Writing Strategy:

The Gallery Walk

 

The teacher begins by writing important decisions made by characters (main and minor) in a literary work at the top of T-Charts.

 

The teacher then places these around the classroom.  On one side of each chart the heading reads “good decision,” on the other side it reads, “bad decision.”

 

When the students come in, each student is given a pad of small post-it notes and invited to walk around the classroom.

 

At each T-Chart, the student will read the decision, decide whether it was good or bad, and write down his or her reason on the post-it.  He or she will then place the post-it on the appropriate side of the T-Chart and move on to the next.

 

At the end of their “gallery walk,” students will be asked to stand next to the decision they feel most strongly connected to.  They will then sit in pods with people who have made the same choice and discuss all the positive and negative effects of this decision.

 

Now, after making an initial argument for the character’s decision, anticipating counter-arguments through the reading of others’ ideas, and discussing possible evidence to support their arguments, the students are ready to begin writing persuasive essays showing how the effects of a character’s actions leads to the theme of a literary work.