This study revolves on the perceptions of literature students in studying literature. The conduct of this study is initiated by the Teaching Literature Class of 2010 of Mariano Marcos State University-College of Teacher Education under Mr. Ronald Candy S. Lasaten.

Strategies in Learning Literature

ACADEMIC CONTROVERSIES
Creating intellectual conflict (controversy) to improve academic learning is one of the most powerful and important instructional tools (Johnson & Johnson, 1995©). most powerful and important instructional tools (Johnson & Johnson, 1995c). Academic controversies require a cooperative context and are actually an advanced form of cooperative learning. The basic format for structuring academic controversies is as follows.
1. Choose a topic that has content manageable by the students and on which at least two well-documented positions (pro and con) can be prepared. Organize the instructional materials into pro and con packets. Students need to know what their position is and where to find relevant information so they can build the rationale underlying the pro or con position on the issue.
2. Assign students to groups of four. Divide each group into two pairs. Assign pro and con positions to the pairs. A good reader or researcher should be in each pair.
3. Assign each pair the tasks of (a) learning its position and the supporting arguments and information, (b) researching all information relevant to its position (giving the opposing pair any information found supporting the opposing position), (c) preparing a series of persuasive arguments to support its position, and (d) preparing a persuasive presentation to be given to the opposing pair. Give students the following instructions:

"Plan with your partner how to advocate your position effectively. Read the materials supporting your position. Find more information in the library reference books to support your position. Plan a persuasive presentation. Make sure you and your partner master the information supporting your assigned position and present it in a persuasive and complete way so that the other group members will comprehend and learn the information."
4. Highlight the cooperative goals of reaching a consensus on the issue, mastering all the information relevant to both sides of the issue (measure by a test taken individually), and writing a quality group report on which all members will be evaluated. Note that each group member will receive five bonus points if all members score 90 percent or better on the test covering both sides of the issue.
5. Having each pair present its position to the other. Presentations should involve more than one media and persuasively advocate the "best case" for the position. There is no arguing during this time. Students should listen carefully to the opposing position and take notes. You tell students:
“As a pair, present your position forcefully and persuasively. Listen carefully and learn the opposing position. Take notes, and clarify anything you do not understand."
6. Having students openly discuss the issue by freely exchanging their information and ideas. For higher-level reasoning and critical thinking to occur, it is necessary to probe and push each other's conclusions. Students ask for data to support each other's statements, clarify rationales, and show why their position is a rational one. Students evaluate critically the opposing position and its rationale, defend their own positions, and compare the strengths and weaknesses of the two positions. Students refute the claims being made by the opposing pair, and rebut the attacks on their own position. Students are to follow the specific rules for constructive controversy. Students should also take careful notes on and thoroughly learn the opposing position. Sometimes a "time-out" period needs to be provided so that pairs can caucus and prepare new arguments. Instructors encourage more spirited arguing, take sides when a pair is in trouble, play devil's advocate, ask one group to observe another group engaging in a spirited argument, and generally stir up the discussions.

"Argue forcefully and persuasively for your position, presenting as many facts as you can to support your point of view. Listen critically to the opposing pair's position, asking them for the facts that support their viewpoint, and then present counter-arguments. Remember this is a complex issue, and you need to know both sides to write a good report."
7. Have the pairs reverse perspectives and positions by presenting the opposing position as sincerely and forcefully as they can. It helps to have the pairs change chairs. They can use their own notes, but may not see the materials developed by the opposing pair. Students' instructions are:

"Working as a pair, present the opposing pair's position as if you were they. Be as sincere and forceful as you can. Add any new facts you know. Elaborate their position by relating it to other information you hate previously learned."
8. Have the group members drop their advocacy and reach a decision by consensus. Then they:
a. Write a group report that includes their joint position and the supporting evidence and rationale. Often the resulting position is a third perspective or synthesis that is more rational than the two assigned. All group members sign the report indicating that they agree with it, can explain its content, and consider it ready to be evaluated.
b. Take a test on both positions individually. If all group members score above the preset criteria of excellence (90 percent), each receives five bonus points.

(David and Roger Johnson)
Structure
1. Assign students to groups of four. Have them (a) read the assignment*, and then (b) pair off to take opposing sides of an issue. For example,
o Need for more/less regulation in management of hazardous waste
o Pro/con civil disobedience (Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience"; M.L.K.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail")
o Need for more/less regulation of television for young people
2. Each pair develops a plan for persuading the opposing pair of their position. Opposing pair listens actively and takes notes.
3. Each pair advocates for their position to the opposing pair.
4. Follow with general discussion (no criticism of people, just ideas; assess evidence and logic supporting each idea).
5. Each group of four must reach consensus.
o Identify and synthesize best information from both sides.
6. Write a report expressing this consensus.
See "Opposing Viewpoints" series in AHS library; weekly "Pro and Con" column in U.S. News and World Report
Students who participate in "Academic Controversy":
• Recall more correct information
• Can more easily transfer learning to new situations
• Use more complex and higher order reasoning strategies in recalling and transferring information learned
• Have more creative insights into the issues discussed
• Produce more synthesis that combine both perspectives
Debate or debating is a formal method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion. Though logical consistency, factual accuracy and some degree of emotional appeal to the audience are important elements of the art of persuasion, in debating, one side often prevails over the other side by presenting a superior "context" and/or framework of the issue, which is far more subtle and strategic.
Types of DEBATE
School Debate team
These debates are located at different schools of the teams you compeite against. The purpose of this kind of debate is just for fun but for others it may be because its something they want in their future. Having said that they debate for fun I think that when people debate for fun they would arrive at a better decision. The debate is structured.This effects the decision making process by the evidence is given in a structured manner and the team that deserves to win should win.
Political Debates
This kind of debates usually occurs at universities and other places of learning. The purpose of the debate is that the debates allow political candidates to present their views on issues and they also help voters decide who to vote for.Yes I think that this does help make the decison arrive better because it gives the voters a great oppurtunity to see who the person is.The debate is structured.Yes this does effect the decison making process by it makes it fair for both sides and allows all parties involved to get their fair share of talking in.
Court Cases Debate
These are in courtrooms.The purpose of this kind of debate is court cases happen when someone is accused of doing something wrong and is pronounced guilty or not guilty. This doesn’t necessarily help arrive at a better decison because someone could not be guilty and they declare them guily. But for the most part they are usually right so yes I guess it does. It is structured. This effects the decison making process because the court can come to a more logical decision if it is structured.
Family/Friend Debates
This can happen wherever you talk with your friends or family. The purpose of this is that you may have different opinion about something than your friend or family does so it may lead to a debate.This may not help arrive at a very good decision. This is unstructured. This can effect the decison making process by it might be very difficult to arrive at a decision at all sometimes.

Book Discussion Group
“A book discussion group is a forum where readers can come together and talk about books and the reading experience. These groups can be organized in a variety of ways. There are adult groups, student-led groups, mother-daughter groups, father-son groups, and parent-child groups, to name just a few. At my library we have a parent-child book discussion group, but the guidelines found in this article can apply to any group with children as participants.”
A book discussion club is a group of people who meet to discuss a book or books that they have read and express their opinions, likes, dislikes, etc. It is more often called simply a book club, a term that is also used to describe a book sales club, which can cause confusion. Other frequently used terms to describe a book discussion club include reading group, book group, and book discussion group. Book discussion clubs may meet in private homes, libraries, bookstores, online forums, pubs, and in cafes or restaurants over meals or drinks.

Book Raps
A Book Rap is a guided discussion where individuals or groups can respond to a thought-provoking question or comment about a book they have all read. Raps are suggested and coordinated by classroom teachers. Schedules are advertised and teachers are invited to participate.
oz-Teachers will set up closed email lists or forum spaces for your groups for the duration of your "rap." We will archive your discussion for future use by the participants and others.
A traditional rap runs over 4 weeks with a question or comment posed each week. Alternatives to this is where the author is invited to discuss their work or respond to questions or where older students or others take on the alter ego of one of the book's characters and engages in a discussion in this way.
Book Raps are suitable for children and adults of all ages. A 'book' rap could also be about a film, a television show, a piece of music, a game or other shared experience. You can 'rap' with others in your school, in your state or across the world.
Bookshare is an online accessible digital library for print disabled readers.
choral speaking
n.
Recitation of poetry or prose by a chorus.
Choral Speaking
What is Choral Speaking?
When groups of students recite passages they've committed to memory, they are involved in choral speaking. (In choral reading and reader's theatre, students are not required to memorize the text, as the names imply). Students interpret text (poems, stories and other sources) by exploring the elements of choral speaking and movement. Together, they experiment with language and explore their voices in a "safe" environment. Since choral speaking is such a highly flexible strategy, individual student needs can easily be addressed within the context of whole group activities. For example, students who are less comfortable "performing" can be placed in large or small groups; others, more excited by the opportunity to experiment, can be given greater challenges such as solo lines.
How do I get started? Find a piece your students are interested in exploring. Select
several poems, stories or prepared pieces to begin with and then explore them all with the
group. Choose your favorite! Beginners find Shel Silverstein's poems wonderful starting
points!
Take time to discuss the meaning of the piece you've collectively selected
(interpretation), after reading through it several times. You need to do this in order to
know what you hope to eventually 'say"!
Practice speaking the piece, focusing on one element of choral speaking at a time.
Through this work, you will discover a great deal about the poem, its meaning, not to
mention the group itself.
What are the elements of choral speaking'? They are, in random order:
Number of voices: Choral speaking utilizes every voice in the group. Students can be
given solo lines, divided into sections or small groups, or the entire group can speak a
line simultaneously. This ability allows you to increase or decrease the sound or volume
as well as express the meaning of the text. "Playing" with the number of voices in this
way is a large part of the learning process
.
Pitch: Pitch refers to the "highness" or "lowness" of a sound, or more technically to the
variations of the voice on a musical scale. This is often referred to as inflection as well.
Tempo: Tempo refers to speed. The rate at which a piece is recited has an impact on both
the reader(s) and the listener(s). The tempo, ideally, should relate to the overall rhythm of
the piece.Dynamics: Dynamics refers to volume or loudness. Altering this element allows
for emphasis (either sentence, phrase, or word). This emphasis conveys mood, emotion
and meaning to the listener.
Tone: Tone refers to the quality of sound unique to each voice. Our ears perceive voices
as "light', "medium", or "heavy/dark'. Depending on the piece, you will combine students who have similar tones, grouping them together for effect, or you will combine a variety
of tones for special effects.
Movement: Choral speaking involves movement! Experiment with gesture, large physical
actions, or even choreography!
Rhythm: Rhythm reflects patterns of sound. Sounds can be short, medium or long, and
they can be arranged in a variety of forms. The rhythms in a piece are often more easily
identified as phrases or combinations of rhythms. Rhythm often involves repetition and
through this repetition a feeling of movement is evoked.
These are the essential elements. If you choose to share your work with other classes in
the school, you may wish to consider staging: this involves organizing the students either
on stage or risers or mime boxes for the benefit of the audience. Practical concerns
involve sight-lines (i.e. can the students be seen by the audience) as well as other
logistical considerations such as: entrances; exits; and movement.
Costumes too can be worn if desired! Use simple "suggestions' of character such as hats,
scarves, canes, etc., or dress in full character attire.
Are there different types of Choral Sneaking?
Yes! Use one or all of these common forms below either individually or combine a few
within a piece (length permitting) to produce the effect you and your students collectively
desire! The key is to experiment until you have achieved your intention for the piece.
Unison: The entire groups reads the material together. You may add sound effects if
desired. Antiphon: The class is divided into two or more groups, each responsible for a
different portion of the piece you've chosen. Refrain: A "narrator" reads the majority of
the text; the refrain or "chorus" is spoken by the rest of the group. Solo: Individual
students are assigned lines within the piece.
Cumulative: Here individual voices or groups of voices are either added or subtracted,
depending on the desired effect.
Teacher Tips: Be sure students have had ample opportunity to become familiar with the
text before putting it "on its feet". Focus on one or two elements at a time when
rehearsing the piece, making sure to discuss the effect each had for both the listener(s)
and speaker(s). As students gain experience, allow them to suggest possible changes such
as the number of voices designated to individual lines or any other changes they feel
would enhance the piece. Have them work in groups to prepare new pieces on their own,
using he elements of choral speaking they have learned thus far. Think of the group as
you would a choir of singers. They too are broken into sections, have solos, etc. The key
principle is unity. When groups of voices speak a line together they must remain unified
at all times. This means paying careful attention to articulation and inflection.
The benefits of choral speaking are many and the process of preparing pieces is enjoyable
for students (and teachers!). In addition to meeting overall and specific expectations for
drama and dance, you will find growth in the following areas:
x diction/enunciation cooperative group skills/inter-personal skills vocabulary knowledge
of literature
What is a cloze procedure?

Definition
A cloze procedure is a "fill-in-the-blanks" activity where the learner uses clues from the context to supply words that have been deliberately removed from the text.
A cloze procedure is a test of reading comprehension. Responses reveal both text comprehension and language mastery levels.
Fill in the blanks activities

Cloze is a kind of examination practice usually used on students who take up English as a second language. The testing technique comprising of comprehension tests and "fill in the blanks" in a sentence, is called as a cloze. In a cloze, a student may be asked to read a passage and then he is asked to fill in the key words which are missing or deleted from the same passage when it is given to him in the form of a test.

The cloze technique is quite a good exercise in not only enhancing the vocabulary but also the memory of the student. As a test for reading skill, the word sneaked its way into English literature sometime before the year 1874. The cloze truly demonstrates the reading, writing and comprehension of the student in understanding the text to the best of his ability

What is Conferencing?
Real life conferencing involves coordinating a small or large number of people together in the same place at the same time in order to discuss issues real time. This can be an extremely useful business tool when introducing new products, staff members, ideas, or for working through issues, problems, customer requirements or other mission critical issues.
Consensus decision-making is a group decision making process that not only seeks the agreement of most participants, but also the resolution or mitigation of minority objections. Consensus is defined by Merriam-Webster as, firstly - general agreement and, secondly - group solidarity of belief or sentiment. It has its origin in a Latin word meaning literally to feel together.[1]It is used to describe both general agreement and the process of getting to such agreement. Consensus decision-making is thus concerned primarily with that process.
Debate or debating is a formal method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion. Though logical consistency, factual accuracy and some degree of emotional appeal to the audience are important elements of the art of persuasion, in debating, one side often prevails over the other side by presenting a superior "context" and/or framework of the issue, which is far more subtle and strategic.
What is Guided Reading?
Guided reading is a strategy that helps students become good readers. The teacher provides support for small groups of readers as they learn to use various reading strategies (context clues, letter and sound relationships, word structure, and so forth). Although guided reading has been traditionally associated with primary grades it can be modified and used successfully in all grade levels. For example, older students may need to learn new strategies to understand how to read an information book in a way that is going to give them access to the information they are seeking.
"In primary grades children are learning to read
and in upper grades they are reading to learn." Anonymous
What is its purpose?
When the proper books are selected, students are able to read with approximately 90% accuracy. This enables the students to enjoy the story because there is not an overwhelming amount of "road blocks" that interfere with comprehension. Students focus on the meaning of the story and application of various reading strategies to problem solve when they do hit a road block in their knowledge or reading ability. By providing small groups of students the opportunity to learn various reading strategies with guidance from the teacher, they will possess the skills and knowledge required to read increasingly more difficult texts on their own. Independent reading is the GOAL - guided reading provides the framework to ensure that students are able to apply strategies to make meaning from print.
How do I do it?
Although the approach to guided reading is going to depend somewhat on your class size and grade level, the following suggestions can be used to provide an initial framework.
1. Students should be divided into small groups (4-6 students). The younger the students the smaller the groups. (Learn more about grouping students).
2. Guided reading lessons are to be about 15-20 minutes in duration.
3. Appropriately leveled reading materials must be selected for the group and each child should have his/her own copy of the literature. Learn more about reading levels/leveled materials.
4. Pre-Reading: The teacher establishes a purpose for reading through prediction making, vocabulary introduction, or discussing ideas that will provide the readers with the background knowledge required for the text.
5. Reading: The teacher observes the students as they read the text softly or silently to themselves. The teacher provides guidance and coaching to individuals based on her/his observations by providing prompts, asking questions, and encouraging attempts at reading strategy application.
6. Post Reading: The teacher asks questions to ensure that the text has been comprehended by the readers and praises their efforts. Further, the teacher may observe gaps in strategy application and address these gaps following the reading in a mini-lesson format.
7. What do all the other students do during the guided reading lesson? When you teach guided reading you are busy observing and instructing a small group of students. The other students in your class must be kept engage in a literacy activity while you are with your GR group. To ensure success of guided reading, be prepared to invest time upfront teaching your students the procedures you would like them to follow while you are busy with the GR groups. Once you are certain that the students can follow the procedures THEN focus on actually teaching guided reading.
o View a list of possible literacy centers you can use to engage your "other" students in while you spend your time with a GR group.
How can I adapt it?
There are many ways to adapt guided reading to meet the needs of specific learners. Leveled reading materials, personalized spelling lists, multilevel literacy centers, and opportunities for independent projects all contribute to making the program fairly adaptable.
• Tips for adapting:
o select one grade-level text and one easier than grade level to read each week so that your weaker students have the opportunity to read with greater ease & confidence
o consider alternative grouping (interest, social, ability)
o encourage rereading of selections to increase fluency each time selection is read
o use reading partners, parent volunteers, and care partners to support the struggling readers and challenge the strong readers
o encourage reading time to provide more practice time
o establish a parent volunteer reading program (study buddy)

Purpose of this activity
Joint construction involves the teacher and students working together to collaboratively construct a text. The teacher scaffolds the students through questions, thinking aloud, explanations etc, as they write the text together. It is one of the writing strategies that form the Curriculum Cycle, based on a genre approach to teaching writing. Students are best supported to engage in a joint construction of text when they have been learning about a topic and have completed some research (i.e. building field knowledge) and have been explicitly taught something about the particular genre which is the focus of the joint construction (i.e. deconstruction). It is best used with small groups, but can also be used with individuals or whole class groups.
How this helps ESL students in particular
Joint construction:
models writing conventions and behaviours
provides a context for students to learn and talk about the structures and features of different text types
supports students to understand how purpose and audience impact on language choices
scaffolds the students through the writing process
allows students to write a text that they might not be able to write independently in a supportive context
provides a model for students to use for independent writing.

Procedure
The key steps of joint construction are:
• The teacher decides on the genre to be taught and the general topic of the text.
• The teacher sets the scene for the students, explaining the type of text that is to be written, the intended audience and the topic.
• The teacher guides the students through questions, prompts, reviewing what they know about the text type and the topic.
• The teacher and student write the text together, with the students contributing ideas about what should be written and the language that should be used. The teacher and students use the metalanguage (that is a language to talk about language) which has been developed through explicit teaching about the text type and its structural and language features.
•
• The text is edited and proofread, then published.


Using joint construction with ESL students
Before jointly constructing a text with students:
• Build the students’ knowledge of the field or topic through:
o research tasks or activities which develop vocabulary (e.g. a glossary)
o activities which develop links between concepts and ideas relevant to the topic (e.g. concept map)
o activities which develop organisation of information (e.g. data chart).
• Examine examples of the text type (through deconstruction or modelling) so that the students are familiar with the structures and features of the genre which you expect them to include in the text.

Use the metalanguage (i.e. the language you have been using with the students to talk about language) as you write and edit the text, for example the stages of an information report about animals:
general classification, description, appearance, habitat etc
grammatical items such as action verbs, noun groups, adverbials of place, pronouns
organisational and cohesion features such as paragraph, topic sentence, referring words.

Expect the students to use the language too as they contribute.
Literary Sociograms
What is it?
A literary sociogram is a graphic organiser that represents the relationships among characters in a literary text.
What is its purpose?
It helps students to think more deeply about the literary texts they read or view. Johnson and Louis (1987) described the construction of sociograms as the most valuable literature teaching technique they had encountered.
How do I do it?
There are many variations, but this is a simple explanation based on that given by Johnson and Louis. In a sociogram, the central character is placed at the centre of the page and the other characters are placed around it. Arrows are used to show the direction of the relationship and a brief description of the nature of the relationship is placed alongside each arrow. (Students manipulate pieces of paper with the names of characters, until they feel they have arranged them in the best way to reflect their understanding of the text. Then the names can be attached to a piece of paper and the rest of the sociogram devised.) A number of conventions may be useful in developing sociograms:
• Place the central character/s at the centre of the diagram
• Let the physical distance between characters reflect the perceived psychological distance between characters.
• Let the size of the shape representing a character vary with (a) the importance, or (b) the power of the character.
• Show the direction of a relationship by an arrow, and its nature by a brief label.
• Represent substantiated relationships by a solid line and inferred relationships by a broken line.
• Circle active characters with a solid line. Circle significantly absent characters with a broken line.
• Place the characters who support the main character on one side of a dividing line, and antagonistic characters on the other (goodies vs baddies).
When working with simple stories, one sociogram may be enough to capture the relationships. With longer or more complex stories, a series of diagrams will help to capture the changing relationships. A chapter could be a reasonable unit to handle with a novel. Johnson and Louis suggest constructing a sociogram once the central conflict of the story has been encountered, and again shortly before the climax.
Students need demonstrations of the construction of different kinds of sociograms before they can work independently but Johnson and Louis caution against trying to create a sociogram based on the combined reflections of the whole class. It may be more effective for teachers to use information from the class to develop a demonstration sociogram that reflects their own coherent interpretation of the story.
How can I adapt it?
• Younger students can use pictures of characters and word cards to construct their sociograms.
• Software such as Inspiration or MindMan could be used.
• Students can work independently and then share their sociograms or small groups of students can work collaboratively.
• Sociograms can be used to help explore power relationships implied in non-fiction texts such as newspaper reports and feature articles, aiding in the development of critical literacy skills.
How can it be used to evaluate students’ language learning?
Listening carefully to students’ explanations of their sociograms helps to provide insight into their comprehension and their ability to make inferences from texts.
What is Readers Theater?
Reader's theater is often defined by what it is not -- no memorizing, no props, no costumes, no sets. All this makes reader's theater wonderfully convenient. Still, convenience is not its chief asset.
Like storytelling, reader's theater can create images by suggestion that could never be realistically portrayed on stage. Space and time can be shrunk or stretched, fantastic worlds can be created, marvelous journeys can be enacted. Reader's theater frees the performers and the audience from the physical limitations of conventional theater, letting the imagination soar.
Almost any story can be scripted for reader's theater, but some are easier and work better than others. In general, look for stories that are simple and lively, with lots of dialog or action, and with not too many scenes or characters.
Reader’s Theater involves children in oral reading through reading parts in scripts. Unlike traditional theatre, the emphasis is mainly on oral expression of the part. Reader’s Theater is "theatre of the imagination". It involves children in understanding their world, creating their own scripts, reading aloud, performing with a purpose, and bringing enjoyment to both themselves and their audiences. Reader’s Theater gives children a purpose for writing, for reading, and for sharing their learning by bringing others into the joyful "imagination space" they create. Reader’s Theater "succeeds in giving the same suggestive push to the imaginations in the audience that the act of silent reading gives to the imagination of the perceptive silent reader". It is a simple, effective and risk-free way to get children to enjoy reading. As children write, read, perform and interpret their roles they acquire a better understanding of the literature.
"Everyone needs to talk - to hear and to play with language, to exercise the mind and emotions and tongue together. Out of this spirited speech can come meaningful, flavourful language, worth the time and effort of writing and rewriting, phrasing, rehearsing, and reading aloud."

Read Alouds
What are read alouds and what can they do for instruction?
A read aloud is a planned oral reading of a book or print excerpt, usually related to a theme or topic of study. The read aloud can be used to engage the student listener while developing background knowledge, increasing comprehension skills, and fostering critical thinking. A read aloud can be used to model the use of reading strategies that aid in comprehension.
Reading aloud good books can become a tradition and favorite activity in the classroom. (An excellent site for information on read alouds is located at: http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/rah.html) The Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA) maintains a library of articles about using read alouds for engagement and comprehension in their archives. http://www.google.com/u/ciera?q=read+alouds&domains=ciera.org&sitesearch=ciera.org
Benefits of using read alouds
One of the most important things adults can do in preparing children for success in school and in reading is to read aloud with them.
• Listeners build listening and comprehension skills through discussion during and after reading.
• Listeners increase their vocabulary foundation by hearing words in context.
• Listeners improve their memory and language skills as they hear a variety of writing styles and paraphrase their understanding.
• Listeners gain information about the world around them.
• Listeners develop individual interests in a broad variety of subjects and they develop imagination and creativity: what better way to build skills which foster inquiry?
• Other suggestions and benefits are in the Education World article at: http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr213.shtml.
Why read alouds in science?
Science-related literature, especially non-fiction, is often an untapped resource for read aloud book selections. By choosing well-written, engaging science books, teachers provide the opportunity to introduce students to new genres of literature at the same time as they model reading and thinking strategies that foster critical thinking.
Science-related books motivate students. Whether emergent readers or avid readers, children often select nature and science books as their favorite genre of literature.
Read alouds can inspire the teacher, too. Often early childhood or elementary teachers are uncomfortable with teaching science. They know there should be more to their instruction than the textbook, but they do not feel like 'experts' in the science content or process. Using read alouds can complement the curriculum and help students make connections between their knowledge, the textbook and their own questions.
Read alouds can be used to
• introduce lessons
• provide an introduction to new concepts and increase science vocabulary
• lower the abstract nature of science textbooks' explanations
• invite conversation and generate questions for discussion and investigations
• model scientific thinking
• provide content to support hands-on investigations
• model different problem-solving approaches to science that may support students in their own scientific investigations
• examine the colorful illustrations and photographs; they can tell a story beyond the words on the page
Using a read aloud-think aloud
• When students are provided with models and explanations of the reasoning involved in reading, they are better able to use the modeled strategies on their own.
• Typically a science-related read aloud focuses on a science concept, the author's craft or a particular literary feature.
• Don't do everything with one read aloud; use a variety of opportunities to revisit a particular focus and limit how much you focus on with any one book.
• Inspire questions and investigations by modeling curiosity and question-posing-- let the students in on the 'secret' of how you, the teacher, construct questions.
• Explicitly share thinking processes-- thinking aloud is making thinking public. For instance, "When I look at this picture of children playing in the wind, I think of the wind near our school. It always seems strongest to me over near Ms. Foster's room." OR "I wonder what the author means when she says ...." OR "Wait, this seems different than what we read in book X. I wonder how to decide which author to believe."
• Improve comprehension of science text by modeling the use of reading strategies that are most helpful for reading a particular type of literature.
• Use books about scientists and their work to inspire questions about scientific processes or the importance of life events in choosing a career.
For example, Donna Dieckman reads books such as A Snake Scientist or Elephant Woman to invite her students into the field with working scientists and to explore the questions and the challenges they encounter in their work. As she reads, she pauses to reflect aloud on her wonderings, which in turn both model and inspire wonderings in her students.
Selecting the read aloud
• Young children have difficulty separating fact from fiction, so carefully select books with the most accurate information.
• Select an appropriate book based on a specific reading purpose: concept background, exploring author's craft, introduction of key vocabulary, looking at science process or the life of scientists, or some other clearly defined purpose.
• Choose a book or section of a book that lends itself to being read aloud that supports your goal or purpose.
o Does the text flow?
o Is the topic engaging?
o Are there opportunities for stopping points to wonder aloud?
o Does the text inspire questions?
• Locate relevant artifacts, illustrations or other hands-on materials that might support the text and foster student questions.
• Think about connections to other literature-- by this author, on this topic or in this genre. Collect related books for classroom reading display. (The Search-It database can provide these connections.)
• Book Links is a web-based resource for literacy activities. They have an annotated list of books for science read alouds at: http://www.ala.org/Content/ContentGroups/Book_Links1/Read-Aloud_Science.htm.
Knowing the authors
Become familiar with the authors by gathering background information. Many authors of science-related literature have interesting backgrounds that may inspire students in their own scientific or literary endeavors.
Selected sites:
Jim Arnosky
http://jimarnosky.com
Jean Craighead George
http://www.jeancraigheadgeorge.com
Gail Gibbons
http://www.gailgibbons.com
Patricia Lauber
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmr/mtai/lauber.html
Dorothy Hinshaw Patent
http://www.dorothyhinshawpatent.com
Laurence Pringle
http://www.author-illustr-source.com/laurencepringle.htm
Seymour Simon
http://www.seymoursimon.com
Planning the read aloud
• Think about the focus for your read aloud. Identify any key words or concepts to discuss in context as you read the text. Mark "talking points" where you want to:
o stop and reflect or ask questions.
o support the target skill or purpose.
• Develop open-ended questions to stimulate students minds and imaginations.
• Use the questions to keep children involved in the book.
• Plan related activities to follow or precede the read aloud.
• Additional hints and Do's and Don'ts can be found in the Book Pals Reading Tips web site. Scroll down and visit the "More Reading Tips" pages: http://www.bookpals.net/cgi-bin/bookfinder/index.pl?page=tips.
How do I read aloud effectively?
Creating the read aloud atmosphere
• Allow time for students to settle as you make yourself comfortable. Whether you are sitting in a low chair or on the floor, be sure that each child can see the book. Remember, you are creating a community of learners. If they have to elbow each other to see it will defeat your efforts.
o Some teachers even "dress" for the occasion. Debra Bunn slips into a raincoat to read about sea monster tales.
o Other teachers create ritualized signals: "Here's the reading puppet" OR "Let's settle in as we pass around the listening stick."
• As you read, move the book around (either while reading or after reading each page) so that each student can see the illustrations. Most picture books depend on the illustrations to tell the story and students are "reading" the pictures while you are reading the words. If there are no (or few) pictures, pause and look at your listeners.
• Pace your reading to allow time for the student listeners to think about what they are hearing.
• Read with expression; create a mood. Modulate your voice to reflect emotions and emphasize key points. Give young students an opportunity to add to the story with appropriate noises. For example, have students use their fingers to drum out the sound of soft or hard rain.
• Use motions for emphasis. Do not overdo it, but use natural and comfortable movements.
Reading aloud does not come naturally, but don't despair. Practicing will make it much more comfortable. And the time spent practicing is definitely worthwhile. CAUTION: Do not read a book aloud that you have not read yourself beforehand!
Ready to read
• Introduce the text with a short sentence or two that relates the book to the students.
• Discuss the title, content, author and illustrator for less than three minutes.
• Set a purpose for listening by sharing the reason you selected the book.
• Invite students to listen while you read (using the voice modulations and movements you practiced).
• Interrupt your reading at selected points to emphasize a planned focus point.
o Hint: Mark these points with sticky notes so that you remember to stop and your reason for stopping.
o Sticky notes can also be used to quickly note student reactions or queries.
o Stop to do a think aloud, ask a question of yourself or of your students, provide opportunities for students to make personal connections
o Do not overdo the stopping points-- keep in mind your audience, time limits and purpose for the reading and for the stopping. You do want to maintain a sense of story as you read-- too many stopping points will lose that.
• At the end of the reading, wait a few moments to provide time to ask questions or make comments. If you ask, "Wasn't that a good story?" students will answer in the affirmative because they want to please you and that will end a major opportunity to generate discussion. Instead, just ask open-ended questions to generate discussion like, "What did you think of that book?" OR "How did the author ...?" Depending on the reading purpose, you may want to comment, "This reminds me of ..." OR "Reading this made me wonder...." After you model a thought, encourage students to share their wonderings and discoveries.
• Discuss what students learned. Through discussion students can synthesize and extend their understanding of the reading. They can connect their prior knowledge to the new information presented in the reading. They can make intertextual connections to other literature. This time for reflection is the key to making the reading an instructional activity.
• How to use the SCAMPER technique
• The SCAMPER technique uses a set of directed questions which you answer about your probortunity in order to come up with new ideas. The stimulus comes from forcing yourself to answer questions which you would not normally pose. The questions direct you to thinking about a probortunity in ways which typically come up with new ideas.
• SCAMPER is an acronym which stands for questions relating to the following:
Rationale
A problem is a situation, condition, or issue that remains unresolved and
makes it diffi cult to accomplish a desired objective. It is recognized as such
when an individual, group, or organization becomes aware of a signifi cant difference
between what is desired and what actually is. Trying to fi nd a solution
to a problem is known as problem solving.
Problem solving is the process by which a situation is analyzed, a workable
solution is determined, and corrective action is taken. The common milestones
of problem solving are to
Defi ne (or clarify) the problem.
Analyze causes.
Generate ideas (identify alternatives).
Weigh up ideas (assess alternatives).
Make a decision (select an alternative).
Determine next steps to implement the solution.
Evaluate whether the problem was solved or not.
The SCAMPER Technique
Every problem invites a solution and, needless to say, problem-solving techniques are
numerous.1 The SCAMPER technique, for one, uses a set of directed, idea-spurring
questions to suggest some addition to, or modifi cation of, something that already exists.2
It has also received much attention as a learning tool that fosters awareness, drive, fl uency,
•••••••
1 They include Affinity Diagrams (organizing ideas into common themes); the Ansoff Matrix
(understanding the different risks of different options); Appreciation (extracting maximum information
from facts); Appreciative Inquiry (solving problems by looking at what is going right); the Boston
Matrix (focusing effort to give the greatest returns); Brainstorming (generating a large number of
ideas to solve a problem); Cause-and-Effect Diagrams (identifying the possible causes of problems);
Core Competence Analysis (get ahead, stay ahead); Critical Success Factors (identifying the things
that really matter for success); the Five Whys Technique (quickly getting to the root of a problem);
Flowcharts (understanding how a process works); the Greiner Curve (surviving the crises that come
with growth); Lateral Thinking (changing concepts and perception); the Marketing Mix and the 4 Ps
(understanding how to position a market offering); the McKinsey 7Ss (making sure that all the parts
of an organization work in harmony); PEST (Political, Economic, Sociocultural, and Technological)
Analysis (understanding the big picture); Porter’s Five Forces (understanding where power lies); the
Reframing Matrix (examining problems from distinct viewpoints); Risk Analysis; Systems Diagrams
(understanding the way factors affect one another); Root Cause Analysis (identifying the root causes
of problems or events); SWOT Analysis (analyzing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats);
and USP (Unique Selling Propositions) Analysis (crafting competitive edge).
2 The principles of the SCAMPER technique were first formally suggested by Alex Osborn and later
arranged by Bob Eberle as a mnemonic in 1991 to increase interest in the perceptive, imaginative,
and creative abilities of children.
Knowledge
Solutions
2
fl exibility, and originality. The stimulus comes from being asked to answer queries that one would not normally
pose. The changes that SCAMPER stands for are
S—Substitute (e.g., components, materials, people)
C—Combine (e.g., mix, combine with other assemblies or services, integrate)
A—Adapt (e.g., alter, change function, use part of another element)
M—Magnify/Modify (e.g., increase or reduce in scale, change shape, modify attributes)
P—Put to other uses
E—Eliminate (e.g., remove elements, simplify, reduce to core functionality)
R—Rearrange/Reverse (e.g., turn inside out or upside down)
3
Help Guide to the SCAMPER Technique3
Substitute Think about substituting part of the product or process for something else.
Typical questions: What else instead? Who else instead? What other materials, ingredients,
processes, power, sounds, approaches, or forces might I substitute? Which other place?
Combine Think about combining two or more parts of the product or process to make something new or
to enhance synergy.
Typical questions: What mix, assortment, alloy, or ensemble might I blend? What ideas,
purposes, units, or appeals might I combine?
Adapt Think about which parts of the product or process could be adapted or how you might change
the nature of the product or process.
Typical questions: Does the past offer a parallel? What else is like this? What other idea does
this suggest? What might I adapt for use as a solution? What might I copy? Who might I
emulate?
Magnify, Modify Think about changing part or all of the product or process, or distorting it in an unusual way.
Typical questions: What other meaning, color, motion, sound, smell, form, or shape might I
adopt? What might I add?
Put to Other Uses Think of how you might put the product or process to another use or how you might reuse
something from somewhere else.
Typical questions: What new ways are there to use this? Might this be used in other places?
Which other people might I reach? To what other uses might this be put if it is modifi ed?
Eliminate Think of what might happen if you eliminated parts of the product or process and consider what
you might do in that situation.
Typical questions: What might I understate? What might I eliminate? What might I streamline?
What might I make smaller, lower, shorter, or lighter?
Rearrange, Reverse Think of what you might do if parts of the product or process worked in reverse or were
sequenced differently.
Typical questions: What might be rearranged? What other pattern, layout, or sequence might I
adopt? Can components be interchanged? Should I change pace or schedule? Can positives and
negatives be swapped? Could roles be reversed?
Caveat
The SCAMPER technique is used to produce original ideas. The creative process thrives on preparation,
concentration, incubation, illumination, and verifi cation. In organizations, its fruitful application depends on
the existence of an enabling environment. Of course, personal blocks4 to creativity exist but these can often be
overcome. Supervisors who foster creativity listen, are willing to absorb the risks borne by their subordinates, are
comfortable with half-developed ideas, do not dwell on past mistakes, expect subordinates to succeed, capitalize
on the strengths of subordinates, enjoy their jobs, and make quick decisions. They must then help sell ideas to
senior management. This involves assessing the “sellability” of ideas5 and developing persuasive arguments.6
HOTS Higher Order Thinking Skills
HOTs moves away from general knowledge type skills to thinking skills like: synthesizing, analyzing, reasoning, comprehending, application, evaluation. Rather than emphasize the drill and repetition activities, the focus is on problem solving and higher level/order thinking skills. Although many learning disabled children are taught more drill and repetition, there is research that is not in favor of the drill/repetition approach and is in favor of using HOTs. LD children are often weak in memory and will therefore benefit from learning HOTs and developing the higher level thinking skills that teaches them how to be problem solvers. HOTs is designed to develop and increase cognitive development.
Think, Pair, Share
Think, Pair, Share is a structure first developed by Professor Frank Lyman at the University of Maryland in 1981 and adopted by many writers in the field of co-operative learning since then. It introduces into the peer interaction element of co-operative learning the idea of ‘wait or think’ time, which has been demonstrated to be a powerful factor in improving student responses to questions.
It is a simple strategy, effective from early childhood through all subsequent phases of education to tertiary and beyond. It is a very versatile structure, which has been adapted and used, in an endless number of ways. This is one of the foundation stones for the development of the ‘co-operative classroom.’
PURPOSE
Processing information, communication, developing thinking.
RELEVANT SKILLS
Sharing information, listening, asking questions, summarising others’ ideas, paraphrasing.
STEPS
1. Teacher poses a problem or asks an open-ended question to which there may be a variety of answers.
2. Teacher gives the students ‘think time’ and directs them to think about the question.
3. Following the ‘think time’ students turn to face their Learning Partner and work together, sharing ideas, discussing, clarifying and challenging.
4. The pair then share their ideas with another pair, or with the whole class. It is important that students need to be able to share their partner’s ideas as well as their own.
P I G S F
Positive interdependence
The students are able to learn from each other
Individual accountability
Students are accountable to each other for sharing ideas. The student may also be required to share their partner’s ideas to another pair or whole group.
Equal participation
Each student within the group has an equal opportunity to share. It is possible that one student may try to dominate. The teacher can check this does not happen.
Simultaneous interaction
High degrees of interaction. At any one moment all of the students will be actively engaged in purposeful speaking and listening. Compare this with the usual practice of teacher questioning where only one or two students would be actively engaged.
APPLICATIONS
• Before a lesson or topic to orient the class (previous knowledge etc).
• During teacher modeling or explanation.
• Any time, to check understanding of material.
• At the end of a teacher explanation, demonstration etc, to enable students to cognitively process the material.
• To break up a long period of sustained activity.
• Whenever it is helpful to share ideas.
• For clarification of instructions, rules of a game, homework etc.
• For the beginning of a plenary session.
CURRICULUM IDEAS
Think, Pair, Share can be used in all curriculum areas and is limited only by the creativity of the teacher. This structure along with Numbered Heads Together is an excellent substitute for the normally competitive structures in a question and answer session.
COMMENTS
This is an essential structure to introduce early in the process of establishing the ‘co-operative classroom.’ It ensures a high level of engagement (it is hard to be left out of a pair!) and is more secure than a large group.
Think, Pair, Share has many advantages over the traditional questioning structure. The ‘Think Time’ incorporates the important concept of ‘wait time’. It allows all children to develop answers. Longer and more elaborate answers can be given. Answers will have reasons and justifications because they have been thought about and discussed. Students are more willing to take risks and suggest ideas because they have already ‘tested’ them with their partner.
Asking questions
Asking questions is a natural feature of communication, but also one of the most important tools which teachers have at their disposal. Questioning is crucial to the way teachers manage the class, engage students with content, encourage participation and increase understanding. Typically, teachers ask between 300-400 questions per day, however the quality and value of questions varies. While questioning can be an effective tool, there is both an art and science to asking questions.
Every question demands a response (except in the case of requests and suggestions), so that questions inevitably generate communication. However the quantity of questions asked needs to be considered in relation to general time constraints and the need to keep teacher talking time to a minimum while maximising learner contributions.
• Types of questions
• Purposes of questions
• Effective questioning
• Conclusion

Types of questions
There have been a number of typologies and taxonomies of questions. Socratic questioning, exemplified by Paul’s taxonomy, forms the basis of eliciting, while Bloom’s taxonomy identifies six types of questions by which thinking skills may be developed and tested. In the context of language teaching and learning, Bloom himself maintained that;"The major purpose in constructing a taxonomy of educational objectives is to facilitate communication..." Classroom questions tend to fall into two broad categories:

Display questions. These are designed to elicit learners’ prior knowledge and to check comprehension. They often focus on the form or meaning of language structures and items, and the teacher already knows the answer.
• What does ..... mean?
• When do we use .....?
• What comes after .....?
• What’s the opposite of .....?
• Where’s the stress in .....?

Referential questions. These require the learner to provide information, give an opinion, explain or clarify. They often focus on content rather than language, require ‘follow-up’ or ‘probe’ questions, and the answer is not necessarily known by the teacher.
• What do you think about .....?
• Have you ever....when/where .....?
• If you had .....what.....?
• What kind of .....?
• How do you .....?

The best referential questions are those that are ‘divergent’ or ‘open-ended’ in that they are broad, may have multiple answers, and require a higher level of thinking from the learners.
Open-ended questions are ideal for developing skills such as inferring, predicting, verifying and summarising, as well as eliciting more language. ‘Convergent’ or ‘closed’ questions have more narrowly defined correct answers which can be recalled from memory and require little reflection or originality. Closed questions are common in conventional tests.
Purposes of questions
Questions have a variety of purposes often related to the type and stage of a lesson.
• During the lead-in to a lesson, referential questions form the basis of brainstorming a topic, generating interest and topic-related vocabulary. Student’s responses may be recorded as a mind-map on the board, or as the first phase of a ‘what we know / what we would like to know/ what we know now’ framework, particularly in receptive skills based lessons where predicting content is a useful pre-reading / listening activity.
• When language is being presented, questions are used to elicit students’ prior knowledge, and guide them into recognising patterns and forming hypotheses about how the language is used. ‘Noticing’ questions are used to help learners identify language in context (‘What language does he use to talk about his plans?’, ‘How does she make a promise?’)
• Meaning and understanding need to be checked before language is practised. Concept-checking questions (CCQs) should demand short answers, be simple and asked often (‘Is he talking about the past, present or future?’, has the action finished?’, ‘Is time important?’, ‘ıs the meaning positive or negative?’ (Checking meaning and understanding is the subject of another article on this site.)
• Question-response is a common form of guided oral practice. Nomination is often essential in this stage, but the traditional ‘lockstep’ pattern of interaction should be minimised by asking students to ask and answer questions in open pairs across the class and in closed pairs. Student involvement nay be increased by asking students to nominate the person to ask the next question (student nomination).
• Globally designed materials often suggest form-based questions for language practice which are too general, outside the learners’ experience, or which produce obvious answers. Form-based questions may also be personalised and divergent in that they require elaboration. Thus ‘How often do you brush your teeth?’ is unlikely to either stimulate interest or generate language, whereas ‘How often do you argue with your parents?’ offers the opportunity for follow-up questions as well as producing the target structure.
• In skills lessons, questions may focus on strategies as well as language (‘Do you have to read everything to get the information?’, ‘Do you need to understand every word?’. ‘What do you think will happen next?’ Questions may also focus on process rather than product (‘How did you guess the meaning of that word?’, ‘Where in the passage did you find the information?’, ‘What helped you to understand what the speaker’s opinion was?’)
• Student nomination may also be used for obtaining the answers to exercises and comprehension tasks, but feedback on the tasks themselves is equally important and can be dealt with by questions such as ‘What was difficult about that question?’. ‘Did you have enough information?’ and ‘Did you enjoy that activity?’
• The success of many fluency activities depends on the use of open-ended referential questions, but the teacher can also increase motivation by expressing interest through questions. Some of the best discussions take the form of ‘chats’, often outside the classroom, when paraphrasing and clarification can take place more naturally.

Questions focusing on form, function, meaning, concept and strategies may all be termed ’guidance questions’, and differ from comprehension questions in that learners are not necessarily required to provide correct answers. The overall aim of these questions is to gradually raise awareness of language and skills and to help learners develop strategies for learning in a focused way.
Throughout the lesson, questions play an important role in classroom management, including general questions (‘Can you all see the board?’, ‘Have you got your dictionaries ready?’) and questions for checking progress ‘Ready?’, Have you finished?’. Questions designed to check instructions are vital in order to avoid interrupting a task in order to reinstruct or clarify the task. These questions should be kept simple (‘Are you working alone or in pairs?’, ‘Who’s in group B?’, ‘Are you going to write anything?') and spread around the class.
Many teachers find it difficult to estimate the amount of time needed for a student to respond to a question, often due to pressure of time, impatience or fear of silence. Rushing learners may result in mistakes and frustration. Sufficient ‘wait-time’ is needed for learners to comprehend the question, formulate an answer, process language and respond. Wait-time before nominating and after the initial response encourages longer answers, questions from the learners, self-correction and level of student involvement.
Effective questioning
As with all aspects of teacher talking time, it is not the quantity but the quality and value of questions that is important. When thinking about their questioning technique, teachers might use the following as a check-list:
• Decide on the purpose of questions.
• Minimise the use of "yes / no" questions except when checking meaning and understanding or encouraging weaker students.
• Ask a balance of referential and display questions.
• Use open-ended (divergent) questions to encourage opinions, elaboration and discussion.
• Ask questions about important rather than trivial content.
• Grade language in questions and try not to over-paraphrase.
• Personalise questions where possible.
• Avoid questions that contain the answer.
• Make sure that students clearly understand questions.
• Spread questions randomly around the class.
• Balance questions to the whole class with individual student nomination.
• Give enough time for students to answer.
• Anticipate students' responses.
• Give appropriate responses to questions, particularly where correction is required. and in order to extend the dialogue.
• What is Jigsaw?
• Jigsaw is a cooperative learning strategy that enables each student of a “home” group to specialize in one aspect of a learning unit. Students meet with members from other groups who are assigned the same aspect, and after mastering the material, return to the “home” group and teach the material to their group members.
• Just as in a jigsaw puzzle, each piece--each student's part--is essential for the completion and full understanding of the final product. If each student's part is essential, then each student is essential. That is what makes the Jigsaw instructional strategy so effective.
• What is its purpose?
• Jigsaw learning allows students to be introduced to material and yet maintain a high level of personal responsibility.
• The purpose of Jigsaw is to develop teamwork and cooperative learning skills within all students. In addition it helps develop a depth of knowledge not possible if the students were to try and learn all of the material on their own. Finally, because students are required to present their findings to the home group, Jigsaw learning will often disclose a student’s own understanding of a concept as well as reveal any misunderstandings.
• How can I do it?
• In its simplest form, the Jigsaw instructional strategy is when:

1. Each student receives a portion of the materials to be introduced;
2. Students leave their "home" groups and meet in "expert" groups;
3. Expert groups discuss the material and brainstorm ways in which to present their understandings to the other members of their “home” group;
4. The experts return to their “home” groups to teach their portion of the materials and to learn from the other members of their “home” group
• In more detail, and written from a teacher’s perspective, to conduct a Jigsaw in your classroom:
• 1. Assign students to “home” teams of 4 or 5 students (generally their regular cooperative learning teams). Have students number off within their teams.
2. Assign study topics to “home” team members by giving them an assignment sheet or by listing their numbers and corresponding roles on the board.
3. Have students move to “expert” groups where everyone in the group has the same topic as themselves.
4. Students work with members of their “expert” group to read about and/or research their topic. They prepare a short presentation and decide how they will teach their topic to their “home” team. You may want students to prepare mini-posters while in their “expert” Groups. These posters can contain important facts, information, and diagrams related to the study topic.
5. Students return to their “home” teams and take turns teaching their team members the material. I find it helpful to have team members take notes or record the information in their journals in some way. You may want them to complete a graphic organizer or chart with the new information.
6. Involve the class in a whole-group review of all the content you expect them to master on the assessment. Administer an individual assessment to arrive at individual grades.
• How can I adapt it?
• There are limitless ways of adapting the jigsaw structure in terms of the size of the groups, the range of topics and the demonstration of mastery of those topics. Teachers have developed many variations. Here are several modifications that are helpful in different circumstances:
• 1. Give students subtopics and have them use reference materials in the library to research their subtopic. This frees the teacher from having to arrange materials in advance.
• 2. Have the “home” group write a report or give a class presentation on the overall topic, with the specification that it includes all the subtopics presented in the group.
• 3. Prepare outlines or study guides of what each subtopic should cover and have students read the same text, organizing and becoming experts on the material highlighted by their outline or study guide
• Assessment & Evaluation Considerations
• Assess students' degree of mastery of all the material. Reward the groups whose members all reach the preset criterion of excellence or give bonus points on their individual scores if this criteria is met. Students will need to evaluate themselves on how well their group did in the jigsaw (e.g., active listening, checking each other for understanding, and encouraging each other) and set goals for further interaction
Imaginative re-creation
Reading
Writing
Thinking
What is it?
Imaginative recreation is re-creating a literature text or part of a text in a way that helps students to both deepen their understanding and appreciation of a text and express a considered response to it. When students retell part of a text from the point of view of a minor character, or change the time or setting, for example, they are engaging in imaginative recreation. Originally presented by Leslie Stratta, John Dickens and Andrew Wilkinson in England in 1973, it has been developed by Australian educators such as Peter Adams, Wayne Sawyer and Ken Watson.
What is its purpose?
Engaging in imaginative recreation helps students to explore many aspects of a text in some depth. It assists them in working through a response to a text. It also supports them in constructing their own imaginative texts.
How do I do it?
The first choice teachers make is to decide what form or forms the imaginative recreation is to take, depending on what is appropriate as a development of the original text. Teachers choose forms that are plausible and that lead to a deeper understanding of the text. The following examples show how students can use imaginative recreation to explore and express their responses to texts.
• retelling a short story or a picture book as a poem - helps students to interpret themes, to focus closely on word choice, to develop their understanding of the features of both literary forms
• changing a newspaper report into a short story or a short story into a television news item - helps students to investigate how genre helps to determine emphasis
• preparing a script based on an incident in a novel - helps students to develop interpretation of characters and their relationships, to investigate differences between spoken and written language
• changing the narrative point of view of the printed text of a picture book - helps students to explore the interplay between written and visual text.
• retelling a scene from a film as narrative fiction or creating a video drama from an incident in a novel - helps students' to develop their understanding of elements such as mood, setting and point of view.
• creating a map of the setting of a text - helps students to read or listen to or view the text in a close and purposeful way.
Teachers explain clearly to their students what the purpose of the chosen re-creation is. All of these possibilities have a range of benefits for students and they all help students to move toward analysis of texts, but a clear explanation will help students to understand what their focus is in working with the text.
To demonstrate how imaginative re-creation works, the teacher can prepare a re-creation to share with the students, based on a text shared previously, or work on a short re-creation together with the whole class.
Students work on their re-creations individually, in pairs or small groups. The re-creations are shared with other students or groups. Collections of re-creations make excellent group or class publications to share more widely.
How can I adapt it?
Students can imaginatively recreate:
• using a particular medium - television, radio, newspaper
• with a different literary genre - poetry, drama script, monologue, diary, letter
• with a different setting - time, place
• using a combination of genres - as in The Jolly Postman, but based on the same text
• from the point of view of a minor character
How can it be used to evaluate students' language learning?
Imaginative recreation can help students to explore and demonstrate their contextual understanding, and their knowledge of particular linguistic structures and features. Imaginative recreation is itself a strategy for interpreting layers of meaning in texts, involving close re-reading or re-viewing of texts. The student's text and the student's explanation of choices made to produce the text both provide opportunities for evaluation.
Plot profile
What is it?
A plot profile or plot line is a combination of a timeline and an excitement rating chart.
What is its purpose?
It helps students to gain a deeper understanding of the whole structure of the text they are
reading or viewing, and to explore their own responses to it.
How do I do it?
• It’s best to demonstrate first with a text which is relatively well known to the students.
First the students work out the main plot events.
• Provide students with a simple graph to use. They graph the text plot using the horizontal
axis to show time and the sequence of events, and the vertical axis to give an excitement
rating. Each event is positioned on the graph according to when it takes place and how
exciting or significant it is.
• When lines are drawn between the events, it is easy for students to see how the
structure of the story works. More sophisticated texts can result in much more complex
plot profiles. The process of developing a profile helps students to gain a clear overview
of the text and its complexities.
• Students can work in groups to develop plot profiles, or can develop individual profiles
which they then compare with others. Either approach enables students to share and
justify their own interpretations.
How can I adapt it?
• Other types of changes throughout a text can be plotted along the vertical axis.
Examples include: the closeness of two characters in a relationship; the happiness or
despair of a main character; the degree of confidence a character shows.
• In complex texts incidents related to particular sub-plots can be linked with different
colours. When students do this for a text such as a TV soapie or a nineteenth century
novel, they gain an appreciation of the ways in which the narrative as a whole is shaped.
• Students can compare plot profiles of similar texts in a particular genre to see what kinds
of frameworks are typically used.
• Students can use plot profiles on their own texts to help them check how their plot holds
up and how it fits with the framework typical of a particular genre.

What Does PMI Stand For?
PMI stands for Plus / Minus / Interesting.
When using a PMI strategy, students are asked to look at a problem, or question, in terms of:
• "plus" elements or ideas
• "negative" elements or ideas
• "interesting" or "unusual" elements or ideas
Plus / Minus / Interesting (PMI) is an effective strategy to use with students:
• to generate ideas about a question or problem
• to encourage them to reflect on creative and broader aspects of a topic
• to help them to see, and value, both sides of an argument
• to help them make informed decisions
PMI Strategy at Work
1. A problem or question is proposed by the teacher. Students reflect on materials they have seen, read or heard during teaching and classroom activities.
2. Students apply the PMI questions to a problem, or task, proposed by the teacher, as follows: P – what are the positive ideas about this? M – what are the negative ideas about this? I – what is interesting, or unusual, about this?
3. Students may work individually, in pairs, or in groups.
Generally, students should provide at least three responses to each question. A time limit of three minutes can be applied to generate quick thinking responses. In doing so, students consider the proposed question from different perspectives.
Read on
• Thinking in the Classroom - Some Strategies to Consider
• Scientific Inquiry as a Process for Learning
• Metacognitive Strategies for K-12 Students
Responses by individuals, or groups, can be recorded on a grid with the headings: Plus / Minus / Interesting. These responses, whether an individual or a group response, can form the basis for a discussion or written response, such as an essay, debate, poster or general discussion.
If the teacher wants to consider all responses generated by a question to allow a wider, classroom discussion to occur, the ideas from a whole class or group can be collated onto a master grid.
A PMI framework is particularly useful for students who find discursive essays challenging or who find it difficult to see other perspectives. Consideration of the "Interesting" or "Unusual" ideas also encourages students be more creative in their thinking.
Some other uses for PMI include:
• assisting brainstorming
• examining issues such as environmental concerns, moral dilemmas, school issues etc
• reviewing and analysing texts, poems, essays or written commentaries
• quick "end of the day" or "end of session" challenges to devise creative and reflective discussions and responses to posed questions

JOURNAL WRITING
Journal writing can have many different applications based on the goals of the instructor and student. One common use of journal writing is to promote reflection and thought through one-on-one dialogue between the student and instructor. Brown and Sorrell 22 stated that a clinical journal provides guided opportunities for students to “think aloud” on paper and reflect on their own perceptions or understandings of the situations encountered in their practicums. Hahnemann 20 felt that journal writing assignments encourage exploration and risk taking on the part of the student. Before trying solutions to problems in real life, the student can be creative and express feelings and frustrations on paper. Ibarreta and McLeod 5 reported that their students, through journal writing, were expected to apply knowledge gained from prior classroom content and literature relevant to their clinical experiences. Recently, reflective journals 7 were used to emphasize connecting clinical content with thought process and self-awareness.
Holmes 23 stated that by recording and describing experiences, feelings, and thoughts, students are able to recreate their experiences for additional exploration. A student who had a difficult encounter with a student-athlete could write in the journal about the situation and think about what happened. He or she could describe why decisions were made and actions taken, along with feelings and future thoughts and directions. As educators, we must push our students to reflect more deeply. Pushing students to continuously ask themselves why a decision was made or why they feel the way they do about a topic or situation will cause them to look deeper for answers. Why did they perform a certain special test? Why was ultrasound used in the treatment of that injury, and how will that ultrasound affect the inflammation process? What changes could be made to this patient's treatment or future encounters with a specific injury? Davies 3 stated that journal writing provides students with an opportunity to return to their experiences in an attempt to develop new perspectives that can guide future clinical actions. For example, a student, after performing a knee examination and discussing it with the Approved Clinical Instructor, could later write about the entire experience. What would he or she do differently? What did he or she learn? Writing encourages and provides an opportunity for students to reflect on an experience, connect, and think critically about ideas or situations.

RETELLING
Retelling is a powerful technique for checking understanding. Unlike answering
specific questions after reading, retelling requires reprocessing large segments of
text thinking about the sequence of ideas/events and their importance. Retelling
is a versatile tool for both the student and teacher.
For the student
- it provides an opportunity to share what has been read
- it provides practice in reviewing the story or body of information and
retelling it in sequence
- it also helps develop oral language skills
For the teacher
- it is an important type of informal assessment
- retelling can determine the degree of understanding a student had of a
text
Helping Students Develop Their Retelling Skills
1. Explain that the purpose of retelling is to recreate, as close as possible to
the original, something that has been read (or heard, or viewed). Remind
students how they engage in retelling when they talk about a favorite
book, movie, or event.
2. Model a retelling with a short selection. If the selection is familiar to the
students, they will be able to make comparisons between the original and
retold version.
3. After the retelling, discuss what they heard. Talk about and list the
elements of a retelling. Record these on chalkboard, chart, or overhead.
4. Guide students in a retelling by providing them with a short selection to
read. After reading, have them prepare for their retelling by referring to
the recorded information. Students can be paired for practice. The listener
cues in to the recorded elements that were listed. The listener then
provides the re-teller with feedback. Students then switch roles.
Variations to Retelling
Although most retellings are verbal reproductions of what has been read, the
chart below shows all the possibilities.
• Oral to Oral listens to a selection and retells it orally
• Oral to Written listens to a selection and retells it in writing
• Reading to Oral reads a selection and retells it orally
• Reading to Written reads a selection and retells it in writing
• Viewing to Oral views a film and retells it orally
• Viewing to Written views a film and retells it in writing
MODE THE STUDENT....
Other instructional variations include:
• using a video camera or tape recorder
• comparing student’s retellings of the same selection
• group retellings where each student retells a portion of the selection
To provide additional support, students can use a retelling checklist.
SMALL GROUP

Interaction makes learning powerful. Small group work, sometimes called cooperative learning, requires students to work together to exchange ideas, make plans and propose solutions.Teachers must give careful thought to how to manage the classroom during small group activities to ensure success.
advantages of small groups
When students work in small groups, they think through an idea, present it to others so that they can understand, and often exchange alternative ideas and viewpoints. This:
• Encourages positive attitudes toward sexual health
• Increases students' self-confidence
• Promotes intellectual growth, and
• Enhances social and personal development.
procedure
There is no one "right way" to approach small group activities. Teachers must choose models and methods that match their particular teaching styles, their students and lesson content. Following some basic steps at the beginning will help all small group activities be more effective.

1. Set up guidelines for group behavior that promote equal exchanges among members:
• Contribute your ideas
• Listen to others' ideas
• Give everyone a chance to speak
• Ask all group members for help before asking the teacher
• Use consensus to settle disputes - everyone must agree with the solution
2. Introduce students to the interpersonal skills needed to work in a group:
• Eye contact and positive body language
• Encouragement and respect
• Speaking quietly and without hostility
3. Select groups using care and consideration
• Try to mix students with different abilities, ethnic backgrounds, learning styles and personal interests.
• Keep group size small (2-6 students)
• Create groupings ahead of time, or use grouping techniques that ensure no one feels left out.

o Have a set of cards that are distinguishable by different colors, numbers and shapes. (UNO cards work well.) Randomly pass out cards, and direct students to form groups with students who have the same number, shape or color. This allows the teacher some control in ensuring efficient groupings.
o Use a "values continuum" line, having students choose to stand at stations marked strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree when presented with an issue. Form groups by pulling students from different stations of the continuum.
types of cooperative learning activities
Think-Pair-Share: Students work independently to write down thoughts or ideas about a topic, and then share these ideas with a partner. Partners probe one another to ensure complete understanding.
Jigsaw: Divide class into groups. Assign each group a separate topic. Everyone in each group must be become an expert on the topic by the end of a given time. Form new groups made up of one member of each original group. "Experts" share findings from various topics from their original groups with the new group members.
Round Table: Students brainstorm a variety of ideas or responses to a topic for a limited time period without critiquing the value of the ideas. Once groups have completed this activity, these lists can be used to facilitate group and class discussion.
Group Investigations: Students work to produce a group project, which they may have a hand in selecting.
STAD (Student Teams-Achievement Divisions): Groups study what has been taught by the teacher to help each member reach his or her highest level of achievement. Students are then tested individually. Teams earn certificates or other recognition based on the degree to which all team members have progressed over their past records.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT ASSESSMENT
If work accomplished within a group is to be used as part of the student's mark, it is important to remember to use two levels of accountability. The group must be accountable for achieving its goals, and each member must be accountable for contributing his or her share of the work.
tips FOR USING SMALL GROUPS
• Work must be directed towards a clear goal or set of goals.
• Tasks should be specific and outlined in detail.
• Give each group member a specific task (leader, recorder reporter, monitor, etc.)
• A time limit of 5 to 20 minutes should be observed.
• Groups need to be interdependent - relying on all group members to accomplish a goal.
• Provide groups with appropriate workspace where they can work face-to-face without disruption.
• Keep close observation during group activities to ensure students remain on task and on track.



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