This activity is to be used during reading. I used this method (but tweaked it a little after watching it play out) at Crosswinds on Wednesday and thought it worked well to keep students engaged and also to hear student voice and opinion on the short story we were reading.
Name: Prediction Journal.
Grade: I think this can be used with any grade level, but for the purposes of this activity I will choose 7th grade.
Rationale: This activity is designed for students to not only retell what they have just read in their own words and eliminate any confusion of the text by facilitating classroom discussions, but also for students to engage in the text and to predict what will happen next.
Materials: Whatever text the teacher is having the student read, a notebook dedicated to predictions.
Procedure: After reading a chapter of a book, part of a short story, or any amount of text that allows for students to wonder what will happen next, have them get into small groups to discuss what they have just read. Do this only for a shorter amount of time (10 minutes) to dedicate most time to large group discussion and individual prediction time. After small group, bring it back to the whole class and have the students talk about what just happened in the text (7 minutes). This is a chance to clear up any misconceptions, problems with wording, or questions students may have. After that, have students write in their prediction journals what is going to happen in the next chapter. The teacher can then use this same activity throughout the duration of the text while allowing for students to keep their predictions in a separate notebook. After each time a prediction is made, students are invited to share their predictions to the group and talk about the reasons they think that.
*One thing that I thought of while writing this that I can see being a fun activity at the end of a text is for students to re-write a summary of the story based on their predictions throughout the text whether they are right or wrong. They will then create their own piece of work to help them remember the text, and to also have a piece of writing in their own voice.
Rationale for use: I chose this activity because I think it is something that a majority of readers- from multiple reading levels- do unconsciously. Prediction is also an indicator that a student understands the logic of a text, or the archetypes at play within a text. For example, most fairy tales will end with the bad guy being punished some how and the main characters living happily ever after. Formulating predictions allows students to be surprised if a novel takes an unexpected turn. I also agree with the comment that Kristen made about indicating page numbers in their journals where their predictions happen, or it is clear the prediction will not happen.
ReplyDeleteI would be really interested in figuring out how to make this activity a game, so that there are some stakes involved. I think this would be a way to hook resistant readers into sticking with a book to the end.