We just finished Lord of the Flies. After the first chapter, I brought trash into class, literally- boxes, string, paper grocery sacks, shredded material,phone book, (I went through the school dumpster)and told the students that they would be writing a journal in a character-from-the-book POV. They would have to create a journal from stuff that washed up on shore. I also provided paper from a roll of newsprint that they had to tear. I didn't allow scissors or tape.
They tore into the project with such exuberance and created some amazing journals from trash!
I also believe that it helped them focus on the reading. I required one entry per chapter. Each entry was worth 4 points with an extra 2 points for a well crafted journal for a total of 50 points.
The only downside was that I had to bring in the industrial vacuum after class!
Also, we read this novel as a study of the breakdown of civilization. In hindsight I don't think this was the most uplifting piece of literature to start the year. I pleaded with the powers that be to order Paul Fleishman's Seedfolks so we could follow-up with a positive story about the building of a society. We'll start that next week.
