Oct
15

A Novel on the Block

Filed Under (Uncategorized) by proppspropaganda on 15-10-2007

Probably next week, I will start my first novel with my students.  Now, I realize that I cannot read the entire 84 minutes.  My concern is what else do I do?  What do experienced teachers of the block do while reading a novel?  I worry with the memory component, since I only see my students every other day.  I am also worried that the other activities become busy work instead of really focusing on the novel and the story line.  Once again readers I could use some imput.

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Jana on 15 October, 2007 at 10:59 pm #
    

When I taught in block courses, I usually started with some sort of activity to get them going or remind them of what had been done on the previous day (3×5 Quiz, is a fav), then do reading and have some sort of activity to wrap up with - it might be writing a journal response, a letter to a character, Think-pair-share about something they read, draw an illustration, etc.

Hope this helps!


santagadess on 11 November, 2007 at 10:02 am #
    

Hello, I just came across this post. If I could only be in your shoes!!! I taught HS English in a semester-based block for the past 11 years. This year despite much teacher protest, we are back in the 9 period day. Many of us are ready to commit hari-kari (sp?) over this regressive change. Please don’t give up hope; the block offers a mind-boggling array of ways to instruct, esp. for our discipline. In terms of a novel, I only read key passages in class. But think of a block period as a way to cover a chapter (themes, plot progression, key quotes, character dev. etc.) in one day!
The ability to do a pre, during, and post reading lesson all in one sitting is a beautiful thing, esp in this ADD, multi-tasking world we live in. One can access all four language arts in one class and your students will actually have time to think! . I remember it seeming like a lot of time to fill up, but it just requires us to rethink the way we plan. The ideas in the previous comment are great. If you need more advice, I have trained teachers moving to the block.


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