In the classroom -- A novel approach

Danette Goulet

Rapt faces followed her movements as Brittany Cornelius paced the front

of the room.

Her fake Southern twang was made more believable when paired with the

overalls, checkered shirt, pigtails and bare feet.

She told her audience of the trials and tribulations of being a tomboy

and having her lawyer father defend a black man in the South.

Brittany’s rendition of “Scout” from Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird”

earned her an “A” on her presentation in Terri Foster’s honors English

class at Ensign Intermediate School in Newport Beach.

The eighth-grade class is part of the Newport-Mesa school district’s

gifted and talented program.

“It is a pleasure to teach them,” Foster said. “They’re great kids.”

Standing and lecturing, Foster said, bores her. She figures that would

undoubtedly bore her students as well, so she puts a different spin on

her teaching.

Students are required to read a novel every two months, or 80 pages a

week, for “outside reading,” said Foster. In addition, they are required

to write a character analysis and come up with a presentation in which

they portray that character.

The class also studies novels and short stories and works on breaking

down plots and themes.

“We’re always working with speech skills. It improves character,” Foster

said.

Students use props and are encouraged to become involved with the book

and its characters.

Each student had three minutes to draw the audience into their chosen

book before delivering some variation of the cliffhanger: “If you want to

find out what happens, you’ll have to read ...”

Despite a few tense nerves, students appeared to enjoy their time in the

spotlight.

The perfect image of a young boy in private school with his white shirt

and uniform red tie askew, Patrick Riley enticed his fellow classmates to

read “Beyond the Chocolate War,” by Robert Cormier.

“It was kind of nerve-racking, but once you get up there, it’s easy,”

Patrick said.

Greg Gausewitz became engrossed in his character as the spy in “Eye of

the Needle” as he swept around the room in his trench coat and fake

mustache, plunging a fake dagger into the unfortunate students in the

front row.

A Slice of Life ...

* WHO: The students in Terri Foster’s eighth-grade honors English class

at Ensign Intermediate.

* WHAT: Students made oral presentations on their “outside reading”

assignments.

* WHY: To gain a deeper understanding of literature.

* MATERIALS: Some of the novels being presented were: “Eye of the

Needle,” by Ken Follett; and “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee.