View Content #24762

The purpose of this activity is to encourage students to learn and practice a thinking routine that they can use inside and outside of the classroom. The thinking routine is: Observe. Analyze. Extend. This routine promotes a contextualized approach to meaning making. Practicing this routine will help students wade deeper into self-directed participation with the target language and culture. It provides a reliable sequence of actions which can be easily adapted to structure participation in new and uncertain citations.

Learning Objectives: Students will be able to…

• Use the thinking routine Observe, Analyze, Extend to participate in an online forum.
• Comment on posts in an online forum.
• Share a personal status on an online forum.

Mode: Interpersonal 

Materials Needed: Student access to Instagram posts in the target language (e.g. Spanish Google search “Instagram en Español” https://www.instagram.com/p/Be_ERbTB-ng/?taken-by=instagrames), Option 1 or Option 2 of the handout

Procedure:

1          Set the Stage: Explain to learners that their goal for the day is to learn how to use the thinking routine Observe, Analyze, Extend. It is important to communicate to students that by practicing this routine on their own they will become better at using the target language on the fly in situations both in and out of the classroom. Also, share with your class that the idea is to start by practicing the routine in a low stakes environment (like online) and then begin to apply it in more challenging contexts down the road, like participating at a social function. Introduce the worksheet and demonstrate how to fold it into fourths so that one Observe, Analyze, Extend sequence appears in each quadrant.

2          Observe: Have students work individually or in groups to find an appropriate Instagram post in the target language. Under the “Observe” heading in one quadrant on the worksheet, have students list the things they see in their post, both in the subject matter of the photo and in the text of the post and comments. Remind them that the point of this first stage is simply to record their observations, and not to interpret what they see.

Key questions to ponder:

• What objects do I see in the photo (e.g. people, cats, food)?
• What words are used in this post?
• What words are used in the comments?
• How much communication is happening between these people?
• What is the context where the communication is playing out?

3          Analyze: Ask learners to discuss their observations as a class and record the most interesting findings in the same quadrant of their worksheet as before.

Key questions to ponder:

• What does this communication mean (to me)?
• Can I read the emotional tone of this interaction?
• Can I describe the level of formality being used?
• What are the most significant words in the post and comments?
• Does the photo change how words might be interpreted?           
• Does anything seem out of place, inappropriate, or off topic?
• If so, can you explain why?

4          Extend: Once the post is observed and analyzed it is time to personally engage. Give students time to consider and plan their interaction with the post they have been working with. In the same quadrant as before, have them record a description of their chosen action under the “Extend” heading on the worksheet.

Key questions to ponder:

• What do I want to do with the information I gained from my observation and analysis?
• Do I have enough information to participate on the forum in the way I would like? If not, can I describe my difficulty?
• If I wanted to participate in this forum, how might I start?
• If I wanted to participate in this interaction more fully, what would I need to be able to do better?

Reminder: Remind students that they can practice this routine on their own to become better at using the target language on the fly, in situations both inside and outside of the classroom.

Practice

Have learners self-select to work individually or in pairs to compose and submit their own posts and comments using their notes or other available resources.