Critical Inquiry
Fostering Meaningful Questions
First Thoughts: Have students write or share their immediate impressions (or what they already know) about a topic they are preparing to study, or while studying. In this unit, that's perfect for the Know, Wonder, Think charts that they'll have on hand!
Question of the Day: Ask students to respond to a “What if…” or “Why?” question that is important to a clear understanding of a lesson or that prompts students to think beyond the obvious. Why is September ravished? Why does she have to do all the steps to enter Fairyland?
Predicting: At an important or essential point in a lesson, ask students to consider what will happen next. In the book: What will happen to September when she leaves her home with the Green Wind? What will happen to Saturday? These predictions can be long term or short term, and should be labeled under the "Think" category.
Stop ’n’ Write: At any point in a class discussion, ask students to stop and write. The writing helps them to evaluate their understanding of the topic, to reflect on what has been said, and to question anything that may be bothering them. ( I found this from the Thoughtful Learning blog) Stop n' Write could be brainstorming or creative writing. Stop and write a response poem or song! Write three questions, etc.
Nutshelling: Lead a discussion in which the question “Why?” is repeated after each new point is made. Keep the discussion going as long as possible (This is also from Thoughtful Learning)
Summing Up: Ask students to summarize what just happened in the story-- this will be needed for GWCF and should be done at the start and end of each reading session.
Question-Directed Learning
Questions are accepted and encouraged. They lead students down new roads of opportunity and understanding. This book is very variable based upon student reading, that is, students will likely come up with many different meanings and takeaways from the book, and that's perfect. Students will foster their questions through Know, Wonder, Think, as well as their journaling and final opportunities.
Incorporating Student Research
The questions raised in this unit will require research. On a basic level, students will be keeping a log of unknown words to lookup individually or as a class. They will be asked to find figurative language within the text and create new examples themselves.
On a deeper level, students will be asked to conduct a study on fairytales and their relationship to modern society. How have expectations changed? What are September's expectations in this modern fairytale? How does society interact with her? If parallels are seen to modern society in reality, research will be asked of the students to learn about the parallels.