This is my last week in the middle school, which is extremely bittersweet. To finish things out with my eighth graders, I created a final project–vignette-writing!
This project would be a way for the students to summarize what they’ve read about the book, discuss how Esperanza had changed, talk about a ‘coming of age’ story, and connect to Esperanza in meaningful ways. Their assignment: create four vignettes of their own.
I broke the project into several steps. First I introduced overall concept with this handout: House on Mango Street Final Vignette-Writing Project Handout.
To start, I reviewed some of their previous lesson activities and things we’d gone over in class, beginning with the What the Heck is a Vignette?.
Then I gave my students a step by step of their project. First: review a Google Presentation on parts of a vignette. Second: look at a ‘How Do I Write a Vignette?’ handout. Third: review the themes in a House on Mango Street Themes study guide. Fourth: fill out a brainstorming worksheet, and finally, start drafting! (Using the Types of Figurative Language Notes as a guide!)
- What is a Vignette? (Google Presentation)
- How Do I Write a Vignette?
- Themes in House on Mango Street
- Themes Brainstorming Worksheet
- Figurative Language Notes
Their final product would be at least four typed vignettes, each with a theme that related to the book. And each vignette would have at least two types of figurative language per vignette, using all seven types at least once throughout.
Day 1: Before they really started drafting, I explained all parts of the project and had them review the ‘What is a Vignette?’ Presentation. Their next step was to start brainstorming ideas to write about, so they used the ‘Theme Brainstorming Worksheet’ (green) and worked independently. For the last ten minutes, we brought the class together and gave one another ideas.
Day 2: Today was a work day, and to help, I shared one of my examples to scaffold student learning.
Day 3-4: Drafting. I shared another example and then introduced the Revision Checklist.
This was a step-by-step breakdown of how to revise each of their vignettes, focusing especially on the standards of Clear & Coherent Writing, Figurative Language, Detail/Description and Conventions. (And some fun stuff, too!)
We also had a group revision party, where students shared their drafts and gave one another feedback on
- what was working/what was good
- what they needed to fix/work on
I created a Peer Editing Rubric to go along with today!
Here are my examples, great for sharing with the class and scaffolding student learning!
I’m excited for my students work and can’t wait to see their final products! Even though I won’t actually be student teaching when the students turn their projects in, I am planning on sneaking a peek of Google Classroom 🙂 So far, they are loving it, and I’m pumped about their work!