Music and Poetry

Poetry is something that does not come easy for many students and even teachers. Most teachers will find that teaching poetry is difficult and tedious and sometimes unsuccessful. The problem is that many teachers stick to the traditional way of teaching poetry that can be boring and difficult for students to understand. Teachers need to find ways to relate poetry to their students. One way to do this is through music.

Most music is created in a similar fashion as poetry. Music is not only constructed like poetry but it often contains many of the literary devices poetry contains like the use of metaphors, alliteration and rhyme scheme. If we, as teachers, present poetry as music to begin a lesson I believe students will be more likely to pick up the concepts. Music is something that students are very familiar with and most students enjoy listening and even writing their own music. Instead of presenting poetry in the boring ineffective way to have in the past, we should be utilizing new techniques even if they are unorthodox or different. As long as it works, why not use it? 

Fakebook is Not Just Recreational

Fakebook is a program that allows anyone to create a fake Facebook for someone. The creator is able to change any aspect of Facebook that a real user would be able to change. Most times people use this program for fun however, it could be a great tool to use in the English classroom.

Fakebook could be a great way to assess how much a student understands about a character. Students could create fakebook proflies for characters of a novel or play. The students could make status updates from the point of view of the character. The student can also change the profile picture to express what they believe that character looks like. 

This would also be a great way to introduce characters as they come up in a play or novel. In this case the teacher could create a profile and allow the students to add to that profile as the story progresses. This not only will help the students become more active in the classroom but also more aware of the events and important aspects of a story as it progresses.

Just because a program like Fakebook is something that most people use for recreational purposes does not mean that we can not utilize these things in the classroom. Often times the things students do at home for fun work out very well in the classroom as it is able to keep their attention longer. The students are more likely to be excited about the material if it is coming from something they enjoy and use regularly.

Isafe in the Classroom

Using technology in the classroom has become more and more important. Because technology is such a large part of our culture and society it makes sense that we would allow our students to utilize different types of technology in the classroom. However, with the great aspects of technology come the dangers. 

If we are going to use technology in the classroom almost everyday it is important that we teach our students how to navigate these technologies safely. While school internet may have restrictions placed on what the students can and can not view, a lot of homes do not have such restrictions. If our students are using the internet in school we should assume they use it at home as well.

It is because of this reason I believe students should have courses on safety online. This can be accomplished through a number of ways but I have seen Isafe in action and believe, if used appropriately, it could work. Isafe is a program that can be used by teachers in the classroom. This program promotes internet safety. Isafe comes with detailed lesson plans and video’s of different subjects like “internet predators” and “identity theft”. When using the lesson plans and videos together the teacher can educate the students about the dangers of the internet through class discussion and the use of technology.

Technology Integration Plan

Integrating technology is only effective when the technology used supports what is being taught. Using technology just to be able to say you have used it is not fair to the students and only wastes time. It is important as teachers that we use technology as a tool instead of a crutch. To ensure that the lesson I had previously created used technology appropriately I have created a matrix to show how my standards and goals align with the technology I have used in my lesson. The lesson is titled “Understanding Imagery in Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabell Lee”. To get an idea of the actual lesson I will breifly explain the main aspects of the lesson. The lesson contains three main components that will help the students understand and learn the content. The first component is the introduction of new material. This will come from a slide show presentation that explains the new information and includes visual examples. The second component of the lesson is guided practice. Here the teacher will demonstrate how to identify imagery in “Annabell Lee” by annotating the first stanza of the poem out loud to the class and then grouping the students to finishing annotating the poem together. The final component is a visual representation of what each student has learned. The student is instructed to create a storyboard online of the imagery they identified in the last three stanzas of the poem. The lesson is complete when the students participate in a group discussion online through the class wiki-page.

Because the lesson is on Imagery in Edgar Allan Poe poetry, the first standard addressed is to demonstrate the understanding of figurative language. This is where the students will access new information through direct teaching, visual and oral presentation and individual work. Most of these strategies for this standard are teacher focused because new information is being introduced. Here the teacher will use a Smart board to present a slide show of information about imagery and how to identify it. The students will also have a visual of a poem by Poe what has already been annotated in the first stanza as an example. The students will be expected to annotate the rest of the poem on their own and with peers eventually.

In order to promote communication in the classroom the students will engage in cooperative learning, peer teaching and peer assessment. This will be done mainly through the use of a class wiki-page to comment on the individual work the students create. The students will be instructed to assess each other’s final products (peer assessment) and use constructive criticism to guide their peers to fix the work (peer teaching). It is important for this step to be done thoroughly because each student is not only helping his or her peer but is also strengthening his or her own knowledge of the subject. 

For a final product the students will work individually on a storyboard that depicts the imagery in the poem “Annabell Lee”. The storyboard will be created individually however, in order to get ideas for the storyboard the students will participate in small discussion groups. This portion of the lesson heavily relies on the student. The teacher is there to simply supervise. The students will utilize computers, the internet, the class wiki-page and an online storyboard creator to complete the final portion of the lesson. Each student should comment on at least 3 different peer projects. These comments are meant to ensure that the commenter understands the material and to ensure that the peer learns where improvement could be made. It is incredibly effective coming from peers because the students view them as equals. They are less embarrassed to ask questions and make comments to their peers rather than the teacher. 

Although the technology used in my lesson may not be incredibly advanced, it is effective and useful. The students will benefit from the technology used because the technology does not take away from the main content. The technology used also makes the learning aspect fun for the students and is not too difficult for the students to understand. This reduces the risk of losing students to boredom or frustration.

Google Docs and English Classrooms

Google Docs is a web-based word processor that can be accessed from anywhere online. All you need to access google docs is a computer and the internet. This type of technology is a great tool for English classrooms. By using this technology students can create documents and receive feedback from their teacher more quickly. Instead of having to hand in a paper copy of the assignment and wait for the teacher to comment on it and then return it, the teacher can make the comments in real time and the student will receive the comments in real time as well. It makes the editing process much more enjoyable for both the students and the teacher. 

It is also a great resource for creating and viewing group projects or collaborative writing assignments. By using this technology the students will not have to find time to meet up together as often and will be able to get more work done. Again, the work that each student finishes will be available right away so the other group members can add their ideas as well. 

        Because the students are most likely already on the internet and know how to use it it makes sense to utilize Google Docs. Using Google Docs will decrease the amount of time needed to work on assignments without sacrificing the quality of the work. This will ultimately allow more content to be taught and assessed throughout the school year.

Unit Plan Canvas Remix

When remixing “Storytelling Through Photography” the first thing I thought of was picture prompts. However, I felt picture prompts are somewhat overdone. I thought it would be more fun to use picture prompts to prompt a prediction. Instead of writing the story based on the picture, the students will write the story based on what happens AFTER the picture. The goal is to get the students excited about writing and I believe giving them more freedom could help. While we tell our students the picture prompt does not have to be a large part of their story, often times I find students describing the picture instead of creating a story. Creating the assignment based on predictions could help the students stray away from this issue they may be struggling with.

Remixed Canvas

Audio Books

As a future English teacher it will be my job to motivate students to read. Of course, what I wish is that all of my students have the skills to read the books assigned and that all of my students will read what I assign as well. However, in reality, many of my students will not be able to read the books assigned at grade level. Usually, because of the structure of class, those students go unnoticed and do not get the help they need. Teachers assume that all their students have read and those who have not read are just neglectful. Instead of ignoring this we need to address it and realize that we can make things easier for our students. I believe audio books are a great way to help the students who have trouble reading. Because audio books read to our students it allows the students to think and comprehend. Usually, a student who struggles with reading will focus most of their time and effort on defining the words they are unfamiliar with and sounding out the words that do not come easy to them. An audio book allows these students to focus all of their attention on the content. What I hear often is “If a student can not read, how have they graduated to the next grade” and while I do understand that thought, the fact is, they have graduated and they do still need to learn the new content. If we can make things easier for our students occasionally, I say, why not? Yes, maybe audio books are not the way to go for every text and every assignment, but I certainly believe they can be very useful in moderation.