Eighth graders started writing book reviews this week. During the review writing process, our focus will be on crafting attention grabbing introductions, providing an interesting portrait of the novel’s story, developing opinions, and giving explanations that show strong analysis and conclusions. Additionally, students will do research about the author or other interesting details to provide insight beyond the story. Lastly, students will include their own recommendation for the novel.
Students will draft their writing during class time this week and submit their first draft for teacher feedback through Schoology next week. A plan for improvement for the final draft stage will be discussed during workshop conferencing. Students will have opportunities during class to share their reviews with classmates inside and outside their book club groups.
They will also begin working on their group project this week. The Soundtrack Project requires each group to choose at least ten songs that represent events from their book club novel. They will prepare one complete paragraph for each song explaining how the song relates to an event in the novel. Students will cite and explain the song lyrics and use textual evidence that they find most profound. They will submit their song list and explanations prior to the presentation. Soundtracks will be previewed and explained during the group presentation on December 16th.
The goal of this project is to see if students can apply the plot, themes, and symbols of their book club book to another text—music. Additionally, I am hoping that they can see the connections between the novel and real life. There is a direct relationship between the themes and attitudes of music and the society for which the music is performed. Students will make comparisons and connections between our music, our society, and themes present in their dystopian books.
Upcoming Due Dates:
Book Review First Draft Due: Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Book Review Final Draft Due: Monday, December 14, 2015
Book Club Soundtrack Project and Presentation: Wednesday, December 16, 2015
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