As the bell rings, I welcome students to "National Pastry Day," and quickly poll: who had a doughnut, who had a bagel, who had a croissant, who had a Pop-Tart (they are "toaster pastries") for breakfast. I mention to keep track of Holden's reaction to food as they read, as his attitude toward eating reflects some of his other character concerns.
I also ask students to remember to look for how Holden relates to other students, especially Ackley and Stradlater, as they work on their reading today. This will directly connect to the students' look at character foils in a few days (see "Foiling Holden: Comparing and Contrasting Characters").
As always, these Daily Holidays are a way to build a sense of community in the classroom, and to get the students thinking about the material for the day. I especially try to approach an idea somewhat "sideways", catching the students off guard with the connection, and modeling how connections to literature can, and should, be found everywhere.
Before students begin working individually, I remind them about the Assignment Format for each individual role.
I remind students that the big idea for this section of the reading is to pay attention to how Holden interacts with others, both at Pencey Prep and on his way to New York City after he leaves school. The responses to their literature circle assignments should reflect Holden's development. Students especially focus on how he relates to other characters, develops the plot of the story through his actions, and reveals the themes through his relationships and interactions: adulthood/growing up, elitism/prejudice, and trust (RL.9-10.3).
As with the previous literature circle work days, students have the bulk of the class period to read and complete their role assignments for Chapters 6-10 of "Catcher in the Rye" at their own pace. Students will be working with the next assignment in the rotation; previous Discussion Directors will be working independently on the Connector assignment, previous Connectors will be working on the Character Sorter assignment, etc. (See "Catching onto Holden: Independent SSR & Role Assignments") In order to ensure focus, students are permitted to move around the room, sit on the floor or in a different chair, and read to themselves. Despite the fact they will ask, students are not permitted to put on headphones and listen to music, as often this creates a distraction while reading. Students working on the Discussion Director, Connector, and Character Sorter roles will be seeking strong and thorough textual support in order to support their analysis of the novel and draw inferences from it (RL.9-10.1), students working on the Illustrator role are specifically seeking to draw inferences from the novel in order to illustrate a scene or concept (again, RL.9-10.1) and students who are working on the Vocab Finder role will be seeking to understand words in context, verifying the meaning of terms from the vocab list and using the terms appropriately (RL.9-10.4). Students will be working independently in order to take ownership for the material and seek ways to come to their own understanding of it.
Students are working independently to ensure they gain ownership of, and take responsibility for, the material assigned. Every student works at a different pace, every student appreciates reading in a different manner. Providing students this time to work allows them to work at their own pace and comfort level, but also to have me available if they have any questions or need any clarification.
As students work, I will circulate the room to offer advice, answers, clarification, or focus as needed.
With two minutes remaining in class, I call the students back to their seats. I remind students that anything they were unable to finish in class today is homework, and I ask them to be prepared for discussion tomorrow. As I monitor their progress throughout class today, there is no exit assignment.