Strategies
Collaborative Writing
Because writing the sestina requires some intricate word work and may present a challenge to some learners, writing in groups will create a scaffold to students writing a sestina on their own in the culmination of this unit. Groups can be separated heterogeneously (a mix of high and low ability learners) or homogeneously (groups of similar ability) depending on how you wish to scaffold the activity.
Leveled Questioning
Asking questions can help students comprehend a complex text, however, they will typically need some direction to avoid creating closed or low-level questions. A simple strategy is to teach students three levels of questions.
Level 1 - Recall/Comprehension - Questions that ask students to remember something from the text or to prove that they have comprehended what they read. Typically the answers to these questions can be directly "pointed to" in the text; they do not require the reader to make an inference or assumption.
Level 2 — Interpret/Analyze — Questions that ask students to make an inference or assumption about a text or to explain how a literary device is working in the text and how it relates to the larger meaning. These questions often have more than one possible answer and must be supported with evidence, though that evidence will not directly answer the question (as in Level 1).
Level 3 — Evaluate/Connect — Questions that ask students to draw connections from the text to a larger thematic question. These questions COULD be answered without the text, but in the context of the classroom, students would primarily use the text in question to inform their answer. They may, however, synthesize the ideas from the target text with other texts.
This question-writing strategy can be used in conjunction with the two-column chart and inquiry discussion strategies below.
Two-column charts (close-reading)
This activity could be used both for at home reading or classroom work. Students create a two-column chart. In the left column, students record notes to help them keep track of what the poem is saying. In the right column, students record observations or questions at the various levels described above. For longer texts, students can focus on a specific chunk of the text that reveals devices or meaning that are intended to be the focus of the lesson. Likewise, if a poem or text is particularly long, this could be used as a way of making the text more manageable for a short lesson — different groups can focus on different parts of the text, then bring their ideas together in whole group discussion.
Inquiry-based Discussion
Discussion strategies in the English classroom come in many forms and go by several names (Socratic, whole group, share out). Inquiry-based discussion, in my mind, puts the bulk of the questioning and discussion management on the students. After some practice, students should be able to create their own questions and facilitate a discussion around a text with little input from the teacher. For students just beginning with the inquiry model, it helps to have a teacher-written question to begin discussion and to set the discussion length for 10-15 minutes. This will give many students a chance to participate but won't drag the discussion out. The teacher should supply the initial question and give students 3-5 minutes to write about that question, answering the prompt and using at least one piece of evidence from the text to support their answer. When discussion begins, in order to give students maximum control over the discussion while still keeping it orderly and productive, students can be assigned roles. These roles can include:
Facilitator – Manages the flow of discussion, bringing up new questions or asking students to participate if they have not or if participation is imbalanced.
Timer – Keeps time for the discussion and gives a warning when the end of the allotted time is nearing.
Tracker – Marks down who has participated, including when students use discussion moves and evidence.
Note taker – If you wish to make a record of the content of the discussion, a student can take notes as classmates speak. Students especially love doing this in front of the class (on the board or document camera).
It also helps students to have a way of keeping themselves accountable for what they are being asked to do in the discussion. Creating a simple rubric with places where they can check off what they have done not only helps them manage their own participation but also makes assigning a grade a bit simpler.
Discussion moves are sentence starters that facilitate a "discussion" rather than a read-around where students merely share their answers without connecting ideas to their classmates. It is extremely important to reinforce these moves, particularly with students just beginning with inquiry-based discussion, as their default mode will be "share to the teacher." Forcing students to consider how their response builds on the previous points will create more student-to-student talk and allow for a discussion that goes somewhere rather than standing still. Examples of these phrases include, "I agree with ____ because" or "I would like to add to _____'s response." These phrases should be created based on the needs of the classroom and made visible to students during discussion.
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