How do you start your lessons? My students come out to a portable for their ESL time. This means that sometimes they trickle in. I use "Think and Writes" as bell work to get everyone thinking while we wait for all students to make it in. It also allows me to sneak in a small writing task at the start of each class.
I have 5 skills that I generally use with Think and Writes: Same and Different, I See, Here's the Answer, List, and What Doesn't Belong? There are also others I sprinkle in like: Would You Rather, Memory Sentence, Math Minute, or just about anything else I see that my students need more practice with.
Here's how it works: I choose a skill for the day as well as a theme. Today, I am going to share the skill Same and Different.
A Same and Different prompt always has two pictures. If we are studying adaptations, I might have a real photograph of an owl and a bat. Students must then think about what the two animals have in common and how they are different. Then, they will write one sentence that tells how they are the same and one sentence that tells how they are different. I am hoping that someone will identify a body part that we can discuss as an adaptation. If they don't and it is truly a same or different sentence, that is still ok- Lots of language is being used!
Someone in the group will most likely mention that the owl and the bat both can fly. Someone might say that they are both nocturnal. Someone else might mention that the bat sleeps in a cave, but that the owl sleeps in a tree. Someone might write that owls are birds, but bats are mammals. Someone else might even bring up echolocation! Students will surprise you with all they know or don't know. We can clear up misconceptions as well as hit a lot of academic vocabulary during this activity.
If you were teaching environments, you could post a picture of a desert and a tundra. Teaching biographies? George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Teaching matter? an ice cube and a glass of water. Teaching character traits? a photograph of a greedy character and a generous character. Teaching solar system? the sun and a planet. The possibilities are endless.
I love that these are suitable to use across the different grade levels I teach with a little tweak to scaffold as needed. I can add a sentence frame, a word box, labels, or a reminder clue. After practicing a few of these together through whole group discussion, students are ready to think and write on their own. We share sentences that we wrote aloud and help out students who are stuck. I also go around the room and stamp students' sentences in their journals as they read them to me. That little incentive goes a long way and shows that I am really expecting my students to write quality sentences. Eventually, some of my groups no longer need the scaffolding, and I can take away sentence frames or other helpers.
Please check out my sample pack by clicking the link below to see some slides of how I use this in my class and how I differentiate it for my different levels of language acquisition. This is a long explanation for a basic skill, but it really only takes 5 minutes once you get into the routine. It also helps prepare students for writing compare and contrast essays!
I will share how I use another skill next time. My goal is to formally make some of these for each theme I teach so that I don't have to create them on the fly.
Happy adventuring,
Heidi
*Think and Writes started with an idea I adapted from a colleague of mine--I am blessed to work on a wonderful ESL team that shares ideas and resources. :) The great thing about ideas you receive from others is how easily you can tailor them to meet your students' needs and your teaching style.
