Educational Leadership - September 2015

Read As Writers

When we’re studying metaphors in
English language arts, I ask students
to explain how an author might have
created a particular metaphor. The
focus is still on understanding what
a metaphor is, but rather than merely
identifying it, the students are required
to dig deeper by thinking about the
author’s craft and what might have
influenced the creation of this met-
aphor. “Why did the author decide
on a metaphor and not a simile?”
“Can you create a simile that would
work instead of the metaphor?” “If
you removed this metaphor, is there
another literary device you could use,
and what would it be and why?”
This questioning approach
encourages students to read as writers
and then transfer this understanding
to their own writing.

—Suzanne Herbert, and English subject lead, American International School of Budapest, Hungary

Developing Research
Questions

I guide students in the production of their own research questions. In my advanced placement biology class, we end the year with independent research projects in which students develop their own research questions, design their experiments, collect and analyze data, and answer their own initial questions. I take them through the entire process that research scientists go through, including dealing with financial considerations for materials.

—Mike Monteleone, teacher of biological science, Delsea High School, Franklinville, New Jersey

See upcoming questions and share your story at www.ascd.org/ tellmeabout.

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