Notice and Note Stations

Channeling Pernille Ripp, Kylene Beers and Robert Probst, I decided to create some stations in order to help introduce my students to the Notice and Note Fiction signposts as we move through this year. (I'm hoping to tie these signposts into some TQE discussions which I learned about through Cult of Pedagogy.)

Day 1

First, I used Pernille Ripp's suggestions for picture books to teach the signposts and had a read-aloud day with my 7th graders. (You can find her Notice and Note Picture Book list here about half-way down the page.) We circled up on the floor, read each book, and talked about each signpost. This was a preview.

Day 2-3-4

The next day, I grouped students into stations for each signpost. If you're not familiar with these signposts, I highly suggest you buy Beers and Probst's Notice and Note book - just for a start. (I also highly recommend the nonfiction book and Disrupting Thinking for all reading/ELA teachers.) Each student got a chart handout to take notes in. Below is each station:

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At each station, students could review the children's book I read out loud, find the definition of each signpost and the question it asks on the poster I provided. (The posters are also in the QR code doc for students so they can save a copy of the document if they want.)

Here's the directions posted for the students:

They then scanned a QR code to view some Pixar shorts for each signpost, then read excerpts which go with each signpost (copied from the Notice and Note text).

I pre-annotated the excerpts so that students didn't have to find the signpost so much as answer the question they are supposed to ask when they find a signpost. You can see a picture here:

(My annotations aren't fancy, but they work!)

Students spent about 20-30 minutes at each station. The first station takes a little bit of time for them to get into the swing of things, but once they get started, you can reduce your time spent at each station.

At the end of the rotations, students will have notes and examples for each signpost, and I can then start to talk to them about what literary elements we can find when we use these signposts (the last column in the note chart.

You can find all the resources I created (or used) in this Google Folder. Simply open the folder and make a copy so you can modify it for your own classroom. Enjoy!