In our 4th, 5th, and 6th grade reading comprehension groups, we were focusing on building our understanding of fiction texts. To help us discuss a book and share our thoughts about the characters and events in the text, we used a Kagan structure called Fan-N-Pick. This structure is typically designed for groups of four students, so we modified it a bit to make it work for a group of six students.
We started this structure by having a set of comprehension questions about a fiction text that the students had independently read. Some of the questions focused on parts of the book where the students could go back in the text and find the answer. Other questions asked the students to share their own thoughts about part of the text and explain their thinking. Through the Fan-N-Pick structure, the students each had a role while we worked through each comprehension question. The numbers on the table indicate what job each student had, and we rotated the numbers as we moved on to a new question. We had enough questions to discuss so that each student had a chance to have each role.
Our Fan-N-Pick began with the first student fanning out the questions. The next student picked a card, and then the third student read the question. After the fourth student answered the question, the next student had to paraphrase what was said. This is a difficult role, as the student is trying to restate another student’s answer in his/her own words. The next student added to the response or praised what the previous students had said. This student was able to add on to an answer if he/she felt anything was left out from the original answer or offer praise for a student’s response. Fan-N-Pick allows students to talk about a text and share their thoughts about the characters and events in a collaborative way where all group members get to be involved.
No comments:
Post a Comment