Friday 17 March 2017

Litspiration 2: The Scorpion Project - Debate

DISCUSSION PROMPTS: GATTACA, GENETIC MANIPULATION, TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS, THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPION, DEBATE, THE SCORPION PROJECT, CLONES, CONNECTIONS OUTSIDE THE NOVEL, TALKING TO THE TEXT, THEME, COLLABORATION, TEAMWORK

UP NEXT: Litspiration: The Scorpion Project + Film Study + Debate PREP!


The Scorpion Project Culminating Activity: Debate

This week, we began working towards our final activity for The Scorpion Project, a debate. The students will be debating the following assertion:

Be it resolved that technological advancement will enhance our society's future.

If you have read The House of the Scorpion, or watched our related film study movie Gattaca, you will see the possibilities for a robust debate on this topic. By the way, if you haven't explored either of these texts, check out the students' latest blog posts (posted by Monday morning) where they compare and contrast the protagonists of these stories in order to start exploring the big ideas related to our debate. (To explore student posts, click here for 8.1 and here for 8.2.) 

Students will also have an opportunity to deepen their understanding of genetics and advancements in genetics during EXPO week when a scientist from the University of Calgary comes in for a guest speaking engagement. Additionally, students will be asked to do their own research on this topic when developing their arguments, but to also use the two texts to assist in deep exploration and consider multiple perspectives. 

The debate itself will happen after the break on Wednesday, April 12.

Saturday 11 March 2017

Litspiration 2: The Scorpion Project - Connections and Theme

DISCUSSION PROMPTS: THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPION, THE SCORPION PROJECT, CLONES, CONNECTIONS OUTSIDE THE NOVEL, TALKING TO THE TEXT, HARKNESS DISCUSSIONS, CHILD LABOUR, THEME, LITSPIRATION CHALLENGE, COLLABORATION, TEAMWORK

UP NEXT: Litspiration: The Scorpion Project + Film Study


This image and article stick with me when I think about asking students to make connections between what they are reading and everything else. 
Making Connections
This week, students were asked to focus on making connections between the novel and the "real world." (I use quotation marks to indicate this term for me is problematic, as when we are in school, I maintain that IS the real world, but this phrase is common, and so easily understood. What I try to focus on is encouraging students to think of how what they are reading lives in the world, whether that includes events geographically close or far away, or events philosophically close or far away.) Two of the big ideas Farmer touches on in the novel and that we explored were child labour and immigration, specifically "illegal" immigration. For the former, students completed and individual blog post, and for the latter, a Harkness discussion with their team.

Go to the main site to check out the team blogs (links on the right hand side of the website) and explore some of their ideas in their latest Harkness discussions. You can also read their individual blog posts by exploring the two classes' individual litspiration blogsAll teams and students are looking for some readers, so please leave a supportive comment for them on any of their posts so far!


Theme in literature is a complicated concept, and is determined by exploring the novel's separate parts (events, characterization, setting, etc.) and weaving them together in an attempt to create a phrase or statement that encompasses it all. Image borrowed from here.
Litspiration Challenge 3: Theme
Students have started their final litspiration challenge for The House of the Scorpion, an exploration of the theme of the novel. I challenged students to start off by creating a theme statement for the novel, another concept we explored at the beginning of the year. Just this act alone has netted some evidence of their learning through my observations of their great discussions. I heard students talking about details of the novel, demonstrating their close reading abilities, with some students even grabbing their book and searching for the sticky note they just knew they wrote about this detail, exhibiting their use of Talking to the Text reading strategies. The teams of 4 were collaborating well, discussing, deciding, and at times commiserating if I had sent them back to refine their statement. The outcome of all this great work will be finished next week, and I am really looking forward to the variety of ways students are exploring the theme.

Friday 3 March 2017

Litspiration 2: The Scorpion Project - Characterization

DISCUSSION PROMPTS: THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPION, INSTAGRAM, THE SCORPION PROJECT, CLONES, TALKING TO THE TEXT, HARKNESS DISCUSSIONS, CHARACTERIZATION, LITSPIRATION CHALLENGE, COLLABORATION, TEAMWORK

UP NEXT: Litspiration: The Scorpion Project + Empathy vs. Sympathy and Child Labour
What to look for when exploring author's choices related to character development.
Litspiration Challenge 2: Characterization
On Thursday, all teams posted their completed second litspiration challenge on their team blogs. Students were asked to explore a character in the first 200 pages of the novel, working to understand how the choices regarding character development made by the author help to drive the narrative. Click here for details on the challenge, and go to the main site to check out the team blogs (links on the right hand side of the website) and explore some of the challenges. All teams are looking for some readers, so please leave a supportive comment for them on any of their 5 posts so far!

Taking Risks...bye bye comfort zone!
We ask our students to take risks quite often, at least I do, and I know many of my colleagues here do, too. It is hard to step outside the comfort zone for many people, and a lot of adults resist change because of the risks involved: failure, loss of <insert many things here>, extra/new work, etc. This litspiration challenge presented an opportunity for me to take a risk, and I said yes, and it really paid off for me and the students!

When I presented this challenge, one of the options was to create an Instagram feed for a character. I assumed students would create "fake" Instagram posts for their characters, deciding what they would post and say based on the close reading students have been doing of the novel. The other options were to create a Twitter feed or a playlist. When one of the students (H. G.) excitedly said "We should create REAL Instagram accounts and follow each other," and then another student (S.G.) got this look of absolute joy on her face, I had a small internal (hopefully) panic attack. My initial reaction was "Nope. Can't take that risk." but the students were so excited by the prospect of interacting with each other that I pushed down my slight panic and said "Fantastic idea." Then I ran down to the principal's office to make sure he was okay with it, sent a warning email home to parents, and embarked on what turned out to be an engaging, entertaining, and educational experience! Not all groups chose to use Instagram, but the majority did in each class. The students supported me (probably without knowing it) all week with their enthusiasm and their clear engagement with the learning outcomes, and we did do some laughing along the way! Looking through their posts for which they chose the best Instagramming from the week to examine certain aspects of the character they chose, I see some deep thinking about author's choices and motivation supported by close reading and consideration of the text. Literary analysis!

I wanted to know how the students felt about this challenge, so I had them complete a quick survey. Here are the results:





responses from students who chose either a fake Twitter or created a character playlist