Making Their Marks
Posted by Vincent O'Hara“Never write in the book!” Traditionally, classrooms held the belief that books are to be read, not to be vandalized by the pen. Not in our class. Throughout the fall, our sixth graders have been encouraged to do the opposite. To build stronger comprehension skills, students have been implementing close reading strategies, specifically annotation. They underline, star, circle, paraphrase and react to significant events in the plot. By adding insights and connections on sticky notes or in the margins of the text, the books become individualized; what were 19 identical copies of Heads or Tails by Jack Gantos gradually became each student’s first edition featuring their perspectives. We have now moved on to our second novel, The Green Book by Jill Patton Walsh, and our sixth graders are annotating independently, extracting more meaning from each sentence, each paragraph, and each page, all while making it their own.
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