Circle Magic

6 of 31 Slices for the March Slice of Life Story Challenge.
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Thursdays is Socratic discussion day in my classroom. We read a variety of short texts. Students prepare for the discussion by annotating or responding to the text for the week in their journals.Then, in our circle the magic happens.

This quarter we are discussing poetry. Students use the TPCASTT organizer to support their close reading of the poem--soon they won't need the organizer though. They are internalizing the steps and spontaneously considering author's craft and connections. When students know how to get there and can reach for interpretations, they no longer need the support the organizer provides.

That point was clear to me today when a few students in third period made interesting and layered connections to Octavio Paz "The Street" and Mary Oliver's "A Letter from Home."

Katherine connected Paz's use of "nobody" to Odysseus and Polyphemus. She talked through the poem as if the speaker was Polyphemus--an interesting interpretation based on her reading history. She also took a mythological approach to Mary Oliver's "A Letter from Home" by reading the piece as a letter between Demeter and Persephone. She was able to cite evidence from the texts to support her interpretations: Persephone's year has been "broken" and now she spends winter months after the "Harvest moon" and "as the frost comes" away from her mother who represents the harvest (herbs and melons gathered in the poem). While I may not read the poems the way that Katherine did, it is obvious to me she's on her way to understanding analysis. She's approximating and reaching into her experience for what makes sense and adds meaning.

Katherine's preparation for discussion; she completed this at home.