Daily discussions

For the last two days, my students have been engaged in daily discussions. Since each chapter in FRIEDRICH is so short, it allows us to read it out loud as a class, then discuss what is happening in the chapter.

Yesterday, we started class by going over some open-ended questions the students completed the day before. I passed back their worksheets and we had a guided discussion using the questions they have already thought about and answered. It was beneficial for students to have their answers in front of them in case they "freeze up." I have already looked over and graded their answers (they were all very good!)so they knew that I "approved" of what they had written. This is also beneficial because students who say "I don't know" were then asked to read what they had written down.

After discussing those questions, students read the next chapter out loud. My eighth graders like the "Popcorn" way of reading, and I also like it because most students pay special attention to the book when doing this. After the reading, I led a discussion about what we just read. I started the discussion with "So tell me what is going on in this chapter." After this, students began to ask questions about the novel - both clarification questions and interpretive questions. Students appeared to enjoy the "circling up" and are excited to participate. I am going to try to make this a daily occurance and see if the excitement remains as high.

Today, I will do the same thing - discussion, but I am going to structure it a little differently. After students are done reading the next chapter out loud, I will pass out index cards and ask students to write an open-ended discussion question regarding the chapter. Then, students will have their own discussion questions to ask when reviewing the chapter.

I began by leading the discussion, but I am trying to make students comfortable enough sharing their thoughts and ideas that I do not have to be leading the discussion. We'll see how today goes!