Stop and Jot

Today we taught our students something very important.  Our first thought is not our BEST thought.

Let me say it again.. your first thought is NOT your best thought.

In the past we told our kids to make connections.  They made shallow connections such as, I've used chopsticks before, I like to eat rice, I have a cat.  Now we know better.  We need deep connections.  Everyone uses their background knowledge to connect to a story/movie/game/etc.  But what else do you think?

Today we introduced a Jot Lot.  Our kids already know about stopping and jotting.  This gives them a place to show off their work.  No names are needed, you simply place your sticky note on your number.  Reading each others notes helps to grow their thinking.

We crafted our lesson from Falling In Love With Close Reading.

 We looked at the character in a narrative story using the point of view lens from chapter 5.

Then we read the book Everybody Cooks Rice.

Hmmm. What is the main character thinking? What text evidence do you have to support this? We wrote our first thought on an orange sticky note.  Then we read the book AGAIN talking with our partners about what was happening and used a new lens, what does the author want you to learn from this book. What is her point of view? What evidence do you have to support your thoughts?  This time when we stopped to jot on pink stickies, our thinking was better.  First thoughts - she was looking for her brother.  It was dinner time. 

Second time around -

 all her neighbors have different skin colors but cook the same foods in different ways.

Carrie learned about different cultures and what they eat.  She also learned that everybody eats rice. 

Our closing conversation was about people being basically the same, but also different.  We located each country on a map, of course, and talked about the variety of cultures in Carrie's neighborhood. 

I'm sure, the more we use the Jot Lot, the better our responses will be. But it's not just for reading, this can be used as a place for exit tickets in math, and for scientific thinking as well!