Agriculture
Text coding. When giving students an article about a current event, have students mark the text with symbols as they read. Before reading, create the code for the symbols or come up with the symbols as a whole class, but make sure students all use the same symbols to represent the same things. You will want to have a symbol, such as a check mark, represent a statement that confirms a student's thoughts (they agree with it); a symbol, such as an X, represent something that contradicts a student's thoughts (they disagree with it); a symbol, such as a question mark, represent something that raises a question for them (I recommend they write the question in the margins so they don't forget what it was); a symbol, such as a box, represent something that confuses them or is a completely foreign idea to them; a symbol, such as an asterisk, represent something that they believe is important; and a symbol, such as an exclamation point, represent something that they find really interesting or is new to them. After they code the text, you can have them compare and discuss their symbols in pairs, small groups and/or as a whole class. You could extend the activity by having students find more support for what they agree or disagree with in the article, research answers to their questions, and/or find clarification on the confusing information by finding alternate sources of information.
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