Reading Strategy 1 1
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
Strategy 1: Previewing Text
Implementation Guide
Overview
Previewing text before students read helps them learn the material better by
setting a purpose for reading, focusing on the most important information, and
connecting the information in the text to what they already know. In this activity
students will become more familiar with a previewing strategy while reading a
passage on the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León.
The Strategy in Action
Students should complete the following steps to practice the strategy. Be sure
to pass out copies of Activity Guide 1 before students begin their work.
Step 1: Purpose for Reading.
Have students answer questions 13 on their
activity guides. You may decide either to set the purpose for reading
yourself, such as to write a paragraph, prepare a presentation, or have
a class discussion, or have students come up with this information on
their own.
Step 2: Important Ideas.
Questions 48 ask students to focus on the most
important ideas of the passage. You may want to have students pause
for a few minutes after completing these questions to discuss their
answers and make sure that they are able to identify the main ideas.
Step 3:
Connect to What You Know. Have
students complete the chart to
discover what they already know about the topic and to help them
generate questions they would like answered in the reading.
Step 4: Read the Text.
Now have students read the passage on Juan Ponce
de León.
Step 5: Go Back and Check the Prediction.
Have students look back at the
prediction they made about the texts content in question 7. Students
should now be able evaluate their predictions to see how accurate they
were.
Discussion
Once students have finished the activity, you may want to have a brief
discussion with them about the assignment. Encourage students to probe why
they did or did not get close to the texts actual meaning. You may want to ask
students what they think they could do to improve their ability to make
predictions about a texts main ideas before they read.
Student Activity Guide Answers
Part A
1. Answers will vary, but students might mention the desire to learn more
about an important early explorer and his motivation in coming to Florida.
Reading Strategy 1 2
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
2. Answers will vary depending on the teachers assignment and how this fits
into the larger unit of study.
3.
Answers may include that it helps them learn more about the motivation of
early explorers to discover new lands.
4. Students might indicate that the text seems to be broken into the major
events of Ponce de Leons life. Signal words include,
the following, next
several months
, and after.
Dates probably indicate that this relates to
chronological events.
5. Juan Ponce de León
6. Juan Ponce de Leónearly explorer of Florida coast
7. Students should predict that the text will tell them about the life and travels of
Juan Ponce de León
8. Students might mention
encomienda system of government,
Fountain of
Youth, and explorers.
Part B:
Complete tables might look like this:
What I Know about the Topic Questions I Would Like to Have
Answered
Explorers came to Florida.
Explorers met Indians.
Florida is in the Southern part of the
United States.
What is a fountain of youth?
Who was Juan Ponce de León?
Why was Ponce de León important?
How did he die?
Where is Bimimi?
Where is Puerto Rico?
Part C:
Students compare their predictions to what the text was really about.
Reading Strategy 1 3
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
Name:____________________________DATE:____________Class:________
Strategy 1: Previewing Text
Activity Guide
Part A:
Answer the following questions BEFORE you read the text.
1.
What is your purpose for reading this selection?
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2.
When you finish this reading, what will you do with your new knowledge
(such as write a report, take a test, explain it to someone)?
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3.
How do you think this information fits with what you have learned before and
what you will learn after reading this text?
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4.
Take a quick look over the text. What do you notice about the texts layout?
What are the signal words that may give you a clue about what this text will
explain? There are lots of dates in this reading, what would that indicate?
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5.
What is the topic of this text?
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6.
Add three to five words to the topic to describe further what this text is about.
This is probably the main or most important idea.
Reading Strategy 1 4
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
_____________________________________________________________
7.
Make a prediction about what this text will say.
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8.
What key vocabulary terms should you understand when you have finished
reading?
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Part B:
Complete the chart below.
What I Know about the Topic Questions I Would Like to Have
Answered
Part C:
Now read the text. Once you have finished, answer the question that
follows.
Reading Strategy 1 5
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
Juan Ponce de León
Juan Ponce de León was one of the Spanish Empires most ambitious and
successful explorers. His arrival on the Florida coast in 1513 marked the
beginning of permanent European contact with North America. Ponce, Puerto
Rico is named in Ponce de Leóns honor.
Juan Ponce de León was born in a northern Spanish village in 1460. His family
had ties to the Spanish elite, and as a boy, Ponce de León served as a page in
the house of a nobleman. Later he joined the army and fought for the Spanish
crown in its wars against the Moors of Granada.
Ponce de Leóns fascination with exploring new lands was inspired by
Christopher Columbuss voyage to the Americas in 1492. In fact, many
historians think that he was part of Columbuss second expedition across the
Atlantic in 1493. Ponce de León sailed to the West Indian island of Hispaniola,
where he played a key role in containing an American Indian uprising against
Spanish rule. As a reward for his service, the Spanish governor of Hispaniola
placed Ponce de León in charge of the eastern part of the island, where he built
a large plantation.
While Ponce de León was in Hispaniola, local Indians told him that there
were large amounts of gold to be found on a nearby island called Boriquen, or
Puerto Rico. He sailed to the island in 1508, where he found some gold and
established a small settlement. In 1509 Ponce de León became the Spanish
governor of Puerto Rico, a post he held until 1512. During this time, he
established an
encomienda system of government on the
island. In this
system, Ponce de León granted authority over groups of Indian villages to
individual Spaniards. The villages, in turn, were required to provide labor to
their Spanish overseers.
Ponce de Leóns success in Puerto Rico made him even more eager to
explore new lands. In February 1512 he received a commission from King
Ferdinand to discover and colonize an island called Bimini. While no European
had ever been in this mystical place, Indians in Puerto Rico claimed that it
contained much gold and a special spring that made those who drank from it
feel healthy and youthful.
Ponce de León set sail for Bimini and the Fountain of Youth in March
1513. The following month, he anchored his ship on the coast of a large
landmass. Ponce de León thought that he had discovered a new island, and
named it Florida because he found it during the Easter season and because it
was full of beautiful plant life. (The Spanish phrase
pascua florida means
"Easter," or "season of flowers.") He spent the next several months exploring
the Florida coastline and continuing his search for Bimini. He returned to
Puerto Rico in October, disappointed that he had been unable to find the island
or its fountain of Youth. The following year Ponce de León traveled to Spain
where the King granted him permission to settle Florida.
Reading Strategy 1 6
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
After several more years in Puerto Rico, Ponce de León left for Florida
with two ships and 200 men in early 1521. Shortly after landing on Floridas
west coast, they were attacked by Seminole Indians. Ponce de León was struck
by an arrow during the attack and was immediately taken to Cuba where he
died. He was buried in Puerto Rico.
Look back at the predication you made in question 7. How close was you
predication to what the text was really about? Explain your answer.
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