eMysteries Toolkit

The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. [Project Number: 2019-1-DE03-KA201-060127] 45 others. Burke (n/d) suggests a range of teaching methods that can help with scaffolding of close reading texts: • Shared reading – putting students into pairs or small groups will help students to develop their critical thinking skills through oral debate and discussion. • Reading aloud – having the whole class read out different excerpts of the text will allow students to both read and listen to the text. • Reciprocal teaching – engage students in the text by asking them questions before and after reading the text, remind them to make notes as they read, and allow them to summarize the text in group or individual activities. • Brainstorming – once the first read of the text is completed, lead a brainstorming session about the main themes present in the text. Scaffolding a detective story Detective mystery stories by nature are filled with twists and turns, designed to intrigue the reader and keep them guessing as to who the culprit is. The “who did it?” concept engages students, giving them an extra sense of purpose in reading the story. Teachers can ask students to predict who they think the culprit is, lending to a discussion about evidence in the text after each reading of the text. Detective mystery stories have a standard format that will enable students to easily extract information from the text. This information relates to the following areas: Setting – determine the setting of the text Who is the narrator? When is the story set? Where does the story take place? The setting of The Ice Princess is a coastal town of Sweden called Fjällbacka. All the novels of this series have the same setting. The narrator is always Erica, a writer and there is always also a police detective she collaborates with, called Patrick. The characters keep reappearing in all novels. Problem Identify the issue presented by the author in the text. The problem is always a murder presented at the beginning of the story and surrounded by mysterious events (in the case of The Ice Princess there are no apparent reasons for the murder; it is quite unexpected).