Exposition
Introduces readers to the people, places, and basic story
Complication ("rising action")
Series of events that complicate the story and build up to the climax
Climax
High point of the story; moment of greatest tension. Turning point of the story
Falling acion
Missing pieces of the puzzle are filled in; story settles down
Resolution/Denouement
Conclusion of the story
Round characters
Fully developed, complex, 3-D characters. Embody contradictions and undergo change/growth
Flat characters
One-dimensional, undeveloped, static. Often stereotypes or symbolic
Protagonist
Hero or main character of the story; the one who faces conflict and change
Antagonist
Person, force, or idea that works against the protagonist
Setting
Time and place of the story
Tone
Mood or attitude conveyed in the writing
Situational irony
Incongruity between what is expected to happen and what actually happens.
First-person narrator
Tells story from his/her own POV using "I
Second-person POV
Writer uses the pronoun "you"; reader becomes a character in the story
Third person narrator
Writer uses pronouns "he," "she," and "they." Narrator is removed from the action so the story is more objective
Omniscient
All knowing
Limited narrator
Third person, only having access to thoughts and feelings of one character in the story
Perspective
The narrator's attitude throughout the story
Nonfiction literature
Truth-based account of actual events. No narrator, direct conversation from author to reader
Descriptive writing
Describing a person, place, or thing
Narrative writing
Telling a story or describing an event
Expository writing
Exploring and explaining an idea or position
Persuasive writing
Arguing a specific point of view
Satire
Form of comedy; writer exposes and ridicules in order to inspire change
Verbal irony
Intended meaning is opposite of the expressed meaning
Hyperbole
Extreme exaggeration
Memoirs
More exploratory, examining the impact of people and events
Word choice
Diction; specific language the writer uses to describe people, places and things
Style
Distinctive way a writer uses language to inform or promote an idea
Emotional language
Targets a reader's emotions instead of appealing to reason
Emotive poem
Aims to capture a mood or emotion and to make readers feel that mood/emotion
Lyrical poem
Short, emotional poems that are personal from a single speaker
Imagistic poem
Aims to capture a moment and help us experience that moment through our senses
Narrative poem
Tell stories
Argumentative poem
Explores an idea, such as love or valor
Elegy
Laments the loss of someone or something
Ode
Celebrates a person, place, thing, or event
Exact rhyme
Share the same last syllables. Eg. cat, hat; laugh, staff
Half-rhymes
Share only the final consonant(s). Eg. cat, hot; adamant, government
Eye rhymes
Looks like a rhyme because the word endings are spelled the same; Eg., bough, through, enough, though
Alliteration
Pitter patter - /p/, /tt/, /r/
Onomatopoeia
A word that sounds like its meaning; the sound is the definition of the word. Eg. buzz, hiss, moan
Assonance
The repetition of vowel sounds within a sentence or a phrase to create internal rhyme
Meter
The number of syllables in a line and how the stress falls on those syllables
Iambic meter
Stress falls on every other syllable
Foot
Each drumbeat in a meter; da-dum
Tetrameter
Four feet per line
Stanza
Poetic "paragraphs
Punctuation in poetry
Tell where to pause, regardless of line breaks
Purpose of line breaks and stanzas
(1) Call attention to last word of each line; (2) Set aside each group of words as a distinct idea
Concrete or Visual poetry
Words create a visual effect
Sonnet
14 lines, iambic pentameter
Ballad
Poem that usually tells a story and is meant to be sung; abcb defe ghih. Tend to emphasize action over emotion/ideas
Villanelle
5 three-line stanzas with aba rhyme + final quatrain with abaa rhyme. Line one must be repeated in 6, 12, and 18. Line three must be repeated in 9, 15, and 19.
Blank or metered verse
Guided only by meter, not rhyme. Lines have a set number of syllables. Eg., haiku
Limerick
5-line poem with rhyme scheme aabba. Usually funny content
Free verse
Free from restrictions of meter and rhyme. Often use a thematic structure or repetitive pattern
Alphabetic principle
Letters represent the sounds of a language
Direct instruction
Method of passing information from a teacher to a student
Scaffolding
Teachers initially provide reading assistance, then gradually shift the learning responsibility to students.
Shared reading
Students reading along while an expert reads fluently; The reader demonstrates what it is that good readers do
Sight words
Immediately recognizable words in print
Social interaction theory
Importance of the surrounding environment in literacy development. Language acquisition is not innate but must be fostered from cultural environment
Metacognition
Think about how the text affects them directly while reading
Phonology
System of sounds in a language
Phoneme
Single sound
Sound segmentation
Separate sounds in a word
Syllabication
The process of splitting a word into its separate syllables, or putting them together to form new words
Instructional text
Accuracy rate of 90-95%, and the student can read with help
Frustrational text
Accuracy rate below 90%, student can't read book yet