Common Core CPR - Close Reading

Thanks to the inclement weather, I finally found time to finish reading chapter 4 - How To Go Deeper.  It is a good time to read it as the last part of the chapter discusses the kind of open ended questions that promote reading the text rather than just skimming to look for answers.  Two of my sophomore classes are currently working in groups to discuss and answer questions about the book they are reading.  About a third of the students have responses that prove they are thinking deeply about the text, a third has superficial answers only, and the other third is simply not doing the assignments even though they know that means they will fail this grading period.   I know of two students who are basing their (superficial) answers on the summaries they have read on Sparknotes.

One thing that the book mentions that I have not been doing is coming together as a class to discuss the issues raised by the questions for each day.  My struggling students would be helped by hearing the insights of the students who are successful.  They would also be helped by hearing some of the better responses and then understand my expectations.  In the past, I have been able to guide groups and give immediate feedback when answers were not in depth.   I have also been  able to provide more support to the students who struggle most.  The biggest difference between those classes and my current classes is the time constraint of teaching skinny (45 minute) classes instead of teaching blocks.   Another thing that I used to do when I taught blocks (90 minutes) was have students journal -- a practice also recommended in this chapter.  How do I include group work, whole class discussions, journal writing, and vocabulary all in one 45 minute period?   If students would read for homework and come to class prepared to discuss (another common core standard), I could fit everything in.  As it is, few students complete homework, especially when it involves reading.  My students who are accustomed to failing, and expect to fail, are not motivated by the threat of failing due to non-completion of homework.  If anything, a series of zeros makes them give up faster. 

While I know that I need to spend more time on the skills discussed in the book at the start of next school year, I am also trying to figure out how to implement these great ideas now while also preparing my students for the standardized test that they will take in 6 weeks time.   I need time to find some good texts written from different perspectives about interesting issues and then write effective, open-ended questions to go along with them.  I need to keep reading this book to find more ways to counteract student apathy and the constraints of teaching short classes.