- An animal can be a best friend.
- Growing up is painful.
- People are not always what they seem.
- First impressions are deceiving.
- Death should not be an emotional experience.
- Men should never cry. If they do, they are babies.
- You cannot become an adult unless you live through difficult experiences
These controversial questions are a very important component of the unit. One of the culminating activities is to write a persuasive paper on one of the questions from the anticipation guide. Having a classroom Blog where students can state and discuss their opinions will allow them to have a more complete and focused persuasive argument for their essay. I foresee the students posing a position and then other students asking questions about it, posing a counter position with supported reasoning, or argeeing with the student's position while giving additional support. Use of the blogging medium will allow all students, not just those who volunteer, to actively state their opinions and use information from their personal experiences and the text to support it. The interactive aspect of the blog will give the students practice defending their viewpoints. They will have a stronger argument because they will already have heard some of the possible counter points posed by the audience who disagrees.
Dear Miss Hampton,
ReplyDeleteI love your idea! Now, without knowing your students and having very sterotypical view of 8th graders I would say that this activity could create a lot of emotional reactions.
I think we are all sensitive about our writing and our thinking in general. Having someone disagreeing with our point of view and/or writing often leads to conflicting situatiuon.
Perhaps, regardless of sutents' personal opinion, they could read each others writing and help build a better argument. This could be done by simply suggesting something or asking "provoking" questions to help the writer build a stronger argument.
In any case, my point is that the atmosphere has to be set in a way that they know that they are working together to help each other create a good peace of writing and not to argue a point.
Cheers,
Arsen
Amy,
ReplyDeleteYour lesson plan sounds like it is very well thought out and it sounds like you are very passionate about your work. I wish I could have had this blogging experience when I was in Jr. High and High School. I am sure I would have benefitted greatly from it.
One problem that I anticipate could happen would be students not remaining civil in their conversations, especially on the "Men should never cry," comment.
My school district is very one-dimensional with hardly any racial or cultural diversity. It is very old-fashioned and I think this dialogue would be very difficult for students, at least at my school, to budge and understand where the other side is coming.
A solution I would make would be to have some pre-thought-out arguments for both sides of the argument to show students there can valid points to each side of the topic.
This sounds very exciting though, and again, I wish I could have had this experience in my classes growing up.
Thanks again and have a great week!
Dustin
I agree that these topics could cause an emotional reaction. Before going to the blog I would preface with my students that having people disagree/ offering different opinions is a helpful way to build a stronger argument. I remind them that everyone's answers are their own opinions and there is no right or wrong answer. I actually did this in my classroom on Friday in discussion form (my district does not allow blogging). The students were very insightful and respectful when discussing their opinions and counter opinions.
ReplyDeleteI think I am going to try to have more thought-provoking conversations in my high school band class. I am often preoccupied with their performing/playing on their instruments and we do not always have open conversations, especially over controversial issues.
ReplyDeleteThanks and have a good week!
Dustin
Wow - great idea - I'll have to go back and post the central themes of the book we're reading in class, Island of the Blue Dolphins, to encourage more insightful thinking of its controversial issues. Thanks for the insight.
ReplyDelete