Invisible Cowboys - Jigsaw Reading Worksheet

Jigsaw Reading Group Work

1. Individual work. Before Reading.

Keeping in mind the three adjectives you wrote down in the Pre-Reading activities, look at the sentence in italics below and answer the questions.

"Facts do not make myths"

a. What "facts" concerning cowboys do you think were hidden by the myth ?

b.​​​​​​ In your opinion, did they have to do with their activities, their appearance, their way of life? What else?

2. Group work. Each group is going to focus on a different document about a group of invisibilized cowboys.

Read the text assigned to you by your teacher and do the following activities.

a. Read the whole document once, to get a feel for the general topic and discuss your reaction with your group mates. 

b. Focus on the elements highlighted in green, yellow, pink or purple. Each color corresponds to a category of information. Use these elements to organize your understanding of the text and discuss meaning with your group mates. 

c. Get ready to exchange with the rest of the class.

• Recap what you know about the people described in your text (appearance, skills, origin, activities, etc.)
  
• Recap the reasons why some cowboys were erased from history, and in what way they influenced the myth of the cowboy or how they questioned it.

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Toolbox

- Like the archetypal cowboys, ... ≠ Unlike the archetypal cowboys, ...

- While the archetypal cowboys were ..., the ...

- The archetypal cowboy were ..., whereas ...

- ... had a major influence on ...

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3. Class work. Share your expertise with the rest of the class.

Share your findings with the other groups. To understand better the similarities and differences between the different communities and the archetype of the cowboy, fill in the following table. You can copy it in your notebook, fill it in online or download it.