Here are two questions from a worksheet I once used:
- What are the different 👓 perspectives about friendship in Charlotte’s Web?
- 🏛️ Why is it important to value friendship?
These are begging for a re-write.
The Problems
The first question just asks for a list. A student could write:
- “Wilbur and Charlotte”
- “animals and humans”
- “me, my dog, and my teacher”
Okay. Those technically answer my first question. But, I wouldn’t want to end there, right? That’s not deep or complex! Did I want my students to then compare and contrast the perspectives? Rank them? I didn’t make it clear what I wanted beyond a list.
And then, the second question doesn’t build on the first question. I asked for a list, and then I leapt off to another train of thought. Why did we even write the list?
I didn’t notice these major problems until I started actually filling out my own worksheets. This is why I really needed to try answering my own questions. I don’t want to serve rough drafts to my students.
What I’d Change
So, first, I’d give students the specific perspectives. For instance, we could focus on Wilbur and Charlotte, or perhaps contrast Charlotte and Templeton.
Let’s think about how Charlotte and Templeton treat their friends.
Now, I can build a sequence of questions around these deliberately chosen points of view.
- Part 1: How does Charlotte demonstrate friendship toward Wilbur?
- Part 2: How does Templeton’s attitude toward friendship differ from Charlotte’s?
- Part 3: Why was it important for Wilbur to experience both types of relationships?
- Possible Final Product: Create a poster about friendship that shows your message from part 3.
- Possible Post-Product Thinking: Tour the posters in your class. Pick the one that you find most surprising.
And remember, I build around Checkpoints. Students won’t see Part 2 until they’ve completed Part 1 satisfactorily. There’s no reason for a kid to get to Part 3 if they did Part 1 poorly or incorrectly (or just didn’t give it their best).
The Results
Do you see the difference in thinking this sequence will prompt? While we still address the importance of understanding friendship, the scaffolding guides students to a deeper analysis by examining specific characters and their relationships.
And notice that the final product, whether it’s an essay or poster or a presentation, isn’t the main goal of the sequence. It’s simply a medium for students to showcase their thinking.