Fun alliteration technique:
“A cup of copper coffee in a copper coffee cup.”
Have the class repeat the phrase after you (don’t write it down anywhere they can see it) and then let them practice for a moment. Ask if anyone has mastered it and can they say it to the rest of the class.
Explain that it is an alliteration method and point out how it develops a natural rhythm (which is a really useful literary technique).
To introduce the language of Romeo and Juliet, I first needed to give the students an understanding of the writing style and some new terminology as well. So we talked about similes and metaphors, personification, alliteration, onomatopeaia, rhyme scheme, iambic pentameter and also pointed out the differences between prose and poetry. We discussed how poetry is rythmic in nature versus prose which may be but doesn’t need to be. We also discussed the idea that poetry is more emotional and prose more logical–several students had opposing viewpoints on this which lead to a short, interesting discussion.
There are really only two major things I wanted to point out about this lesson:
(1) We opened the lesson with a class discussion on why we study poetry. Students pointed out several different reasons and we explored them all. I kept pushing them to complete their thoughts though. For example, one girl mentioned that we study it and it’s important because it shows the inner emotion. I asked her, “So? Why should I study about your inner emotions? Why does it matter to me what you feel?” It ended up being a really dynamic discussion and we came to the conclusion that poetry helps make us feel connected to other people, like we’re not alone in the world.
(2) In the opening we also discussed why we don’t like to study poetry (after all of the students admitted to liking to read, write or listen to poetry) and what we could do to make it more interesting. They mentioned the language being hard to digest and they can’t really relate to it so to make it more interesting they mentioned drawing (instead of writing) interpretations, reading contemporary poetry or poetry written by their peers and acting it out.
Great discussion and I found it really interesting that they pointed out all the things we discuss in graduate classes on teaching poetry…the students even mentioned not using the word “study” because that immediately makes them not want to do it…
I have decided to update this blog to reflect on my teaching experiences so far. A huge amount of me wishes that I kept a running journal of my experiences last semester in the middle school but not much I can do about that now! I am currently student teaching in high school, 9th grade honors to be specific, and am so far thoroughly enjoying the experience. I enjoy being able to have conversations about meaning and life issues with these students and their writing impresses me more than I ever thought it would. They did a name piece as their very first writing assignment and some of them brought me tears!
That being said, grading the writing was much more difficult. I worked on a check system (plus was excellent, check plus was good, check was average, check minus was needs work and minus was see me to work on it) which worked pretty well because I hated labelling them with grades. I did my best to use positive reinforcement as a teaching tool versus pointing out what they did incorrectly and I think it went really well, I even wrote ‘share?’ on some papers that were especially good (in my opinion) hoping that would encourage them to do so.
The discussion following the sharing was more than I ever hoped it would be. I started out by asking if anyone would like to share and once they had read their piece, I asked the other students to point out things they liked about the writing. I hoped this tactic would encourage others to share once they realized we weren’t making fun of it but what I got was so much more. These students were actively engaged in critiquing each others’ work in the same way we critique famous authors/poets. They were pointing out the use of symbolism, the narrative elements, certain lines and phrases that held meaning and discussing if and how they relate to the work. I used this opportunity to introduce vocabulary like imagery, metaphor, simile, narrative poetry, etc. I have never (in my limited experience) seen students enjoy studying poetry and prose so much!
Talking about each others’ work really got the other students willing to participate. We discussed the importance of names and what they represent. We explored how we would feel if we had to completely change our names for some reason and they really just enjoyed talking about the subject. I felt like I did a good job of passing the discussion from one student to the next without lecturing. They also asked me if I had written a name piece (which I didn’t) so I simply told them the story of my name. I think they liked that I shared with them.
The important thing for me to remember about that particular experience is that the students were perfectly capable of engaging in higher level thinking and indepth class discussion without me needing to set it up for them, so to speak. in other words, they were studying and analyzing literature as if it were second nature. Obviously, these students are capable of analysis and interpretation, so encouraging them to use these skills as much as possible can really help them develop cognitively. I’ll have to use this in the future.
Hey all,
Julie and I came up with this wiki together, we hope you enjoy it!
In Dr. Crovitz’ class, we were asked to take a look at the Georgia Performance Standards website and look for information other than just what the standards are. I came across a tool called Thinkfinity, which provides a variety of teaching tools and resources allowing teachers to incorpoarte media into the classroom in a safe way. Thinkfinity also serves as a collaborative site for teachers in which they can exchange lesson plans, discuss possible teaching methods, research and activities that can be used in the classroom.
Essentially, Thinkfinity intends to help create a better educational environment as a whole, rather than simply focusing on the GPS and how to reach them. From what I understand, Thinkfinity is far more concerned with turning teaching into a collaborative effort than with helping an individual teacher save his/her job by having the students pass the GPS. When the focus moves away from simply getting the grade, the real learning can begin.
So I’ve been reading this online book called Literacy for the 21st Century, which you can find here, that I found particularly interesting. In outlining why and how teachers can include media in the classroom, the book touched upon a question I’ve often found myself wrestling with, which is how to allow students to use media sources while making sure the sources are accurate.
In outlining the 5 questions that students should ask themselves, I found my answer. As mentioned in previous blogs, I have only just recently fully come to terms with the idea that every source comes from an author with a single purpose. Obviously, that’s something I’ve noticed before, but which I’ve never really considered in depth. I always just assumed that the author of the book or work was an expert and could be trusted. The 5 questions forces students using media to ask themselves who the author is, what his/her intent is, what kind of visual/auditory methods is he/she implementing to convey a certain emotion or point, how can the work be interpreted differently depending on the factors the reader/viewer brings to the table and what are the “imbedded values” incorporated within the media. I think that these are all questions we should ask ourselves, no matter where we are getting the information from.
In this way, I actually think that allowing students to not only use, but understand, media will generate a new group of people who are much more conscious of the information they are receiving. When was the last time you asked yourself about the advertisments we see on TV everyday and how they are affecting your life? We ignore questions like these all the time and maybe it doesn’t matter so much when it’s a commercial for Wendy’s, but it starts to matter a lot more when it’s research for a paper or an article on how to teach.
Likewise, the book points out that media can actually encourage students to put more thought into what they are producing by asking the similar questions in reverse thus developing a greater sense of awareness in the students.
Will Richardson makes an excellent point in saying that wikis can serve as a valuable learning tool for students. Personally, I never knew what “wiki” meant or what constituted a “wiki” until I read about it in his book. That is the first way in which Richardson helped me this time around. I am, as are most people, I think very familiar with Wikipedia and have used it for a variety of purposes: whether I’m just looking up some random fact that I’m curious about or looking for a starting point for a research paper, and I’ve never found the site to be inaccurate. Therefore, I think students should be encouraged to use the site, along with other wiki sites, in the same manner. Richardson points out that people frequently mistrust wikis because they can be edited by anyone, but I want to ask, how is it better to trust a site that can only be edited by a select few? In any case, a group of people are deciding what is true and what is not. A group of people is limiting or expanding upon the information. I think the fact the whole world acts as your editor on wikis can make the information not only more expansive but also more accurate as well.
I really like the idea of using a wiki in the classroom. I think it would be a fun way for students to collaborate and, together, become specialists in a certain area. You can have them working together, editing each other, checking each others facts in a much more accessable way. We already have students doing this in a classroom, why not have them do this via the Internet? Wikis go where blogs cannot go. Both are about sharing information and collaboration, but wikis would allow students to collaborate in a much more intimate way. Blogs can be used to put personal opinion out there, but wikis can be used to actively engage in a communal sharing of information where the students would be able to go to one place to collaborate and expand the communal knowledge.
I think this is really cool, so that’s really the reason I wanted to post it up here. But I also think that this can be an awesome teaching tool for the classroom. What ideas do you think about the video? In what way do you think this might be used in the classroom?
Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web tools for Classrooms
As I read through the book, I feel like using blogs in the classroom was slowly becoming a more vible option for me. I’m not really computer savvy, so I like how Will Richardson really outlined various uses for blogs in the classroom in Chapter 2 and especially found his “manual” for how to use Blogger in Chapter 3 useful. I think that blogging can offer students a lot in the sense of allowing them to enter academic discussions in such a manner that has previously been denied to them. Richardson mentioned that blogging never really ends, since the blogger adds to his/her blog as people leave comments and pose further questions. Obviously, the classroom should also encourage students to push their thinking, but classes only last so long. Blogs can be accessed at any time, allowing students to add to them and reflect on his/her ideas publicly as the thoughts come to them.
Negative comments from outside sources can pose potential problems for students; however, as Richardson mentions, counter-acting this problem is merely a matter of educating students about the Web and presenting them with the necessary tools to deal with these negative situations. All students are, at some point, going to come into contact with the World Wide Web and, as teachers, isn’t it a part of our job to prepare our students for society? Arguing that blogging may be detrimental to the student due to potential inappropriate comments is ultimtely futile and preventing students from having access to blogs in the classroom is not going to remove the problem, but simply delay it.
I’m still a new blogger, not having any experience outside of posting journal-like entries on Facebook.com and MySpace.com but I thoroughly look forward to becoming a member of the ever-expanding blog-o-sphere.
Actually, all I can think about right now is the show How I Met Your Mother, which is a must-watch. I’m thinking about Barney and his blog. It’s “legen-wait for it-dary.” Again, you must watch this show. Yeah, other than that, I really have nothing else to say at the moment. Nothing useful anyways. Obviously I could ramble on forever, but I think I’ll save everyone the trouble of reading too many empty words. Lesson of the day: How I Met Your Mother can be applied to many facets of life.
jpeel1