Task- Oriented Small- Group Activities
Smagorinsky, P. (2008). Teaching english by design. Portsmouth,NH: Heinemann.
Task oriented small group activities focus on having students expand on a specific literture and create a material finished product. Students are expected to read a piece of literature and then complete a tangible artistic representation of the piece. This may include constructing a board game, coat of arms, painting, or political cartoon. The main goal of the strategy is to provide a creative outlet for students to express their own interests or opinions in reference to a novel. In all of these activities the end result is tangible finished product
I would love to incorporate these types of activities in to every novel unit plan I do. One of the activities I found particulary interesting is the Body Biography assignment. Students are asked to create a giant outline of a human body on butcher paper. Students are then required to decorate the outlined body according to which specific character they are assigned. In the end students will have created a physical drawing/ represention of a character. For example, students may not include a spine when drawing Hamlet because he is a bit of a coward or students my place the heart of a person in their head because they follow emotion instead of reason. I think this activity would be both fun and very educational. It forces students to really think deeply about a character and their specific traits.