Testing's over, your units and lessons are almost are finished, what to do with your students till the end of the year? My experience taught me to lighten up and change direction. Here are three activities that had some meaning and by-in from my students.
- Notices. My current students write to the next class that will be in this class in September. I gave my students a list of suggestions to structure their writing. Explain the class by describing the assignments, the requirements for good grades, the memorable themes/activities/moments, and the books that had an impact. Finally, what piece of advice they would give? I encoured them to be funny, sarcastic or brutally honest! I took their edited pieces and posted them on the bulletin board and saved it for September. Carmen Natrin did a similar activity with her class at CHHS and this jogged my memory.
- Letter to Self. Students are asked to write a letter to themselves that will be mailed to their homes when they are about to graduate from high school. The suggestions included writing about who they are friends with, what they enjoy doing in school and out, what aspirations they hold, where they would like to travel, what they see themselves doing after high school and for a career. This worked so well with some of my students and my own son Alex was astonished to find that his predictions and friends were still firmly part of his adult life.
- Blog. Have each student create a blog. Suggest categories that they could write about such as a special interest, a hobby, a sport, places to visit, books they've read, movies, TV shows. This could encompass personal narratives, argument and opinion writing. Show them how to include pictures and have a BLOG REVEAL event to share the blog in class. Students can comment on each other's blogs.
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