Skip to main content

Literary Discussion Strategies

I chose to investigate the following four discussion strategies: Pose-Pause-Bounce-Pounce, Golden Lines, Question Wall, and Response Logs.

1. PPBP
Upon an initial Google search, I happened across a Guardian article from 2011 about this very strategy and how it was rolled out to the author by one of his colleagues. He lauds the strategy for fostering dialogue and critical thinking, as a new way to open discussions. The steps should occur as follows: Pose - the teacher poses an open question for the purpose of encouraging dialogue. Students are instructed to keep their hands down, and instead of answering right away or before the question is even completely posed, they are directed to
Pause - and think. They are given a considerable time to think about their immediate answer, and reflect on how to produce this answer, to fill out the nuances and hit all areas of the question. When reflection has gone on for as long as the teacher feels is necessary, she picks one student to Bounce - answer the question as quickly as possible. Require the student chosen to answer, especially given the time to consider an answer. After the student answers, immediately prompt the Pounce - where another student is chosen to react to the first student's answer.
I would probably use this technique before assigning a written response, in order to get students brainstorming for what they write. After hearing from their classmates, I think they would have a more comprehensive idea of what they want to put on paper.

2. Golden Lines
This strategy stuck out to me mainly because I have studied Golden Lines in literature and, as they are few and far between, I like the concept of them being more prevalent due to student interpretation. The resource I found denotes them as a effective strategy because it can sometimes be difficult for students to put their reactions in their own words, so instead they find something significant that the author has said. The student must explain why that quote is significant, and make connections. The resource recommended the think-pair-share methods so that students can share their Lines with each other. It also recommended having students also use nonlinguistic representations of the lines, which simply means that they use something that is not written or spoken word - such as pictures or movement.
I would either assign this at the beginning or end of a book. When we are a few chapters in, it would help students identify their understanding before we got further and they lost interest from lack of understanding. I think it would also help the students get engaged and make early connections that made them want to keep reading. At the end of the book, I would use this as a summing up. I would assign each student or groups of students a chapter and have them find lines within that chapter.

3. Question Wall
I have used this idea in professional settings many times - we call it a "Parking Lot" as opposed to a question wall, and it contains questions that can wait to the end of the day, or are to be asked anonymously, or could not be asked verbally for any number of reasons. This question wall appears to exist for different reasons, but the principle is still similar. I found a resource that has something similar, though it is obviously for younger grades. The idea is a Wonder Wall, for questions that students ask but that the teacher can not answer. Such a wall would be appropriate for all ages, but the suggestions on the website make it clear that it is intended for a younger audience in their eyes. I think the Wonder Wall is a great idea for elementary and middle schoolers especially, and could be a place where students can ask questions about the book they are reading in class whenever they think of it. If there is sustained silent reading time, a student could quietly put the question on the Wall without disrupting classmates, but also so that they didn't forget the question. If they read the book at home, then they could put the question up as soon as they get into class and not have to worry about timing the question right.

4. Response Logs
It would appear that the Response Log examples on our list are a little different from what many teachers consider to be response logs. The examples that I have found on the internet have mainly been where the teacher gives a question and the students must write a response. It appears that the point is similar, however, as both work to check in with the students and see how they are faring with their book. The difference is that one appears to be self-driven and the other is purely in response. It would seem that the guided question would be best for younger students, whereas the self-generated logs are for middle school and older. If I were working with middle school students, I would take the response log a little further and make it into a Feelings and Reactions log. I am thinking this in terms of books that have high emotional content, which might cause the students to feel some kind of way but not know how to express that. In their log, they could have time to write their feelings as soon as they feel them (while reading) and, given time to write, perhaps they can more eloquently express what those feelings are.

Resource List:
Connell, G. (2013, January 24). Reading Response Forms and Graphic Organizers. Retrieved from https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/blog-posts/genia-connell/reading-response-forms-and-graphic-organizers/
McGill, R. M. (2011, November 17). How to move your lessons from good to outstanding. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2011/nov/17/lessons-good-to-outstanding-afl-questioning
St. Clair County Regional Educational Service Agency. (2009) The Golden Line. Retrieved from http://www.sccresa.org/downloads/common_core/the_golden_line_20110329_115744_106.pdf
Warner, Mark. (2015). The Wonder Wall. Retrieved from http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/
classroom-management/the-wonder-wall

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Chapter 4 - Researcher

For this chapter, I chose to do some research on celadon, to better understand how it fit historically into Korean and Chinese market systems. It appears that, true to the novel, Korean celadon was prized in Imperial China as much as Chinese celadon. The techniques really were different enough to justify specifying where the pottery comes from. It turns out that a specific province of Korea was famous for inventing a technique that was not known in China, and therefore made these pieces of pottery highly valuable to Chinese royals. There is more information on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's website . I also researched Korean expressions of respect, which were slightly discussed in this chapter and throughout the book, and many of those mentioned are still in practice to this day. For example, bowing is still a common form of respect, though shaking hands has also become more popular with the proliferation of Western culture. Eye contact between an inferior and superior is consi...

Maus - Quote

It was difficult to find "substantial quotes" in the story of Maus because it is a graphic novel and there are not long quotes, but I found one that struck me in the context of the story. On page 56, several of the mice have been taken to a prison and are in despair of the conditions. They are treated terribly, even compared to the other prisoners, and they want nothing more than to get out. There is a sign that appears asking for workers for labor assignments, and the artist's father, the main character of the story, argues with his cellmates about volunteering. His quote is "I'm not going to die and I won't die here! I want to be treated like a human being!" The quote is startling for several reasons. First, in the context of the situation, in the middle of the Holocaust where so many human beings were not treated humanely, there is this expression of outrage at being mistreated. I think that, after a time, such a desire is taken away - especially for...

Chapter 6 - Connector

I made two connections to this chapter that were meaningful to me personally.  In the book, Tree Ear praises Min's work highly in his mind, and notes that Min's pieces seem to be alive, as if they would leap off the market stand. This reminds me of the potter in Ella Enchanted, a gnome named Agulen who makes pottery that is so lifelike as to appear alive.  The other connection I made was to Greek pottery - I took a Classical Art and Architecture class in undergraduate, and the Greeks had a technique for making poetry that was either red-figures on a black background or black figures on a red background. There was a specific way to get either style, but it made a similar effect to Kang's pottery with the black and red inlay work. The Greeks also did inlay work on a variety of their artwork - pottery, metals, jewelry, and many other things.  I think it is fascinating that artwork in far-removed places might turn out to have similarities. The Koreans and the Greeks had li...