1.29.08: "Human v. Nature" Book Groups - Introduction; Portfolio Preparation

The "Book Group" lesson plans that follow focus on our overall unit theme of "Human Adaptation to the Environment." Students will be reading one of the following texts as a smaller "Book Group" of 3-4 students:

• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
•  Dogsong by Gary Paulsen
• My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
• Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George

For preliminary book group activity, students are introduced to each of the books in an introduction that I give to the class.  I offer a short summary, as well as reasons that I enjoyed reading each book.  Then, students are given "ballot" sheets, on which they rank their first, second, and third choices of book (students may also mark "read" if they have read a given book already).  Typically, it is possible to give all students their first or second choice, giving them some say in their reading and book club.  The book groups are formed with little attention paid to equal numbers of groups in each classroom (one of my classes has one Dogsong group, while another has five!), but are more created on the basis of student choices.

This preliminary book group activity is not a full class period, and was done in conjunction with portfolio preparation as a school-wide activity.  Students in ELA were given a specific protocol for portfolio preparation, and were allowed time in class to work on this (see attached).