Posts

Learning Letter

The major project for this course was the three-week unit plan, which is easily the biggest project I’ve ever completed in my educational career; at the beginning of the quarter, I had absolutely no idea how I was going to complete the project because looking at all the pieces on the course blog was daunting and overwhelming.  However, I appreciated the accountability that was built into the course, meaning five of the components of the project had to be turned in for feedback from the professor.  This really helped with creating the project because it forced me to be productive and get things done on time.  The lesson plans were the biggest portion of the unit plan, but since there was accountability on the other pieces of the project, I created my own accountability for the 14 other lesson plans; once most of my unit plan was complete and I knew the end goal of the unit, I created my own due dates for the lesson plans.  Lesson plans 1 through 5 would be completed ...

Graphic Novels in the Classroom

I love the inclusion of graphic novels in classroom content because it’s a way to appeal to students who like reading graphic novels and visual learners who comprehend the text with the pictures.  I think graphic novels would be an easy and simple way to involve student-centered learning into the classroom because it can allow for different ways for students to get the same information.  For example, in my practicum, while students were reading Lord of the Flies , they had the physical copy of the book, an abridged, online version, and the audiobook.  Hypothetically, if a graphic novel existed for LOTF, I could see myself implemented the book into my classroom.  And I could see a graphic novel implemented in a couple of ways.  I could see using it in combination with the novel, much like how Michelle used The Black Cat graphic novel for students to read during her mini-lesson.  And I could also see using graphic novels much like an abridged or audiobook ve...

Elie Wiesel’s Night

The first time I read night was in my high school Honors 10 th grade English class, and even then, I could see the many benefits of the novel in an English class and cross-curriculum.  Cross-content curriculum practices are becoming more and more common with the introduction of Common Core.  Night would be an excellent book to use these practices because it would work for English and History classes.  In English, students would be reading, discussing, and writing about the themes and key details in the book, while, in History, students would be looking at the timeline of events of WW2 and groups who were impacted by the Holocaust and camps.  Also, there is so much material that could be used alongside the novel for comparing of accounts, such as The Diary of Anne Frank .  Films, such as “The Schindler’s List,” could also be used in either an English or History class to provide a visual representation of a different account of the events of the Holocaust. ...

Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories and Poems

I have always loved Edgar Allan Poe’s work; I read quite of bit of his work in high school and college.  Poe is probably one of the most well-renowned writers and I feel is beneficial for secondary students to cover.  “The Raven,” his most famous poem can be easily used to teach elements of poetry.  I can see many teaching strategies for his short stories and poems. My favorite Poe short story is “The Fall of the House of Usher;” I read this during my Honors 10 th grade English class and fell in love with it.  I can see using the story to learn about tone and imagery; the first line of the short is packed full of tone and imagery that students can spend a good amount of time taking the first line apart for different types of imagery and all the dark and dreary imagery.  That would set up the mood for the entire story. “During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, had ...

Mini- Lesson TPA

TPA Lesson Plan #__1__ Course: ENGL 493 1. Teacher Candidate Hailey Kingman Date Taught November 13, 2017 Cooperating Teacher Leanne Donley School/District Central Valley HS 2. Subject English Field Supervisor Miranda Hein 3. Lesson Title/Focus Themes 5. Length of Lesson 20 minutes 4. Grade Level 9th grade 6. Academic & Content Standards (Common Core/National) CCSS RL.9-10.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. 7. Learning Objective(s) Students will be able to determine theme from the text by playing a Kahoot quiz to review themes and participating in small and whole class discussions about ...

Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It

Even though Kelly Gallagher’s Readicide was published in 2009, I feel the book is still relevant in 2017 classrooms because “teaching to the test” has remained a prevalent notion in schools.  One of my favorite parts of the book was about “Establish a book flood zone” (52-53) and the inclusion of Appendix A: 101 Books My Reluctant Readers Love to Read (119-124); he mentions he has over 2,000 books in his classroom because he believes in bringing the library to his students (53).  In high school, my AP Language Arts teacher had the same line of thinking and had her own Classroom Library.  Students could check out books from her library to encourage reluctant readers to find books that they might find interesting.  I plan on having my own classroom library as well; I’ve started an Amazon Wishlist for a classroom library, so I liked reading through which books Gallagher’s reluctant readers enjoyed because I want to add them to my list to create a diverse library of...

Reliable Sources Graphic

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 A couple people asked for me to post this so they can easily find it.  This graphic is a great source that I'm using with my ninth grad students to be able to understand and determine if a website is credible or not.