Elie Wiesel's Night: Out of the Darkness - College of Education

Spring 2011
unexpected resistance from the students on this note. Most of the students actually requested to
listen to the audio of the text rather than read in groups. Since part of my purpose in having them
read in groups is to be sure that they can read the text themselves and understand without having
someone else read it to them, I allowed students to read by themselves if they wished and then
spent a little more time in the next lesson reviewing this reading. Although the students were
resistant, the assignment was an appropriate challenge for them in that it required them to read
the text on their own or with their group and attempt to understand the information rather than
listen to the audio and wait for me explain certain elements as we read. Though I had a little bit
of an unexpected detour from my plan, the students did get into a flow. They were able to work
with their peers in the reading groups and in groups at the end of class as they discussed the body
biographies for the next class. I also gave students the opportunity to hear my feedback on
presentations created by previous students that are like the presentations they will give in a few
class periods on a nonfiction book of their choice. This not only gave them scaffolding on what
they should do and not do in their presentations, but gave them an opportunity to tell me what
they thought was good or bad about the examples, giving them a sense of competence and
control over the way that they will be graded on their presentations. The end of the lesson
allowed me to present examples of body biographies and to introduce the assignment that the
students will begin working on as soon as they walk into the classroom next time. Overall, this
was a good lesson.
30 Spring 2011