Wrapping up literature circles...

Welcome back! During the week of 2/23-2/27, students finished reading the novel they had selected with their literature circle and had their last two discussion days to discuss the final chapters. The schedule for the week mirrored that of the week before vacation. On Monday and Wednesday, students prepared for group discussions by reading assigned chapters, completing discussion preparation sheets, or writing director questions. Tuesday and Thursday were discussion days.

As a teacher, the discussion days were fun. I saw students peel back layers of the text and debate the issues that arose in the novel they read. I saw students emerge as leaders of their groups by spurring discussion if it was fizzling or involving students who may have been quiet in the discussion. I saw students who are ordinarily quiet in whole-class discussions share their thoughts about the novel with their group, and I saw students succeed and struggle when working together as a group. If nothing else, this literature circle unit gave students the opportunity to practice their skills of working together as a team to complete a task, and I think that's an important skill for every student.

Returned Assignments

No graded assignments were returned this week.

Literature Circles: Week 2...

Students continued reading and discussing novels in literature circles this week. Monday and Wednesday were preparation days, meaning that students had time to read, work on any assigned journal responses, or update their character trait log and story map. Tuesday and Thursday were designated for discussion of the novel's events. Before each discussion day, one student from the literature circle volunteered to act as the director of the group. He or she created five "big questions" for the group to discuss and lead the group's discussion. I've really enjoyed getting to walk around the classroom while the literature circles are at work and observe the groups' discussions. The directors have been coming up with great questions to get their group to think more deeply about the text. Literature circles will conclude at the end of the week we return to school.

We had 30-minute classes on Friday due to a special Team 7-1 schedule, so students took the time to clean out unnecessary papers from their binders that they had collected over the course of Quarter 2.

Returned Assignments

There were no graded assignments returned this week.

Playbill covers and movie posters...

For the final part of the scriptwriting activity, students designed a playbill cover or movie poster for the script they completed. If your child wrote a play script, he or she designed a playbill cover. If your child wrote a movie script, he or she created a movie poster.

We spent part of Monday's class looking at examples of playbill covers and movie posters and determined the characteristics of each. I was impressed by the creativity that the students showed when creating designs to entice their audience to check out their scripts. Below are a few examples of the work from students on Team 7-1. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

And the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay goes to...

During the week of January 26-30 we wrapped up our drama unit.

Students spent most of the week working on the drama unit culminating activity - adapting a scene from the science fiction or fantasy novel they read to be a scene in a movie or a play. Armed with the understanding of how script writers tell a story, students first decided whether their scene would work best on either the stage or the screen and then began drafting their scripts on Monday and Tuesday in class.

Later in the week, students brainstormed titles for their script, worked on revising and editing their script with the help of a checklist, and exchanged scripts with a partner as part of a peer review session. Students should be putting the finishing touches on their scripts this weekend and Monday. The final draft of the script is due Tuesday.

In addition to writing their scripts, students took a short quiz on vocabulary associated with drama this week. They also previewed three novels and selected one in preparation for a novel unit that will begin next week.

Returned Assignments

Students got back one 14-point graded assignment this week. Students answered recall, inference, and analysis questions about the short story "All Summer In a Day" by Ray Bradbury for this assessment.