________
_______________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________.
3.
Sociologists and
___________________ have moved away from
identifying _____________________________.
4. 25% of students attending 4-year colleges
are ____________.
5. Researchers are reluctant to offer
_______________________.
C. _____________________________
1. Assessing ______________________, ______________________
________________, _________________________________, and
______________________________ may lead to ______________
_________________________________________________________________
2. However, many older people continue
to _____________________
______________________________________________________.
II. ___________________________________________________________________________
chapter six: exercise 6-3
interview questions
1. What is your major?
2. How many brothers and sisters do you have?
3.
What profession do you want to pursue?
4.
How many children do you have?
5.
Why did you pick your major?
6.
Have you ever volunteered for anything? What?
7.
If there were one thing you could change about your college
experience, what would it be?
8.
Are you going to pursue a career where you work with
others on teams or where you
work mostly independently?
9.
Are you good in math?
10. What’s
your favorite book?
11. Did
you go to your high school prom?
12. Do
you play any sports?
13. What’s
your favorite kind of car?
14. Do
you have a boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife?
15. Where
do you fall in the line up of your siblings? First born? In the middle? Last?
16. What
position do you play in your best sport?
17. What
job do you have now?
18. What’s
your favorite movie?
19. What’s
your favorite subject in school?
20. Do
you have a big family or a small one?
21. Did
salary play a big part in your career choice?
chapter six: exercise 6-3
interview questions (continued)
22. Where
did you go on your first date ever?
23. What
year of school is this for you? Freshman? Sophomore?
24. Do
you read any journals or magazines regularly? Which ones?
25. What
do you like to do in your spare time?
26. What
is one of your best memories from childhood?
27. Why
did you come to college?
supplemental vocabulary quiz
Answers for Crossword Puzzle
Chapter six vocabulary QUIZ
Across
4 in the manner of a father dealing
benevolently
5 people who have special knowledge
or skill in a field
8 strong forward movement
10 having no apparent limit or end
11 death
12 person who organizes and manages an
enterprise
Down
1 repeated or habitual relapse
2 to stare at stupidly
3 reparation made by giving an
equivalent or compensation for loss
6 to excite
7 withered; shriveled
9 not restrained
Chapter six: mind map for cherokee women
(Exercise 6C, #4, p. 188)
from
whom traders purchased items
 |
Cherokee Women
fields
property
house
agricultural
produce |
 |
corn pumpkins
squash sunflowers
beans