The ParafLY EduProtocol (Chapter 6) helps students paraphrase complex text and simplify it to show a clear understanding of the subject. This post features examples of a 10th-grade World History class practicing interpreting literary criticism. This was a part of a large, interdisciplinary project that required the collaboration of an ELA teacher, a History teacher, and a Spanish teacher. The students used their knowledge from all three classes to write children’s books on historical figures from the Mexican Revolution. The books are archived here. 

As part of this project, I asked students to write their narratives at a sixth-grade reading level. They used the Hemingway App to check their text and revise it until they hit the target. For practice, I gave them some post-graduate literary criticism from Yisela Maria Padilla of the novel they were reading in class. Students had 15 minutes to paraphrase the original 360-word paragraph, which was written at the post-graduate or 16th grade level. I collected their work via Pear Deck and color-coded it as A=Green, B=Yellow, C=Red. Everyone who made an effort got the points. NOTE: This is not the way to smart start ParaFLY! Always use a low-cognitive lift when starting a new EP. Here are three student responses and the feedback I provided to the whole class.

On the left-hand side of the slide below is the original text and on the right-hand side is my paraphrased attempt. Numerous studies demonstrate that student self-assessment is a major factor in academic improvement. Asking students to identify strengths and weaknesses in their own work yields powerful insights. Increased metacognition and problem-solving with advanced social studies concepts and academic vocabulary leads to deeper learning.

The next day, I asked students to evaluate their work after reading my sample. They posted to a discussion board answering the following questions: Add up how many of the ideas you were able to put into your own words. On a scale of A, B, & C, what would you have given yourself on this assignment? What was the hardest part? What did you find easy? Two student responses are followed by their paraphrasing samples below.

Student A

The Underdogs written by Mariano Azuela is an incredibly famous novel of the Mexican Revolution as it highlights several traditions in a narrative format. Mexican Literature became reinvented by The Underdogs since its appearance in 1915. Literature that was once filled with European tradition now contains Mexican events, culture, tradition, and history. The Underdogs has a hyper national status and was published by Los de abajo’s. This publication left the novel open to not just becoming popular in areas surrounding where the Mexican Revolution occurred (such as Mexico) but to also become popular and reach all around the world. Mariano Azuela documents when he joined Pancho Villa’s men in 1914 in an effort to write a novel that is from the peasants perspective of the revolution.  As Azuela writes about several defeats and then he flees to El Paso, Texas where he finishes his novel and publishes it in a small newspaper (El Paso Spanish-lanugage newspaper). During this time Mariano is starving and poor and ironically published his book on the US-Mexico borderlands. According to Juan Pablo Dabove, the Underdogs is a “nation-state identity paradigm.” This simply means that the story has hidden meanings. It involves several pertinent events and people of the revolution with different protagonists and antagonists.

Student B

Mexican literature had been characterized as derived of European traditions before the writing of The Underdogs. When Azuela released his novel, Mexican literature was changed as we know it. He documented his time as member of a band of Pancho Villa’s men, writing a novel about war and everyone behind it. Villa used the names of important historical figures included in the revolution, but added characters in addition to present ones in attempt to add dimension to his novel. When the Villistas began suffering defeats, Azuela fled across the border to El Paso, Texas, where he finished his novel. The initial release of his novel was not brought much attention to, leaving Azuela penniless. As more publishers were drawn into the attention of the novel, it was celebrated. The success was celebrated for many reasons including the modernization and newfound interpretations of Mexican literature. This modernization was seen through the centralization of the Mexican government and post revolutionary antics, which ultimately allowed political and literary advancements. Despite the self-actualization displayed throughout The Underdogs, the ideas Azuela engaged were sometimes characterized as backward and violent.

Gallery walks are a great way to debrief student self-assessments. Repeated exposure to high-quality reflections helps students improve their metacognitive skills. Pair-share peer reviews can also be helpful.

After receiving whole-class feedback and self-assessing with an exemplar, it is important for students to do another rep immediately. This time, I asked them to select a passage from their research, record the grade level, and then document that they could bring it down to the sixth-grade level. Some were more successful than others.

The ParaFLY can be a challenging EduProtocol to provide feedback on especially if you use the jigsaw method and give every student or group different chunks of text. When using this EP, it is important to do a low-cog smart start and make your students feel proud of their first few reps. Otherwise, they will conclude that they aren’t good at paraphrasing and give up on this essential academic writing skill. These students had used ParaFLY more than a dozen times prior to this and were unafraid to tackle challenging text. I was very pleased with their efforts. They confirmed what Jon Corippo says in his EduProtocol seminars, “More reps mean more confidence!” 

If you are interested in diving deeper with EduProtocols, please pick up our book The EduProtocol Field Guide: Social Studies Edition. You can also catch The Social Studies Show live or on-demand every month on EduProtocols Plus.