Practice: Detailed Observation

Pick a paragraph from anywhere in the Bible. If you are thinking about working toward a badge, you may want to pick a paragraph in the book you surveyed in the previous lesson. You are going to observe this text in detail, identifying the train of thought of the passage. Remember, we are just observing. We are simply describing the cake and asking questions about it. We will not eat it until the next lesson. You might print off the paragraph or look at it in a software that will allow you to mark up your observations.

1. Go through the text several times and observe the following types of features. You might create your own key (e.g., circle connecting words in read, circle key terms in green, underline important grammatical bits, write lines off to the side for tone, etc). Look for the following elements:

• • Basic content (who, what, where, when)
  • Key words and phrases
  • Connecting words
  • Key grammatical elements
  • Historical/cultural items
  • Atmosphere and tone

2. Now, probably on a separate page, ask questions about what you have observed:

• • Questions of definition
  • How questions
  • Why questions
  • Questions of original implication

Upload your work to the course using the option below..