Student Achievement Partners | Annotation and Integration

TEACHER: I'm going to have everybody pull out The Mystery of the Messy Desk. We're going to, kind of,
jump right in from where we were yesterday. And yesterday you read The Mystery of the

Messy Desk on your own. We did not do any coding yesterday. So I'm going to give you about
five, six, seven, eight minutes right now to do a quicker re-read or skim of The Mystery of the

Messy Desk, and I want you to code and/or annotate this time. So you're going to share your

thinking in the margin while you're going back through the article. That way, when we're

discussing both articles it'll help you remember what you were thinking at that time. Right,

Thomas?

STUDENT: Sure.

TEACHER: OK. And for your viewing pleasure I have some different images up here which we will talk
about later, but they're both related to the different articles, so it'll be interesting to see if you

guys can figure out which picture goes with which article. All right. So about five to eight quiet
minutes right now, writing utensil, messy desk article, and your coding card. Get started.

There you go. Your paper looks like mine from yesterday. I have all kinds of notes on mine. So
does yours.

All right. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to give you some directions, so I need everybody's
attention. On your desks you have a yellow card and [INAUDIBLE] card, OK? And there's five
questions on there that you could use. You don't have to use all of them. You can pick

whichever ones you want. And you're going to ask a neighbor or two at your group questions

about what you just read. This is where your coding marks or your annotations come in,
because it helps remind you what you were thinking at that particular point. What was

surprising? New, interesting, perplexing-- something you were able to visualize.

OK? So we're going to spend just about five minutes doing a turn and talk with a neighbor.

And realize some of your group have an odd number, so you might have to have a pair of two

and a group of three. OK? You're going to take turns asking each other any question you'd like
from the yellow slip. OK. Make sure everybody has a chance to share and respond, and then

you can move on to any of the other questions, as well. All right, so about five minutes-- I'm

going to set the timer here-- and then we'll come back together as a group.

Who's sharing over here?

TEACHER: I'm just listening.

STUDENT: Yeah, we're doing this first one. So I think of [INAUDIBLE] ideas is that-- how he actually

became a doctor, and like, he wanted to look--

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

STUDENT: Well, I think it's kind of important so that people can learn about the new things that people
have done.

[SIDE CONVERSATIONS]

TEACHER: What part of the reading were you able to visualize in your mind.

STUDENT: The halos.

TEACHER: The halos around the [INAUDIBLE]. OK.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

TEACHER: Yeah.

STUDENT: Like, to say we're [INAUDIBLE], but I could visualize what was happening to the plate, like the

humidity. Because we were reading the [INAUDIBLE] article-- the humidity in the cave.

TEACHER: Yeah, that can have a huge influence on things. Right?

STUDENT: I wish that the weather was perfect for [INAUDIBLE].

STUDENT: You want to know something, handy recorder? I like purple.

TEACHER: Let's finish that later please. OK?

STUDENT: Yeah, there's a handy recorder.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

STUDENT: Hello. I'm sorry. [LAUGHS]

STUDENT: This thing scares me.

TEACHER: Why is this story worth reading about? Why is it important for people to know about this?

STUDENT: OK, so I think--

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

STUDENT: --The Speckled Monster, because it was one of the most deadliest diseases, I guess, and it

killed a lot of people.

TEACHER: What about The Messy Desk? Why is that worth learning about? Knowing about?

[SIDE CONVERSATIONS]

TEACHER: I'm hearing some great conversations, and it's really interesting, to me, the things that some of

you noticed and picked up on in the articles that maybe the author didn't come right out and

say. What is that called, by the way, when you read between the lines? Say it out loud.

STUDENTS: Inferring [INAUDIBLE].

TEACHER: Here, let me ask you a question about The Speckled Monster. Why on earth would the author

call a disease-- a virus-- which is invisible to the naked eye, a monster? Other than to get you

interested, why? Why isn't it just called the smallpox virus, or the virus that killed millions of

people? Why the speckled monster?

Gianna, what do you think?

STUDENT: I think because you get spots all over your body, and it's like a monster, kind of killing your

body.

TEACHER: OK, you're on the right track. Who can add to what Gianna just said? She said, you get spots
all over your body, and it kills your body, kind of like a monster. What else could you add to

that?

STUDENT: So the dots are like a-- it's like on a chameleon like some chameleon's are speckled with dots.
TEACHER: OK. So there are in fact markings that are like dots, so we get the speckled part. But why

monster? Why that word choice? Because that's really important to the meaning of the article,
right? The whole idea. [INAUDIBLE].

STUDENT: It was gobbling up the population and they were-- it was really--

TEACHER: Why do you say that? I'm sorry to interrupt. Why do you say it was gobbling up the population?

STUDENT: Cause everyone was scared and trying to find a cure, and everybody was getting infected.

TEACHER: And what happened to a great majority of the people that got infected?

STUDENT: They died.

TEACHER: Right.

You're going to set it up just like this. I divided the paper into three horizontal sections, and
then I made the top and the bottom section. I divided those in half. Up here, you're going to

label each square with the name of the two articles. So one will be for The Speckled Monster,
one will be for The Mystery of the Messy Desk. And notice I have the word, differences, here.

What organizers do we typically use for similarities and differences? Sophia.

STUDENT: Venn diagram.

TEACHER: Venn diagram. I have you do a lot of Venn diagrams, lately. I thought we'd mix it up a little.

OK? So your differences, how these articles are different from each other, are going to go up
at the top. At least five. I think many of you can do more. I did this exercise myself and I came
up with almost 10 for each. So you can do more than five. I encourage you to. When you've

got at least five great ideas as to how they're different, raise your hand. I'm going to come
over, check your work, and then when I give you the OK, you're going to move down sort of to

level two.

Now you're going to compare them. How are these articles the same? And we talked about,
when we're comparing text, sometimes finding similarities harder, easier?

STUDENTS: Harder.

TEACHER: It can be more challenging, right? So, you're going to have to put a lot of thought into how they
are the same. Why do you suppose I let you keep your articles on your desk with your coding
 marks? Max.

STUDENT: Cause--

TEACHER: How might that be helpful?

STUDENT: Cause so you might need them to find some differences and find some similarities.

TEACHER: Right.

STUDENT: Vocabs and words.

TEACHER: Right. I'd like you to use the articles. You have to be able to prove your point. If I say, well,

Jamie, this is a great similarity here, but how did you arrive at this idea? Jamie will be able to
say, well, in The Messy Desk, see where it says right here, and in The Speckled Monster, see

this part here? They're the same because. So you need to be able to prove your point. We've
talked about that with like Time For Kids and some other comparing and contrasting activities
we've done.

Once you have at least five similarities-- and again, I did this myself, and I came up with way

more than five-- raise your hand. I'm gonna come take a quick peek, and if I feel like you used
the articles well, you're giving evidence for your thoughts, then I'm going to move you down to

level three.

Level three, you're going to share at least three new or unfamiliar vocabulary terms. They

might be words you recognize, but words that you've never used in conversation. OK? And
what I'd like you to do down here is either in words or in pictures. I want you to show that you

know what that word means. OK? And you can use-- what vocabulary strategy might you use?
We use this all the time, we've talked about it many times. Andy.

STUDENT: Context clues?

TEACHER: Context clues, absolutely. And of course, if you need help, you're really stuck, raise your hand
or you can quietly ask your neighbor, because asking a neighbor is also a great strategy.

Once you have at least three-- you might have four or five words, and that's all right-- the last
part, which requires using all these pieces together, is what big idea or ideas do they both
have in common? Thinking about the articles as a whole. Think about theme or a lesson, or

what both of these authors want you to walk away with, the big idea.
 I noticed you used the word virus as a difference. Why did you choose that word?

STUDENT: Because it says it in the text.

TEACHER: Where?

STUDENT: [INAUDIBLE]

TEACHER: What about The Messy Desk? Is there a virus in that?

STUDENT: [INAUDIBLE]

TEACHER: Are they the same, or are they different?

STUDENT: Different.

TEACHER: How are bacteria and a virus different?

STUDENT: A virus, everyone gets it, and bacteria, I guess, is kind of just like a germ.

STUDENT: A virus you can't fight off [INAUDIBLE]. They don't have, like, vaccinations for it.

TEACHER: For what?

STUDENT: For the viruses, I think.

STUDENT: They can make it go away faster. But you can slow it down. Like, it won't cause as much
damage to you, but you can't make yourself immune to it.

TEACHER: Which of these articles do you think focuses on each?

STUDENT: I would say The Speckled Monster focuses on the virus part of it, because--

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

TEACHER: And The Messy Desk, you think, focuses on?

STUDENT: Because infections are just [INAUDIBLE].

STUDENT: We answered it how they like find it.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]
STUDENT: Usually viruses-- smallpox is a special case, because usually you can get [INAUDIBLE].

TEACHER: Can you use the text to prove it? Like does it say virus in the speckled monster?

STUDENTS: Yeah.

TEACHER: What about The Messy Desk, does it talk about bacteria?

STUDENT: No, infections more.

STUDENT: Yeah, in The Messy Desk I think it also-- he does it by accident, too.

TEACHER: I like that [INAUDIBLE] using her text. Let's look for for that term, bacteria.

STUDENT: I found it over here.

TEACHER: There you go. You found it in the text.

You're right. I noticed that too, this one had a lot of this in it.

STUDENT: They were talking about mummies, and how the ancient Egypt--

TEACHER: Why do you think?

STUDENT: Because like they were showing that this disease has been around a long time.

TEACHER: Very good thinking, you're right. Longer than? What did Alexander Fleming discover? What
medication came out?

STUDENT: Penicillin?

TEACHER: Longer. This book is around many, many years before this.

STUDENT: This is more around-- this is closer to now than this? Do you think I can put that in here?

TEACHER: Sure. Sure, absolutely. [INAUDIBLE]

STUDENT: I think so.

TEACHER: I'll be right there.

STUDENT: There's something I want to put for The Messy Desk [INAUDIBLE], but I just don't know how
 to explain what I want to write down.

TEACHER: That happens to me, too. Can you describe to me what you're thinking?

STUDENT: Well, sort of. Not exactly a disease-- not exactly a disease or a sickness caused Alexander to
make a medicine, but some sort of a mistake.

TEACHER: OK. OK. So like an accident?

STUDENT: Yes.

TEACHER: Well, you can say that. Exactly what you just said to me, how could you phrase that?

STUDENT: Not--

TEACHER: He discovered--

STUDENT: He discovered a new medicine, not from disease, but from an accident.

TEACHER: There you go. You had it in you all along. Brock, how you doing? OK. Yes. Oh my goodness.
Fantastic. Is this-- you want me to give you a check? Is this panel the same as this?

STUDENT: I guess so, but I accidentally did number five [INAUDIBLE].

TEACHER: Very good. That's very observant. OK, you're good to go. Try to find five similarities. Use your
coding marks. You have those articles out in front of you. They're both different, right? They're

both not about smallpox, and they're both not about penicillin, so there's got to be-- think
about the people they mention in the articles. What differences do you see there? Edward
Jenner and Alexander Fleming.

STUDENT: That just gave me another one. This one talked about [INAUDIBLE], but do you think it's safe
to say that penicillin hasn't been around as long?

TEACHER: Yes. Cause I think he won the Nobel-- does it say in the text he won the Nobel Prize in 1845?
Oh, 1945.

STUDENT: So actually, that one hasn't been around for that long.

TEACHER: Gosh, yeah. Yeah, I mean this is infinitely older.

STUDENT: --ancient Egypt.

And you noticed that both of these took place outside the United States, too. Yeah, you can
move on. Yes? What do you mean by this?

STUDENT: It happened after--

TEACHER: Could you be more specific, instead of one word? I will come back and check. How do you
think accidents can be useful in science? Cause you would think scientists would be very

precise, right?

STUDENT: Yeah. Thomas, what do you think?

STUDENT: In the story, this guy discovered penicillin just by accidentally leaving a dish out, so I think even

with accidents, you can turn the accidents into something very useful or very--

TEACHER: Yes. And actually, when I was over at Ethan's group, Ethan, what was it you said? I asked his

group, why do you suppose the author mentioned that Alexander Fleming spent so much time
outside? And you said--

STUDENT: He was very observant.

TEACHER: He was very observant. So he really had to observe that Petri dish, Thomas, right? He could
have totally missed what was happening in that dish, and maybe we still wouldn't have
penicillin. If you're interested, this mistakes that worked book, where I tabbed it, this is all
about penicillin and Alexander Fleming, and there's some other medical accidents that have

led to great discoveries that are in this book.

What I'm going to ask everybody to do right now, make sure your name is on your paper. OK?

Thumbs up if you got to the similarities portion. I will, I will.