Third Grade Thursday, October 24, 2013
FOLLOWING CHARACTERS INTO MEANING Building Theories, Gathering Evidence From Inference to Interpretation
Lesson 14 Session XIV: Synthesizing Insights into Ideas About Books
In this session, you will teach students that readers take time to organize the ideas we have as we read by pausing to search for patterns in our thinking.
You’ve already taught readers that they: need to produce words that describe a character using the actions of the character (what the character says and does) to infer traits. need to be aware that characters could have acted differently and that actions are choices and the choices are telling. can get to know a character by noticing how others view the character and that characters are complex.
The next step is to help students to progress from growing insights about particular characters toward developing interpretations of their books as a whole. Students will explore, “What is this book really about?”
In this session you will begin the process of scaffolding children to read more interpretively. You’ll help them to find ways to link one idea to another. You are teaching analytic thought by having students sort, combine, write, and think.
GETTING READY Be sure at least half your students have a dozen or so Post-its in their current independent book and that those Post-its capture ideas (not just predictions) about the characters. Spotlight one child whose book is full of thoughtful Post-its and choose four Post-its that you will rewrite onto larger Post-it notes, visible for the class to see during the teaching demonstration. Be sure two of the Post-its can go together and the other two don’t quite fit with the group. Prepare a chart titled “Ways to Get Our Partner to Say More.” Make copies of a sheet of Post-its about a character from a read-aloud your children know well. We suggest Willy in Stone Fox. (See the
1 Third Grade Thursday, October 24, 2013
Resources for Teaching Reading CD-ROM.) Students will use this with partners during the active involvement. Bring big pieces of construction paper for the link. Students need to bring their current independent reading book and pencil to the meeting area. Display the “Prompts to Grow Your Ideas” chart from Session X. As you continue to read aloud The Tiger Rising, you may want to steer students to think about who does and does not have power (and how do you know), the various ways in which characters and people are stuck or trapped (both literally and figuratively), how the connections between characters are affecting their growth and change, and how characters are and are not voicing truths about themselves.
CONNECTION Celebrate with the class by spotlighting one child’s book, brimming with Post-it notes, including some that show the child reading for precise language. “Readers, before we do anything else, please thumb through your book, and write on the Post-it note the page it is on. Do that quickly before we start.” After a minute, hold up the student’s book you selected that is full of Post-it notes. “Look at this book! It looks like a box of Post-it notes exploded all over it. Of course we know that a box of Post-it notes didn’t explode. _____’s (name of student) mind exploded!” Read aloud the four Post-it notes you selected before the session to highlight. “Wow! All these great thoughts. So readers, here is my question. What is ____ (student’s name) to make of all his Post-it notes?”
Liken the child’s book of Post-it notes to your own jumble of disorganized, valuable stuff-in a drawer or basket- and suggest that both you and the child are due for some organization. “____’s book reminds me of this drawer I have in my kitchen. It’s full of stuff. When I open it up, it’s hard to see what’s in there, so last weekend I organized it. I found scissors, rolls of tape, glue sticks galore, tons of markers. I put them all in a plastic tub and labeled it ‘Art Supplies.” I also found mittens and a ski hat, so I put those over our coat rack where we keep our winter gear. I continued sorting and
2 Third Grade Thursday, October 24, 2013
categorizing my stuff, and when I was done I couldn’t believe the good stuff I found that I’d forgotten was there!” “Readers, I tell you this because I bet ____(student’s name) doesn’t remember what’s on half of his Post-it notes. There are probably really good theories among these Post-it notes - ideas he has forgotten about. It’s really smart to take a tour of your thinking, of your Post-it notes, and to sort over your thoughts.”
Name your teaching point. Specifically, teach students that it’s helpful to pause in the midst of reading a book to organize one’s thoughts. One way to do this is to build piles of related thoughts or Post-it notes. “So, today I want to teach you that when readers get about halfway through our books (or when our books are bursting with ideas), it is wise to take some time to organize our thoughts. One way to do this is to sort our Post-it notes into piles of ideas that seem to go together.”
TEACHING Call on the child whose work you spotlighted to demonstrate how to sort Post-it notes into categories that go together and then how to generate a new idea that grows from two or three. “Before a reader can sort Post-it notes into piles, we need to remove them from the book – but make sure you record on the Post –it the page it is on for reference. _____ (student’s name) has removed a few of his Post-it notes. Watch the way he sorts and categorizes them and do it the way I made piles of stuff in my kitchen drawer. Before he does this, let’s you and I read them and think how we’d categorize them.” You may have the class read aloud the Post-its to practice fluency. “______(student’s name), which of these Post-it notes seem to you to go together?” Have student show the class by putting the Post-its into groups on the easel. “So you put these together. Can you read them to us and tell us how they go together?” Follow up questions might be: “Did they give you a bigger idea about the main character? Or about the book as a whole?” Gesture toward the chart “Ways to Get Your Partner to Say More” and model how to encourage the student to say more by using some of the listed prompts.
Ways to Get Our Partner to Say More
3 Third Grade Thursday, October 24, 2013
o Gesture to get your partner to say more. o Nod or comment to show you are listening. o Ask questions. o “Say more.” o Repeat what your partner said.
“Wow! You just grew a new idea about your character!”
Name the process that the one reader just went through in a way that will allow others to replicate the same process, applying it to their own texts to their own Post-its, and to thoughts that they may not have recorded. “Readers, did you see how (student’s name): o Choose some of his Post-it notes (some of his thoughts), o Read them over, o Took several that went together and thought, ‘What are these thoughts saying or showing?’ o Grew a bigger idea (a theory) about his character. “His big idea or theory isn’t one thing the person did. It applies to more parts of the book. In fact, his big idea is practically about the whole book. Did you notice how, as ____’s partner, I got him to say more?” Point to the chart.
ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT Set readers up to reread and categorize a few Post-its you will have collected from the class’s work with the read-aloud, asking them to develop a new idea from the intersection of the ideas placed into one category. “Let’s practice doing this. You’ll want to pause in the midst of your independent reading book, once you’ve gotten at least a third or halfway into it, to do this sort of thinking. Some of you are just starting your books, so to practice, let’s go back and look at some of the Post-it notes I’ve been making as we have been reading The Tiger Rising. I’ve copied a few onto this chart. (See below) Distribute copies of the chart or Post-its to each partnership.
4 Third Grade Thursday, October 24, 2013
Rob’s dad tells him he shouldn’t cry or talk about his mom. Rob stood up for Sistine which showed he isn’t totally wimpy. Rob likes to whittle and make wooden figurines. Rob tells Sistine his mother is dead after she shares her secrets with him.
For older students, see page 108 of Following Characters into Meaning V. 2 for a list of of 8 Post-its from The Tiger Rising. You could type these up and pass out to students instead of using just four. “I want you and your partner to reread these and draw arrows if you find some that go together. Then think, ‘What are they showing about Rob?’ And if you come up with a new idea, maybe even a bigger idea, jot it on your sheet.” Move around and help students to see connections by saying, “Which Post-it notes seem to be saying similar things?” If the child responds by talking to you say, “Tell your partner about that.” This work will be more complex than it appears. See if they can find a few Post-its that seem to go together. They don’t need to sort all four of them into a specific category.
Celebrate that readers now have both big ideas and supportive examples. Ask one reader to share. Point out that this work resembles boxes-and-bullets work during essay writing. “You all came up with amazing ways to connect these thoughts – Post-it notes – and grew all sorts of new ideas. What’s cool is that you now a big idea, and some examples, or evidence, for that idea.” Have a student share. Highlight the big idea and the evidence. “So class, do you see how you have a big idea, and if you talk between the Post-it notes and the big idea, you can show how they become evidence? It’s like your boxes and bullets in an essay!” (This references Breathing Life into Essays, the third book in the Units of Study for Teaching Writing Gr. 3-5.)
LINK
5 Third Grade Thursday, October 24, 2013
Tell students that readers sort and theorize about their thoughts (their Post-its, for now) once they are well into their books. “Right now, look at how far you are in your independent reading book, and give me a thumbs up if you have read approximately half your book or more.” “Those of you who have not yet read half your book, fill in your logs and get started reading, remembering to grow really wise ideas as you read and to jot these on Post-its because we’ll be doing amazing work with those ideas.” Send those students from the meeting area. “Those who have read half your book or more, I’m going to usurp (or take away) your usual choice of what to do during reading time. Come work here on the rug with me today because the work you’ll be doing is challenging and I’d like to be here to help you with it. I’ll give you a sheet of paper for your Post-its. Reread your Post-its and locate some really interesting ones. For the work we’re doing today, use Post-its that contain ideas about your character or about the book rather than predictions.” “When you have found four or five good ones, put them on what we call your Theory Chart. (Distribute a piece of bright construction paper to each reader.) Then see if some of your ideas go together, and if they do, write some words on top of them, or around them. You may decide to add arrows, or circles, or stars – anything that captures your thinking about how the ideas go together.” (Hold up your piece of construction paper to show what a completed theory chart might look like. Example on page 110. Figure XIV-3. ) “Get started and I’ll come around and confer with you.”
You will inevitably feel like the circus man who gets plates spinning on the ends of sticks. You’ll get one reader going, then another, then another. You won’t be able to stay long enough to supervise what any one child does with your coaching, but you’ll cycle back to students often and they can also help each other.
The ideas they generate may not be all you hoped they’d be, but remember this is Day 1 of this work. What matters now is that they approximate what it means to look between Post-its, growing overarching ideas.
6 Third Grade Thursday, October 24, 2013
CONFERRING AND SMALL-GROUP WORK Help Readers Grow Ideas into Theories
Some Readers Will Need Help Going from Observing a Character to Growing Text-Based Ideas Pull your chair up next to a student needing support and ask, “Can you walk me through your thinking? Show me a few Post-its you’ve written that reveal the ideas you’re growing.” If the student has very few Post-its say, “I can tell that you are so into this book that it is hard for you to pull yourself away from reading on and on and on to get your thoughts onto paper. Is that what has been going on for you?” “It’s great to see you getting caught up in the story. That happens to me sometimes. But in this class, we are working on getting stronger as readers, and the best way for me to help you get even stronger is to help you think more deeply as you read. To do that, I do need you to put your thinking out so I can see it, and so you can see it, and so we can work on making it even wiser. If it is hard to make yourself stop to think and jot, you could put Post-its at stopping places before you even start reading, and then whenever you come upon a Post-it, you could pause and do your wisest reflecting. Would that work?” “How about you take a minute right now to go back and flag three places where you had some good ideas about a character in your book. Jot your thought on a sticky note, and remember to write the page number.” Work with other students then come back to this student and ask if he/she remembers what readers do next. Have them look to see if any of the ideas go together. Looking at Post-its that focus on the same character is helpful.
Some Readers Will Think They’re Growing Ideas When Really They’re Paraphrasing the Text You will find a number of students aren’t growing original ideas so much as just paraphrasing the text. They might notice that the main character helps another character and deduce that, “The main character is nice.” Or “The main character is a good friend.” Meanwhile another student will have had the “big” idea that the main character is mean. Or that Harry in Horrible Harry, is horrible. To you these insights will seem obvious. However, these children have actually accomplished something if she has located several excerpts
7 Third Grade Thursday, October 24, 2013
from the text that all illustrate this one generalization. This is the beginning of being able to write a literary essay. o But you’ll want to extend this work. Have students think, “Why is the character this way?” or “What clues has the author given to suggest why the character is this way?” You’ll also find some of your students name what the character did instead of growing ideas about the character. Convene a group of students doing this and say, “I called you all together because as I was reading over your shoulders, I noticed you are recording the facts of the book, jotting down what the author has said about the character’s activities which is wise, but you aren’t really growing ideas about those characters. Readers do need to notice what a character does, but we generally don’t write it down because it is already written in the story itself. Instead, we write our thoughts about whatever we’ve noticed the character doing. We remember what the character did or said (and for you all, that’s what’s on many of your Post-it notes now), and then ask, ‘What’s my idea about this?’” Use your class read aloud as a common text for this small group. Open The Tiger Rising to page 49 and say, “Listen carefully to this part because you’re going to turn and talk to your neighbor – first about what the author has said the character did. You readers are good at this! This is when Rob is talking to Sistine about his mother.” Read aloud.
She’s dead,” he told her. The words came out in short, ragged gasps.
“My mama’s dead.”
“Turn and tell the person next to you what the author has said the character did.” Now after recalling what the character did, I want you to do what thoughtful readers do, go a step further. Think about what sort of person this must be, or what ideas you have as a result of what you have seen the character doing. Now the challenge is to grow your own idea based on what that character did. The trick is to avoid just repeating exactly what is in the book. See if you can help me. I just read the part from The Tiger Rising where Rob tells Sistine his mother is dead. If I jot on a Post-it – ‘Rob told Sistine his mother is died –
8 Third Grade Thursday, October 24, 2013
would I be growing my own idea or simply restating what has been said in the book? Give me a thumbs up if that Post-it would have captured my thoughts and a thumbs down if I only wrote what was already written in the story.” “Will you help me grow an idea?” Point to the chart “Prompts to Grow Your Ideas” from Session X. Help me use one of the phrases to grow an idea about that part of The Tiger Rising.
Prompts to Grow Your Ideas . ‘This makes me realize …’ . ‘My thought about this is that …’ . ‘This shows that’
“What have you realized about Rob? Then ask yourself, ‘Why is the character this way?’”
MID-WORKSHOP TEACHING POINT Share the work a student has done to grow an idea about a character. Hold up their theory chart (large piece of construction paper) with the Post-its on it. Suggest that students look back over the book to see if their theory is really true or not. If they find a lot more evidence, put Post-its with the word ‘Evidence’ on them in places across their book. Encourage students to read on to see if the theory they developed stays true.
TEACHING SHARE Readers Enlarge Ideas by Taking into Account More Parts (and People) in the Text
Ask students to share their work of the day with a partner. “Right now, each of you find a reader who wasn’t ready to do this work today and who has, instead, been reading, and show that reader what you did, explaining the hard parts, so that he or she will be able to so the same sort of work down the road. You and that reader might look at the Post-its together to see whether there are any emerging theories starting to develop.”
9 Third Grade Thursday, October 24, 2013
Give students a tip about growing ideas by first listing some ideas about the read-aloud, then asking students if each is big or little. Then explain that often the key to a big idea is that it involves more than one character. “You are trying to grow big ideas. I’m going to say some ideas about The Tiger Rising and I want you to show to me with your arms whether the idea is a big idea (stretch your arms out) or a little one (pinch your fingers together). o Rob likes to whittle. (small) o Rob is hiding from his own feelings. (big) o Sistine is unhappy living in Lister. (small) o Sistine and Rob seem to need each other because they both feel like outsiders. (big) o Rob and Sistine want to be free like the tiger. (big) “Here’s a tip. Usually, not always, but usually, for an idea to be big, it needs to pertain to more than just one character. You might have ideas like: ‘Sistine is feisty’ or ‘Rob is lonely,’ and those are important observations, but you will have bigger ideas if you think not only about one character but also between two characters. That is one way to make sure your idea links to more than one part of your book.”
Ask students to try fitting more than one character into the ideas they are growing, to help make them big. “Think about your main character in relation to minor characters. Let’s not just think ‘Rob is lonely, let’s think about the secondary characters in The Tiger Rising. Who are they? (The Threemongers, the principal, Rob’s dad). “How might these secondary fit in with the idea that Rob is lonely?” o Mr. Phelmer (the principal) suspends him from school because of the rash, which isolates Rob. o The Threemongers bully and poke fun at Rob, making him feel like he doesn’t belong. o Rob’s dad won’t let him express his memories or sadness about his mother. Help students look for a pattern to come up with a big idea (that wherever Rob goes all of these characters are pushing Rob away). “Tonight and from now on, as you read books, try to make your ideas into big ones. And one way to do this is to not only think about
10 Third Grade Thursday, October 24, 2013
the main character but to think about the relationships between the main character and the secondary characters, and especially about the patterns when you look at those relationships.”
11