Textual Telephone

by Dana Blair

Textual Telephone!
 

My students are often worried about paraphrasing: How do I avoid plagiarism? What if I get it wrong? How do I know what to say? I use this activity as an analogy for paraphrasing and a jumping board for class discussion:

• Put students in groups of 4-6

• Have the first students find a quote from (pick a text) and write it at the top a piece of paper. Once they are finished, they should fold the paper to the next group member.

• The second group member should do their best to paraphrase the quote. Once they are done, they need to fold the paper over until the only the part they have written is visible. Then, pass it to the next group member.

• Continue until the last student has written their paraphrase.

• As a group, have students read the entire paper and discuss the results. Was the last paraphrase close in meaning to the last quote, or did the meaning change? Where can you see the meaning change along the way? Why did that happen? What parts remained the most intact, meaning-wise?

• Have the groups share their findings with the class and discuss together. What strategies have you seen that helped a paraphrase retain the meaning of the original text? Do paraphrases have to preserve the meaning? Why or why not?

Happy teaching!

-Dana Blair