Food for Thought - Observations

For the past few weeks, the students in Mrs. Shirley’s class have been working on an out-of-class project entitled, Breakfast For Your Head: Cereal Box Book Report. For those of you unfamiliar with the cereal box project, here is project description:

Front: Design a front cover for the novel. Include the name of the book, the authors, and an original illustration.

Back: The top portion of the back needs to contain a blurb, giving information to entice and/or interest a reader to want to read the novel. This must be at least six sentences, but not vie away the whole story. The lower portion of the back must be a puzzle, activity, word game, etc which incorporate information from the book.

Side One: Make a list of “ingredients” that includes the following story elements:
- Introduction
- Rising action
- Climax
- Falling action
- Resolution

Side Two: Create a “Nutritional Facts Chart” that rate the book by giving the percentage of the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) in several categories:
- Humor
- Drama
- Suspense
- Educational value
- Vocabulary

This week, the students presented their cereal box project to the class. It was such a great experience! As I have mentioned in class, I think sharing writing helps to give students a feeling of accomplishment and ownership. I came to observe Mrs. Shirley’s class when the students were presenting a cereal box project, and I could literally feel the excitement in the room as each child went up to present. I could tell the students were very proud of their projects and were eager to share with the class. Not only were the students presenting their project, they were also reading the summary of the novel. As an observer, this helped me to see how the students respond to reading: some students gave a brief overview; some students focused on one event and glazed over the rest; others incorporated quotes from the novel. Tompkins states, “Sharing writing is a social activity that helps students develop sensitivity to audiences and confidence in themselves as authors” (95). After hearing the students share their writing, I agree wholeheartedly with that comment. As I said before, written assignments can sometime feel like a secret exchange between student and teacher – student turns it in, teacher grades it, not a word is said. By sharing writing, students can bond with other students and enhance the impact of their writing.