Analyzing Graphs and Drawing Conclusions with the New York Times

By -

Do you need a new approach to getting your students to analyze graphs, draw conclusions and even evaluate the reliability of the information? Well, I just saw this on another blog I follow, Teacher Tech with Alice Keeler, and was intrigued by the instructional activity that encourages students to participate in an online moderated conversation about the data and their observations. Graphs display information about politics, policies, pop culture, and daily life topics, bringing in a variety of content related to most classrooms. Students 13 and older can participate in the online moderated conversation, but don't let this discourage you if you teach younger students. Have a whole group discussion and use the teacher account to add the comments, allowing students to have that online learning space opportunity.

The 3-day process of analyzing graphs and contributing to the online discussion with the New York Times is the same each week.

1. On Tuesdays, the New York Times releases a new graph on the website. Students and teachers formulate their own interpretations of the graph using the "I Notice, I Wonder" protocol. There are 3 simple questions to help promote their initial thinking:
    • What do you notice?
    • What do you wonder?
    • What might be going on in this graph?
Using the prompts students formulate and insert their own thoughts in the comment box. Once your students have posted, instruct them to read through other posts and reply to someone else. (What a fantastic, meaningful and authentic way for our students to practice being a good, responsible digital citizen.) 

2. On Wednesdays, an individual with American Statistics Association leads a deeper conversation in the graph and people's interpretation in order to get students thinking about their own understanding. 

3. On Thursdays, the New York Times will post the information related to the graph and students can analyze their own interpretations with the correct information. Encourage your students to post follow up observations and evidence based on what they have just learned.

For more information about this instructional strategy, I encourage you to visit the introductory post that includes the "I Notice, I Wonder" protocol. The website also has a calendar of the 25 Wednesday posts to help you plan which weeks to include this activity into your lessons. Let me know if you participate in this learning activity by posting your experience in the classroom and how your students are growing in these critical 21st Century Skills. 

After learning more about this learning activity, I found that The New York Times also has a "What's Going on in This Picture?", where students practice visual thinking skills and use evidence to support their claim. Pictures, without the captions, are revealed on Mondays and students use the same "I Notice, I Wonder" protocol that will drive the online conversation. Visit the link again on Friday of the week for the revealing of the caption and any other pertinent information that went along with the picture.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chat GPT- Your New Personal Assistant

By -
Image
What if I told you that within seconds, you could have a well-written speech, have directions on how to fix your leaky sink, or even generate a personalized workout plan? All of these things are just a small part of what can be done with Chat GPT, and it is revolutionizing how we approach everyday tasks and even the type of work we assign to our students as educators. Chat GPT is a new artificial intelligence (AI) phenomenon that emerged on the scene in November 2022. Users can type in a question and the chatbot will generate a personalized, human-like response to your question. It stands in its own category by itself, for now. Though most people utilize AI through technology like Alexa, Siri, website chat box assistants, and even that autocorrect feature that you so frequently enjoy when typing text. However, Chat GPT is a little different from these tools. It is chartering new territory and causing everyone, especially teachers, to pay attention to just what it can do. Since its arr
Read more

The 5 steps of Focused Note-taking (with Google Slides!)

By Anonymous -
Image
For years, the AVID instructional framework recommended a specific note-taking strategy, called Cornell Notes, to support students in processing the information they learn in class.  Recently, however, AVID revised the note-taking recommendations to be more broad rather than solely focusing on Cornell Notes. The new recommendation is that educators teach students to use a focused note-taking strategy.  This is fantastic because it allows for student choice and voice in how they process their learning and can incorporate technology in powerful ways.  This blog post will overview the 5 steps of focused note-taking along with some digital strategies that align with each step. Step 1: Taking the notes This is an obvious first step!  In this phase, students are capturing information using a method they feel most comfortable.  If students are new to taking notes, very young, or have instructional accommodations, teachers can just share the notes and skip step 1.  Plenty of learning, as
Read more

Reading with a purpose and teachers gathering data

By Anonymous -
Image
In our connected world, people find themselves gathering information from online sources much more frequently than print sources.  Interestingly, the way our brains work to scan digital texts has changed based on the typical layout of websites that present information.  For example, our eyes are more likely to remain focused on the left side of a webpage, where menus and additional links are typically placed rather than scan the entire page fully.  Readers, young and old, typically scan pages in an “F” pattern, tracing their eyes along the text in heavy left-to-right patterns at the beginning of paragraphs but not throughout the entirety of the passage.  Source: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content/ This isn’t altogether horrible if students are simply scanning to gather rudimentary information but when we are asking students to complete sustained and detailed reading online, these habits suggest that a support for students may help them read more
Read more