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.