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.  

Choosing the Right Tool

"In order to integrate technologies effectively, you must choose the tool that fits the use" (Wilber 43).  This seems to be the main purpose of chapter three as well as chapter four as Wilber explains what blogs, wikis, and digital stories are as well as how to use them.

I am still fairly new to blogs and wikis yet, but luckily I'm gaining some experience with them before I start my student teaching next semester.  Wilber gives so many different perks to blogs and wikis, and digital stories.  He explains how blogs can be used as resources to share ideas with other teachers or as a teaching tool in the classroom in which students are actually blogging.  Blogs can be used as book discussions and a way to post questions and connect outside of the classroom.

However, the main point that Wilber points out that I LOVE is that through blogging or more specifically, individual blogging, students are writing on daily basis.  One of the problems we discussed in class was how statistics about students reading and writing has declined.  Is it really that students don't read or write as much or has the way they read and write just expanded?  Blogging I believe will help students to become stronger writers or at least become more aware of what they are writing and it shows them that they do read and write on a daily basis.

Using Twitter as a Teaching Tool?

Tumblr is becoming very handy at finding new ways to use social networking sites as educational tools.  While browsing through tumblr under the tag for education I came upon an idea someone blogged about for using twitter in the classroom.  I would never have thought to bring twitter into the classroom or figured out a way incorporated it with teaching in an ELA classroom.

Twitter is something that I found many high school students are familiar with using and use it quite frequently.  While I was going through practicum I found many of my students making references to twitter such as hashtagging.  The blog that I came across in tumblr discusses how he/she had their students create a twitter account for God and their job was to tweet about what his feelings are or what he might think.  This idea can be used for characters in a novel, play, short story, etc.  Students can follow each other and interact as though they are the main characters, which can help show that students have an understanding or a grasp on the literature they are reading at the time.  It's a great way to connect something that some if not most teens use on a daily base to what they have to read for the school curriculum.  Of course there are concerns I have with this idea such as how will students be assessed and what to do about students who might have ever used twitter before or don't have access.

I want to know what others think of this idea and I welcome any suggestions because I might try something like this when I student teach in the fall.

Book Reports, Version 2.0

  Let's face it, no one likes to write book reports.  At least I haven't met a student who does.  It is a poor way of making sure students have read the book and even then that's not really accurate because most students can get on cliff notes or spark notes and write a book report from it without actually opening the book.  It is surprising that so many students will confess  to using the aforementioned sites to complete assignments on books.  Not that the sites are bad resources, but that's beside the point.

   I don't have any experience with podcasting and I didn't really have a grasp on what it was used for or how to use it.  Robert Rozema sums it up in simple terms.  Rozema defines a podcast as, "a blog in audio form."  In The Book Report, Version 2.0: Podcasting on Young Adult Novels Rozema explores using podcasting in the classroom in replacement of the paper version of the book report.  The podcasting doesn't completely eliminate the paper version of the book report but the final project ends up as a podcast. 

   I have fallen in love with his idea of using podcasting as a way for students to create book reports.  Podcasting a book report really demonstrates if a student has read the book instead of relying on cliff notes and spark notes because students are encouraged to implement sound effects and be creative.  They show that they understand the book by interpreting it through sound effects, point of view, and music; things that paper and text can't necessarily do as easily. 

   I'm so glad that I'm learning about how to use such technology as this now right before I go into student teaching next semester.  I definitely plan on trying to work with my cooperating teacher to try out using podcasting and goodreads in the classroom.  I'm sure that by the end of the semester I will have a ton of new tools to use before next semester.  I just have to keep my fingers crossed that my cooperating teacher is open to trying new things.

Exploring Tumblr

   I have had a tumblr account for quit some time but never really explored how it could be helpful to me as a future teacher.  So, for a change I decided to sit down and explore anything with the hashtag "education."  At first I thought that I would get a lot of blogs on elementary education, but surprisingly I found a lot on secondary education and not just elementary education.  It seems like a good way to connect with other teachers, especially for first year teachers or student teachers.

   Browsing through some of the things that others have posted under #education varied from conversations between teachers and students that are funny and to some with teachers sharing teaching ideas or asking for help.  One of the ideas I found on tumblr that might come in handy I included below.  I would imagine that it would work with any play or story and serves as a good way to make sure students understand what is going on in the story or play.

I have attached a link to the tumblr for this idea.  This is a set of directions for creating a movie poster for Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet.  Create directions to demonstrate what students are supposed to do.

New Literacies Stance in Teaching ELA

   When we start to think about new literacies and using it to teach in an English Language Arts classroom people instantly think about using fancy technology.  However, new literacies being taught in the classroom doesn't necessarily need to involve any technology because that's not the main focus.  Miller and McVee in Multimodal Composing in Classrooms talks about a grad student and her experiences of teaching and trying to incorporate new literacies into her classroom.  She learns through experience of what new literacies actually is because when she starts teaching in the beginning of the school year she has the students doing activities that are outside of the box and not traditional such as using music and sitcoms to teach about storylines.  She then starts to move back to the more traditional way of teaching when she moves into her unit on short stories which instantly loses students' attention.

   In the end she learns of how she teach using new literacies to keep her students' attention and learning.  Not all of the activities she has her students do involve technology which I find to be awesome.  Technology I believe is something that should be incorporated last and not used as a hook since it is possible to teach with new literacies with out the dependence on technology.  Many of the activities required students to pull from their own knowledge and experience from their surroundings outside of school such as music, television, and even video games.  Letting students build use what they know and love outside of the classroom and to bring it into the classroom is a great new way of looking at different literacies since it has evolved past just plain paper and print.

    I can imagine myself taking some of her ideas and trying to apply them to a classroom of my own because she used many great ideas for teaching on a whole other level.  There is a time and place for everything, but she incorporates a tiny bit of traditional teaching that students are still writing, but now they have a purpose and a connection to what they are doing.

Young Adult Literature

    One of my goals that I am making as a preservice teacher is to keep up with the latest novels read by young adults.  I want to be the teacher who is up to date on what students are interested in for many reasons.  Books can be entertaining or they can help people to deal with a difficult situation and as most know, high school can be rough for a lot of teens.

    To help me keep up with the latest books that tweens and teens are reading I plan on using goodreads.  If you don't know what goodreads is, it is a website that you can create a free account to which allows you to mark, rate, and comment on books you have read.  The site also allows you to connect with other users, recommend books to others, share favorite quotes, read an overview of other books, and create lists of read, going to read, and currently reading.  It is a site that I would recommend for anyone to use no matter what age because it is a great way to keep track of books that have been read or get ideas of what to read next.

    I can see goodreads as being a good tool for the classroom, especially for the students who really enjoy reading.  If you are interested in checking it out yourself I have created a link to the homepage for the website above.  I hope you find it as beneficial as I have.

Why Are Students Bored With School?

    It seems like every 6 months or less there's a new ipad, smart phone, computer, tablet, website, social networking site, etc.  It is almost near impossible to keep up with such great advancement in the classroom with the rapid growth and change in technology.  Dr. Larry D. Rosen explores the "iGeneration" in his article Rewind, which is about why students are finding school to be boring.  He uses his child as an example of student who finds school to be boring because of how he is taught.

    Dr. Rosen explains that the reason students are becoming bored with school is because students are immersed so much with new technology that classes which don't use this technology become boring.  He claims that often his son is bored to tears over homework because it does not involve any of the technology that students use on a daily basis.  One of the questions he asks that stood out to me was, "I try to help him by finding websites that present interesting ways to understand his homework but it really isn't my job, is it?"  He has made an excellent point that the teacher should try harder to implement something that students use on a regular day, however it is not just the teacher's responsibility, rather it should be a joint effort.  

    With budget cuts teachers don't always have access to new technology to adapt their lessons as easily, however it is possible in a low technology class.  In The Socially Networked Classroom, William R. Kist explores ways that teachers can keep school from becoming boring for teachers who have access to technology and those who are limited.  In a classroom that is limited Kist shows that by bringing in topics that students explore while using technology.  He finds a way to get students involved in a limited situation when it comes to technology.  Kist gives me faith as preservice teacher that there are still ways to get through to students in a limited setting.

A Brief Introduction

Dear Reader,

   I am a student of Slippery Rock University preparing for a career as a Secondary English Education major.  The purpose of this blog is to give you insight into the thoughts of an English Education major.  I will be exploring the world of multimodal teaching as well as other teaching strategies or topics.  It is my goal to make literature come alive to students the way my teachers did for me.

   "Education is not the filling of the pail, but the lighting of a fire."  ~William Butler Yeats~