Ch+9+-+Pam+A.

Well, Let me start by stating that I read ch 10 instead of ch 9. I looked at the week not at the title of the chapter. Now having that said, I liked chapter 9 a lot better then chapter 10. I liked the research project the students did with researching their ancestor. I was planning on doing something similar this year with my classes. I call it the Wax Museum project. The students write a report about a famous person - theme for a class. they then transform their report into a wax museum speech. The students dress up like their character and present to an audience. We used to do this in 5th grade and present it to the fourth graders. They loved it. I liked this idea as it really gave the students something more to do with the multi-genre activities for them to do. I would like to do it this year, but I think I have run out of time. A thought for next year though.

Another thing I liked about this chapter was that it gave the students a choice on what to research. They then wrote their report on what they knew at first, what they learned, and then had the documentation. I am a control freak and the fact that they would research on their own is a little unsettling for me. How do you get students to choose a subject that is too small or too big? What about the ones that just choose one thing like sports, or a famous athlete? Just a thought.

Happy reading and writing!

Pam A.

Susan S - Great idea for a research project! I think they would like the project. Using multimedia is a great idea with middle schoolers, they really get involved. I think they would retain what they did better, and it would mean more to them. What did you think about the idea of having students write together? That one is pretty unsettling to me, but if it would work, I think it sounds great.

Susan I~

I am a slight control freak myself, but realize that I can give up a little bit if it means less work for me. Remind yourself that you will be coaching and conferencing with students as they work on their project. You can help make sure they have gathered the key information before letting them move on to the paper, multimedial part of the project. At least that way if the final part doesn't turn out as good as you expected you know that they had at least done some of the hard parts correctly. Also, remember what it says about grading final pieces, you can look them over instead of marking them up. A checklist/rubric helps make for less work for you and is easy for the student to se where they lost/gained points. Just some thoughts.