Building the Context of Cooperation

Now that we surveyed some sources about the Maya and read a few chapters from Tree Girl, students have a narrative going about the Maya. However, there are many gaps in their narrative, and so students are ready to dive into research armed with some of the reading practices we've been doing together. Through inquiry, students will build a context for what is coming up in their reading. The massacre at Rio Negro and Dos Terres in rendered in several chapters of Tree Girl, and I want students to have some idea about this living as a modern Maya before getting into the complex issues of 1980s Guatemala.

Here are the goals for today's learning and practice:

• vocabulary,  Tree Girl: cooperative, lingua franca
• vocabulary, research: source, plagiarism, quote/citation, paraphrase, summary
• strategy: research logs

Procedure: 
1. I modeled how to set up notes for a research log (Cornell inspired):

•  source and date at the top, 
• one column for topic specific words and definitions -- often bolded or in italics, 
• one column for quotes (exact words of the author to avoid plagiarism) and bullet points (paraphrasing observations or facts), and 
• the bottom of the notes for a summary. 

2. I then showed a sample and talked through the notes and how I might use them in my research paper:

3. Before getting to the sources, I talked a bit about reading images.  Many of our sources are going to be images, so it was important to talk to students about "reading" an image and that after watching a slide show, for example, they can actually write down inferences for their research.
4. Because our purpose for reading is to understand what the Maya do for cooperation and democracy, I asked that students look for quotes, facts, and examples of people working together, sharing knowledge, and trusting each other to do their part. After students take notes, they write a summary of their findings in that source, so all summaries should try to synthesize the "text," thinking about how what we read or viewed provides clues as to cooperation in Maya society. Students create one research log per source. Today, all students viewed a video on farming and the market and then read about the people of Guatemala.

 

5. We had one computer cart in class -- or 13 computers. So that students could have their own computer and so that each student could manipulate or move through the research as he or she needed, we divided the class into two groups. Because of the grouping (see below), I was able to give a lot of individual attention to students. For example, in the research group, I could monitor their note taking, talk to them about what they noticed in the images, and also talk to them how they might use their notes later. For the reading group, I was able to watch their active reading, see their faces as they grappled with the text, ask them questions about what they were understanding, and see how they were responding to the study guide (sometimes encouraging them to go back to the text).

• Group one used the computers for research. As they located sources, they took notes in their research log -- one log for each source.
• Group two, read Tree Girl. The students started by looking at the study guide to set a purpose for reading, and then they read Chapter 3 with attention to the study guide's vocabulary, themes, and events.
• Then, the two groups switched.

Homework: Read through chapter 4 in Tree Girl and complete the study guide through chapter 4.