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!

Material 5 for Middle Grades Social Studies

Name: Jami Holland
Name of Site: Edsitement
Link to Resource: http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=288
Grade and Subject: 8th grade; Davy Crockett; North Carolina and Tall Tales

How would this be used: I would use this website to create a lesson that would teach about Davy Crockett, westward expansion and what they had to do with North Carolina. Students would explore and research information about Davy Crockett, and we would discuss what tall tales are, and connect that with Davy Crockett. In connection with English Language Arts we would look at the characteristics of tall tales. Students would then have to research and find tall tales from North Carolina. Lastly they would have to create their own tall tale!

Why would this be used: This website has many, many, many links to more resources, documents and websites that would relate to Davy Crockett and that particular time period. Even with 30 students in a class, different students could end up with different information because of the variety of resources from this page. I think this lesson would be fun for students and also provide opportunity for critical thinking and creativity!

Material 4 for Middle Grades Social Studies

Name: Jami Holland
Name of Site: National Geographic Xpeditions
Link to Resource: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/activities/10/artscavhunt.html
Grade and Subject: 7th grade; Social Studies; Africa-resources

How this will be used: I found some awesome lesson plans on the National Geographic website. This particular link is to an actual activity, that is written to students. This activity corresponds with 7th Grade Social Studies NCSCOS Objective 8.03 that asks students to be able to “Identify major discoveries, innovations, and inventions and assess their influence on societies past and present”. This particular lesson has students looking at various pictures to see what ‘artifacts’ they can find. It is created as a scavenger hunt! In my classroom I would have students do the scavenger hunt, and then we would have a discussion about what is different between what they found and what we have in the United States. This would be the beginning of lessons on resources in Africa, things that are particular to certain parts of Africa (for example, diamonds).

Why this will be used: I love the National Geographic lesson plans from their site!! I plan to use this site because it provides resources and pictures for students to do the activity. If students use this particular site to do this activity, I would also hope that they would explore other parts of the site, and perhaps stumble upon something that is of interest to them. National Geographic is solid in its information and accuracy, and I trust the information it provides.

Material 3 for Middle Grades Social Studies

Name: Jami Holland
Name of Site: Great Depression Pictures
Link to Resource: http://history1900s.about.com/od/photographs/tp/greatdepressionpictures.htm
Grade and Subject: 8th grade; Social Studies; The Great Depression

How will this be used: I will use these pictures in teaching about The Great Depression. According to the NCSCOS, Objective 6.01 says that students will “Identify the causes and effects of the Great Depression and analyze the impact of New Deal policies on Depression Era life in North Carolina”. What I would do is use these pictures at the beginning of studying The Great Depression. I would show students 2-3 pictures and have them quietly write down what they see, what emotion they see and how they feel looking at the pictures. Integrating English Language Arts, I would have students pick one picture (that has a person/people) and write an expressive account of what they think one of the people is thinking, what they are going through, what they might fear, what they might be anxious about. This will give students an opportunity to not only study the time of the Great Depression, but really take the time to analyze and think about its affect on people. A further use of this activity would be to have a discussion comparing The Great Depression to the economic crisis today. Teachers should always be looking for ways to make what they teach relevant to students, so connecting The Great Depression to today would be helpful to students!

Why will this be used: I will use these pictures because I believe pictures can often times be more powerful than words. The Great Depression was such a hard time for Americans, and many photographers captured this time of suffering in poetic pictures. I like using these pictures because it brings emotion and feeling to the time, and adolescents are all about emotion. ha These pictures are a great stepping stone for discussion.

Material 2 for Middle Grades Social Studies

Name: Jami Holland
Name of Site: Children of the Camps: Internment History
Link to Resources: http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/history/index.html
Grade and Subject: 8th grade; Social Studies; WWII and Japanese Internment Camps

How it would be used: I would use this website in a research project for my 8th grade Social Studies classroom. In 8th grade, the NCSCOS states that students will study aspects of WWII. Objective 6.02 states that students will be able to “Describe the significance of major events and military engagements associated with World War II and evaluate the impact of the war on North Carolina”. In studying WWII, I would spend a little time teaching about the incarceration of Japanese Americans in the United States. As part of this study, I would have the students research information about this time, and then ultimately use that information to participate in a classroom debate about whether or not Japanese internment camps were unconstitutional or not.

Why it would be used: This website is full of great information!! I love it because it offers primary resources, documents directly from this time. It provides pictures, a time line and is fairly easy for students to maneuver around. PBS always is a great resource to go to, and this website proves no different! This site has quotations and eyewitness accounts from people who actually experience this time of history. Students should be able to get a lot of information for their debate!