1.   Each student should choose two - three stories from the numbers provided.
2.   Students will read and respond in writing to the material individually.
3.   In like groups: students with the same readings will discuss, compare, and contrast their observations of the reading, thus broadening and deepending each student’s understanding of the specific reading.
4.   Each like group will pool information to extend understanding of the material, take notes on the conclusions drawn by the group on the specific reading.

Unlike Groups:

1. In groups, students with unlike readings will tell the others about the content of the work he/she has read. After all students have spoken, the group should consider:

      a.         the ways in which these texts compare or contrast
      b.         the dominant image or perspective these texts collectively present about the topic
      c.         the questions that these texts raise about the topic

2. Each group will report on the findings of their group to the class in plenary.

Project: Culminating Essay (Appendix E):

Each student will write a comparison/contrast essay (using a “critical lens”) on two works based on the information from the jigsaw activity.

This “jigsaw” activity was developed and written by the New York City Writing Project at Lehman College in The Bronx, New York.

This site was created by Benyonne Schwortz at the NEH Summer Institute "Literatures, Religions, and Arts of the Himalayan Region," held at the College of the Holy Cross, Summer 2008.