Mrs. Townes' 7th graders are now reading The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. She gave them questions to answer on chapters 1-3 for Wednesday as well as a character list and gang list for them to fill in information such as physical appearance, personality characteristics, and major event. They will continue to add to their character and gang lists until they are finished reading the book. I think that is a great idea. My junior year in high school, my teacher had my class keep character notecards, and it was very handy to have around, especially when I started writing the paper she assigned. Back to the practicum...I facilitated discussion about chapters 1-3 by going over the questions and character lists with them. This class is very talkative and eager to respond. It helped that they had already answered the questions as their homework because they were prepared to discuss the book.
Today we read chapter 4 and part of chapter 5 out loud in class. I started by reading a couple of pages, and then let the students read down the line using the tap method--when the reader is tired of reading aloud, he/she taps the person next to him/her so that person will start reading. If someone does not want to read, they just tap the next person to keep it going. It worked out pretty well; although, I think the ones who were listening liked it better when I read to them. They are on fall break next week, so they are eager to start their break!
Elizabeth
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did you find it hard to just stick to the questions and not explore other elements of the text (think back to whatever book we read on your freshman class and how i was all over the place with the discussion)? the character cards are indeed a good idea to keep things straight.
what would you have done differently if you were in control. would you perhaps tie in some community based learning examples? and also think about how you;d teach this book to a group of REAL outsiders at Smyrna West!
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