Hierarchies

Students draw a page sixed pyramid with 5 layers. Introduce the notion that most nonfiction texts are made up of hierarchies of information and that finding them provides the structure for good note taking (showing students how Newspapers do this with headlines can really help). Provide student with a text and ask students to find the ‘big idea’ in the text and write it in the apex of the pyramid. Students then work out the next level of information and so on.