How is it that in my sixteen years of school I had never heard of an Invitation, and within the past week I have done two assignments on it?! I am currently taking a class on trade books and this past week I had to read the same article that was assigned for this week by Katie Van Sluys and create my own invitation. I am in love with Invitations! They are great because they allow kids to be guided by a topic that the teacher might help them decide about, but from there, the students are encouraged to let their curiousities take them to new places with research and ideas.
The biggest clarification that was made for me about Invitations is that they are not anything like "stations". There are nine aspects of an Invitation that define it as such. The ones that really stuck out to me was "Value alternative responses" and "Represent our best current understandings." I particularly liked when Van Sluys mentions "...complex problems are rarely paired with simple solutions."
On a different note, if any one is interested in seeing an example of an Invitation I would be more than happy to email you the one I created. Just let me know!
If you don't mind, I'm uber confused about what an invitation actually is, so please send me an email if you get a chance :)
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. I'd love to see your invitation. The one I created for tradebooks was this huge thing. It had to have so many components and it was one of the two big projects we turned in that semester. I'm not even sure I still have a copy.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see your invitation! I am very excited also after reading Van Sluy's article and I seem to find them every Wednesday at my placement.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great analysis...I had never heard of a literacy invitation before this class either. I have not had the chance to actually write an invitation and would really like to see one that you have created. Thank you for offering to share with us.
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