Seminar: two texts, one question
The class synthesises two shared texts around a single question and locates precisely where they conflict.
- Close Reading Seminar move: Shared synthesis around a set question
- Evidence it produces: An agreed answer that names the point of conflict
Route status: the learning intentions and mini-lesson scaffold are shared with the workshop route; the Do Now, activities, adjudication, evidence and exit below are this route’s own. The difference is how ākonga work — one shared text, competing claims settled on the words, and a collective record — not which strategies are taught.
Lesson 9: Synthesising Information Across Multiple Texts
Building confident, active readers through Te Ao Māori perspectives, comprehension strategies, and rich Aotearoa texts.
🎯 Ngā Whāinga Akoranga | Learning Intentions
Text synthesis: combining insights from multiple sources (non-fiction article + pūrākau + infographic) to form a deeper understanding of a single theme or topic.
Compare details from two or three distinct texts on a shared theme (e.g. ocean conservation), synthesise overlapping ideas, and write a synthesised response.
🎥 Media Anchor & Pedagogical Scaffold
Synthesising Information Across Multiple Sources
Video: kaiako to select — guidance below.
🎬 Kaiako: Select and embed a video here
Suggested search: "Synthesising Information Across Multiple Sources"
Search YouTube for a short clip (5–10 min) on this topic. Verify it is age-appropriate and plays correctly before embedding.
🧠 1. Before Viewing (Activate & Predict)
Why do researchers read multiple books and articles about a subject rather than relying on just one source?
👁️ 2. During Viewing (Watch With a Job)
- Early in the clip: Extract key facts and perspectives from Text A (scientific report) and Text B (indigenous pūrākau).
- Midway: Identify common themes, complementary evidence, and contrasting viewpoints across texts.
- Later in the clip: Synthesise findings into a unified paragraph using transition phrases ('Source A shows... while Source B adds...').
🗣️ 3. After Viewing & Kaiako Move (Process & Apply)
Kaiako Move: Model creating a 'Synthesis Puzzle' where students combine pieces of information from 3 short text excerpts.
Immediate Task: Complete Section 9 of your Reading Journal: Multi-Text Synthesis Matrix & Integrated Summary Paragraph.
⚡ Whakaoho | Do Now: What ran through? (8 mins)
The class has now worked several shared texts this unit — they are listed on the collective record. Silently: name one thread (an idea, a tension, a question) you think ran through more than one of them. One sentence, committed in writing.
🗣️ Activity 1: Candidate threads (20 mins)
Candidate threads go on the board. For each, the class tests: which texts actually carry it? A thread must be shown in at least two texts, by passage — from the texts themselves or the class’s own records (prediction board, word wall, structure map, audit chart). Threads carried by one text are re-filed as that text’s idea, not a thread; threads carried by none are struck.
⚖️ Adjudication: the strongest cross-text claim (12 mins)
- Of the surviving threads, the class settles which is the strongest cross-text claim — the one with passage evidence from the most texts.
- The standard is stated aloud before voting: evidence from multiple texts, not enthusiasm for the idea.
- The runner-up threads are recorded with their evidence too; synthesis is a map, not a single winner.
This is the lesson where the unit’s collective records pay their way: the class is synthesising its own documented reading, not its memories.
📋 Activity 2: The class synthesis map (10 mins)
Build the class synthesis map: thread → texts that carry it → the passages. Then each learner writes their own synthesised paragraph in their journal from the map — same evidence available to all, own reasoning required from each.
🚪 Exit (5 mins)
One line: a claim you can only make by combining texts — naming which texts combine to make it.
🏫 Kaiako Planning & Pedagogy Notes
Years 7–8 Curriculum Alignment: Te Mātaiaho English Phase 3 — Reading and Viewing for meaning. Builds core comprehension, critical literacy, and cultural connectedness through Aotearoa literature and pūrākau.