Mind mirror activities enable language teachers to integrate target language objectives with the development of critical thinking skills and critical reading skills. The cognitive skills of interpretation, inference, and self-regulation are developed the most. Mind mirror helps students to draw generalisations from text detail and to synthesise their understandings in a visual form with close reference to the text.
Students work in groups to create a poster, based on a text they are reading, that illustrates the key elements on an outline of the character’s head. Groups then present their posters to the class. Students depict how this character was feeling and thinking at a specific time and what questions the character was considering. To illustrate all these ideas students use (two) relevant quotes from the text and create (two) symbols and (two) drawings that are important in explaining the character's perspective. This activity provides a good opportunity to clarify the difference between a drawing and a symbol.
Variation: Each student in the group may use a different coloured marker to illustrate their items and to sign their names on the poster. In addition to enabling the teacher to view each student’s work, this color-coded method promotes equal participation and accountability among all group members.
Watch this video to see mind mirror activities being used in a year 12 English classroom
Published on: 19 Jan 2018
