Purpose 2: Activate Prior Knowledge

This turn and talk slide demonstrates a structure that can be used for students to discuss their background knowledge on a topic with peers. Students can complete the turn and talk in any/all of their languages. The second slide shows a cognate connection and invites students to discuss the nuances in word meaning that exists between their home language and the new vocabulary word in English. This sample is from our unit on Animal Farm by George Orwell.

This is a shared big paper discussion to activate prior knowledge related to key themes in our Quarter 4 unit of study. Prompts are printed and taped to big anchor chart paper; students move around the room to respond to the prompts. At certain points, a timer goes off and students are prompted to turn and talk with peers at their current poster about their responses to the quotation. Students can use any and all languages to discuss and write their connections; additionally, some of the prompts address themes of identity, language, and culture in relation to the unit.