Two weeks ago, the students of House 8 Gold had an unusual
homework assignment. Each student was given a coloring book image of a chick.
Their assignment was to “decorate the chick.” That was the only direction the
students were given. On Monday,
the chicks came flooding in to the classroom. There were pink ones, zebra
print ones, polka-dotted ones, striped ones, volleyball-playing ones, and
Buckeye ones.
Then, I read them an eye-opening passage from the
introduction of a collection of short stories called On The Fringe (ed. Donald Gallo).
Here are the opening lines…
“If
you’ve ever been to a chicken farm or seen the inside of a commercial henhouse,
you may have noticed that all the chickens look alike. It’s not just because
they are bred that way. They themselves insist on it. If a chicken looks
different in any way from the rest—if it is injured, weak, or deformed—the others
will begin to pick on it. Literally. They will peck it to death.”
This is how we kicked off our literature circle unit that
centers on the question “How do we support one another?” In a month-long study, students are reading
fiction books that deal with the issues around the way we treat one another.
They will also view media clips and read nonfiction pieces that connect to this
theme. Students will ultimately deliver a multi-media presentation about their
literature circle books, write a combination research/reflective essay, and
write a short creative piece to demonstrate their understanding and their
answer to our unit question. This
unit is a powerful one that gets students talking and thinking and working
together while hopefully delivering a lasting message about why we should
celebrate our differences rather than “peck” them out of one another. In the end, students will emerge with the
tools and confidence to act as upstanders rather than bystanders to help make this
world an even better place while also growing as readers, writers,
collaborators, and communicators.
The students were given ten books to select from, and
ultimately four books were selected as the focus this year. Here are the books
this year’s students are reading. Click on the titles to read more about each book:
Stay tuned...students will be showing off their learning, growth, and knowledge soon...
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