Depth

Even though there are four of my students on behavior plans and two more pushing the envelope, I felt like I have had a few good non-fiction lessons these last two days.  What is fascinating is how the unit has evolved from the beginning.

Today the kids were learning how to read, think and restate non-fiction learning in their own words.  I just feel like my approach to this is so different from years past.  Previously, I felt like this was the first lesson in teaching about reading and writing about non-fiction.  This year, I have already been teaching elements of non-fiction for a whopping three weeks before getting to this point.

Instead of just looking at the non-fiction content in the non-fiction topic studies my students have been doing, I have given them some room to get into the space of writing on a large poster.  They have to think about so much more than just:

• working from left to right across the page
• having a beginning, middle, and end 

They have to do their own research, collect their thoughts, present the learning, and continue thinking more deeply about the learning throughout the project.

Next week will be our third topic study poster.  I really feel like doing several has enabled students to learn from each other and provide time for me to see who is getting it, and who isn't.

I'm excited about the idea of working across several texts in a text set instead of just letting students work with one resource.  This step by step approach has taught me so much.