Guiding Students to Think More Deeply About Themes in Independent Reading:

Finding time to talk with students about their books in any meaningful way can be difficult. Teachers are limited by time, managing many students at once, and discovering the magical combination of words to say to a student that will get them talking about their book beyond the plot. I wanted to share a strategy I have been using this year that has really helped me tackle all three of these concerns in my own classroom.

The Power of the Almighty Sticky-Note!

You guys, I love sticky-notes. I love the colors, the different sizes, and the versatility. We use sticky-notes in class for almost everything; annotating mentor texts, peer editing, exit tickets, and conferring correspondents. Sticky-notes allow students to share what they are thinking, questions they have, and the little things they notice in a whole-group discussion.

Listen, here is the thing about conferring:

I enjoy the time I have to talk to kids about books and I wish I had the entire class period to do this. I usually will sneak in opportunities to talk to students during passing periods, during independent work, or during our reading time every day. However, these brief interactions rarely extend beyond the base-level questioning. That’s where the charm of sticky-notes comes in. I can ask students an open-ended question, like “What is a theme developing in your book?” and students write their responses on the colorful notes. Now I have a snap-shot into their cognitive process. I can quickly assess how closely they are reading, and I can assess their ability to construct higher-level reasoning through their thoughts on theme.

Getting My Students to Dig Deeper:

In this example, you will see how one of my students is picking up on the importance of a single issue and has started to question the character development and its significance to the author’s message, but she has not quite gone far enough.

 

So, I did a little research on her book to see how I could help her dive below the surface and think beyond the plot structure. I asked her to explore the importance of family and identity, which ties in with her comment about the father, and then I gave her something more to research. The author has a background in STEM and I want the student to think about the author’s intentions and influence. This intrigued her, and she spent some time learning more about her author. It helped explain the role genetics was playing in the book too.

Each response is personalized (this does not take as long as you would think) and the questions and comments I give them pushes them to write more in their notebooks.

 

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