Students Become Reviewers For ESU #8 Title
Students Use Preview Titles For Writing Activity

Top Ten Books of the Decade

1. Countdown to Independence, by Natalie S. Bober
2. Harris and Me, by Gary Paulsen
3. The Land, by Mildred Taylor
4. Lord of the Deep, by Graham Salisbury
5. Monster, by W.D. Myers
6. Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood, by Benjamin Alire Saenz
7. Silent to the Bone, by E.L. Konigsburg
8. Speak, by Lourie Halse Anderson
9. The Year of Secret Assignments, by Jaclyn Morirty
10. Westing Game, by Raskins

Taken from the BUREAU OF EDUCATION & RESEARCH, presenter Jonathan Hunt “The Best Young Adult Books of the Decade" and "How to Use Them in Your Program" (Grades 6 - 12) Resource Handbook.

Using the preview titles available for review, sixty-two 10th grade World History students from an area high school completed reviews on the preview title called Europe in the Middle Ages: Knights and Nobles. After viewing the DVD with the teacher, students wrote comments on what they watched. Some, but not all of the students' reviews are listed below.

“I thought the video was very interesting. My favorite part was the medieval story inside the video. It helped me learn a lot more than I thought I would without even having to try. I enjoyed the narrator and how the information he was trying to get across was organized. It was very detailed and related to facts about real medieval life. The reenactments were very convincing.”

“I thought it was a good movie. It was very educational and really related to what we are studying. I like it and I think the ESU should buy it.”

“I thought the video did a very good job of covering the position of knights and nobles. It especially did a good job talking about the knights and their fighting. It also did good when talking about the castle and how it was built.”

“The video was very descriptive. It went deeper into the facts and showed many things that aren't described in history books. It was very useful.”

“I like this video because it had so many good facts! It was interesting to learn about scaffolding. I had no idea

they used geometry like we do! (Ex: right triangles). This video showed a lot about fighting and what they did to prepare for a war. It was also exciting to see a few ways how castles were built and how long it took to build them. The only thing I did not like about this video was the cartoon pictures and when a voice would come in telling a story as though they were there. I learned a lot from this little video today, and much of the information was all quite interesting! I will for surely remember that the women were the ones to set up the rules for the tournaments - not the Kings! Or any other men!!”

“When the guy is talking in a different language at the beginning, you can't even read the captions, because they are yellow and it blends in. Overall, it was decent I guess.”

“I think that the video is great. I learn better by watching. The video has many things that we need to know. I think that the video show good information.”

“I thought that it was a pretty good video. I think it would be better if there weren't any subtitles, but someone else spoke in English what the professors and others are saying. It had a lot of interesting information, especially about the castles.”

TEACHER NOTE: The content had a strong relation to the Nebraska Standards. The instructor identifies 12.1.1 Institution of Feudalism in Europe and 12.1.2 Analyzing patterns of social change in the Middle Age’s conflicts and effects of the Crusades. Overall, the students recommend the title for purchase.