Collaborative Annotation Strategy





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Use this Strategy:

Before Reading

During Reading

After Reading

Targeted Reading Skills:

· Recognize the features of different literary genres

· Make inferences and draw conclusions based on explicit and implied information

What is it?

This is a technique that is used after students have already completed their own individual annotations on a poem or prose passage; it is a great strategy to stimulate a small or large group discussion that engages and honors different perspectives on the same text. In groups of 3-5, students pass their annotated copy to the person on the right. Each individual focuses on, and makes additions to, the original reader’s commentary; the next time the papers pass, each individual adds his/her commentary to both of the previous readers’ commentary and this process continues until the original reader has his/her paper back. Thus, each student has had three or four people build and expand on his/her ideas; this is a powerful way to encourage engagement and group participation. (Note: It is important that students understand that they are to expand on the original reader’s ideas and/or questions, not simply add what ideas they had on their papers.)

What does it look like?

Below is a model of one student’s paper after two others added their collaborative annotations; each color represents a different student's annotations:

Click here for a printable version of this model.

How could I use, adapt or differentiate it?

Each student can simply underline and label several different examples of a single literary or rhetorical device, and the students that follow must create the interpretation or rationale for each example. For instance, student #1 identifies several effective diction choices, student #2 identifies several different images that contribute to the meaning of the poem, and student #3 identifies a number of effective uses of punctuation; as the papers pass, the other two students must interpret and/or explain the writer’s rationale for the identified examples, building on each other’s ideas. (Note: student #1 only identifies and labels, but does no interpretation or rationale)

When teachers are developing mini-lessons on a newly introduced literary or rhetorical device, they can create their own annotated models for illustrative purposes. (note: Whenever possible, use a poem or passage that students have already studied or are currently studying as the basis for the model.)