Fun strategies and handouts

As I am planning my Unit Calendar I am also going through work sheets, graphic organizers, and strategies to make reading comphrension easier for the students. I am really fond of the TP-CASTT worksheet and I think it would be great to implement for the poems they will be reading. In my opinion this way of analyzing the text is as powerful as a KWL chart. The students will make predictions about what the poem is about through the text, paraphrase the poem in their own words (to assure understanding), search for meaning beyond literal, notice the speaker's tone and attitude, and then analyze any shifts or changes in the speaker or their attitude. After they complete this process they will then re examine the title on an interpretative level, following state the theme in their own words about the subject of the poem (what is the poet saying about the subject). Based on th class i've been observing at Collins any strategy that guides them through the reading and interpretation is always helpful.
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/30738_analysis.pdf

My other favorite reading strategy I plan on implementing for the beginning of my YA novel, Played, is the SOAPSTONE strategy. This strategy is very similar to TP-CASTT. Students will complete this reading strategy after their first reading of the novel. This will be done in the class so I can guide them through the process. The acronym stands for:

S- Speaker- the voice that tells the story

O-Occasion- the time and place of the chapter

A-Audience- the group of the readers to whom the chapter is directed

P-Purpose- the reason behind the text

S-Subject- the general topic, content, and ideas contained in the text

T-Tone- the attitude of the author 

As I've stated in the past, I really want to focus on skill-based lessons and give students different strategies to implement throughout the unit in their reading and writing, but also to help prepare them for the ACT and future endeavors. Each time I use a reading strategy I will have students write something or do an activity that requires them to use the worksheet or paper they did the strategy on so they can see why it is helpful and to answer the so what of my purpose for doing so. I will also scaffold writing strategies to add more to student's papers or projects each time students write in the unit.