Utilizing a three-column graphic organizer, learners imagine events in their reading as if they were physically present themselves. Learners exchange their accounts with another classmate looking for information they omitted.
Learning Outcomes
- Reflect
- Selective rereading
- Assess
- Explain
Implementation
- After learners have read the content, distribute the three-column Eyewitness Testimonycharts (Click here to access all of our graphic organizer forms).
- In the first column, learners record the focus of their eyewitness testimony (e.g., setting, character, interactions between characters).
- The middle column is used to record the facts on which the testimony is based. This must focus on facts and details the author provides in the content. Encourage learners to record page and/or paragraph numbers. Prompt learners to attend carefully to descriptive language and essential information so that their versions show fidelity to the author’s content.
- The third column is reserved for how each learner imagined this part of the author’s message. Ask learners to include imagined personal details as if they had been there in person.
- Ask learners to share their versions with partners without conversation. As they read their partner’s testimony, ask learners to be alert to the specifics that were included and omitted from their versions of the content. Stress that accounts that are incompatible with the facts are deemed “inaccurate” in a court.
- Lastly, allow partners to have an opportunity to discuss their findings with each other.
