Customizing Assignments for your School/District Library
Assignment Directions
Write out an “essential question” in the Assignment Directions at the top of the assignment.
It should be simple, engaging, and pertain to the main idea of the article or the instructional goal of the assignment.
Process directions are not as necessary, because teachers will want to make these unique to their expectations.
Extra Help Summary
Write out a short Extra Help Summary.
Briefly summarize the article/text/chapter.
Write sentences that are as simple as possible.
Do not cover all details in the article/text/chapter. The Extra Help Summary should explain only the main idea of the article/text/chapter. It should prepare a reader to begin reading the text.
Annotations
Write at least 2 Extra Help notes in the margins throughout the article/text/chapter.
Write at least 4 other margin notes throughout the article/text/chapter to fill gaps, define, help visualize, etc.
As a general rule, margin notes should use minimal words and include images whenever possible.
Questions
Add at least 2 multiple choice questions throughout the article/text/chapter.
Space out questions to be balanced throughout the assignment.
Include at least one short answer question. Any short answer question at the end of an assignment should refer back to the Essential Question at the top of the article.
Consider writing an Extra Help prompt to support struggling readers using the “options” button at the bottom of the question. It can be guiding questions, a sentence starter/frame, or hints.