Looking for challenging but easy-ish to grade extensions (gr 9 & 11)...more inside
Basically, I have every teacher's dream problem...my students (a new school to me) are academically excellent and are already, after two weeks, flying through the material. I'm already committed to a slightly ridiculous amount of extracurriculars, in addition to other family and community involvement, so I don't have much time to spend developing a host of additional materials. I have zero desire to give busy work, and I don't assign homework just for the sake of it as about 80% of the kids are already involved in sports or other extras.
Basically, what I'm looking for is some ideas of extended responses, short research projects, etc. that will challenge students to take the material we're covering (general 9th grade english, american lit for juniors). I'd like for them to have some flexibility of choice as to what they write about (or research), but without me needing to put together packets, or find articles, etc. A relative ease of grading would obviously be great, because it's already a heavy workload. Basically, I want to keep pushing these kids without killing myself with a lot of extra grading. A perfect assignment would be due about once every two or three weeks, which requires some mid-range planning to develop those skills and supplements long-term and daily assignments.
I already do article responses, lots of short and longer formal essays, research, narrative writing, creative writing, socratic seminars, vocab...just looking for something fresh and hopefully engaging. Any and all ideas are welcome!
Posted Aug 27, 2015, 10:54 PM UTC
I-search projects, book trailers, and PSAs are some possibilities
I haven't heard these terms...would you mind elaborating a little so I can search them out more effectively?
Sure. With I-Search papers/projects the focus is more on the research process and reflecting on the research rather than the final product of a traditional research paper. Students create their own research questions, evaluate sources, and reflect on their learning through research process by describing their challenges and breakthroughs. My 7th graders complete an I-search on the year they were born and they get to pick what subtopics they would like to research such as music, sports, natural disasters, etc., but the possibilities of topics are endless. Regarding book trailers, in second semester my students work in small groups to make book trailers for their favorite book of the year. They use apps on their tablets like iMovie or Splice. Along with the book trailer, I have them submit a rationale of their choices such as how their video reflects the tone, mood, and theme of the novel. Lastly when I teach argument, they select an issue they feel passionate about and work with a group to create a PSA. Since I teach them about different types of evidence and persuasive strategies, their video must include a variety of types. When we present the videos, the audience points out the types used. For 7th graders, they can make some pretty funny videos and still learn about using evidence.
Thanks!