Exhibits

The Road to Reading This was created as an assessment to evaluate how students visualize themselves reading.  It was also a way to assist them in organizing their thoughts as they read any type of material.  "Defenders Find Filthy Fast-Food Restaurants" was an article we used for the students to practice the active reading process. 

 

Students working on the Road to Reading assignment with their Write Source 2000 books.  One student used this example of Visualizing Reading.

 

What is Loyalty?
  • Lesson Plan
  • Students created a bulletin board with examples of loyalty
  

Loyalty was defined by ten words: patience, unity, appreciation, character, honesty, caring, respect, compassion, gratitude, and courtesy. Students used magazines to show examples that they felt represented loyalty.  By searching for pictures they were making a connection between the vocabulary and the visual representations.

 

 

Students constructed a bulletin board using magazines to depict loyalty.

 

The 1960's

 

 

Students needed the necessary background information about the 1960's to read The Outsiders in order to understand many of the situations in the novel.  To engage the students we created stations (Music: Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud, Video:  The '60's, Web Scavenger Hunt:  American Cultural History, Writing:  Answering questions about an event or person from the 1960's) that they could experience various events from the 1960's.  They were responsible for completing the student worksheet and answer the questions for each of the four stations.  This was more informative and it allowed them to move around the classroom instead of listening to a lecture or reading from a book.

 

 

The students spent the day learning about the 1960's through music, video, reading & writing, and the Internet.

 

While we were reading...  

It was necessary to get the permission of the parents for students to view the movie.  The response journal, plot diagram, and character maps were used as preparatory work for the website the students created.  This was an opportunity for students to synthesize what they were reading and be able to make a personal connection.  If the students had not completed this prior to going into the computer lab it would have been nearly impossible for them to complete the assignment during the week they spent in the computer lab.  Many times they did not want to complete this part of the project, but it was the primary foundation of the website. 

 

 

Student Response Journals

 

 
Student Character Map
Student Plot Diagram:  

Jen

 

You Mean We Really Are Going to Make Our Own Website?  

This created an opportunity for the students to be web designers and create an e-portfolio chronicling their experience with the novel.  The majority of the students had never used Microsoft Publisher so they were able to create a website easily and learn how to use a new software package.  If I were to teach this unit again, I would definitely include this as a part of the assignment.  Many of the students did not think they would be able to create a website and this gave them a great boost of confidence.  Two students were having difficulty staying focused during reading and were drawing comics, so we decided to give an alternate assignment to them to better reflect their talents.

 

 

Students spent many hours constructing their websites.  Some even ate their lunches while they worked.
As an accommodation we had two students create an Outsiders comic as an alternate assignment. 

 

I Am Writing a Letter to a Famous Author? We decided to give the students the opportunity to reflect on the assignment, and tell S.E. Hinton how reading this book affected them personally.  In the district curriculum, 8th grade students are required to do technical writing and this was a fun way to fulfill this requirement.  After some Internet research we found the address to mail letters directly to S.E. Hinton, and the students were excited about the possibility of the author receiving their letters. 

 

I had the opportunity to meet S.E. Hinton, and she is signing my copy of The Outsiders.