Wednesday's Wonder

CLOSE READING

Throughout the summer I usually spend my mornings planning for the coming year.  I try to find new methods that may help my middle schoolers become better readers, writers, listeners
and speakers of English.

Some ideas I find are not specifically geared towards ELL's, yet I "wonder" . . .
Could I adapt them to my population of kids . . . ?
Hence, "Wednesday's Wonder".

One gold mine of ideas is the Teaching Channel.
Not only do they provide new and current research-based strategies, they demonstrate how they work in real time. Truly inspiring.

One particular video that has captured my attention is:  Author's Choice ~ Collaborating in Close Reading.  Close Reading is a tough one.  Middle schoolers have so much going on, it's a challenge to get them to read for fun, no less to read for learning.  This is why I'm always in the market to find methods that are tried and true.  The strategies Mr. Olio implements, even at a 12th grade AP English level, are certainly adaptable to even my population.

A few of the strategies that spoke to me from this lesson are the following:

Close Reaading Strategies:

~ Interrupted Text
~ Collaboration
~ Paraphrasing

Collaboration Strategies:
~ Probing questions
~ Eye contact
~ Notetaking
~ Pressing for more

Writing Strategy:
~ Q.P.A. ~ Quick Passage Analysis

I look forward to implementing the Interrupted Text strategy.  We use a similar strategy called "chunking", however with the Interrupted Text, the chunk of text is separated even further, by sentence, on a separate sheet of paper, providing a larger space for note taking. I think it also provides a visual separation of sentences which may help students connect ideas.

During the fourth nine weeks of this past school year, I attempted to use the Q.P.A.  Although I received some interesting responses, I think I could have scaffolded a little more to receive more original ideas.  The collaboration piece is vital. With such a wide diversity of L2 reading and speaking abilities, it can also be a challenge.  Starting at the beginning of the year at a basic level and slowly building up with more difficult text would probably yield the results I was looking for.

As Mr. Olio demonstrates, before actually producing a Q.P.A., students need other skills, such as, the art of collaboration, practice with paraphrasing, knowledge of literary devices, synthesizing and drawing conclusions, to name a few.  Even at a 12th grade AP English level, the teacher doesn't just "expect" the students to already "know" what they should do.
He takes a few moments before unleashing them to review close reading elements and collaboration skills.
The expectations are clear.

Below is a Note-Taking Sheet I created to go along with the Q.P.A. strategy,
similar to the Cornell Notes format.

Page 1

 Page 2

If you'd like a copy click here.

To culminate, Mr. Olio has his students type and upload their Q.P.A.'s online.  As a homework assignment, students are asked to add a postive comment to some of the responses.  Without a class set of laptops, students can either type and upload for homework or in class through small groups with desktops. Proper online etiquette would be another skill to hit at the middle school level for this activity.

If you haven't used this strategy before, and you wonder if perhaps it might be a great tool to use for your kids, why don't we give it a try together.
I'd be interested to know how it works out.
If you have used it before,
I'd love some feedback, as well.

This is week 2 of my Summer 2015.
So far, I've been home healing a pulled muscle.
Although it has not been loads of fun, I have been getting some much needed rest.

Ciao for now!