Progress!

Last week, I said that I was having a difficult time figuring out my unit. I was confused, lost and frustrated. Luckily, I no longer feel that way! 

Stela and I decided to make a unit calendar for this week's class.  I have to say, placing my ideas into a day-by-day format helped me grasp what was possible and how long it all would take. While creating it, I also added a few things. I thought that after we've read all of our material, we could have a fishbowl discussion.  There are a lot of different writing assignments throughout the unit, so I thought (just for fun) to have the students create a no-pressure portfolio. It won't be heavily graded, but I think it would benefit the students to have a look at their combined work, and reflect on it. I have always thought that portfolios help a student gauge their effort and the quality of their work. Once I got everything planned out, it looks like my unit will be around 7 weeks long. I'm worried about the length. Is that TOO much time? The Hunger Games is a long novel (27 chapters), and I wanted to dedicate a lot of time to it to ensure their comprehension. During that time period, the weeks look dull. Read, journal, read, read, journal, district meeting, read, journal, quiz. In the coming weeks, maybe I can find a way to spice that up a bit.

One of my favorite ideas for the YA Novel segment of my unit...putting students in Districts (aka Lit Circles). Every so often they will get together in class and work on a WebQuest-like activity. They'll be creating their own utopic/dystopic society. 

I'm getting excited about this again. I feel as though I have a lot of great activities and assignments for this unit.