| Sketch
to Stretch |
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Reading Skills
- Identifying main ideas/themes
and visually expressing themes
- Recognizing/analyzing cause-and-effect
relationships
- Making inferences
- Drawing conclusions
- Forming generalizations
- Creating summaries
Overview of the "Sketch
To Stretch" Strategy
By drawing symbolic representations
of their interpretations of a story, students can use
the "Sketch to Stretch" (STS) reading strategy
to help them effectively identify the main ideas or
themes of a literary work. This visual expression of
a story's main ideas facilitates students' identification
and understanding of symbols while allowing students
to use symbols to express their personal responses to
a text. Though most effective as an after-reading strategy,
STS can be used as a before-reading or a during-reading
strategy.
One STS response to Wish
You Well, which the teacher can draw as an example
(and which will demystify sketching), is a simple sketch
of a coin. On a sheet of unlined paper, draw a circle
about the size of a saucer. In the circle, sketch a
simple line drawing of a face in profile, similar to
the face on a quarter. The profile doesn't have to look
like anyone in particular. Instead, it is supposed to
symbolically represent Diamond, the mountain boy. Above
the profile, print the word LOYALTY in capital
letters in an arc that follows the edge of the coin.
Below the profile, print the word PRICELESS.
Add any other features you wish. Show this simple drawing
to your class by making a transparency to project or
enlarging it onto poster-board, a flip chart, or chalk/dry-erase
board.
Activities for the "Sketch
To Stretch" Strategy
- Have students read Wish
You Well in its entirety, and then explain the
STS reading strategy to them.
- Model the STS reading strategy
by doing the following:
- Read aloud the model
passage (chapter 18, paragraphs 20-29) about Diamond
and his lump of coal.
- Discuss the embedded
comparison of a lump of coal hiding a diamond
and a rough person hiding a gem of a human. Focus
on the challenge of discovering a person's - any
person's - true worth with only the external form
of that person as an indicator of value.
- Share with the students
your STS drawing of the coin, which represents
Diamond.
- Remind the students
that artistic ability is not the point here, but
their ability to interpret text and identify themes
and symbols is the focus. Explain that your simple
sketch is a symbolic representation of a main
idea or theme that you identified in Wish
You Well. The sketch symbolically illustrates
the theme that all people are of value, even those
who, based upon first impressions, seem to have
little to offer. Discuss how that can be true,
soliciting real life examples from students.
- Ask the students to
look at a series of drawings you have created
to represent various themes from three works of
literature the students have read while in your
class.
- Discuss each sketch
and its symbolic meaning(s), reminding the students
that each drawing is a symbolic representation
of a theme of a literary work, not a literal illustration
of an event from the work.
- Have the students brainstorm
themes from other works the class has recently
read, then select one of these themes, and suggest
what they might sketch to represent the selected
theme.
- On the board, draw (or
allow a volunteer to draw) the suggested sketch
that symbolically represents the identified theme.
Allow the students to make suggestions as you
draw, but remember to keep it simple.
- Discuss the class-generated
drawing, pointing out their use of symbolism to
interpret the main idea they chose to illustrate
symbolically.
- For reinforcement of the
STS reading strategy, have the students practice (individually,
with partners, in small groups, or as a class) creating
STS drawings for themes from children's literature,
such as
| Androcles |
The Little Mermaid |
The Three Bears |
| Beauty and the Beast |
Little Red Riding
Hood |
The Three Little Pigs |
| Cinderella |
Rapunzel |
The Tale of Peter
Rabbit |
| The Emperor's New
Clothes |
Rumplestiltskin |
The Ugly Duckling |
| Hansel and Gretel |
Sleeping Beauty |
The Velveteen Rabbit |
- For individual practice
of the STS reading strategy, do the following:
- Distribute the blackline
master of the STS worksheet for Wish You
Well.
- Remind students that
novels, including Wish You Well, have
multiple themes, so no one right answer exists.
Each individual must interpret a selection from
the text, identifying a relevant theme.
- Have students think
about their favorite passages or sections of Wish
You Well, sharing their favorites and brainstorming
until each student has a list of at least three
such passages or sections. Tell them that "favorite"
does not only mean best or most uplifting; it
may also mean most appealing, most graphic, most
memorable - for whatever reason it captures attention
and holds interest.
- Ask students to record
their three favorite passages or sections on the
blackline master and then choose one with which
to work in an STS exercise.
- Ask students to draw
a symbolic representation(s) of their interpretation
of the theme(s) of the passage or section. Remind
them that they are not to illustrate events from
the novel. Instead, they are to draw a symbolic
representation(s) of their interpretation of a
main idea(s) or theme(s). They may interpret the
text, verbalize main ideas, make inferences, draw
conclusions, form generalizations, identify cause-and-effect
relationships, and summarize in order to decide
what to draw to create the symbolic sketch representing
their identified theme(s).
- Ask students to make
simple line drawings or sketches only, but allow
them to explore beyond those boundaries if they
wish to do so.
- Have students share
their STS drawings in groups of four to six students
without making comments, allowing the others in
the group to make statements about what they think
the sketches symbolize. Only after hearing the
theories of their peers may the artists explain
what their sketches are intended to mean.
- In the same manner,
have students share representative STS drawings
with the class.
- Discuss student interpretations
of the text and emerging themes from Wish You
Well, asking students to identify related themes
and the main theme from the novel.
Assessment
Use the following rubric to
assess the student's ability to identify themes and
recognize/generate symbols for Sketch To Stretch drawings:
- EXEMPLARY (Score 4): The
student can effectively interpret text and identify
themes and can recognize/generate symbols that represent
identified themes.
- ACCOMPLISHED (Score 3):
The student can identify most themes and recognize/generate
many symbols.
- DEVELOPING (Score 2): The
student can identify some themes and recognize/generate
some symbols.
- BEGINNING (Score 1): The
student cannot identify themes or recognize/generate
symbols.
Blackline
Master
Sketch to Stretch
(Download
PDF print-friendly version)
Name __________________________________________________
Class _____________________________
Date ________________
Skill: Identifying
Themes and Recognizing/Generating Symbols
Part 1. List
at least three memorable passages or sections from Wish
You Well:
- (pages _____ - _____) In
this passage/section of Wish You Well,
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
- (pages _____ - _____) In
this passage/section of Wish You Well,
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
- (pages _____ - _____) In
this passage/section of Wish You Well,
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
Part 2. Choose
a partner or work alone. Select one of the above passages
or sections, one of your partner's, or one shared in
class discussion to work with for this exercise. Think
about what the passage or section means to you. What
might you draw to symbolically represent this meaning?
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
Part 3. On a separate sheet of paper,
draw a symbolic sketch to represent what the passage
or section you selected in Part 2 means to you. Be sure
to incorporate the ideas you wrote down in Part 2 into
your sketch.
Part 4. Write an explanation of why
you drew what you drew. Give evidence from the novel
to support your interpretations, opinions, and ideas.
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
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