It’s a new year and a new opportunity to try… well, something new! Try literature circles in your ELA classes and a reading and writing “think chart.” Also, January 16th is Martin Luther King Jr. Day — ground your students in history and share a wonderful close reading unit while you’re at it. Half of these resources are free, and they’re all great!
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“This resource puts everything in one place for you to implement an effective and enjoyable literature circle experience. Literature circles aim to increase the reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills of all students by using a framework that utilizes cooperative engagement and fosters learner awareness — or meta-cognition (thinking about one’s thinking); additionally, the process and products of literature circles are flexible to meet the educational needs of both teachers and students.” |
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“Meta-cognition means ‘thinking about one’s thinking,’ and this think chart provides a useful way to encourage students to increase their level of meta-cognition by giving them opportunities to make connections, make predictions, visualize, identify questions or confusions they have about what they are reading, note new or interesting vocabulary, write down thoughts about theme, and record personal reactions to the text. This resource can be used in an ELA class, a reading room, or a content-based classroom.” It’s Free! |
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“Engaging close reading activities designed to guide students through a detailed analysis of Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. A variety of exercises help students analyze the rhetorical situation, diction, syntax, figurative language, connotation/denotation, and rhetorical appeals found within this historic piece of rhetoric.” |
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“Simple and easy to follow resource, designed to help students structure body paragraphs and develop deeper analysis within their commentary. Detailed model paragraphs are provided as examples for a variety of genres of writing.” It’s Free! |
