I am excited to join in on I'm Lovin' Lit's linky party this week. In a way this could also be a "Throw Back Thursday" post. I have really enjoyed reading all of the ideas in this linky party, and I have added a lot to my list of new ideas to try this year.
I have a few things that I do to make learning interactive for my students. One of my go to places for strategies and lessons is the AVID handbook. I no longer teach in an "AVID" school, but I went to the workshop before I left that school and I continue to use all of the fun resources. AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination and you can find out more about it here. One of these ideas was showcased in my very first blog post. Here is an excerpt from that post, originally posted on November 21, 2012.
My most recent project with my seventh graders was the Theme One Pager. This AVID technique is a very succinct way to sum up a novel. The students need to pick a scene from the novel that represents one of the themes of the book. The picture should take up the majority of the page, with as little white space as possible. On top of the picture students need to put two quotes that support their theme, a paragraph explaining the theme and the connection to the quotes, and a personal reflection. We had finished reading The Giver, by Lois Lowry, so some of my students chose a black and white color scheme to represent the colorless world that Jonas lives in. The students were encouraged to do a rough draft first and then put it onto a plain sheet of printer paper (white or colored). This took us about three days in class, and then students needed to finish it at home if they didn't finish it in class.
