Polar Opposites

Today I tried the Polar Opposites strategy in my classroom. I used it as a follow-up/review activity to a reading (BDA) activity we completed the previous class. We read a section of the text about the history and culture of Mexico. I created 6 statements based on the reading and had students rate them based on what they remembered from the reading.

examples:

Tenochititlan is a ...

Huge cultural center _ _ _ _ _ Small rural village

Wealth in Mexico belongs to the ...

Majority _ _ _ _ _ Minority

Students were allowed to work in groups on rating the 6 statements but not allowed to look back on the reading. The results were fantastic, some of the best discussions I've had all year. We later shared our rankings as a class and after some intense discussions came up with agreed upon class rankings for all 6 statements.

Overall, I would use this strategy again, it works well with nonfiction readings and forces students to think critically and defend their opinions with solid support.