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Across the Table

12/7/2012

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Across the Alley book cover
One thing I've been trying to do with my Grade 3s this year is to engage them in rich dialogue (or, as the Ministry calls it, "Grand Conversation") about a variety of "big" topics to do with equity and social justice.

ETFO's "Social Justice Begins with Me" kit has provided many of the rich mentor texts I've been using for this endeavour, and with the new Smart Board in my classroom this year, I have found it quite practical to prepare "lessons" for these picture books in advance.

Today was an especially successful day, in terms of rich thinking being promoted through group conversation.  It was Day 3 of a 3-day lesson about this book (well, Day 4, if you include the "preview day", where I put a bunch of random words form the story up on a chart paper, and had students predict what the story might be about, before showing them the cover and reading them the title, and then the synopsis on the back cover).

Students had had the opportunity to listen to the story thrice:  Once, as they selected a character (Abe, Willie or Grandfather), and wrote in role at various topping points throughout the readaloud, a second time when they completed a "Bloom of the Whole Self" while listening to the story again, following which we practiced using comparing and contrasting words from page 26 of Many Roots, Many Voices by writing sentences describing similarities and differences between the two main characters in the book. 

And, today, students heard the story a third time, as they considered various thinking questions about personal strengths and affinities, family pressures, and general values in society, before going off to have a "grand conversation" with their group, using the elements of rich talk we have been practising all year.

Finally, today, it all came together...

Picture
Students used their indoor voices, they sat facing each other, only one person from each group spoke at a time, and I heard several people linking to and building on to what others were saying, asking questions to extend thinking, and disagreeing contructively to deepen understanding.  Truly, it was one of those moments where you pause and think, "hey, maybe I'm not such a bad teacher"!

I invite you to check out the slides below, if you would like to read and discuss this book with your own students:

across_the_alley_conversation_after.notebook
File Size: 339 kb
File Type: notebook
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    About Vera...

    Vera & her Sons, April 2021
    After writing for several teacher and multiple birth publications, including ETFO's Voice Magazine, Multiple Moments, and the Bulletwin, Vera turned her written attention to prolific blogging for some years, including BiB,  "Learn to Fly with Vera!"  and SMARTbansho .  In 2014, Homeschooling 4 was her travel blog in Argentina.  She now spends more time on her Instagram (@schalgzeug_usw)  than her blog (pictures are worth a thousand words?!) and moderates several Facebook groups in Canada and Mexico.

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    DISCLAIMER
    The views expressed on this blog are the views of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the perspectives of her family members or the position of her employer on the the issues she blogs about.  These posts are intended to share resources, document family life, and encourage critical thought on a variety of subjects.  They are not intended to cause harm to any individual or member of any group. By reading this blog and viewing this site, you agree to not hold Vera liable for any harm done by views expressed in this blog.
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Vera C. Teschow, OCT, M.Ed., MOT
Toronto, ON & St Peter's Harbour, PE
www.verateschow.ca 2023
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