Holden's Realization: Student SSR and Role Analysis 5
Objective
Big Idea
Happy National Bake Cookies Day!
As is traditional, I greet my students at the door and remind them there's a vocabulary quiz tomorrow. Once students settle at the bell, I welcome them to "Bake Cookies Day," and ask how many of them bake holiday cookies of some sort. If there is time or interest, students will share their favorite cookie.
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As with all Daily Holidays, the purpose of sharing about cookies is to create a sense of community in the classroom, and get their interest before we shift to independent reading for the literature circle.
Student Lit. Circle Work Time: Sustained Reading and Role Assignment Work
Before students move to work independently today, I remind them the big idea for this section of the reading is to note how Holden's feelings of being "sick" begin to take over his interactions with others.
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The responses to their literature circle assignments should reflect Holden's development. Students especially focus on how he relates to other characters, develops the plot of the story through his actions, and reveals the themes through his relationships and interactions: adulthood/growing up, elitism/prejudice, and trust (RL.9-10.3).
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As with previous literature circle work days, students spend a part of the class period reading and completing their role assignments for Chapters 21-26 of "Catcher in the Rye" at their own pace. Students will be working with the next assignment in the rotation; previous Discussion Directors will be working independently on the Connector assignment, previous Connectors will be working on the Character Sorter assignment, etc. (See "Catching onto Holden: Independent SSR & Role Assignments".) In order to ensure focus, students are permitted to move around the room, sit on the floor or in a different chair, and read to themselves. Despite the fact they will ask, students are not permitted to put on headphones and listen to music, as often this creates a distraction while reading. Students working on the Discussion Director, Connector, and Character Sorter roles will be seeking strong and thorough textual support in order to support their analysis of the novel and draw inferences from it (RL.9-10.1), students working on the Illustrator role are specifically seeking to draw inferences from the novel in order to illustrate a scene or concept (again, RL.9-10.1) and students who are working on the Vocab Finder role will be seeking to understand words in context, verifying the meaning of terms from the vocab list and using the terms appropriately (RL.9-10.4). Students will be working independently in order to take ownership for the material and seek ways to come to their own understanding of it.
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Students are working independently to ensure they gain ownership of, and take responsibility for, the material assigned. Every student works at a different pace, every student appreciates reading in a different manner. Providing students this time to work allows them to work at their own pace and comfort level, but also to have me available if they have any questions or need any clarification.
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As students work, I will circulate the room to offer advice, answers, clarification, or focus as needed.
