Title of Activity
LITERARY WORKSHOP FOR PARENTS AND STUDENTS

 

Description of educational activity
Duration: 90 minutes
Pupils’ age: 16-18
Organization of the class of pupils: two moderators, six groups of 3 to 4 students, group work (students and parents), individual (discussion), discussion groups, work in a larger classroom or school hall, circular seating.

The aim of the lesson: The aim is to involve parents in the teaching process, improve student literacy and ability to understand texts, ability to reflect, critical thinking and empathy, key competencies, and transversal skills. Also, cultivating reading culture by creating a reading motivating environment, developing interpretative , analysis and evaluation skills. The aim of the workshop is to develop students' verbal and written expressive skills, the ability to debate, the quality  of preparation of theses / antithesis and arguments. The aim is to observe the importance of harmonized educational activities and encourage the co-operation between parents and schools and to foster dialogue among the participants of the educational process

 

Support materials: The text of the story.

 

Activities:

 

A. Before the workshop

One week before the workshop with the students and their class teacher and the pedagogue, arrange a joint lesson with parents (time and place, theme). Participation is optional, but it is desirable to include many parents as possible. Distribute two copies of the novel  to students (for them and their parents), which will be a template for common work and they need read them. Each student, based on the motifs from the excerpt, should prepare five arguments for and against the thesis (sentence statement!), Eg: Del Jordan acted right when she opposed her mother. Men are stronger sex. / Girls are vulnerable and passive, and young men are strong and independent. Sexual harassment and violence should not be acknowledged or reported. / Life without marriage makes no sense. / Some books or newspapers should be banned. / The time of books has passed.

Choose two moderator students and  introduce  and explain the plan and order of the workshop activities and the rules of the debate.

B. First Lesson: Motivation

The workshop leader (teacher) and the students greet the parents and lead them to the gym or a larger classroom. The tables are placed in a circle. One of them is the facilitator's table. They sit alternately and without breaking into the older and younger or pairs of the child - the parent.

At the beginning of the first lesson the moderators briefly explain the course and objectives of the workshop. The facilitator gives basic information about the novel (theme, time, space) and the author, shows the video of the two-minute section of the interview and interpretatively reads the selected shorter sections of the excerpt.

The teacher organizes students into smaller groups (6 groups of 3 to 5 students) by random selection in the register. Moderators hand in a piece of paper to their parents for notes and marks. Students work in small groups according to the principle of collaborative learning, each student reads their arguments for and against. The order of presentation: hot pencil method (on the faciliator's table, pencil is spinned, and the top of the pencil decides the first speaker). Parents participate individually, they listen and make notes as needed. Exercising listening, talking and managing  time, the students keep notes and then, together with their parents, ask questions and make comments.

In the end, they choose successful theses / arguments that confirm or reject the defined thesis and support them with evidence from the text (quotes, paraphrases, retelling the part of the excerpt) as they were set, and reject badly articulated or inaccurate claims.

Students select two groups of three debates and representatives of judges (2 parents and 3 students).

C. Second Lesson: Debate and Self-Evaluation

Moderators explain the rules of the debate to the  parents and students. Debate is a skill of discussion in which participants use pre-prepared arguments. Two opposing sides  discuss the thesis. A well-formed thesis should be said with an affirmative sentence. The participants do not know whether they will be in affirmative or negative group, until then they have prepared arguments for both sides. When debaters find out which opinion they will represent, which can be determined by throwing dice, coins, drawing paper from hoods, etc., they have to represent their group regardless of whether it is their personal opinion. One group tries to convince the other in the truth of their arguments and persuade them to accept them. The judges monitor the time and finally, after the discussion and the closing words, evaluate the group's persuasiveness (scale 1 - 10) and determine the winner. The debate lasts exactly 18 minutes.

Affirmative and negation groups are selected. The negative argument  debatant starts (60 seconds) – and the opposing group replicates (the affirmative debatant argues the negative arguments, asking questions that are trying to contradict him and weaken or break his arguments, time for questions and answers 90 seconds), followed by the first debatant of the other group, and the first group replicates. This is how all three debates are developed.

After their performance, a large group discussion (plenum) follows acording the general discussion rules (respect of the interlocutor, lack of speech interruption, respect for time, etc.).

Each group eventually sums up the final word. In the final speech, each debatant repeats or sums up his main arguments and supplements them by challenging opponents' arguments. It is not allowed to enter new arguments.

At the end of the debate, the judges preside over which group was more successful in evaluating the following: the talkative skills of the debates, the clarity of the arguments put forward, the persuasiveness of the speaker in defending his arguments, the ability of the debaters to find weakness in the opponent's arguments, respect of the set time.

Self-evaluation and evaluation

Students are asked to briefly write what they think they know after the workshop, what they can do better, what skills they have practiced or acquired, which attitudes they have built up. Students read their notes (shorten if repeated too often, find time for all the students to make everyone aware of what they have learned - learning outcomes). The parents orally comment on their participation in the workshop and present their impressions and judgment on the usefulness and the need for such cooperation with the school.

The facilitator focuses on the goals that have been achieved, summarizes his knowledge of the novel and the ideas and values ​​it offers, and recommends that students and parents read the work as a whole.

Working material: leaflets with a excerpt from the novel, notes and ratings papers, a computer and a projector, lists for evaluation and self-evaluation

A fragment from the novel "The Life of Girls and Women" (pages 178 - 184)

"It was a farewell performance for Mr. Chamberlain ..." - "Without thinking a bit, I decided to do the same."

Motivation: reading and reflecting on the subject of an elective reading list based on the selected excerpt (together with the parents); presenting evidence and arguing for and against the set of theses with questions and comments

 

Evaluation and assessment method:

• Students confirm and fully argue their attitudes and results at the end of their workshop. Parents also value the lesson and self-evaluate their contribution.

 

Effect of the activity on RSP reading:  

The impact of RSP reading activities: practices that support and encourage students' choice, thinking and attitude. The idea and the choice are personal and there are none which are wrong, and the positive understanding and  thinking itself affects the students' confidence and they lose previous reading resistance and gradually gain reading competence.

 

Connection to curriculum

Grade: 3rd to 4th year of secondary school

General Grammar School: Curriculum of the Study of World Literature and  ​​History, Geography, Citizenship and Ethics

Collaboration with parents with educational and educative purpose.

Students should independently notice, differentiate, explain, demonstrate and give examples of the features of the text offered, and express their views on the influence of culture, art and society on the development of young people's personality in an argumentative way.

 

Knowledge:

• Autonomously access text from different perspectives.
• Learn to initiate a discussion and ask questions.
• Develop ease and readiness of reading.
• Enhance the skill of reading comprehension.
• Organize and suspend different types of information.

 

Skills:

• Observe, counteract, distinguish, and comment on the similarities and differences in appearance in the text.
• Develop the prediction skills and ability to imagine possible situational solutions.
• Develop and enrich communication skills, arguing skills, discussion and debate.
• Construct, conclude and evaluate.
• Learn to work effectively, independently and equally in the group.

 

Competences:

• Establish links between the world in text and real life or personal experience.
• Be able to visualize, combine, intervene in material.
• Follow the instructions and tasks to be able to evaluate the results.
• Evaluate evidence and arguments, support and justify choices.
• Develop  a sense of belonging, identify and connect with each other, share the same goals and values ​​and respect differences.

 

Relationship with the curriculum - related goals.

• One of the key determinants of a pedagogically effective school is enhanced co-operation with parents. The partnership emphasizes the importance of cooperation in education and socialization of children, the respect for cultural differences and the importance of different perspectives for creating a positive climate for learning. The complexity of the society sends confusing messages. Parents sometimes become hostile to the school and the teacher when they are under the impression that they are taught and promoted in the school the moral or religious attitudes they disagree with. Starting from the thesis that a student and a child are one and the same person developing in school and family, the co-operation between parents and schools is a social and pedagogical inevitability. If school and family are in crisis, then their co-operation is even more important. Children whose parents in different ways contribute to school life are more motivated to learn and achieve better success. This way of working is very effective in bringing together  parents and their own children and getting to know each other's parents, teachers, and  students within a certain class.

 

 

Bibliographic reference to be used during the activity

Author: Alice Munro

Lives of Girls and Women

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Ryerson

Publication date: 1971

Pages: 254 pp.

ISBN  978-0-07-092932-6

 

Short description of digital sources  (applications, games, webpages, FB pages etc.)

Author: Alice Munro

Lives of Girls and Women

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Ryerson

Publication date: 1971

Pages:           254 pp.

ISBN  978-0-07-092932-6

OCLC 517102

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Munro

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lives_of_Girls_and_Women 

https://www.facebook.com/alicemunroauthor

https://www.biography.com/people/alice-munro-9418218

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110370/ 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110370/ 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/24/lives-of-girls-and-women-by-alice-munro-review 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/aug/12/dance-of-the-happy-shades-by-alice-munro-a-place-familiar-but-out-of-reach

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/15/lying-under-the-apple-tree-alice-munro-review-astonishing-tales

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/25/books-alice-munro-canadian-currency

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/oct/22/reading-cities-books-about-vancouver

https://www.amazon.com/Alice-Munro/e/B000APECX6

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/11/books/alice-munro-wins-nobel-prize-in-literature.html?mcubz=1

http://aix1.uottawa.ca/~ecampbel/munro/frame.htm

 

 

Results

Expected outcomes:

• students acquire the lifelong ability to read, interpret and evaluate the literary text; the ability to develop an understanding of literal and implicit meaning, relevant contexts, and deeper issues and attitudes expressed in literary works;
• a competent personal response to the subject of the literary work they have studied;
• solving a generously diverse group of different tasks from different perspectives; the research of broader and universal questions suggested through the literary work;
• a conscious grasp of contemporary artistic and social themes; developed empathy and a better understanding of themselves and the world around them.

 

Recommendations

Choosing a method of teaching and a suitable text affects the students' interest in reading, studying, and interpreting.

Activities to support active inclusion of parents in the education of their children.

Independence in work, effective co-operation, involvement in discussion and appraisal encourage interests and develop analytical and synthetic skills.

The volume of texts can be tailored to the opportunities and interests of the group as needed, according to the RSP readership profile.

The more active approach and the smaller text fragments offer a more interesting, dynamic way of reading and studying a literary work.