Summer 2017 - Best of the Blog
Welcome to the Summer 2017 issue! For the summer, we thought to keep it simple...there have been some WONDERFUL posts on our blog, and for this issue, we are highlighting some of the best! A special thanks to our wonderful blog editor Kate Walker, who is tireless in her efforts each and every day! Remember you can find the blog here! Lastly, if there is a particular highlight you enjoy, don't forgot to head over to the blog to find the original post...there you might see additional graphics, pictures, and links! So, sit back and enjoy!
Jonathan DeBor
Communications Director
[email protected]
Jonathan DeBor
Communications Director
[email protected]
FRIDAY FIVE: TEACHER TO-DO LIST FOR THE SUMMER
Kate Walker
So now that you’re done with school, the time to decompress and recharge has arrived. Whether you’re at year 3 or year 30, teachers need the summer to relax and build up that energy reservoir for the next year. Summer professional development is important and useful, and I know many of you will do training, meet with teachers, attend conferences, and read professional books (I will, too). But here’s a summer to-do list for teachers that will help you really relax and recharge so you can return to school ready for students.
1. Binge watch that one show all you students were talking about. Especially if you wouldn’t normally watch it. Even if you just watch 3 episodes in a row, you’ll at least know the characters and the basics when you see your students next. (Pro tip: ask students via social media like twitter which show to binge watch). My high school students recommended, among other shows, both Orange is the New Black and 13 Reasons Why.
2. Stay in your pajamas all day and do not cook one meal. Pretend you’re back in college and do not be productive for one entire day. If you have kids, they probably won’t mind pjs and cereal all day. Allow yourself one full day with no responsibilities. This can be hard for us, since we’re so used to getting things done, and the summer is time to get things done you can’t do during the school year. However, you need to take a full 24 hours off from doing things. Order in, or just eat from your cupboards. Ask your significant other or kids to make food. If you’re not sure how to *not* do things all day, try #1.
3. Leave your computer and phone and go outside all day. We’re so connected, even during the summer. Whether you’re checking the news, finding summer PD, or trying to work on curriculum, give yourself a day without any screens. No TV, no computer, no phone. Go enjoy the natural world. This will allow you, as Thoreau says, to “maintain a little bit of summer, even in the middle of winter.” Recharge your nature batteries, whether it is at the beach, on a hike, or in your backyard. Just don’t forget the sunblock.
4. Call a non-teacher friend and go out to lunch. You should go out with teacher buddies, too, but this one is important. If you go out to lunch with a non-teacher, it means you will probably not talk about school, lessons, administration, students, parents, or curriculum. It means you’ll have conversations about family, the news, movies, or the food you’re eating. Enjoy a full conversation and meal without being a teacher, you’ll just be a friend.
5. Freewrite about what you never have time for and then do it. OK, so this is kind of an assignment. Take out a piece of paper and a pen. Freewrite for five minutes without stopping on this prompt: What do you feel you never have time to do, but really want to do? I did this and was surprised. I thought I would discover I wanted to write more. You know what? Deep down, I want to cook more elaborate meals, and in the summer, I have time to do that: time to chop veggies, simmer, prepare complex dishes that normally would not happen when I come home from school. Freewrite until you figure out what you actually wish you were doing. Then take some time this summer to do it! In the meantime, I’m headed to the grocery store to buy ingredients and start cooking.
So now that you’re done with school, the time to decompress and recharge has arrived. Whether you’re at year 3 or year 30, teachers need the summer to relax and build up that energy reservoir for the next year. Summer professional development is important and useful, and I know many of you will do training, meet with teachers, attend conferences, and read professional books (I will, too). But here’s a summer to-do list for teachers that will help you really relax and recharge so you can return to school ready for students.
1. Binge watch that one show all you students were talking about. Especially if you wouldn’t normally watch it. Even if you just watch 3 episodes in a row, you’ll at least know the characters and the basics when you see your students next. (Pro tip: ask students via social media like twitter which show to binge watch). My high school students recommended, among other shows, both Orange is the New Black and 13 Reasons Why.
2. Stay in your pajamas all day and do not cook one meal. Pretend you’re back in college and do not be productive for one entire day. If you have kids, they probably won’t mind pjs and cereal all day. Allow yourself one full day with no responsibilities. This can be hard for us, since we’re so used to getting things done, and the summer is time to get things done you can’t do during the school year. However, you need to take a full 24 hours off from doing things. Order in, or just eat from your cupboards. Ask your significant other or kids to make food. If you’re not sure how to *not* do things all day, try #1.
3. Leave your computer and phone and go outside all day. We’re so connected, even during the summer. Whether you’re checking the news, finding summer PD, or trying to work on curriculum, give yourself a day without any screens. No TV, no computer, no phone. Go enjoy the natural world. This will allow you, as Thoreau says, to “maintain a little bit of summer, even in the middle of winter.” Recharge your nature batteries, whether it is at the beach, on a hike, or in your backyard. Just don’t forget the sunblock.
4. Call a non-teacher friend and go out to lunch. You should go out with teacher buddies, too, but this one is important. If you go out to lunch with a non-teacher, it means you will probably not talk about school, lessons, administration, students, parents, or curriculum. It means you’ll have conversations about family, the news, movies, or the food you’re eating. Enjoy a full conversation and meal without being a teacher, you’ll just be a friend.
5. Freewrite about what you never have time for and then do it. OK, so this is kind of an assignment. Take out a piece of paper and a pen. Freewrite for five minutes without stopping on this prompt: What do you feel you never have time to do, but really want to do? I did this and was surprised. I thought I would discover I wanted to write more. You know what? Deep down, I want to cook more elaborate meals, and in the summer, I have time to do that: time to chop veggies, simmer, prepare complex dishes that normally would not happen when I come home from school. Freewrite until you figure out what you actually wish you were doing. Then take some time this summer to do it! In the meantime, I’m headed to the grocery store to buy ingredients and start cooking.
Conference 2017
CONFERENCE 2017 :
“Acquiring Advocacy: Overcoming Obstacles, Promoting Partnership, and Cultivating Dignity”
October 20 & 21
DoubleTree by Hilton Pittsburgh
Green Tree , PA
Featured Speakers:
LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON
AND
KYLENE BEERS AND BOB PROBST
“Acquiring Advocacy: Overcoming Obstacles, Promoting Partnership, and Cultivating Dignity”
October 20 & 21
DoubleTree by Hilton Pittsburgh
Green Tree , PA
Featured Speakers:
LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON
AND
KYLENE BEERS AND BOB PROBST
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NEXT YEAR’S GREATEST LESSON: MINI DOCUMENTARIES
Allison Irwin
Now that we’re winding down to the end of the year and all that’s left to do is proctor finals and tally the grades, I find myself looking for next year’s greatest lesson. What should I change about my instruction? What will captivate my often less-than-enthusiastic audience? Where, oh where should I go to find a resource that is worth sharing in the precious few moments I get with my students each day?
In my googling frenzy, I stumbled across this precious gem from The Learning Network at the New York Times:
8 Compelling Mini-Documentaries to Teach Close Reading and Critical Thinking Skills
When I wrote to Michael Gonchar, Deputy Editor of the New York Times Learning Network, he replied within hours. It’s easy to tell that this educator-turned-editor has a passion for learning. When you look to the Film Club, you will see that he plays a big part in that initiative. In his reply to my email he wrote:
“Thank you for your email. I love the Op Docs in The Times, and I’m really hoping that Film Club will catch on with even more teachers. I think it’s a great resource, especially for ELA teachers. All of these very cool short documentary films make for engaging content for writing, discussing and thinking. I’m so glad to hear that you’re excited about it too, and that you’ll be sharing it with teachers across PA.”
Hopefully more teachers will begin using these valuable resources available on the New York Times Learning Network! I can’t express enough the importance of free, thought-provoking resources that have clearly been developed by someone who knows and understands education.
Here are five reasons why you should absolutely check this out.
1) There is no time to watch a 2-hour video.
I’ve never been one for popping in a movie at the end of the year and coasting through June. That’s what summer is for. Or lazy, rainy afternoons at home on my couch. This post on The Learning Network blog opened my eyes to the possibilities of showing and discussing a short (less than 10 minutes) film. I’ve never considered this before. I could easily plan a 50 minute lesson around a pre-reading activity, video (reading – treat it like a text), and post-reading activity. While this could be utilized at any point throughout the year, I see this format being particularly engaging in June.
2) The mini documentaries in the Film Club are well produced!
I actually want to watch these films. They have enough created by now that you could either look for the latest additions to their series or you could search for a subject that applies to what your classroom goals are at the moment. As a reading teacher, I find it particularly easy to choose engaging texts – YES VIDEOS COUNT AS TEXT – since I can teach reading strategies regardless of the content of the chosen text. Even though other teachers may be more shackled to a curriculum, with over 50 short films to choose from, you’re bound to find something that is applicable.
3) “They tell stories that often remain hidden, and introduce us to people and places foreign to us.”
My favorite quote from the original blog post on The Learning Network. Joyfully and unabashedly making connections to abstract places, feelings, and situations that are foreign to us is one of the most valuable skills we can teach teenagers and young adults. So often kids are afraid of being wrong or sounding like an outcast. Or sounding like they sympathize with an outcast. Or they simply don’t know how to (or don’t care to) connect with something or someone that is unfamiliar. It feels uncomfortable. Watch the 7 minute video on the original blog post called San Quentin’s Giants. Students will be able to use their familiarity with baseball to bridge a connection to some of the more heavy themes in this documentary such as incarceration in America, self image, race relations, or stereotypes. Valuable, valuable gem indeed.
4) The lesson plans are already there for you!
Sort of. While I almost always adapt the lesson plans and materials provided from any resource, the building blocks of the lesson are already provided here. Have you ever used The Learning Network created by the New York Times? They have an incredible inventory of articles with accompanying discussion questions and activities. Today I learned that they offer the equivalent in video through this Film Club. I’m so happy! If you’re looking for something worthwhile but already partially constructed for you, then this is the place to look. It does not feel like a scripted curriculum the way that some options do. It’s just the building blocks for you to use and adapt to fit the needs of your students.
5) The Film Club meets and produces a new addition to their inventory every other week during the school year.
Hooray! Constantly evolving content to choose from! I love that this is fresh and remains relevant. It allows us to build on the activity so easily. For example, I could pair their most recent film Turning Oil Rigs into Reefs with all sorts of other texts. Current events from the newspaper would be perfect. Or I could pre-select a few photos that connect with the film on some thematic level and encourage students to make inferences to reveal the theme I intended. The interesting part here is that students may discover themes that I hadn’t intended – isn’t this a great moment to teach students about perspective? Or for younger students, I could use that natural moment to teach them that background knowledge plus the text evidence is what creates an inference. If we all have different background knowledge, we could easily come up with different inferences (even when we’re looking at the same evidence). This means we might all come up with different themes to connect the selected texts! It’s so much easier to have a lesson like this with multimedia texts rather than just words on a page.
Now that we’re winding down to the end of the year and all that’s left to do is proctor finals and tally the grades, I find myself looking for next year’s greatest lesson. What should I change about my instruction? What will captivate my often less-than-enthusiastic audience? Where, oh where should I go to find a resource that is worth sharing in the precious few moments I get with my students each day?
In my googling frenzy, I stumbled across this precious gem from The Learning Network at the New York Times:
8 Compelling Mini-Documentaries to Teach Close Reading and Critical Thinking Skills
When I wrote to Michael Gonchar, Deputy Editor of the New York Times Learning Network, he replied within hours. It’s easy to tell that this educator-turned-editor has a passion for learning. When you look to the Film Club, you will see that he plays a big part in that initiative. In his reply to my email he wrote:
“Thank you for your email. I love the Op Docs in The Times, and I’m really hoping that Film Club will catch on with even more teachers. I think it’s a great resource, especially for ELA teachers. All of these very cool short documentary films make for engaging content for writing, discussing and thinking. I’m so glad to hear that you’re excited about it too, and that you’ll be sharing it with teachers across PA.”
Hopefully more teachers will begin using these valuable resources available on the New York Times Learning Network! I can’t express enough the importance of free, thought-provoking resources that have clearly been developed by someone who knows and understands education.
Here are five reasons why you should absolutely check this out.
1) There is no time to watch a 2-hour video.
I’ve never been one for popping in a movie at the end of the year and coasting through June. That’s what summer is for. Or lazy, rainy afternoons at home on my couch. This post on The Learning Network blog opened my eyes to the possibilities of showing and discussing a short (less than 10 minutes) film. I’ve never considered this before. I could easily plan a 50 minute lesson around a pre-reading activity, video (reading – treat it like a text), and post-reading activity. While this could be utilized at any point throughout the year, I see this format being particularly engaging in June.
2) The mini documentaries in the Film Club are well produced!
I actually want to watch these films. They have enough created by now that you could either look for the latest additions to their series or you could search for a subject that applies to what your classroom goals are at the moment. As a reading teacher, I find it particularly easy to choose engaging texts – YES VIDEOS COUNT AS TEXT – since I can teach reading strategies regardless of the content of the chosen text. Even though other teachers may be more shackled to a curriculum, with over 50 short films to choose from, you’re bound to find something that is applicable.
3) “They tell stories that often remain hidden, and introduce us to people and places foreign to us.”
My favorite quote from the original blog post on The Learning Network. Joyfully and unabashedly making connections to abstract places, feelings, and situations that are foreign to us is one of the most valuable skills we can teach teenagers and young adults. So often kids are afraid of being wrong or sounding like an outcast. Or sounding like they sympathize with an outcast. Or they simply don’t know how to (or don’t care to) connect with something or someone that is unfamiliar. It feels uncomfortable. Watch the 7 minute video on the original blog post called San Quentin’s Giants. Students will be able to use their familiarity with baseball to bridge a connection to some of the more heavy themes in this documentary such as incarceration in America, self image, race relations, or stereotypes. Valuable, valuable gem indeed.
4) The lesson plans are already there for you!
Sort of. While I almost always adapt the lesson plans and materials provided from any resource, the building blocks of the lesson are already provided here. Have you ever used The Learning Network created by the New York Times? They have an incredible inventory of articles with accompanying discussion questions and activities. Today I learned that they offer the equivalent in video through this Film Club. I’m so happy! If you’re looking for something worthwhile but already partially constructed for you, then this is the place to look. It does not feel like a scripted curriculum the way that some options do. It’s just the building blocks for you to use and adapt to fit the needs of your students.
5) The Film Club meets and produces a new addition to their inventory every other week during the school year.
Hooray! Constantly evolving content to choose from! I love that this is fresh and remains relevant. It allows us to build on the activity so easily. For example, I could pair their most recent film Turning Oil Rigs into Reefs with all sorts of other texts. Current events from the newspaper would be perfect. Or I could pre-select a few photos that connect with the film on some thematic level and encourage students to make inferences to reveal the theme I intended. The interesting part here is that students may discover themes that I hadn’t intended – isn’t this a great moment to teach students about perspective? Or for younger students, I could use that natural moment to teach them that background knowledge plus the text evidence is what creates an inference. If we all have different background knowledge, we could easily come up with different inferences (even when we’re looking at the same evidence). This means we might all come up with different themes to connect the selected texts! It’s so much easier to have a lesson like this with multimedia texts rather than just words on a page.
A POEM: “SUMMER AT BLUE CREEK, NORTH CAROLINA”
Jack Gilbert
There was no water at my grandfather’s
when I was a kid and would go for it
with two zinc buckets. Down the path,
past the cow by the foundation where
the fine people’s house was before
they arranged to have it burned down.
To the neighbor’s cool well. Would
come back with pails too heavy,
so my mouth pulled out of shape.
I see myself, but from the outside.
I keep trying to feel who I was,
and cannot. Hear clearly the sound
the bucket made hitting the sides
of the stone well going down,
but never the sound of me.
There was no water at my grandfather’s
when I was a kid and would go for it
with two zinc buckets. Down the path,
past the cow by the foundation where
the fine people’s house was before
they arranged to have it burned down.
To the neighbor’s cool well. Would
come back with pails too heavy,
so my mouth pulled out of shape.
I see myself, but from the outside.
I keep trying to feel who I was,
and cannot. Hear clearly the sound
the bucket made hitting the sides
of the stone well going down,
but never the sound of me.
WHY (& HOW) I’M USING SNAPCHAT AS A TEACHER, AND WHY YOU SHOULD, TOO
Kate Walker
Snapchat has been around for about five years now, and I’ve used it for the last three, but in the past year, I’ve been using it as a teacher, and sharing my user ID with my students. I did a survey at the beginning of the year, and more students used Snapchat daily than any other social media (I’m not counting email or GoogleDrive because they have to use that for school). I decided I needed to capitalize on the fact that over 70% of my students were using Snapchat. Once I announced that I had a public account, many students were incredulous. One even asked how old I was. However, over the course of the year, I’ve seen benefits in using Snapchat in terms of sharing resources, reminders, book recommendations, poetry, and, of course, cat videos.
(For a great resource on the history of snapchat, complete with a timeline and tutorials, check out this article: “The Snap Generation: A Guide to Snapchat’s History”)
Resources
When I’m planning for our next class, sometimes I’ll share a clip of what we’ll be doing. For example, when we read Hamlet, I snapped a short video of David Tennant‘s version of Act II scene ii. Students arrived to class excited to watch the entire thing (and one confessed she ended up watching a bunch of David Tennant’s Hamlet videos the night before class).
Recently, I was watching Netflix’s Series of Unfortunate Events, which numerous students told me I needed to see. When the episode with all the Moby Dick references came on, I snapped a video and shared it to my story, which let the students know I’d seen it, and then gave us something to chat about before class the next day. I do this whenever I see a reference to one of the books we read in class in other works.
Reminders
When important due dates are coming up, I often snap a photo of the calendar to remind students about it (in case they haven’t recently opened up my constantly-updated online version of the calendar).
I also share general school announcements/reminders. Posters hang all over the walls of our high school with information about clubs, activities, opportunities, and lectures. I make it a point to snap those posters and announcements regularly. I find that many students take screen shots of many of these posters (you can tell on your story if someone has taken a screen shot) and this encourages me that what I’m doing is useful to some students. In snapchat you can circle the date or add an emoji to your picture.
Book & Poetry Recommendations
I like to share my reading life with my students, so Snapchat allows me to do this in an unobtrusive, but consistent way. I find myself taking pictures of the books I read (I also keep my instagram as a record of books I’m reading, as well as my Goodreads, since they disappear off my Snapchat story.) Students will often screen shot the book covers, favorite passages, or entire poems that I share. This lets me know, again, that some students are benefitting from my recommendations. Often, I’m reading a book recommended by a student (like with the snap below about We Are Not Ourselves) so it is a way to acknowledge how much I’m enjoying something a student shared with me.
Celebrations
Another fun way to use Snapchat as a teacher is to celebrate what happens in the classroom. Now students across classes can see fun things we’re doing. For example, I can video a short performance: our school does singing Valentines and I was able to record some of those on Snapchat, allowing students who were singing to see themselves. When we do creative activities in class students can see their own work celebrated and also appreciate what classmates created. (I also hang them up on my classroom walls, but I’m not sure they notice that all that time.)
Cat Videos, Adventures, and Cookies
Finally, Snapchat allows me to share some of my own goofiness / quirkiness with my students. I often snap little videos or pictures of my three cats, or of adventures my husband and I take, or of the hijinks we get up to on weekends.
When we had a snow day recently, I snapped the process of making chocolate chip cookies. I like my students to remember I’m human, but also to give them ways to connect with me. Students who love my cat videos will share pictures and stories of their own cats. Students who have been places I visit will ask about my trips (plus, there’s a really cool thing in Snapchat called Geotags that allow you to use a filter when you’re in a particular location.) Being able to form connections with students is a step in helping them take academic risks and grow as learners and writers and people.
Paradigm Shift
By using Snapchat, I’ve even shifted the way I think about teaching, and I’ve asked students to use it in the classroom. When teaching Of Mice and Men, I had students create a snap Lennie or George might have sent to each other. This helped them make meaning of the characters a little better, and demonstrate to me they understood what the story was about.
This year, when a student struggled with how to explain his claim about agony and how it appeared in a sculpture (related to Moby Dick), I suggested he use Snapchat to diagram the lines on the image. You can upload an image to Snapchat and draw on it, so this made it easier for him to write about the image once he used Snapchat to modify the it in the ways he referred to in his paper
There’s so much Snapchat can allow you to do for your students and your classroom. I admit, when I first heard of it, I dismissed Snapchat as a silly app, something I would never need or use. However, now I find myself snapping something anywhere from 3 to 10 times a day. It has allowed me to communicate with my students when they’re not in my classroom and it helps me shift my thinking at times.
The important thing I would add here is the way I’ve set up my account. I have it set to public, so anyone can follow me, but I do not follow my students back. I figure it is just better for everyone involved if they can only see my story, but we aren’t actually “friends” on the app. This makes it more professional. You can change that in the settings of the account. If you’d like to follow me, my snapchat ID is k1a9t7e5. Just be prepared for a few cat videos mixed in with the English snaps.
Snapchat has been around for about five years now, and I’ve used it for the last three, but in the past year, I’ve been using it as a teacher, and sharing my user ID with my students. I did a survey at the beginning of the year, and more students used Snapchat daily than any other social media (I’m not counting email or GoogleDrive because they have to use that for school). I decided I needed to capitalize on the fact that over 70% of my students were using Snapchat. Once I announced that I had a public account, many students were incredulous. One even asked how old I was. However, over the course of the year, I’ve seen benefits in using Snapchat in terms of sharing resources, reminders, book recommendations, poetry, and, of course, cat videos.
(For a great resource on the history of snapchat, complete with a timeline and tutorials, check out this article: “The Snap Generation: A Guide to Snapchat’s History”)
Resources
When I’m planning for our next class, sometimes I’ll share a clip of what we’ll be doing. For example, when we read Hamlet, I snapped a short video of David Tennant‘s version of Act II scene ii. Students arrived to class excited to watch the entire thing (and one confessed she ended up watching a bunch of David Tennant’s Hamlet videos the night before class).
Recently, I was watching Netflix’s Series of Unfortunate Events, which numerous students told me I needed to see. When the episode with all the Moby Dick references came on, I snapped a video and shared it to my story, which let the students know I’d seen it, and then gave us something to chat about before class the next day. I do this whenever I see a reference to one of the books we read in class in other works.
Reminders
When important due dates are coming up, I often snap a photo of the calendar to remind students about it (in case they haven’t recently opened up my constantly-updated online version of the calendar).
I also share general school announcements/reminders. Posters hang all over the walls of our high school with information about clubs, activities, opportunities, and lectures. I make it a point to snap those posters and announcements regularly. I find that many students take screen shots of many of these posters (you can tell on your story if someone has taken a screen shot) and this encourages me that what I’m doing is useful to some students. In snapchat you can circle the date or add an emoji to your picture.
Book & Poetry Recommendations
I like to share my reading life with my students, so Snapchat allows me to do this in an unobtrusive, but consistent way. I find myself taking pictures of the books I read (I also keep my instagram as a record of books I’m reading, as well as my Goodreads, since they disappear off my Snapchat story.) Students will often screen shot the book covers, favorite passages, or entire poems that I share. This lets me know, again, that some students are benefitting from my recommendations. Often, I’m reading a book recommended by a student (like with the snap below about We Are Not Ourselves) so it is a way to acknowledge how much I’m enjoying something a student shared with me.
Celebrations
Another fun way to use Snapchat as a teacher is to celebrate what happens in the classroom. Now students across classes can see fun things we’re doing. For example, I can video a short performance: our school does singing Valentines and I was able to record some of those on Snapchat, allowing students who were singing to see themselves. When we do creative activities in class students can see their own work celebrated and also appreciate what classmates created. (I also hang them up on my classroom walls, but I’m not sure they notice that all that time.)
Cat Videos, Adventures, and Cookies
Finally, Snapchat allows me to share some of my own goofiness / quirkiness with my students. I often snap little videos or pictures of my three cats, or of adventures my husband and I take, or of the hijinks we get up to on weekends.
When we had a snow day recently, I snapped the process of making chocolate chip cookies. I like my students to remember I’m human, but also to give them ways to connect with me. Students who love my cat videos will share pictures and stories of their own cats. Students who have been places I visit will ask about my trips (plus, there’s a really cool thing in Snapchat called Geotags that allow you to use a filter when you’re in a particular location.) Being able to form connections with students is a step in helping them take academic risks and grow as learners and writers and people.
Paradigm Shift
By using Snapchat, I’ve even shifted the way I think about teaching, and I’ve asked students to use it in the classroom. When teaching Of Mice and Men, I had students create a snap Lennie or George might have sent to each other. This helped them make meaning of the characters a little better, and demonstrate to me they understood what the story was about.
This year, when a student struggled with how to explain his claim about agony and how it appeared in a sculpture (related to Moby Dick), I suggested he use Snapchat to diagram the lines on the image. You can upload an image to Snapchat and draw on it, so this made it easier for him to write about the image once he used Snapchat to modify the it in the ways he referred to in his paper
There’s so much Snapchat can allow you to do for your students and your classroom. I admit, when I first heard of it, I dismissed Snapchat as a silly app, something I would never need or use. However, now I find myself snapping something anywhere from 3 to 10 times a day. It has allowed me to communicate with my students when they’re not in my classroom and it helps me shift my thinking at times.
The important thing I would add here is the way I’ve set up my account. I have it set to public, so anyone can follow me, but I do not follow my students back. I figure it is just better for everyone involved if they can only see my story, but we aren’t actually “friends” on the app. This makes it more professional. You can change that in the settings of the account. If you’d like to follow me, my snapchat ID is k1a9t7e5. Just be prepared for a few cat videos mixed in with the English snaps.
FRIDAY FIVE: ARTICLES & LINKS FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Kate Walker
- “Star Ballerina” this Time for kids article profiles “Misty Copeland, the first African-American woman to be promoted to principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre.”
- 12 Poems to Read for Black History Month poets.org “asked twelve contemporary black poets from across the country to choose one poem that should be read this month and to tell us a bit about why.”
- “Unpublished Black History” every day the New York Times will publish “Revealing moments in black history, with unpublished photos from The New York Times’sarchives.”
- “Frederick Douglass” information on the History Channel
- An interesting article on Black History Month from the Independent, in the UK.
ADAPTING SHAKESPEARE FOR EVERYONE
Erin McDonnell-Jones
Students across the state are, in their own words, “forced” to study Shakespeare in their high school English classroom. While they may not appreciate these canonical pieces of literature, through experience and adaptations, students can find relevant connections to their everyday lives. In a moderately sized high school in southeastern Pennsylvania, where forty percent of the student body is Hispanic and thirty-nine percent of the students partake in the Free and Reduced Meal plan, every senior student studies Othello. In order to encourage a love for the Bard, especially for students who are not college-bound, teachers here encourage the use of adaptations in the classroom in order to help students establish meaningful connections.
The unit begins with a brief introduction to Shakespeare and the play. Students are encouraged to recall what they know of their own experiences reading Shakespeare before being introduced to the essential background information of the text. Then, students begin to read utilizing the Othello Parallel Text Edition published by Perfection Learning. They are assigned nightly reading homework; however, the reading itself is structured slightly differently. They are assigned to read the more Modern English side of the text on their own and answer guided reading questions. Then, the next day, they are given a small reading quiz, utilizing the same questions. After completing the quiz, students stand and act out the scene that they read the night before, reading Shakespeare’s original words. By doing this, not only have they set a foundation for understanding on their own, but also they are hearing the words the Bard wrote and using their analytical deduction skills to decipher meaning.
Each day involves discussion and connections, but the most important point comes at the end of each Act. As Shakespeare intended his words to be seen, and not read, students view two adaptations of the play: “Othello” (1995) directed by Oliver Parker and“O” (2001) directed by Tim Blake Nelson. The students only watch one act of each adaptation at a time, but in addition to setting their own contextual understanding of the work they are enhancing their understanding by viewing the adaptations.
Upon completion of reading the text and viewing the adaptations, students are then assigned a research paper to answer the prompt “Which adaptation is faithful (or not), why or why not?” by responding in a five-paragraph essay offering outside academic research to support their thesis.
While many schools are moving away from the canonical texts in favor of more non-canonical works to help encourage a love for reading, the importance of classics cannot be understated. Regardless of whether or not these students will attend a prestigious four-year university after graduation, they should all have the opportunity to read with and connect to literature that helps them through their own tumultuous transitions of relationships and life altering events. Adapting these works to establish a sense of relevancy and meaning is important for every student at every level.
Students across the state are, in their own words, “forced” to study Shakespeare in their high school English classroom. While they may not appreciate these canonical pieces of literature, through experience and adaptations, students can find relevant connections to their everyday lives. In a moderately sized high school in southeastern Pennsylvania, where forty percent of the student body is Hispanic and thirty-nine percent of the students partake in the Free and Reduced Meal plan, every senior student studies Othello. In order to encourage a love for the Bard, especially for students who are not college-bound, teachers here encourage the use of adaptations in the classroom in order to help students establish meaningful connections.
The unit begins with a brief introduction to Shakespeare and the play. Students are encouraged to recall what they know of their own experiences reading Shakespeare before being introduced to the essential background information of the text. Then, students begin to read utilizing the Othello Parallel Text Edition published by Perfection Learning. They are assigned nightly reading homework; however, the reading itself is structured slightly differently. They are assigned to read the more Modern English side of the text on their own and answer guided reading questions. Then, the next day, they are given a small reading quiz, utilizing the same questions. After completing the quiz, students stand and act out the scene that they read the night before, reading Shakespeare’s original words. By doing this, not only have they set a foundation for understanding on their own, but also they are hearing the words the Bard wrote and using their analytical deduction skills to decipher meaning.
Each day involves discussion and connections, but the most important point comes at the end of each Act. As Shakespeare intended his words to be seen, and not read, students view two adaptations of the play: “Othello” (1995) directed by Oliver Parker and“O” (2001) directed by Tim Blake Nelson. The students only watch one act of each adaptation at a time, but in addition to setting their own contextual understanding of the work they are enhancing their understanding by viewing the adaptations.
Upon completion of reading the text and viewing the adaptations, students are then assigned a research paper to answer the prompt “Which adaptation is faithful (or not), why or why not?” by responding in a five-paragraph essay offering outside academic research to support their thesis.
While many schools are moving away from the canonical texts in favor of more non-canonical works to help encourage a love for reading, the importance of classics cannot be understated. Regardless of whether or not these students will attend a prestigious four-year university after graduation, they should all have the opportunity to read with and connect to literature that helps them through their own tumultuous transitions of relationships and life altering events. Adapting these works to establish a sense of relevancy and meaning is important for every student at every level.
EMPATHY IS AN ACTION: A NOTE FROM THE PCTELA PRESIDENT
Amy Nyeholt
As I get ready to start this new year, I find myself in need of reflection of practice, community, and most of all empathy. Throughout 2016, I heard the word empathy whispered in collegial conversations about our kids and our districts, roared from podiums with great passion, and tearfully spoken from student voices.
So what do I gather from that? We care. And we care in diverse ways. When our world, our country, and our individual communities are in such extreme disarray, how can empathy not be our mantra and our major takeaway from this year and our focus for the year to come?
Having spent the last few years with middle schoolers, I think this is especially true for the students in transition, students who are forming their central identities. Maybe us middle school teachers are emotional like our kids. ☺ At NCTE this year, I had the opportunity to meet with and hear from many peers who work with middle schoolers. They spoke from the voices of their students. They spoke from the voices we hear every single day. You can hear the word empathy over and over and over again – but when you hear it from a student’s perspective, you feel it. I heard my student’s voices and realized all over again that we aren’t alone in our desires to move forward.
And so my overall thoughts as I prepare to start 2017 are that YES, we can talk and chat about empathy…but it’s only through listening to our students voices that we feel and therefore act. To empathize is an action. It’s something we do. The stories I heard this year from my friends and peers created action in my heart and mind. As teachers, we hear these stories all the time. Some serious, some not. But they are important, because they are a catalyst for our empathy as teachers. Without it, what are we? Content masters? Paper graders? Lunch monitors?screen-shot-2017-01-01-at-1-55-37-pm
This year instilled in me the belief that it’s not as much about what we know, but more about who we are and what our actions reveal about us. We can be the most knowledgeable source on Steinbeck or Shakespeare or Hughes – but it’s not until we collide that knowledge with belief, beauty, emotion, and care for our students that we become great teachers.
What stories drive you towards action? How can this year be different in how and more importantly who we teach? It’s not a new idea, but an important one for us to remember this year. To empathy!
As I get ready to start this new year, I find myself in need of reflection of practice, community, and most of all empathy. Throughout 2016, I heard the word empathy whispered in collegial conversations about our kids and our districts, roared from podiums with great passion, and tearfully spoken from student voices.
So what do I gather from that? We care. And we care in diverse ways. When our world, our country, and our individual communities are in such extreme disarray, how can empathy not be our mantra and our major takeaway from this year and our focus for the year to come?
Having spent the last few years with middle schoolers, I think this is especially true for the students in transition, students who are forming their central identities. Maybe us middle school teachers are emotional like our kids. ☺ At NCTE this year, I had the opportunity to meet with and hear from many peers who work with middle schoolers. They spoke from the voices of their students. They spoke from the voices we hear every single day. You can hear the word empathy over and over and over again – but when you hear it from a student’s perspective, you feel it. I heard my student’s voices and realized all over again that we aren’t alone in our desires to move forward.
And so my overall thoughts as I prepare to start 2017 are that YES, we can talk and chat about empathy…but it’s only through listening to our students voices that we feel and therefore act. To empathize is an action. It’s something we do. The stories I heard this year from my friends and peers created action in my heart and mind. As teachers, we hear these stories all the time. Some serious, some not. But they are important, because they are a catalyst for our empathy as teachers. Without it, what are we? Content masters? Paper graders? Lunch monitors?screen-shot-2017-01-01-at-1-55-37-pm
This year instilled in me the belief that it’s not as much about what we know, but more about who we are and what our actions reveal about us. We can be the most knowledgeable source on Steinbeck or Shakespeare or Hughes – but it’s not until we collide that knowledge with belief, beauty, emotion, and care for our students that we become great teachers.
What stories drive you towards action? How can this year be different in how and more importantly who we teach? It’s not a new idea, but an important one for us to remember this year. To empathy!
FRIDAY FIVE: TRANSFORMING TRADITIONAL LITERARY ANALYSIS
Kate Walker
This week I collected essays for my Moby Dick unit, and I’ve been encouraging students to consider transforming their essays and writing an argument about the book that may not fit a typical traditional literary essay. I’ve been impressed by the creativity of my students, and how they maintained a high level of writing and rigor while still pursuing a creative idea.
Here are five examples of the types of transformed essays I received:
1. Moby Dick on trial: the student wrote as the court reporter, and put Moby on trial for murder of the crew of the Pequod. He even figured out how to format the document like an actual court document.
2. Psychologist’s report about Ahab’s PTSD: the student wrote as a doctor who consulted other characters and proved Ahab’s seeming insanity resulted from the trauma of losing his leg to the whale.
3. A letter as a potential professor to a department about a proposed course on influence in Moby Dick: This student presented an argument about the importance of Shakespeare, the Bible, and mythology.
4. An essay comparing Moby Dick to Mad Max: Fury Road: This student notes the parallels between the two texts and how it points toward archetypes and collective unconscious in our culture.
5. An essay explaining why Moby Dick would make a great opera: This student, an opera aficionado, argues which type of songs each character would sing and why based on the evidence in the book.
This week I collected essays for my Moby Dick unit, and I’ve been encouraging students to consider transforming their essays and writing an argument about the book that may not fit a typical traditional literary essay. I’ve been impressed by the creativity of my students, and how they maintained a high level of writing and rigor while still pursuing a creative idea.
Here are five examples of the types of transformed essays I received:
1. Moby Dick on trial: the student wrote as the court reporter, and put Moby on trial for murder of the crew of the Pequod. He even figured out how to format the document like an actual court document.
2. Psychologist’s report about Ahab’s PTSD: the student wrote as a doctor who consulted other characters and proved Ahab’s seeming insanity resulted from the trauma of losing his leg to the whale.
3. A letter as a potential professor to a department about a proposed course on influence in Moby Dick: This student presented an argument about the importance of Shakespeare, the Bible, and mythology.
4. An essay comparing Moby Dick to Mad Max: Fury Road: This student notes the parallels between the two texts and how it points toward archetypes and collective unconscious in our culture.
5. An essay explaining why Moby Dick would make a great opera: This student, an opera aficionado, argues which type of songs each character would sing and why based on the evidence in the book.
WHERE’S YOUR DIPLOMA? CLAIMING RESPECT AS TEACHERS
Bob Dandoy
So here’s an idea for all my friends who are educators drawn from my recent presentation at NCTE…
Where’s your diploma?
Where are your credentials?
When I go to a doctor, lawyer, dentist – even my mechanic and the young man who cuts my few meager hairs, they have their diplomas and other credentials framed and on their walls.
Where are YOURS?
We teachers do a TERRIBLE job of “tooting our own horns.” That sets us up for a massive amount of disrespect from administration, parents, community, even fellow teachers. What do we know? We’re “just teachers.”
Well, we know a lot. To quote Fredo in The Godfather, ” I’m smart! … I’m smart and I want respect!”
So, in the subtlest, way possible, let’s claim a little respect. A small gesture. An action at an entry level to greater advocacy.
POST YOUR CREDENTIALS. Find your diploma that’s buried in a box in the attic. Find your certificate. Some of you may have them framed (but are they in your office or classroom?). Some don’t even know where they are! If you’re unwilling to frame and post the originals, just make a photocopy of them and post them on your bulletin board. Have fun. Mount them on construction paper. Make borders. Color the copies. Put them on the wall. Make a new copy every year.
Post items that certify or indicate that you were at a professional development workshop, took a class, attended NCTE. (I used to prop up my program book from NCTE in the chalk tray. Some student would always “bite” and I was afforded the opportunity to tell them about all the great people I got to meet and from whom I learned.)
Let everyone know that YOU ARE A PROFESSIONAL. That you are studied. That you know “current best practice”. That you are learned. ADVOCATE for YOU and for your profession!
Let’s start a movement. When you do it, take a photo, post it, share it with me. I respect you. You’re smart. You know things. Let the rest of the world in on it. If you like this Idea, spread the word.
So here’s an idea for all my friends who are educators drawn from my recent presentation at NCTE…
Where’s your diploma?
Where are your credentials?
When I go to a doctor, lawyer, dentist – even my mechanic and the young man who cuts my few meager hairs, they have their diplomas and other credentials framed and on their walls.
Where are YOURS?
We teachers do a TERRIBLE job of “tooting our own horns.” That sets us up for a massive amount of disrespect from administration, parents, community, even fellow teachers. What do we know? We’re “just teachers.”
Well, we know a lot. To quote Fredo in The Godfather, ” I’m smart! … I’m smart and I want respect!”
So, in the subtlest, way possible, let’s claim a little respect. A small gesture. An action at an entry level to greater advocacy.
POST YOUR CREDENTIALS. Find your diploma that’s buried in a box in the attic. Find your certificate. Some of you may have them framed (but are they in your office or classroom?). Some don’t even know where they are! If you’re unwilling to frame and post the originals, just make a photocopy of them and post them on your bulletin board. Have fun. Mount them on construction paper. Make borders. Color the copies. Put them on the wall. Make a new copy every year.
Post items that certify or indicate that you were at a professional development workshop, took a class, attended NCTE. (I used to prop up my program book from NCTE in the chalk tray. Some student would always “bite” and I was afforded the opportunity to tell them about all the great people I got to meet and from whom I learned.)
Let everyone know that YOU ARE A PROFESSIONAL. That you are studied. That you know “current best practice”. That you are learned. ADVOCATE for YOU and for your profession!
Let’s start a movement. When you do it, take a photo, post it, share it with me. I respect you. You’re smart. You know things. Let the rest of the world in on it. If you like this Idea, spread the word.
A POEM: TO BE OF USE
Marge Piercy
The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.
I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.
I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.
The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.
The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.
I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.
I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.
The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.
FRIDAY FIVE: BLOGS FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS
This week as we all settle back in to school routines, whittle down our in-box emails, and finish up with back-to-school nights, I figured we might be ready to do some exploring of interesting, relevant teacher blogs. Here are five I enjoy–if you have your own favorites, share them in the comment section.
- Crawling out of the Classroom: as stated on the blog: “As I begin a year of transformation as a teacher, I am attempting to break down the four walls of my classroom to reach out to others and connect about the incredible world of education.” I’ve found Jessica Lifshitz’s blog compelling for many reasons. She’s willing to write about uncomfortable topics, important topics, and she also offers great ideas to apply to your classroom. For example, after reading about how her students were creating data about her classroom bookshelves, I did that with my students and discovered huge gaps in the diversity of the books on my shelves. Great topics, great writing, great ideas.
- The Nerdy Book Club Run by four amazing people: Donalyn Miller, Colby Sharp, Katherine Sokolowski, and Cindy Minnich, this blog is for all of us booknerds: “If you love books, especially those written for children and young adults, then you are an honorary member of The Nerdy Book Club. Like us, you probably always have a book along to read, a title to recommend, and time to talk about works held dear. This online space was designed to give us a home to share that love of reading with others as well as to organize voting and announcing winners of our First Annual Nerdies Book Awards.”
- Two Writing Teachers Originally created by Ruth Ayers and Stacy Shubitz, this site focuses on the writing parts of the classroom. The site states it is a “A Meeting Place for a World of Reflective Writers.”
- Brain Pickings. Maria Popova is a genius at synthesis. Her blog posts are full of smart connections and thoughtful analysis–she does the hard work so we don’t have to. According to her, the blog is “my one-woman labor of love — a subjective lens on what matters in the world and why. Mostly, it’s a record of my own becoming as a person — intellectually, creatively, spiritually — and an inquiry into how to live and what it means to lead a good life.”
- Book Riot is a little bigger/more commercial than these previous blogs, but the posts are enjoyable and they’re usually on various and sundry topics related to books. According to the site, “Book Riot is dedicated to the idea that writing about books and reading should be just as diverse as books and readers are. So sometimes we are serious and sometimes silly. Some of our writers are pros. Many of them aren’t. We like a good list just as much as we like a good review. We think you can like both J.K. Rowling and J.M. Coetzee and that there are smart, funny, and informative things to say about both and that you shouldn’t have to choose.”
Upcoming Calendar of Events
PCTELA 2017 – Pittsburgh, PA - October 20th-21st, 2017
NCTE 2017 - Saint Louis, MO - November 16th-19th, 2017
NCTE 2017 - Saint Louis, MO - November 16th-19th, 2017
PCTELA and Social Media
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Be sure to follow PCTELA on both Facebook and Twitter for all the latest news and updates!
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PCTELA Executive Council
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Amy Nyeholt
President/Conference Co-Chair 2017 Beaver Falls, PA [email protected] Tom Crochunis Vice President for Colleges and Universities Shippensburg, PA [email protected] Vice President for Secondary Schools Glenda Daulerio Vice President for Middle Schools Fort Washington, PA glenda.daulerio @germantownacademy.org Aileen Hower Vice President for Elementary Schools Hanover, PA [email protected] Nathan Grippin Recording Secretary Walnut Bottom, PA [email protected] Bob Dandoy Treasurer Butler, PA [email protected] |
Danielle Summerville
Membership Secretary Beaver, PA [email protected] Jonathan DeBor Communications Director Oakdale, PA jonathan.debor @theneighborhoodacademy.org Advocacy SLATE Representative Mary Buckelew PA Writing Project Liason West Chester, PA [email protected] Barbara Rahal Historian Edinboro, PA [email protected] Julie DiNapes Conference Co-Chair 2017 Cranberry Township, PA [email protected] |
Bob Hamera
Past Conference Co-Chair 2016 Hegins, PA [email protected] Laura Renzi Past Conference Co-Chair 2015 Harleysville, PA [email protected] Pauline Schmidt Past Conference Co-Chair 2015 West Chester, PA [email protected] Jennie Brown Past President Palmyra, PA [email protected] Allison Irwin Executive Director Coatesville, PA [email protected] |