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What Do Crime Scenes and Expository Texts Have in Common?

9/30/2018

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What do crime scenes and expository texts have in common? Students investigated this question today during literacy.
 
1. We started with setting up a crime scene using crime scene tape, a half-empty bag of snacks, scissors covered in orange dust and my co-teacher with orange dusted fingertips. 
 
2. We discussed how detectives use tools to find evidence, and then distributed “TSI” (Text Scene Investigation) tools. 
 


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3. Three leveled groups investigated the same text for different things, based on their learning needs and the lesson target. 

​Students were highly engaged and even made unprompted requests for the tools the very next day!

 
 
If you would like to try something like this, you can download the lesson plan and the TSI tool here. 
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Engaging Students with Higher Level Thinking and Rule Breaking

9/17/2018

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Writing on the desk is off limits in most classrooms - which is probably why students try to get away with it! These high school co-teachers decided to let their students break the rules using dry erase markers to capture their thinking. 

The economics lesson was on the general principals of supply and demand. After presenting a mini-lecture and review of vocabulary, they asked each student to draw an object of their choosing that could serve as a metaphor or visual analogy for the ideas. Students were highly engaged in drawing and explaining their thinking to peers and the co-teachers. 

Think of a concept that you'll be teaching in the next few weeks that would lend itself to a visual analogy. With younger students, you will need to model the process with your own object. Then encourage them to think of alternate objects that could also represent the concept. Hesitant to have students draw on the desks? Use whiteboards, paper plates, napkins or some other unusual surface to make it novel and engaging. 

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    Anne M. Beninghof

    Anne's mission is to improve instruction through collaboration and the sharing of creative, practical ideas for educators.

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