Here are two questions from a worksheet I once used:
- What are the different perspectives about Veteran’s Day?
- Why is it important to recognize Veteran’s Day?
These are begging for a re-write:
The Problems
The first question just asks for a list of perspectives. A student could write:
- “veterans and non-veterans”
- “teachers and kids”
- “me, my sister, and my dog”
And that’s exactly what I asked for! Did I want my students to define the perspectives? Contrast them? I didn’t make it clear what I wanted.
Then, the second question doesn’t build on the first question. It goes in a whole new direction, never referencing those different perspectives I asked for.
This is why it’s so important to answer your own questions or, as I call it, taste your soup. I didn’t start finding these kinds of problems until I tried out my own worksheets.
What I Changed
So, first, I’d actually give students two perspectives which I purposefully picked. It could be veterans and non-veterans. Or it could be veterans from different wars (perhaps World War II and Vietnam?). Then I can build my sequence around those two, purposefully picked points of view.
- Part 1: How can Veterans’ Day be a positive experience for veterans? How can it be a negative experience?
- Part 2: How do you, as a non-veteran, experience Veterans’ Day differently than a veteran?
- Part 3: Why is it important for both groups to celebrate Veteran’s Day?
- Possible Final Product: Design a poster that makes your argument from Part 3.
- Possible Post-Product Thinking: Tour the posters in your class. Pick the one that you find most surprising.
Remember, I build around Checkpoints. Students won’t see Part 2 until they’ve completed Part 3 to my satisfaction.
Do you see the difference in thinking this sequence will prompt? Yes, we ask a similar question about importance in the end, but the scaffolds we’ve built will help students to reach a much higher level of thinking in the end.
And notice that the final product, in this case a poster, isn’t the main point of the sequence. It’s just a method for showing off students’ thinking.