DETECTIVES Teacher's Guide - Book - Page 16
THE DETECTIVES - TEACHER’S GUIDE
sequence they have an opportunity to use a full spectrum of higher-order thinking skills they must recognize patterns (analyze), determine causality (evaluate) and then decide how
they would communicate what they've learned to others (create).
Categorizing and Classifying - Information is classified and categorized based on information
that is read or heard. This relatively easy- sounding activity is not quite as easy as it sounds
since the ability to categorize or classify is based on a complete understanding of the
language and the concepts. The students are taught to categorize and classify through
different topics as they appear in the book, starting off simply and become more
sophisticated. One basic categorization and classification that is done in each unit is the use
of the Detective’s Notebook.
Fact and Opinion - Differentiating fact from opinion is vital for true comprehension. The
students are taught to note facts that come up in the various stories - what is a fact and
what isn’t. They are then asked to relate to the facts, explaining why something is a fact and
why it’s not an opinion. To take this one step further, they are asked to express their
opinions about a variety of issues that comes up, and these are then discussed in order to
determine what is based on fact and what a true opinion is.
Comparing and Contrasting – This is used to highlight the similarities and differences
between two things. It is a process in which the act of classification is practiced. Comparing
and Contrasting is used to help students distinguish between types of ideas or groups of
ideas. It can be used to help students identify language cues, clarify thinking and define
ideas.
It is often presented in written texts, paragraphs, or charts (For example page 133 of the
Student's Book). Its most common use is as a graphic organizer of content, as presented in
the Workbook.
In addition to the pages in which these skills are mentioned and taught in the Student's Book,
the skills are re-entered in the Workbook. More suggestions for practice of HOTS skills are given
in this Teacher’s Guide.
iv. Assessment
It’s important to assess the students along the way as they study with The Detectives. There is a
variety of assessment possibilities and you can decide at which points you wish to assess the
students.
The initial level of assessment should always be identification, to see if the students can identify
what was taught and can distinguish it from the incorrect form.
The next level would be guided production of the material taught. Have the students produce the
language, be it tense or vocabulary, in a guided manner, using banks of words or multiple choice
question types. Guided production begins with much guided activation, and gradually we give less
and less guidance.
The last level is free production. Here we wish to see what the students have internalized and can
produce with a prompt and no guidance. It could include writing sentences using the new vocabulary
all the way to writing a short story or giving a speech.
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