Welcome Back, Seniors!

The first week of senior year is always a rush -- it's the first week in the last "real" school year of one's life (not counting college, of course!). Everything takes on a special significance: this is the beginning of a year that will end with a new beginning. 

Throughout this week, I have observed the seniors in English 12 greeting each other warmly, working busily in collaborative groups, and discussing their summer reading experiences with enthusiasm and passion, and I cannot help but think ahead hopefully to what this year holds for all of us.

The first cycle of this year focuses on sharing summer reading experiences. In addition to reading George Orwell's 1984 over the summer, students selected a text from a list of options, such as Lord of the Flies, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Jane Eyre, The Hobbit, Dracula, Alice in Wonderland, and more.

These student-choice texts are the focus of this cycle's collaborative project, which brings together students who read the same book. They are in the midst of working together to plan a presentation that identifies the theme of the novel and explores the author's background, the context in which the book was written, and the cultural "legacy" of the text, and more. Groups will also tackle questions such as, "What is the value of this novel? Why does it matter?"

Observing the dynamics among these groups has been a thrill.  One moment, they will be working silently and intensely, researching and writing, and the next, one of them will throw out a question and the others will start to discuss it earnestly.

All in all, it's been a great first week back!  Next cycle we will take on 1984. These seniors are definitely ready for it.