Division 15 has very unique ways of doing literature circles. One way is called RTDTW, which stands for Read, Talk, Draw, Talk, Write. Our teacher, MJ, would first read a part of a chapter to us, while we are following in our own books. Then, MJ would say "Talk about it". We would then talk for a short period, usually 2-3 min, about what happened in the part of the book MJ just read. Next, MJ would tell us to "Draw", and we would draw for 3 minutes on a piece of paper that is divided into 8 equal parts. The drawing would take one part. Then, MJ would say "Talk about it" , and we would talk about what we drew. This step is sometimes omitted, when we are running out of time. After the second talking stage, we would write about the story. This process is repeated until the chapter ends. At last, MJ would give us one minute to add on to any part that we did that day.

In term 3, MJ introduced our class to the RTDTW way. Some of the students in our class were in the same class before, and was familiar to the RTDTW way.

After trying the new way for a book called Flipped, the whole class said that this way was a very good way. There would be many benefits. We would have time to reflect about what we are going to draw, or write next. That would make our drawings better, since we would not have to stop and think about what we are going to draw or write. MJ wants Division 15 to draw or write for all of the time provided. The extra reflecting time also helps our talking, since if you know what you are going to draw before you draw it, you can easily explain it. That will benefit us in the future, as stalling words such as uh, um, ah...  will not occur in our talking. If we don't have stalling words, we can easily do a speech in the future, and it will make us look more professional. 

Everyone did lots of good work during the process.

Here are scans of the work that some students did while reading Flipped.

When we finished Flipped, MJ asked us to do a project about Flipped. Using previous experience, and our work, we created projects that were extraordinary. MJ doesn't limit us to how we present our project. In that way, all the projects will be unique. When we present and share our projects, we learn a lot in every project. We then use the things we learned in our next project, and the viewers will learn it too. We extend our projects as one. If one person has an very good part, other people do that too, in their next project. That way, no one will be left behind as the rest of the team moves forward.

Here is a presentation that has some photos that were taken while we were doing our project. MJ also took pictures of our project sharing. 

Happy Viewing,

Bob Z, Jennifer J, Vincent C

Students of Division 15