Enrichment Projects
When studying a novel, we often find some tidbit of information we would like to study further. Perhaps there is an interesting location in the story. Maybe it is even the author that fascinates. Have you ever wanted to follow a rabbit trail in education? Cue the enrichment project!
Throughout our many years of teaching classes, students anticipate the end-of -semester enrichment assignments in classes. These enrichment projects (EPs) are designed to allow students to explore an area of interest from the novel. In medieval studies, students explore crests, castles, occupations, and they even build large scale models. Other EPs provide opportunities for students to rewrite the ending of a story, write a prologue to a story, or write their own story with similar themes or literary elements. Still other projects allow for research of historical figures, events, people groups, or geographical settings. Whatever the project, EPs offer wonderful educational opportunities. In The Write Journey classes, EPs include three components: a written assignment, a visual aid or project, and an oral presentation. Typically, the EP allows all students to explore their creative talents and interests through creative writing, artistic projects, and engaging oral presentations.
The written portion:
While the EP is designed to explore new and different types of writing (moving beyond the academic essay), students use skills learned in class to create the written portion of the project. In addition, instructors may introduce story writing skills to help students tackle their own stories. They may also teach skills such as letter writing, poetry, or even research writing. Depending upon the book, instructors will help students learn about writing in a style that differs from formal academic response writing, even as they continue to remind students about the importance of applying the skills they have learned through their essay writing instruction and practice. Even creative writing includes engaging ideas, logical organization, quality sentence structure, and proper grammar.
The visual aid:
This portion of the enrichment project allows students to flex their creative muscles! Many homemade costumes, food items, dioramas, poster boards, online slideshows, videos, and models have been shown over the years. We believe this is one of the best parts of homeschooling; the freedom to think outside the box and create gives students a refreshing break from the day-in and day-out assignments and tasks. Some students are by nature more creative than others, but ALL students have creative ideas and will benefit from exploring their interests in relation to the book they are studying.
The oral presentation:
While this portion of the EP allows performers a chance to shine, it may intimidate other students. However, time and again, we watch our students blossom and grow in exciting ways on presentation days. Some classes begin practicing oral presentations weeks before the big day with show-and-tell, or learning to share a personal anecdote. Through class discussions, students also sense the class comradery that enables them to present in front of a crowd. Students, instructors, and parents all give warm encouragement to the presenter. Since we know that students will need to continue presenting later in life, such as in educational and career pursuits, these oral presentations give our students the exposure and practice they will need to succeed.
Presentation Week, 2021
This semester, our presentations will take place in class during the week of November 16th -18th, 2021. Students will decide what they will need to complete for their EPs, and they will begin working on the assignments related to the project a few weeks prior to their presentation day. With the mystery genre this semester, we know there will be some wonderful projects related to the detective culture. We expect students from different class levels to find creative ways to interact with and help one another. As always, parents are encouraged to join in the Zoom class to watch the presentations. Class instructors will share the needed information to allow you to participate. May the planning and projects bring a sense of wonder and intrigue into your homes!
Written by: Julie Snyder Educational Director & Instructor