Good Reader Response Questions

http://www.lauracandler.com/filecabinet/literacy/PDFLC/questio.pdf

Seedfolks Pre-During-Post Activities

Pre

Students will read about Paul Fleischman. They will discuss his purpose in writing this story. Students will act out his biography. Students will make predictions of what the story will be about.

Students will discuss their neighborhoods and what it is like to be a neighbor. Students will discuss what can bring a neighborhood up or down.

A brief (real) history of the setting of the story.

We will have a class discussion on what a multiple voiced narrative is and how to tackle it with little or no confusion.

 

During

Discussion question: Why does Ana assumes negative things about Kim? How does she feel when she realizes she was wrong?

Discussion question: Why do you think that the young become old and the old become young when they immigrate to America.

Discussion question:  How do a person’s cultural customs, traditions, language, media, and art influence how they think about other cultures and religions.

Drawing Activity: Draw a picture of the garden and what the characters are planting and where and why

Character Graphic Organizer:

Name	Age	Ethnicity	What they are planting and why.

.

Post

Writing Activity: Write yourself in the story. Write your own personal experience. What you would plant and why?

Writing Activity: Pick one of the main themes of the book and write a 2-3 page paper on the connections you made with the book as someone who lives in New York City.

 Major themes include: Immigration, Urban city life, Breaking down of cultural barriers within a community, Community needs and values, Diversity, Importance of Character Voice, Importance of  Language, Working together, Gardening,)

Seedfolks Writing Activities

• Pair up with another person in the class and create a script between two characters in the story and predict what kind of a conversation they would have. What would they talk about? What would they have in common? What would make them different or what would they argue about? Would they learn from each other?

• Pick one character from the book and write their extended and detailed biography or write in the first personal and write it as their autobiography. What important experiences have they been through? Have they been discriminated against? What are their goals in life? What are their fears? Where did they learn their ideologies from?

• Keep a journal and respond to each character as yourself. What do you think about the character. What did like you/dislike/admire about them? Can you relate to them? Do you know anyone who can?

• Write a letter as yourself to one of the characters in the book. Console them. Give them advice. Ask them questions. Compliment them. Critique them. Make it personal and meaningful as if they were a real person.
• Create a sociological newspaper article on the conditions of living in Cleveland during the time of this book. What are the living conditions? What are the health violations? Are the streets clean? Are the apartments up to code? IS the area safe? What are the demographics of the people living in this area? Is there racism or discriminations? What are some of the known stereotypes? Is this city falling apart or is there a way to improve it? If you were mayor how would you improve Cleveland?
• Write a poem about one of the characters in the 1^st person or in the 3^rd person.

Seedfolks as a Liturature Circle Activity

What are Literature Circles

• Small peer-led discussion groups whose members have chosen to read the same story, poem, article or book.

• Group size ranges from 2-6 students

• Time limits range from 30-45 minutes

• Basic staples include independent reading, collaborative learning, and reader response

The importance of Lituratue circles

• Promotes collaboration

• Promotes participation

• Promotes accountability for assignments

• Promotes multicultural, multivoices perspectives

• Less anxiety prome participation

Key Ingredients

• Student choice
• Small temporary groups
• Notes to guide discussions
• Topics from the students not the teacher
• Open, natural conversations
• Teachers serves as facilitator and observer
• Student self-assessment

Assign each student in the group a role:

 

Connector

Your job is to connect the text to your own life and experiences or to today's society and culture as a whole. How does what you read relate to your community, your school, your family, or your world? What does the reading remind you of? Can you connect this reading to something else we’ve read in class?

Date	Page of Passage	Summary of Passage	Connection

Discussion Director

Your job is to ask questions about the book. Questions that will make other students think and generate discussion. What did you think about as you read? What do you predict will happen next? What questions would you ask a character or the author?

Date	Questions	Your Response to Questions
	1.
	2.
	1.
	2.

Literary Luminary

Your job is to find important passages within the text that your group will discuss. Passages that will get your group thinking about a powerful, interesting, amazing, sad,  or funny part in the book. You and your group members will then discuss the passage and how the passage affected you.

Date	Page and Paragraph	Why did you select this passage?

Artful Illustrator

Your job is to make members of the group visualize what is happening in the book. Each day after you read add something to your drawing that represents an important aspect of your book. You can draw something that happened in your book, something the book reminds you of, or a feeling you get from the book. Show your drawings to the group and have members guess the meaning and then share your experiences.

Date	Illustration

Adapted from Harvey Daniels

Summarizer

Your job is to summarize the key points and events in your reading. You will always be the first one to present to your group.

Date	Pages	Summary

Word Wizard

Your job is to find words that you do not know in the reading. First, try to figure out what they mean in context and later check your answer with a dictionary. Try to choose words that you know your group will be unfamiliar with. If you cannot find a word you do not know, select words that are interesting to you that you and your group members could later use in your writing. You might select words that stand out a lot in your reading. Maybe they are repeated frequently, used in an interesting way, or key to the meaning of the text.

Date	Word	Page Number and Paragraph	Definition and Plan for discussion
	1.
	2.
	1.
	2.

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