Paraphrase Passport for Reading

The protocol for the paraphrase passport strategy is as follows:

1. Students pair up A and B, and they sit shoulder to shoulder, not facing each other.
2. A reads to B for 30 seconds with both students looking at the text.
3. Then B puts the text face down and paraphrases to A what was read.
4. For the next 30 seconds B reads to A (starting where the partnership left off), followed by A's paraphrase.
5. Rotations continue until the students finish reading the text.

Many teachers at last week's site visit were skeptical of the strategy because of the noise that might happen in the room and because the teachers felt comprehension would go down because students do not read at the same pace. However, Beth Neary tried the paraphrase passport reading strategy in her small, AP Spanish Literature class, and she sent this report.

Positives – 9 students want to do it many more times this year!
· If you missed part of the reading, your partner recaps/explains it to you
· It is a fun way to read
· It keeps you focused while reading as you have to keep switching roles
· “I know a lot more because we read it two times” – translated by Beth Neary

Negatives – 1 student did not like it that much, but was fine if we do it again
· It takes longer to read
· It loses a bit of the excitement as you have to keep stopping


Suggestions from students:
· Give 2 minutes to read and one minute to recap (I think that’d change due to the difficulty of the reading), but the short 1-2 minute periods were actually more effective than Beth thought they’d be.

Observations by Beth:
· The students were really into it and wanted to continue the whole hour to finish the story.
· While they recapped, Beth heard them actively analyzing. Examples heard: “I bet the apron represents the lower class.” “I bet the señora will do something crazy.” “He’s definitely criticizing class struggles – Neary’s going to make us write an essay on that.”

Basically, the observation Beth had was that the strategy helped students cue into what was important in the reading. Beth was quite surprised. She liked it!

Metacognitive Frames and Peer Support

KC West had great success having students explore a novel's characters and their motivations through metacognitive frames. The students found the frames engaging, and one student even commented, "These are fun--like Mad Libs."

KC was pleased with the assignment because is was naturally differentiated. One student could simply write a word in the blanks of the frames, while another student might write detailed phrases. All students could successfully showcase something that they new about the characters in the novel.

KC's Enriched English 10 students were analyzing the characters in Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses, and here are the frames that students used:

Blevins is a ________ who __________.

Above all else, Rawlins wants ___________, and so he _________________.

John Grady values ______________, so he ________________.

I was so impressed with the student work that KC displayed after this exercise, that I tried a metacognitive frame in my World Literature class this week. As a priming activity for Shakespeare's Othello, I had students complete the following frame:

Relationship Advice

The important thing to know is that __________ screws up a relationship because ______________. When this happens, I feel ____________ and ____________. Therefore, to prevent this relationship obstacle I __________________.

After students completed the frame with their own ideas, I had them complete a second frame from another person's point of view. I used the peer support strategy where students chose a laminated picture of a famous person and then wrote their relationship advice on a speaking bubble. Since I wanted to give each hour the chance to use some of their favorite stars, I simply taped the frame bubbles to a "relationship advice" poster after the end of each hour.

During the gallery walk to read all of the famous people bubbles, students commented that they enjoyed the activity and hope we use the famous people more often. I wanted to introduce peer support with the Othello unit because I feel that the class will be able to have richer discussions about the racial issues that arise in the play when the feelings can be coming from Hilary Duff, OJ Simpson, Patrick Dempsey, Britney Spears, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Oprah, Barack Obama, Dennis Rodman, etc.

More information on metacognitive frames can be found in Writing as Learning by Andrew Rothstein, Evelyn Rothstein and Gerald Lauber.

Who What When Where and How

The Who What When Where and How strategy engages students by tapping into youth culture and Hip Hop. Basically, students write a four-beat song to demonstrate their thinking on a particular topic.

Chorus: (all students sing)

Who, What, When, Where and How
Who, What, When, Where and How

Verse: (individuals or groups of students sing--see sample below)

In World Literature I employed this strategy to make their setting brace map come to life. Student groups were assigned a setting in The Handmaid’s Tale. They dissected the setting description to come up with people (cast), props (objects) and infrastructure (scenery). Those were the main brace map parts, and students dissected those main parts into the sub-parts of concrete nouns that would appear in those areas of the brace map if they were directing a play of the book.

From the brace map students easily wrote the Who What When Where and How song. Here’s an example of a verse hanging on my student Hall of Fame from The Handmaid’s Tale for Offred’s bedroom.

WHO: Offred Alone
WHAT: She lives simply
WHEN: Most of the time
WHERE: A Tiny Room
HOW: Forced to Remain

Each line has four beats. I lined up a singing volunteer from each group in front of the room so that the students could sing the story. The entire class sang the chorus between each verse. The chorus is just Who, what, when, where and how repeated twice. The entire class also did a call and response, calling out who, and letting the appropriate singer answer.

This day was met with mixed reviews from "one of the best classes ever" to "I am not going to sing."

The Bubble Map Was Just the Beginning

A recent American Literature assessment involved students using a bubble map as the first step of a character analysis assignment. The assessment extended the student's thinking beyond the bubble map to first a creative product and then to a written reflection.

Here is the description of the assessment from the student direction sheet:

Goals of the assessment:

• To demonstrate a sophisticated, in-depth understanding of the relationship between character motivation and themes in The Great Gatsby.
• To apply contemporary modes of expression to this novel of the 1920s.
• To flex your creative muscles. This is your opportunity to express your ideas in a creative format.
  

Final Work Product:

You will create either character recipes, Facebook pages, postcard secrets, or web logs for three of the main characters in The Great Gatsby. Your creative representations of the characters should reflect in-depth analysis of each character’s development throughout the course of the novel. Consider how these characters have or have not achieved the American Dream. Make sure you do not focus all of your efforts on creativity at the expense of meaningful analysis.

You must complete the following pre-writing preparation:

1. Select three main characters from The Great Gatsby.
2. For each character, create a bubble map with at least 10 adjectives that describe your character. Consider social, emotional, psychological and physical aspects of the character.
3. In the frame, for each adjective, provide a description of events or forces from the text that help to shape the character. Include at least 5 direct passages from the novel. For longer passages you may cite the beginning phrase and last phrase of the passage along with the page number.
   
   

Next, choose one of the following options for a final product:

Option 1: Character Recipe Cards

Writing the Recipe:
For each character, create a “recipe” that combines your character traits and bakes them into your character. The list of ingredients should include the character’s traits, and baking instructions should show how the plot events help shape the character. You must use at least 5 vivid, concrete verbs in baking instructions.

Revising: Stir. Add ingredients. Checks to make sure instructions are clear and in logical order. Stir some more and check appropriateness of verbs in baking instructions. Also, proofread recipe for spelling errors. Once you have it completely right, prepare your recipe for publication.

Publication:
Write out the complete recipe on a 4 x 6 note card. Decorate the card with symbols and images appropriate for this character.

Sample Recipe: Tragic Romeo Rolls

1 cup passion
½ cup anger
5 tablespoons love
1 teaspoon regret
2 pints confusion
3 pinches of family feuding
¼ cup revenge
4 drops blood red food coloring

Directions:
Gather all ingredients. Start with passion and love and mix family feuding deep into the middle of it. Beat until well blended. Heat the ½ cup of anger until it comes to a boil. Pour into the mixture. Next add the ¼ cup of revenge and stir until clumpy. Then stir confusion throughout the mixture. Pour into baking tins. Set oven at a searing 450 degrees. Bake overnight. After baking, top with seasoned regret, stain red with food coloring.

Result: One confused, and ultimately regretful, young lover.

Serves: Two wretched families who eventually learn to eat “Tragic Romeo Rolls” and “Passionate Juliet Cobbler” peacefully together.


Option 2: Facebook pages

For each character, create a Facebook page. As you create your page for each character, remember that you are trying to show your insights into this character’s development throughout the novel. Your page should portray an accurate overall representation of what this character would do, say, or think. What are the crucial conflicts and ethical dilemmas that this character faces?

Your pages need to show careful consideration of character motivation, relationships, and conflicts. Think about elements that will highlight personality well. Also think about appropriate symbolic images that you may wish to include.

Format these appropriately, either by creating the pages online and printing them or mimicking the format in your written work.


Option 3: Character Postcard secrets

Check out the website http://www.postsecrets.com/ (Warning: There are some very provocative confessions on this website.) This is a website that allows real people to offer confessions and secrets anonymously. Your mission is to create a postcard secret for three of the main characters in The Great Gatsby. Each postcard must include images and text.
Here are the rules, as detailed on the Post Secret website: “Each secret can be a regret, hope, funny experience, unseen kindness, fantasy, belief, betrayal, desire, feeling, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything—as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before.”

Create a 4 x 6 postcard but stick to one secret per card. Choose secrets that fit the characters as developed in the novel and that are appropriate for a classroom setting. Put your complete secret and image on one side of the postcard. Be brief, legible, and creative. On the back of each postcard, write a paragraph, from the perspective of the character, that explains how or why the confession of this secret is vital to your existence. Using passages from the novel would strengthen these paragraphs.

Option 4: Character Blogs

Create a blog that includes a dialogue among at least 3 of the main characters in The Great Gatsby. You should write from the first-person perspective of the characters. Your blog should include images and formatting that shows your understanding of deeper motivations and dilemmas.

Each character must offer at least two, 1-2 paragraph long entries to the blog. So, you will have at least six entries in your blog. You may pose different questions that relate to important issues throughout the book, or use the blog to allow a character to offer thoughts not revealed in Fitzgerald’s text. How might the characters react to current events of 2008?

Be creative; however, first and foremost, make sure that your entries are true to the characters’ motivations, actions, and language throughout the novel. Your blog entries may include direct passages from the text incorporated into the characters’ comments; make sure not to let these dominate the entries.


Written Reflection

Once you have created your items, you must also complete the following reflection on the creations:

Write a one to two page (typed, double-spaced) reflection that answers the following questions:
How does the creative creation for each character demonstrate an analytical perspective on the character? What thoughts or ideas are revealed through each creation? Connect these creations to specific aspects of the text, using examples and/or cited quotations as support. You may wish to consider themes revolving around the American dream, rebellion, or other significant ideas the novel raises.

Thinking Maps for Independent Reading Project

Jim Hatten developed the following independent unit for students to complete outside of class for a book of their choosing.

Each quarter, English 10 students select one book to read outside of class. Though somewhat structured, the purpose of the outside reading project is to help students develop into independent readers by allowing them to choose a topic or title that is of interest to them.

During the quarter, students are expected to demonstrate proficiency at comprehension, interpretation, and evaluation of reading.

In Quarter 3 of English 10, the category for the outside reading project is a book that has won a significant publishing award such as the ALA, Caldecott Medal, the Pulitzer Prize, the ALA Alex Awards, and many, many others.

A parent must approve the book chosen by the student and needs to sign the cover to this packet signifying their approval and understanding of the project. Students complete projects spread throughout the quarter and hand them in on time or ahead of time to receive full credit.

The following Thinking Map assignments are part of the independent study. The descriptions have been taken right from the student assignment packet.

Circle Map Clue Search

Examine the book before reading and complete a circle map for their "clue search" for this pre-reading, prediction activity. Put the book's title in the middle of the circle map and define the book with words and phrases that you have found through examining the following possible sources of hints:

Dedication
Title
Author
Cover illustration
Back cover/jacket
What others said
A quick glance at a few pages

In the frame of the circle map, write your predictions about the book.


Characterization Tree Map

Characterization is the process of conveying information about characters in a piece of fiction. Characters are usually presented through their actions, dialect, and thoughts, as well as by description. Characterization can regard a variety of aspects of a character, such as appearance, age, gender, educational level, vocation or occupation, financial status, marital status, social status, cultural background, hobbies, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ambitions, motivations, personality, etc.

After reading one-fifth of your book, you should have a good idea of the development of the main character (or person of central focus in your non-fiction book). The author should be developing the main character – how he/she looks and acts. Complete a tree map using information from the first one-fifth of your book.

Four ways to learn about characters--Look carefully for quotations about the main character’s appearance and personality to collect on the tree map. Character development is done in four ways. The four branches of your tree map need to reflect the following four ways of character developement.

Narrator’s Description--The way the character is described by the narrator (what the author literally says about what a character is like);
Character’s words--what the character says to describe him/herself;
Character’s actions--what the character does (the actions and physical appearance of that character);
Other characters say--what other characters say or do to that character.

Cause/Effect Multi-Flow Map

Create a multi-flow map that analyzes the causes and effects of the central conflict in the book. The causes of the conflict are on the left, and the major effects of that conflict are on the right.


Double Bubble Comparison to Another Text

Using a double bubble map, compare and contrast your book, character or characters, events, issues, topics, motifs or theme to another book, movie, story, play or other work of literature.

--Jim Hatten, English 10

Thinking Maps and Drama

This past semester English 10 teachers used Thinking Maps to help students with their reading comprehension in the two plays studied--Arthur Miller's All My Sons and Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

One successful comprehension check involved students completing a multi-flow map at the end of each act of All of My Sons. Students analysed the causes and effects of the main conflict of each act and were able to build the next act's multi-flow onto the previous one. In other words, the effects of Act 1's conflict became the causes for the conflict in Act 2. This compound multi-flow is similar to the change over time continuous multi-flow that works for analyzing historical events.

The English 10 Shakespeare unit was shortened this year to fit into the 12 days between winter break and the end of the semester, so teachers did not have the time to repeat the continuous multi-flow process with Much Ado About Nothing. However, when I teach Othello this spring with my seniors in World Literature, I will have the students create the continuous multi-flow so that they see how the dramatic structure builds in Shakespeare. Traditionally, I have taught Shakespeare with the triangle dramatic structure of exposition (Act 1), rising action (Act 2), climax (Act 3), falling action (Act 4), and resolution (Act 5). With the continuous multi-flow, I will still be able to use those dramatic structure terms by labeling the appropriate section of the multi-flow map.

My hope is that students will see how Shakespeare builds his drama from one act to the next. The multi-flow map is also a great tool for discussing themes, so students should be able to see how Shakespeare's theme development is closely tied to the dramatic structure.

Logistically, I will have students build the continuous multi-flow in their notebooks and as a whole class on long sheets of construction paper. Since I teach three sections of World Literature, I will be able to roll up those sheets after each hour and un-roll the next hour's multi-flow.

The bubble map has also been used successfully with both English 10 dramas this year. Students were able to describe characters and find textual support for their adjectives. Sarah Jarrett recently used the bubble map as an assessment after Act 2 of Much Ado About Nothing, and here's her reflection on the assignment:

"The character bubble map assessment worked very well with my
sophomores. They were focused, were forced to work specifically with the
text, and came up with some great descriptors for the characters. I also
think it helped them feel more confident about their knowledge of the
characters."

Reading in Chemistry Foundations

The chemistry foundations class for sophomores includes reading about relevant, real-world connections to chemistry. In fact, their textbook, Chemistry in the Community, includes many stories about the real-world applications of chemistry.


In preparation for the sophomore state reading test, Chemistry Teachers Chad Nyberg, Dana Weiland and Mike Roddy used some NUA strategies in a lesson as part of the introduction to the heavy metals unit.


The lesson began with an anticipation guide listing statements that would be discovered in the readings that day. The lesson involved four articles for a group jigsaw, so a few statements were made from each reading. Upon reflection, however, the cumulative amount of statements was too large for the time allowed. Around five statements total would have proven sufficient to start the discussion of the impact of heavy metals on people's health.


After the students shared a few responses to anticipation guide statements, they formed groups of four, and each student read a different article. Two articles were on lead poisoning, and two were on mercury poisoning. As students read their assigned article, they completed a 4-Square writing that required the students to find three main ideas and supporting details for each main idea. The fourth square was where students recorded the author's purpose for writing the article. Although the fourth square is typically for a conclusion statement, we changed the box to purpose since we felt purpose was close to a student's final thoughts on an article and since the GRAD reading test often asks the question: What is the author's purpose.

After reading and writing about their articles, students shared the information with their groups, and then the groups re-visited their anticipation guides, discussing and correcting any of the statements.


The format for 4-Square Writing looks like this:

Dancing Definitions

After the first NUA Large Group Sessions, a few teachers in cohorts 4 and 5 decided that they would try the Augusta Mann dancing definitions strategy that was modeled. Claris Springob noted that world language teachers often use similar strategies because they need to bring the vocabulary to life for students.

Here’s the summary of the dancing definitions strategy:

1. Teacher writes a rhythmical definition on a poster to display during the teaching. The poster also includes a tag sentence that uses the word in a way that connects to youth culture. The teacher should also consider adding a differentiation word to the definition for those students who already have a strong vocabulary.
2. Teacher recites the definition (repeating the key words of the definition) and tag sentence. The recitation also involves memorable movement(s).
3. Students recite the definition and tag sentence and do the movement two times with the poster visible.
4. The teacher then puts the poster down, and the students recite, from memory, the definition and tag sentence while doing the movement for the fourth time.
5. The poster should then be hung on the wall. Depending on wall space in your classroom, you may have to rotate words every few days.

Here's an example of a definition of a vocabulary word from The Crucible:

arbitrate: To arbitrate is to judge or decide, judge or decide, a dispute. The umpire will arbitrate the play at first. (motion: the baseball out signal with thumb coming out).

Teacher Responses to the Strategy:

Within a few days of the large group, KC West had incorporated the dancing definitions strategy into her English 10 class. The first time that KC taught a word, she told the students that they may find the strategy funny, but that it would help them learn the definitions of their vocabulary words. KC reported that the students really liked the strategy, and she heard students comment: "Wow, I can't believe that I actually remembered that definition." KC also felt that the activity helped build rapport with her students. She felt that they respected her more for taking a chance on a strategy that took her out of her comfort zone.

Scott Woelber tried a dancing definition with volume in geometry class, and here's his report on how the definition went:

"I actually wrote the definition of volume on poster paper along with an association. Volume is the amount enclosed. Volume is the amount occupied. The volume of the Metrodome is enormous. The volume of an iceberg is enormous. I said it three times like a chant (but within my comfort level!). The students repeated it back once while looking at it, and then again but with the poster covered. Hand movements were included. This activity went well, but it takes a little convincing that chanting a definition isn't just for little kids!

Some American Literature teachers are planning on trying dancing definitions with the vocabulary words from The Crucible.

To read more on the strategy, visit this website:
http://www.successfulteachers.com/strategies/dd/dd.html

List Group Label

KC's sophomores completed a list group label activity to analyze the props in Arthur Miller's All My Sons. KC had her students list all of the props that they could find in the play, then the students grouped them into categories on a tree map. Finally, they had to label the categories. The activity got the students thinking about the significance of Miller's props, and they realized that the detailed stage directions are included for a symbolic reason. One of the more interesting tree maps had the categories of positive, negative and unimportant props.

Click here for a full description of the strategy.

Question Stages for Reading

In preparation for the GRAD reading test that all sophomores will take next April, I have begun working with the Chemistry Foundations teachers to add more reading to their sophomore class. If the science teachers use the same reading terms (e.g. literal, inference) when discussing articles read for class as appear on the GRAD reading test, students, hopefully, will have a better grasp of what the test questions are asking.

I developed a sheet for the science teachers that list the three stages of questions. I modeled the sheet after the one English 10 teachers are using for even more consistency across the curriculum when discussing reading. If both classes employ a similar framework with common GRAD test terminology, the students should start seeing connections. Enriched English 10 used a similar three-stage question framework for poetry analysis this week, and I'm confident that standard English 10 will be able to implement the question stages during a poetry unit just prior to the GRAD reading test.

Below are the stages for science that have many of the question stems that are on the Minnesota GRAD reading test.

Science Stage 1 Questions (Literal)

Summarize the article.
Paraphrase the article.
What are the main ideas and supporting details?
What do words mean in context?
What is the text structure?
What is the point of view—first person or third person?

Science Stage 2 Questions (Inference)

What is the purpose of this article?
What tone does the author establish in the article?
What are the connotations of words?
What figurative language, such as metaphor, simile or symbol, is used?
How does the structure enhance the meaning?
What are facts and what are opinions in the piece?
Is there any bias in the text?
Is the information in the article credible, or is it contradicted elsewhere in the text or does it contain logical fallacies?
Is there any satire in the piece?


Science Stage 3 Questions (Constructed Response)

What connections did you make between the article and science class?
What personal connections can you make with the piece?
What connections to the world today are you making?
Compare the ideas from the piece to other books, films and pop culture.

Below is the list of poetry questions by stage with questions that correspond to the wording of the Minnesota GRAD reading test questions.

Poetry Stage 1 Questions (Literal)

Paraphrase the poem.
What are the main ideas?
What do words mean in context? (Denotation)
Who is the narrator?
What is the text structure?
What are facts and what are opinions in the piece?

Poetry Stage 2 Questions (Inference)

What is the theme or life lesson of the poem?
What is the poet’s tone?
What are the connotations of words?
What figurative language, such as personification, metaphor, simile, imagery, and symbol, is used?
How does the rhyme scheme and structure enhance the meaning?


Poetry Stage 3 Questions

What personal connections can you make with the poem?
What connections to the world today are you making?
Compare the poem to other books, films and pop culture.

Final Word Timer

Jim Hatten used the final word protocol twice this past unit with his sophomore English class and felt it went well. His sophomores discussed an article on cheating and then an article on environmental threats. Jim's also planning on using final word with his senior journalism class.

Jim projects a timer on his screen so that students can keep track their talking time.

Click here for a free, classroom timer to use on your computer.

Teachers with Interwrite pads also have a classroom timer as part of their gallery teaching tools. Projecting a classroom timer has a variety of uses to assist with classroom management.

Outside Reading Thinking Maps

Jim Hatten created a comprehensive assessment using Thinking Maps for his sophomore English class. His students create four Thinking Maps on the memoir that they read outside of class. This activity replaces a traditional literary analysis essay.

Jim created a website to help his students understand ways that they could use each Thinking Map to show their understanding of the book that they read. Since students were able to choose which four maps to use, the website helped students explore their options.

Click here to explore Mr. Hatten's website.

Brace Map Helps Bring a Novel's Setting to Life

To help students with reading comprehension and bring the setting of a novel to life, I have students, working in groups, dissect an assigned portion of the novel to uncover all of the details. I assign each group a section of the novel that contains just one setting, and I even tell the students the setting that they will present to the class. This assignment worked well with Brave New World this past fall, and the American Literature teachers are planning on trying it with Huck Finn.

Steps of the setting assignment as given to students:

1. After the lottery for setting selection, base group members will skim the assigned pages, jotting down all objects they encounter in those pages in their notebooks. This is similar to what we did for objects in Room 271.


2. Then students will take all the sub-parts and work back to the whole of the assigned setting by organizing the details in a brace map. The brace map should be created in your notebook.


3. The frame of the brace map should contain the most illustrative and visual quotation, in your opinion, that the author puts forth in your assigned setting pages.


4. The frame of the brace map should also contain your thoughts about the author's intent for including the specific objects. How does the setting relate to themes, images and character development in the novel?


5. The base group will create an artistic representation of the setting to use as a visual aid for the class presentation.


6. Groups present their setting creations while discussing their brace map and sharing their key quotation and commentary on the author's intent.


7. Students will reflect on their classmates' setting presentations on a Key Word Notes page, which includes a summary sentence at the bottom of the chart on the author's intent regarding his detailed settings.

More Notes on This Assignment

Setting Flow Map: After all of the presentations were made, I picked the best of each assigned setting to display on the wall of fame, so students were competing with the groups in my other hours for first place. Those hall of fame settings were displayed on the wall in a flow map so that students could have a visual flow of the first part of the book.

Key Word Notes Summary Statements: Summarizing each setting presentation to one word (that couldn't be the setting name itself) led to some very interesting student thoughts since I had a few students share their key words and explain as a transition between presentations. And the summary statements at the end of all of the presentations amazed me. Basically, students had created a thesis statement for an essay on the author's intent and how setting relates to theme.

Prior Experience With Task: During the first week of school, I reviewed the Thinking Maps in the context of getting to know each other, the teacher, the course syllabus, and even the classroom environment. Students completed a similar brace map activity with my classroom, so this setting assignment was not their first time with the activity. On that brace map day, students listed as many objects in my classroom that they could in two minutes. Then they organized the objects into a brace map. The frame of the brace map answered the questions: What does this arrangement tell me about the teacher? How will the contents of this room help me with my learning? What am I wondering about regarding the classroom environment?

Thinking Maps and Memoir

KC submitted this English 10 assessment involving thinking maps. Students completed the assessment after reading a selection of short memoirs, letters, and This I Believe essays from National Public Radio. Below is the assessment description in language for students.

Final Assessment

This group activity is designed to help you think about memoir as a genre – the tools the writers’ tend to use, the themes and conflicts that recur, the ways in which characters are drawn. Refer to your notebook as you work on these three tasks. Much of the information you need to complete the activities should be there. You’ll use it to draw further inferences and conclusions about memoir.

Here is a list of the memoirs we’ve read in the order we read them: An excerpt from Black Boy by Richard Wright, “We Are Each Other’s Business” by Eboo Patel, “A Duty to Heal” by Pius Kamau, “Be Cool to the Pizza Dude” by Sarah Adams, “Harper Lee’s Letter to Oprah” by Harper Lee, “I’ll Eat What He’s Wearing” by David Sedaris, excerpts from I Thought My Father Was God by various authors, and “A Perfect Day” by David Benjamin.

Part One: Author’s Style
Product: Double Bubble Map

Directions: Choose two memoirs and compare and contrast their styles. Style includes use of dialogue, descriptive techniques, figurative language, word choice, sentence structure, and tone. The two pieces you choose should have at least two elements in common – the writers use dialogue similarly, for example; or they both use personification. In addition to similarities, identify differences between the pieces on your double bubble map.

Part Two: Characterization
Product: Two Circle Maps

Directions: Choose two additional memoirs (other than the ones you used in Part One) and examine the ways in which authors use indirect characterization. I suggest you use the David Sedaris piece and one of the I Thought My Father Was God pieces, as you already have notes on characterization for these. In the center of each circle map, put the name of a main character from the memoir. In the inner circle, write characteristics of that person. For instance, if I were writing about the kid in “A Perfect Day,” I might include “incompetent” as one of his characteristics. In the outer circle, provide the specific examples (quotes are best) from the text that led you to identify the character as you did.

Part Three: Conflict
Product: Multi-Flow Map

Directions: Choose two more memoirs (other than the ones you have used already) and identify a common conflict that the characters face. Put the conflict in the center of the map. On the left, identify the common causes of that conflict in the characters’ lives. On the right, identify the common effects of the conflict. Be specific! You must have at least four causes and four effects. If you’d like to include causes and effects that one memoir has and the other doesn’t, be sure to make it clear which piece you’re discussing.

Anticipation Guide to Engage Students

An anticipation guide is a set of true/false or agree/disagree statements that are presented to students prior to informational text (including math chapters), films, and guest speakers. The strategy sharpens a student's thinking skills while building curiosity. When information is memorable, student learning increases.


The steps:

1. The teacher writes several declarative statements that are based on the upcoming reading, film, chapter, speaker, etc. The best statements are possible yet open for debate.
2. Before the reading, students decide on their response. Students could complete the anticipation guide with just their own opinions and then check with a partner or group.
3. The group discusses some of the statements as a whole class, having students tell the reasoning behind the response. The teacher can prompt: "Why do you think so?
4. Students read the assigned material and change their answers so that they leave class with the correct answers to study.

Generally, anticipation guides are used with non-fiction texts so that students can reason with prior knowledge. With fiction, the author could take the reader anywhere. However, anticipation guides can be successful with fiction when the agree/disagree statements get at the big ideas or themes of the novel.


Here are some example fiction statements for anticipation guides:


Huxley's Brave New World--
A society's stability is hindered by people expressing their individuality.


Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn--
A natural father's rights are more important than a child's welfare.


Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing--
Before deciding to marry someone, people need to agree with their parents' wishes.

This strategy is culturally responsive because students share their reasoning behind statements with small groups and the entire class. Since the reasoning is based on what students know, various cultural backgrounds will emerge. Hopefully, this leads to students appreciating other backgrounds and life experiences.

English 10 teachers used an Anticipation Guide during the first week of school where students agreed or disagreed with statements about life if high school. This activity worked well.

KC even created an anticipation guide of personal information as a way for students to get to know their teacher.

Levels of Questions

Students in World Literature create their own questions about the novels that they then pose to the class for open forum classroom discussions. To get students beyond simple content questions, I reviewed with them the three levels of questions that I learned both from an NUA session a few years ago and from Augsburg's Paideia Institute.

This is how I worded the types of questions for my students:

Stage 1 Questions: (Re-tell the story.) These are content questions where the answer is right there in black and white. These questions are similar to reading quiz questions. You may ask a stage 1 question when you feel clarification is needed regarding the facts surrounding the plot, settings or characters.

Stage 2 Questions: (Extend the story to themes.) These theme questions uncover the deeper meaning of a text. What is the author's central meaning or life lesson? Theme questions get at eliciting people's opinions that are supported with textual references.

Stage 3 Questions: (Connect the themes to personal experiences or world events.) These questions allow students to express their opinions about personal and world issues that they feel are relevant to their lives. Opinions and debate abound when these questions are posed to the class in an open forum. You will almost hear Socrates whispering, "good job," as you take World Literature: A Senior Seminar to this highest stage of discourse.

Soundtrack Assignment

As a final project for Catcher in the Rye, American Lit teachers will have students create a soundtrack of the songs that remind them of the books themes or characters. Each soundtrack song is accompanied by one paragraph that explains why the song was chosen. This assignment really allows students to showcase their teen culture.

Here's a full description of the assignment:

The Catcher in the Rye Soundtrack

Most movies today come with a soundtrack of songs and music heard in the film. These songs sometimes are incidental (i.e., not important) to the film, but other times they add meaning to the plot or highlight the emotional aspects of particular characters.

For this assignment, you must create a soundtrack for The Catcher in the Rye that represents theme, illustrates growth of character, and reflects the plot meaningfully. The soundtrack that you create should be appropriately and respectfully representative of the novel.

Here are specific criteria:

1. You must have a minimum of eight songs. You may choose any kind of music. You may want to think about having a “theme” to your music; that is, have all music be from one genre. (WWHLT? What would Holden listen to?)

2. At least three of these songs must be for specific characters. That is, find a song that best represents each character you choose. In essence, this should be the character’s “theme song.”

3. At least three songs must be meant for specific scenes of the novel. Focus on specific, meaningful scenes. Ask yourself: if this scene were made into a movie, what music would be played in it?

4. At least one song must represent a theme found in the novel overall.

5. Not all the music you choose must have lyrics. Instrumental selections are also appropriate.

6. For each song you choose, you must write a paragraph explaining your choice. Comment on the connection between the music and the novel. The song must fit the character/scene/theme well. For each song, use at least one quotation from the book as support for your choice. Also, you will probably want to quote specific lyrics in your discussion. Make sure you offer insightful reasons to justify your selections and connections.

7. You must either provide lyrics for each song or make a tape/CD with the music on it. You may wish to just present the lyrics that would be heard in the movie, or you may provide the entire lyrics since the full song would appear on your soundtrack.

8. Create the cover jacket for the CD soundtrack jewel case (front and back). The cover should include the name of the CD and at least one visual reference to the novel; the visual(s) should also connect to the characters/scenes/themes that you emphasize on the soundtrack. Other text that you may wish to include on the front or back: a list of the songs/performing artists, credits, recording company information, dedications, lyrics. Push your creativity here.

Using Blogs

Many of our NUA CoP members have implemented blogs this year in the classroom. I have linked a few to this blog so that you can further see how NUA strategies are coming into the classroom. KC's blog even has photographs of the Thinking Maps on the white board. I need to pack my digital camera to start capturing class information like this.

Jim Hatten has developed this website to help students get started on creating their own blogs. Jim's site is awesome, and I'm sure it will help my students when they start creating their own blogs.

If you want to link your classroom blog to this site, just let me know the URL, and I'll add it as another way to keep our learning community going.

Key Word Notes

The Key Word Notes strategy allows students to restate information from readings and lectures in their own words to increase comprehension and retention.

Strategy Step by Step:

1. Students make a chart of boxes (see above) in their notebooks.


2. The teacher divides the reading into four sections.


3. Students read the first section of text and then stop to reflect. During reflection, teachers may want students to discuss the reading with a partner or base group.


4. After reflection and/or discussion, students write just a few words in the appropriate box. Alternatively, students could write the key words first and then discuss with a partner about why they wrote those specific words.


5. Students repeat the process with the next three sections until the top four boxes all have key words noted in them.


6. Then in the bottom box students write a summary sentence (two at the most) about what they learned in the reading. Students may or may not incorporate the key words from the top boxes in this sentence.

The Key Word Notes strategy also works with lectures. Students may be taking detailed notes on one page of their notebooks, but then on another page they have their Key Word Notes chart. This chart will provide for summary and reflection as the teacher pauses four times during the lecture to let students jot down and discuss their key words.

Key Word Notes also works well for students during a research paper or project unit. Students simply record a few key words from each source in a box. In fact, this strategy was devised from a high school teacher concerned with plagiarism during a research paper unit.

The number of boxes can also be varied if a reading or lecture fits logically into 6 sections, etc.

Chris Dalki, KC West and Sarah Burgess (nee Striffler) have all reported great success so far this year with Key Word Notes. Enriched Sociology students used the strategy with a nonfiction piece.

Enriched English 10 students used the strategy to share information from their summer reading journals with a partner. Students wrote down ideas after their partner sharing in a Key Word Notes chart set up with boxes labeled: main character, other characters, images and big ideas. After writing their summary sentences, students then discussed the themes that they saw in the book. KC and Sarah reported that this was an awesome lesson.

I will try this strategy in a few days during a discussion of Brave New World to give students a chance to reflect on the discussion occurring in the classroom and to capture those key ideas.

Flow Map of Vocabulary Words

When teaching vocabulary words for Brave New World this year, I am going to try something new to bring the words alive and give the students a sense of the story's sequence at the same time. I will give them all 30 vocab words upfront--that's two a day for 15 reading days.


On day 1 of the reading schedule, the students will glue the vocab list in their notebooks. They will also make a 30-box flow map, spanning at least two pages of their notebook. I will make sure that students leave space below the boxes to have the luxury of space to add a few written details to the story sequence.


On day 2 of the reading schedule, I will discuss the two vocab words that students encountered as they read their assignment the night before. Then students will write one vocab word in each of the two first boxes of the flow map and then illustrate those words.


I hope this technique brings the vocab words to life for my students and provides them with a graphic review (like a comic strip) of the novel.