Good-bye to Medieval days and Hello to Wanted Boy Writers

February 9 was the last day for the boys to finish their Medieval board games. Mr. Tilley gave them modeling clay to create pieces for their games, this way people can actually play them. Not all of the boys were able to finish their games, and make pieces. Jacob was one of the few that actually got to play his game. He and I almost finished the game, but time was up. Jacob was about to beat me anyway. I did notice that some of the boys did not want to play with others. Made me wonder if there are certain groups within the Boy Writer's Club? I wonder if this is the case, why that it has come about? This is something that I will continue to watch for. Other than noticing some of the kids not wanting to play with others, they all had a great time.
February 16 was the start of Derrick and Dustin's Wanted posters. The premise is to have the boys make wanted posters of themselves, as if they were from the old west. I think this is such a great idea, and a good way to use their creativity.
To introduce them to the new unit, Dustin lead a VTS session. They were all very excited to describe what was going on in the image. They made the connection that a crime took place, or that the man on the poster committed crimes. This is where the pick came in. Some thought it was an ax used to murder someone, but was finally established that it was a pick not used for murder. Some thought that there was a pack of cigarettes in the image, but some disputed this thought and concluded that it was a book because there was a name at the bottom, where an author's name would be found. Another thought that there were rocks, being cast upon the sun which turned them into gold. The finally conclusion was that the sun cannot turn rocks into gold, so the rocks were in fact gold. One student noticed that the poster was ripped, and crumpled like it had been taken from somewhere and thrown on the grown. No one put the pieces together to make a connection between the wanted poster, and the gold.
After the VTS, Mr. Tilley gave an example of what his wanted poster looked like, and gave the expectations of the boys while they were in the computer lab. The boys were really excited, and I'm not sure that they were completely focused on what Mr. Tilley was saying.
To make these posters, Mr. Tilley had everyone go to the computer lab where a template was made with each of the boys' pictures ready. Once everyone was logged on, they went through and filled out the information for the poster. They needed to come up with two nicknames, a birthdate, where they were from, and identifying features. I worked with a few of the boys in the lab, they were too excited about the idea of a wanted poster that it was hard for them to focus. They needed a lot of help with spelling, and I did my best to help them sound out the words. I did notice that most of them helped each other, which makes me think about my previous observation about the board games and how maybe it was just that day? But the boys seemed to get along and enjoyed thinking of fun names and descriptions of themselves. It was hard not to laugh with them! Chance wanted to be known as "Killer of the Killers" which sparked some copying from a few others. I told him that he should take it as a compliment, that cheered him up.
We did not get to finishing up the posters, and some still needed to finish their descriptions. Thursday will be a full day, but exciting and eventful nonetheless.

New to BWC

January 26th was my first time meeting with the BWC. I was pleasantly surprised at how excited they were to gather around for the VTS section. Listening to their thoughts and descriptions of Duc de Berry's Tres Riches Heures was entertaining. I thought that Dustin did a great job facilitating the VTS discussion, and how he had the boys describe certain words they used for the rest of the group. I think that is it a great way to let students educate others with what they know. For example, one student described the scene as a feast. Dustin asked him to explain what a feast was for others who didn't know. Excellent way to encourage students!
This was also the first day for them to work on their medieval game boards. They were very enthusiastic to work on this exercise. Many of them wrote in each or in most of the squares, and they added drawings to illustrate what was happening in their game. Their was a lot of laughter and sharing of ideas, so much creativity! It was a lot of fun to help out, and let them have a chance to explain what they created.
February 2nd
Another great VTS discussion lead by Dustin. This painting was of a woman knighting a man. I was just as entertained this week as I was the week before. Many of the boys thought the woman was going to cut off the man's head. Other's believed that it was a knighting ceremony. As Dustin put it, the boys disagreed with each other in a respectful manor. It is was important to highlight that compliment because it is important for them to know that not everyone if going to agree on everything, but that it is ok to disagree and still be respectful of others thoughts and ideas.
The boys were finishing up their game boards, and were still excited to work on them. I think many of them took this day to put on the finishing touches. I noticed that only a handful of them used color on their boards. Many wanted to keep them black and white. But all of them had pictures and wonderful descriptions.
I'm excited to see how they do with playing their games this week!