After reading aloud and realizing that my students were struggling with comprehension, I decided to create a set of scaffolded notes for them to take home over the weekend and complete while reading.
This, I hoped, would help them to understand the main concepts of the last two sections, “Graduation” and “Conclusion” and help them to get a better grasp on the ending of the story.
I graded the notes in two ways. Once, at the start of class. Did the students complete the required homework? That was out of five points. The second grade was post-discussion. We went over the questions as a class, and then I collected the notes sheets. This, hopefully, allowed for some students who didn’t do the work to make up not only their points, but their understanding. My goal was to create an opportunity for learning and comprehension–I felt that grading the notes two different ways allowed for that and focused on that learning rather than a simple participation grade.
The notes can be downloaded here: Graduation and Conclusion Notes