Due to the obvious inadequacy of our first attempt, we revised our original plan and created
this site.
why this age group?
We decided to use ninth graders as our hypothetical subjects for our first PBL simply because they are smack dab in the middle of the age group the three of us are learning to teach (6-12). Since some of us are aiming to teach middle school, and some of us high school, we felt it would be most fair in this project to chose the grade right in the middle.
why this book?
To Kill a Mockingbird has been noted as the most successful one-hit wonder of the rural south. All the members of my group had read it, and remembered it somewhat clearly for its various themes and assorted motifs.
why spend so long on summer reading?
We decided that
To Kill a Mockingbird would be best read as a summer reading assignment. It's easy to read, mostly takes place in the summer, and does not involve too much that the students wouldn't already know about by ninth grade. Contrary to our teachers, however, who mostly just brushed off summer reading and completed it in a week, we decided to require a bit more critical thinking from our students and created a multifaceted project that would last three weeks. Using the Buck Institute's Project Calender (found
here)we simply created three assignments over the course of three weeks that develop a critical understanding of the text within the students and reinforce the concepts pursued by the Common Core (link in assignment).
Hey Laura! I loved the fact that you all decided to have the summer reading last more than a week. I know my teachers would also brush it off in a week with a simple project or test. I think that your idea would give the students more reason to be involved and participate and show more interest in the book. Good Work!
ReplyDeleteI see a lot of problems with this project.
ReplyDeleteFirst, the link to the project on Crawford's blog does not work and there is no link on Railey's post. Second, the links to the calendar (Railey and Crawford) take you to a page where you can get a blank BIE calendars. I could not find YOUR calendar. Third, the plan is very confusing. Here is a list of the activities: Read a book; Prepare to create a skit. Is that the same as a video? Write a document to introduce the video. Assign Groups. Select themes for a film. Create a scene. Create a 10 minute film of a scene expressive of a major theme. [What]? Incorporate the text as dialogue? [What text?]
I am confused.
If you use the BIE Forms this would probably make more sense.