Pre - Reading Strategy Using Significant Quotations

This activity is from Upcycled Education: The Personal & Professional Blog of Jen Lara.  The activity uses quotes from a text that students will be reading.  For this simple but effective pre-reading activity, the teacher chose a variety of quotes from a chapter that students would soon be reading.  She tried to keep the quotes interesting and open-ended.  Students simply had to look through the available quotes, choose one that interested them, and share their quote with a partner.

(Image credit: http://www.upcyclededucation.com/2012/03/textbook-quote-activity-guest.html)

The beauty in this activity is its simplicity.  It would be easy to adapt to any kind of text that you will be reading, from a short informational text to a Shakespearean play.  Students are setting a purpose for reading, making connections to the text, and making predictions.  I imagine this being a great way to get kids up and moving- you could easily ask them to get up and share their quote/the reason they chose the quote with, say, five classmates.  This could also be done using the first word last word method.  The adaptability of this activity means that you can use the idea over and over again without the kids getting bored.

Food for Thought... what are your favourite pre-reading activities?  

I Read... Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemtion

You know how they say that you should never watch the movie without reading the book first?  Let's just say that I was way behind when it came to Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.

I have taught the film The Shawshank Redemption several times.  It is clearly one of the best films out there, and I have never met a person who didn't love the movie.  I loved teaching it as a film study, not only because it is a great movie with so much complexity, but also because it hits all of my ideals when it comes to choosing a film for kids: most of them haven't seen it, it holds their interest, it gives them a ton to work with.  Of course, I knew that The Shawshank Redemption was based on Stephen King's novella Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, but it was never high on my list of books to read.  I spoke to a colleague recently, and she said that she had decided to teach the novella in conjunction with the film.  It was so successful that she decided that she would only teach the novella in the future, eliminating the film.  She said that her kids overwhelmingly preferred the book to the film.  This was not a group of academic students, so this really shocked me.  I knew that I had to get the novella.

Since Rita Hayworth is so short, it was easy to read in one night.  It was a great, quick read.  However, I think that my attachment to the film is too strong to choose the film over the book.  The images and voices were so strong in my mind that I couldn't stop picturing the actors as I read.  Even though Red is an Irishman in the novella, I kept picturing Morgan Freeman.  Not only that, but the film delved deeper into the storyline.  I found the resolution regarding Warden Norton far more satisfying in the film than in the novella.  I kept waiting for Red to say, "how often do you look at a man's shoes," but it never came.

Overall, if you're a fan of the film this is certainly worth a read.  It will cost you a few hours, tops, and it will give you an appreciation for what a great filmmaker can do with just a bit of good, solid source material.

Food for Thought... Can you think of any other films that were better than the book that they were based on?  The only other film that comes to mind for me is The Devil Wears Prada.

I Read... The Interestings

The last book that I read, The Interestings, seems to be a pretty divisive book- people either love it or hate it.  I picked it up because it had a lot of good buzz.  I read the first chapter, wasn't impressed, and put the book aside for a few months.  I decided to give it another chance and just motor through the book to see what all of the fuss was about.  While I'm glad that I gave the book another chance, it was not one of my favourites.

The book starts with a group of kids at summer camp who call themselves "The Interestings."  The story follows their lives to see where these youths, who seemed to have so much potential and promise, end up as adults.

The main character, Jules, feels lucky to be chosen to join The Interestings.  She dabbles in acting, and ends up in a more stable career as a therapist, married to a very average man, and mother to a very average daughter.

Jules' best friends, Ethan and Ash, end up married.  As they always dreamed, they become very successful in creative fields.  The contrast between Ethan and Ash and Jules and her husband highlights those feelings of inadequacy that all of us feel at some point.  Why didn't I see success like he did?  If I had done something differently, would my life have turned out differently?  Am I good enough the way that I am?  Is there something better out there?

For me, the premise of the story and the themes that are explored are promising.  However, I just wasn't engrossed in the story.  I kept thinking that it was like the Seinfeld of books- nothing really happened.  None of the characters were likable enough for me to really care about, and I just wanted Jules to stop whining.

Food for thought... Has there been a book that everyone seemed to like, but just didn't do it for you?  What was it?

Character Study

This pin comes from a blog called Young Teacher Love.  The teacher, Kristine, documents the great things that she does in her grade 5 classroom.  What I liked about the blog, however, is that I can easily adapt her strategies to any level.  I can see using her Character Study activity in high school easily, and I think that it would be a great way for kids to get an indepth understanding of a complex character- great for preparing to write an essay for the Alberta diploma exams, for example.

For this lesson, kids are randomly given a character to follow throughout the study of a novel.  Whenever the audience learns something new about the character, students take note on a post it.  At the end of class, kids add their points to an anchor chart with all of the characters' names.  This is a great way to give kids a focused task or purpose for reading- they know that when that character pops up, they are on alert.  They then have to synthesize the information that they have gathered to figure out how to best share the information with their peers via the anchor chart.

I can see myself using this as a during reading activity when we will be writing a critical/analytic essay prompt based on a character.  I find that kids often go for the obvious character.  For example, if students are asked to write about a human element in Death of a Salesman, they tend to look at Willy even if Linda would be a strong subject.  This is a great way to have students explore the complexity of all supporting characters.  I also think that it is a great way to start conversations about characters.  If I were to put kids in a literature circle with people who had focused on other characters, I need only ask why did x happen/did he do that to get them talking.

Food for thought... how do you teach characterization?  What are your favourite activities to keep kids focused and purposeful while reading?

Main Idea and Supporting Evidence

This idea was pinned from a blog called The Lesson Plan Diva.  I'm always looking for ideas to help students with essay writing.  Almost to a student, it is the thing that they fear most about English class.  So how can we as teachers increase student confidence?  This idea for a main idea coffee table is great because it can be adapted for different levels- very basic expository essay to more complex critical/analytic essay- and it engages those visual and kinesthetic kids in the class.

(Image credit: http://www.lessonplandiva.com/2012/01/there-is-lot-of-learning-going-on.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheLessonPlanDiva+(The+Lesson+Plan+Diva))

The basic idea is to show kids that the supporting ideas are just that- support for the main idea that you are trying to get across.  All to often, kids write an essay that ends up being just plot summary.  Their "supporting ideas" are actually things that happened in the text, not points to support a main idea.  It can be difficult for kids to have that "aha" moment where they realize the difference between the two.  This coffee table activity requires kids to plan the structure of the essay in advance, and it can also act as a visual guide to see how strong the supporting evidence that they have chosen is.  Does this piece of evidence really support the main idea that I have written on the top of my coffee table?  Or is it merely something that happened in my text?  If it is the latter, I should remove the leg and see that my argument needs more support, quite literally in this case, if it is going to stand up.

Food for thought... what do your students struggle with when it comes to essay writing?  What are the best tips and tricks that you have found to address these challenges?  

Using Instagram to Teach Characterization

My latest inspiration came from the Kleinspiration blog, which gives a great idea on using Instagram as a tool to explore characterization.

(Image credit: http://www.kleinspiration.com/2013/01/if-our-characters-had-instagram-new.html)

What I love most about this project is that it was inspired by the students' real life activities.  The teacher, Erin Klein, noticed that a lot of students received iPad minis for Christmas, and that many of them were using Instagram to document their lives.  How could she take this information and use it in the classroom?

She talked about Instagram and asked the kids what it would be like if the characters that they had read about in a novel had Instagram accounts.  What kind of pictures would they post?  This got the kids engaged in a characterization activity- much more interesting than doing a plain old character sketch.  Erin Klein of the Kleinspiration blog has kindly shared free printables for this project at http://www.kleinspiration.com/2013/01/if-our-characters-had-instagram-new.html.

Food for thought... How do you integrate "real life" activities into your classroom?  I used to do a similar characterization activity using Facebook, but it seems that Facebook isn't as popular with kids anymore.  How important is it for teachers to keep up with what's "cool"?

I Read...Veronica Mars: Mr. Kiss and Tell

This book is pure guilty pleasure.  I am a die-hard Marshmallow.  I have loved the television show Veronica Mars since the very first episode.  I never missed an episode, and I have seen every episode several times since it was cancelled in 2007.  I contributed to the Kickstarter campaign to get a movie made, and I have seen that movie several times.  I was excited to read the first novel that was released after the movie, especially knowing that series creator Rob Thomas said that the events of the novel would become VM canon (important to know in case another movie is made).  As soon as the second novel was released, I knew what would be next on my "to-read" list.

If you have no interest in Veronica Mars, you likely aren't going to be interested in this book.  If you,'re not interested in easy-to-read, beach ready mysteries, you definitely won't be interested in this book.  Mr Kiss and Tell picks up where the last novel, The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line, left off.  bad-boy-turned-good-turned-bad-again, Eli Navarro, is in the midst of a trial following his run in with Celeste Kane- he has been wrongly accused of a crime, but the evidence is stacked against him.  Veronica is back in the PI business, working with her father Keith.  Her boyfriend, Logan, is back in town after being away at sea (he's in the Navy).   When a woman shows up on the side of the road, beaten, abused, within an inch of her life,  Veronica is hired to find out what really happened to her.  With a mysterious victim who has no memory of the abuse and no evidence, will Veronica be able to find the perp?  I'm sure you can guess what the answer to that question is, but the rollercoaster to get there is a fun ride.  

Food for thought... What are your guilty-pleasure books?  Your favourite beach-ready reads?  What are your thoughts on "real" literature vs. fun books?