This is from Anne Matava:
Hi Ben –
In my 2nd and 3rd year classes we have hit on something fun with Card Talk. I had them draw something they did over the summer on their cards. We have started talking about them in two ways.
First, we talk about what really happened: the kid went to Disney World, with whom, how did they get there, how long did they stay, what was their favorite part, etc. We call that “Version 1.”
Then we make up the “Alternative Version”, in which I ask all the same questions (with whom, etc.), only we make it up.
Both stories get typed up, read, discussed, compared and contrasted, then we vote on what will be the “Official Version.” (Of course it’s the alternative one every time.)
I really like this because kids want both: they want to talk about what they really did, and they love making things up. Plus it’s twice as much of the exact same language, and I think that increases their confidence.
In one class a boy went deep sea fishing with his father and they caught a shark. The alternative version had the same boy fishing from the Golden Gate Bridge with a crow, and catching a sea lion. I can’t even tell you how much interest built as this went forward.