Changing things up....Wonder.

  January is passing by at a breakneck speed. Hopefully the weather will improve, as will my situation.  Despite all the ups and downs outside of school, my class has been doing some fun and interesting things (at least I think they are fun and interesting).  I really wanted my students to read a new novel this year.  In the past I have posted about the novel "Airborn" which we read each year in my grade six class.  I felt that this year we needed to change it up a bit.  I did some on line research and decided that the book "Wonder" by author R.J. Palacio would be a good choice for my class.  

About WONDER

The publisher's description:

"August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?" 

I love using literature circles with my students.  I have used a variety of models for this over the years, but this year I decided that my class would participate in Depth and Complexity Literature Circles.  

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Sandra Kaplan is best known for her work in depth and complexity with gifted students.  Depth includes the following: language of the discipline, big idea, essential details, rules, patterns, trends, unanswered questions, ethics.

Complexity is comprised of the following: change over time, multiple points of view, across the disciplines.  To learn more about the work of Dr.Kaplan and the use of the symbols for Depth and Complexity, click HERE.

The students have been reading the novel and meeting in literature circle groups comprised of 4 students each week.  I give students time in class to read the novel and to prepare for the literature circle role they have chosen for that week.  As well, each week the students have been writing summaries of the reading selections (Wonder doesn't really have traditional chapters) using Tracee Orman's "Twitter Tweet Chapter Summary".  Student's write one summary about the reading selection using on 140 characters (or less) and then they write a second "tweet" taking on the role of one of the characters in the reading selection.  The students love it and I find it really improves their ability to effectively summarize and demonstrate comprehension at the same time.

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I have used several other resources to support our in depth reading of Wonder.  

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I have to admit that I love the messages in the novel.  They are "universal truths" which the author R.J. Palacio refers to in the novel as "precepts" or rules to live by.  Mr. Brown, Auggie's English teacher uses these "precepts" in his classroom and they are sprinkled throughout the novel to help shape the emotional tone of the reading.

"When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind."~Dr. Wayne Dyet

"Your deeds are your monuments." ~Inscription on ancient Egyptian tomb

"Have no friends not equal to yourself."~Confucius

"Fortune favors the bold." ~Virgil

"No man is an island, entire of itself." ~John Donne

"It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers." ~James Thurber

"Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much."   ~Blaise Pascal

"What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful." ~Sappho

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can."  ~John Wesley

"Just follow the day and reach for the sun." ~The Polyphonic Spree

"Everyone deserves a standing ovation because we all overcometh the world." ~Auggie Pullman

In order to remind my students of the precept of KINDNESS, I created a bookmark.   I printed these in colour on card stock then cut them out and laminated them.    If you would like your own FREE copy of the bookmark to share with your class just click on the image below.

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Last week we used the on line program Tagxedo to create character trait portraits of the characters from the novel.  I found an excellent PDF tutorial for using Tagxedo HERE.  My students are going to create portraits for four or five characters from the novel and then we are going to use those to make a portrait collage using Picasa.  

This is the sample portrait of August I created while demonstrating how to use the program.

After we are finished with the Tagxedo portraits, the students will be creating imaginary movie trailers using our school Ipads and Imovie.  The students will write the script, create the props and then record the final product.  I am hoping to have these completed in time for our character education assembly later this spring.   I love when we can integrate drama, media literacy and language arts!

 

I find that reading novels such as this one help me to put my worries and problems in perspective. It seemed like choosing this novel was meant to be, for the process of reading it has helped me to remember that everyone has troubles, and more importantly that some of the youngest members of society have the most to teach us about the daily struggle of being human. 

Have you read Wonder?  What are your ideas for using it with your class?