Lesson 7 :: Getting Ready to Begin
My Life in Dog Years [Before the Read]
Lesson 7 :: Getting Ready to Begin
My Life in Dog Years [Before the Read]
Yesterday we worked on using our conversation
guidelines to help us with our conversation about
“Fred & Pig.” One of the challenges of conversations is
getting the conversation started in a way that invites
others in. First, we need to collect our thinking while
reading a text. Second, we need to have a repertoire of
strategies for starting the conversation that invites
comments and feedback from others. We are going to
continue collecting our ideas and questions about
characters, problems, and important details.
Afterward, we will use our thinking and notes to try
out different ways to start the conversation.
Today we will read another story from “My Life in Dog
Years” called “Josh: The Smartest Dog in the World,”
and we will collect our ideas and questions in
preparation for conversation. We’ll stop at a few
places together, but stop-and-jot whenever something
strikes you!
Lesson 7 :: Getting Ready to Begin
My Life in Dog Years [During the Read]
Lesson 7 :: Getting Ready to Begin
My Life in Dog Years [During the Read]
Begin reading on p. 118, stopping to model a
thought after reading the first full paragraph on p.
119.
Allow students time to jot a thought on a sticky note,
and jot one with them.
Have students set up a page in their Reader’s
Notebook with the title and author of the text at the
top of the page, followed by sticky notes.
Does anyone have a thought they would like to share?
Have you ever heard of Lassie? Lassie was a famous
Border collie on a TV show. Josh reminds me of this
character, who was so loyal and dependable.
Continue reading aloud, stopping at the bottom of p.
121.
Stop-and-jot a thought about Josh.
Lesson 7 :: Getting Ready to Begin
My Life in Dog Years [During the Read]
Continue reading aloud to the top of p. 130.
Stop-and-jot a question you have.
Ask a few students to share questions with their
partners, then share one or two with the class.
Continue reading until the end of the story. Ask
students to stop-and-jot a final thought.
Elicit responses.
Continue reading aloud to the bottom of p. 127.
Does Josh really understand human conversations?
What would he be thinking?
Have students stop-and-jot.
Lesson 7 :: Getting Ready to Begin
My Life in Dog Years [After the Read]
In preparation for our conversation today, let’s talk
about different strategies for starting conversations.
Display the Appendix “Getting a Conversation
Started.”
We can start a conversation with a thought, a
question, or a part of the text. Take a minute to look
over your notes. See if you have a thought, a question
or something that confuses you, or part of the text to
use to get us started. If not, make sure to jot one of
those down now. Turn and talk with a partner about
what you have.
Lesson 7 :: Getting Ready to Begin
My Life in Dog Years [After the Read]
Lesson 7 :: Getting Ready to Begin
My Life in Dog Years [After the Read]
Allow students time to discuss.
Ask for a student to start by sharing a thought. Let a few
students respond to it before pausing the conversation and
asking for another volunteer. Try beginning many
conversations, with at least two “starts” for each strategy.
After this work, bring the class together to reflect.
Today we are going to start and stop many
conversations to get a feel for all of the different
options we have discussed. We will start with a
thought, talk about it for a bit, pause that
conversation, and begin another. Then we will use this
method with questions or things we find confusion
and, finally, with parts of the text. Here we go!
Lesson 7 :: Getting Ready to Begin
My Life in Dog Years [After the Read]
Share observations and discoveries. Students may notice
that some ideas, questions, or sections of text spark better
conversations.
The challenge is to review the notes you have and find
the strongest conversation starters.
How did that go? What did you think about our
conversation?