1.  Select a piece of text that you want students to read independently and discuss.  This strategy may be used with both fiction and non-fiction text.

2.  After reading, give each student an index card.  Ask students to select one particular sentence/passage that they thought was especially meaningful or important.  Have them copy this down, word for word, on one side of the index card.  Teach them to put quotation marks around the quote, since they are copying the author's actual words.  On the other side of the index card, they are to write a response to the sentence, telling why the passage was important or meaningful to them, and their reasons for selecting it.

3.  After students have prepared both sides of their index cards, put them in mixed-ability groups of five or six.  Select a student to simply read what he or she has written on the front side of their card.  Invite the entire group to discuss the passage and its importance to them.  After the group is done discussing the passage, the original student has "the last word":  he or she reads their response and explanation on the back of their card.

4.  Students take turns reading their quotes and having "the last word," until the entire group is finished.  At this point, the group should have had an interesting and thorough discussion of the article.