As I mentioned in my previous post, the 7th and 8th graders read the play 12 Angry Men. As our culminating activity, students wrote a letter to the editor responding to a fictional article in a fictional newspaper about the case tried in the play. Students had the choice of two prompts:
After several drafts, students read and evaluated each others' work and offered feedback. The results were impressive! Check out the student letters below:
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Quarter two has flown by! During this time, 7th and 8th graders read the play 12 Angry Men, while taking on the role of one of the characters. It was amazing to see how much some students transfromed while reading the part of their particular character. We have some budding actors! Currently, 7th and 8th graders are writing letters to the editor of a newspaper in which they respond to a fictional news story about the trial in 12 Angry Men. However, they are not writing the letter as themselves-- they are writing from the perspective of on of the jurors! I will post the letters to our class website when they are complete!
6th graders have just started their Make-A-Difference projects. Students made a list of 3-4 nonprofits they are interested in learning about, and will find out today which organization they will get! More on this very soon! 5th graders have ben working hard on summarizing. They have learned how to summarize fiction using the SWBST method and summarize both fiction and nonfiction using the 5WH method. They will be using these skills to write a letter to someone about the book Wonder. These will also be posted when they are ready. More news coming soon! The seventh and eighth graders successfully participated for the first time in the Global Read Aloud! We had a great time reading Orbiting Jupiter (although there may have been some tears shed at the end!) and connecting with so many other students around the country--particularly Mrs. Jones' eighth grade students in Winslow, Maine. We used technology such as Padlet, Twitter, TodaysMeet, and Skype to get to know other students and to share our thoughts about the book.
We were able to connect live with our friends in Winslow, Maine three times. Twice we used TodaysMeet, a chatroom like platform, where we discussed the book in small groups; but the highlight was when we got to meet face to face via Skype! The Global Read Aloud was a wonderful experience that allowed us to share our ideas and opinions about a shared novel across the globe. We learned from others and others learned from us--in fact, when we shared our iceberg activity on Twitter, several other teachers thought it was such a great idea that they did the same activity with their students! Students have expressed their interest in participating again next year, so we look forward to seeing what the 2017 book will be! Until then, check out our GRA pictures in the photo gallery! |
Miss G
I am a 2011 graduate of St. Michael's College where I studied English and Secondary Education. I love teaching, learning, soccer, and buying more books than I could ever possibly read. This is my sixth year teaching at OES. Archives
August 2017
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