A quote to support annotations

Beth Brent gets complete kudos for passing this quote along. I have it posted it my room, and whenever students sigh or comment about having to record their thinking while reading, I respond verbally and encourage them to read this quote. For what it's worth...

“Why is marking a book indispensable to reading it? First, it keeps you awake — not merely conscious, but wide awake. Second, reading, if it is active, is thinking, and thinking tends to express itself in words, spoken or written. The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks. Third, writing your reactions down helps you to remember the thoughts of the author.

Reading a book should be a conversation between you and the author. Presumably he knows more about the subject than you do; if not, you probably should not be bothering with his book. But understanding is a two-way operation; the learner has to question himself and question the teacher, once he understands what the teacher is saying. Marking a book is literally an expression of your differences or your agreements with the author. It is the highest respect you can pay him.”

Cited from: How to Read a Book, originally written by Mortimer Adler in 1940 and revised with Charles van Doren in 1972

Give One Get One with Gots & Needs

-Cindy Henderson

For homework, students were assigned to read chapter 3 in Night, the core text for English 11. While reading, they were to write down three things they understood ("Gots") and three things they did not ("Needs").  The next day in class, they were told to take out the list and they were handed the “Give one Get one” worksheet (just like below.  They were told to visit other classmates to gain one thing they understood from chapter 3.  The chart had 12 squares so each person had to give and get things they understood from the reading, recording those items in squares of the chart. Once their chart was filled, they returned to their tables to discuss with their table mates any "Needs" they did not have answered by the activity.  We then turned to whole group discussion to answer any remaining needs. 

It was awesome! Students were really, actually engaged the whole time, and our conversations about the chapter afterwards was authentic and deep. I am now asking students for their "Gots" and "Needs" on a regular basis. 

Give-One-Get-One Worksheet