Third Grade Monday, October 28, 2013
FOLLOWING CHARACTERS INTO MEANING
Building Theories, Gathering Evidence
From Inference to Interpretation
Lesson 15
Session XV: Seeing Texts Through the Prism of Theories
In this session, you will teach students that once readers develop theories about our characters, we read and reread with those theories in mind.
Helping children learn to synthesize ideas is especially important because as they read more and more complex books, perhaps the single most important thing that children need to learn to do is put together the pieces.
GETTING READY
· Prepare to tell a personal anecdote during the connection.
· Keep The Tiger Rising or your current read-aloud text close at hand because you will refer to it during the teaching section.
· Provide copies of an excerpt from The House On Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, or another familiar text. You will incorporate these in a demonstration of how our theories change as we read.
· In Session XVI, you will be revisiting Chapter 21 of The Tiger Rising to discuss the internal and external resources characters draw upon as they face obstacles along their journey.
CONNECTION
Name your teaching point, specifically, that readers keep our theories in mind as we read on, looking for information that will change or grow our thinking.
· “Do any of you have crossword puzzle lovers in your life? I do. My sister does them all the time, and my dad did them too. I even like to do them sometimes. And I’ve learned that to be successful at solving a crossword puzzle, it helps to think of the words that I fill into the blanks as possible answers, not final answers. In fact, I use a pencil to fill in the words so I can easily change my first answers as I continue working. My sister uses a pen but writes it very lightly so she can easily write over the faint letters. My dad, wrote his solutions as small as can be in the corners of the boxes until he was sure of them.”
· “Crossword puzzle lovers know what readers know – that it’s important to be flexible and open, to expect that as new information comes in, our initial ideas will change and grow. That’s why we call these ideas we’re putting down theories. Theories are important, grand even – like the theory of how the world was made or the theory of life on other planets. But theories are still open for questioning, for exploration. When all the information is in, all the information is at hand, then the theory becomes a fact.”
· “Yesterday, many of you wrote theories onto theory charts. I probably should have had you do them in pencil, but I love how big and bold you made them. So when you revise it will be big and bold too, and it will show that you let new information change your first ideas.”
Remind students that the class didn’t merely set out to prove their original theories about the main character in the class read-aloud. Instead, those theories have gone through several revisions.
· “You know all about theories changing as one reads. Do you remember in the beginning, when we had just started reading The Tiger Rising, Many of us were thinking, ‘Rob’s a wimp,’ because he let the Threemongers taunt him? Then, as we read on, we learned more information that made us think differently about that.”
· “Did we just read on looking for evidence of all the ways Rob’s wimpy? No way! Instead, we kept our minds open. We paid attention to the new information we found along the way. And pretty soon we had revised our first theory – ‘Rob is wimpy’ – to something like ‘Rob doesn’t stand up for himself because he keeps all his feelings closed up tight and doesn’t think about them.”
Demonstrate the way you revise your theories as you read aloud a tiny text. Read a bit, devise a theory, and then read on, finding that the upcoming text challenges your initial theory.
· “Let me show you what I mean by reading with that theory in hand, holding it loosely. I’m going to read a short excerpt from a book called The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. The narrator’s name is Esperanza. Since the text is so short, I’m going to stop and jot a theory very early on. I’ll be putting down the theory in pencil, because I know that as I read on, I’m looking for more information that will help me change my theory or grow my theory, making it even better. Be researchers and study what I do as I read and think because later I am going to ask you to list the sort of thinking work you saw me do.”
Nenny and I don’t look like sisters … not right away. Not the way you can tell with Rachel and Lucy who have the same fat popsicle lips like everybody else in their family.
· “Even though I haven’t read much, I’m going to stop here and put down a theory. It’s okay if I think it may not be right. In fact, that’s the way a theory is supposed to be. It’s just a starting place. So, from the little bit we know about Esperanza so far, I think that she feels like she doesn’t quite belong in her family. Like, she doesn’t fit with her sister, her family, and all. She’s looking around at her friend’s family, where they seem to go together, but her doesn’t work that way.”
· “Now that I have a ‘penciled-in’ theory, I’m going to keep reading on with that theory in mind. Listen for how I find more information that might change what I’m thinking or make it bigger.”
Not the way you can tell with Rachel and Lucy who have the same fat popsicle lips like everybody else in their family. But me and Nenny, we are more alike than you would know. Our laughter for example. Not the shy ice cream bells’ giggle of Rachel and Lucy’s family, but all of a sudden and surprised like a pile of dishes breaking. And other things I can’t explain.
· “What I just read makes me change what I was thinking before. Now, I think that Esperanza feels connected to her sister Nenny in ways that go way beyond just how they look; I think she’s talking about bonds that are deeper and more important than looks. My new theory is this: Esperanza feels as if deep down, she and her sister are very much alike.”
For older students, fourth or fifth grade you could take this theory further
· “Then I thought, ‘But what about that first thought I had about her not belonging to her family?’ And I realized that my theory could change again to be “Esperanza feels that although she and her sister appear to others to be different, the truth is that deep down, they are very much alike.’”
ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT
Give students time to discuss with partners their observations of your theory-building work. Then join them in naming what you did, reiterating your teaching point.
· “Researchers, what work did you notice me doing as I read the Cisneros passage? Turn to your partner and list the steps I went through to grow and revise my theory just now.”
· Steps:
o Make a theory that fits the first part of the text.
o Read on and the theory doesn’t fir anymore.
o Come up with a new theory.
o Make sure original idea fits in with the new theory.
Help students practice reading with a theory held loosely in hand. Progress further in the text you’ve just read aloud, inviting them to listen with your theory in hand, revising that theory and then naming what they’ve done in ways that will transfer.
· “Now, I’m going to read the last bit of this short text, and I want you to take on my theory: ‘Esperanza feels that although she and her sister appear to others to be different, the truth is that deep down, they are very much alike.’ Let’s keep this theory close as we read on. Remember to be open to new thinking that might change or fit together with our theory.”
One day we were passing a house that looked, in my mind, like houses I had seen in Mexico. I don’t know why. There was nothing about the house that looked exactly like the houses that I remembered. I’m not even sure why I thought it, but it seemed to feel right.
Look at that house, I said, it looks like Mexico.
Rachel and Lucy look at me like I’m crazy, but before they can let out a laugh, Nenny says: Yes, that’s Mexico all right. That’s what I was thinking exactly.
· “Readers, in your mind, use this new information to adjust the theory we started out with, that Esperanza feels that although she and her sister appear to others to be different, the truth is that deep down, they are very much alike. Ask yourself, ‘Did I come to new information that changes the original theory? That supports the original theory? Does the new information make the original idea bigger?’
I’ll give you a few moments to jot down a few words or phrases to hold whatever you are thinking.”
· After a moment say, “Take a moment to talk to your partner. Have the partner who tends not to share quite as much do the talking. Remember that it takes two people thinking and participating to get the most out of your partnership.”
LINK
Remind readers to read, growing ideas, and then to read on, expecting their original ideas to be revised.
· “Whenever you are reading, this is how growing an interesting, unique theory goes: You pause to reread your notes and to review your thoughts, and you come up with a theory that pertains to many parts of the text. Then you hold this theory as you reread, perhaps, and certainly as you continue in your book. Your first or initial theory is most likely not your final one, but it gives you a starting place. As you read on, you’re expecting that the information you encounter and the new ideas you develop will help you to grow an even better theory. Usually you end up adding more words to your theory. You may change your original thought so it pertains to more parts of the text (including secondary characters) or so it is more true. Then again you read on, holding your newly revised theory in hand. I’m hoping you can do that work as you read today. Off you go.”
CONFERRING AND SMALL-GROUP WORK
Help Readers Grow Ideas
You should worry if your conferring and small-group work adheres only to the content of any one day’s minilessons. Instead, always plan to use your interactions with kids to keep the work you have taught earlier alive.
Some Children Will Develop Localized Comments About the Text Rather than More Overarching Ideas
· Call together students who are making passing comments about the text rather than finding an overarching idea that pertains to several sections of the text. “It is important to reread your own thinking and check to see if you are repeating yourself. If you want to push yourself toward new thinking there are prompts such as:
o “This is important because…”
o “What I am trying to say …”
Some Students Will Need Support to Find the Significance in Their Post-Its to Develop Theories
· To help readers move from supplying a one-word or one-phrase label for a group of Post-its toward using those Post-its as seed ideas for growing theories, we can teach readers to reread their Post-its, searching for and making significance. We can teach them to ask themselves, “Why is it like this?” or “What makes it this way?”
Some Students Will Benefit from Learning to Use Writing (Specifically Thought Prompts) As a Tool for Revising Their Theories
· Gather a small group and tell them that they are now reading wonderful books, and with books like those, they’ll want to develop more complex theories. Tell them that one way readers make theories about books more complex is by using writing to develop ideas.
· Have students:
o Turn to a new page in their reader’s notebook and to write one of their theories at the top (keeping their other theories in mind).
o Tell students that you will call out prompts and that after each phrase you want them to record what you said and to use it to keep writing and thinking. With each new phrase they need to stop whatever they were writing, skip a line, and quickly record the new phrase. Tell them they will be writing fast and furious, and you won’t stop for them to catch up. “Keep your pen moving and your mind moving until I call out something else.”
§ “To add on …”
§ “This is makes me realize …”
§ “This may fit with my other theory because …”
§ “The bigger idea I am having now is …”
· Gather the group back together to share their new theories. Then restate the techniques used reminding them to use the chart of prompts.
MID-WORKSHOP TEACHING POINT
Readers Expect a Flimsy Theory Will Grow
· “Don’t worry if your first idea seems weak or not very good. A theory is a starting place. It will become more substantial. One way to make your first theory better is to ask questions like: ‘Does this word really describe the character’s behavior?’ Or ‘Why is the character acting this way?’”
TEACHING SHARE
Readers Share Thinking About Books to Grow Ideas
Ask students to share their work of the day with their partner.
· “Get with your partner and look over your Post-its and, if you have them, at your theory charts. As you look at your theories or your Post-its, decide if they are big or small ideas and talk with your partner about how you might grow your ideas into even bigger or more complex or more true ideas. If you finish that work, you can continue reading, seeing if your book teaches you more about your big ideas.”