1. Mandatory public library cards - student will have to prove by week 2 that they each have their own public library card. I will put them in groups of five and each week one of them will have to get a children's book from the library to bring to class and read aloud to their group. They will each read twice during the semester. I will instruct them to practice at home by reading to kids, relatives or roommates. I'm most excited about this and think it has the most potential to fail.
2. Write and perform a skit - we will probably do this during our "heroes in literature" unit. They will get into different groups and write a skit, details to be provided later. Then they will have to practice and memorize to perform for the whole class. I got the idea from Mitch Hedberg: "Put it in a play."
3. Sales pitch - this is carried over from previous semesters because I like it so much. With a group they will have to create a company in a 3rd world country and make a pitch for microcredit. This is nice because they have to think about their audience and the needs of the world to be persuasive.
4. Debate - no idea how I'll do this yet. It will be the hardest part. I think we'll do it during our environmental unit. I don't really know much about debating so I'll have to do some research. Suggestions welcome. I've only ever done it through writing with a class before and it was really successful then so we'll see.
the great thing about childrens books is that you can often get them on audio too, so your students can listen to it being read aloud before trying to read it themselves. i think having them record themselves doing this is a great thing too- but i wouldn t make them listen to it with the whole class. too embarassing.
ReplyDeletemy kids wouldn t get the story if they didn t hear it being read first? you could also have them read aloud, and also make a minilesson of some sort to have the rest of the class do. (that way they pay attention, and you can make sure the presenter understood?)-ek
oops, i forgot to look at what i d written in that last one= sorry for the spelling? embarrassing? ha!
ReplyDeletelast thing about debates- i ve found that unless everyone has a role and has to say something, people might not talk?maybe your students aren t slackers like mine though?