In this lesson, we continued to learn about multiple perspectives of book characters using the book called, ‘Fish is Fish’. Instead of reading the book aloud, I paired students with a partner and each partner was to read the book’s script together. The students read the parts only for their chosen character, the fish or the frog. Students were required to try to put themselves in their character’s shoes as they read the script and try to feel what it’s like to be the character. As they read through the script, students were required to fill out a ‘Fish is Fish’ Venn diagram, writing down the perspectives of each character.
I think this lesson was somewhat successful. It showed students that again, different book characters can have different perspectives but it also taught students that they can compare these perspectives using a Venn diagram to help them see how similar or different they are. Students can even find perspectives that are the same among the characters. Although the lesson plan has great intentions, I think about half the students were on board. As I observed students while they were reading and filling in their diagrams, I was noticing that many of them were doing just fine. There were others who told me they didn’t know how to fill in the diagram because they had never seen one before. Others were able to fill in the chart but were writing about what happened in the story instead of the actual perspectives of the characters. After the lesson, I looked over their diagrams and saw that there were still some students who had the wrong idea about the task. It was hard for me to tell what the problem was. Was it the directions of the task that was confusing or did they still not know how to depict a character’s perspective? Thankfully, I had used an exit card after the lesson which asked the students, “Which character’s perspective can you relate to? Why?” As I read through them, I was thankful to know that most of the students whom I thought were lost, actually showed understanding of perspective as I read their exit card.
As I think more about the Venn diagram confusion, I was surprised to see that at least some students knew how to use one. The proper use of a Venn diagram was something that I overlooked while I was planning the lesson and never thought to include it as an objective. I never stopped to think that maybe students wouldn’t know how to use one. I just assumed that they would know. So, I was glad to see that some students had no problem filling it in. Some of them even knew about the overlap section and how you can put information that both characters have in common. As I already mentioned, some students were confused on how to use one because they had never seen one before. Because of this, I had to and give extra support and explain to several students how to use it and what it was for.
If I were to teach this lesson again, I will definitely have to teach them what a Venn diagram is and how it is used. How can I expect them to use one if they’ve never been exposed to one before? It will be a good idea to model an example of how to fill it out as well. I will also have to make sure to model how to fill in perspective information so that they are not just writing summary statements about what happened in the book but rather how the characters felt and viewed objects or events. More guidance on the right path will I think, help them stay on track with the learning goal that different perspectives can be compared among book characters and recorded using a Venn diagram.
This is a good example of how the task you used (Venn diagram) got in the way of learning instead of scaffolding the learning. Yes, modeling how to use the diagram would have helped. And note how important your use of the exit slip was so you understood that the complexity and challenges came with the choice of task rather than then actual understanding of the concept.
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