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10/27 – ELA Expeditionary Thursday!

Grade 9 – Fostering a love of reading through an understanding of child development

Grade 9 fieldwork involved reading to PreK/K students at the Brooklyn New School, visiting Carroll Street Library and hearing about how librarians do successful read-alouds, talking to early childhood educators at Brooklyn Free Space, and hearing from Renee Dinnerstein (author of Choice Time who is a child development expert). Our focus question was: How can I develop a relationship with and foster a joy for reading in my reading buddy? We immersed students in a six-hour learning experience with intended outcomes that students would be able to describe the methods child development and/or author experts use to engage young people in stories, incorporate reading techniques into their oral reading to engage a four year old in a picture book, reflect on how they were developing their buddy’s enthusiasm for reading, and build their background knowledge of child development and children’s literature.
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Grade 10 – Propaganda Case Study

Grade 10 fieldwork involved continuation of a propaganda case study and learning more about the Holocaust. Students worked on the learning targets: I can recognize and describe examples of propaganda in the past, and present; I can analyze dystopian characteristics in a film & the role propaganda played in its creation; and I can deconstruct a piece of propaganda by identifying the elements of it that are attempting to control my thoughts or actions. Students did a gallery walk of historical photographs and viewed and discussed the film Schindler’s List.

Grade 11 – Writing Marathon around our amazing city

Grade 11 fieldwork involved students participating in a writing marathon around our beautiful city by “walking in their character’s shoes” as part of their short story writing process. Students visited the following sites as metaphors for journeys their characters might be experiencing: 9/11 Memorial (scars: internal and external), Federal Hall (power and powerlessness), Staten Island Ferry (navigating multiple identities), and the Smithsonian Native American Museum (culture and solidarity). At each location, students observed the location, discussed the significance and possible connections with their own characters, and wrote independently inspired by their settings.
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Grade 12 – Enhancing our writing through cinematic techniques

Grade 12 fieldwork involved enhancing student knowledge of cinematic terms to guide the writing of their personal narratives with a trip to the Museum of Moving Image. Students took advantage of opportunities to connect how they zoom in on a moment to how cameras work; how slowing down time in writing is similar to using slow motion in film; how using visual and sound imagery compares to using images, texture, and sound in film. The aim of the fieldwork was to inspire students to consider different ways of telling their stories and to use cinematic techniques to strengthen their writing. At the museum, students watched a screening of the Charlie Chaplin film The Immigrant to make further connections between the narratives they are reading and writing in class and the techniques Chaplin uses in his work. Students also had the opportunity to discuss past and current attitudes toward immigration, as well as the policies students have studied in their current Participation in Government classes.
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