What is Susan making?

What is Susan making?

Pencil and paperOnline interactive
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Working with Students
Further Resources
This task is about predicting what a poem could be describing by making inferences.
You will read a poem in three parts, one part at a time.
After reading each part:
  1. in the left hand boxes, predict all the things you think the poem is describing.
  2. in the right hand boxes, explain how the evidence in the text, and what you know, supports your predictions.

Question 1Change answer

The _____________________
 
Susan makes me a _____________________,
a fire to wind around
my neck ...
Part 1
I think this poem could be describing any one of these things:  because:

Question 1Change answer

The _____________________
 
Susan makes me a _____________________,
a fire to wind around
my neck,
a streak of sunset,
a tangerine tiger's tail,
a giant jaffa roll,
a finger of lava ...
Part 2
Now I think this poem could be describing any one of these things:  because:

Question 1Change answer

The _____________________
 
Susan makes me a _____________________,
a fire to wind around
my neck,
a streak of sunset,
a tangerine tiger's tail,
a giant jaffa roll,
a finger of lava,
a neon sign
that tells the cold
to keep away.
Part 3
Now I think this poem could be describing any one of these things:  because:
 

Question 1Change answer

Pause, look, and think back: Something I'm still wondering about is:

Question 1Change answer

To do this activity, you used the reading strategy of making inferences.

 
Select any other reading strategy you used and describe when and how you used this reading strategy for this poem:

 
Making connections between what I know  yesno
Asking questions yesno
Creating a picture in my head, or visualising yesno
Identifying the writer's purpose yesno
Identifying the main idea yesno
Summarising yesno
Analysing and synthesising ideas and information yesno
Evaluating ideas and information yesno
Task administration: 

This task can be completed using pencil and paper or online (without auto marking).

Three important points to tell students are:

  1. There is no right answer. The best answers are based on combining what they already know and the evidence in the text.
  2. The left hand boxes are for brainstorming what the poem could be describing, and the right hand boxes are for giving evidence from both the poem and their knowledge that supports their predictions.
  3. When reading a new part, use the new evidence to build on previous evidence, but not to erase any of their previous ideas when new evidence is shown.
  • For this comprehension exercise, the poem needs to be revealed to the students in three stages. That is why it has been presented in three parts.
  • The poem can be presented as a class, group, or individual activity. Teachers could model this resource with a large group, then select other progressive disclosure resources for students to work on in pairs, for example.
Caution: this poem may be initially interpreted as having something to do with suicide.
Copyright: 
The Scarf - Text and images first published by Learning Media Limited for the Ministry of Education. Text written by Jenny Powell-Chalmers with illustrations from Kirsty Lillico. Copyright Janny Powell-Chalmers, 2004. 
 
Source: School Journal, Part 3, Number 1, Learning Media, 2004.
Level:
4
Curriculum info: 
English, Making meaning, Reading
Key Competencies: 
Thinking
Keywords: 
comprehension, inference, synthesis, poetry, progressive disclosure, self-assessment, SJ-3-1-2004
Description of task: 
This comprehension task involves progressively disclosing a poem to students. It assesses their ability to use evidence from the poem to work out what it could be describing. SJ-3-1-2004. Text provided.
Curriculum Links: 
Links to the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading:
This resource helps to identify students’ ability to:
  • use comprehension strategies
  • monitor their reading for accuracy and sense
as described in the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading at: http://www.literacyprogressions.tki.org.nz/The-Structure-of-the-Progressions.
Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with
Making sense of text: processing system, set 5
Reading for literary experience, set 5
within the Reading Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 
    Y9 (04/2005)
Part 1
  • Student refers to evidence that "it" goes around a neck, e.g., 'You could put a necklace around your neck'.
  • Student refers to evidence that "it" is warm/hot or brightly coloured, e.g., 'It burns like fire'.
 very easy
 
moderate
Part 2
  • Student refers to evidence (directly or implicitly) that "it" is made up of warm/hot/orangey colours, e.g., 'It's got heaps of fiery colours on it'.
  • Student refers to evidence (directly or implicitly) that "it" is long or thin, e.g., 'They are all long things'.
  • At least one idea is consistent with evidence in Part 1.
moderate
very difficult
moderate
Part 3
  • Student refers to evidence that "it" keeps the cold away, e.g., 'A scarf keeps you warm'.
  • Student refers to evidence of a neon sign, i.e., "It" is bright or brightly coloured, e.g., 'The colours are bright summer colours', building on evidence from Parts 1 and 2.
  • At least one idea is consistent with evidence in Part 1.
 easy
 
difficult
 
moderate
Diagnostic and formative information: 

An analysis of student responses from the trial identified two main areas of difficulty:

1. Making links to multiple pieces of evidence:
 
The findings from the trial of this resource indicate that students were able to recall and apply the main piece of evidence given in Part 1 of the poem, i.e., "It" is something that goes around a neck. Some students also combined this with 'Susan makes me a …', and thought about what Susan could make. However, students found it increasingly difficult to make links to more than one piece of evidence within any one part. This could be because of the nature of the text, that students found the metaphorical language, especially in Part 2, difficult to interpret and unpack.
A model from the trial of this resource by a student who did make links to all the evidence given in Part 1 is shown below:
Part 1 
I think this poem could be describing any one of these things:
A scarf        because:       The scarf is warm like a fire and I wind it around my neck. I thought of past experiences of putting scarves on that my Nan had made for me. 
 
Inference involves linking evidence in the text with prior knowledge. A useful think-aloud and/or conversation for teachers and students to have when learning the strategy of inference is:

When I use the strategy of inference, I think, 'Do I know this because I've experienced it myself, or have I read it somewhere else, or learnt it by being told'?
 

2. Articulating links to evidence.
 
While the nature of their answers showed that students had synthesised evidence across all parts of the text, students did not explicitly explain the links they had made to evidence. In an assessment task, students need to explain their processing, either through talking or writing, as this informs both their learning and their next teaching steps.
A model from the trial of this resource where a student did explain their synthesis is shown below:
Part 3  
Now I think the poem is most likely describing:
A scarf             because:              The colours of the tiger's tail etc (Part 2 evidence) are the colours on the scarf, like a scarf which has strands of different colours, and the neon sign to tell the cold to go away (Part 3 evidence) is because the scarf is warm and keeps the cold away when I wind it around my neck. (Part 1 evidence)
 
References:
Effective Literacy Practice in Years 1 to 4, Comprehension Strategies, p131-134, Learning Media, 2003.
Explaining Reading: A Resource for Teaching Concepts, Skills, and Strategies, Gerald G. Duffy, The Guilford Press, 2003.