Dear Carrie
How should I have multiple students annotate high school literature?
I have six children, and we have enjoyed using Heart of Dakota from Little Hands to Heaven to MTMM! We have found part of the beauty of HOD’s literature-based curriculum is how reusable it is! So, now that my oldest will be starting World Geography for high school I have a question. Since there is annotating, will I need to buy the literature package six times? Or, how should I handle annotating when I have multiple students? Thanks in advance!
Sincerely,
“Ms. Please Help with How to Annotate with Multiple Students”
Dear “Ms. Please Help with How to Annotate with Multiple Students,”
I have just had each child annotate in a different colored pen. For things that they are directed within the guide to annotate, the child would still need to underline using his/her own pen color to show that the direction has been followed, even if a previous child had annotated the same passage. This way, at a glance, it is easy to see if the current child did the assignment.
Students remember what they annotate due to both the physical act of marking a passage and the mental picture of the marked page.
I like writing within the book at the high school level to annotate, as it feels more interactive to physically mark the page. This physical act of marking a passage combined with taking a mental picture of the marked page, somehow seems more memorable. When I was in college, I used to memorize my notes word for word and visualize the highlighting or marking in my notes as part of that process. When I took tests, I could actually recall the way my notes looked on the page to help me sift and sort through information to find the answers. I liken annotating to that process of seeing the marks on a page and focusing more closely on the marked information.
Blessings,
Carrie
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Thanks for the ideas. I have two high-schoolers annotating in the same book and wonder the same things. I will have to try this when they finish The Scarlet Pimpernel.
We have used this same technique with our second son annotating this year’s USI lit, and it has worked well! He actually loves seeing what other things his older brother annotated too. I hope it works well for you too, Suanna!