Most high school students are taught Shakespeare by teachers cramming it down their throats. Students usually don't retain the information, and grow to resent even the word 'Shakespeare'. One way that I want to change this in my classroom is approaching it from a different angle, and make it fun. By getting students to comprehend it on a deeper level, they will more likely retain what they are being taught and be able to analysis literature on their own. Here are a few ways in which Shakespeare can be taught rather than the standard reading, quizzes, notes, and test format.
Shakespeare@Web English Teacher
This site offers many different approaches to teaching Shakespeare including student-made tabloid style websites about summarizing the plays and reading Shakespeare from an actor's perspective.
Hip-hop Shakespeare
By making Shakespeare relevant, this approach incorporates modern rap to Shakespeare work as a lyricist and writer. Just by showing clips of these videos that coincide with the text being covered, students will be able to connect to Shakespeare in an artistic way.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Educational Rap for Language Arts
LA-Public Speaking (clip)byeducationalrap
This is such an awesome way to teach Language Arts concepts. This seems like a really engaging way to teach--although high school students may shun the idea of educational raps. Because these raps are composed really well, using these songs as a teaching tool may be worth a try!
LA-Public Speaking (clip)byeducationalrap
This is such an awesome way to teach Language Arts concepts. This seems like a really engaging way to teach--although high school students may shun the idea of educational raps. Because these raps are composed really well, using these songs as a teaching tool may be worth a try!
Twitter in English Class
Part of my teaching philosophy is keeping the students as engaged with learning as possible. Of course incorporating social networking sites are a great way to do this, but unfortunately the funding in most school systems does not allow for this unless grants are offered.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Podcasting in English Class
In response to Robert Rozema's article, "The Book Report, Version 2.0: Podcasting on Young Adult Novels" , I wrote this critique of how pod-casting can be implemented in the English classroom:
Pod-casting in English Class
The article that I am critiquing is “The Book Report, Version 2.0: Pod-casting on Young Adult Novels” by Robert Rozema from the English Journal. This article focuses on an approach to incorporating technology into English classrooms. In this article, Rozema describes how using podcasts can be a useful tool for teachers in the English classroom as well as a learning tool for students. A podcast is “audio delivered over the Web in serialized episodes,” says Rozema. Pod-casting is becoming a new form of genre. Teachers are beginning to use podcasts as resources for new teaching ideas and techniques. Students are engaged with purposeful writing for podcasts because they have a real audience, not just their teacher, and are learning to work with their peers and revise their own work, which are important writing skills to learn. Rozema uses these podcasts because students lose interest with the typical book report. The use of these podcasts in the classroom can help teach many different writing techniques and literary elements, as well as become a creative outlet for students.
After reading Rozema’s article, I understand the methods behind producing a podcast and this brand new approach to the typical book report, most people think of. This new approach to book reports with the incorporation of technology can help strengthen students’ writing skills. I consider the most important aspects to this new approach to the book report are student engagement in the assignment and that they are learning about the production process of a podcast. These podcasts also call for specific type of writing and they are teaching important writing skills and literary techniques through creativity. The downfalls to using podcasts in the classroom are the lack of teacher training in this type of technology, and the amount of equipment and memory needed for a podcast production.
One of the main strengths of using a podcast in the classroom, rather than the typical book report is student engagement. From the students that I have interviewed in the past few months and even observed in a classroom setting, I noticed that there seems to be a lack of student interest in the subject of English, especially in high school. Rozema explains that the students are interested in writing podcasts because they have a real audience and students feel purpose behind their writing. These podcasts are unlike a typical book report because they have to come up with a script by themselves. This involves pacing, music, and the overall tone of the podcast. These podcasts are similar to movie trailers and the students are given the opportunity to use whatever music, pacing, and tone they wish to use, to describe the book. To further promote student interest in this project, Rozema says, “The podcast are also useful for future students who listen to them as they search for interesting books to read.” Students are working toward an ultimate goal as well. Rozema publishes the best podcasts at the end of the semester on iTunes to help make the audience seem more real. These podcasts are later used to help future students pick books to read, which makes the students making the podcasts want to do a better job.
Not only does this “Book Report 2.0” have appeal to the students, with its incorporation of technology and choice, but I think teachers can also use pod-casting as a very effective teaching tool as well. Students are learning how to collaborate with their peers, the process of revision, and even how to write scripts. The other writing elements and techniques that I think could be effectively taught through this assignment are ‘hooking your audience’, picking out key excerpts from the text, crediting not only the author of the text, but the song credits too, and even touch on important literary elements. The literary elements that can be tied into the podcast assignment are mood, perspective, form, and audience. All these elements are jam-packed into a five-minute podcast. Students are learning to effectively collaborate with one another, revise their work, hook their audience, cite their sources and do all of this without revealing too much information about their book. “Achieving all of this in four to five minutes presents a challenge of economy for students, who may work individually or collaboratively on the project,” says Rozema.
Although using the podcast seems ideal for the student and the teacher, I know that there are some obstacles to this type of assignment in addition to its strengths. The first hindrance I foresee in this assignment is the lack of teacher knowledge. I feel like teachers will be deterred from trying this assignment because of the technology involved. Teachers may be too unfamiliar with using iTunes and may not see the benefits to this assignment. Another hurdle is the school’s amount of memory in the computers. This type of assignment tends to use a lot of memory. Also, the amount of time that needs to go into the production of an assignment like this may also become a hindrance in itself. Because the English class has to cover so much material, there may not be sufficient time to do an assignment of this magnitude.
Overall, I really like Rozema’s idea of using technology to make podcasts instead of plain book reports. As a student, I would find this assignment appealing because of all the choices and opportunities for my creativity, as well as the opportunity of my work to be on iTunes. Being able to pick the music, quotes, and write exactly what I want to write about the book for a real audience seems like a fun project for a high school student. As a future teacher, I find this assignment extremely useful. It teaches important literary elements and ties in technology to a typically boring assignment, while stimulating my students’ creativity along the way.
Pod-casting in English Class
The article that I am critiquing is “The Book Report, Version 2.0: Pod-casting on Young Adult Novels” by Robert Rozema from the English Journal. This article focuses on an approach to incorporating technology into English classrooms. In this article, Rozema describes how using podcasts can be a useful tool for teachers in the English classroom as well as a learning tool for students. A podcast is “audio delivered over the Web in serialized episodes,” says Rozema. Pod-casting is becoming a new form of genre. Teachers are beginning to use podcasts as resources for new teaching ideas and techniques. Students are engaged with purposeful writing for podcasts because they have a real audience, not just their teacher, and are learning to work with their peers and revise their own work, which are important writing skills to learn. Rozema uses these podcasts because students lose interest with the typical book report. The use of these podcasts in the classroom can help teach many different writing techniques and literary elements, as well as become a creative outlet for students.
After reading Rozema’s article, I understand the methods behind producing a podcast and this brand new approach to the typical book report, most people think of. This new approach to book reports with the incorporation of technology can help strengthen students’ writing skills. I consider the most important aspects to this new approach to the book report are student engagement in the assignment and that they are learning about the production process of a podcast. These podcasts also call for specific type of writing and they are teaching important writing skills and literary techniques through creativity. The downfalls to using podcasts in the classroom are the lack of teacher training in this type of technology, and the amount of equipment and memory needed for a podcast production.
One of the main strengths of using a podcast in the classroom, rather than the typical book report is student engagement. From the students that I have interviewed in the past few months and even observed in a classroom setting, I noticed that there seems to be a lack of student interest in the subject of English, especially in high school. Rozema explains that the students are interested in writing podcasts because they have a real audience and students feel purpose behind their writing. These podcasts are unlike a typical book report because they have to come up with a script by themselves. This involves pacing, music, and the overall tone of the podcast. These podcasts are similar to movie trailers and the students are given the opportunity to use whatever music, pacing, and tone they wish to use, to describe the book. To further promote student interest in this project, Rozema says, “The podcast are also useful for future students who listen to them as they search for interesting books to read.” Students are working toward an ultimate goal as well. Rozema publishes the best podcasts at the end of the semester on iTunes to help make the audience seem more real. These podcasts are later used to help future students pick books to read, which makes the students making the podcasts want to do a better job.
Not only does this “Book Report 2.0” have appeal to the students, with its incorporation of technology and choice, but I think teachers can also use pod-casting as a very effective teaching tool as well. Students are learning how to collaborate with their peers, the process of revision, and even how to write scripts. The other writing elements and techniques that I think could be effectively taught through this assignment are ‘hooking your audience’, picking out key excerpts from the text, crediting not only the author of the text, but the song credits too, and even touch on important literary elements. The literary elements that can be tied into the podcast assignment are mood, perspective, form, and audience. All these elements are jam-packed into a five-minute podcast. Students are learning to effectively collaborate with one another, revise their work, hook their audience, cite their sources and do all of this without revealing too much information about their book. “Achieving all of this in four to five minutes presents a challenge of economy for students, who may work individually or collaboratively on the project,” says Rozema.
Although using the podcast seems ideal for the student and the teacher, I know that there are some obstacles to this type of assignment in addition to its strengths. The first hindrance I foresee in this assignment is the lack of teacher knowledge. I feel like teachers will be deterred from trying this assignment because of the technology involved. Teachers may be too unfamiliar with using iTunes and may not see the benefits to this assignment. Another hurdle is the school’s amount of memory in the computers. This type of assignment tends to use a lot of memory. Also, the amount of time that needs to go into the production of an assignment like this may also become a hindrance in itself. Because the English class has to cover so much material, there may not be sufficient time to do an assignment of this magnitude.
Overall, I really like Rozema’s idea of using technology to make podcasts instead of plain book reports. As a student, I would find this assignment appealing because of all the choices and opportunities for my creativity, as well as the opportunity of my work to be on iTunes. Being able to pick the music, quotes, and write exactly what I want to write about the book for a real audience seems like a fun project for a high school student. As a future teacher, I find this assignment extremely useful. It teaches important literary elements and ties in technology to a typically boring assignment, while stimulating my students’ creativity along the way.
Getting to Know My Students
I wrote "Getting to Know My Students" last semester after interviewing 3 high school English students. This displays some of my concerns in teaching the subject of English as well as gives me somewhat a perspective of what works and doesn't work in the classroom.
Even saying the word ‘writing’ causes most students, especially those in high school, to cringe at the thought. Is it really that hard or are students just being lazy? Do they just have trouble getting started or are students really incapable of writing a good piece? Do they even want to become better writers? As a recent high school graduate, I don’t remember writing being used as a learning tool very often in the classrooms I attended. I remember doing a few history reports, but as far as regular assignments of essays in English courses, there weren’t many. The fact that I never wrote a graded essay my senior year of high school is the sole reason why I was led to be a high school English teacher. Entering into English composition courses in college, I felt concerned, unprepared and behind the learning curve. As a future teacher, it is my goal to help reduce some of this anxiety felt by English students, and help make them better writers by the time they leave my classroom.
To better get in touch with students in high school now, I interviewed three high school seniors to ask them about how they felt about the writing process and what I could do as a future teacher to make the process less nerve-racking. For interview questions see Appendix A. The three students I interviewed were Tara Skipper, Jonathan Caron, and Emily Klein. All three students attend Murphy High School and, after a little warming up, enjoyed speaking to me about writing. They shared their likes, comments, thoughts, and certainly, their dislikes on writing. I took away from all three of my interviews: first of all, students need teachers to engage them with more brainstorming ideas before they begin writing; students do want to improve their writing skills, they just need the tools; and the anxiety of writing can be reduced by a few slight modifications by the teacher.
The Hardest Part is Getting Started
After being asked, “What do you dislike about writing?” Emily Klein responded with, “Starting it, how to start the introduction.” All three students all responded with the introduction paragraph of their essays as being the most difficult. Because the introduction seems to be a problem spot in writing an essay, students tend to get frustrated when they can’t get started right away. Using more effective brainstorming or building exercises seems to be one way to eliminate “writers block” for students. However, the problem is they already are using some form of prewriting. So what could a teacher do to help reduce this anxiety? I think a common problem for most students is that it is hard to make connections with the topics they know little about. Discussions and talking about unfamiliar topics before students begin to write could really help students begin their essays. Another way to eliminate the students’ anxiety about the introduction would be to show sample essays on a similar topic. This could open the flow of ideas as wells as, help the student approach the introduction with more understanding. Also, breaking up the students into groups of 3-5 (not every time an essay is assigned) would also help students come up with ways to begin their essays and give them more time to think, talk, and share about the topic being written about. In addition to these ways to help reduce anxiety of writing a paper is to suggest beginning with the body of the essay, which will help tie together their thoughts so a clear thesis can be constructed. This method was never taught to me as a high school student, but I think this would really help eliminate the stress of getting started for some students.
Keeping the Students’ Interest
One question that I found imperative to ask in my interviews was, “Would you like to improve your writing skills?” Consequently, all three students responded with “Yes!” I think it is important that the students want to become better at writing. The problem is keeping their interest throughout high school and so on. The first thing that Jonathan told me when he sat down was, “I hate English,” but later I found out that he really enjoys writing about “himself and other people.” Keeping the topics age appropriate and current is important as well, especially when it comes to writing topics. They don’t want to write about what they did last summer-- they would rather write about topics that they can connect with. I asked Tara Skipper if she remembered what her most recent piece of writing, and her response was, “Yes, we wrote on the most inspirational person last year. I wrote it about my grandmother. I liked talking about her because she is deceased now, and I like hearing about how others are inspired by other people’s lives.”
Not only do students like to write, but they understand that it is a learning tool. All three of my students said they didn’t mind writing research papers, in fact they actually found them easier to write than most other forms of writing. They said that the process just seemed longer, and sometimes “boring at times” because of the actual research. Keeping the topics fresh, current, and interesting to high school students is a challenge that will not always be met because different students like writing about different things. Giving more choices in what they write about was one suggestion that Emily gave me. “I really like writing about other people’s lives rather than my own, or making up something about someone else.” She also went on to say that she enjoyed having more freedom in what he could write about rather than something that was assigned. It seems that covering a wide variety of topics may keep their interest in writing and make English class more interesting to the students.
How Teachers Can Reduce Anxiety for Students
Although the students could never really give me an answer when I asked, “How can a teacher make writing less stressful for the student?” or “How I could reduce anxiety is the classroom?” they did give me several areas of concern throughout the interview. First off, all three students said that they had mixed feelings about using peer evaluations. They generally said that the use of them didn’t seem to be effective because most of the time other students goofed off and didn’t really proofread their papers. When asked about her position on peer evaluations, Emily Klein responded with, “It depends on what we’re writing about, if it is something more personal, I’d rather not have somebody else read it other than my teacher, family, or parents.” After hearing the students’ responses and contemplating my own experiences with this type of evaluation, I think that as a teacher it is important to establish the classroom as a safe environment, even if this means that peer evaluations should just be monitored more closely. This could be done by giving more strict guidelines on what should be edited in a peer’s essay.
Another area of importance is where the writing should take place. I think that assignments like reflection paragraphs are fine to assign in the classroom, but as far as writing papers for grades, the students should be given time at home to finish. All three of my students had different responses when I asked whether they wrote better at home or in class. They should be given the opportunity to take an assigned essay home to look over and proofread. I assume that not all students will take advantage of this opportunity, but I think it is fair for those students, much like me, who have trouble focusing in an unsettling environment.
After talking with Tara, Jonathan, and Emily, I really understood how influential English teachers are to writing and how I, as a future teacher, can reduce some of this writing anxiety for my students. I took away from my interviews that students really need the most help with starting their papers whether this be showing examples of introductions or helping them make a connection to the subject. They also shared with me how “boring” writing can be at times and how giving more relate-able topics may keep the students’ attention longer. These three students also gave me some areas of concern that make them feel hesitate about writing. Some of the limitations to my research are that I only spoke to only three students, all of which attend the same school.
Appendix A
What are your future goals (jobs, college…) and how are they going to incorporate writing in the future?
What do you consider “writing”?
What was your most recent or favorite writing assignment that a teacher assigned?
What topics to you enjoy writing about and why?
When you begin writing an essay, how do you plan ahead, as in ‘brainstorming’ or pre-writing?
What do you dislike most about the entire process of writing?
Do you write better at home or in the classroom?
Which part of the essay is the hardest for you, the introduction, body, or conclusion (ending)?
When graded on essays, do you think the grading is fair?
Would you like to improve your writing skills?
Have you ever had a peer look over a paper for you, and did you like/dislike this type of evaluation?
Have you ever been given any helpful tools from a teacher or peer about the writing process?
Do you find writing research papers difficult?
How could a teacher reduce anxiety about writing for a student?
Do you consider yourself a good writer?
Which of the following types of writing is your least favorite? Narrative, Expository, Persuasive, Compare and Contrast, etc…
Even saying the word ‘writing’ causes most students, especially those in high school, to cringe at the thought. Is it really that hard or are students just being lazy? Do they just have trouble getting started or are students really incapable of writing a good piece? Do they even want to become better writers? As a recent high school graduate, I don’t remember writing being used as a learning tool very often in the classrooms I attended. I remember doing a few history reports, but as far as regular assignments of essays in English courses, there weren’t many. The fact that I never wrote a graded essay my senior year of high school is the sole reason why I was led to be a high school English teacher. Entering into English composition courses in college, I felt concerned, unprepared and behind the learning curve. As a future teacher, it is my goal to help reduce some of this anxiety felt by English students, and help make them better writers by the time they leave my classroom.
To better get in touch with students in high school now, I interviewed three high school seniors to ask them about how they felt about the writing process and what I could do as a future teacher to make the process less nerve-racking. For interview questions see Appendix A. The three students I interviewed were Tara Skipper, Jonathan Caron, and Emily Klein. All three students attend Murphy High School and, after a little warming up, enjoyed speaking to me about writing. They shared their likes, comments, thoughts, and certainly, their dislikes on writing. I took away from all three of my interviews: first of all, students need teachers to engage them with more brainstorming ideas before they begin writing; students do want to improve their writing skills, they just need the tools; and the anxiety of writing can be reduced by a few slight modifications by the teacher.
The Hardest Part is Getting Started
After being asked, “What do you dislike about writing?” Emily Klein responded with, “Starting it, how to start the introduction.” All three students all responded with the introduction paragraph of their essays as being the most difficult. Because the introduction seems to be a problem spot in writing an essay, students tend to get frustrated when they can’t get started right away. Using more effective brainstorming or building exercises seems to be one way to eliminate “writers block” for students. However, the problem is they already are using some form of prewriting. So what could a teacher do to help reduce this anxiety? I think a common problem for most students is that it is hard to make connections with the topics they know little about. Discussions and talking about unfamiliar topics before students begin to write could really help students begin their essays. Another way to eliminate the students’ anxiety about the introduction would be to show sample essays on a similar topic. This could open the flow of ideas as wells as, help the student approach the introduction with more understanding. Also, breaking up the students into groups of 3-5 (not every time an essay is assigned) would also help students come up with ways to begin their essays and give them more time to think, talk, and share about the topic being written about. In addition to these ways to help reduce anxiety of writing a paper is to suggest beginning with the body of the essay, which will help tie together their thoughts so a clear thesis can be constructed. This method was never taught to me as a high school student, but I think this would really help eliminate the stress of getting started for some students.
Keeping the Students’ Interest
One question that I found imperative to ask in my interviews was, “Would you like to improve your writing skills?” Consequently, all three students responded with “Yes!” I think it is important that the students want to become better at writing. The problem is keeping their interest throughout high school and so on. The first thing that Jonathan told me when he sat down was, “I hate English,” but later I found out that he really enjoys writing about “himself and other people.” Keeping the topics age appropriate and current is important as well, especially when it comes to writing topics. They don’t want to write about what they did last summer-- they would rather write about topics that they can connect with. I asked Tara Skipper if she remembered what her most recent piece of writing, and her response was, “Yes, we wrote on the most inspirational person last year. I wrote it about my grandmother. I liked talking about her because she is deceased now, and I like hearing about how others are inspired by other people’s lives.”
Not only do students like to write, but they understand that it is a learning tool. All three of my students said they didn’t mind writing research papers, in fact they actually found them easier to write than most other forms of writing. They said that the process just seemed longer, and sometimes “boring at times” because of the actual research. Keeping the topics fresh, current, and interesting to high school students is a challenge that will not always be met because different students like writing about different things. Giving more choices in what they write about was one suggestion that Emily gave me. “I really like writing about other people’s lives rather than my own, or making up something about someone else.” She also went on to say that she enjoyed having more freedom in what he could write about rather than something that was assigned. It seems that covering a wide variety of topics may keep their interest in writing and make English class more interesting to the students.
How Teachers Can Reduce Anxiety for Students
Although the students could never really give me an answer when I asked, “How can a teacher make writing less stressful for the student?” or “How I could reduce anxiety is the classroom?” they did give me several areas of concern throughout the interview. First off, all three students said that they had mixed feelings about using peer evaluations. They generally said that the use of them didn’t seem to be effective because most of the time other students goofed off and didn’t really proofread their papers. When asked about her position on peer evaluations, Emily Klein responded with, “It depends on what we’re writing about, if it is something more personal, I’d rather not have somebody else read it other than my teacher, family, or parents.” After hearing the students’ responses and contemplating my own experiences with this type of evaluation, I think that as a teacher it is important to establish the classroom as a safe environment, even if this means that peer evaluations should just be monitored more closely. This could be done by giving more strict guidelines on what should be edited in a peer’s essay.
Another area of importance is where the writing should take place. I think that assignments like reflection paragraphs are fine to assign in the classroom, but as far as writing papers for grades, the students should be given time at home to finish. All three of my students had different responses when I asked whether they wrote better at home or in class. They should be given the opportunity to take an assigned essay home to look over and proofread. I assume that not all students will take advantage of this opportunity, but I think it is fair for those students, much like me, who have trouble focusing in an unsettling environment.
After talking with Tara, Jonathan, and Emily, I really understood how influential English teachers are to writing and how I, as a future teacher, can reduce some of this writing anxiety for my students. I took away from my interviews that students really need the most help with starting their papers whether this be showing examples of introductions or helping them make a connection to the subject. They also shared with me how “boring” writing can be at times and how giving more relate-able topics may keep the students’ attention longer. These three students also gave me some areas of concern that make them feel hesitate about writing. Some of the limitations to my research are that I only spoke to only three students, all of which attend the same school.
Appendix A
What are your future goals (jobs, college…) and how are they going to incorporate writing in the future?
What do you consider “writing”?
What was your most recent or favorite writing assignment that a teacher assigned?
What topics to you enjoy writing about and why?
When you begin writing an essay, how do you plan ahead, as in ‘brainstorming’ or pre-writing?
What do you dislike most about the entire process of writing?
Do you write better at home or in the classroom?
Which part of the essay is the hardest for you, the introduction, body, or conclusion (ending)?
When graded on essays, do you think the grading is fair?
Would you like to improve your writing skills?
Have you ever had a peer look over a paper for you, and did you like/dislike this type of evaluation?
Have you ever been given any helpful tools from a teacher or peer about the writing process?
Do you find writing research papers difficult?
How could a teacher reduce anxiety about writing for a student?
Do you consider yourself a good writer?
Which of the following types of writing is your least favorite? Narrative, Expository, Persuasive, Compare and Contrast, etc…
Goal Setting in High School
So much of students' time in high school is based on planning for the future---taking the SAT/ACT, applying for college, looking for a job, etc. I think that making a habit of setting and working towards attainable goals is something that high students should be doing throughout their high school careers. For some students it may be passing their next algebra test, while others will be working towards the honor roll for the next quarter, either way making a habit of setting goals is important. If students are thinking ahead, they will be less likely to procrastinate or forget to do something as well as having higher expectations of themselves. Making a habit of working hard for an attainable goal is something I will encourage all of my students to do because it is something they will be able to use in the future.
Voice
Giving each child the opportunity to express themselves in the classroom is one of the most important aspects of my own teaching philosophy. In order for a student to feel comfortable to ask questions and talk in my classroom, I will make sure that I am approachable. This means, I want them understand that it is alright to be wrong if you don't understand something as long as you are thinking. Asking questions is the best way to learn!
I also believe that differences in opinion is not necessarily a bad thing. By talking about different views, opinions, and perspectives students will learn tolerance. Recollecting on my favorite teachers, I respected those that respected their students and gave them space to learn from each other(within reason).
I also believe that differences in opinion is not necessarily a bad thing. By talking about different views, opinions, and perspectives students will learn tolerance. Recollecting on my favorite teachers, I respected those that respected their students and gave them space to learn from each other(within reason).
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