Get To the Point

this sharp response by Suzanne

Welcome back for Day 2 of our Foldable Frenzy series!  If you missed yesterday, click here.  

This simple foldable asks students to get to the point.  They sort through their ideas until they have carefully chosen one word that best sums up the text.

Start by having students fold their paper like they are beginning to fold a paper airplane (bottom outside corners folded in to the center).  Flip it over and add a squiggly and straight line to make it pencil-like and cute.  

This can be used as a summary strategy.  After reading a text, ask students to tell you what happened in the top section.  Allow them 3-4 minutes to write.  Have students meet in small groups and share their summaries.  Then ask what all of the summaries had in common.  They should write this most important idea in the middle section.  Finally, ask students to find one word that tells me what this story is really about.  This will be a theme word.  You can tell them that or keep it to yourself if you think it'll freak them out.                                                                <---- Check out my example from O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi"

You could also use this as a structure for group discussion.  Pose a question to the class.  Allow students to jot down their thoughts in segments of the first section.  When they discuss, they will write down key ideas and phrases from their classmates in this first section also.  Looking at what each group member contributed, students will synthesize these ideas in to one group response.  From there you could have them provide a one-word summary or have them answer a multiple choice question related to the topic.  I like to do this kind of multiple choice question because it shows students that the power that they possess in their ability to look back at the text.  Sometime those answer choices muddy the waters.  Especially when state assessments near, it's nice to see that they can apply their thinking to successfully answer a multiple choice question.  

Check back tomorrow for a grammar-based foldable fave!