Wow! Armegeddon Summer and Scorpions book club members, you all sure did drive home the point that learning can be shown in such diverse ways. Good job!
Thank you all for sharing information from the sessions you attended at the Literacy Conference.
Special thanks to Erin for sharing important information on working with students in poverty.
Tell us about one of the strategies you've tried or something you've read that's really made you think about the way you teach.
11 comments:
Scorpion was our book and it was a
different lifestyle than I can relate to. I had some of the student in my Strategies for Success class critique my RAP that
I performed. Collabrated with the others to make the final product. The study group were members of our gang and we tried to help them to feel the pain of gangs and peer pressure trying to belong.
I enjoyed hearing about Armageddon Summer and I am more motivated to pick it up and maybe read it.
The best thing about this blog is I BEAT Jenny HAHAHA! DIVA out!!!
I agree with Jonelle! I keep finding new ways of presenting materials...it's exciting. When I find a new strategy that works, or manipulate an old strategy and it works...I feel like, "Hey, I've done my job today."
Again, I want to put in a plug for Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer. I think it's a wonderful cross-curriuclar text. My students are really enjoying the book. I've even had students from last semester come into my classroom, pick up the book, and ask me why they didn't get to read it..."It seems better than some of the stuff we read." Oh well, live and learn.
I have really enjoyed hearing about the different childrens books and young adult novels that were purchased at the literacy conference. It is amazing how a simple and quick read, can spark so much thought in our students.
I like Jenny's reference to "sometimes having to let some things slide." This is so true, but something that I think is so difficult for educators to "allow" themselves to do. Often, though less is more. It allows to go into more depth with what is important.
I am so impressed with what Erin shared about Ruby Payne. Now I want to go to a conference or get more information on her. This truly goes to the essence of what I believe as a teacher.
Vick also hit on something very true in her blog. The longer we teach, the more "tricks" there are in our "bag of tricks," and some of the reading strategies mentioned in chapter five are already being used, perhaps with a different title. I used an anticipation guide in my third block (albeit under a different heading), and a very lively discussion ensued. I'll try to remember to bring it to the next class, because it was something that worked very well and could be adapted for other works that some of the English/ History teachers could use. I am really gaining a great deal from the sharing of ideas.
In this chapter, I don’t think much of it applies to English literature teachers because our texts are really anthologies—collections of poems, short stories, etc. So, our situation is different because we’re primarily dealing with literature—usually fiction—not dates, events, symbols, processes, equations, etc. For my English I classes, the little bit of “factual” information in a literature textbook (for example, a section describing plot structure) is generally no more than two pages, perhaps as short as one paragraph. Still, I think we would do well to teach our students how to use the textbook as a resource, as the science teacher did who created his own “textbook” (page 158). Why ask me what theme is (usually for the hundredth time) when it is in the glossary at the back of the book? I would like especially to teach students how to use the grammar/writing book as a resource. Even in my AP class, some students have a hard time identifying an example that fits their individual situations and modeling their writing on this (even on a simplistic basis such as creating a bibliographical reference, which is plugging in the author, title, publication date, etc., in the right place and putting the periods, commas, etc., in the right place).
One problem I have even with our literature textbooks is the amount of “junk” text—vocabulary word boxes, “extension” activities, “How-to” sections, etc. In a literature textbook, the literature is lost among all this. What’s more, since students learn better by doing and talking through processes, I would rather create my own how-to’s with students, have the margins free for their notes, and go seamlessly from text to text without the “junk text” we have to read around. I think that’s why some of us in the English department keep the old textbooks—because the pure literature is more accessible and not lost in publisher fluff.
I did like the Guide-O-Rama idea for reading, and I think this would be excellent for a canonical text such as Great Expectations, Of Mice and Men, etc. It’s no secret that these texts are not the most popular among students, although the more difficult language does validate to a degree their unwillingness. But, I believe the Guide-O-Rama can be an invitation to read and to “travel” through this book together with the teacher. It can help negotiate the most difficult passages, keep the bigger picture/plot in focus, and comfort students in having someone to “read along.”
Reading Reflection: chapter 6
Right now I'm struggling to teach Physical Science to 2 students who cannot attend the class. UHG. My least favorite subject in high school. Anyway, I found some of the activities in this chapter useful since the science text contains so much information.
We completed part of the Textbook Feature Analysis. This gave us a framework to understand the set-up of each chapter. This activity has made it easier and faster to locate information.
Also, liked Guide-O-Rama. It really is like having a conversation while reading through the material, and the students enjoy it. The discussion while reading should increase comprehension. I'll know for sure when they complete their chapter test.
I tried Think, Pair, Share with a magazine activity I learned about this summer. Initially the students were given a magazine and they were to look at the cover, advertisements, and articles, and determine the "target market". From there, the students paired with another student with the same magazine and shared their thoughts. Finally, the students shared with the entire class. I will definitely do this activity again, however, I will incorporate a worksheet to guide the students through the process.
Reading Reflection: Ch.5 and 6
This chapter discussed many great activities that I have used before. The before, during and after stages are helpful. Recently, I used the "Say Something" activity with a French III class. They were very hesitant to speak, which was the point of the reading. So, Paula suggested doing the "Word Sort" activity. It sounds like it will require them to be more involved in the reading process. In use of it, I will give them key words in the text. They will use it to construct meaning before reading the text. The chapter mentioned the RAFT activity. This one sounds neat...I plan to use it soon.
We used clustering in my Global Studiess II clas on civil rights for Black History Month. The subject we used was Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott. At first I had students write Rosa Parks in the middle of their paper and circle it. This was done individually to begin with. They then drew adjacent circles and wrote down what they knew about the subject. Then I had them go to small groups, then the entire class. We then listed all ideas on the board. After this, we watched a video on the subject. I had the students take notes, and we added to the cluster after the video. Students were then asked to write a 1-2 page summary on Rosa Parks and the boycott using the cluster that the class created. Very good activity.
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