Noticed and Noted

Notice and Note Lesson

Here's my grade 7/8 lesson plan in brief. I'm sharing it because it went so well and I'm so impressed with how the students engaged as collaborators, readers, and developed their skills as close readers. I took my inspiration from this amazing resource book Notice and Note. 

This text by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst has inspired me because it makes so much sense. I have also gained inspiration from the Facebook group which is full of great ideas and discourse about the close reading strategies in the book. https://www.facebook.com/groups/260078764136335.  So far with my class I have covered the first three signposts using the lessons directly from the resource. 

For this lesson I have selected some good but simple picture books. I used The Magnificent Thing, Whimsy's Heavy Things, The Invisible Boy, The Dot, and Ish.  

They are all rich picture books with great deep messages. Any set of such books will work.

I gave one book to each group of 4 students. Students have to each take on a role:  reporter, reader, recorder, and orderer. In the group they read the book, identified the signposts using sticky notes in the text, recorded and responded to them in a reading log, and then gave a short presentation to the class explaining how the signposts helped them understand the author's message. 

After the presentations, they each independently wrote down their own description of how the signposts helped them understand the book. 

My students chose to present their findings by reading the stories to the class. Each group did it their own way and some creative things happened. One group used sound effects to indicate signposts!  So while one student was reading the story, another made the sound (using an iPod touch) and then described the signpost. Another group held up pictures to enhance the story visually. I asked the students to complete a reflection activity at the end including assessing themselves and their group members on their collaborative skills, 2 stars and a wish, as well as a reflection on how he signposts helped them understand the author's message. 

I'm very happy with how it turned out. The kids were all engaged, they enjoyed the activity, they were challenged, and they were able to use the signpost strategy to read deeply.  

My next steps are to teach the next three signposts and then do the activity again with different groupings and different books.

I'd like to thank @Leslie_hodgins for giving me this fabulous resource. Here is a link to the rubric I provided to students for reflection. https://docs.google.com/a/rscloud.ca/document/d/14w9f3Yld3ky3YbfS0PLazH-S2-wfCy0-iCn48StSCAg/edit?usp=docslist_api