Practice Examples

Here are examples of annotations you could make for the excerpt about Henrietta Lacks.

 

1. Annotation Idea: mark words or passages that are confusing or write new questions inspired by the text

Annotation:

"If cancer is created by one enzyme misfiring and mitosis spreading it, are there any other diseases or conditions that start this way?"

 

2. Annotation idea: make connections to self, other texts, and the world

Annotation:

"Text-To-World connection: I know from the movie made from this book that scientists didn’t have Henrietta Lacks’s permission to study her cells. She didn’t know about her contribution to science."

 

3. Annotation idea: close reading to identify formal elements (literary devices, etc.) and broader significance

Annotations:

"Similes: a cell looks a lot like a fried egg, cytoplasm buzzes like a New York City street"

"Metaphor: cell described as a factory"

 

4. Annotation idea: share personal opinions about the text

Annotation:

"The description of how a cell works makes so much more sense to me than the explanation in the textbook."