What do you think about this?
How does it change how we think about telling stories, writing/composing, and studying literature? Will the novel be rejuvenated by making it more interactive? Can this open a new audience to the classics? Is this the next step after the graphic novel?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Sophomore Romanticism Presentations 2009
Eric, Elizabeth, Rachel:
Maya, Jess, Ty, Josh:
Austen, Sofie, Tony, Lindsay:
Prescott, Paige, Cory, Nathan:
Margeaux, Kahlil, Megan:
Colleen, Emily, Tyler, Maddie
Mrs. Clark Evans's sample presentation:
Lord Byron
View more presentations from JClarkEvans.
Maya, Jess, Ty, Josh:
Lord Byron
View more presentations from guest4716c.
Austen, Sofie, Tony, Lindsay:
Prescott, Paige, Cory, Nathan:
John Keats Powerpoint
View more presentations from guest4716c.
Margeaux, Kahlil, Megan:
Colleen, Emily, Tyler, Maddie
Mrs. Clark Evans's sample presentation:
Wordsworth Power Point
View more presentations from JClarkEvans.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Spicing Up Lessons with Video
My sophomores are finalizing presentations on the British Romantic poets today. After reviewing the standard grading rubric that I will use tomorrow, I reviewed tips for making a powerful and effective PPT presentation by showing this video:
Find more videos like this on TeacherLibrarianNetwork
We particularly noted the reactions of the audience members, and I reiterated that should any of their audience members behave as the first example then they would definitely lose points on the rubric. I thought this was a much more effective way for me to make my point to them.
Find more videos like this on TeacherLibrarianNetwork
We particularly noted the reactions of the audience members, and I reiterated that should any of their audience members behave as the first example then they would definitely lose points on the rubric. I thought this was a much more effective way for me to make my point to them.
- How have you used video to enhance a traditional lesson?
- When have you been in the audience when video enhanced your learning or understanding of the main point?
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Engaging Me
I have really enjoyed reading and thinking about Will Richardson's recent blog post: Personalizing Education for Teachers Too. So far there are about 54 comments on his original post. Since I selected to follow any additional comments, I get a couple new ones in my email every day which have lead me to think about the issue from several different perspectives.
Blogging is such an interesting way to have a conversation. It's great for people like me who need the processing time between comments (I was never one who did well in the college history course in which my grade depended on how many times I spoke during the two hour class discussion). In following this conversation I have found my own thoughts developing from the multiple perspectives of the contributors who have commented, I have read online articles including "What Research Says About...The Continuum of Teacher Learning" from Educational Leadership, and I have contributed my two cents a couple of times.
Today I added:
Blogging is such an interesting way to have a conversation. It's great for people like me who need the processing time between comments (I was never one who did well in the college history course in which my grade depended on how many times I spoke during the two hour class discussion). In following this conversation I have found my own thoughts developing from the multiple perspectives of the contributors who have commented, I have read online articles including "What Research Says About...The Continuum of Teacher Learning" from Educational Leadership, and I have contributed my two cents a couple of times.
Today I added:
There seem to be two threads to this conversation 1) how to best engage students and 2) how to best engage teachers. And, the answer seems to be the same-with direct one-on-one interpersonal interactions and guidance. This is an area that I am always trying to improve in my own teaching practices. And this conversation only solidifies for me its importance. Although time is always an issue, building meaningful connections with other people doesn't have to take a long time. It's the little things you do to show interest in the person. When you show that kind of interest more times than not the student reciprocates with giving your subject a more open-minded approach.I don't often get so involved in a blogging conversation like this one, but I'm glad that I did. Ultimately, I want to be able to help my students create these kinds of conversations in their own blogs. Just haven't figured out how to fit that into my prescribed curriculum yet.
The same goes with helping colleagues open up to discovering the many opportunities that web 2.0 has to offer to the learning experience. Reaching out to them where they are, hearing their concerns, and giving them practical help where they need it will make their transition even smoother and hopefully "light the fire" within them which could spread to others. Is this too optimistic? I hope not. I can't see our institutions changing significantly any other way.
As far as taking time to learn the safe and efficient way to use tech, I'm not sure that's necessary or if that's even a luxury that we have at this point. The time to use tech in the classroom is now. The only thing you have to "learn" about using it well is to use it purposefully, not as a gadget or for entertainment value. How do you learn this? Seek out a mentor for yourself, in person or online. The resources for learning are all around you.
We know that students learn best when they are engaged. Engage them and they will be ready for the standardized tests. Engage them by using the resources available to you and to them to light their fire for learning.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Getting My Head Back in the Game
I like this list of things that teachers should strive to do these days. I'd like to use this list to focus some of my own efforts. I feel that I am pulled in too many directions lately: new teacher mentor, PLP cohort member, writing teacher, literature guide, builder of personal connections, encourager, grader, lit mag advisor, student advisor, service organization club advisor...and of course, mother, wife, friend. How to do it all? How to do it all well?
It's good to sit back, take a breathe and reflect on what is going well. Number 10 on the attached list is one that is most intriguing to me now. How can I encourage and grade creativity and collaboration in my 21st century classroom? The first seems so subjective and the second is sometimes hard to assess because a lot of the work can happen outside of the classroom and my observation. My sophomores are currently working on a project-filming a scene from Macbeth-which encourages both creativity and collaboration. I tried to set it up with an open discussion "what do you need from other group members to make a successful movie?" I want them to feel accountable to each other more than to achieving a particular grade. Also, I told them that we would show their movie to the entire Upper School in hopes of encouraging their creativity-driving them to create an interesting film for a real audience. I'm excited to see what they produce and share it with our school audience.
It's good to sit back, take a breathe and reflect on what is going well. Number 10 on the attached list is one that is most intriguing to me now. How can I encourage and grade creativity and collaboration in my 21st century classroom? The first seems so subjective and the second is sometimes hard to assess because a lot of the work can happen outside of the classroom and my observation. My sophomores are currently working on a project-filming a scene from Macbeth-which encourages both creativity and collaboration. I tried to set it up with an open discussion "what do you need from other group members to make a successful movie?" I want them to feel accountable to each other more than to achieving a particular grade. Also, I told them that we would show their movie to the entire Upper School in hopes of encouraging their creativity-driving them to create an interesting film for a real audience. I'm excited to see what they produce and share it with our school audience.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
"You mustn't take everything so literally."
This is a quote from A Farewell to Arms by Ernst Hemingway. My juniors are being a new unit on Modernism and WWI, so I am beginning a new push for blogging. Here are my new guidelines. The goal is to get them reflecting about the book and the writing style and connecting to their own lives/world. We have tackled a short story by Hemingway so far and identified his propensity to leave out important information thus the need to work hard as a close reader and the ambiguous ending. Using blogs and actively commenting on each others' blogs could be a great way to help each other uncover important themes and techniques, important not because I lecture and say it is but because they identify with some universal idea and find writing techniques that they can begin to employ in their own writings.
So, here is my first blog:
I am rereading this book WITHOUT a pencil in my hand, and it's killing me! I have already marked it up in three different colors, so what more could I need to mark. Well, I came across two quotes that struck me as meaningful, not only for this novel, but also for us as readers and "interpreters" (thanks Stephen Crane) of it.
The first quote is my title, "You mustn't take everything so literally" (21). This is spoken by Ferguson, friend of Catherine. On the one hand this is so true for reading fiction; writers want us to think beyond initial reactions and identify meaningful, figurative ideas that we can apply to our own lives. On the other hand, much of this book so far is SO literal: pebbles in a river bed, the sounds of a gun battery waking Henry up in the morning, the green of new spring. So, why all the literal, Hemingway? That's one question I hope we can answer in our class discussions.
My second quote is (not required, but short) "Anybody can crack" (20). Catherine says this to Henry on the first day that they meet. I think that it's safe to say that we can all relate to the truth of this statement and add "under pressure." Whether that pressure is grading papers in a timely fashion :), taking tests and writing those lovely papers, or participating in or witnessing war-not all equally weighty experiences-but all pressure situations, nonetheless. I agree with you, Catherine, though from this point you get a little kooky. So, my second question is: what's up with Catherine?
So, here is my first blog:
I am rereading this book WITHOUT a pencil in my hand, and it's killing me! I have already marked it up in three different colors, so what more could I need to mark. Well, I came across two quotes that struck me as meaningful, not only for this novel, but also for us as readers and "interpreters" (thanks Stephen Crane) of it.
The first quote is my title, "You mustn't take everything so literally" (21). This is spoken by Ferguson, friend of Catherine. On the one hand this is so true for reading fiction; writers want us to think beyond initial reactions and identify meaningful, figurative ideas that we can apply to our own lives. On the other hand, much of this book so far is SO literal: pebbles in a river bed, the sounds of a gun battery waking Henry up in the morning, the green of new spring. So, why all the literal, Hemingway? That's one question I hope we can answer in our class discussions.
My second quote is (not required, but short) "Anybody can crack" (20). Catherine says this to Henry on the first day that they meet. I think that it's safe to say that we can all relate to the truth of this statement and add "under pressure." Whether that pressure is grading papers in a timely fashion :), taking tests and writing those lovely papers, or participating in or witnessing war-not all equally weighty experiences-but all pressure situations, nonetheless. I agree with you, Catherine, though from this point you get a little kooky. So, my second question is: what's up with Catherine?
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Using the Tools for your Own Goals
I liked this idea from Jenny Luca:
My goal all along has been to publish their book at the end of the semester. I have no idea how close we will get to this, but one of my students talked on Friday about making money from our venture. I was so excited about that because my non-AP students are beginning to see themselves as writers, and they may never have felt that confident about their writing before.
So, where are the tools? We have a class wiki where students take turn taking the notes for the day. This is also where I post topics and information and link to each of our blogs, where we reflect on the big ideas of each reading. We also have a page for the class novel and can use the discussion board to leave notes and ideas about the developing plot of our own work. I made a working timeline on TimeGlider of some significant dates as our characters began to develop and interact with each other. Students have written character descriptions and dialogues, which they have posted to www.turnitin.com so that they can peer review each others' work. Finally, we'll self publish on a site like this. Or some other that we find before May. Do you have any ideas or other resources that we could use?
Final learning goal: my students will know first hand what a novel is by writing and publishing one of their own collaboratively.
And, I don't see how that would have been possible before.
We have to start thinking about the tools we can use that are going to extend the thinking of our students and help them make some connection to the idea that they can make use of these tools for their educational benefit.I think that I have really gotten to this stage. I am not planning lessons around tools but vice versa. I am thinking about ways to use online resources to enhance learning goals. Right now I am most excited about the work on my seniors in The Novel elective. As we study the development of the novel through time, we have started writing our own class novel. The students are beginning to have fun with their characters and to realize that writing is entertaining for the writer too.
My goal all along has been to publish their book at the end of the semester. I have no idea how close we will get to this, but one of my students talked on Friday about making money from our venture. I was so excited about that because my non-AP students are beginning to see themselves as writers, and they may never have felt that confident about their writing before.
So, where are the tools? We have a class wiki where students take turn taking the notes for the day. This is also where I post topics and information and link to each of our blogs, where we reflect on the big ideas of each reading. We also have a page for the class novel and can use the discussion board to leave notes and ideas about the developing plot of our own work. I made a working timeline on TimeGlider of some significant dates as our characters began to develop and interact with each other. Students have written character descriptions and dialogues, which they have posted to www.turnitin.com so that they can peer review each others' work. Finally, we'll self publish on a site like this. Or some other that we find before May. Do you have any ideas or other resources that we could use?
Final learning goal: my students will know first hand what a novel is by writing and publishing one of their own collaboratively.
And, I don't see how that would have been possible before.
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