Dress it Up 6-pack Author: Various ISBN: 9780176358297 Lesson Plan Grade Level: 8 Classification: Nonfiction, Fiction

Key Reading Strategy: Synthesizing

The lesson plans in this issue of High Wire Magazine highlight the reading strategy Synthesizing.  Opportunities to practice this strategy are indicated by the symbol.  For more information on this strategy, see page 9.  Assessment Master 15 in the Program and Assessment Guide can be used for this strategy.

Curriculum Links: social studies, visual arts

Introducing the Magazine

Setting the Scene

Tell the students that this issue of High Wire Magazine explores many forms of adornment, from body piercing to dressing up the outdoors.  Ask the students to imagine a plain cellphone.  Ask them to think of all the accessories they could add to that cellphone to make it more appealing, for example, a different-colored faceplate, a unique carrying case, or a belt clip or colorful strap.

Making Connections

Explain to the students that people have been adorning themselves and their environments throughout history.  The purpose of adornment is often aesthetic, but sometimes it has another function, such as to show that a person belongs to a certain group.  Ask the students to think about the ways people adorn themselves today.   Ask questions such as the following:

• Why do people wear jewelry?
• Why do they change their hairstyles?
• Why do some people decorate their homes with sculptures and paintings?

Explain that when readers receive new information, they may learn and change their thinking.  This is called synthesizing. Each new piece of information may change the reader’s thinking about the topic, characters, or events in a text.  After reading each piece of new information, the students should ask themselves, “Does this new information change my thinking?”

For more information please see our Lesson Plan