Discussion+Strategies

=__**GIST (Generating Interactions between Schemata and Text)**__ =

The goal of GIST is to have students convey the “gist” of what they read by summarizing the text in 20 words or less, it could be a chapter in a textbook, a poem or a historical document. Students will work to revise their summaries until they meet the 20-word goal. The activity forces students to discard extraneous details and focus their reading on what is really important.

I like this strategy quite a bit. I actually used it while I did my AVID training and it worked very well. We had to read the [|AVID Mission Statement] and then construct a GIST of 20 words that described what AVID was, using our own interpretation and statement.This a [|GIST template.]

We created our own sentence, but we used reinforced ideas and terms to create something unique.

I would use GIST as a group activity in my classroom as an after reading strategy. I think that students would creatively come up with an outstanding summary of a chapter in less than 20 words. This strategy will really help students develop their own strategy so that in the future they can define a series of print in less time and with more meaning. This strategy can work at any level of academics, including collegiate.

This is a video that I found that explains the strategy quite well.

=__Think-Pair-Share__ =

The Think-Pair-Share strategy is a remarkable way to differentiate instruction by providing students time and structure for thinking on any given topic, enabling them to formulate individual ideas and share these ideas with a peer...hence, Think (individually) Pair (partner). This learning strategy promotes classroom participation by encouraging a high degree of student response, rather than using a simplistic method in which a teacher poses a question and one student offers a response.

Additionally, this strategy provides an opportunity for all students to share their thinking with at least one other student which, in turn, increases their sense of involvement and participation in classroom learning. Think-Pair-Share can also be used as an information assessment tool; as students discuss their ideas, the teacher can circulate and listen to the conversations taking place and respond accordingly.

In this strategy, a topic is posed and students have time to //think// about it individually, they then work in //pairs// to solve the problem and //share// their ideas with the class at the end of the lesson. Think-Pair-Share is easy to use within a planned lesson, but is also an easy strategy to use for spur-of-the-moment discussions. This strategy can be used for a wide variety of daily classroom activities such as concept reviews, discussion questions, partner reading, brainstorming, quiz reviews, topic development, etc. Think-Pair-Share helps students develop conceptual understanding of a topic, develop the ability to filter information and draw conclusions, and develop the ability to consider other points of view.

An example of utilizing Think-Pair-Share in an impromptu learning situation would be when discussing The Renaissance. I would ask certain questions concerning The Renaissance such as art and say "TPS" whereby students would immediately start to formulate the answers on their own, get with the person next to them and then share their information with the rest of the class.

I think this a great strategy that promotes interaction and discussion among peers as well as critical thinking as an individual.

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