Cut. It. Out.

Doc Strips.

No, this blog hasn’t gone “blue”. This is not about a person named “Doc” who does anything NSFW (not suitable for work). Instead, this is a strategy for digging into a document. It’s not like Chicken Strips.

So, there are a lot of ways to get kids to dig into a historical document. We can use Doc Analysis Sheets, we can use PERSIA, we can do “I See I Think I Wonder”, we can use “Looking 10x2”, and on and on.

Well, here’s another tool for your tool box and it’s great for struggling readers or high achieving readers.

It’s called Document Strips.  And it’s fairly simple to prep for.

Just Cut. It. Out.

The papers, I mean. Cut out the papers.

Strategy: Doc Strips

Why? To get kids to dig further into a text, to pique student curiosity, to help them read more closely.

What? Simply cut your documents into sentence (or phrase) strips. Then, have the kids use context clues to assemble the document back together!

How?  

1.      Choose a document that the kids can tackle (mostly) by themselves. Be sure to define or pre-teach any terms that might give the kids too much struggle. We don’t want them to give up because they come across an indecipherable word.

2.      Then, split the document into sentences (or phrases), one per line. Cut the strips and put each set in an envelope. Try not to give them clues!

3.      Give each group of students (partners work best, but 3s or 4s are ok) an envelope and instruct the groups to try to read the sentences and put them in order.

4.      Go around to the groups and check to see if they got the sentence (or phrase) strips in the correct order. If not, ask them WHY they put the sentences in that order. Often, they will either find their mistakes or they will have compelling evidence that shows solid thinking.

Why would this help? Well, it helps struggling readers to have to dig into the text and work to make sense of what they’re reading. It also helps to slow down your speed readers and keep them really understanding the text (as opposed to the strategy of scanning for answers that many readers have mastered). It also is a little more fun than reading without Doc Strips or than writing. It “looks” easy (even if it isn’t).

Pro Tip:  Keep an “answer key” uncut for yourself  to quickly check answers as you walk around the room.

How do I know if they got it? Have them do a quick formative assessment to check whether they understood the document. Ask them to tweet the doc, hashtag it, summarize it, illustrate it, etc. Let them put what they learned in a different format to show you that they “got it”.

All you have to do is Cut. It. Out.

This is an oldie but a goodie! Do you use it? Will you try it? As always, I love to hear from you! Email me at newmantr@pcsb.org