Topic 1: Germany’s Changing Position in Europe               and the World

Strategy: Graphic Organizer and Reciprocal Teaching

Activities

Project Transparency #12 (The School System). Have students use a T-chart like the one below to analyze the structural similarities and differences in the German education system compared to an American education system.

Have students use a reciprocal teaching strategy to uncover the content in Handout #8 (A Primer on German Schools) and Transparency #13 (Apprentices)

The goal of reciprocal teaching is to summarize, question, clarify, and predict while reading content material. In some ways the teacher and students take turns becoming the “teacher.” For instance, after reading a passage quietly, one student is asked to summarize. Then other students may add to the discussion with the teacher providing guidance and input. As discussion takes place students are expected to begin questioning, predicting, and clarifying.

Thinking out loud is an important part of this reading strategy because it allows students to receive immediate feedback from the teacher and other students. Students should understand the expectations of summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting. Teachers may want to post or distribute a list of prompts addressing each of the four. Questions or prompts may include those listed on Page 49.

• One word I didn’t understand was…(Clarifying)
• One question someone may ask after reading this passage is… (Questioning)
• What do I think will happen to the author? (Predicting)
• The main idea of this reading is… (Summarizing)

Ask students to make generalizations about the similarities and differences between the German education system and the American education system to which they belong.

Ask students to respond to this question:

• How might increased opportunities for work training that are available in Germany benefit immigrants from diverse cultures?