Course Reflection- Jami Holland

At the beginning of this course, honestly I did not know how much I would learn. But I have been suprised to learn from the articles we have read and from the online resources I have found. My favorite websites I have come across are Read, Write, Think and National Geographic. For Language Arts teachers, the first website offers lesson plans for grades K-12, for everything from reading to writing to using media in ELA classrooms. I have found some incredible lesson plans for my Language Arts class. The National Geographic website also has wonderful lesson plans and resources for teachers. There are creative lessons for everything from science to geography to social studies and everything in between.

And yes, I will continue finding resources. As a teacher, I believe that I will never stop being a student. To do my students justice, I believe I need to continually find resources that will better my teaching and enhance my students’ learning! The Internet is full of resources that are free and extremely accessible!

Lesson #2- Jami Holland

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=812

I love the website Read, Write, Think. For Language Arts teachers, this website gives lessons for everything from studying character to peer-editing activities to so much more! This particular lesson has students looking at the song lyrics of the Billy Joel song We Didn’t Start the Fire. This lesson would be terrific as a cross-disciplinary lesson linked to Social Studies!! It could be adapted to fit the particular time period/events students are studying in history. I like this lesson because students are always interested in music…and instead of analyzing a poem, students get the opportunity to look at and analyze song lyrics!! Students will use the people, places and events in the song to do research and look up those specific links to history. I believe it is important to use various texts, and not just a textbook. What a wonderful way to teach history and reading comprehension by using a song! This song could also be linked to Forest Gump, Beatles songs or other media references to history. Young adolescents respond well to lessons that are interesting, and music is always one way to get students’ attention!

Lesson #1- Jami Holland

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=75

I really like this lesson. In my internship right now, my 7th grade classes have been working on writing. North Carolina requires 7th graders to have a Writing Portfolio, and submit 2 Research Papers and 2 On-Demand Papers throughout the year. My cooperating teacher has been talking with me about how difficult it is to teach writing, as compared to teaching reading. I like this lesson because it helps students understand the power in their word choice. This lesson helps students look at connotation by providing them a chance to identify how certain words can give a weaker or more powerful connotation. This lesson is fun and creative in that students look at the names of cars and connect what those names mean to the particular car it is attached to (example: strong car names- Mustang, Thunderbird, Charger…weaker car names- Rabbit, Pinto, Colt). I would use this mini-lesson when students have written a bigger piece of writing. We would use this lesson before students revise their writings. After doing this, students should be able to go through their writings and revise and edit words to put stronger vocabulary in, to paint a better picture and make their writings better for their readers!

Article 3-Jami Holland

I had a U.S. History teacher who gave our class about 50 vocabulary terms a week to learn and memorize. To say the least, that was the death of me! I like how this article speaks of the importance of not only learning vocabulary words and their definitions, but expanding to learn synonyms, antonyms, prefixes/suffixes, root words, etc. I see the value in exposing students to words in various ways and through varied texts. I believe when students see words in various contexts, they are more like to understand its meaning and learn correct word usage.

(In reference to the other websites mentioned in this section, I really enjoyed the links that led to student work samples. I love the Wanted Ad, and the “What Am I” Great Depression poems. Both of these would be great to use if I end up teaching Social Studies!)

Article 2 Summary- Jami Holland

Article 2:
Margaret R. Coulton’s article about the multigenre paper discusses a new approach to the once old and boring research paper. This article looks at the benefits of using a multigenre research approach for students, so that they combine creativity with research. Coulton speaks of how too often research is something that has a negative vibe, that students automatically assume is not fun or interesting. Having students research and present their information in several forms, as opposed to the one regular research paper, helps bring a more positive light to the research paper. A multigenre research project allows students to take their topic, and present it in forms such as Wanted Ads, Newspaper articles, Plays, Poems, Narratives, and even personal letters. In presenting the information in many forms, students learn more about their topic, stay interested and have the chance to see the research through several perspectives! This idea of a multigenre project is great, and I look forward to using it!!

3 Questions:
1. Would it be best to offer a list of genres, or let students choose anything and everything they would like?
2. If the project is on a person, should the teacher have a pre-set list of what is required, such as biographical information/contribution to society/etc, or should students be challenged to decide for themselves what is important to discuss and present?
3. Again, what would be the best way to grade this?

Articles 1 Summary- Jami Holland

Article 1:
The “I” Poem article provides a look at how to use the “I” Poem to enhance students’ writing and reading comprehension. This article, by Linda Kucan, speaks of how students should have the opportunity to write about what they have read, to better their understanding. “Writing about what one has read is the opportunity to see the landscape of the text again, potentially in deeper and different ways.” One example in this article is the use of the “I” Poem in response to the novel Sarah, Plain and Tall . Students are shown the importance of the setting in this novel, and then are asked to write an “I” Poem relating to the setting. I love the idea of the “I” Poem, because it challenges students to dig deeper, beyond surface-level thinking. If a student writes a poem from the perspective of a desert, they have to think about how a desert would think, feel, and see the world. This type of poem helps students learn about perspective, while engaging them in deeper looks at character, plot and setting.

Three Questions:
1) In writing an “I” Poem about a particular character in a novel, could it possibly enhance the activity by also asking students to write an “I” Poem of themselves, and then asking them to compare the two?
2) Could this poem also be used effectively in Social Studies and Science classes?
3) How would a teacher grade this type of writing?

Literacy Strategy #4- Jami Holland

Name of Strategy: Sketch to Stretch- After Reading Strategy
Source: All-America Reads
Link: http://www.allamericareads.org/lessonplan/wyw/after/sts.htm

Strategy and How it would be Implemented: This strategy is designed after students have read literature or certain texts. This strategy is to help students understand main ideas and themes of works of literature. With this strategy, students are asked to draw/sketch pictures that represent the main ideas of the work. Artistic ability is not required, but students are asked to think critically and deeply about different meanings of the work. Students are asked not to draw about a particular event in the story, but create a symbolic sketch of their theme.

NCSCOS: (straight from the summary of 6-8th grade NCSCOS for ELA) Students are “connecting themes and ideas in literature.”

Rationale for Strategy: This strategy enhances students’ learning in that students have to understand and learn about theme. Students have to be able to comprehend a work to the point that they can identify and pick out various themes and main ideas. This strategy asks students to not write about those ideas, but pick symbols that represent the themes, and create a sketch. This strategy is fun, because everyone likes to doodle, no matter the ability. This strategy allows students to express their thoughts of literature in a creative way, but a way that makes them think deeper about the literature.

Literacy Stratey #3- Jami Holland

Name of Strategy: Dramatic Monologue- During Reading Strategy

Link to the Strategy: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/82

Strategy and how it will be implemented: This is a during-reading strategy that could be used in both an ELA or Social Studies class, when studying characters or specific historical figures. With this activity, students take a scene or specific historical event they are currently reading about, and write a dramatic monologue from the viewpoint of a character (or in Social Studies, from a historical figure). Students answer the questions of “Where am I and Why?”, “What is going on with me?”, and “What might I be thinking/feeling during this time?”. Students can use their monologue to expand upon these questions.

NCSCOS: The NCSCOS says this about grades 6-8 ELA students- “The study of literature, which includes print and non-print texts, is extremely important in the English Language Arts curriculum. Students should develop a deep appreciation for literature, understand its personal, cultural, and historical significance, and learn how to analyze its meaning and relevance”.

Rationale for strategy: I believe this is a wonderful during-reading strategy to use!! Asking students to write a dramatic monologue encourages them to use skills to look deep into the character/historical figure. Often this requires students to put themselves in people’s shoes, and I always think this is a great way to learn. Students have to think critically about what a character might be thinking or feeling during a certain situation. Doing this activity during a reading as opposed to the end helps students see the progression of certain characters/historical figures as the story or event goes on. Students can compare how a character is at the beginning of the story, the middle and the end!

Literacy Strategy #2- Jami Holland

Name of Strategy: Book Covers- Pre-reading Strategy
Source: Read, Write, Think
Link to the Strategy: http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=977

Strategy and how it will be implemented: This strategy asks students to pick a book to do a report on based on the book cover. Students are asked to answer a series of questions based solely on information they can find on the book cover. While this does not have students explicitly reading the book yet, this is very important in helping students think critically, and think about the design of the illustrator in relation to the title. Students can pick up on word choice and choice of picture or specific text used on the book cover, and then they can make hypotheses about what the book will be about. As a post-reading activity, students can design a new book cover for their book, and write an explanation of how their visual piece connects to the key elements of the story. Students can also compare and contrast what they thought the book would be about from the cover to what actually happened in the story.

NCSCOS:

Rationale for Strategy: I believe that this activity definitely helps in student learning. This activity helps students connect the value of a title of a book and its book cover to the actual story. Students are asked to think critically and deeply about themes and main ideas of a book they have not even read yet, just based on the cover. This activity will hopefully make readers more aware of the artwork and lay out of particular books, and how things are often more important, or give more clues to the book than we really give credity. The activity that involves students creating their own book cover after reading the book definitely helps in student learning as well, because now students are being asked to take themes and main ideas they have read about, and convey them somehow in a visual way!

Literacy Strategy #1- Jami Holland

Name of Strategy: Chapter Tour- A Pre-reading Strategy
Source: Georgetown Curriculum Corner
Link to the Strategy: http://www.georgetownisd.org/gisd/ccorner/socstudies/InstructionalStrategiesforSocialStudies.asp

Description of strategy/How it will be implemented: This strategy is a pre-reading activity that could be used in any classroom, but might be most helpful in a ELA or Social Studies class. In this activity, the teacher sets up a “Chapter Tour” to help students explore main ideas of the textbook. According to the activity, a Chapter Tour is “a form of a study guide that ‘talks’ the reader through a chapter, and points out elements of the text that warrant special attention”. This activity will be used to introduce students to a particular chapter or unit of study.

NCSCOS addressed: From the DPI website concerning NC Middle Grades English Language Arts students… “In their reading, students should become more insightful as they progress from grade to grade. They should develop increasing control of how and when to use strategies before, during, and after their reading. Middle school students should read extensively in all content areas, using a variety of media and texts”.

Rationale for Strategy: I like this strategy because it is a way to introduce students to words and main ideas of a particular chapter. I do not believe that textbooks should be the main point of reference for a class, but I do believe that in ELA/Social Studies classes certain textbooks can be used to provide information, and great pictures, maps and other visuals. One thing that is important for all students to learn is how to use the resources they are given; a textbook, book, website or any other text does not do a student good if they do not know how to navigate and find information they need. A Chapter scavenger hunt not only exposes students to particular information, but helps students see that different texts are laid out differently. Students can become more familiar with how to use a table of contents, glossary or other important tools. I believe that it is very valuable to teach students how to use the resources around them. I am amazed at how many people lack the skills to navigate the internet, or find their way around large informational texts; activities like this Chapter Tour can help students become literate in finding information and figuring out how to use certain information!