Blackmail Counterclaim Project

Open a blackmail. 

I am fond of associating projects and class activities to the seasons or holidays just like what I did in our Reading and Writing class. This year, we celebrated Valentine's day through Blackmail Counterclaim. This is anchored in the competency under Reading and Writing which is formulating meaningful counterclaims in response to claims made in a text read (EN11/12RWS-IVac-9.2). Counterclaim is a hard topic to teach. Some of my learners are struggling to write counterclaims about the claims they found in texts that I let them read. This prompted me to conceptualize a project which I know they can relate.

What is the project all about? 

Blackmail Counterclaim is a way for my learners to apply their knowledge in writing or locating a claim in a text. I want them to go further by teaching them how to write a counterclaim. Through this, I can help them to hone their reasoning skills. For this project, I challenged them to write a counterclaim about love. You want them to disprove things about false hope, promises, and misconceptions about love. It is like hugot lines written in academic way. 

This project is my third concept on how to celebrate Valentine's Day in our subject. I do not want my learners to get bored. I want them to feel the spirit of seasons by integrating these occasions or celebrations in our topics. In my three years of teaching Reading and Writing, I had implemented Gallery of Red and Gallery of Black for my learners discern assertions. This time, I need to set the bar higher. 

What are the things needed for the project?

For this project, the learners need to have bond paper or white paper, pen, markers, or any coloring materials, and black envelope. My learners used black cartolina to have a black envelope. They used scissors for do-it-yourself envelope. 

How the project was implemented? 

I presented samples to my learners. Here are examples:

You said that I am the only one, but we are two in your heart.

Love is a heavenly thing, but you gave me hell.

You promised me to stay forever, yet you left me in my dark days.

I explained to them that they need to write first a claim about love. Then, they need to write counterclaim as a way to contradict the first statement. I gave them time to construct their statements and consulted me to check their drafts before they do a calligraphy in the paper. After the approval, the learners can now design their outputs. 

At first, my learners were frustrated over the revisions they need to undergo. They have their "hugot" about it like "I am always rejected." I just keep on telling on them that rejection is part of learning. As we had our editing, the learners were happy about writing counterclaims. Some of them said they do not want to stop writing. 

On Valentine's Day, we had "A Day of Music and Counterclaims". It was our own way to celebrate the special day. My learners had group performances. They were tasked to sing their translated OPM song in English. After singing, my learners read their counterclaims. The best presenter of the statement won a chocolate. 

I was happy about the outcome of our class project. I saw how my learners enjoyed our day. Aside from enhancing their writing skills, I was able to trigger their speaking skills.