Last week, we started the drama version of A Christmas Carol in seventh grade. My first hour loved it. My second hour?? Well... I changed course.
We moved from the version of the book and when to a Reader's Theater version that only took one class time to read. From there, I found other Christmas plays with a Reader's Theater theme. They loved reading out loud and trying new voices. They really did. I just had to accommodate for their attention spans.
To tell you the truth, I'm not sure they even noticed. They were just reading a Christmas theme, and that made them happy.
In the meantime, first hour marches on reading A Christmas Carol. They even seem to enjoy the complexities of the language and the historical context of Scrooge's world.
It always surprises me how I need to be flexible.... It surprises me so much at what interests kids and what doesn't. And if it doesn't? I have to ask myself if they are just being lazy and need to be pushed, or if this is something critically important that can be wrapped up and re-gifted?
Finding texts is the most important part of being a teacher. If I can't find the correct text, my day was useless. Students spent forty-five minutes being bored. What good is that?
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