Reading Comprehension Lab
GoPoPup Reading Lab
AP Government and Politics | socialstudieslab.org
PHASE 1: ROGER SHOWS YOU HOW
Watch the Beagle in Chief demonstrate every reading strategy on the Declaration of Independence.
Before reading a single word of body text, BOTUS scans the title, author, and date. Here is what to notice:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
-- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
BOTUS has metaphorical paws. You have an actual pen. Look at what we underlined in the passage above — those are the words worth marking. Anything that tells you WHO has power, WHO grants it, and WHAT happens if government fails.
The first sentence (highlighted gold above) is the thesis of the entire document. BOTUS rewrites it in plain English:
BOTUS version: Everyone is equal by birth and has rights that nobody can take away — including life, freedom, and the ability to pursue a happy life. See how that works? Same idea, your words. Now it is yours.
The final sentence (highlighted blue above) often tells you where the argument lands. BOTUS rewrites it:
BOTUS version: People will put up with a lot before they finally decide to overthrow a government. Revolution is a last resort. This actually makes Jefferson sound cautious — he is not calling for revolution every Tuesday. Good thing to notice.
Jefferson writes in very long sentences. Break them into logical chunks (highlighted green above). Watch:
CHUNK 1: That to secure these rights → Government exists FOR A REASON: to protect your rights.
CHUNK 2: Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed → Government only works if people agree to it.
CHUNK 3: That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends → If government stops protecting rights...
CHUNK 4: it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it → ...the people can fire the whole thing and start over.
Each chunk = one idea. One idea at a time. Even a beagle can handle that.
Words highlighted in orange-red above are repeated or echoed. Repetition = what the author cares about most.
Words highlighted in blue are vocabulary worth defining from context. Try these:
unalienable — the passage says these rights come from the Creator and cannot be removed. So unalienable = cannot be transferred or taken away. ✓
instituted — governments are instituted among Men. Since men create governments on purpose, instituted = formally established. ✓
transient — Jefferson says do not change government for light and transient causes. Light = minor. So transient = temporary or passing. ✓
You did not need a dictionary. The text told you. That is what context clues mean.
If you were physically annotating this passage, here is what BOTUS would write in the margins:
Next to self-evident truths: no proof needed — just obvious to them
Next to endowed by their Creator: rights come from God, NOT from the king — this is huge
Next to consent of the governed: LOCKE — this is social contract theory in four words
Next to alter or abolish: WHY they are declaring independence right now
Margin notes = your brain talking back to the author. The more you talk back, the more you understand.
Jefferson argues that all people are born with rights that no one can take away, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Governments exist specifically to protect these rights and only have legitimate power when the people agree to be governed. When a government fails to protect these rights, the people have the right to change or replace it entirely — which is exactly what the colonists are about to do.
You just watched BOTUS demonstrate every single reading strategy on the Declaration. Now it is YOUR turn. In Phase 2, you will apply each of these strategies yourself on Federalist No. 51 by James Madison. BOTUS will be watching.
PHASE 2: YOUR TURN
Apply every reading strategy yourself on Federalist No. 51. BOTUS will give feedback on each one.
TIP 1: PREVIEW YOUR TURN
Before reading, look at the title, author, and date below. What do you already know? List 2-3 things.
What do you already know about James Madison, 1788, or the Federalist Papers?
It is equally evident, that the members of each department should be as little dependent as possible on those of the others, for the emoluments annexed to their offices. Were the executive magistrate, or the judges, not independent of the legislature in this particular, their independence in every other would be merely nominal.
But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. The provision for defense must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack.
Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government.
But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.
In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.
A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.
TIP 3: FIRST THINGS FIRST YOUR TURN
Read the first sentence of Federalist No. 51 above. Now rewrite it in your own words as if you are explaining it to a friend.
TIP 4: LAST THING SECOND YOUR TURN
Read the final sentence of the passage. Rewrite it in your own plain words. What is Madison saying at the very end?
TIP 5: CHUNKING YOUR TURN
Break the famous sentence below into logical chunks and explain each part in your own words.
Break it into 2-3 chunks. What does each part mean?
TIP 6: NOTICE REPETITION YOUR TURN
Scan the passage. Which words or ideas appear more than twice? List them below and explain why you think Madison keeps coming back to them.
TIP 7: ANNOTATE YOUR TURN
Find at least TWO unfamiliar or tricky words in the passage. Write them below, then use context clues to define them. Do not use a dictionary yet.
TIP 8: WRITE BETWEEN THE LINES YOUR TURN
Write a margin note for THREE different moments in the passage. What question, reaction, or connection does each part trigger in your brain?
TIP 9: PURPOSE YOUR TURN
In one or two sentences: WHY are you reading Federalist No. 51 in AP Government class? What is your reading purpose?
TIP 10: SUMMARIZE YOUR TURN
Summarize the entire Federalist No. 51 passage in 2-3 sentences of your own words. No quotes. No peeking.
BONUS TIP: ARGUE WITH THE AUTHOR EXTRA CREDIT
Do you agree with Madison that ambition counteracting ambition is the best way to run a government? Push back, agree strongly, or ask a challenging question.
PHASE 3: QUIZ TIME
AP-style comprehension questions on both passages. Connect what you read to what you know about AP Government. BOTUS is grading.
TIP 1: PREVIEW KERMIT EDITION
Title: It Is Not Easy Being Green. Author: Kermit the Frog. Year: 1970. What do you already know? What might this be about? Why would 1970 matter?
It is not that easy being green;
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves.
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold —
or something much more colorful like that.
It is not easy being green.
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things.
And people tend to pass you over cause you are not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water —
or stars in the sky.
But green is the color of Spring.
And green can be cool and friendly-like.
And green can be big like an ocean, or important like a mountain, or tall like a tree.
When green is all there is to be, it could make you wonder why — but why wonder why? Wonder, I am green and it will do fine, it is beautiful! And I think it is what I want to be.
TIPS 3 AND 4: FIRST AND LAST KERMIT EDITION
Rewrite the first line and the last line of the song in your own words. What journey does Kermit take from first to last?
TIP 6: REPETITION KERMIT EDITION
What word or phrase does Kermit repeat? Why? What does the repetition tell you about the main idea?
WRITE BETWEEN THE LINES: AP GOV CONNECTION BIG BRAIN
This is a Muppet song written in 1970. But if Madison or Jefferson read this, what might they say? Connect one idea from this song to something you have studied in AP Government.
Connect the Muppets to Madison. This is not a drill.
MISSION COMPLETE, BOTUS.
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PHASE 4: THE PREAMBLE
Apply every reading strategy yourself on the Preamble to the Constitution. Short passage. Big ideas. BOTUS is watching.
TIP 1: PREVIEW YOUR TURN
Before reading: Title = Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. Year = 1787. Authors = Framers of the Constitution. What do you already know? What would you expect this opening statement to do?
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
TIPS 3 AND 4: FIRST AND LAST YOUR TURN
The Preamble is one sentence. It is both the first and last sentence. Rewrite it in your own plain words. Then write what you think it is really saying about the PURPOSE of the Constitution.
TIP 5: CHUNKING YOUR TURN
The Preamble lists six purposes of the Constitution (highlighted green above). Write each one in your own words and explain what problem each purpose is trying to solve.
TIP 6: NOTICE REPETITION YOUR TURN
Even in one sentence, some ideas and words echo or parallel each other. What words or concepts feel emphasized or repeated? Why do you think the Framers structured the sentence this way?
TIP 7: ANNOTATE YOUR TURN
Find at least TWO words or phrases that are formal, unusual, or unclear. Define them using context clues only. No dictionary.
TIP 8: WRITE BETWEEN THE LINES YOUR TURN
Write a margin note for at least THREE phrases in the Preamble. What questions, reactions, or AP Gov connections does each one trigger?
TIP 9: PURPOSE YOUR TURN
Why are you reading the Preamble in AP Government? Write your specific reading purpose in 1-2 sentences.
TIP 10: SUMMARIZE YOUR TURN
Summarize the Preamble in 2-3 sentences. Capture the WHO, the WHAT, and the WHY. No quotes.
BONUS: ARGUE WITH THE AUTHORS EXTRA CREDIT
The Preamble says "We the People." Push back: WHO was included in "the People" in 1787? Who was left out? Does this change how you read the document?
PHASE 5: DE TOCQUEVILLE
A 19th-century French political observer walks into America. No, really. Apply every tip to this rich and challenging passage.
TIP 1: PREVIEW YOUR TURN
Title: Democracy in America. Author: Alexis de Tocqueville. Context: A French aristocrat visited the United States in 1831 and wrote about what he observed. What do you already know? What might a French outsider notice about American democracy that Americans themselves might miss?
Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of conditions.
I readily discovered the prodigious influence which this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society, by giving a certain direction to public opinion, and a certain tenor to the laws; by imparting new maxims to the governing powers, and peculiar habits to the governed.
I speedily perceived that the influence of this fact extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the country, and that it has no less empire over civil society than over the Government; it creates opinions, engenders sentiments, suggests the ordinary practices of life, and modifies whatever it does not produce.
The more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I perceived that the equality of conditions is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived, and the central point at which all my observations constantly terminated.
TIP 3: FIRST THINGS FIRST YOUR TURN
Read the first sentence above. What is Tocqueville's single most important observation about America? Rewrite it completely in your own words.
TIP 4: LAST THING SECOND YOUR TURN
Read the final sentence. How does Tocqueville end this passage? What conclusion is he arriving at? Rewrite it in your own words.
TIP 5: CHUNKING YOUR TURN
Break the second sentence (the long one beginning "I readily discovered...") into its logical chunks. There are at least four parts. What does each chunk claim?
TIP 6: NOTICE REPETITION YOUR TURN
What phrase does Tocqueville repeat across all four paragraphs? Why do you think he keeps coming back to it? What is he building toward?
TIP 7: ANNOTATE YOUR TURN
Several words are highlighted in blue above because they are unusual or used in an unexpected way. Define at least THREE of them using context clues only:
TIP 8: WRITE BETWEEN THE LINES YOUR TURN
Write margin notes for at least THREE moments in the passage. What questions, reactions, or connections to AP Gov does each one spark?
TIP 9: PURPOSE YOUR TURN
Why would AP Government students read a passage written by a French aristocrat in 1835? What is YOUR purpose in reading this?
TIP 10: SUMMARIZE YOUR TURN
Summarize the entire passage in 2-3 sentences of your own words. What is Tocqueville's main claim? What evidence or observations support it?
BONUS: ARGUE WITH TOCQUEVILLE BIG BRAIN
Tocqueville observed America in 1831 and concluded that equality of conditions was the defining feature. Do you agree that equality is still the fundamental fact of American society? What evidence would support or challenge his observation TODAY?
