ENGAGE: 
Mandala

Plan for the reading of the chosen text, including activities that willengage students in pre-reading and interacting with the text through multiple reads.

 Once students comprehend the chosen text, either ask them to determine its key concepts or define the key concepts for them.

 Familiarize yourself with Educator Resource: Sample Mandalas Across Disciplines and Student Resource: Mandala Template.

IDENTIFY KEY CONCEPT: Have students identify a key concept from the chosen text or choose a key concept for students to explore through a mandala.

CENTER OF MANDALA: In partners or small groups, instruct students to first create a representation of the key concept in the center of the mandala.

ADD VISUALS: Then, instruct students to create contextual visuals in the surrounding areas of the mandala that support the key concept in the center. These contextual visuals should “situate” the key concept as it is addressed in the text. Students will need to make choices as to which critical information should contextualize the key concept.

WRITTEN SUMMARY: Finally, instruct students to create a written summary justifying their reasoning for including various elements on the mandala while encouraging them to draw from the text to do so.

 For younger students, you may need to model the creation of the mandala until responsibility can be released to students.

 Students can present their mandalas, drawing their justification from the text, instead of creating a written summary.

Display students’ mandalas in the classroom as a reference for key concepts.