Samples of Student Work: What Students Taught ME
Throughout my teaching career, I have followed my instincts as I work to create what I thought were fun, innovative lessons and classroom activities. It didn't take very much time teaching to realize that my instincts, like most adults, were geared toward what I knew to be effective for me, but totally off base in relation to what the students sitting in desks in front of me wanted out of their education. At this point, I began to see the puzzle that I had committed to work over the rest of my professional career. This puzzle was something I have never been able to completely solve on my own. However, when I began to allow my students to work with me, as I planned and pieced things together, I quickly started to see the picture, but only when I made them collaborators in their own educational experience and made myself open to learning from them.
This page illustrates the products of the most profound lessons that students taught me about effective learning and assessment over the course of my teaching career.
This page illustrates the products of the most profound lessons that students taught me about effective learning and assessment over the course of my teaching career.
Your Words in Pictures
Introductory Assignment English 3 and Creative Writing
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"You may have the content knowledge, but if you don't build the rapport with students, you won't get anywhere."
-Kristy Lynch Teacher at Bakersfield Elementary, Maryland |
The images below are examples of projects completed by several students over the past few years. These students were asked to compose a 200-300 word text that simply describes them. They could write a short story, poem or simply an autobiographical account. Once they finished composing the assigned text, they were to bring it back to class the next day along with a digital image they chose to represent something about them. Once in class, the students were directed to a short list of online resources to help them combine their chosen image(s) and text. They had the freedom to choose any online resource like Taxedo, YouAreYourWords, Tagul, WordPhoto or Wordle to help them put their words into a visual representation of themselves.
Many times, teachers, get caught up in plowing through curriculum and tasks as soon as the school bell rings on the first day and we sometimes forget the reasons we do what we do. Those reasons sit in the chairs in front of us each day and challenge us to be better at our jobs by contributing their own background and knowledge to accentuate the content, but only if they are allowed to do so. By focusing first on the students, who they are as people, what their interests are and what they already know, it gives the class a starting point and clear understanding of where we need to go during our time together. Giving students a chance to express themselves helps the class to clearly see where our educational journey begins and the path we need to take to get to the desired destination. In my first two years of teaching, I devoted little time getting to know my students on personal levels and had a several discipline and achievement challenges. Since changing my approach to those first weeks of school, those issues have declined dramatically. Seeing this difference, first hand, is one of the most valuable teaching lessons I could have ever learned. Not only did it make my job easier in the short-term, but having a good rapport with students changed the way they viewed my classroom in subsequent years as well. Learning about a student is so integral in helping each of them acquire necessary skills from any curriculum. Without knowing who a student is, you cannot know how to help them learn.
Many times, teachers, get caught up in plowing through curriculum and tasks as soon as the school bell rings on the first day and we sometimes forget the reasons we do what we do. Those reasons sit in the chairs in front of us each day and challenge us to be better at our jobs by contributing their own background and knowledge to accentuate the content, but only if they are allowed to do so. By focusing first on the students, who they are as people, what their interests are and what they already know, it gives the class a starting point and clear understanding of where we need to go during our time together. Giving students a chance to express themselves helps the class to clearly see where our educational journey begins and the path we need to take to get to the desired destination. In my first two years of teaching, I devoted little time getting to know my students on personal levels and had a several discipline and achievement challenges. Since changing my approach to those first weeks of school, those issues have declined dramatically. Seeing this difference, first hand, is one of the most valuable teaching lessons I could have ever learned. Not only did it make my job easier in the short-term, but having a good rapport with students changed the way they viewed my classroom in subsequent years as well. Learning about a student is so integral in helping each of them acquire necessary skills from any curriculum. Without knowing who a student is, you cannot know how to help them learn.
Heart of Darkness
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"Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity.” -Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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These projects were completed in my AP English IV courses, while students read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Although two of the samples here show students who chose to utilize iMovie as a main tool, others chose different multi-media resources. One group even made a Twitter page. These students also accessed a number of other web applications in order to create the elements within each project, such as original photos, music composition and animation.
The following content requirements were given for the project:
* DEFINE DEHUMANIZATION: What makes a person uniquely human? How does a person become dehumanized? How do extreme conditions play into the loss of humanity?
* THEME OF DEHUMANIZATION IN THE NOVEL: What is the role of dehumanization in the novel Heart of Darkness? Which characters/people are dehumanized throughout the novel, and how?
* RELATE DEHUMANIZATION TO THE REAL AND MODERN WORLD: How has dehumanization played a role in history, and how is it affecting the modern world? Be specific…examples, etc.
* CREATING APPROPRIATE TONE: How might you (and your partner) portray the severity of something so extreme that humanity itself is lost?
* APPLICATION OF THE NOVEL'S THEME: What are possible outcomes to civilized society if dehumanization is not stopped?
* TONAL ANALYSIS OF TEXT: What conclusions can you draw about Conrad’s opinion of racial and ethnic differences, based on the text? How does his participation in “the telling of a single story” change or contribute to the problem of dehumanization?
* INCLUDE AT LEAST FIVE SIGNIFICANT QUOTES FROM THE TEXT.
To be completely honest, when I first started assigning this project, I felt the need to paint my students into a hypothetical box with neat and tidy boundaries that gave them no creative freedom whatsoever. Although those boundaries made for easy grading, it made for incredibly boring class presentations and a false representation of assessed content knowledge. I "prescribed" the assessment, which in turn, produced almost identical results that gave no insight into the way each student understood the text. After discussing the project with the first set of students who completed it, I realized very quickly that they needed freedom. I had to let them out of the box in order to really assess what THEY knew and what they could do. When I assigned the project the next year, I was sure to specify what concepts and skills they needed to illustrate, but gave more room for them to choose the specific interpretation of that content and the media in which they would do it. When I invested in their freedom, I was awed as I received the following demonstrations of knowledge in return.
The following content requirements were given for the project:
* DEFINE DEHUMANIZATION: What makes a person uniquely human? How does a person become dehumanized? How do extreme conditions play into the loss of humanity?
* THEME OF DEHUMANIZATION IN THE NOVEL: What is the role of dehumanization in the novel Heart of Darkness? Which characters/people are dehumanized throughout the novel, and how?
* RELATE DEHUMANIZATION TO THE REAL AND MODERN WORLD: How has dehumanization played a role in history, and how is it affecting the modern world? Be specific…examples, etc.
* CREATING APPROPRIATE TONE: How might you (and your partner) portray the severity of something so extreme that humanity itself is lost?
* APPLICATION OF THE NOVEL'S THEME: What are possible outcomes to civilized society if dehumanization is not stopped?
* TONAL ANALYSIS OF TEXT: What conclusions can you draw about Conrad’s opinion of racial and ethnic differences, based on the text? How does his participation in “the telling of a single story” change or contribute to the problem of dehumanization?
* INCLUDE AT LEAST FIVE SIGNIFICANT QUOTES FROM THE TEXT.
To be completely honest, when I first started assigning this project, I felt the need to paint my students into a hypothetical box with neat and tidy boundaries that gave them no creative freedom whatsoever. Although those boundaries made for easy grading, it made for incredibly boring class presentations and a false representation of assessed content knowledge. I "prescribed" the assessment, which in turn, produced almost identical results that gave no insight into the way each student understood the text. After discussing the project with the first set of students who completed it, I realized very quickly that they needed freedom. I had to let them out of the box in order to really assess what THEY knew and what they could do. When I assigned the project the next year, I was sure to specify what concepts and skills they needed to illustrate, but gave more room for them to choose the specific interpretation of that content and the media in which they would do it. When I invested in their freedom, I was awed as I received the following demonstrations of knowledge in return.
"FakeBook" Characterization AssignmentCreative Writing 2
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"The craft of writing is all the stuff that you can learn through school…characterization, plot and dialogue and pacing and word choice and point of view. Then there's also the art of it which is sort of the unknown, the inspiration, the stuff that is non cerebral."
-Garth Stein American Author |
In order to help students with fictional character analysis and development, they were asked to choose one idea they had for a character and create a "FakeBook" page for that character. These pages had to include complete biography information (age, gender, etc.) as well as a potential "friend's list" and series of status posts. All of these things were intended to help the student and the reader get a better idea of who the proposed character is and what their motivations are for acting the way they do in the story. Once the pages were created, students were encouraged to use those as a guide to develop the plot line that surrounded the character as well as any ancillary characters for the story line. Some even made additional "FakeBook" pages for the supporting characters.
I learned several things throughout the duration of this assignment. First and foremost, I learned that many people will attempt to write stories with very little idea of who their main characters are as beings and what makes them "tick." I think this has a lot to do with why many authors don't write in depth stories and why many more don't even finish them. When you spend time analyzing the subject of your text, it gives you a whole lot more to write about when developing a plot. I also learned important lessons surrounding the use of websites such as these. While it worked just fine for most students, some ran into difficulties with compatibility of their internet browsers as well as feasibility in saving/sharing the finished product. What was good was that I was able to find and provide a backup Word file for those who experienced difficulties with the webpage and ended up saving a lot of time by doing so.
Although some students hesitated a bit with the start of this assignment, many found enjoyment in the creation of a multi-dimensional character to use in story writing and some even utilized those characters in continuations of those stories after the assignment had ended. I found that allowing the students the opportunity to take something, like social media, which is familiar to them and apply the characterization techniques through the connection to that tool, students could access ideas that might not have been sparked using other methods.
I learned several things throughout the duration of this assignment. First and foremost, I learned that many people will attempt to write stories with very little idea of who their main characters are as beings and what makes them "tick." I think this has a lot to do with why many authors don't write in depth stories and why many more don't even finish them. When you spend time analyzing the subject of your text, it gives you a whole lot more to write about when developing a plot. I also learned important lessons surrounding the use of websites such as these. While it worked just fine for most students, some ran into difficulties with compatibility of their internet browsers as well as feasibility in saving/sharing the finished product. What was good was that I was able to find and provide a backup Word file for those who experienced difficulties with the webpage and ended up saving a lot of time by doing so.
Although some students hesitated a bit with the start of this assignment, many found enjoyment in the creation of a multi-dimensional character to use in story writing and some even utilized those characters in continuations of those stories after the assignment had ended. I found that allowing the students the opportunity to take something, like social media, which is familiar to them and apply the characterization techniques through the connection to that tool, students could access ideas that might not have been sparked using other methods.
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Student Congress Team
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"I believe in the critical importance of participating in the political system - from voting to standing for election. It's both rewarding and necessary that men and women of good will and clear thinking engage in honest, open debate."
-Michael Nutter American Politician |
The set of documents below are examples of research and speeches my Debate students compile as they prepare for competition in Congressional Debate, also called "Student Congress." When students compete in Congressional Debate, they receive a "docket" of legislation, which is written and prepared by students across the region. The legislation covers approximately twenty-five to thirty different political current events and each one proposes legislative policy in relation to the topics at hand. Once the students receive the docket, they begin preparing by researching each issue individually and compiling evidence cut from news articles and scholarly journals. They use the cut evidence to write individual speeches for each piece of legislation. As they do this, they make an effort to create cohesive arguments and gather necessary information on anticipated arguments from the opposition.
This is, obviously, a large task. So, I usually have my classes split the legislation up amongst their team members. Each student is assigned two to five pieces of legislation to focus on preparing for competition. Once they have completed their research and compiled what they feel are reasonable speeches, they submit the files to Dropbox or a Google Doc, which the students create. Then, the information is accessible to everyone on the team and a large task has been made more manageable through collaboration and teamwork.
At this point, the major tasks is not over. Once the students have prepared for competition, they attend interscholastic tournaments where other students from area schools meet to debate in a "congress-like" setting. That means that there are about 15-20 students in each room, each round, who discuss as many pieces of prepared legislation as they have time to debate. They go back and forth giving argumentation and support while supporting or opposing each topic and they vote to "pass" or "fail" legislation, just like real congress...well, sort of. At the end of each round, there are adult judges in the room who give feedback and rank each student based on the ballot, as seen below.
My students find this particular debate event incredibly challenging and time-consuming. However, after some initial moaning and groaning, they usually end up enjoying it and doing very well, as they become experts on each political topic and can adequately analyze and discuss them on demand in a variety of situations. As a former competitor in this event myself, and also as a coach watching my students complete the process of preparation for competition in Congressional Debate, I have learned a lot about the benefits of analyzing current issues and constructing arguments and well as learning to think on your feet. I have seen confidence levels in teenagers rise as they suddenly realize that they are educated, well-spoken and more informed about the world than a lot of adults they know. The passion for speaking and critical thinking that my students find while competing in this activity is something that is an incredibly precious commodity and one that will lend them in taking important leadership roles in our future community and nation.
This is, obviously, a large task. So, I usually have my classes split the legislation up amongst their team members. Each student is assigned two to five pieces of legislation to focus on preparing for competition. Once they have completed their research and compiled what they feel are reasonable speeches, they submit the files to Dropbox or a Google Doc, which the students create. Then, the information is accessible to everyone on the team and a large task has been made more manageable through collaboration and teamwork.
At this point, the major tasks is not over. Once the students have prepared for competition, they attend interscholastic tournaments where other students from area schools meet to debate in a "congress-like" setting. That means that there are about 15-20 students in each room, each round, who discuss as many pieces of prepared legislation as they have time to debate. They go back and forth giving argumentation and support while supporting or opposing each topic and they vote to "pass" or "fail" legislation, just like real congress...well, sort of. At the end of each round, there are adult judges in the room who give feedback and rank each student based on the ballot, as seen below.
My students find this particular debate event incredibly challenging and time-consuming. However, after some initial moaning and groaning, they usually end up enjoying it and doing very well, as they become experts on each political topic and can adequately analyze and discuss them on demand in a variety of situations. As a former competitor in this event myself, and also as a coach watching my students complete the process of preparation for competition in Congressional Debate, I have learned a lot about the benefits of analyzing current issues and constructing arguments and well as learning to think on your feet. I have seen confidence levels in teenagers rise as they suddenly realize that they are educated, well-spoken and more informed about the world than a lot of adults they know. The passion for speaking and critical thinking that my students find while competing in this activity is something that is an incredibly precious commodity and one that will lend them in taking important leadership roles in our future community and nation.
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Demonstration Speech
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"Learning by doing, peer-to-peer teaching, and computer simulation are all part of the same equation."
-Nicholas Negroponte American Businessman |
A practical speech assignment that I have used in both Communication Applications and Public Speaking is the demonstration "how to" speech. This speech assignment gives students the opportunity to practice detailed, clear and concise communication in a public forum. Students are told that whatever the process they choose to illustrate, they should communicate each step in such a fashion that any audience member could duplicate the process on their own.
One of the most fun and interesting parts of assigning this assignment is the opportunity I get to see the diverse talents and interests of my students. I always end up surprised to find out something new about each individual. Many of them enjoy using the cooking or baking process for their presentations, as those skills are typically easily transferable for demonstration and they love having the opportunity to bring samples to class. We have also seen other types of presentations demonstrating everything from applying make-up to starting campground fires, folding origami, making a sundial, and riding a unicycle (as seen below). Most of the time, each of these visual aids have a presentation element to accompany it in class.
This has to be one of my favorite projects, as it allows me to get to know more about my students, their personalities and abilities outside of the classroom. It also allows them to be in the teacher role for a brief period of time, which can be extremely beneficial to the learning and mastery process.
One of the most fun and interesting parts of assigning this assignment is the opportunity I get to see the diverse talents and interests of my students. I always end up surprised to find out something new about each individual. Many of them enjoy using the cooking or baking process for their presentations, as those skills are typically easily transferable for demonstration and they love having the opportunity to bring samples to class. We have also seen other types of presentations demonstrating everything from applying make-up to starting campground fires, folding origami, making a sundial, and riding a unicycle (as seen below). Most of the time, each of these visual aids have a presentation element to accompany it in class.
This has to be one of my favorite projects, as it allows me to get to know more about my students, their personalities and abilities outside of the classroom. It also allows them to be in the teacher role for a brief period of time, which can be extremely beneficial to the learning and mastery process.
Pride and Prejudice
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"I think with any characterization there's a point where you empathize, no matter how much of a deviance his or her actions may be from your understanding of humanity."
-Benedict Cumberbatch British Actor |
As senior AP English students learn to analyze characterization in literary text more in-depth, they are asked to review two major characters in the book Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. Students may choose which characters to analyze, but they must choose at least one dynamic and one static character, as discussed in previous course lessons. They compile specific information about each of the characters, based on their interpretation and analysis of the text and then make a visual representation of those items by adding them to particular parts of a human figure.
They are asked to follow the guidelines below when creating this project.
FIRST: Pick 1 dynamic AND 1 static character from the novel.
They are asked to follow the guidelines below when creating this project.
FIRST: Pick 1 dynamic AND 1 static character from the novel.
- Dynamic character: a literary character who undergoes an important inner change, as a change in personality or attitude.
- Static character: a literary character who undergoes little or not inner change; a character who does not grow or develop.
- Title: Use an adjective to describe the character. Join it with the character’s name to make a title. Write the title at the top of the paper.
- Along the spine write the character’s objective within the novel. What drives his/her actions?
- Write one external conflict that your character faces (place this outside the character outline)
- Write one internal conflict that your character faces (place this in an appropriate spot inside the outline)
- What are your characters best & worst qualities? How could you visualize them?
- Consider how your character appears to others vs what you know about the character’s inner self.
- You must use multiple “chunked evidence” as your assertion.
- How could you depict this concept?
- Include 4 quotes from the novel that reflects the character’s personality. This could be spoken by your character or a descriptor from Austen.
- What symbols do you associate with you character?
- Justify why your character is dynamic or static. Where on the body would this rationale be fitting
- NOW REPEAT for the OTHER character!
Despite the option to construct these projects using any medium they wish, many students choose to format these projects by hand, as seen above. I think the reason for this is that by hand-drawing the characters, the specific formatting requirements are easier to meet than with most software programs. However, I have had students start to utilize more technology when creating their body outlines or images to use with them. If I teach this course again, I hope to get the opportunity to find more easily accessible web resources to implement.
Overall, one of my favorite things about this project is that I get to see how students think about characters as they encounter them in text. It's not often that one gets an opportunity to physically view images someone else sees as they read about characters in a novel. This helps me to learn more about the texts I assign and also about the way students approach the stories.
Overall, one of my favorite things about this project is that I get to see how students think about characters as they encounter them in text. It's not often that one gets an opportunity to physically view images someone else sees as they read about characters in a novel. This helps me to learn more about the texts I assign and also about the way students approach the stories.
Public Forum Debate
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"In making a speech one must study three points: first, the means of producing persuasion; second, the language; third the proper arrangement of the various parts of the speech."
-Aristotle Greek Philosopher |
Much like Congressional Debate, Public Forum debate is a competitive event for speech and debate students. The big difference is that this event requires students, in teams of two, to construct cases agreeing or disagreeing with a given topic that changes monthly. Students are given short amounts of time to research, compile and cut evidence to support arguments the affirm or negate the given resolution. Students will then take their prepared cases to tournaments where they hit other interscholastic competition in this event and a judge decides which team did the best job of supporting their assigned side of the topic. Teams must prepare to debate both sides of the given topic and do not know which side they will debate until they flip a coin at the beginning of each round of competition.
It is amazing to watch students develop cohesive and critical arguments over new topics each and every month. It is a challenge for me to keep up with the topics and I am constantly educating myself on what they are researching and debating in order to effectively assist and give them feedback on their cases and practice rounds. Coaching events such as these have pushed me to become better about keeping up with major social and political issues around the world and educating myself on various sides of domestic and international politics.
The cases below are examples from two different varsity teams over two different topics.
It is amazing to watch students develop cohesive and critical arguments over new topics each and every month. It is a challenge for me to keep up with the topics and I am constantly educating myself on what they are researching and debating in order to effectively assist and give them feedback on their cases and practice rounds. Coaching events such as these have pushed me to become better about keeping up with major social and political issues around the world and educating myself on various sides of domestic and international politics.
The cases below are examples from two different varsity teams over two different topics.
Fighting ISIS with US Combat Troops
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Effectiveness of "No Child Left Behind"
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Fairytale Newspaper ProjectCommunication Applications
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"Simply put, most Americans don’t like to read...Newspapers endorse literacy implicitly on a daily basis...people don’t often have the attention span to sit down and absorb a single thing without being simultaneously stimulated by 18 others."
-Ryan Thomas Online Author/Journalist |
Part of the mass media and group dynamics studies in Communication Applications allows me a chance to incorporate a fun twist on an old project. Students spend time studying mass communication, specifically newspapers. They investigate different elements of news publications and the purpose of each section. Prior to that, the class has already studied group dynamics and effective group management. So, in order to display an understanding of those ideas, they are assigned to work in groups of three to five students, where they then create their own "fairytale" newspaper, using characters and plot lines from well-known fairy tales. They have the option of creating an electronic newspaper or one on paper/poster board. Students can use any type of software or web app they have available to construct this project, but each member of their group must contribute to the creation of the newspaper itself. It's always fun to see the progression of students' viewpoint on news sources and their usefulness as well as their interpretation of classic fairy tales. Many times, groups get very creative with how they divide responsibilities and assign roles within their groups in order to accommodate someone's special interest, talent or work ethic.
The requirements for the assignment are as follows:
In an assigned group, you will create a newspaper utilizing childhood nursery rhymes or fairy tales as news. Pick at least five nursery rhymes or fairy tales to use in your paper. You may break up this project any way you wish, but all group members must participate. You will be providing peer evaluations for all your group members based on how well you worked together as a group. Your newspaper must contain:
The requirements for the assignment are as follows:
In an assigned group, you will create a newspaper utilizing childhood nursery rhymes or fairy tales as news. Pick at least five nursery rhymes or fairy tales to use in your paper. You may break up this project any way you wish, but all group members must participate. You will be providing peer evaluations for all your group members based on how well you worked together as a group. Your newspaper must contain:
- A Hard news story
- A soft news or feature story
- A sports story
- Classified ad
- Display ad
Voice/Narration Project for The Turn of the Screw OR In the Time of the ButterfliesAP English 4
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"Literature doesn't become literature unless it becomes the voice of the voiceless. We have a great responsibility of bringing forth the voices of marginalized and deprived community."
-R.N. Joe D'Cruz Indian Writer/Novelist |
This particular assignment was given in a senior AP English course in order to help them analyze the intent of the author in narration (or lack of) in one of two chosen novels. Students read both In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, and also The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Written in two different time periods, these novels show varied examples of the way authors utilize characterization and narration to shape their story.
Students could choose any character in (or out of) the story that did not narrate the text to retell all or part of the story through the chosen character's eyes. Students could utilize any multi-media resource they wanted to in order to illustrate the necessary content.
Project expectations were as follows:
DRIVING QUESTION: How would you use the voice of another person/character to retell a specific passage from The Turn of the Screw OR In the Time of the Butterflies while also using a modern technological resource that stays true to that character's personality and style?
PROJECT GUIDELINES
◦ Must have a final product that illustrates understanding of voice/voicelessness and its importance in the telling of a story
◦ Must use one significant passage from either The Turn of the Screw or In the Time of the Butterflies as basis for plot
◦ Re-telling must stay true to basic plot line and characterization within chosen story
◦ Final product must utilize at least one technological resource (of student’s choosing) that most fits or is most appropriate for illustration of your chosen character/person
◦ Final product must be presented to the class
*Consider the original context or the situation.
*What issue would the new narrator be most prominently concerned with?
*How would the narrator consider addressing the problem or issue presented in the chosen text?
*Which technological resource is most appropriate for your chosen narrator?
ADDITIONAL GUIDING QUESTIONS (to help you!):
◦ What person/character (ANYONE), if given a “voice,” would contribute to the overall telling of the story?
◦ Why was that person not originally given a “voice” in relation to the existing story?
◦ What part of the chosen text would that person most want/need to speak out about?
◦ How would giving that one particular person/character a “voice” change the telling of the story?
◦ What technological tool fits best with the character you chose to use and how would its use enhance the telling of their story?
Students could choose any character in (or out of) the story that did not narrate the text to retell all or part of the story through the chosen character's eyes. Students could utilize any multi-media resource they wanted to in order to illustrate the necessary content.
Project expectations were as follows:
DRIVING QUESTION: How would you use the voice of another person/character to retell a specific passage from The Turn of the Screw OR In the Time of the Butterflies while also using a modern technological resource that stays true to that character's personality and style?
PROJECT GUIDELINES
◦ Must have a final product that illustrates understanding of voice/voicelessness and its importance in the telling of a story
◦ Must use one significant passage from either The Turn of the Screw or In the Time of the Butterflies as basis for plot
◦ Re-telling must stay true to basic plot line and characterization within chosen story
◦ Final product must utilize at least one technological resource (of student’s choosing) that most fits or is most appropriate for illustration of your chosen character/person
◦ Final product must be presented to the class
*Consider the original context or the situation.
*What issue would the new narrator be most prominently concerned with?
*How would the narrator consider addressing the problem or issue presented in the chosen text?
*Which technological resource is most appropriate for your chosen narrator?
ADDITIONAL GUIDING QUESTIONS (to help you!):
◦ What person/character (ANYONE), if given a “voice,” would contribute to the overall telling of the story?
◦ Why was that person not originally given a “voice” in relation to the existing story?
◦ What part of the chosen text would that person most want/need to speak out about?
◦ How would giving that one particular person/character a “voice” change the telling of the story?
◦ What technological tool fits best with the character you chose to use and how would its use enhance the telling of their story?
Poetry Interpretation AssignmentEnglish 3
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"If my poetry aims to achieve anything, it's to deliver people from the limited ways in which they see and feel."
-Jim Morrison Musician |
In one of my junior English classes, students were asked to choose one poem out of a provided selection and create their own representation of their interpretation. These poems specifically had controversial interpretations; the meaning of each poem had been previously debated by scholars. It was fascinating to see the meanings they pulled from poems that some educated linguists and poets could not decipher. The truly amazing part was the new interpretations in some projects; they were things that I had never really considered before.
Students were to create an interpretation of the chosen poem using the guidelines provided below.
Choose ONE of the nine attached poems or one of your own choosing (MUST BE APPROVED) and read it carefully, being sure to annotate the text as your read. Use TPCASTT and Text-Rendering strategies to help you with the annotations. YOU MUST TURN IN THESE TWO SHEETS.
After reading and annotating, discuss the theme and meaning of the poem and take notes over the discussion.
Go back and mark any unfamiliar words in the poem and use a dictionary to determine the meaning of each word. Be sure to write these down.
Create a short presentation of your poem interpretation to be shown to the rest of the class. You can choose how you would like to present (iMovie, poster, acting a scene, etc.).
You will be required to turn in the following:
· Copy of the chosen poem
· TPCASTT & Test Rendering sheets
· Notes from theme/meaning discussion
· Presentation plan or script
Students were to create an interpretation of the chosen poem using the guidelines provided below.
Choose ONE of the nine attached poems or one of your own choosing (MUST BE APPROVED) and read it carefully, being sure to annotate the text as your read. Use TPCASTT and Text-Rendering strategies to help you with the annotations. YOU MUST TURN IN THESE TWO SHEETS.
After reading and annotating, discuss the theme and meaning of the poem and take notes over the discussion.
Go back and mark any unfamiliar words in the poem and use a dictionary to determine the meaning of each word. Be sure to write these down.
Create a short presentation of your poem interpretation to be shown to the rest of the class. You can choose how you would like to present (iMovie, poster, acting a scene, etc.).
You will be required to turn in the following:
· Copy of the chosen poem
· TPCASTT & Test Rendering sheets
· Notes from theme/meaning discussion
· Presentation plan or script
The Importance of Reflection
Debate, Oral Interpretation, Public Speaking
& Communication Applications One thing that I was always taught about formal assessment is that the learning process is not finished after completing the assessment. There is always room to grow. This lesson has encouraged me to provide opportunities for reflection and improvement for my students, especially after performance events and major projects.
In my oral interpretation and debate courses, students are expected to complete an online reflection form after each competition in order for them to formally review their performance and plan ways to improve prior to their next opportunity to compete (see adjacent form). In Communication Applications and Public Speaking, students frequently answer a short list of questions after presenting a formal assessment or project to the class. Sometimes, they reflect on their performance. Other times, they reflect on group work and general learning. Some examples of Communication Applications reflections are posted in the adjacent windows. After reading student reflections, it becomes clear what their personal goals for learning are in relation to the previously studied content and what I can do to help them in future opportunities. As a means of teacher assessment, it is also useful to me to see their perceptions of performance and how consistent they are with the way I graded their assignment. It helps to keep me considering the way in which I go about grading individual projects. |
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