Compare and Contrast

Our current ELA unit in sixth grade focuses on the priority standard Rl.6.9: comparing and contrasting one author's presentation of events with that of another. Throughout the week, students read two articles on Malala. When reading the first article titled, "Malala the Powerful", we created a circle map. The focus was to jot down all of the important details on Malala's life that led her into being the female education activist she is today.

Once we finished creating our circle map on the first article, students went on to read the second article titled, "Nobel Prize winner Malala". They worked independently to read, annotate and highlight the important information from the article to then create a circle map. The following day, students shared their circle maps with their shoulder partners and wrote down any facts they missed the first time. This helped them share their knowledge but also gain new information to help them with the next activity. 

Lastly, students used the two circle maps they created in their ELA notebooks to compare and contrast the two articles they read on Malala. They worked independently to create their double-bubble maps. Afterwards, the students did a placemat consensus to decide on the key details to include in their group double-bubble map. I handed them a poster to work on and jot all of the important ideas they agreed to. Overall, they learned a lot about Malala just by reading the two articles and did a great job working together to share their knowledge.