Wednesday's Wonder: "Keep It or Junk It" / "Jump In and Read"

My husband and I had the privilege of traveling to Barranquilla, Colombia this summer.  I've been to Central America and to Mexico, but this was my first time in South America.  We have many students in our ESOL program from South America, so this trip was especially meaningful.

Take a peek at my picture travel journal.

Now to Wednesday's Wonder ~

 I find new learning strategies and wonder 

how I could adapt them to my ESOL kids.  

My first wonder this summer was a "close reading" strategy modeled by Mr. Olio, 12th grade AP Teacher, on the Teaching Channel 

"Quick Passage Analysis".  

(Click to view or download my version.)

Today's wonder is another reading strategy, this time modeled by 5th grade teacher Ms. Brouhard, 

"Keep It or Junk It".

"Keep It or Junk It" requires students to distinguish which words are essential to the central idea of a passage and which ones aren't.  Students collaborate in their groups, then as a class sharing which words to keep and which to junk.  

I could see how this strategy would take some training, especially for reluctant readers. 

My struggle with collaborative grouping is the wide range of speaking abilities I might have in one class.  My schedule is organized by grade level, not ELDC levels, which makes collaborative grouping a real challenge for beginners.   

I think I would introduce this strategy in small groups first, then work my way to collaborative groups.

Perhaps a follow-up activity could be a one paragraph summary of the main points of the text using many, if not all, of the words kept. 

"Jump In and Read"

Rules: 

~ Student jumps in to read four sentences.

~ If a student jumps in late, he or she stops to allow the one who began to go first.

~ If a student has already read, he or she yields to someone who has not read.

Clearly the students in the video are well trained.  

I wonder how Ms. Brouhard would motivate a student who would never attempt to jump in and 

read or correct a student who clearly wants to keep jumping in without yielding.  

With my ELL's,  I might introduce this strategy with a shorter passage, reading 1 to 2 sentences at a time.  One sentence in English may be less intimidating for a beginning ELL than 4 sentences.  We can build it up as students become more confidence.  

Through "Jump In and Read", Ms. Brouhard is able to assess which words most students are struggling with.  Rather than just telling the class the meaning of a difficult word, the teacher gives students a few moments for kids to discuss what they think the word means within the text. Then, groups share their definitions with the whole group.

I would imagine students would benefit from knowing how to find the meaning of an unknown word through clues of definition and examples. 

A quick reminder or mini-lesson would most definitely benefit my ELL's.  

Thank you for "wondering" with me today.  

If you've used any of these, I'd love feedback on how it worked for you.  Or, if you have a reading strategy you think my ELL's would benefit from, 

feel free to share.