Multiple Readings
One strategy that I often incorporate into poetry reading is multiple readings. Because of poetry's form it easily lends itself to multiple readings. Multiple readings are a great strategy for students to build comprehension and analytical skills about the chosen poem. Generally, I preface the reading by discussing with students that when we read something we usually don't get it the first time. When we read it a second time we discover something that we didn't comprehend on the first reading. On the third reading we build more knowledge. Also, multiple readings allow us to see different ideas that we wouldn't necessarily see on the initial reading.
Sometimes before I have this talk I ask students to tell me about their favorite movie. Movies are good to discuss because students are typically familiar with movies. Then, I will ask them how many times they have seen their favorite movie. Some respond 2, 5, 10 or even 20 times. After, I ask them what they notice about the movie after multiple viewings that they didn't notice the first time they saw it. Often, student responses can be applied to multiple readings of literature and justified as such. When students can make a connection and understand why they are doing something it makes more sense and students are more likely to engage in the activity. This also avoids those problems in which students complain that they've already read the text why do they have to read it again.
The procedure in which I ask students to read the poem is to first read over it once independently. This allows the student the opportunity to briefly familiarize themselves with the word and the structure of the poem. During the first reading the students will not highlight or make any notes just yet. After, I ask students to read a line or two each aloud and we go around the room for the entirety of the poem. Each student will read a line from the text. During this reading, students will follow along and highlight any words or phrases that stand out for them or are significant in some way. Lastly, I will read the poem aloud. Students will jump in and choral read with me when we get to the lines, words or phrases they have highlighted. I like to read the poem aloud at least twice because the poem takes on voice and poetry is meant to be read aloud.
Text Rendering/Most Important Word and/or Phrase
After we have read the text numerous times, I will ask students to look over the phrases and words that they have highlighted. Then I ask students to choose the most important phrase or word from the text. In their journal, students will write the phase or word they have chosen and then describe what it means and why it is important to the text. For example, in the poem, "Poem for Jajuana Cole" there is a line that says: "Our world is borrowed from the eyes of our children". A student response to this might explore what this line means by discussing the relationship a parent has to a child and how as parents we often see the world differently after having children. A student might go further to say that this line is important because it demonstrates that all children are precious in the world and all parents want to protect them and make it possible for them to have a better life than they did. This activity allows students to think critically about the text, develop an interpretation and provide evidence to support their theories. It is important to ask students to provide evidence from the text and the world when working through their theories. As far as the importance of the chosen phrase or word, students must explain why they have chosen that portion of the text as opposed to another part of the text. Asking the students to go a further step and explain its importance begins to get to the theme of the poem.
Sentence Starters
When asking English Language Learners to journal I often provide sentence starters to scaffold the lesson. In this particular lesson I would write on the board: I think that this phrase/word means. . .because. . ., I feel that it is important because. . .English Language Learners need to be told that they because is important in the sentence for explanation and clarification purposes, otherwise students will just write one or two words and then stop.
I wonder why questions/possible theories
Another strategy to encourage questioning, theorizing and critical thinking skills is "I wonder why questions". Students will each create one "I wonder why" question about the text; that is, anything that they are wondering about what a character said, or did, or how they acted, anything about the author, the title or the time period that they poem was written. Students need to use the I wonder why format for this activity and not change it to I wonder if or I wonder how. I wonder why asks the students to think critically and interpret the text. After each student creates a question I will ask each student to share while I write the questions on the board or on the overhead projector. When all of the questions are charted I ask the students to choose one question that they want to answer. Students will theorize a possible answer for the question of their choice in their journals. While theorizing students must provide evidence and support for their ideas by looking back into the text and demonstrating where they see that answer addressed in the text and connecting their ideas to the world around them. Students might say in text I see that in line. . .the idea of. . .is discussed or In the world people generally. . .because.
Memoir with Sentence Strips
For the memoir unit, I will model an excerpt of a memoir to the class. For English Language Learners I will read the excerpt aloud and after ask student to write down what happened. This strategy is called oral-written retell. Students will write three to five sentences about what they remembered happening in the text. From the student responses, I will give each student a sentence strip and ask them to write one on their sentences down on the sentence strip. After each student has a sentence strip I will designate three areas of the room as beginning, middle and end. Students will read their sentence strips aloud and decide where the sentences go as far as the beginning, middle and end of the text. After everyone is in agreement we will post the sentence strips on the board in correct sequence. Each student will now have a paragraph made up of all their classmates sentences. This paragraph will act as a summary of the text. Next, students will reread the summary and generate a reaction to the text. I will provide sentence starters like: This reminds me of. . ., I wonder why. . ., I like this part because. . .This part was confusing because. . .etc.
The memoir differs from a personal diary or journal because it is meant to be shared with an audience outside itself. The memoir is different from a diary because unlike the diary which is more private and confessional outlet to work through thoughts and reflections internally the memoir is recognized as being more public. An activity to get students thinking in the direction of a memoir instead of a diary or autobiography would be to describe an event with images. Students will use imagery to create the scene with colors, shapes, tastes, scents, etc that elicit the five senses. An example of an event might be the first day of school. What are all things that you remember about that day? Describe the scene. Did you walk? If so, what did you see, hear, touch along the way? Did you take the bus? What sounds did you hear, what did the bus look like? Discussing the senses of an event allows the writer to recapture the moment and ultimately reclaim the feelings and emotion of the time. Were you reluctant, anxious, nervous, excited about this special day? ELL students might draw the scene and then apply the language especially for those new arrivals that do not have the adequate amount of language to participate in the activity. If they get a picture they can work from that and develop the language afterward.
To begin, I will ask students to create a web or cluster to create a visual chart of the memory they have chosen. If the computer program called Inspiration is available this would be an effective link to technology. In the web, students will write down everything they remember about that event brainstorming ideas and concentrating on sensory language. After the students have created a web they will look over the different ideas and try to explain each in detail in order to begin a working draft. When students have drafted individually, they will pair up with a partner and read their draft aloud. Their partner will make two comments and ask two questions to try get their partner to explore other areas of the memoir. When participating in the read aloud with their partner, students must remember to read aloud their draft. Often when students begin this activity they just hand over their notebook and ask their partner to read it silently. Reading aloud allows the student to catch any grammar or spelling mistakes and also make sure that he/she has really written what they meant to write. When read aloud a student might discover that they really didn't mean to say that or that though made them think of something else that they hadn't included.
Say Something
Students will also use the Kyleen Beers strategy called
Say Something
. This is a during reading strategy in which students receive five different colored cards with various prompts in categories of: Make a connection, Ask a question, Clarify something, Make a predication and Make a comment. While reading the text, students will flip to a card and say something in response to the reading by choosing one of the given prompts to begin their responses. This reading strategy can be performed orally or in writing. Say something prompts can be used with any text that the teacher requires the student to interact with and generate a response. I have used this strategy with short stories, responding to a novel or poetry.
New Haven schools are at a turning point right now in the switch between bilingual education and a sheltered content classroom. Wilbur Cross High School is the pilot school for Sheltered Content Education. Sheltered Content differs from bi-lingual education because classes are only instructed in English as opposed to bi-lingual classes that are taught in the students' native language. Students at Wilbur Cross High School
have historically been performing very low on standardized tests under the bi-lingual program. The sheltered content initiate is an effort to bridge the gap between mainstream students and ELLs. There is a great deal of controversy about bi-lingual education and what is effective for ELLs. Teachers that have a high ELL population would benefit from reading various articles on the topic (reference in appendix articles discussed in seminar) because of the high population of ELLs in my classes, I chose to incorporate content that addresses the issues of the ELL student in assimilating to American culture while struggling to preserve identity, voice and culture in their native country. I chose various texts that address issues that I believe my students can easily relate to. This is by no means the only issues that students can address but a starting point for discussion.
When you write in school, you usually don't write what you choose. When you write on your own you can look inside yourself and not be "wrong". The initiative in this unit is to allow students to choose what they write about in order to produce more authentic writing and therefore not feel like what they write is bad or wrong. So often, teachers place a label on writing that stifles the creativity of the student. An effective for students is to have them practice writing in various mediums, that is, journaling, memoirs, and poetry and then self reflect on the experience and the process and have the students evaluate their strengths and weaknesses as opposed to the teacher using red ink to "bleed" all over the page and place a letter grade that resonates with the student and deters them from experimenting and taking risks with the writing process in the future. Guidelines and suggestions for writing to be applied to journaling, memoirs and poetry: students need to have the free flow of their ideas without having to worry about errors, spelling and grammar that is so often emphasized in school. In order for students to produce more authentic writing they should follow a few guidelines adapted from Nancie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones: 1. A certain time period should be allotted for writing, whether it is 10 or 20 minutes. In that time the student must write consistently. The pen should never leave the students hand. Even if the student runs out of things to write he should write, "I don't know what to say". 2. Students should cross out, erase or white out their words. Editing their writing interrupts the process. 3. Say whatever comes to mind even if it sounds irrational or something that you normally wouldn't share with someone else. Be bold and take risks. Taking risks in writing is so important for my students as they begin to develop as writers. Many students are reluctant because they think that they don't have anything worthy to say or that their voice doesn't matter. Others might think that their thoughts might be judged and they try to avoid ridicule from their peers. "But it takes courage to share one's life with another, for we live in a world where every sentence penned can be criticized or praised. But it is a risk worth taking, for a greater vision remains: that through our words, be they fiction of fact, we might touch another soul as we share our stories and song." (Waldmen) I often tell students to write like they are having a conversation with someone. Write like they talk and then they don't have to feel like they need to sound a certain way or be someone else when they're "talking" on paper. "Don't be abstract. Write the real stuff." (Goldberg 21).