First, students read an article about the Basketmakers in pairs to build background knowledge. I modeled See Think Wonder in whole group and then students participated in groups of three. They were given a photo, created a graphic organizer on white paper and I timed each section. What do they see in the picture? What do they think and what is that inference based on? What do they wonder about? This is where their thinking went beyond the photo. Then, we used the organizer to share our thinking in new groups. Finally, students synthesized their understanding by writing poetry, comics, stories and newspaper articles.
Connect - When beginning a new unit, it is invaluable to connect new learning upon prior knowledge. The use of this strategy gave the students an interactive and visual way to activate their schema. As they began to infer, they were able to look past the obvious and postulate ideas. This led to natural wonderings based on clues they may have missed if they weren't given the time to truly examine the picture.
I connected to this routine because I am such a visual learner. The aesthetic helps me to remember!
Extend - I believe the extension came from slowing down to focus and notice the details of the pictures. We became archeologists for awhile and used our new knowledge to share with each other in a jigsaw discussion.
Challenge - Next time, I will provide pictures with details that challenge student thinking. Though the simpler photo's provided the opportunity to search and extend thinking, the students with more interesting pictures were really excited about their learning. I will also model out of the box thinking based on tiny details to expand student license. :)