InstaDigest: Jan. 29 - Feb. 9
What We Did + What It Looked Like
Welcome to February, teacher friends. I hope it finds you fully in a new year groove with your students.
In my classes, we’ve moved from intense writing units to literature-focused units. In 7th grade, we’re going deeper into character analysis (and, ultimately, moving from character analysis to themes) through a little mythological journey — specifically, the new book from Corey Ann Haydu, The Widely Unknown Myth of Apple and Dorothy.
In 8th grade, it’s Hamlet time. We’ve seen a production of the play. This week, we put on a condensed production of our own. And now, with the plot under our belts, we can focus just on Hamlet’s soliloquies — characterization, careful close reading practice, and tracking motifs to lead us to themes of the play.
Here’s what my lesson plans looked like for the last two weeks and some pictures of the beautiful chaos: