Strategies for Reading Comprehension
Power Thinking

What Is Power Thinking?.
Power Thinking is an alternative system for outlining information that is hierarchical in nature. In other words, the information can be grouped according to main ideas, subtopics, and details. It considers information according to which level it belongs on, and we use numbers to signify those levels.

How Does It Work?

Power 1: main idea, thesis, topic

Power 2: subtopic, category of Power 1, detail of a Power 1

Power 3: detail or subtopic of a Power 2
...and so on...

Can You Show Me What a Power Thinking Outline Would Look Like?

1: TV Shows

2: Dramas

3: E.R.
3: Pretender
3: Law & Order

2: SitComs

3: Fresh Prince of Bel Air
3: Kramer
3: Everybody Loves Raymond

2: Soap Operas

3: All My Children
3: As the World Turns
3: Young & the Restless

That's Nice, but How About One Related to Social Studies?

Five Themes of Geography

1: Location

2: Absolute

3: latitude and longitude coordinates
3: street address

2: Relative

3: in the Atlantic Ocean
3: west of Madagascar
3: 30 miles south of Albany

1: Place

2: Human Characteristics

3: houses
3: wheat fields
3: cities

2: Physical Characteristics

3: mountains
3: rivers
3: deserts

1: Human-Environment Interaction

2: Depend On

3: living near water
3: trees for lumber, paper

2: Modify

3: clearing land for farming
3: grading to create roadways
3: creating reservoirs

2: Adapt To

3: warm clothes in cold climates
3: building shelter

1: Movement

2: People

3: cars
3: planes

2: Goods

3: railroads
3: trucking
3: ships

2: Ideas

3: newspapers
3: internet
3: television

1: Region

2: Political

3: United States
3: Japan
3: Brazil

2: Language

3: Latin America
3: Arab World (where people speak Arabic)
3: English-Speaking World

2: Agricultural

3: rice-growing
3: tobacco states
3: Grain Belt

2: Industrial

3: Rust Belt
3: Silicon Valley
3: textile region

This site was created and is maintained by Raymond Jones.	This page was last updated on Wednesday, 19-Jul-2006 18:56:20 EDT.
	URL for this page: http://www.readingquest.org/strat/pto.html.

© 1998-2006 by Raymond C. Jones