
As
a
special
treat
for
the
eighth-grade
classes
at
Marsteller
Middle
School,
and
to
culminate
the
end
of
the
horror
unit
covered
as
part
of
the
English
curriculum,
students
participated
in
a
virtual
field
trip
to
the
Chamber
Theatre.
Students
viewed
plays
covering
the
literary
works
they
studied
in
class
including,
Edgar
Allen
Poe's,
"The
Tell-Tale
Heart,"
and
"The
Raven,"
W.W.
Jacobs'
"The
Monkey's
Paw,"
and
Guy
de
Maupassant's
"The
Necklace."
As
part
of
their
literary
analysis,
students
identified
and
described
common
or
universal
themes
in
the
four
works
such
as,
"be
careful
what
you
wish
for,"
"be
grateful
for
what
you
have,"
and
"being
honest
is
the
best
policy."
Students
created
Venn
diagrams
to
make
comparisons
between
the
texts.
They
also
identified
different
literary
elements,
such
as
mood,
setting,
plot
summaries,
characters,
and
conflict.
Eighth-grader
Riley
Keith
shared
enthusiastic
remarks
about
the
horror
unit
and
all
the
activities
the
students
participated
in,
stating,
"I
really
liked
the
horror
unit,
and
hope
for
something
similar
in
the
future.
I
love
the
way
we
watched
video
clips,
read
the
story,
and
then
analyzed
what
we
saw.
Talking
about
it
together
helped
us
all
comprehend
what
we
just
watched/read.
The
theatrical
productions
virtual
field
trip
was
also
a
lot
of
fun!
We
got
to
watch
over
all
of
the
story's
we
previously
read
[in
class].
It
was
relaxing
and
we
were
still
learning
and
interacting
with
each
other
talking
about
the
clips."
Susan
Moorefield,
an
eighth-grade
language
arts
teacher
at
Marsteller
Middle,
utilized
this
virtual
field
trip
as
a
non-stressful
way
to
reinforce
the
lesson,
sharing,
"Our
students
could
benefit
from
another
presentation
of
these
classics
to
help
ensure
they
got
the
message
and
that
all
levels
of
learning
were
addressed."
Moorefield
also
shared
that
watching
actors
act
out
scenes
and
displaying
various
emotions,
provides
students
with
a
different
perspective,
interpretation,
and
understanding
of
the
written
works
studied
in
class.
As
part
of
the
grade
eight
English
curriculum,
students
learned
how
to
analyze
and
respond
critically
to
literature
and
were
able
to
draw
conclusions
from
each
story
through
group
discussions.