Mystery Student Theater: A Flip Video Book Report

1. Students love riddles and puzzles, so to motivate them I begin by introducing a riddle like:

“A boy is hurt in a bicycle accident. The ambulance driver rushes the boy to the hospital and calls the child’s father, Dr. Smith. Dr. Smith meets the ambulance at the emergency room and becomes hysterical when he sees his injured son. In the operating room, where the boy is taken for surgery, Dr. Smith gazes into the child’s face, and then says, I’m glad this is not my son!”

2. In discussing the riddle, I will bring up some of the components of mysteries like looking for clues and mistaken identity.
3. Then we will discuss mystery stories that the students are familiar with.
4. I will give students a graphic organizer, to chart all the key elements: main character, setting, problem, clues, suspects, main events, the most exciting event (climax), and the solution.
5. I will read aloud some of the stories from “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” a collection by Alvin Schwartz and discuss the elements in those stories.
6. I will then separate students into cooperative groups of three or four. With their group, they will select and read a mystery novel at their reading level, and approved by the teacher. Students will have a few weeks to read and discuss the novel, so they all understand it. Then, they will use their graphic organizer to chart all the key elements from the story.
7. Students will then sketch out a scene for each element using a Story Board organizer that I provide for them. Each part of the Story Board will focus on a key element from the mystery. Next to each Story Board sketch, they will write out the dialogue for that scene using one or two sentences, e.g. “A clue that helps solve the mystery is….” or “The main suspect of the mystery is…”
8. Students will decide what props and costumes to use for each scene. They will practice their scenes.
9. Finally, with their Flip camera students will film each scene in order. (There will be no editing.
10. With the help of their teacher, students will download the digital video on the computer to be shown to the rest of the class.

Assessment: The final video book report grade will be based on the following oral presentation rubric found at http://www.rubrics4teachers.com/presentation.php. The 4 point rubric focuses on 6 sections: 1. Participation of group members, 2. clarity of speaking, 3. detail of information, 4. organization of information, 5. Visual creativity