Teacher Notes - Dragonwings

Before Reading Activities to build prior knowledge (Part One Activities)

  • 1.E.4.a  Students will identify and explain the main idea.

  • 1.E.4.c  Students will draw inferences and/or conclusions and make generalizations. 

  • 1.E.4.d  Students will confirm, refute, or make predictions and form new ideas.

  • Students will examine web resources and will record, write, and share assumptions, predictions and questions with partners.

During Reading Activities to correct misconceptions, to clarify ideas 
(Part Two Activities)

  • 1.E.1.c Discuss reactions to and ideas/information gained from reading experiences with adults and peers in both formal and informal situations.

  • 1.E.4.a  Students will identify and explain the main idea.

  • 1.E.4.c  Students will draw inferences and/or conclusions and make generalizations. 

  • 1.E.4.d  Students will confirm, refute, or make predictions and form new ideas.

Activity A. Preview/Predictions Activity - Part One. Students will examine documents and images from one of the topics:  Publications, Occupations, or Culture/Community and will be prompted to think about the setting and mood they could expect to find in the first half of the book.  They will be asked to open MSWord, MSFrontPage, or Inspiration to list impressions, phrases and descriptive words that come to mind when examining the web images and documents.  They will share impressions with partners.  Next, they will write two predictions and two questions about events they expect to take place in Dragonwings and will share with partners.  

 

Part Two.  They will revisit their document after reading the first half of the book to reflect on their predictions and to answer their questions. They will reflect on how their earlier perception of the Chinese immigrants and the Californians may have changed. They will reflect on their earlier thoughts on mood and setting, and judge the accuracy of their first impressions. At this time, the teacher may choose to have them turn their notes and reflections into a presentation to share with the class.  

Activity B. Timeline Activity - Part One. With partners, students will examine four images relating to Chinese immigration during the time period of this story.  They will make  assumptions about the life of Chinese immigrants in California in those days.  One partner will keep the web page open to display the images while the other will create a web in  Inspiration.  They will work together to brainstorm responses using the suggested Inspiration questions.  They will then each select two dates or topics to investigate further using the links from the timeline page.  They will write two questions to guide their research.  

Students will record details on a graphic organizer of their choice.  Partners will share the details they each find about their topics and will work together to answer the questions that they had each developed.  They will revisit their Inspiration web and make any revisions or additions to earlier assumptions.  Using the information gathered from their research, they will add textboxes to the Inspiration web and write two predictions and two questions about events and details that they predict will take place in this story.  As they read the book, they will add details to their graphic organizers.

Part Two. After reading the first half of this book, they will return to the Inspiration document to revise their predictions and to answer their questions. They may revisit the Timeline Page. They will create a presentation in FrontPage or PowerPoint about the topics they researched.  They will reflect on their earlier assumptions and predictions and how those ideas may have changed or may have been validated through the reading.

 

Last updated April 2005