Small Group
Students in the classroom are reading the book, Elijah
of Buxton. While reading this book,
students were asked during the previous lesson to complete a reading guide
where they translated the Emancipation Proclamation into their own words. Each paragraph on the document was translated
into the student's own ideas. The
purpose of this activity is to have students collaborate together on how they
read an article in Old English, and how they collected information from what
they read. I guided a group of 7
students in furthering their understanding and monitored their conversations
and exchanging of ideas. When I first
approached the group setting, I had the students sit in the formation of a
circle; each student could better see their peers for the sake of
communication. I had each student in the
group present to their peers a main idea or their favorite piece of information
that they took away from the reading. I
asked students clarifying questions to check for understanding. I asked the students questions such as,
"What is the Emancipation Proclamation, and what was the purpose of the
document? What are the main points
presented and from which historic figure?"
Students in the group were then responsible for collaborating and coming
to a consensus of a direct translation of the document into modern day
wording. I supported the students in
their group communication by assigning roles as to who in the group would be
the scribe and who would be the first to communicate a translation to the
scribe. After the first person
translated their findings from the reading to the scribe, I asked another
student to communicate their ideas, and so on.
Following the translation, the group turned in their note card with their
written ideas on it for a grade.