September
3
ELA 20: Work class for interview and chart projects…
- Students started their Interview projects yesterday. They had today’s class to draft their first copy and ask for comments / suggestions for how to improve it. For most of the drafts I saw today, the common suggestion for all was to focus on creating their ‘story teller’s voice’. It may seem more comfortable for some to just re-tell the story they were told, but the challenge and focus of this assignment is for them to share their partner’s story in a way that is more creative, imaginative, and exagerated, while also creating a strong writer’s voice through their word choice and the tone they create. We have studied this last semester in looking at how authors have created their own style and tone; now it’s their own turn to try it.
- They had approximately 50 minutes today to draft their 10 – 15 sentences, edit, and type it on the computer if they focused. I reminded them that I am trying to give them adequate work time and computer access, but after that their work must be completed at home.
- At the beginning of class, I also introduced them to their next assignment, a chart they must draw that details a special childhood place they remember fondly. It might be their yard, their grandparent’s yard, or maybe even a special camp they went to when they were young. They will have to create a diagram or map of this location but the focus here is to add details of the little memories that come back in the process – the hold in the door that they used to peak out of, the worn path through the trees to their fort, or the loft where they used to build forts from the bails and find litters of kittens hidden in. They’ll get about fifteen minutes at the beginning of tomorrow’s class to begin this but it will also be an at-home project. (Primarily because, to do this project really well and benefit the most from the experience, they have to be on their own in a quiet place with their thoughts. Try as they might, it just can never be the same in a classroom.)