I.
Getting
Started/Warm-Up Activity: 3 min.
“What different types of reading strategies have we discussed
lately?”
Write their recollections on the board.
II.
Review (from
previous day)
2 min.
Mention any the students missed, such as highlighting any important text, taking notes, using graphic organizers. Also, remind them of useful practices such as, looking at headings and features first, looking at questions at end, and being aware of their purpose when they read.
III.
Introduction
(for today’s lesson)
5 min.
Read
attached sheet on “The Inventor of Post-Its.”
“What do you think of this true story? Did you notice that the inventor used creative thinking to use something old in new ways?
That is what we are going to do today – use creative thinking to
use something old (sticky notes) in new ways.”
National
Standard #3 – Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend,
interpret, evaluate and appreciate texts
Competency
Objective 5.01 – “Increase fluency, comprehension, and insight through a
meaningful and comprehensive reading program by using effective reading
strategies to match type of text.”
Specifically, the objective of this lesson is to stimulate divergent thinking by brainstorming, and thus providing additional reading strategies for fiction and non-fiction, utilizing the common sticky note.
Middle
school students are capable of this creative divergent thinking on a practical
matter, and they will enjoy and benefit from these ideas. Even the ideas they do not put to use in
middle school today, they might remember when they are older, in high school or
college.
V.
Materials
Needed:
Several stacks of sticky notes, (four sheets per
student), overhead or chalkboard, a common text, such as a one or two page
story, or even a non-fiction article.
VI.
Guided
Practice (teacher/student): 15
min.
“How can we use a sticky note to help us as readers and learners? There are many possibilities.” (Write their suggestions on the board or overhead.)
1. Someone will probably suggest a bookmark.
2. Hint – “If it is your own
book, you can highlight important points you might want to study later – what
could you do if you can’t mark up the book?”
(Write on post it notes and attach, draw arrows on sticky notes, let them hang
out at top and sides of book.)
3. Hint – “What if there is a
part of a text that you don’t understand?” (Write a question nearby on a sticky note,
and let it overhang, ask teacher in next class.)
4. Hint – “What if you hate to
stop reading to look up words in the dictionary, but you want to improve your
vocabulary?” (Mark words with
sticky notes and look up later, then copy words and
definitions into vocabulary journal, or keep a running list on a sticky note.)
5. Hint – “What might you do if
you are going to discuss a piece of literature in class?” (Mark interesting passages with sticky notes,
which a Literary Luminary might do in a
6. Hint – “What if you want to
remember what a section of text was about?” (Write a small summary on a sticky note, “I
learned that….”)
7. Hint – “What if you have
several books or articles you are using to write a report,
and you are too ‘lazy’ to write important information down on little note cards
from the books?” (Write a key
word or subtopic on a sticky note, and let it hang out of the book at the
passage you will reference in your report.
Your books may look “feathery”!)
Students
may think of other uses such as marking interesting sentence structure,
literary devices, vocabulary words, their personal reactions to text, or
questions they would like to ask the author, for example.
“Please copy this list of sticky note reading strategies into
your writing notebooks.”
VII.
Independent
Practice (student):
15 min.
Pass
out four Post-Its per student, and copies of a very short story, such as “How
Watson Learned the Trick” in The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,
which is only two pages long. A short
story from their literature text would work, or an informative short magazine
article.
“You will learn and retain more if you are active readers. I want you to read the story, pretending that
the reading is a book they may not write in.
Use your sticky notes in more than one way that the class brainstormed. If you wish, you can tear the notes into two
pieces, being sure to divide the ‘sticky’ part, too. You can mark interesting parts, items to
discuss, unfamiliar words, writing style comments, personal reactions, etc.”
VIII.
Assessment
13
min.
”Who would like to share the parts you marked?
Please tell us what you marked, and why?”
After asking several students, “Did anyone mark a different passage for a different
reason?”
“Tonight when you do your
nightly fiction reading, and studying for other classes, remember
how to use your sticky notes to help you be an active reader.”
“Please record the brainstorming list if you haven’t finished.”
(Topic
of “sticky notes” expanded and adapted from http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/readquest,
and Carol Deal’s Reading in the Content Area class, fall, 2003.)
Information
on Post-Its from www.greatdayamerica.com
A fantastic and huge “free” resource with many reading strategy resources is available from the following website. It is a PDF file; you can print it in whole or in part, for your resource file. The entire file is 150 pages, but it is worth the paper and ink, because this is chock full of goodies!
http://www.allamericareads.org/lessonplan/pdf.htm
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