So much for no worksheets

After Schmoker I was all high and mighty about the worthlessness of worksheets. That was before we started The Jungle.

That was before I had to miss a day and create something for the class while I had a sub.

I think Schmoker's point about the worksheets had two elements. One, students never do worksheets in college. So why beat them to death with them in high school? True. Two, 95% of the worksheets assigned are busy work. Also true. But with The Jungle, I'm not trying to keep them busy. I'm simply trying to keep them on task. If you give a bunch of juniors a 400 plus page novel and tell them to read without something to keep them on task, well, it's a train wreck waiting to happen. So I devised these worksheets - and mind you - they hit the higher order thinking skills - to keep them on task, not busy.

I suppose Schmoker would like to see us finish a chapter and then have a nice analytical discussion. ME TOO!

Most of my discussions tank though. I'm working on that part. We do discuss. But our discussions of a 10 page chapter, do not fill an 85 minute block. Maybe that's poor planning on my part. I should do more research and develop a system of notes to pick up the discussion when it lags or to inspire new thoughts. But then - and I've tried that - the so called discussion ends up degenerating in a 'tell me what I want to hear' or 'tell me what I have written in my notes' closed ended discussion. And besides, if we moved at that pace, it would take two months to finish The Jungle. And keeping with Schmoker's "they don't do that in college" mantra, well you get a week to read a novel like that in college.



Schmoker argued that if kids should only be writing about information they have read. (Well, that a total load of b&^%*&^t. I like some of what he said, but I'll fight him tooth and nail on that one. I'd invite him in to class to see the writing I get out of these kids and how much they grow to love writing because they get to write about their lives and what they really think. But - and this was one of Schmoker's big points - you can't measure it on a test. True. But you can measure it in voice and style. And I'll take those things every freakin' second over an NWEA or BST or MCA test score.) And I do have them writing about The Jungle. One prompt they just completed was "choose one word that you think best fits the mood of the novel through chapter three and explain why you chose this word."

I've had them do some traditional crossword and word find worksheets. I've also had them create their own quizzes for a chapter (talk about having students do some analytical thinking there! Just wait until I use those questions to generate a test). I've had them do a creative worksheet (another no-no from Schmoker. He loathes those color and cut assignments. Here, too, I totally disagree with him. For it was an assignment like that (to write an original scene using one of the characters from The Outsiders - again, thank you Mrs. Christianson, that helped turn me into an English teacher). But the point is not to just do it and have fun. The point is to use a creative approach to work on analysis and critical thinking. I also gave them a reader response sheet that worked them through all of the higher order thinking skills. Finally, I gave them a short answer worksheet designed to help them not only understand the surface level material of the novel but to also examine some of Sinclair's use of foreshadowing, imagery, and tone.

Next week I hope to throw a curve ball at them. Because I am feeling a tad guilty about using worksheets, I plan to put three questions up for each chapter. These will call for students to both connect personally to the novel and to analyze it. I also want to start using exit slips or 'big idea' slips to break the monotony of the worksheets.

I just wish District 9 would come out on DVD sooner. That would be the ultimate way to end this unit. I'd show the film and then have students write a paper (Happy now Schmoker?? Actually, he wouldn't be for he argued against showing movies. Again, this is not bad, but it tends to be over used by teachers as another form of busy work) about a theme the two pieces share. Those would be some papers worth reading.