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II teach such a diverse group of students in terms of learning abilities that I have difficult meeting their needs all at the same time. This particularly becomes a problem when we are reading a text as a class. Some students move quickly through the text and accompanying assignment and sit around bored at the end of class. Other students who need more time to read the text become stressed about catching up with the faster readers and don’t give the text a close enough read. I’ve been inspired by Aerial Sack’s book, Whole Novels for the Whole Class to ask students to read an entire text on their own at their own pace with an accompanying assignment. The book I want to purchase is Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson. In the past, I’ve assigned students to write an argumentative essay about who bears responsibility for the sinking of the Titanic. This has been a high-interest and popular project. However, the materials students used to complete this project were just random informational texts I found online. Hopkinson’s book is an informational text written in a narrative format that lays out what happened when the Titanic sank. As students read this book they will record evidence as to whether the ship’s designer or the ship’s captain is responsible for the sinking of the ship. Students can also record evidence supporting the idea that the accident could not have been avoided or that another entity bears responsibility. After giving students three weeks at home to read the book and record evidence we will discuss in the evidence as a class in a Socratic Seminar-style discussion. Then students will write their argumentative paper.

About my class

II teach such a diverse group of students in terms of learning abilities that I have difficult meeting their needs all at the same time. This particularly becomes a problem when we are reading a text as a class. Some students move quickly through the text and accompanying assignment and sit around bored at the end of class. Other students who need more time to read the text become stressed about catching up with the faster readers and don’t give the text a close enough read. I’ve been inspired by Aerial Sack’s book, Whole Novels for the Whole Class to ask students to read an entire text on their own at their own pace with an accompanying assignment. The book I want to purchase is Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson. In the past, I’ve assigned students to write an argumentative essay about who bears responsibility for the sinking of the Titanic. This has been a high-interest and popular project. However, the materials students used to complete this project were just random informational texts I found online. Hopkinson’s book is an informational text written in a narrative format that lays out what happened when the Titanic sank. As students read this book they will record evidence as to whether the ship’s designer or the ship’s captain is responsible for the sinking of the ship. Students can also record evidence supporting the idea that the accident could not have been avoided or that another entity bears responsibility. After giving students three weeks at home to read the book and record evidence we will discuss in the evidence as a class in a Socratic Seminar-style discussion. Then students will write their argumentative paper.

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