Take a Peek at My Week

I will be completely honest; I am totally procrastinating. It's only Monday, but it feels like this week has been going on forever already. To aid in my procrastination, I am joining Jennifer over at Mrs. Laffin's Laughings to participate in "Take a Peek at My Week".
Below is a quick look at some of what I've got planned this week.

Today we had a lesson at introducing how authors use 'pace' and 'time' in memoirs. I started by playing music to get them thinking about pace. We started off with some slow Nora Jones to which they declared, "It's so boring!" After a brief discussion, we listened to 'Sigh No More' (Mumsford & Sons) which led to a good discussion about pace, timing, and why artists choose to use different pacing and timing at different times. It led into a smooth transition into discussing pacing and timing in memoirs. 

 Okay, so I actually this lesson today. The goal was to teach the kids about inferring themes from a novel. I knew it was going to be a lofty goal, I just didn't know how lofty. First, since we have been doing tons of hands-on and collaborative activities, they were simply not used to sitting, listening, and learning. After what seemed like forever, the majority of them finally started to get with the program, and we were able to do the fun-ish activity: listening/watching the theme music & opening of the classic 'Full House' (an idea I got from I'm Lovin Lit) and then using a graphic organizer to determine the theme of it. They did seem to enjoy this part and do a fairly good job at the skill, so I guess it was a win... kind of.

Our current reading theme is 'Personal Transformation'. One of my classes is reading Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper (wonderful, touching book). In an attempt to get them reading, comprehending, and working with nonfiction texts and giving them a chance to apply the skills of blogging, writing, and inferring theme, I am in the midst of creating a project for them. Don't judge me as it's still in the planning stages... They will have a choice between OJ Brigance and Stephen Hawking (both have physical limitations similar to the main character in our story). They will read preselected articles on the person they select, write an informative blog entry about him, and discuss the themes that can be learned from him. I'll let you know how it turns out :)