True education addresses the social, emotional, and academic growth of the kids in its care. True educators lead the way. Thinking "outside the box" is the way to make it happen. We must strive to not only engage our students, but also to involve them in the direction of their lives and their educations.
We make lots of jokes about the importance of good grammar. Some of us are grammar Nazis who lurk on Facebook and other online forums ready to correct the "great unwashed masses" when they forget an apostrophe or misuse to, too, or two. Others are the type telling these seemingly obsessive protectors of the English language to "lighten up" because it's "just the internet after all" and "no one can expect everyone to be perfect all the time." Whether you fall into one of these groups or somewhere in between, the simple truth is good grammar is important.
If you
ask the average person on the street whether or not using good grammar is
important, you may be surprised at the variety of responses you will receive.
It seems the debate over the significance of prescriptive English grammar is
alive, and sometimes slightly aggressive, in the court of public opinion. My
personal belief is that the study and mastery of proper English grammar is not
only necessary, but also imperative. Our students’ overall success beyond the
academic world is dependent upon their ability to write and speak clearly and
professionally – an impossible task without at least some degree of working
knowledge involving grammar. My ideology regarding English grammar has
developed not simply because I am a teacher of English, but also due to the
fact that I have spent so much of my life performing a variety of jobs in the
private sector including many years spent as a hiring manager for several
different businesses.
In
this digital age of texts, tweets, instant messages, and emails, some will
argue the use of prescriptive grammar has become out-dated or even archaic;
however, when it comes to the professional world nothing could be farther from
the truth. Kyle Weins, CEO of iFixit and Dozuki, administers grammar tests to
every applicant for every position in his companies. Weins’ justification for
using this tool across the board is “grammar signifies more than just a
person’s ability to remember high school English. I’ve found that people who
make fewer mistakes on a grammar test also make fewer mistakes when they are
doing something completely unrelated to writing — like stocking shelves or
labeling parts” (2012). While Weins’ tactics may be slightly more militant than
those employed by other companies, the simple fact is more companies today are
including grammar and writing tasks in their application processes. These
businesses are also turning more potential employees away due to their
inability to successfully complete these activities.
Ultimately,
it doesn't matter how intelligent, capable, or qualified applicants may be, if
they are incapable of presenting themselves competently through their speech
and writing. For better or worse, using poor grammar portrays a person as
careless, lazy, or at worst ignorant. None of these qualities are highly sought
after by any business owner. In this age of electronic applications, contact
with potential employers can be limited to written artifacts like cover
letters, resumes, and personal websites or social media profiles. Our written
words represent our first, and sometimes only, impression. The ability to use
proper grammar signifies not only credibility and professionalism, but also
commands a degree of immediate respect from those reading and reviewing the
materials presented. This in itself is more than enough reason to ensure our
students learn and master grammar.
Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I will leave you with a bit of fun. Weird Al's take on grammar is entertaining and timely - as we ready ourselves to return to school and decide exactly where grammar fits in our classrooms no matter what subjects or grade levels we teach.
It has been awhile. Teaching, grad school, working on my novel, and submitting my children's book for publication have made for one extremely busy year! I wanted to come back with a topic that is very near and dear to my heart - the teaching of poetry.
It seems poetry has become somewhat of an endangered species lately due to the adoption of the Common Core State Standards, but the fact is that nothing could be further from the truth. One thing I have learned about standards is this - they are most definitely in the eye of the interpreter.
My Story
The poet, John Ciardi, wrote,
“The concern [for poetry] is not to arrive at a definition and to close the
book, but to arrive at an experience” (2). When I consider all the units I
teach each year, poetry is the one experienceI
look forward to the most. I first work to uncover my less enthusiastic
students’ reasons for their apparent aversion to poetry, stressing to them thatpoetry is not about the destination; it is about
the journey. Poetry explains, investigates, observes, and illustrates life with
its beautiful economy of language and though a poemmay be sparse with its words, it is exponentially substantial in its
meaning and message. Poetry is about how it makes you feel, what it allows you
to see, and where it allows you to travel. Poetry is the art of language, and
as such, its study is crucial in developing a well-rounded education for our
students. It is quite unfortunate that this critical component for teaching
English Language Arts is in danger of being exiled from our curriculum simply
due to a blatant misinterpretation of the Common Core State Standards.
The introduction of
National Poetry Month in 1996 providedteachers
a sanctionedtime and place to celebrate all
that poetry has to offer. Each April, ELA classrooms everywhere immersed
themselves in the world of poetry – reading it, writing it, examining it, performing
it, experiencing it. However, as standardization
in public education reaches a new level with the introduction and incorporation
of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), teachers everywhere are finding
themselves embroiled in a curricular conversation regarding the future of
poetry in our public school classrooms. The fact that poetry is not
specifically mentioned in the Common Core State Standards along with the
increased concentration on literary nonfiction and informational texts has led
some teachers and administrators to conclude thatthe
study and writing of poetry has an uncertain future in our ELA classrooms. Yet,
if we take a closer look at the “new and improved” standards we are working to
implement, poetry definitely has a place and a purpose in our classrooms.
The goal of CCSS is to
increase the academic rigor of our curricula through increasing our text
complexity, focusing on critical thinking and analysis skills, diversifying
content through the addition of more literary nonfiction and informational
texts, and concentrating on building and refining academic vocabulary and
answering text-dependent questions (Common Core State Standards Initiative).
The Common Core doesn’t give educators a prescribed reading list, but it does
offer exemplar texts by grade level in the ELA Appendix B, along with sample
performance tasks related to the exemplars. These lists are meant as a guide to
assist educators in choosing complex texts for all students and crafting
appropriate performance tasks that meet the standards. Every grade level list
contains poetry and performance tasks associated with poetry. With the
inclusion of poetry in Appendix B, the discussion on whether or not to include
poetry in our classrooms should not be a matter for debate.
Furthermore, if we take
the time to look at the Common Core’s ELA Appendix A, a cursory examination of
the definitions of the writing standard’s three text types offers this
addendum: “The narrative category does not include all of the possible forms of
creative writing, such as many types of poetry. The Standards leave the
inclusion and evaluation of such forms to teacher discretion” (23). Here is
where it seems the crux of the current dispute lies – “teacher discretion.” The
Common Core places more emphasis on literary nonfiction and informational text
in its literature standards, and the writing standards advocate for more
argumentative writing than narrative (particularly at the upper grade-levels).
This, coupled with the current trend of using students’ test scores to evaluate
teachers’ effectiveness, has created an atmosphere in which some educators are
concerned about making curriculum choices they fear may not align with the
standards or may fail to prepare their students for testing. Quite frankly, it
has many teachers questioning their own judgment when choosing materials for
their students; and for those who may not be comfortable or committed to
poetry,the lack of definitive support for
reading and writing poetry in the Common Core provides an easy route for
removing material they find personally problematic. The implementation of
poetry in the classroom is simply a matter of aligning student outcomes and
performance tasks to meet the current standards.
In Michael Benton’s The Importance of Poetry in Children’s
Learning, he asserts, “good poems are places where writers and readers
exercise both an intelligence of thinking and an intelligence of feeling” (6).
Moreover, poetry is a prime source of stories that leaves readers spellbound,
allows them to reexamine the familiar through a fresh perspective, records and
transmits culture, and assists in the mastery of language (Benton, 4-5). If one
requires further justification for the inclusion of poetry in the classroom,
there are wonderful organizations dedicated to reading, writing, and performing
poetry that have worked with aligning poetry to the Common Core. Poetry Out
Loud, the Poetry Foundation, and Poets.org offer teachers resources for
aligning poetry to the standards, so do a great number of state education
boards and universities from around the country. The information is readily
available and free for the taking.
While others may
continue to debate whether or not we can take the time to teach poetry to our
students and just how this unique genre of writing fits in with the standards,
it is a non-issue in my eyes. There is no question that I will continue to
teach poetry with all the passion and excitement I bring to the table every
year and using what I affectionately refer to as the “Billy Collins Approach,”
asking “them to take a poem / and hold it up to the light / like a color slide”
and refusing to “tie the poem to a chair with rope / and torture a confession
out of it.” I could continue on for pages and pages explaining the benefits of
poetry to our students and reasoning out how working with poetry can align with
each anchor standard present in the Common Core, but there are plenty of others
out there who have done just that. Instead, I would like to share my own
experiences gained while working with poetry and students.
Each time I teach a
poetry unit, regardless of whether I am working with freshmen or seniors or the
classes in between, we create a capstone project at the end of the unit – an
audio/visual poetry interpretation. The project evolves each time I use it, and
I am sure it will continue to grow and change as I move forward with my
students. I ask my students to choose a poem that speaks to them on a personal
level and create a five to ten minute presentation using images and music to explain
their personal connection with the verse. Students used either PowerPoint or
Prezzi to create their presentations in the beginning but are now also using
programs such as Movie Maker or iMovie. The only parameters I enforce are
images and lyrics must be school-appropriate, other than that, anything goes. I
encourage my students to consider what makes the poem important to them, how do
they relate to the imagery, the tone, the message of the poem. I push them to
move beyond the simple task of telling me about the poem to embrace the
complexity of telling me about their relationship with the poem and sharing it
with both their peers and me.
Every time I do this
project, I watch my kids attack the challenge full force, and I am consistently
impressed with the results of their efforts. Through this project, I have seen
some truly extraordinary work. P.J. fashioned an insightful commentary on the
human destruction of natural resources using e.e. cummings’ “Humanity I Love
You.” R.S. and M.T. utilized Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool” as a springboard
for discussing the effects of gang activity on their neighborhood. A.N.
fostered a conversation about public versus private personae employing Emily
Bronte’s “She Dried Her Tears.” T.W. explored gay rights and the lives of LGBTQ
teens with her interpretation of Lyla Cicero’s “Love is for Everyone,” complete
with interactive activities aimed at increasing the knowledge and understanding
of her peers on these issues. Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” is a classroom
favorite, inspiring projects addressing topics such as feminine stereotypes,
bullying, and our cultural obsession with plastic surgery and perfection.
Finally, another seminal student choice, Mary Elizabeth Frye’s moving epitaph “Do
Not Stand At My Grave And Weep” has inspired students to design poignant
tributes and memorials to loved ones lost. A.B. chose to write and compose an
original song to honor the memory of a friend lost to drug abuse. B.W. and K.C.
celebrated the lives of their fathers and mourned their passing. N.G. paid
tribute to a friend lost only months prior to ourproject
in a car accident; her emotions, still open and raw, were readily apparent in
her work. The passion, the intelligence, the bravery exhibited by my students
in completing these projects is why I love poetry and why I will continue to
teach it.
As I stated in the
beginning, poetry is not about making it to the end with all the correct
answers but rather how we navigate and what we discover along the way. It would
be a travesty to deny our students the possibilities afforded them through the
study of poetry. They will miss the chance to understand the nuance of language
and to explore figurative language at its very best (CCSS Language Anchor 5).
They will lose the option of using poetry to discover technical, connotative,
and figurative meanings of language, all within the same lines of verse and to
determine the effect of word choice on tone and meaning using the most concise application
of language possible (CCSS Reading Anchor 4). They will be denied an important
technique for creating well-structured narratives filled with carefully
considered details (CCSS Writing Anchor 3). Most importantly, they will miss
the opportunities poetry offers not only for cultural and personal association,
but also for emotional connection and catharsis. I will always teach poetry to
my students because they deserve the chance to experience it.
Resources to Help You Meet Common Core Using Poetry
Poetry Out Loud - A personal favorite of mine. Poetry Out Loud now offers CCSS alignment complete with a downloadable Teacher's Guide, links to Teacher Resources and Preparation, Lesson Plans and Class Scheduling, and Accessibility. If you haven't checked out this program, I highly recommend you do so - IMMEDIATELY. If you have any doubt, take a look at these students competing in the Poetry Out Loud recitation competition:
Teaching Channel is a great source of inspiration and ideas. The video I chose to link to not only meets CCSS, but also showcases a very innovative way to approach poetry in an unusual pre-reading exercise.
Poets.org presents educators with an interesting plan submitted by Madeline Fuchs-Holzer for grades 9-12 that approaches the study of poetry through its use in film. Crossing media boundaries, these lesson plans address reading, writing, and listening and speaking CCSS. The site also has a plethora of Common Core aligned poetry lessons and workshops that are both engaging and original.
Feeling overwhelmed or uncomfortable with the prospect of teaching poetry? Ben Curran at Education Week offers a great article about aligning poetry to the Common Core that is easy to follow and understand for educators who may be hesitant about how poetry fits into the world of CCSS.
In much the same vein, EDSITEment! uses poetry exemplars, CCSS, lesson plans, and multimedia resources to provide educators with both the means and the way to meet Common Core Standards through poetry with ideas for all grade levels K-12.
Looking for exemplars that meet the requirements for Common Core? The Poetry Foundation has assembled all the exemplars from the CCSS for ELA: Appendix B for all grade levels K-12 in one place.
Finally, while I am not a huge fan of text books, this offering from Heinneman is pretty useful (and best of all, FREE). Written for teachers in the middle grades, it is a fine resource for breaking down the CCSS and seeing exactly how each one fits into the study of poetry. It also uses a decent selection of poetry to show the literary devices featured in each one, touches on poetry annotation, and provides activities for pre-, during, and post-reading that could easily be applied to any poem at any grade level.
I love writing new unit
plans! Researching for hours. Pulling together resources from far and wide.
Figuring out ways to challenge and engage my students in new and interesting
ways. Thinking "outside the box," I regularly pull history, sociology, psychology, technology, current events, pop culture, art, and music into my literature lessons.
As an educator and a
lover of literature, I want my students to engage with the text. I want them to
not just read the words on the page, but think about them as well. I want them
to not just know what happened in the story, but also to consider why it
happened. What motivated the author to craft the story? What are the characters' motivations? Why is the conflict occurring?
What if the character/setting/actions were different? What would happen then? How can we relate our own story to the one we are reading?
When our students write, we are constantly telling them to show us, not tell us. I think when we teach literature we should take our own advice. I believe too many English teachers spend too much time telling students about literature, explaining the symbols and themes and motifs, and molding the way students think about the stories they are reading by imposing too many of the teacher's own beliefs about and interpretations of the text. We should be figuring out ways to engage our students in the texts, to allow them to experience the stories themselves rather than vicariously through our own knowledge and experience.
The wonderful thing about literature is a story you read at 13 is probably not going to have the same meaning to you if you read it again in your 20s, and it most definitely is not going to be the same if you read it in your 30s. Our students deserve the opportunity to experience literature in a way that allows for interpretations coloured by their own backgrounds, beliefs, and life experiences.
The Choice is Made
As I browsed through the approved list of novels for my courses' teacher-choice units, I was ecstatic to see Golding's Lord of the Flies. Now, this book was part of the classes' summer reading lists; however, after quick survey of my students, only about half of them had even attempted to read it. Approximately one quarter actually made it to the end (or almost to the end), and only a handful of those students liked the story. Most of those who read it were quite vocal about their dislike (or more often hatred) of the story.
When I pushed them for reasons why they didn't like it, the majority said the story didn't make any sense to them. People wouldn't really behave that way. And as one of my most outspoken students so succinctly put it - "it's just a bunch of boys runnin' around half naked and killing each other for no reason."
After about 10 minutes of discussion, I decided to accept the challenge!
With the accompaniment of many moans and groans, I announced that we would in fact be taking on Lord of the Flies for our next unit beginning the following week with the promise that I would show them the story was far more than a bunch of half-naked boys killing each other in the jungle for no reason.
Now What?
Obviously, we did vocabulary and comprehension exercises combined with questions involving inference and interpretation because my students have to understand the story being told. We did discuss characters and symbols. (You can find a comprehensive study guide with vocabulary and reflections here.) But I wanted to give my kids more. I wanted them to have an experience with this book. We concentrated on the themes - how they apply to us and then how we can apply them to the boys in the story.
The Beginning
I like to begin at the beginning, so we started with Golding himself. After giving my students a brief biography of Golding's role in world War II, we discussed the war. (As a happy accident, my classes were studying WWII at the same time.) We talked as a group about the events of the war and the changes in the 'war machine' that took place during this time and how these evolutions (or devolutions, if you'd rather) changed people's perceptions about man's inhumanity to man and what behavior could be justified by war. Moving on, we discussed right and wrong, good and evil, and the capacity of an individual to cross these lines. While my students did a good job identifying events and changes that took place during the war and seemed to have a handle on why these things changed public opinion, most of them were still very 'black and white' in their views regarding the broad concepts of right or wrong - good or evil. This is just what I was expecting and what I had planned for, but more on that later.
Switching gears from broad themes back to the story itself, I posited the question, "What is the main goal for these boys?" A resounding, "Survive," issued forth from my students, and a conversation about surviving in the wilderness ensued. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised how many 15-16-year-olds watch Survivorman and know who Bear Grylls is. All in all, the majority of my kids felt pretty confident that they knew enough to survive. "It's not that big a deal," one boy answered, "it's all about common sense." OK! Let's put this to the test. Bring on the "Would You Survive?" Quiz!
(Regrettably, I can no longer find the link to the original quiz, so you can find it and the answer key with explanations here on my blog. If this is yours, please let me know and I will link the resource to you and remove it from my resources page.)
Lesson learned? Survival is not quite as easy as they thought it would be.
So, what's up next? If you are in a survival situation, how much would that change your beliefs or behavior? Would it be possible to justify decisions you probably wouldn't make in your everyday life? Here is the "Who Should Survive?" group activity to help you answer these very questions.
Splitting my students into 5 or 6 groups per class, they worked together through this activity. (Some of my more "delicate flowers" found this exercise mildly distressing, just so you are aware.) As the groups defended their choices about who to keep and who to leave behind, we also kept track of which characters were chosen and which were sacrificed on the board (overall there was a definite pattern which we also discussed).
Lesson learned? In a survival situation most of us are looking for people who we believe will benefit us the most. Although, some groups did exhibit a strong protective instinct for those smaller and weaker than themselves. Interesting.
Finally, we explored the difference between right and wrong beginning with a discussion and brainstorming session to figure out what behaviors we believe are fundamentally wrong either because of society or our own beliefs and phrased simply as 'do not.' Examples included: do not steal, do not kill people, do not lie, etc. I questioned my students extensively about the 'black and white' nature of these statements. All of them agreed that these are the rules we are supposed to live by, and the majority of them could not find exceptions that would persuade them these behaviors were not wrong. (Hahaha, my plan is coming together!)
Using an extended version of The Heinz Dilemma, we worked through the scenarios with the kids reading and responding to each vignette individually first, then discussing it as a group. As we systematically decided what was right or wrong (by majority vote), I marked through the list we had made on the board. In the end, the entire 'do not' list was toast.
Lesson learned? There is lots and lots of gray area between what is right and wrong. Sometimes what we can justify as appropriate behavior or response is completely dependent on the situation. Occasionally, we need to walk in someone else's shoes to understand their actions.
In the End
After completing these activities along the way, we finished up our novel by taking a deeper look at the three remaining main characters: Ralph, Jack, and Roger. First, as a group, we determined exactly what actions each boy had been responsible for on the island. Then, we discussed what crimes the boys could have been charged had they behaved this way in the real world.
The final writing assignment was this - choose a character, choose the charges you believe should be held against them, mount a defense for their actions (taking into account their decisions and actions were made in a survival situation; they did not believe they would be rescued; the oldest was only 12 years old; etc.), decide on an appropriate punishment (if any) and give reasons justifying your decision.
By the conclusion of this unit, my students not only understood that this story was more than they first believed, but I feel they also grew more socially and emotionally aware of themselves and one another as well as achieving academic success. Goals achieved!
**As a side-note, I am searching for an activity that I can use with Lord of the Flies that concretely demonstrates 'mob mentality' for the scene in the story where Simon is killed by the boys. If anyone has any ideas about this, I would be most grateful if you would share!
Traditional book reports should be a thing of the past. I mean, do you really want to read 30-125 recaps of the same book? (YAWN!) Well, guess what, your students don't want to write them either. They are boring and tedious. And most importantly, they really don't measure the comprehension of a text or confirm that they have even read the text assigned. All these reports prove is that your students are capable of using SparkNotes or Wikipedia with a certain amount of expertise.
Don't just have your students report on what they are reading. Encourage them to interact with it instead.
Technology-Enhanced Book Interactions
With all the free technology available today, why not give students some interesting choices to use in their textual interpretation?
1. Create a book trailer - Just like a movie trailer, a book trailer tells the story in a way that touches on the highlights, but sells the audience on wanting to experience it. There are a number of great resources students can use, including Animoto for Education, PhotoPeach, and Go!Animate. Richard Byrne over at Free Technology for Teachers offer a Free Guide to Making Videos on the Web, in case you need some assistance. And if your looking for a professional example, here is the book trailer for Ransom Riggs' Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.
2. Create a podcast - This could take the form of a book review or a scripted interview with either the author of the book or one of the reader's favorite characters. Students could choose to use audio only or take it a step further through the use of video, props, and costumes. PodBean offers free podcast hosting. Free blogging sites like Blogger and WordPress also support podcasting. Additionally, I know a number of educators who use class YouTube channels to support videos created in their classrooms (of course, this would depend upon your school's specific regulations regarding YouTube.)
3. Create an interactive 3-D pop-up book - ZooBurst is a digital storytelling tool that lets anyone easily create his or her own 3D pop-up books. ZooBurst books “live” online and can be experienced on your desktop or laptop computer, or on your iPad via the free ZooBurst mobile app. Authors can arrange characters and props within a 3D world that can be customized using uploaded artwork or items found in a built-in database of over 10,000 free images and materials. This is a very cool FREE program!
4. Create a multi-media collage - Glogster is a FREE service that allows users to create one-page media-mash-ups using images, audio, video, text, and more. Glogster EDU is the same platform designed specifically for use in the classroom with stricter privacy measures in place - of course, that also makes it a pay site (Single Teacher License: up to 50 accounts for $29.95/year, up to 200 accounts for $99/year or $11.95/month. Multi-license for individual schools or entire districts: up to 2500 accounts for $2/account/year, from 2500 accounts for $1/account/year). View an example for Tolkien's The Hobbithere or one detailing the Freedom Riders, here.
5. Create an interactive timeline - Capzles is a FREE resource to create interactive timelines using images, video, audio, and text. Just to give you some ideas, view an example covering the historical timeline for To Kill A Mockingbird here or one detailing the Women of WWII, here. I think this tool could be used to make a very interesting small group or whole class project.
6. Create an animated or stop-motion video - Stop Motion Animator and Helium Frog are both FREE resources for creating stop-motion projects. Kevin Hodgson has an absolutely fantastic site, Making Stopmotion Movies, that will walk you through the entire process!
7. Create literature maps - Google Lit Tripsfounded by Jerome Burg and Terence Cavenaugh utilizes Google Earth to more
deeply explore some of the greatest and most important literary road trips ever
written. Lit trips explored in the 9-12 level include:
the expedition taken by Christopher Johnson McCandless in Jon
Krakaurer's Into the Wild; the Joad family's emotional relocation in
Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath; and Elie Wiesel's horrific journey
through the Nazi concentration camps of WWII brought to light in his
book Night. Using the site requires the Google Earth application,
QuickTime player, an internet browser (Firefox, Safari, or at least Internet
Explorer 7), and internet access. SMART board technology or an LCD projector are
recommended. Additionally, the site features many student-generated lit trips
and tutorials on using Google Earth to create virtual tours which could be
adapted to class or group projects at any grade level.
8. Create a comic strip - Students can either choose to re-create a specific scene from the text or do a synopsis of the story as a whole. In either case, students should include important lines, quotes, and thoughts from the text. ReadWriteThink offers a cool interactive tool in their Comic Creator. Additionally, Pixton and Strip Generator use a basic drag-and-drop interface that is easy to use and requires no artistic ability whatsoever. (*This activity can also be done sans technology. See #10 below.)
Creative and Critical Thinking Book Interactions (No Tech Necessary)
What if your students just don't have enough access to technology to make assignments like these feasible? (It does happen in some communities, even in this day and age.) Well, there are still a multitude of ideas out there for helping your kids stretch their creative muscles and engage their critical thinking skills that involve no technology at all. (Of course, any of these ideas could also be combined with the tech-enhanced interactions above.)
1. What if? - Have students identify a turning point in the book's plot, then switch it up. What would have happened if the series of events didn't happen that way? What if Romeo had received the letter? What if Simon had not been killed before he could deliver his message about The Beast? ReadWriteThink offers an excellent lesson plan, Happily Ever After?, that is designed to be used with tragedies and offers both resources and student presentation ideas.
2. Create a character - A great exercise in creativity, characterization, setting, and voice. Students create a character that would fit into the world of their novel. They write up a character sketch and then construct a scene in which their new character interacts with one or more of the main characters of the story. The character and the interaction must remain true to the setting and voice of the original author. (I used this exercise with great success with a freshmen lit class working on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.)
3. Change the setting - Have students take a favorite scene or chapter from the text and re-write it in a different setting. How would Macbeth look and sound in a modern, urban setting? What about Great Expectations in the American Old West?
4. Create a new book cover or "movie" poster - Go 'old school' with the images, having students either draw them or use images from magazines, newspapers, etc. Students also choose important quotes, create taglines, and provide a brief synopsis to "sell" the story to the potential audience.
5. Write a character resume - Students choose a character, consider what type of job the character would be seeking, and write a resume for that job. This exercise gives students the opportunity to think about the text in a different way and also exposes them to an authentic life skill (resume writing). It also allows students the flexibility of creativity. Resumes may be funny or serious as long as it reflects the true nature of the character. Some examples could be: Count Dracula applying for a position as a phlebotomist or Doctor Frankenstein searching for a job as a Principal Investigator in the field of biomedical research.
6. Create a word collage (AKA an 'old school' word cloud) - Have students write the title of the book in the center of a sheet of paper, then search through magazines and newspapers to find words, phrases, and sentences that either represent the book or explain something about the book. Students should concentrate on theme, setting, plot, and characters during this exercise. Requirements: a minimum of 50 words, phrases, and sentences, paper should be fully covered and provide the viewer with a strong visual impact that reveals a great deal about the story.
7. Create a novel soundtrack - Students will choose a minimum of 10 songs that represent the characters, setting, themes, motifs, plotline, etc. of the novel being studied. Liner notes should be completed for each song detailing the song information (title, artist, album, year of release, etc.), who or what the song represents, an explanation of why the song was chosen and how it is representative of an element of the story. (*This exercise could also be modified to creating a soundtrack for the students' choice of a single character in the narrative.)
8. Create a childhood - If you are studying a text with adult characters, have students choose a character and think about what they would have been like as a child. Students will tell the story of the character's childhood concentrating on aspects or interactions that could explain why the character's words and actions in the novel are what they are.
9. Create a character scrapbook - Students will consider the purpose of scrapbooking and what kinds of mementos they would place in their own scrapbooks. After choosing a character from the text, students will use magazines, newspapers, and their own imaginations to cut out and/or draw mementos that would be important to the character.
10. Create a comic strip - For the artistic students in your group, have them choose to re-create a scene in the book or a synopsis of the story as a whole using the popular graphic novel-style and using text bubbles to insert important lines, quotes, and thoughts from the text. ( *For a tech-enhanced version, see above.)
11. Be a costume designer/set designer - Have students consider what it would be like to stage a production of the story. Using magazines, newspapers, advertisements, etc., students create fashion boards to represent how they would dress the main characters and/or set boards to detail how they would set the stage including backdrops, lighting, props, etc. Write-ups should include why these visual choices were made and how they relate to the text using concrete examples.
12. Create a character diary - Students choose a character from the book and compose a diary or journal with a set number of entries discussing important events in the story from the character's point of view.
So, there you have it. Twenty ideas for moving beyond the standard 'ho-hum' book assignments and engaging your students' creative and critical minds in book interactions. Allow your students the chance to stretch their mental muscles. The results will most definitely be surprising, and quite often wonderful!
"We know an age more vividly through its music than
through its historians."
~ Rosanne Ambrose-Brown
I have never met anyone
whose life has not been influenced by music in some way. Music sets the stage
for our lives; it has the ability to trigger memories and manipulate moods. Music
can stimulate our creativity and increase the connections in our neural network.
Those of us who grew up with School House Rock can attest to the power of music
to infiltrate the memory whether you want it to or not. I dare you not to
finish this: “Conjunction Junction . . .” How about this one: “I’m just a Bill.
. .”
If for some reason you have never heard of School House Rock or if you
just want to take a trip down memory lane, here is a video for your viewing
pleasure.
The truth is, using music in the classroom can impact student learning in a number of ways. Music can be used to:
create a positive learning environment
establish the necessary mood or atmosphere
re-energize tedious learning activities (like review, vocabulary, and drills)
focus attention and improve memory retention
facilitate multi-sensory learning and address multiple intelligences
provide inspiration, motivation, and creative fuel for imagination
build rapport between students and teachers and among the students themselves
When a child learns by experience that music forges direct links between self and world, self-expression becomes more fluent; the music helps interpret "who I am." - Growing up Complete, the report of the National Commision on Music Education, 1990
Five Resources for Music Integration
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - currently houses 52 lesson plans using rock and roll to teach History, English Language and Literature, Economics,Social Science, Psychology, and Government.
Science in School - "Using music in the science classroom" by Caroline Molyneux - extremely interesting article from science teacher Caroline Molyneux outlining her strategy of using music in her classroom to begin class and to facilitate memory retention in her students.
Flocabulary - Educational Hip-Hop - subscription resource with videos covering English (both literature and vocabulary), math, science, social studies, and current events. Individual teacher rate is $5-7/month (depending on whether or not you want the current event videos each week) or $63/year (get 3 months free). They also offer free videos on their site and on YouTube as well, including this one for Macbeth that I used with my sophomores.
5. EdApps.ca - "14 Ways to Use GarageBand in the Classroom" - Uses include ways to increase technology in music classes, as well as physical education and across the humanities.
