I gave the book an "Exceptional" rating because I really enjoy the themes threaded throughout the book. The plot line is a little farfetched and the storyline does drag on occasion, which removed the novel from the "Monumental" category. During the slow portions of the novel, many of my students struggled. This led to some readers giving up on the novel and others becoming frustrated with it. I could relate with my students because I, too, struggled to read it during my freshman year of high school. But through a reread alongside my students and the teaching that accompanied the reading, I grew to have a greater appreciation for the novel. I believe the novel is a great fit for ninth graders, and the classroom implications are endless. Lord of the Flies Unit for ELA 9 Having never read Anthem (the other option for the spring novel unit), Lord of the Flies was an easy decision to make when it came to the last unit of my internship. The workload for the unit was scaffolded towards the final literary essay. Each component was an important block building up to the analysis required for the essay. Every student was responsible for completing a graphic organizer for every chapter (below). The graphic organizer had students analyzing each chapter with multiple lenses, including psychoanalytic theory, symbolism, Golding's opinion that humans are naturally evil, and major themes. Students were responsible for completing the "Your Notes" columns prior to coming to class. They would use their notes to participate in whole class discussions about the chapter required for the day. Participation was required and graded, and a majority of the discussions were fueled by questions the students had about the chapter or about overall themes and the development of characters. Discussions were in depth and each class period's ideas were fresh. As time went on, I began to notice some of the students were not getting a lot out of the whole class discussion. Lulls in conversation were more frequent and student participation was down, even though it was graded. Through an Exit Ticket Reflection on whole class discussions and some of my own thoughts, I revamped the whole class discussions into fishbowl Socratic Seminars. These Seminars also became summative assessments over the last four chapters.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed teaching Lord of the Flies to my students during my internship year. The students accomplished a ton of assignments and projects and gained a ton of insight and knowledge about the novel in the process. I am looking forward to applying these types of projects, discussions, and deeper level thinking into my future classroom(s) because I believe in the great value it has on each student's thinking. Goodreads Reading Challenge Update
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The Avalanche of Books
As an educator and avid reader, I am constantly hearing about books. I feel like I am being chased by a giant, rolling avalanche of titles and authors. Rating System
5 books - New fave! Read it now!
4 books - Shelf worthy 3 books - Quality read, but ... 2 books - Borrow it 1 book - Skip it Archives
December 2017
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