So, Anne and I have been talking about how we are planning to teach 1984. We are going to do the entire unit in fishbowl format. I have done fishbowl for years, but I have never followed the same protocol as we are delivering in this unit. I am a little anxious, but have already felt some successes following our class discussion yesterday.
Yesterday, I had students "invite" their parents to join us in our discussion of 1984. I asked them to go home, tell their parents about blogging, and help them set up blogger accounts so that they can participate in our class discussions. Parents are asked to participate in our classroom discussion through the blog. I was a little hesitant in asking, but check out our class site to see what happened: http://www.moritzhonors0607.blogspot.com/
I'm thrilled.