Chew on This: Digital Recording Summary
The digital recording of our group discussion of CHEW ON THIS went well today. For the most part our group members felt the book was valuable and worthwhile to use in the class either as a whole or as excerpts. Tonya expressed a slight disappointment in the book, but still found many passages worth discussing as a group. We discussed the useability of the book, the ways we saw it playing out in our classroom, the ways we could collaborate with other teachers, the responses we expected from our students and the troubleshooting areas we foresaw.
As a young adult book, we found the text features, white space, large font, pictures, subtitles and captions, to be very helpful. The writing was clear and seemed accessible to a variety of middle school levels. Jessie had many wonderful insights on how the book could be used in the classroom, because she created a unit for her 6th grade class using FAST FOOD NATION this past year. She addressed many of the strengths and weaknesses CHEW ON THIS had with it's more adult version, noting that FAST FOOD NATION had some sections which were perhaps more riveting for a young adult audience. She also suggested a clever way to use class time to cover all of the text, through a similar approach to jigsawing, drawing on reading strategies she had worked on throughout the year.
Sarah pointed out many of the key themes and ideas that could be discussed in a range of middle school classrooms and offered some excellent ideas on how the text could be used in classrooms to foster authentic learning. Tonya expressed some concern for the lengthy historical background provided in the book. We varied in our opinions on this matter, some arguing that it was interesting and others arguing that it was indeed a little much. We agreed that in order to get kids engaged in this book, we would have to find a very alluring hook. Jessie suggested reading a passage from FAST FOOD NATION that describes in great detail the conditions of the slaughter house, as this worked well to motivate her students this year.
I think the discussion went well considering we did not follow roles like we had during the last literary discussion. We created 5 questions before beginning the recording to keep us on track during the discussion. I think the digital recording did add an uneasy element to our discussion at first and we certainly exchanged some funny glances when there was an awkward pause. I'm not sure that the digital recording made a significant impact on the quality of our literary discussion, as I would say last week's discussion was equivocal. It did make me hesitate to contribute to the group on a number of occasions, which I did not feel the weight of as much in last week's un-recorded discussion. I feel that middle schoolers probably wouldn't be as bashful towards the recorder; however, I can see a problem arising from attention seekers taking over the digital recording performance and leaving their literary companions on the sidelines.
As a young adult book, we found the text features, white space, large font, pictures, subtitles and captions, to be very helpful. The writing was clear and seemed accessible to a variety of middle school levels. Jessie had many wonderful insights on how the book could be used in the classroom, because she created a unit for her 6th grade class using FAST FOOD NATION this past year. She addressed many of the strengths and weaknesses CHEW ON THIS had with it's more adult version, noting that FAST FOOD NATION had some sections which were perhaps more riveting for a young adult audience. She also suggested a clever way to use class time to cover all of the text, through a similar approach to jigsawing, drawing on reading strategies she had worked on throughout the year.
Sarah pointed out many of the key themes and ideas that could be discussed in a range of middle school classrooms and offered some excellent ideas on how the text could be used in classrooms to foster authentic learning. Tonya expressed some concern for the lengthy historical background provided in the book. We varied in our opinions on this matter, some arguing that it was interesting and others arguing that it was indeed a little much. We agreed that in order to get kids engaged in this book, we would have to find a very alluring hook. Jessie suggested reading a passage from FAST FOOD NATION that describes in great detail the conditions of the slaughter house, as this worked well to motivate her students this year.
I think the discussion went well considering we did not follow roles like we had during the last literary discussion. We created 5 questions before beginning the recording to keep us on track during the discussion. I think the digital recording did add an uneasy element to our discussion at first and we certainly exchanged some funny glances when there was an awkward pause. I'm not sure that the digital recording made a significant impact on the quality of our literary discussion, as I would say last week's discussion was equivocal. It did make me hesitate to contribute to the group on a number of occasions, which I did not feel the weight of as much in last week's un-recorded discussion. I feel that middle schoolers probably wouldn't be as bashful towards the recorder; however, I can see a problem arising from attention seekers taking over the digital recording performance and leaving their literary companions on the sidelines.
posted by Lisa Smith | 4:18 PM
3 Comments:
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I completely agree with the concerns Lisa expresses here about the possibility of the ipod recorder changing the dynamics of the literary circle. I could see how some members may scurry to have their voices heard, while others remain bashful and quiet. I think if I were going to use this strategy in my classroom I would scaffold it with some measure of speaking time. One idea might be that each member gets a certain number of popsicle sticks (two, five, or ten, depending on the length of the recording) and every time he or she speaks, he or she must give up a popsicle stick. Then, when a student runs out, he or she cannot speak any more, and everyone would be required to use a specific number of their popsicle sticks. Some strategy like this would serve well to ensure that all students play an active role in the literary discussion.
Sarah, I love your popsicle stick idea!! :-) Have you guys had a chance to listen to some of the other podcasts? Some are really funny! (try English Group 1, hahaha). It is nice being able to listen to everyone's discussions; though, I imagine in the chaos of the real working week, I would never manage to listen to everyone groups discussion in my class (120 kids divide by 5 is, 24 podcasts, yipes) ... I think I would have a strict time limit, so that they really focused on organizing before they began talking. I hate to assign things that I never get a chance to really look at: it seems like kids want validation for everything they do more than anything else--I understand that feeling.
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