Written Conversation

I tried something new this morning courtesy of Harvey and Daniels Comprehension and Collaboration, 2009.  I had suggested the idea to my AP Eng colleague and she had trialled it on Friday and was pleased with it.  She suggested giving writing prompts to the class before they started, which I thought was a good idea.
My class split into groups of 5 and held a "written conversation" on The Great Gatsby.  Each student had a piece of paper and began a conversation based on some response to the novel or character.  After a couple of minutes (when I could see almost everyone was done) they passed the paper to the person on their left, read what was on the paper in front of them and then responded to the writing.  After a couple of minutes we (I was in a group too) passed the paper again.
This way everyone participates and has something to say and there are 5 simultaneous conversations taking place.  It's based on student thinking/engagement with the text and they think through an idea in more depth.
The end product was really good and showed the students had not only thought through the issues raised but have really been thinking through the novel as they read.