In Summary, Use Post-Its
Post-Its are pretty high on the list of supplies we order at the end of the year. For a long time I've just thought of them to be used as quick Exit Tickets, or ways to post students' thoughts, or for students' to vote during an activity, but this week I decided to use them in conjunction with a very simple Body Biography assignment.
Students read Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" (1924) and used it as an anchor text to review larger skills like Claim-Support and Compare / Contrast Writing Styles. I asked students to write an extremely detailed, super-sized Claim-Support paragraph, and I didn't want to overload them with writing, so I decided to use a common assignment - a Body Biography - as a part Graphic Organizer, part Summarization activity.
On the front of the Body Biography, I included the directions, objective, and an example of what I was asking students to do. On the back was the outline of a cartoon person. I opened my desk drawer and pulled out my basket of mini Post-It notes. I asked students to write one sentence on each Post-It and stick it to the blank body.
This activity worked perfectly. Students were actually quiet and focused. Something about using the Post-Its and the Compare / Contrast structure seemed tangible and I had all students working on it, which was a miracle. I hope to use this style of summarizing again, but I need to space it out so students don't feel like we do it too often. But it was great.
Students read Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" (1924) and used it as an anchor text to review larger skills like Claim-Support and Compare / Contrast Writing Styles. I asked students to write an extremely detailed, super-sized Claim-Support paragraph, and I didn't want to overload them with writing, so I decided to use a common assignment - a Body Biography - as a part Graphic Organizer, part Summarization activity.
On the front of the Body Biography, I included the directions, objective, and an example of what I was asking students to do. On the back was the outline of a cartoon person. I opened my desk drawer and pulled out my basket of mini Post-It notes. I asked students to write one sentence on each Post-It and stick it to the blank body.
This activity worked perfectly. Students were actually quiet and focused. Something about using the Post-Its and the Compare / Contrast structure seemed tangible and I had all students working on it, which was a miracle. I hope to use this style of summarizing again, but I need to space it out so students don't feel like we do it too often. But it was great.
Post-Its are a teacher's best friend. If you ever need some, I have a stash donated form my mister who is an engineer for 3M. Students completed this individually correct? How could you adapt it to include group collaboration?
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