This fall my 8th graders have practiced Notice and Note annotation strategies as well as those from Cris Tovani. I have not required my 8th graders to annotate their independent reading, but earlier this month, I felt annotating their reading for an in-class reading day would be beneficial for my students. I also felt this … Continue reading Annotating for Active Reading: Post-It Notes and File Folders
We are racing toward the end of the year, and my juniors have been working hard between their prep work for our first American lit book club meeting tomorrow (for A day classes) and Friday (for B day classes) and our state End of Course testing. About 10 days ago, we revisited two sets of … Continue reading Annotation Conferences as Formative Assessment
Many of us like to incorporate share time for students to share what they are thinking and writing during notebook time. I've shared some ways I encourage students to speak up or interact during this share time because I have found most are reluctant to do so. Another strategy that is easy to do … Continue reading From Notebook Time to Student Talk and Share: It’s Easy as A-B-C, 1-2-3
Last week, four sections (two Honors Level and two CP) of my 11th ELA took on the challenge of deconstructing our reading of an excerpt of Thomas Paine's The Crisis, Number 1 as we explore examples of persuasive texts across time periods and around themes of resilience and resistance. Our primary essential questions included: How … Continue reading Tackling Complex Texts with Think Tank Groups, Silent Gallery Walks, Noticings, and Reflections
Like many of you, I have found Jonathan Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" to be a challenging text for students in terms of both content and vocabulary. Most 11th grade teachers find this be an especially tedious text to teach; several of you on Twitter shared it has been a struggle … Continue reading Notebook Invitations, Annotation Statements, and Sketchnoting for Introducing and Navigating Challenging Nonfiction
