I like this idea as well :) I am always in favor of having good discussions about the books read!
Honestly, in the past, I did not have the students present their response to lit papers because I had a 50 min. period and so many students (35+ in each class) However, I think combining the writing with a discussion in groups is great. You could probably even do it socratic seminar style - a student presents his/her thesis and then they discuss. That would be interesting. On 7/3/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Hello, > > I also teach in California and we are fairly tied to the district's > curriculum which is Holt Literature and Language Arts as well as the State > Standards. However, in my advancing age I am learning to be the good > teacher I once was before NCLB and the standards and the fact that Basic is > no longer passing. But I digress. With my honors classes I use high level > novels and conduct Book Bites. Students are given 4 weeks to read a > novel. The 4th week I hand out a list of 15 to 20 discussion / prompts for > the students to prepare for Book Bites. On the day of Book Bites we all > volunteer to bring our favorite finger munchies. We use the prompt / > questions and discuss the book for that period. I tell them I will be > choosing one of these questions for them to respond to in a Response to > Literature writing. It will not be a traditional book report, but we will > address conflict or theme as well as symbolism, connections and > evaluations. Since it was my first year I already want to change and adapt > this Book Bites to my Basic Classes using the stories in the Holt . . the > better ones, what few their are. My problem is finding enough novels for > all the students. Perhaps I could do Literature Circle Book Bites and have > group novels in the same genre or author or theme. > > You guys give me motivation. Thanks! > > Mrs. Mac > > > _______________________________________________ > The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org > > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive > -- - Heather "The world of books is the most remarkable creation of man. Nothing else that he builds ever lasts. Monuments fall; nations perish; civilizations grow old and die out; new races build others. But in the world of books are volumes that have seen this happen again and again and yet live on. Still young, still as fresh as the day they were written, still telling men's hearts of the hearts of men centuries dead." --Clarence Day "While the rhetoric is highly effective, remarkably little good evidence exists that there's any educational substance behind the accountability and testing movement." —Peter Sacks, Standardized Minds "When our children fail competency tests the schools lose funding. When our missiles fail tests, we increase funding. " —Dennis Kucinich, Democratic Presidential Candidate _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
