For the assessments of the unit listed below, I have a few different thoughts as far as what I would like to implement. First, throughout the reading of the book, I would like to have students journal on a question that relates to what we read the previous day, or to prepare them to begin thinking about the topic for that day. I have not come up with the questions yet, but will do so before I begin teaching.
Secondly, during reading, I would like to have short discussions on how Esperanza’s life relates to their lives. I am not sure if this is something that would be better to put at the end of the unit, or if I could do it intermittently. In any case, I think that daily brief discussions is a good way to assess students’ comprehension of the material and should be used at least every-other day in order to make sure that main ideas and themes are coming through.
For the final project I think that I would like to have my students make book trailers for this book. I realize that this will be time consuming and something we would have to spend a great deal of time on, but I would like to try it out, and I know that it made the book very meaningful to me. This is also something that students could do in groups if they do not feel comfortable doing it by themselves. I would then have everyone present their movies to the class.
The other idea that I have is to give students more of a choice of what they would like to do. Some of the options include:
1. Writing a scene that they believe should have been added to the book, and then acting it out. They can possibly video tape it if there is a video camera available through the school. A major theme of the book should be included.
2. Making a collage in which they include the major themes of the book, and give a brief description of their collage and how they represented the characters, setting, plot, a major theme, etc…
3. Book Trailer? I’m not sure if it would work to have this as an option if the whole class wasn’t doing it…
4. Extending the ending: Have students write what happens next in Esperanza’s life and briefly explain their choices.
5. Write an alternative Ending: What if the story did not end like this? What if the last chapter was not there? What would the story look like? Why?
These are just a few ideas that I have. I figure that I can easily incorporate the overarching questions into these assessments and make them more specific. Please let me know if you have any comments and/or suggestions!
