First three days of implementation

Well, I have finally started to implement my engaged learning project! I actually started on Monday of this week. I quickly scribbled some notes over the past few days and now I will paraphrase them.

Day 1:

• Prior to the first day of implementation, my team divided our 65 students into small groups. I only have seven students in my group which is great! I have the chance to give each student some one-on-one attention. Also, each student has a teacher-partner that they will correspond with as they read the book.
• The students played into the hook. The group of students that I have are above grade level and have a love of learning. They felt that it was "cool" that they were going to be able to help other teachers by sharing what they learn through reading the novel Seedfolks.
  
• Together during class, I read the first two chapters of Seedfolks aloud. Students then reread the chapter and took guided notes on a packet that I put together for the novel. Their notes included a short character description, questions/comments about the chapter, as well as vocabulary questions. I'm looking for students to write "juicy" questions (interpretive/evaluative), but for the first day, many of their questions were pretty "dry" or superficial. The students do, however seem to be enjoying the story. They were engaged during the reading and the note taking.


• Next, I posed an interpretive question about the chapters that we read. The students brainstormed ideas to answer the question and located evidence in the book to back up their ideas. It was nice to observe the students sharing their ideas and listening to the ideas of others. I told that students that they did not have to raise their hand to make a comment...we would treat this time more like a book club format. It was hard for students to do this! They kept raising their hands. But after a few minutes, they got the hang of it and took turns speaking. Locating evidence was a bit challenging for some. Some students tried to use their own experiences to back up their ideas instead of evidence from the book.


• Lastly, each student used a laptop computer to post their ideas about the reading to a blog that I set up through the school. The teachers-partners also answered the same question and posted their answers to the blog. After creating the post, each student was to comment to their teacher-partner's post as well as one additional post. Since it takes some time for students to post their blog, read the other posts, and create comments, I've divided the process as follows: First, students post their comment. Then they read the other comments that are posted. At the beginning of the next class period, students read any new posts and post their two comments.

This is the procedure that I have followed for the past three days. It seems to be working well. The students seem to be enjoying the book. Every chapter of the book describes a different character's perspective of the neighborhood that they all live in. Today, one student pointed out that the blog they are creating represent the different perspectives of the book. To some degree this is true! Many students have never blogged before and I can tell that they think it is a fun mode of communication. They are excited about sharing their thoughts and ideas with students as well as teachers. Most teachers have been writing comments back to the students. They can't wait to open the blog and look for comments!

I will be working with my students on the fifth chapter of the book later today. I will then add additional notes to this blog!