Monday, 14 January 2013
Critical Literacy
7:09 pm
Analyzing a variety of texts over a period of time is one of my favourite things to do with my Grade 4/5 students. I specifically select texts that deal with "meaty" issues because I want discussions that are rich, meaningful and relevant to their lives.
Recently, I read the picture book, My Secret Bully by Trudy Ludwig. This is an excellent story dealing with the complex nature of bullying. As I read this story, I was able to pause and share my thinking aloud with students. Students also shared their thoughts, questions and surprises. Sharing our thinking as a whole group allows students to hear multiple viewpoints. They begin to develop a "language of discussion" such as "I agree with", "I am piggybacking on that idea" or "At first I thought, but now I am thinking". These types of experiences will serve them well when they are talking about books in small group book clubs or literature circles.
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One group charting their thinking. |
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Another group selecting passages. |
Next, I had students work in small groups analyzing the same text. I typed up the story on the computer and students worked together to select passages that really tugged at their hearts. I instructed them to create a t-chart on a large piece of paper with "Text" on one side and "Reaction" on the other. They cut out these passages and then wrote down all of their thinking beside each passage.
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An example of the thinking from one group. |
Students were able to write more critically about what they had read because of the rich discussion that already occurred as a whole class and because of the support of others in their small groups.
We gathered at the carpet again as a whole group so that each small group could present their thinking.
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