My classes are reading Sign of the Beaver right now. This is a favorite by my kiddos every year. I usually have them keep a journals from the perspective of Matt the main character. My students have loved it... writing journal entries, doodling, & comparing themselves to him. Last Wednesday night I was perusing Pinterest one of my addictions and found a fabulous pin.
Whoever pinned it first and added the caption that it could be used as POV in a novel study needs a big pat on the back. |
I went into school the next day and completely changed what I wanted to do. We read the chapters for that day like we originally would have, but what we finished I numbered off my students by 2s. I then told them that all of the 1s were going to be in Matt's shoes & all of the 2s would be in Attean's shoes. I then put them on opposite sides of the room and they discussed their "experiences" & "feelings" that occurred through the chapters read (as their character, of course). We shared and discussed what the students had come up with.
Then, I handed out a sheet of computer paper to each students & a Styrofoam bowl to each groups. I didn't tell them what they would be used for, but I had them watch me trace & draw my eye on the Elmo. You could see light bulbs going off over several students heads... When I was done drawing, I asked them if they could infer from what I had drawn what I was going to have them do. Hands went up & smiles lit up around the room. They were set off to drawn something that had happened in the chapter from their characters perspective.
We had a blast!! I think they came out amazing. It was interesting to see two students in the same group drawing about the same moment in a chapter, but from the different character's perspective. This is definitely something I will do again with my kiddos!
Next week I am going to be really rocking their minds and have them do a symbolism assignment over the novel. I'll be writing about that next week, so be looking forward to it!