Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Updates to the Syllabus

A few changes were made in class on Tuesday. The 1984 projects will now be due Monday, March 9th. The five annotations are still due by the end of class on Friday, March 6th. Also, we will be doing a jigsaw style discussion in class on the following dates: Wednesday, March 4th; Monday, March 9th; and Wednesday, March 11th. See the description below for how these classes will function and what is expected of you (extra preparation is required).


Preparation:

In the class prior to a jigsaw day, I will assign you one of four themes. You will be responsible for completing that night’s reading while paying special attention to that particular theme. You will also be responsible for writing one quality discussion question that relates to your theme and references a specific moment in the text (a page number is required).

My expectation in requiring only one question is that you will give some real thought to developing this question. Although it may be handwritten, it must be completed before entering the classroom. Though it should go without saying, a discussion question should prompt interpretation and analysis. There is not necessarily one right answer to a discussion question and the question should not be phrased in a manner that elicits a simple yes-or-no response.

I will occasionally collect these questions unannounced for a grade and will also check to make sure you have them in class daily.


Jigsaw day proceedings:

The first portion of the class period will be an opportunity for you to meet in a small group setting with the other students that focused on your theme. This discussion should consist of group members sharing their discussion questions and highlighted passages. It is also an opportunity for the group to discuss the theme’s development over the course of the novel. Each group member should take notes detailing their peers’ ideas and their group’s discussion.

After meeting in these groups, I will reassign you to a new small group. This group will consist of one student from each theme group. Each student will act as the expert on his/her theme by summarizing their first group’s discussion and posing a discussion question to the group. The discussion question could be the student’s own or one of the other discussion questions shared in the first group. Each student will act as the discussion facilitator while the group considers his/her question.

We will follow these discussions up with a whole-class review or a brief writing activity, depending on the amount of time remaining in the period.

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