inspire new thinking
What do you do when you have questions in your reading that you just can’t figure out? I usually talk with somebody who’s read the book (though
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that usually results in even more questions!), or I try to force my best friend to listen to me read aloud at 11:30 .. (with limited results).
In the classroom, inviting children to choose a question that is partic-ularly puzzling and get together with a few others who are likewise intrigued provides opportunities for children to think and learn together.
This type of activity promotes the social nature of learning in authentic ways and permits children to gain control of a strategy with the support of their peers.
As I listen in on the conversations, sometimes their thinking seems off the mark, and sometimes I think they’re right on. But what I believe to be true isn’t important at that point; it’s the process of children working together to actively construct meaning for themselves that is key. Reminding myself that there usually isn’t just one right answer keeps me from trying to influence the children’s thinking. My advice? Resist the temptation to jump in and lead the kids to what you believe—you may be surprised at what you learn!
I’ve chosen Cynthia Rylant’s An Angel for Solomon Singer, the story of a lonely man who lives in a hotel for men in New York City. Solomon Singer wanders the city streets, longing for his boyhood home in Indiana
F I G U R E 9 . 2 Matthew’s questioning web for Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping by Peggy Parish
and dreaming of the things he loves: fireplaces, purple walls, porch swings, and balconies. One night he happens into the Westway Café, a place known for making dreams come true. A friendly waiter named Angel tells him to come back, and night after night he does. Soon Solomon Singer’s life begins to change. . . .
Children wonder:
■ Will there really be an angel in this story?
■ Why doesn’t Solomon Singer move back with his parents in Indiana?
■ How could Indiana be mixed into his blood?
■ Why doesn’t he come to Colorado? We have hotels here with bal-conies and purple walls.
■ Why does he keep coming back to the Westway Café?
■ Is the waiter really an angel?
■ Did his dreams come true?
We talk about the questions a bit, and I ask the children to think about which ones seem the most intriguing: “Which one would you most like to talk about with someone else?” I record their choices.
“Listen again to the story,” I say to them the next day, “and when I finish, get together with the children who are interested in discussing the same question as you are. I’ve written the questions and the names of the children who have chosen them on construction paper envelopes like this one. The paper inside is for you to record your thinking and anything new you wonder about. Be ready to share your work in about twenty minutes.”
Sometimes I ask the children to record their answers first, share them with their group, then record their thinking again, noting how or whether their answers have changed, and why. I also encourage children who are reading the same book independently to get together in small groups to share their questions and ideas.
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I design lessons like the one that follows to provide one last scaffold before I ask children to apply a strategy independently. The lesson also helps me assess which children may need extra support in small-group work and/or individual conferences.
I choose Amelia’s Road by Linda Altman because I know that while children will identify with Amelia, her parents, and her teacher, they’ll also
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have questions about migrant farmworkers, labor camps, and why a little girl cries every time her father takes out a road map.
I’ve prepared a chart and a record sheet for children that are almost identical. Over the span of two or three days, everything we do together in the large group I ask children to do in their own reading as well. For example, on the first day, we
■ read the story aloud.
■ record our questions on sticky notes.
■ place them on the chart.
■ choose a burning question we want to focus on the next day.
After the lesson, children do the same things—they
■ read independently.
■ record their questions on sticky notes.
■ place them on their record sheets.
■ choose a burning question each wants to focus on the next day.
The next day we reread the story, focusing on our burning question.
We work together to answer the question and spend time reflecting on what helped us most. The children then respond in writing to their individual questions during independent reading time and reflect on what helped them most. (See the class chart of Amerlia’s Road and Cory’s corresponding response to Tut’s Mummy Lost and Found at the start of Chapter 1.)