Whale Talk - The End

Well, dearest reader of mine, the unit is over. Officially, 100% over. Discussions were had, journals were written, reflections were done, and the projects have been handed in (and are in the process of being graded). Its bitter sweet. The end of the year is nearly here (that's sweet), but our journey is over (that's bitter).

Over vacation the kids had to complete an in-depth character analysis project, and to my delight they didn't even complain about it! They had stickies shooting out of their books the Friday before break, and when we returned only 1 student was without a project (he never does anything, so I wasn't surprised). I also had papers due in two other classes, so I haven't begun grading the WT projects, but I'm super excited to read them!!

Anyway, with everything else done, I felt like we (me in particular) needed to wrap things up. Just saying, "the end" did not feel right. So, we did three things on Tuesday in class:

1. Chalk Talk (The kids each get a marker, and have to go around to pieces of poster paper and write responses. They can respond to each other or to the question. There is no talking. It's nice because it gives them ALL equal opportunity to say their peace)
2. Discussion (of the chalk talk)
3. Unit Evaluation

Our chalk talk questions were:





When we were done, we had this:




I was really, really impressed with their responses. I was most impressed, with how appalled they were at the thought of a book being banned.

We had a discussion for nearly 25 minutes JUST about book banning. A few kids wondered whether some topics would be TOO inappropriate for students, but couldn't come up with what. We even looked up the Top 10 Most Banned Books, and none of us could get it. I was really, really proud. I resisted the urge to insert my opinion, but I didn't need to anyway. My students really, really understood that it's not ok to censor people. Ever.

We didn't spend a lot of time on what they would ask Chris Crutcher (the author), because most of them wanted to know what inspired the novel. Maybe, just maybe, I'll write on their behalf and find out. Who knows?

The last chalk talk was what the characters can teach us. Again - Blow. Away.


I wasn't just blown away by their chalk talk either. We were short on time, so instead of addressing the actual poster, I went around the room and had each student tell me what they learned. It would be easy for freshman to blow this off and say silly things. Not this group. They said things like: "Don't judge a book by it's cover" and "Everyone has a story".

Our last order of business (if you've been paying attention), was a unit evaluation. When I do something totally new, I like to see what the kids think. It's something I learned from the fabulous Mrs. Manhart. Here's the evaluation (only the front; the back had open-ended questions):



I was so excited to see that the majority of them thought that our opening activity was EPIC. I worked so hard on that, for so long and it paid off. They also really enjoyed their reading journals. Most of the time, I just had them write their reactions, but the comment that I got from many was that they liked being able to say what they think. The thing they hated was vocab, which I basically knew. It could have been better, but was the last worry. I was most impressed that about half of them thought the character analysis project was EPIC. They actually enjoyed the project!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They liked it, they said, because the felt like they got to know the characters. Kids engaging in a novel - I'm dying over here. Seriously.

And, even though I haven't graded them, here are a few project photos. The cover needed to be creative and reflect the character.

I could keep going forever and ever and ever. I truly could, but I won't. In the interest of time, and energy, I will end this post with a few thoughts.

On the unit: I just loved it.
On my students: I love them.
On you reading this: Thank you!

On Whale Talk: Wow.