According to Wilhelm's research, "the most important and powerful time to teach is before students read" (p. 33). I think that too often many teachers jump into an assignment just hoping that everyone will understand and do it perfectly, to only find a lot of confusion. The teacher then tries to teach in the midst of the reading. Therefore, when using enactments it is important for the teacher to clearly understand what they are trying to teach and what they want their students to learn. This is called framing. As Wilhelm writes, "framing simply means that the students understand how the work will proceed and what is expected of them" (p. 33). In the framing time, the teacher would make the situation and the roles clear, as well as, explain that the students will be required to find out, establish, or make something during the enactment. Thus, giving the whole process a purpose for learning.
While working with enactments, Wilhelm uses frontloading activities to build the prior knowledge. His book lists many unique ways for kids to interact with a story through frontloading. The ones I found most interesting were:
- Trigger Letters
- Mantle-of-Expert Writing
- Trigger Letter and Role Play
- Tableaux
That is cool that you did a mock trial. There is so much work that goes into that. I teach Street Law and many times when we are discussing an issue, I will break students up into 3-4 different groups and assign them as different interest group who looks at the issue from a different perspective. I would think this is an enactment.
ReplyDeleteYes, looking at something from a different perspective is one type of enactment. You should get this book. It is full of so many useable ideas.
ReplyDeleteI think that students will perform much stronger if they are let in on the plans. When I began teaching I would like to inform my students on what is expected of them for each unit and how the unit will proceed. For example, when I began college it was very strange to me to have all the assignments, their dues dates and rubrics all out in the open on the first day when the syllabuses were handed out. However it was great because I could plan and knew what was expected from me. I like to no surprises aspect of it.
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