Where does student understanding break down?

I really like Gallagher’s idea of first and second draft reading.  I actually use those terms when discussing the process of reading and designing reading assignments.

Gallagher offers several activities to deepen students’ understanding of complex texts and I chose this activity for the following reason.  Last week, as an exit ticket,  I had asked the class to answer the following question: “What did you struggle with today”?  Only 3 students were able to accurately pinpoint where their understanding broke down.  I decided this aspect of meta cognition is worth practicing,  and it also dovetails with revising how to generate dense questions.

Gallagher suggests the students use a bookmark to mark their confusions.  I handed out colorful paint chips (which I use for working with words).

Some students wrote down words that prevented them form making sense of the text.

However, many of the students generated insightful questions about the themes, symbols and characters in LOTF.  I was impressed.