Call Me Maybe #EngChat

No matter how hard I try, my brain is always thinking of potential lessons. With my blog, I have the ability to share these ideas and get some feedback. I was driving home today when Call Me Maybe came on the radio. I have heard the song and have seen the Harvard Baseball video, but had never really listend to the lyrics. I was paying attention this time around and hear the lyrics and found them pretty descriptive. Silly but descriptive.

As an English Teacher, I'm always striving to find ways to engage my students in poetry. It is not the easiest thing in the world and I always turn to music to show them the beauty of poetry in the world around them. As I listend to this song, I thought about the lyrics and wondered what the actual music video looked like. Did the video show an accurate representation of the song? The next thought was the lesson.

What if I had my students take songs they liked and create music videos based solely on the lyrics? I could have kids recreate the videos of their popular songs while focusing on the imagery the artists provide. I got really excited about this project and even came up with an alternative option for the students who do not have access to a camera to record their videos. Those students can create storyboards and draw out their video. I see these as group projects where students can dive into the language, look at songs as poetry and use these words to create visual representations of the the songs.

Lastly, I am big on modeling assignments when it is possible and I thought I might reach out to my PLN to recreate Call Me Maybe in a literal fashion. I might be sending out emails this summer asking for people to film parts of the song so I can edit them all together to show my students.

Thanks for reading and let me know what you think.  Is this a good idea, or just a silly idea. Well, I guess it can be both.

The @19Pencils Search Box #EdChat #ElemChat

Getting the most out of your 19 Pencils Search Box

Now that 19 Pencils offers a great search tool to place on your blog or wiki, there are many great things you can do with them. Here is just one of the fun and engaging ways you can utilize this new tool from 19 Pencils.

Even though students might think differently, teachers do not know of every website out there. Nobody could ever play with every website and provide feedback for the students. Now, the 19 Pencils search engine can allow students to do some of the searching on their own.

A teacher can create an assignment where students use the search tool as a way to find sites on their own and provide feedback to the class. This would be a great way to teach some Internet searching skills and website evaluation.

By providing a rubric or form for the students to follow, the kids can search for great sites using the 19 Pencils search engine and then provide feedback on the form. Students could then use the form as a guide to a class presentation describing the site they found and how it would be helpful to the students in class. This simple assignment can help students grow in many different areas.

For teachers, student feedback is so important. Students will be able to review sites and let the teacher know what they think is valuable and that is the best feedback a teacher can get.

By using the 19 Pencils search box, a teacher can feel safe knowing that the websites that pop up a re appropriate for students to review and utilize in their learning.

We hope you enjoy the search box and the new pieces of 19 Pencils we continue to add to make this the best teacher tool in your belt.

Happy New Year!

- @TheNerdyTeacher

19 Pencils is a paid sponsor of The Nerdy Teacher

The QR Quest - A Prototype

Below you are going to read about a Prototype that started with an idea to engage learners and bring the classroom out of the classroom. This came about after a 2 day boot camp were educators and designers learned about Design Thinking. I will get around to a post on DT, but I wanted to share this idea with everyone because I'm excited about it.

This is all very rough, but I like the direction it is heading. These are two examples I put together on how I might use QR codes in the classroom in conjunction with a local park and a local museum. I would love to hear your comments. I've know about QR Codes for a while but The Daring Librarian is the bomb when it comes to them.

These lessons assume that the students would have access to a class set of iPads. Any tablet would work for these ideas. I use iPads because that is the tablet I'm familiar with. Anyway, here are the lessons. 

The QR Quest in the Language Arts Classroom

Here is an example of what the QR Quest could look like in the Language Arts Classroom. This example is based on the American Literature Class for Sophomores.

Connecting with Museums

Unit: Fantasy, Folklore and Fairy Tales

Students would read American Folk lore and learn the meaning behind these stride and their value in society. 

Students would go to the Henry Ford House to see the Fantasy, Folklore and Fairy Tales exhibit.

Students would look at the art on display and create their own stories based on the art they find.

The students would spend the next few days creating their own stories based on the picture alone. The iPads allow them to create videos, photo collages, songs, poems, etc.

Students would then post their creations to a digital space and create QR codes to share with the Henry Ford House. These QR codes would be placed next to the art to be scanned by visitors.

A display could be set up at the school that has the QR codes along with reproductions of the art for people in the school to see.

The mobility of the tablets allows the students to create on the go. They are no longer tied to the classroom. The classroom is wherever the student goes with the iPad.

A unit like this could be done in 5 class period or longer depending on the depth of the stories and the length of the student created project. 

Here is a project outside of the classroom involving local parks.

Unit: On Walden Pond - Thoreau

After discussing Thoreau's Essay and the concept of Transcendentalism, students would leave the classroom and go to a local park to be inspired by nature the same way Thoreau was when he was at Walden Pond.

Students would bring the class iPads with them to document the sights and sounds of the park.  Like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM1a9V-k62I&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

Or they could take a photo and write a poem,

 

The students can use the apps on their tablets to edit and create whatever they want. Students are now engaged in the material in a way that was not possible. Once students have created their digital inspirations, they will create QR Codes for them. 

Scan me, this code works!

These QR codes can be laminated and posted along the trails of the park where students were inspired. People would scan these and interact by leaving comments and providing meaningful feedback.

Students would no longer be creating content for the teacher alone, but the community as a whole.

These are just a couple of lessons in language arts, but I could see this being used for social studies, science, art and so many other content areas. Allowing the students to be creative is the best thing we can do as teachers. 

I'm working on making this possible in my district for the fall. I have a handful more ideas I could work with using QR codes. Share your ideas so I can share them with my Admins!

Thanks!

@TheNerydTeacher

Changing it up - My vocab lesson gets a facelift

As much as it seems like I'm always doing something new in my class, there are some things that I have not changed in the 10 years I've been teaching. I always try and evaluate my lessons every year, The really good ones make it to the next round and the bad ones are altered or eliminated. It takes work, but I feel it is needed to keep my teaching fresh. One part of my daily teaching life is undergoing a huge change for second semester.

For the past decade, I have given students a Word of the Day (WOD). The come in and there will be a word on the board. The students are responsible for writing the word down and finding the definition at home. After 20 or 25 words, the students will have one week to study and there will be a test. As the school year progresses, the tests become more difficult. The tests start with definitions and end with correct usage. This is how I was taught for 4 years in high school and I felt it really helped me with my vocabulary skills. As the years have passed, I have had students tell me they have seen the words on the ACT, SAT and other standardized exams. The lesson worked well. For me, that was proof that my lesson was a success, but was it?

As part of my vocabulary lesson, I accepted that there were going to be students who were not going to study the words. The tests were very much pass or fail. The kids that studied did very well and the kids that did not study failed miserably. As I have moved more towards project based learning, I've started to question my assumptions on who is studying and who is not. Are the students not studying because they cannot master vocabulary using memorization? Is that what is stopping them? my WOD tests are the only "tests" my students take all year. Why? Why can't I change the way I've done something for a decade? Well, I'm giving it a try.

I did not do away with the test. I'm not ready to part with my exams yet. I think I could be there next year, just not right now. I did decide to add a new element that will hopefully help some of the struggling students. As a visual learner, I thought of way to bring the visual elements I like to use in other lessons to the WOD. The AP teachers in the building have students do visual representations of Tone words. It's a cool lesson and kids decorate the room with words and pictures. I've always wanted to do something similar, but never made the connection to my WOD unit. Now, I've decided to blend the two concepts together.

The day of the WOD test, students are to submit 20 illustrated words and definitions as part of their test score. The can draw or use images from newspaper, magazines or the internet to illustrate the definitions. My hope is that the time the students spend on their projects will translate into retention. I want the kids to see the words on the exam and see the picture in their head. I really have no idea how this will work in the long run, but I feel like I needed to change it up a bit for the students who might need a change to be successful. I'm not saying that it is going to stick around forever, but I'm willing to at least look at the difference and make a better judgment on "What works well".


- @TheNerdyTeacher

The Nerdy Teacher's Epic Romeo and Juliet Unit Idea

I have this idea for a unit on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. It would involve all 3 sections of my Freshmen English Students (Grade 9). That would be around 80-90 students. By dividing the play into thirds, each class would be responsible for putting on their piece of the play by the end of the semester. Using Web 2.0 tools and class time, students would be working within the class and with the other classes to create 1 performance. This idea is still in its infancy stages, so there is still plenty of stuff to work out, but I'm really excited about where this lesson could go. Please take a look at my ideas for the different parts of the play and let me know your thoughts.

Acting - I will have about 90 students in my 3 classes. Not everyone will be able to, or even want to, act. I will divide the play into thirds and students can audition for the various parts per class. This way kids that want to act will be able to act. We have a great Drama and Show Choir group at my high school, so there will be plenty of students that will want to have a role. By dividing the play into thirds, the classes will  be able to work together in their class without having to worry about meeting with other students in different hours. These students will do research by watching other versions of the play and researching the historical basis of the characters. This will allow them to have a sense of the history of these type of characters and it will provide them a better understanding of what Shakespeare wanted to see performed on the stage.

Directing - I'm not sure about this one. If I don't have a student do it, I would have to. I don't mind doing it, but I would like the students to have as much ownership of the entire play as possible. I would provide guidance to the student director, but I would allow them to run the show. This is something I would need to give more consideration.

Script Writing - (Maybe) I'm considering allowing students to take the play and adapt it or update it. I will be doing this lesson at the end of the year, so I will have a good idea on who the best and strongest writers are. This would allow these students to have a role in the project they could excel yet. This would be tough to do because of dividing the play into three parts, but a Google Doc or other collaborative sites could make this easier.

Costumes - There are always students who want to design costumes. This would be a great chance for students to design and put together costumes for their 1/3 of the play. Depending on whether there is an adaptation of the play or not, students could do research and present rationales as to why they dressed the actors in certain ways. This allows those artistic students a chance to express their understanding of characters and the roles they play in the story.

Set/Prop Design - Designing a set is not an easy task, but broken into thirds will allow students the room to be creative and manage their time. The really hands-on students will have a chance to design and construct a set for the play. They will need to explain how they built the set and the reasons they chose to include or exclude props.

Advertising -I'm really excited about this part of the project. This will really allow those students with various talents to shine. I would love to see students create a blog updating the progress of the actors, the set, the script, etc. A twitter account designed to creat interest in the play. Posters, fliers, websites, etc would be created by the students to help promote the production. The sky is the limit for this part of the production. This could involve so many different types of technology. This would require a little more collaboration between the classes, but work for this part of the project could easily be divided and worked on using various sites to facilitate collaboration. Viral marketing campaign would be great to start. Creating Facebook accounts for the characters and having them interact with actual students in preparation of the play would be fun. Twitter accounts could be used the same way. Again, the sky is the limit.

Soundtrack - We have a great orchestra and band at my high school. I could have some students in one class learn and play music for certain parts of the play. If I'm lacking in band kids, I could have students create a playlist for their third of the play and submit it with detailed explanations as to why certain songs are chosen for certain scenes. If it is a period piece, students would research period music and explain its role in the play.

These are just a few of the ideas I've had cross my brain since Wednesday afternoon. I'm sure there are more things I can add and eventually subtract from this lesson idea. In theory, it would be the best lesson I've created since my Mock Trial of Mark Twain. Many hours will be spent planning and organizing this project, but I think this project will allow all students access to a great literary work that is too often dismissed by students. Please leave a comment after reading this post if you have ideas, concerns, questions, suggestions, etc. Your help in making this lesson a real thing would be very much appreciated. Bonus: If you help make this idea happen, you get to read my posts about next year. It's win-win for everyone. :-)

Prezi Meets Gatsby

Here is a Prezi I put together about the themes, symbols and characters of The Great Gatsby. The kids liked the presentation format and it was a nice change of pace from the standard PowerPoint and SMART Notebook software. Take a look and tell me what you think. I think I will do one for each chapter of the book.

The Great Gatsby Themes and Symbols on Prezi

Here is a Prezi for Chapter 1. This does not contain all of the information for Chapter 1, but they are great starting points for conversations.

The Great Gatsby Notes on Prezi

Try it out at Prezi.com!

- @TheNerdyTeacher