4th Grade Readers
Before the Veteran's Day holiday, I sent home some work from our fourth grade readers. We have been using Junior Great Books (JGB) to hone our reading skills. The first story we read was Thank You Ma'am by Langtston Hughes.
In this story, a boy (Roger) receives some unexpected help from Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones - whose purse he had tried to steal!
In JGB, students read stories repeatedly for deeper understanding and have open ended discussions about them. My role in these discussions is as a facilitator, asking questions to encourage student understanding. This method of Socratic questioning has been a major focus for IBJ this year - specifically through the National Paideia Center - which is and awesome, national organization that promotes this method of learning.
Students processed their understanding of the story by writing a thank you note to Mrs. Jones - something Roger couldn't manage in the story.
Lots of great responses were written. Here's one for you to consider:
In this story, a boy (Roger) receives some unexpected help from Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones - whose purse he had tried to steal!
In JGB, students read stories repeatedly for deeper understanding and have open ended discussions about them. My role in these discussions is as a facilitator, asking questions to encourage student understanding. This method of Socratic questioning has been a major focus for IBJ this year - specifically through the National Paideia Center - which is and awesome, national organization that promotes this method of learning.
Students processed their understanding of the story by writing a thank you note to Mrs. Jones - something Roger couldn't manage in the story.
Lots of great responses were written. Here's one for you to consider:
Dear Mrs. Jones,
Thank you for the money. I took your advice to not steal from others. I have no need to steal any more. I bought the shoes, they fit quite comfortably. I told my family about you,they are grateful. They want to meet you. I am very grateful as well.
When I stopped stealing it was like an great weight was lifted off my shoulders. I was free! I`m sorry I tried to steal your pocket book. Now I see that it was wrong. But I`m sort of glad I did it otherwise we would have never have met.Thank you again!
Sincerely,
Roger
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