Three Articles. Three Lesson Plans. New Ideas.
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““Beautiful” Poetry: Tuning In to Poetry through Rhythm”
In this lesson plan from the Lesson Notes section of the NCTE website, Chamberlain uses Acrostic poetry as a jumping off point for introducing students whom do not normally work with it. Using this basic poem, students create meaning from a single word, and from their Chamberlain uses more complex poems to add variety and to teach different styles to the students. This actively gets students writing different kinds of poetry, as well as experiencing them. Music is also used as a method of showing students that poetry comes in many forms, and for students to observe rhythm in different kinds of this style of poetry. By doing so, the teacher hopes to accomplish different styles of identification in poems outside of the musical genre of poetry.
If I were to change an aspect of this assignment I would not start with Acrostic Poetry. While I understand the methods the teacher used, giving students an easy beginning, I would not want to start students in such a cookie cutter method of writing poetry. The pro to this anticipatory set is it puts students on same level, but I think it might hinder the creative process for students. The teacher in this lesson plan works a lot with reflection on different poems, but I think I would be more of a fan of having them spend more time writing and experimenting with different kinds of poetry and giving them the means to do this. I think this lesson can be potentially turned into a portfolio “mini-unit” within a larger unit on writing.
“Knowledge and Characters”
Kriebel states that the exercise presented in his lesson notes on NCTE introduces students to epistemology, or, how we know what we know. He begins by having students write things that they believe, or know to be true. From there, he asks them to elaborate based on experience, logic, common sense, a feeling, etc. Kriebel then allows time for students to share their thoughts and reasoning on their different statements. He then narrows the spectrum to the literature that they are reading. Using these epistemological ideas, he has students look at the identity of characters and reason why they make the decisions that they make. The example that was used was Romeo and Juliet. To expand on this lesson, I would turn it into a slightly longer assignment in which students would write character bios, choosing from a variety of characters. They would use these newly acquired reasoning skills to justify actions for a character in the story. This assignment could build on class discussion. I could also allow students to create new pieces of writing in which the characters elaborate on their decisions, or have internal monologues working beside the actual text. In understanding character choice, there are many possibilities.
“Critical Thinking via the Abstraction Ladder”
Marcia Bundy presents critical thinking using the visual the visual example called the abstraction ladder. In the abstraction ladder, we look like at critical as though we are climbing up the ladder. An example given lists “Mrs. Levin makes good potato pancakes” as the lowest rung, and the rung being “The culinary art has reached a high state in America.” The point of this abstraction is to show that a very narrow and simple concept can grow into a much broader claim or idea. This ladder is also presented in the form of treeing an idea into a more narrow idea. An example of this tree moves from “skill at singing” to “technique” to “resonance” to “chest resonance.” Bundy offers that these sort of visual examples can help demystify the process of thinking. Bundy goes on to show sample test answers over A Brave New World after using the abstraction ladder concept with her class. Using the concrete information from the book, she has students use similar pieces of text to work their way toward an abstract idea. I think that this concept of the abstraction ladder can be very useful for teaching students about abstract thought. I would want to use this in the same way with literature. I would use the treeing, mostly. However, I think that using the ladder as way for guided thinking could inspire deeper thought in books that are riddle with deeper meaning.
“Real-World Writing: Making Purpose and Audience Matter”
In this article by Grant Wiggins he takes an active look at purpose and audience in writing. One topic that he tries to cover in-depth is the problem of discussing purpose, but rarely talking about the impact of the purpose; the after effects of the purpose on the audience. Further, he focuses on the uses of backward design with these ideas of impact in writing. This impact leads us as writers to look at the consequences of our writing and help us improve as writers. What I like about this article is the message it sends to students and to teachers. It re-emphasizes that improvements are to be had by anyone. Using ideas from this article I hope to emphasize impact of writing. I think this can be achieved through reflection and honest discussion.
“Writing Onstage: Giving Students an Authentic Model”
What I enjoyed most about this article by Beth Hewett is the straightforwardness in her approach to modeling and revision. Her emphasis through the article is modeling in authentic ways for students –not just giving examples of writing, but actively participating in these models of writing. In her piece, she shows examples of very strong revision, and ways of improving these pieces through the revision. This article emphasizes a belief system in writing that I strive for, but have a hard time achieving. This is because this kind of teaching takes a lot of time and effort. Not only that, but it can also be intimidating to put your own work in front of students for criticism and work. It is a process that I hope to build on, and Hewett offers powerful examples that have the potential to be emulated and expanded into a strategy that can work for me.
“Breaking the Silence: Critical Literacy and Social Action”
Sara Young focuses on Homophobia for their social action topic in their small conservative town. This topic was chosen by the students. Through writing prompts and reflections and reading, the students turned their work with critical literature discussions to social action in their own social community –their school. Through organization and written requests to the principal and other members of faculty students were able to expand their newly acquired knowledge on the topic and create an opportunity to teach other students in their school about homosexuality and homophobia. While met with adverse reactions from some, most of the student body participated and were civil in the school-wide discussion. What resonated about this piece was the use of social action in critical literacy. Most importantly, it shows the ability to go outside of “standard” curriculum and use new and innovative resources as a means to teach and inform students. Further, through this scenario, students were able to drive their own learning. Their work only guided, but not in such a strong way that students lost the personal aspect of the project. I think this could be recreated with a variety of social topics. I think these could range from race, religion, stereotypes, belief systems, and others.
In this lesson plan from the Lesson Notes section of the NCTE website, Chamberlain uses Acrostic poetry as a jumping off point for introducing students whom do not normally work with it. Using this basic poem, students create meaning from a single word, and from their Chamberlain uses more complex poems to add variety and to teach different styles to the students. This actively gets students writing different kinds of poetry, as well as experiencing them. Music is also used as a method of showing students that poetry comes in many forms, and for students to observe rhythm in different kinds of this style of poetry. By doing so, the teacher hopes to accomplish different styles of identification in poems outside of the musical genre of poetry.
If I were to change an aspect of this assignment I would not start with Acrostic Poetry. While I understand the methods the teacher used, giving students an easy beginning, I would not want to start students in such a cookie cutter method of writing poetry. The pro to this anticipatory set is it puts students on same level, but I think it might hinder the creative process for students. The teacher in this lesson plan works a lot with reflection on different poems, but I think I would be more of a fan of having them spend more time writing and experimenting with different kinds of poetry and giving them the means to do this. I think this lesson can be potentially turned into a portfolio “mini-unit” within a larger unit on writing.
“Knowledge and Characters”
Kriebel states that the exercise presented in his lesson notes on NCTE introduces students to epistemology, or, how we know what we know. He begins by having students write things that they believe, or know to be true. From there, he asks them to elaborate based on experience, logic, common sense, a feeling, etc. Kriebel then allows time for students to share their thoughts and reasoning on their different statements. He then narrows the spectrum to the literature that they are reading. Using these epistemological ideas, he has students look at the identity of characters and reason why they make the decisions that they make. The example that was used was Romeo and Juliet. To expand on this lesson, I would turn it into a slightly longer assignment in which students would write character bios, choosing from a variety of characters. They would use these newly acquired reasoning skills to justify actions for a character in the story. This assignment could build on class discussion. I could also allow students to create new pieces of writing in which the characters elaborate on their decisions, or have internal monologues working beside the actual text. In understanding character choice, there are many possibilities.
“Critical Thinking via the Abstraction Ladder”
Marcia Bundy presents critical thinking using the visual the visual example called the abstraction ladder. In the abstraction ladder, we look like at critical as though we are climbing up the ladder. An example given lists “Mrs. Levin makes good potato pancakes” as the lowest rung, and the rung being “The culinary art has reached a high state in America.” The point of this abstraction is to show that a very narrow and simple concept can grow into a much broader claim or idea. This ladder is also presented in the form of treeing an idea into a more narrow idea. An example of this tree moves from “skill at singing” to “technique” to “resonance” to “chest resonance.” Bundy offers that these sort of visual examples can help demystify the process of thinking. Bundy goes on to show sample test answers over A Brave New World after using the abstraction ladder concept with her class. Using the concrete information from the book, she has students use similar pieces of text to work their way toward an abstract idea. I think that this concept of the abstraction ladder can be very useful for teaching students about abstract thought. I would want to use this in the same way with literature. I would use the treeing, mostly. However, I think that using the ladder as way for guided thinking could inspire deeper thought in books that are riddle with deeper meaning.
“Real-World Writing: Making Purpose and Audience Matter”
In this article by Grant Wiggins he takes an active look at purpose and audience in writing. One topic that he tries to cover in-depth is the problem of discussing purpose, but rarely talking about the impact of the purpose; the after effects of the purpose on the audience. Further, he focuses on the uses of backward design with these ideas of impact in writing. This impact leads us as writers to look at the consequences of our writing and help us improve as writers. What I like about this article is the message it sends to students and to teachers. It re-emphasizes that improvements are to be had by anyone. Using ideas from this article I hope to emphasize impact of writing. I think this can be achieved through reflection and honest discussion.
“Writing Onstage: Giving Students an Authentic Model”
What I enjoyed most about this article by Beth Hewett is the straightforwardness in her approach to modeling and revision. Her emphasis through the article is modeling in authentic ways for students –not just giving examples of writing, but actively participating in these models of writing. In her piece, she shows examples of very strong revision, and ways of improving these pieces through the revision. This article emphasizes a belief system in writing that I strive for, but have a hard time achieving. This is because this kind of teaching takes a lot of time and effort. Not only that, but it can also be intimidating to put your own work in front of students for criticism and work. It is a process that I hope to build on, and Hewett offers powerful examples that have the potential to be emulated and expanded into a strategy that can work for me.
“Breaking the Silence: Critical Literacy and Social Action”
Sara Young focuses on Homophobia for their social action topic in their small conservative town. This topic was chosen by the students. Through writing prompts and reflections and reading, the students turned their work with critical literature discussions to social action in their own social community –their school. Through organization and written requests to the principal and other members of faculty students were able to expand their newly acquired knowledge on the topic and create an opportunity to teach other students in their school about homosexuality and homophobia. While met with adverse reactions from some, most of the student body participated and were civil in the school-wide discussion. What resonated about this piece was the use of social action in critical literacy. Most importantly, it shows the ability to go outside of “standard” curriculum and use new and innovative resources as a means to teach and inform students. Further, through this scenario, students were able to drive their own learning. Their work only guided, but not in such a strong way that students lost the personal aspect of the project. I think this could be recreated with a variety of social topics. I think these could range from race, religion, stereotypes, belief systems, and others.