Ender's Game Group Projects

[Alex Springer]

While I was thinking about how to approach quizzes and comprehension checks during my teaching of Ender's Game, I was struck with an important realization: Why do I have to do all the work? In response to this revelation, I decided to group my students up, assign them a few chapters, and have them figure out who would do what.  Not only did I avoid the soul-crushing activity of coming up with quizzes to see if my students were actually reading, but I was able to teach my students the importance of working as a team and meeting deadlines.  I was a little scared to see the results of this process, but my students (for the most part) rose to the occasion and created some meaningful presentations.

I've uploaded the documents that outline the project, as well as a group job sheet that I had the students fill out.  I think this assignment could be adapted to use with any text and with any age group.

Let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions/questions.

[Ryan Goble]

Hi Alex, these are nicely differentiated - you might also check out all the PDFs at 

PLAYLIST: CONNECT THE MINDS (CTM) QUIZ - PDFs for College, HS, MS, ...
DID YOU READ QUIZ?" - CARTOON EDITION

and PLAYLIST: BETA MEDIA CIRCLES PART I

as yes, in class you should NEVER work harder than your students - outside of class, of course, is a different story! 

[Alex Springer]

I've used the "cartoon quiz" a few times before, and I love it.  And I agree that hard work on lesson planning is well worth it.  Thanks for the resources!

[Marcy Prager]

I LOVE the cartoon quiz!!!!!!

[Marcy Prager]

You are so right on, Alex, about letting students do the work!  They do need to work collaboratively.  Letting them decide what jobs they want is great!  Your structure, (which is your work), gave enough clarity and information for students to independently fulfill their jobs.  This is actually like a Harvey Daniel's Literature Circle with a twist of roles.  

It would be interesting to debrief with the students to see what other roles they would like to add next time.  Maybe there is a poet who wants to write a poem about the chapter.  Maybe there is someone who wants to present/ write a reaction or two to what has occurred so far.  

As long as students have a chance to interact with what they are reading, you've got it made!  You may want to video-tape students in action to show other educators how this works.