Literature Circles and Xtranormal

Over a period of 10 weeks, the Humanities 7 team at ISB split the entire 7th grade (approximately 180 students) into groups. Each student was allowed to pick their favorites from the book list (see below), and then all of the Humanities teachers sat down and arranged students into groups depending on their desire to read the novel, group dynamics, availability of the novel, and Lexile range. The students then met approximately once a week for 4-5 weeks and discussed the novel. Students created their own reading schedule, and each week student's were expected to be prepared with a series of questions that revolved around the novel.


To be prepared for Book Club discussion, students were asked to do the following:

1. Pick one passage or scene from what you’ve read that you want to share with the group. You need to tell why you selected it… be sure to go deeper than just “I liked it” or “it was my favorite” tell us why! (I loved the author’s choice of language, the dialogue, the use of symbolism)


2. Develop two questions (not yes or no questions) as discussion starters. If one question is a “would you” question, then the other has to be different.


3. Find one example of a literary device


4. Bring something you have a question about. For example, some vocabulary words you don’t understand, part of the story you don’t understand or something that needs clarifying.

Students were given the option to come to class with their questions already written out or to keep them in mind for general discussion. Students were allowed to turn in their questions for enrichment points. Some students embraced the chance for some enrichment points and came to class with a full stack of notes. Others enjoyed the liberty of reading without a pen in hand, and came to class prepared to discuss the novel without the formalitites that usually go with reading a novel for class. Although this may be an easy for students to slack off, the students were accountable to their peers in their assigned group. When a student came unprepared to a group discussion, by not staying on top of the reading or unable to discuss the novel, the other students would be incredibly upset. Peer pressure worked wonderfully in this situation.



At the end of the 5 weeks, students were allowed to rate one another and their own performance within the group. By giving students the ability to grade their peers, I found they were incredibly honest about each other's performance. In addition at the end of each 5 week cycle, the students were given different options as a final project. The first one revolved around a creative writing experience.



For the second final project, the students were asked to make a movie trailer or shoot one scene from their novel and create it on http://www.xtranormal.com/. Basically if you can type, you can make a movie. The list of books the students read was quite extensive (see below), and some of the movies they created are hyperlinked as well. Have fun watching!



My Sister's Keeper or this version
Flowers for Algernon or this version
Before We Were Free
Of Mice and Men
Hatchet
Bless Me Ultima
Mzungu Boy or this version
Ender's Game
I am the Cheese
Whalerider
Number the Stars or this version or this version or this version
Shiva's Fire
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Red Scarf Girl
Millions
Golden Compass
Ashes of Roses
A Single Shard
The Joy Luck Club or this version
The Hobbit
The Five People You Meet in Heaven or this version
Tuesday's With Morrie
The Illustrated Man or this version
Death on the Nile
Murder on the Orient Express
Bud, Not Buddy or this version or this version
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
The Time Bike
The Call of the Wild
The View from Saturday
The Secret Garden

Read more...