My master teacher does a unit in which the class analyzes the social commentary in photographs, poems and short stories. They then spend a few weeks in literature circles digging into the social commentary of several novels. I like the unit, but since I took too long on Macbeth, I have to compress her unit. To accomplish this I have decided to chuck my pseudo-neo-luddite tendencies and take my students on a trip to Blogville.
Today, I successfully got (nearly) all my students to make a blog, but I fear the next step. I intend to have them use their blogs to discuss their group's novel in between class sessions, so when they're in class the discussion is already primed and everyone is on the same page (so to speak).
The question is: How?
I have read about literature circles, and I have spoken with several teachers, but I would appreciate any advice. Also, if you want to check out what I have done so far, go to http://mrlyonshumbleopinion.blogspot.com/ , but I urge you NOT to respond to any posts there... I don't want any of my students sniffing their way back here!
By the way, their final project for this unit will be to produce a mock newspaper in which every student in each circle will produce an article. The group will decide who handles which parts of the layout. There will be both a group grade and an individual grade.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
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