Literacy Group Discussions

Over the course of three literacy blocks, students participate in literacy group activities.  By the end of the week, after all four rotations are complete, each group will have spent at least 45 minutes at a particular rotational center.  Three of the rotational centers change depending on where the class is in their unit of inquiry, and at what stage the whole class is in for the present writing unit.

A constant however is the literacy group discussion.  Mr. Chan spends approximately 45 minutes with each group, quietly moderating and assessing students' comprehension of a text in addition to a battery of reading and speaking skills.  At this point in the year, students have picked up the routine and expectations of literacy group discussions, so kids are able to focus more on the content and presentation of their discussion group roles.

In 5DC, we are actively pushing ourselves to do things differently.  We would like to become highly creative individuals by the end of the year.  In meeting this goal, students are constantly being challenged to be aware of what they are used to doing (the way they would most naturally do something), and take a step to completing a targeted task differently.  Students are beginning to separate the content from the actual process of presenting from one another.  It is the presentation part of these literacy group discussions that we are targeting for heightened levels of creativity.

The Customers literacy discussion group talk about George's Marvellous Medicine, by Roald Dahl.