Day 2 - 4 hours

On this day I saw something that really excited and intrigued me. The teacher had gave the students a packet of critical lenses early in the year. (Note to self: go back to the school and request a copy of packet) In the packet, around 6 or so lenses were outline and defined, as well as defining what critical lenses are in the first place. I really like that because my collegue and I have been struggling with what is the best way to teach literature through lenses (since we agree that we can't teach them without explanation). In between periods the teacher and I discussed this packet and the benefits of using it. We concluded that by giving the students a packet the students had this valuable resource at their fingertips. In the class I saw it put to use, mainly because the teacher prompted it. After reading a section, he asked the students what lens they could apply here, why, and to interpret the passage through that lens. I had not mentioned it yet, but this was an 11 honors class, and although they are suppose to be "quicker" or whatever than regular English classes, I think giving out a packet of lenses could work for any class. It's a glossary/key, why shouldn't every student have this?
Anyway, they used reader response to analyze a section feeding off of the information that they had obtained before beginning the epic (see previous post). And it was because of the packet that the students knew and understood what to be analyzing while looking at it through a reader response lens (or at the very least, if they weren't sure, they could just look at the packet and easily find out).

Also, as they began reading, the teacher had the students using different voices of the characters including Satan and the demons. I wasn't quite sure what to make of this except that it was amusing to both watch and do. This was also the closest thing toward acting I have seen...