This chapter, as the title suggests, focuses on enactments that can be used prior to reading a text. In order to be successful, teachers need to know where the lesson is going, what the students will learn, where she wants the students to end up, and what problems she foresees them having. Once you have this information compiled, you are ready to plan the enactments. Some example of enactments given are:
1. Frontloading with trigger letters- write a letter regarding a similar situation and have students discuss the contents of the letter. Or write a letter that you pretend you found on the floor. They can brainstorm who wrote it, why they wrote it, what is a suggested thing they should do.
2. Have students respond to pictures- make inferences as to what’s going on, what they can learn from them, and why this picture was taken.
3. Precious Object- Have students bring in something that’s important to them and have them discuss the importance. This works well with books about trips or journeys.
4. Presents- Students pretend they are living in a time in history (holocaust, or slavery) and come up with presents that they would want—something unconventional.
5. Maps- This works well with survival books. Have students see where they are and give them a destination. Have them plan a route and a way t survive the journey.
6. Primary Sources, Videos, and Incident reports.
7. Character quotations- Hand students a quotation (each different) from a certain time period about a certain topic. Have students make inferences about the quote, person, and time period. Then they can walk around the room and “jigsaw” to find what the quotes have in common.
8. Fate Cards- Have students write their goals both personal and professional. Then hand them a card in which you put a life scenario on, such as they have severe lung cancer. They can then write about how their life goals are affected. This is great for a smoking unit.
9. “What if?” Questions-Questions to stimulate imagination. “What if your property was going to be taken by a more powerful person?”
10. Character manifesto and Creed- This is a great frontloading for a book where characters face challenges to their beliefs.
This chapter was full of ideas that would work well in my class room. I especially liked the character manifesto and creed. This is an activity that I think will work well with my curriculum. I plan to use this at the beginning of the school year so we can refer to it as we learn throughout the year. They would have to compose a creed where they include things like: What do you believe in? What is important to you? What do you want to achieve? How do you want to live each day? What is worth working for? What is the ultimate goal of your life? What is your desired legacy? They can different genres in order to complete this creed, and I believe it will create unity within the classroom while giving background information for future learning.
The creed sounds like a great idea. What grade do you teach?
ReplyDeleteSalina- I agree with Jordan the creed does sound like a great idea for them to do on a personal level. Because we have not met AYP our school is a Restructuring 2 school we are mandated to participate in Continuous Classroom Improvement training. As part of this training each class is to write a class mission statement. It pretty much states that each child is going to do their best to be ready to go on to the next grade level. I can see the writing of the creed to be written prior to the mission statement. It might help students connect what they are doing in class to what they would like to do as productive adult citizens.
ReplyDeleteThe creed does sound great. I am a health education major and as having goal setting, personal well being and emotional health tied into the standards and benchmarks, I think this would be a great activity for a Health classroom.
ReplyDeleteI think they would all be good front loading activities to get the kids thinking about what they know and want to learn in the reading. How do you decide which activity best suits the situation? It is more about the reading or the students?
ReplyDeleteNumber 6) primary sources, videos, And incident reports. Does primary sources refer to map's and other visual aids? And what does the author mean by incident reports?
ReplyDeleteI also think the creed sounds like a wonderful idea.
Lots of great ideas! I think you should choose one and go with it, analyze how it worked and also get the students feedback about it too. Since you have 5th graders, I know they always want to tell you what they think. Then continue trying them out and until you find the activities that you like the most!
ReplyDeleteAll of these ideas are so great and sound fun. I especially like the letter idea. I did the precious object thing at the beginning of the school year as part of my community-building, and it always went over very well, and we got to see what each student valued.
ReplyDeleteI loved the fate cards! All of these are going to be a blast to do with students, don't you think? Although I do worry that I won't be able to get the students to play along--they'll think they are "too cool" or something... do you worry about that too?
ReplyDeleteWhat interesting ideas the book had. I loved the one about frontloading with trigger letters. I include letter writing throughout the school year in my writing time and this activity would definitely put a new spin on writing letters. I also would like to try out the responding to pictures activities and maybe incorporate that into my "Fun Friday" activities for my students.
ReplyDeleteThis gave a good amount of strategies that I will use in my classroom! The fate cards and precious object ideas are my favorites! The precious object is a great way to help students make connections to what they're reading. This can sometimes be hard for students but if they have a physical object in front of them, it could facilitate the process of making meaning. The fate cards are great because they really get the students thinking. Goal setting is an important skill in my opinion so this is a great way to start!
ReplyDelete