Note about Boxcar Children:
*Please just have students write directly in the comprehension guide (it will be good practice for starting to write smaller) and then place it in the front pocket of the Fortis Folder, like you've been doing with the questions.
- There is a page in the front of the guide that lists out virtues-I highly encourage you to read this through with your student before starting the book.
- Also it might be helpful to look at the questions before reading, but wait until they are through with the chapter to actually answer the questions.
- The questions thus far have been content questions; for this book, some of the questions won't be found directly in the text but will be asking the student to infer or make connections. Please help them with this process by encouraging them to look beyond just the obvious answer or the first one they come to in the chapter. For instance, if they are supposed to be looking for an example of courage, many students are tempted to find the first one, quickly write that and move on. Even if they've already found one, at the end you can ask them if there was a greater act of courage or why they thought that was a courageous act. The answers to these questions should be a compilation of a discussion you have had with the student, not just the first answer they can come up with. This is our chance to challenge them! They've been discussing literature with me all year and can definitely do it with you. You might get some push back on that, especially if they've been in the habit of just quickly writing an answer and moving on to the next one. We are finished with OPG so this should allow some extra time to spend on the reading/discussion and writing. That being said, the expectations will definitely increase both in quality of answer expected, neatness and depth of understanding of concepts (examples from text). They are very capable and have shown me their brilliance all year!
