Many of the students we teach love to describe the text in front of them.  They might tell us everything that has happened.  They might use phrases such as “engage the reader” or to “get their attention” but it’s so generalized it could be applied to any text we read.  And they might not fully engage with the guiding question in front of them. 

The key, as we know, is to move our students from description to interpretation and analysis of the writer’s choices.  And this is so hard!  This work, stopping students from describing what happens and instead writing about why an author is making such choices is at the heart of our job.   

In this week’s update, this model example, linked here, gives you that opportunity to discuss these things with your students!  You can find the two previous exemplars using this text here and here.

You now have a total of three responses, all with very different scores, to show students.  When comparing and contrasting the responses against each other, students will hopefully “see” the difference between description and interpretation.  And this understanding, this knowledge about what constitutes interpretation and what’s description will (hopefully) move them into more sophisticated thinking and writing. 

Best,

Tim and David