Week 5

Week #5

         I enjoyed the value card activity. I had actually done it the week before in my assessment class however I liked how we did it this time better because we related it back to our class. It was nice to see what we valued and then to be able to see what we thought a character valued. I think this is a useful tool to see how students interpret a character. There can be many answers as long as they can back up why they picked certain values for the character. I think this is good especially for middle school students because they are at the age where they are trying to figure out what is important to them and why. This activity gets them to think about these more. It would be cool to extend this activity by having them write about their values. They could simply write about each value in their top four and why they picked it. They could also write examples or stories about their values. For example I said that I value service to others. I could write about how I go out of my way to help my friends and a story about a time I did that.

        Another activity we did was the Grand Jury activity. This was not my favorite only because I am not a huge fan of debating things myself. I do however find value in the activity. It teaches students to be able to have an opinion and be able to find evidence for that opinion. It can also teach them to talk or write persuasively which are both important skills to have as an adult. I thought it was cool how one of the people in our class mentioned that by debating the other side than what she believed it challenged her and stretched her mind. I think that we as teachers don't always do enough of that so this is a good activity to practice this. It is a very engaging activity which in a middle school class I would consider using.

       I thought our activity where we got to talk about our opinions of the book, connections to the book, and then an article that showed another side to the book was worthwhile. It was helpful to see why the book may not be the best choice. It reminded me that teachers need to research their books they choose and be able to explain to parents why they are having their students read the book. I would not have known it was a controversial book otherwise. I think this activity could be adapted for a class as well. The columns could still be thoughts, connections to other things, and finally another view on the book. It think seeing another person's view on the book would also stretch their minds because it forces them to think about something they hadn't thought of.