Anytime your class is "sponging" information during movies, class presentations, short lectures, etc., be sure to hold the students accountable for listening, thinking, and learning.  The 3,2,1 excersie is a simple method for making sure the students are paying attention.  Have the students get out a piece of paper and writing utensil.  Instruct them as follows:  name at the top, next line write "3 things I learned," leave 6 lines of space, write "2 interesting things," leave 4 lines of space, write "1 question."  As they watch/listen, they should be filling out the paper with three things they learned, two things they found interesting, and one question they have (3,2,1).  At the conclusion of the exercise, you may engage the students in a question-sharing session and then collect the papers for a quiz grade.  This is a great exercise for keeping them focused and maintaining the learning environment in your classroom.  Feel free to adapt the exercise to your own needs.

To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting. ~ Edmund Burke

Give One, Get One

This strategy is ideal for pre-reading.   Students fold a piece of paper in half lengthwise.  The top left column is labeled GIVE ONE and the top right column is labeled GET ONE.  Students are asked to brainstorm all they know about a certain topic: mythology, modes of central tendency, meteorites, measurement -- whatever the new topic is that you want to introduce (and it doesn't even have to begin with "m")!  Students put these bits of knowledge (words, phrases, sentences, formulas, etc.) in the left column.  They then meet in groups to acquire additional information from their peers on this topic and to share with the group what they already know.  Any new-found information is placed in their GET ONE column.  They may rotate through additional groups if time permits.  By the end of the activity, they have a cache of information on the new topic -- prior knowledge on which to build with readings and other texts.  A FINAL list should be compiled in a full-class, teacher-led manner, so that you may clarify any misconceptions prior to the introduction of new material.

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture.
Just get people to stop reading them.  ~ Ray Bradbury

The way a book is read- which is to say,
the qualities a reader brings to a book-
can have as much to do with its worth 
as anything the author puts into it. ~ Norman Cousins