As we enter the last full week of school, upper school language arts is embarking on it’s last few units before the summer break. For middle school, that means studying poetry. Currently, they have been learning literary terms that they may encounter as they read poetry but also they have been learning poetry scansion or, how to figure out the meter and rhyme of form poetry. It is an advanced concept but they’ve been digging in and doing well!
Prior to embarking on poetry, however, they presented their final projects for “The Diary of Anne Frank” in 6th and “Night” in 7th/8th. They were given a lot of different options to work on so that they could work to their strengths and challenge themselves in a new way. for 6th, these options were everything from diorama to making journal entries for another character in the memoir, to predicting what Anne’s life might have been like had she survived. For a look at some of these 6th graders presenting their work, the link is here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JbTo8NTynXumB2Wf8
7th and 8th grade also had a project with multiple choices. Some chose to do a presentation examining a major theme in the memoir, some chose to create diary entries from the perspective of a victim in the camp, while others chose to examine another example of attempted genocide and to compare and contrast that with what we learned about the holocaust from this incredible memoir. Overall, the presentations from both classes were insightful and demonstrated a lot of knowledge about their respective topics. To see some photos from the 7/8th grade class presentations, they can be found here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/QKQnZQfCiP7HyRce9
High School is finishing up the book “1984.” the discussions surrounding this book have been spirited and interesting. They have grappled with difficult concepts about society, individuality, personal freedom, and dozens of others. Reactions to the book have been varied and reflective of the subject matter. But overall, I believe they got a lot out of the novel and discussions we had and many were left a bit unsettled which, given Orwell’s intention, is the correct response.
Our theatre elective presented an assignment in which they became true story tellers. As actors, at our core, we are storytellers. Students were tasked with choosing a fairy or folk tale, writing the script based upon it, and had to include multiple voices for which they then had to create different vocal and physical differences. These were performed in front of the class to often hilarious results.
Mythology and Folklore has been presenting on Eastern mythology including Hindi, Shinto, and Korean stories. Even though Eastern mythology differs greatly from mythology in the West, it has been fascinating for kids to figure out the commonalities present in different cultures and societies that had no contact and existed continents apart.
All in all, all my language arts students continue to make great progress and prove themselves to be wonderfully inquisitive and insightful students. I have no doubt they will finish the year strong!
