I talk to so many students who tell me, "I hate English!" or " I'm not good at writing!" or "Reading is boring!" The Big Picture is my attempt to convince you that reading can be fun, that students can be good writers, and that nobody has to hate English. You already know so much about English, reading, and writing that if you wrote it all down it would fill a library. Furthermore, you have already spent a great deal of your time in school learning about the various components of written language: spelling, grammar, vocabulary, sentences, paragraphs, and much more. This text, then, is designed to help you broaden and refine your reading and writing skills; the readings and the activities will assist you in making the connections you need to bring all the pieces together and understand the big picture.

In The Big Picture, you will encounter forty thought-provoking readings on a number of subjects. The readings are organized around five general themes: People, Places, Events, Phenomena, and Issues. Accompanying each reading are six activities:

PREREADING

The prereading activities are designed to warm you up to the specific topic addressed in the reading. These activities will have you free writing, doing research, or engaging in collaborative activities with your peers.

ANNOTATING

Annotating is a method of underlining material in a reading and taking notes in the margins. It is a very important way to connect with reading material and to understand the reading material more fully. Each reading includes an annotating prompt that will help you focus your annotations.

EXPLORING VOCABULARY

Having a well-developed vocabulary is vital to being a good reader and a good writer. Consequently, each reading includes an activity that will help you expand your vocabulary and become familiar with using a dictionary and a thesaurus.

PROFILING

After reading you will be asked to complete a profile sheet. The profile sheets will assist you in gathering literal and implied information about the reading, which will hone your analytical and reading skills. These profile sheets may also serve as a basis for your own writing.

EXPLORING THE TEXT

You will find a set of questions after each reading that will prompt you to examine the way the text is written. When answering these questions, you will be asked to identify main ideas, identify an author's purpose, characterize an author's tone, or analyze other aspects of the text. Examining a text this way will help you become a better reader and help you become more aware of the kinds of decisions writers make.

EXPLORING IDEAS

The questions in this section will require you to examine the content of a reading and/or examine yourself in relation to the ideas in the reading. Here you might be asked to agree or disagree with an author's ideas, interpret a quote, or share a personal experience. These questions will provide you with an opportunity to develop your own ideas about a topic.

One of the keys to becoming a better reader and a better writer is exposing yourself to the written word. Consequently, at the end of each unit, you will find a list of suggestions for reading books about the theme of the unit. The books listed are fascinating and wonderful and reading them will strengthen your reading abilities. In addition, you will find a list of suggestions for summarizing essays from the unit and a list of possible writing assignments.

The Big Picture also contains several appendices with useful information for you to reference as you go through the cycle of prereading, reading and annotating, exploring vocabulary, profiling, exploring the text, and exploring ideas.

CONTEXT CLUES

Here you can access two specific strategies for defining words in the readings before consulting a dictionary.

WORD PARTS

In this appendix you will find lists of common prefixes, word roots, and suffixes that will help you define words in your reading.

SUMMARY WRITING

The third appendix outlines a strategy for summarizing essays; it includes a sample summary as well.

CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD WRITING

Appendix Four provides a brief description of the components of good writing (controlling idea, support, unity, logical order, transition, and clarity).

THE WRITING PROCESS

The final appendix suggests a specific sequence of writing to help you achieve the characteristics of good writing.

All these components make up The Big Picture. While using this book, I hope you learn more about reading and writing than you thought you could, and I hope you enjoy your semester. Good luck to you.

For developmental courses in Writing, Reading, and English.

The Big Picture is designed for instructors who teach holistically, who integrate reading and writing into their course, and who are ready for a new, exciting approach to teaching developmental students. Students read several works on a certain theme, engage in reading instructions along the way, and then move on to a writing assignment based upon the readings. Students get the structure they need, and they are engaged and interested.

Features

• Annotating prompts.
  • Offers students a specific way to connect with the text by having them annotate particular information, and teaching them the importance of doing so.
• Vocabulary activities.
  • Helps students expand their vocabulary and become familiar with using a dictionary and thesaurus.
• Profile sheets--Concludes each reading and serves as prewriting for several of the writing prompts in each unit.
  • Requires students to search the reading for literal and implied information in order to strengthen their reading and critical thinking abilities.
• Examining questions--Asks students to identify main ideas, identify an author's purpose, characterize an author's tone, or analyze other aspects of each reading.
  • Encourages students to become better writers and more aware of the kinds of decision writers make.
• Exploring questions--Requires students to look at the content of a reading and/or examine themselves in relation to the ideas in it.
  • Gives students an opportunity to develop their own ideas about a topic by engaging them in agreeing or disagreeing with an author's ideas, interpreting quotes, or sharing personal experience.
• Each chapter--Includes a poem, a short story, textbook excerpt, as well as essays.
  • Able to be used in the reading classroom, the writing classroom, or the classroom that integrates the two.

I. PEOPLE.

An Indian Father's Plea: Don't Label My Son a Slow Learner, Robert Lake. The Good Daughter, Caroline Hwang. Dead Man Walking, Sister Helen Prejean. Why I Quit the Klan, C.P. Ellis with Studs Terkel. Girl, Jamaica Kincaid. The Shakers; The Mystical World of the Shakers, James Henretta, et al. Mother to Son, Langston Hughes. The New Testament, James McBride. Suggestions. Profiling People.

II. PLACES.

Po Folks: Off With Their Heads, Margo Williams. Is Their Life On Mars? Teresa and Gerald Audersirk. Along the Tortilla Curtain, Pete Hamill. A Fable for Tomorrow, Rachel Carson. In the Suburbs, Louise Simpson. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros. What We Can Learn from Japan's Prisons, James Webb. Familiar Footing, Cheryl Saba. Suggestions. Profiling Places.

III. EVENTS.

Reflections, Kenny Jackson. Dreaming: Mysterious Mental Activity During Sleep, Samuel L. Wood and Ellen Green Wood. Last Flight, Isao Matsuo. Today, Gabriela Pearse. Body Ritual Among the Nacirema, Horace Miner. 38 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police, Martin Gansberg. Growng Up Game, Brenda Peterson. The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin. Suggestions. Profiling Events.

IV. PHENOMENA.

Looking Up Something, Dennis Sampson. Now Hear This: Shhhhhhhhhhh, Jeanette Batz. Hooked on Anger, Russell Baker. The Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allen Poe. The Right Chemistry, Anastasia Troufexis. Health Watch: Eating Disorders--Betrayal of the Body, Teresa and Gerald Audersirk. The Ways We Lie, Stephanie Ericsson. Childless...with Children, Andy Stein. Suggestions. Profiling Phenomena.

V. ISSUES.

What is Poverty? Jo Goodwin Parker. The Quilt, Shirley Hart Berry. In Praise of the F Word, Mary Sherry. The Hammer Man, Toni Cade Bambara. The Powwow at the End of the World, Sherman Alexie. A Dose of Reality: The Truth about North America's Greatest Drug Problem: Ritalin, Richard De Grandpre. Racism and Sexism in the Media, Margaret Anderson and Howard F. Taylor. To Pet or Not to Pet? Nadya Labi. Suggestions. Profiling Issues.

APPENDIX I: CONTEXT CLUES.
APPENDIX II: WORD PARTS.
APPENDIX III: SUMMARY WRITING.
APPENDIX IV: CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE WRITING.
APPENDIX V: THE WRITING PROCESS.