Redefining Drama

When I started to read Esmiston and Wilhelm's article about using drama in the ELA I was a little confused to begin with because they dive right into how they used it in the classroom then explained what exactly drama is.  Due to preconceived notions, I've always considered drama to only exist in stories such as plays, novels, and movies.  According to Esmiston and Wilhelm's definition, I have been wrong about the extent of what drama is exactly.  They explain that drama is asking "what if..." then imagining the possibilities of the "what if" in an imagined world.  "What if" opens up a new world of imagination and questions to be explored.

Okay, so I understand that drama is not what I always thought it was, but now I have to wonder how this applies to the ELA classroom.  They (Esmiston and Wilhelm) quote Dorothy Heathcote who says drama is when you, "put yourself in other people's shoes and by using their person experience to help you understand their point of view you may discover more than you knew when you started."  I was not really sure how drama would be used in a classroom, but one way Esmiston and Wilhelm give is to have the students put together what they would have in a museum in which students must decide what to put in the museum and why.  This process requires research and collaboration between students. 

How could researching history through drama be beneficial to students? After reading on a little more it started to make more sense to me how it could help.  Drama requires students to get involved and research and to put themselves in the shoes of those in the past which then adds to any material they might be reading in class around the time period they are studying.  Students are then able to connect to the literature in a different way than if they didn't have the background research and thought that drama requires to help them in comprehension.  Further exploration in how drama works in the classroom will be something to look forward to in the future.

How to talk to a student without eavesdropping

Tumblr has proven to be resourceful as always.  I like to resort to tumblr when I'm out of ideas for blogging.  When in a big class of students it is difficult to talk to a student who is being disruptive without drawing the attention of other students especially when the student who is acting out just wants the attention in the first place.  In addition, teachers can't very well ask the student to go out of the room and talk for multiple reasons; the main one is that a teacher should never be alone with a student and second of all, a class shouldn't be left unattended. 

One solution to this problem is quite simple really.  Have the student come up to your desk and have the conversation on a word document so that the rest of the class cannot eavesdrop into the conversation allowing the student privacy.  In addition it saves the teacher from both dangers of leaving the classroom with an added bonus! Typing the conversation in a word document allows for the teacher to date and save the conversation in case an occasion calls for the teacher to have "evidence" of what went on in conversation between the student and teacher.  I love this idea because documenting situations whens students save the teacher from being sued or taken to court and they can be used in parent teacher conferences.

Visual Society and revolutionary way of communicating

I can remember in middle school before everyone had cell phones when you wanted to make plans you called someone's home.  It was a process that made calling your crush a nerve wrecking process because you never knew if they would be available plus that meant actually talking to them to make plans.  Now, teens just text each other and that nervousness is eased and sending a text is not as difficult.  This is the first shift in visual dependency of being able to read a thought instantly rather than listening to it.  It seems the way that teens communicate is always evolving.

Just recently I upgraded to a smartphone, something that I thought I wouldn't do for a long time.  With having a smart phone I have taken it upon myself to explore what it has to offer and what apps students might be using on a regular basis.  Last week I downloaded an app that seems to be growing in popularity because it is part of the change in how people communicate.  The app is called snapchat and took sometime to figure out how it functions.  The basics of the app is that you can add friends who have the app and send pictures to each other.  Before sending the picture you can add captions and draw on it as well as set the time allowed for viewing.  At first I thought it was pointless but after playing around with it I found out how addicting it could be because you could convey more through an image than words in a txt.

The point that I'm discussing this app is first of all is because it demonstrates our growing dependency on visuals and the change in how we communicate.  I have put some thought into how this might be used in a classroom.  Using the app in a classroom would be difficult because once the time is out on viewing the image it goes away.  However, the concept might be able to transfer to a project in the classroom.  Such as telling students to create an image from a novel or poem that could convey an important part if someone only had a short time to view it.  I want to try to bring apps, social networking, and etc. to a level that can be used in the classroom since it is what students are used to and can relate to.

The Graphic Novel in High School

     Bringing the Graphic novel into school seems like no easy task, but yet according to the selections of articles for this weeks readings appears very beneficial.  The first task at hand is learning exactly what a graphic novel is.  One of the articles defined a graphic novel to be a comic book that bind and consisting of more than 50 something pages where as another article defined it as comic consisting of a more complex plot.  Before one can bring a graphic novel into the classroom I think that it would be wise to learn a bit of what separates a graphic novel from the all to familiar comic book.  I thought to do a little research of my own to see how other sources and one definition that I found I felt fit best to describe a graphic novel and what separates it from the comic book is simply the novel that is put into comic book strip format and can stand alone rather than as series like the comic book.

     I would love to introduce this into the high school level but I would introduce the graphic novel through the history which correlates greatly with pop-culture, especially with lots of graphic novels and comics being produced into high budget films.  McTaggart brings about not only the benefits of the graphic novel in the classroom but also lists and gives some examples of graphic novels that have been used in the classroom as well as some sources to use when considering integrating the graphic novel into the classroom for beginners.  One of the key points that he makes is how the graphic novel benefits students of all levels from those who do not like to read to those who read on a daily basis.  He explains that the graphic novel can help struggling readers connect words and pictures, help students who can read to want to read, and challenge the readers at a different level. 

     The other readings as well as McTaggart explore the benefits of bringing the graphic novel into schools and offer sources and lists of graphic novels that can be used to explore different content areas.  I especially love the suggestions as to how to bring about teaching the graphic novel into the classroom and how to have it approved by the principle, fellow teachers, and parents since the graphic novel is still fairly new and may not be easy to convince others of its benefits.  I realize that if i plan on trying to incorporate the graphic novel somehow next semester while student teaching I have a lot of research and reading ahead of me.  I'm familiar with the comic book and have read a few myself by the graphic novel is an entire new playing field.

Teen Ink...

    Teen Ink is one of the sites mentioned in one of the readings for our class.  I've decided to explore the site in more depth to find out what all it has to offer and to see if it could work in an English classroom.  The basics of the site are students publish to the site and can review other students' writing.

     On benefit that I discovered just from browsing the home screen of the website http://teenink.com/ is that the site is not just a site, rather it is a magazine.  This is especially good to know for the schools that do not have computers to for students to use.  If a teacher decided to have students analyze other students' work that are not in the class the teacher can subscribe to the magazine.  In addition, teen ink also has books of published works that can be purchased and used in the classroom as a way for teens to read for enjoyment or analyzed.  Work written by teens and read by teens is more likely going to draw students into because they can relate to one another.

    Written work by students are put into genres and when published on the site are reviewed for a chance to be published into their weekly magazine.  Other contests include magazine art as well as numerous other contests. 

    The only downfall to using this site is that teachers or adults do not have full access to the site unlike students who join.  But it is still a good source to keep in mind when trying to inspire teens to write and I would still recommend the site to any student who enjoys to write.  Knowing about the possibility of being published in a magazine might help them become more aware of their writing.


   

Video Production in an ELA Classroom?

   Video production was not very big in my school because the focus of instruction was on the core subjects.  Suzanne Miller and Mary McVee as well as multimodal based journals have discussed a way of incorporating video production into the ELA classroom.  It is a brilliant way of bringing in what students are familiar with and exposed to on a daily basis and having them use it to produce new understandings to literature.  Literature, or at least popular literature seems to have a way of making it onto the big screen in multiple interpretations so why not have student's do the same?  Modernizing literature can help to grasp student's attention and best of all, show that they understand at a higher level.
   
    Of course it is not enough to give students the equipment and tell them to have a go at it.  They need a bit of background knowledge on filming techniques, angles, storyboards, mood setting, and so on.  Studying film and television shows using the technical terms serves as a form of research that is beyond text and will be somewhat enjoyable to the students.  Studying or researching however is not enough, students need to learn the building blocks to video production such as writing out scripts and creating a storyboard.  A ton of planning goes into the process and incorporates more requirements from the curriculum than what I could imagine. 
 
    Miller and McVee discuss the technical terms used in the process of creating a video production in which students can benefit from.  Storyboarding seems to play a big part in the production since students must understand the text enough to come up with ways to portray certain moods through music, lighting, acting, and angles.  I definitely love this idea and would love to try to implement this in an ELA classroom.  There's more to it than meets the eye.

Music as poetry

   Music plays an important role in our lives.  Music is an escape, emotions, and feelings which is why students relate and defend it like there's no tomorrow.  I had an English teacher who tried to incorporate music when introducing new literary periods, however I feel as though it can be used to a whole new level. 

    I got this idea from someone so I cannot take credit for it, but why not use music as a way to show students that they are exposed to poetry everyday?  Survey a class about poetry and see if anyone can list places that they are exposed to poetry everyday then bring up music and ask if it's poetry.  As an assignment have students pick their favorite song (keeping it school appropriate of course) and have them analyze it like they would a poem.

   Then, have them present what they found in the lyrics or sound of the music after the song is played allowed for everyone to hear.  For the listening part I recommend using a player such as spotify, which is a free internet radio in which you can create playlists.  It has just about every kind of genre of music which would be great to create playlists for students to listen to while doing creative writing.