By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–While school was still in session, students in Abby Cruce’s sixth-grade ELA classes were challenged to show their creative side while completing what was otherwise a routine assignment.
The results – using an unconventional method – were both entertaining and impressive.
With Cruce’s guidance, the Union City Middle School students turned a “garden variety book report” into a project that used cereal boxes to not only market and present their findings, but also address improvement needed in standardized testing.
The group was assigned to read “The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle” – a historical novel marketed toward students with a fifth- to eighth-grade reading level. The book chronicles the evolution of the title character as she is pushed outside her naïve existence and learns about life aboard a ship crossing from England to America in 1832.
Students were then directed to present their interpretations using a cereal box in a branding presentation instead of using the normal essay route. The routine in front of classmates not only allowed them to showcase their imagination but was also inspired from a latest CASE II Benchmark test results where the data showed a weakness in story structure and plot development, according to Cruce.
“The project was assigned to give them an opportunity to express their understanding of the plot of the story since the students were assigned this novel study to do strictly on their own,” she said. “Our lessons in the classroom were focused on the structure of a literature story, how plots unfold, and what meaning the author wants us to take away from the story.
“It allowed the students to creatively disclose the parts of a story’s plot and story elements while encouraging students to speak in front of their peers to ‘sell’ their cereal.”
Several students, who had needed work with standard essays, showed marked improvement with the approach, Cruce insisted.
“With the rigor of the state standards, sometimes students at this age do not get the opportunity to showcase their creative senses of humor, artistic ability, and quick wit,” the UCMS educated shared.
“But this project allowed them this freedom of expression while also being standard-driven.”