(Kist) Great Films and How to Teach Them

 

This post will reference William V. Costanzos Great Films and How to Teach Them

“what is peculiarly filmic and what is peculiarly novelistic cannot be converted without destroying an integral part of each” (Costanzo 10).

Yet another great debate: which is better; the film or the book? While teachers struggle to find ways to incorporate multi-modalities into the classroom, they are also asking questions such as that. Look at just a few of the book to film adaptations:

(click on any image to find out more)

Then you can look more at young adult literature and their movie counterparts:

And those are really just a few…

So how do we use films in the classroom?

• · Do you read the book then watch the entire film?
• · Do you watch the film first?
• · Do you read the book and just watch select clips?
• · Do you forego the film entirely?
• · Do you use the film with every novel that has one?
• · Do you use a modern or older version?
• · Do you use films without a novel?
• · If so, which films do you choose?

There are at least a couple dozen questions teachers could ask about using movies in the classroom. For me, the questions would all be narrowed down to one: What do you plan to accomplish by using a film? From there, it will be much easier to choose which film and how it will be used (i.e. the whole thing, clips, which version, for which texts, etc.).

How can films be beneficial to students?

Critical Analysis of text is a key component of education. Allowing students to become familiar with analyzing several types of text can create a more informed and observant perspective for students.

Variety in the classroom can lead to students whose attention is retained rather than lost. How many times do you look at a class of students and see the majority of them not focused on the lesson, doodling in a notebook or even nodding off? I’d have to say that this is a regular situation in some classrooms. Keeping students interested in the material by giving them something visual to analyze may help those students who struggle with lectures.

Cross-Training is another way of saying that students use the skills they have applied in one situation to a different situation. Giving students assignments that go along with watching a movie is a good way to see how your students are able to apply the knowledge they have acquired to many situations.

Compare- Contrast skills can be developed with assignments which ask students to compare and/or contrast the movie with the book. Along with this, the use and analysis of plot elements and literary devices can be solidified. The most common task with this idea is the simple compare- contrast paper, but it could be expanded to apply to other texts that students have read.

Reinforce ideas from a text by showing parts of a film. If students are confused by a particular scene in Macbeth, for example, perhaps showing them a short clip of that scene would be beneficial to their understanding.

“ films allow the teaching of longer works that might otherwise be omitted or of controversial works that might be excluded from the curriculum. The example she gives is of Tennessee Williams's "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Although it is definitely an adult film, its screenplay contains none of the potentially objectionable material or language that appears in the original play” (Aiex).

Awarensess of film production terms and concepts allows students to better understand how their entertainment is created and why some of the decisions concerning the movie were made.

Interaction with the mass media is something that students encounter every day. When students are asked to analyze messages they are receiving, they begin to develop an understanding of how they are influenced by the media. This could work well with a unit on safety, in particular internet safety, which also asks students to analyze hidden messages they are being sent.

In the end, what function do films serve in the classroom?

 

They are a text, to be used as we would use any other text. Careful planning and orchestration of films, novels, poems and various other forms of text are necessary to developing a varied curriculum which enriches and interests students.

(Pytash) Lesson Design for Classical Literature

 

“Some say of education that we are the only profession to eat its young” (Jago 95).

Am I horrible to admit that I laughed at this just as much as I look forward to it?

“Too many new teachers are thrown into the ring with little more than a list of books and an attendance roster” (Jago 95).

I find this interesting. Many individuals would probably look at a list of books and freak out. Me? While there may definitely be some “freaking out,” I will look forward to it. One of the reasons I would look forward to this is that I get to read and explore texts that I’ve always wanted to read and do it for my job. While reading my text for the canonical wiki, The Scarlet Letter, I had a ton of fun. I had never read that particular text before and I honestly enjoyed going through, making copious notes (my fiancé commented that my notes made the book twice as thick) and thinking of “large questions” and teaching ideas. While it will be a lot of work to go through a year’s worth of books and come up with lesson/ unit plans for all of them, I look forward to it. There will surely be a lot of grumbling and complaining, but in the end, it will definitely be worth it.

· “Being a teacher means being a teacher.

· However much you think you know, it is always worth thinking some more.

· Whenever you find yourself in a quandary, read the research.

· Teaching well can be thrilling” (Jago 97).

One of the reasons I knew I wanted to be a teacher was my background in teaching. That may sound a bit odd, but I was a riding instructor for many years (and still am when I have time). When I read the above passage in Jago’s book, I immediately nodded in agreement at all of those things. When you are working with students, they will always be looking to prove you wrong. That is a fact of life. My students taught me something every day, and it made me really take a step back and evaluate my knowledge. When I couldn’t think of an explanation for something or didn’t know how to respond to a student (or horse, for they are students too), I would take a step back and think about it, read up on it and ask questions of people working in the business longer than I had been. At the end of each session, I was becoming more confident in my teaching of others and I could see a difference in my riders as well. It was worth the extra effort.

I’ve heard of some mentorship programs for new teachers and I think that this is a fantastic idea. I’m not sure how involved they are, but it would be a strong tool for learning teachers if a veteran could look over their lesson plans, give feedback and then discuss. Also, having a mentor observe a lesson would be a great way to continue education for new teachers. Jago mentions this by saying “successful teachers are the best teachers of teachers” (Jago 98).

“In order to be a successful writing teacher, one must write” (Jago 99).

Yet another obvious, yet often overlooked concept. In our reading for class, Kittle writes about a teacher who was given the advice to write with his students. I agree with this approach. When students can see their teachers struggling with the same issues that they are having, it makes the writing process more manageable and less frustrating. Knowing that someone else is having the same difficulty that you are can be comforting and allow more confidence.

I would have loved to read the work of my teachers and professors, and I’ve only had one share with my class. My Poetry I professor, Robert Miltner, shared many of his poems and ideas with the class. Not only was he open about his ideas, but he also talked to us about his struggles during the writing process and strategies he’s found that work. For every assignment that I ask my students to do, I think it would be a good idea to have an example of my own. I don’t think that sharing my work for every assignment is a good idea, but working through it and understanding issues that may pop up during the thought process is a good idea.

“in teaching, somehow we’ve promulgated the idea that a teacher is not a professional unless she invents it all by herself. (Willis 2002, 11)” (Jago 103).

Think about it for a minute. As a pre-service teacher, would you think less of an educator for borrowing many lesson ideas? I certainly wouldn’t. I have come across many ideas which I find excellent for teaching one particular book or another. With proper attribution, there is no reason why borrowed lessons or assignments cannot be used in your classroom. If a veteran teacher highly recommends an activity, I’ll definitely consider trying it out. It may need to be adapted for my particular classroom or text, but it might be the starting point for an assignment of my own creation.

I’m sure that there are many veteran teachers out there who feel that new teachers must prove their prowess in lesson planning by creating every aspect of every lesson used in their classroom. Realistically, they are probably forgetting how many times they’ve borrowed ideas or worked with another teacher to flesh out concepts for a text. No teacher is invincible and we have no right to expect new teachers to come prepared with a Kevlar vest.

“Almost invariably, when I start talking about homework. Someone tells me that homework is a middle-class notion, and that as long as I make out-of-class reading a requirement for success, some students will be doomed to failure. I cannot accept this” (Jago 130).

I 100% agree with Jago on this. Classroom management can be difficult enough as it is without eliminating homework. I am fully of the notion that students should do about 90-95% of their reading outside of the classroom. That way, they have time to absorb, think about and begin analyzing the text before coming to class. If we expect students to actively participate and proffer their wise ideas, then we need them to have done their reading before class.

Many students today find themselves so wrapped up in extracurricular activities and the like that they struggle to complete homework every night. As students entering college are told—balance is key. Students, like everyone else, must learn to balance everything in their lives. Homework must be part of their schedule of daily activities or they will fall behind. It is inevitable that students will have challenges with their reading assignments, and (I’ll be blunt here) that’s sort of the point. When students struggle to read or understand as assignment, it gives them questions about the text. It is likely that most of the other students had trouble with the assignment as well. And therefore gives teachers a jumping-off point for class. “Good” teachers will anticipate these issues and base their classes around parts of the text which challenge students. Whether teachers choose to prepare students beforehand or prefer to explain it afterward can depend a lot on the teacher, students and text being used.

When it comes right down to it—homework will always have a place in (and out) of my classroom. It has functioned well for so long that eliminating it entirely would leave teachers with very little room to teach. Students would spend most of class time reading and then leave with their questions unanswered.

Quizzes. What joy.

Do you give them? Do you announce them? Are they planned out or do you decide to do it five minutes before class?

All of these questions have been debated on endlessly. I agree with Jago that sometimes pop quizzes are a necessary evil. Unlike some teachers, I think that good assignments can take the place of regular quizzes. When students know that they will be asked to apply the text in various, unknown ways, they will often pay a little bit more attention to what they’re reading.

What do you ask on quizzes? I am not a large fan of multiple choice quizzes because they are often too easy. If you make them too difficult, then students may forget the point that quizzes are trying to get across—do you understand what you read? By asking questions that are vague, yet refer to a specific aspect of the text, students can apply information they’ve absorbed.

Tests.

How do you balance pop quizzes and assignments with tests? Here is the point where I am comfortable with multiple choice—but not for the whole test. By the end of a text, students should be comfortable with it. One-third of the test should be multiple choice questions which ask about the literary elements of the text. Two-thirds should be application and critical analysis. This is the time for students to bring it all together.

“I don’t want students to forget that what we are reading is in translation” (Jago 138).

This concept has become very important to me in my college education. In particular, working with texts from middle English have inspired me to look outside of my “box” to other languages. I firmly believe that great texts come from everywhere. There are many sitting in some foreign country that haven’t been discovered here, and that’s a shame to me. We need to take advantage of texts from other places that have made it here.

Not only is it important to understand the origins of a text, but students seem to enjoy hearing a reading of the original text. It gives understanding to cadence, flow, rhyme, rhythm, tone and so much more. Texts that have been translated from existing languages into English sometimes lose their vitality. When translators try and spice them up (think of the many translations of The Odyssey from the book), the meaning isn’t quite the same. Literal translations can be boring, so I fully understand why some teachers choose to use more modern and interesting versions. It really is up to the teacher to decide how to teach which version, but I am preferential toward letting students at least experience how the text was meant to be heard.

(Kist) Firestone

 

Test prep: it’s quickly becoming the ultimate bane of educators. Having now done two semesters of field experience which focus on preparing students for taking the Ohio Graduation Test, I can sympathize. As much as we like to complain about it, it has become a necessary evil. With the way our schools are funded, test scores are an integral part of receiving money to continue educating students.

How can we bring test preparation in to the twenty-first century? Multi-modal methods can be applied, but they must be done so with caution. One of the most obvious ways to incorporate multi-modality into test preparation is to use the internet and its vast resources. There are many websites which offer grammar, punctuation and spelling tests for free to students. I’m sure that there are also sources which provide quick reviews of literary elements, perhaps in video form (which is more interesting and definitely more relaxing). If these things do not exist, then perhaps educators could come together to demonstrate these concepts in video format. Making a video which demonstrates a test-prep idea could be targeted toward that particular school and even texts that the class has read so far. Borrowing movie scenes which give examples of literary devices and using them either as plain review or a game (think Jeopardy) can be useful for students. As long as the questions and answers are working toward review for the test, then I don’t see why they can’t have fun doing it.

What else can we use to bring multi-modality into test preparation? It’s difficult to prepare students for tests without giving them some form of test material. I realize this, and understand why it’s difficult. During my observation experience at McKinley High School, I found that the best test preparation for those students did not focus on the material, but how to answer the questions. By teaching students how to figure out what a question asked, it made finding the answer very easy. The formula which I offered allowed students to apply it to every question they were asked, not just about this or that particular topic. Even students who had very little knowledge of science concepts could get correct answers by reading the question carefully and eliminating answers which don’t apply.

My students had the most difficulty with the short answer questions. They did not always know how many things the question was asking nor the best way to answer. Once again, teaching students to interpret the question allowed them to answer without knowing all of the necessary background material. That brings up another challenge of test preparation.

How do you teach students what they need to know if you don’t know what’s on the test? While we can’t prepare students for everything that they will face, it seems like a good idea to review key concepts which they will need to know. I honestly didn’t see much of this going on with teachers at Firestone. What I did see was teachers just handing out old versions of the test and asking students to answer those questions. While this may help some students review information, I don’t feel that major concepts were covered. My student in particular asked me to review literary concepts such as hyperbole, onomatopoeia and alliteration because she didn’t remember what they meant. As I’ve said in my blog for Pytash’s class, students need these building blocks in order to formulate answers for more complex topics or test questions. I felt that most of my students were lacking this basic knowledge and it made me ask: where did it fall through the cracks? When should students know what alliteration is? When should they know how to determine the mass number of an element?

Do we blame teachers or students? This is a difficult question and nearly impossible to answer. It’s a little of both for me, but I lean more toward the teachers. I’ve seen to many disenchanted teachers in my observation and experience that I’ve become even more determined to do what I can for students. They are missing crucial elements of their English education which will prevent them from doing well on tests like the OGT.

Ultimately, do I see multi-modal literacies merging with test preparation? Perhaps. Most teachers likely won’t take the effort to find good sources and/or create them. Why should they when students can just take old copies of the test over and over again? That seems like a good way to teach, doesn’t it? (Please note the dripping sarcasm here.) I would love to make things more interesting and less robotic for my students, but I don’t see the majority of educators switching their method for test prep because I feel they should. Let’s start with me and go from there. Maybe one of the issues is lack of research on using multi-modal literacies in test preparation. Maybe it will only take one outstanding teacher who uses these ideas to propel their students toward excellent scores. Someone has to try and I’m willing.

As for my field experience/ observation, there are two situations which stick out:

a) Students are being introduced to the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Considering that the “n word” is in the book, this particular teacher decided to meet it head on, even before students cracked open the novel. She did this by having students watch an old TV program where a white teacher was using the book Nigger (written by a Harvard professor) to have a discussion with his students. There was an uproar (as you can imagine) and the African American principal ended up coming in and teaching the class, thinking that a white teacher couldn’t even begin to understand the implications of what the word means. Once students finished watching this video, they got in a circle and began discussing what happened, what it meant, how they feel about the “n word,” etc. Now, because these students had an outstanding discussion about the word, they jumped into the novel knowing some of the connotations, the denotation and how they feel about it. They had a fantastic “book prep” through the use of a multi-modal source.

I felt that this was one of the best introductions to the book that I’ve read or heard about. This teacher foresaw an issue and met the challenge. Her students seemed to understand that she felt they were mature enough to handle it and they responded in kind with a mature and in-depth discussion. This was perhaps the best lesson I’ve seen during my college experiences, and I enjoyed her classroom immensely.

b) To look at another scenario, I’ll talk about another teacher I observed. This is an African American teacher who has a class full of seniors. Immediately, I notice that half of the students are white and half are African American. This normally wouldn’t be an issue, except that they has segregated themselves. The African American students sat in front of the teacher and the others sat on the other end of the room. When the teacher addressed the class, she stood in front of the African American students and spoke largely to them.
After that observation, I was informed that they were reading Macbeth. These students didn’t have textbooks; they had paper copies of only the act they were reading, which they had to return at the end of class. The teacher had students choose roles and read the act aloud during the class period. I was very confused at first because what the students were reading was not what I was following. The teacher pointed out to me that they were in the other column, which was a modernized version of the play. During the entire reading, the African American students were talking and throwing paper balls at the teacher, which she ignored.
At the end of class, I asked the teacher whether or not they ever read the original version. She told me no, and that her students couldn’t handle it.

I must admit that I was appalled by this classroom. While I don’t think the teacher assigned those seats, it was clear that her students felt disengaged from her. Only one white student volunteered to read and the others just stared at the pages for the entire class. The sad part is that that was what bothered me the least. I was absolutely stunned that a group of seniors “couldn’t handle” Shakespeare. I can understand freshmen struggling to understand the language when they first attempt it, but to never even ask seniors to try is incredibly disappointing. I felt that this teacher honestly didn’t have any interest in educating her students and they responded to that attitude by goofing around and/or having no interest in classroom activities. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to become an educator. I am definitely new and excited, but I want to do more for my students than that. I felt that those students were being deprived of an education they could have been receiving two doors down.

With the tumult going on in the world of education, it is no surprise that some teachers are struggling to stay afloat while others have given up entirely. We have a sad mess going on and it is up to current and future educators to work together in order to provide the best education for our students. Will it be easy? No. Will it be fun? At times. Can we do it? Absolutely!! We only have to apply ourselves.

(Pytash) How Stories Work

 

“Stories that withstand the test of time stimulate readers both by confirming our expectations and at the same time surprising us” (Jago 67).

I find that many students, pre-service teachers and teachers question why some stories are continuously taught. This is one of those explanations that make complete sense to me. Why has The Grapes of Wrath continued to be taught even though students (and often teachers) groan every time the book is handed out? It’s pretty simple—we know what to expect, but are still surprised by the truths of Steinbeck’s story. Even veteran readers and teachers of the novel can learn something new with each reading. This can be applied to many stories that hold sway in the curriculum.

“Students are also convinced that authors deliberately make literature difficult” (Jago 60).

I found this sentence amusing, if I’m being honest. As an author of sorts, I can assure readers that I do not intentionally make my work difficult. Although I’ve been told that my diction is often elevated and difficult in some of my fantasy pieces, it was not done to intentionally confuse or irritate a reader. When most authors sit down to write something, I highly doubt that they intend to write a difficult piece which will be taught in a classroom. How many of the authors being taught today even thought they’d make it to publication, let alone the canon? Do you think that Steinbeck sat down to write The Grapes of Wrath, having a gut feeling that it would become a masterpiece? I highly doubt it.

Let’s be completely honest here. Authors who sit down to write something “great” often end up failing. Why is that? There is something to be said for having something important to say rather than saying something to be important. I know that when I feel inspired to write, it isn’t because I want to write a great piece of literature; I sit down to say something. I believe that most authors that we read and teach feel the same way.

“Plot and structure, character, setting, point of view, style and language, symbol, and theme are the building blocks of fiction” (Jago 61).

Ahh… good old building blocks. We used to play with them as children, creating castles that scraped the clouds and towns which housed princes and princesses (or, for those like me, they housed ogres and elves).

The questions that I think of when considering these elements is: are we spending too much time on these in high school? Shouldn’t students know what they are by the time they reach, say, junior year? At that point, I feel that teachers should focus more on the application and indications of these elements on the texts being used. While I feel that the building blocks of fiction (let’s not forget that non-fiction uses these too!) are very important, I keep going back to the word “building.” As with scaffolding and Zygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, we should use that base knowledge of these literary building blocks and move forward with them. In other words, I think that educators should choose a grade level where introducing and solidifying these concepts would work the best. From there, teachers shouldn’t have to focus entirely on these and should be able to go further with them. I am also very understanding of the fact that students play a large role in the retention of information and whether or not they understand it.

Let’s take a look at two excerpts from this chapter:

“A hero or heroine takes center stage. Trouble emerges. Help appears, sometimes from an unlikely source. Complications develop. Things get worse and worse until the conflict is finally resolved.”

“the key structures of the story: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement or resolution” (Jago 65).

What is the difference between these two? For starters, one consists of “structures” rather than ideas. Let’s discuss another way to view these: connotation and denotation. The structures in the second example offer denotations, or what could be considered definitions of plot elements. The first would be a better example of connotation, or what the structures mean in a non-literal sense. I found that the repetition of ideas here was interesting, as many educators try and stick with the denotations of words rather than applying them in a connotative manner which students may understand more.

“What they don’t understand is that understanding how literary devices work gives readers power over text” (Jago 68).

Apparently I’ve discovered a theme in this chapter. I am a devout fan of knowing basics, but I want my students to do more than define them. I want my students to apply literary terms and devices to a text and know how that affects the text (and/ or themselves) in a meaningful way.

Why do students have a difficult time unwrapping a text? It is likely because they don’t know how identify, link and make critical remarks about the literary elements contained therein. This is sort of the point I’ve been coming to all along. “The more clearly students understand how a writer works his magic in a line of poetry or prose, the better able they will be to analyze that line” (Jago 68).

What is our job as teachers? We are giving the tools to our students with which they will use to interpret their world—for the rest of their lives. Knowing the tools is a fantastic start. Understanding how to use them merits a bit more attention.

Let’s talk for a few moments about the idea of advances courses versus regular courses. As Jago mentions, many teachers feel that more complex ideas, tasks and assignments should be reserved for the advanced placement classes. I, much like Jago, question the validity of this point. My personal belief with all students is that if you do not have high expectations for them, then how will they ever have high expectations of themselves? I feel that difficult literature belongs in the classroom for a reason. We are not there to teach easy texts—students can explore those on their own using the tools with which they are given for more difficult texts. Believe me; they will start seeing new texts a bit differently after studying classics in the classroom. (That was not a reference to Jago’s book, although my subconscious cleverness amuses me.) While some teachers may not agree with me whatsoever, I believe that even the slow or challenged learners should be given difficult texts. How can we expect students to improve if they are not put in their zone of proximal development? If we continually give students texts that are simple for them, then what skills are we building?

I don’t necessarily fancy myself to be a difficult teacher, but I want the texts I use to challenge my students. I find some of these texts challenging and that is part of the excitement! I will be discovering things about the text just as my students will undoubtedly teach me things that I never saw before. I love it when my professors admit that they’ve never thought of that angle on a symbol or grasped this particular theme of a short story when a student describes it just right.

Just as we are there to teach; so are we there to be taught.

(Pytash) All About Words

 

Let me preface this entry by saying this: I love words. I love learning new words and I love using new words. I realize that this probably makes me an vocabulary nerd, but I'm all right with that.

On to the chapter!

The most important quote from this chapter, in my opinion, is:
"So much of what happens in schools seems artificial to students, a series of meaningless assignments that they must perform for the teacher or else fail" (Jago 27).

            Wow! When I was a teenager, that was pretty much how I would have described most of the classwork. I know that most students feel that the work is a pass/fail thing rather than something to build upon and grow from. How can we change this? Can we? In all honesty, is there a way to get students excited about classwork?

"Vocabulary experts tell us that for reasonable reading comprehension a student needs to know 90-95% of the words" (Jago 22).

While I most certainly expected this, I'm not sure that students are anywhere near this level of vocabulary. I would say that there are students who are at or above this level, but many more are distinctly below 90% vocabulary understanding.

        Jago offers that students need to read more. What I agree wholeheartedly with Jago about is the use of classic (canonical) texts to accomplish this. The majority of words in young adult literature is already known to most teenagers. Think of the book Twilight for example. There aren't a whole lot of words there that students will have to look up to understand. Dickens and Poe, on the other hand, offer a stronger variety of unknown words to students. I feel that we most definitely should be using these texts in order to improve student vocabulary.

        This also brings up a point from class. When Dr. Pytash asked us to split up into groups based on which author resonated with us the most, I was torn between Kittle and Jago. I absolutely love Jago's enthusiasm and push toward using classical texts. I also love Kittle's idea that critical analysis is a bit overdone and gets redundant. I would love to combine the two; why not use classical texts but give various assignments rather than solely critical analysis papers? That's my little tangent for now.

"Poe's choice of vocabulary had been successful" (Jago 26).
I really liked the exercise Jago used to discuss an author's vocabulary choices. Having students find words which comprise the mood and tone of a text is a good way to test their understanding of those elements as well. There are many embedded ideas here, as students are learning vocabulary, working on mood and tone, reading for comprehension and analyzing words to find common meanings, ideas and themes.
When I read the four steps to knowing a word, I was left wanting more.

"Stage 1: Never saw it before.
Stage 2: Heard it, but don't know what it means.
Stage 3: Recognize it in context as something to do with...
Stage 4: Know it"             (Jago 29).

My immediate questions were:

• How do you know when you "know" it?
• Is it when you can define it?
• Is it when you can give parts of speech?
• Is it when you can use it in a sentence?
• A combination of all three?

 

Once I flipped the page and kept reading, I was given these two tidbits:
"'Knowing' a word involves more than the word's definition. It also means knowing how a word functions in different contexts. [...] A full and flexible knowledge of a word includes an understanding of the breadth of a word's use" (Jago 31).

While both of those sentences seem to be saying very similar things, they don't really answer what I want to know. How do you know when you "know" a word?

Classroom Idea:
        One of the things which I have been thinking about lately, prompted mainly by tutoring at Firestone High School, was how to incorporate vocabulary in the classroom. I am very much a fan of putting words around the classroom which students have found difficulty with. My idea: a word cloud.
        I want to keep an open area of wall space where students can put words as they come across them. What should be on each card? I would like:

• the word
• part of speech
• definition
• use it in a sentence

 

Also, I find that having a large edition of a dictionary where students can access it at all times is a great idea. If a student is doing silent reading or is being challenged by a word used in class, they can look it up and add it to the word cloud. They should also share the word and the card information with the class, so that everyone is informed.

While I was reading and annotating this chapter, I made a large frown-face next to one sentence:
"Of course such vocabulary is only common in written text" (Jago 29)

        This made me incredibly sad. I am seeing a great decline, even in my own short lifespan, of words failing to be used. I admit that the majority of my vocabulary becomes evident when I am writing as opposed to when I am speaking. However, I try to use fun and interesting words just to spice things up.

        One thing I would like to see is teachers using challenging words in their classroom in regular dialogue. Rather than solely emphasizing words during times of intense vocabulary study, introduce and familiarize students to words all of the time. In everyday discourse, we should be asking our students to speak properly and with less "text speak." I was appalled by how many students these days want to write directly in texting lingo, as if they truly did not know proper sentence and word formation.
Alas, I find myself in a word bereft of words yet dominated by "lol" and "c u l8r."

Til nex time, gbye!

(Kist) Articles Round 2

Publish or Perish

What’s going on with the paper/digital debate about books?

We have hardcover, paperback, Kindle, Nook, iPad and so many other ways to get book content. What is challenging so many publishing companies and their buyers is the idea of pricing for products. Do we charge the same amount for an eBook as we would a hardcover, thus making more profit? Do we discount the eBook because it costs less and still make a profit? Do we discount the hardcover in order to help boost sales and keep publishing companies/ bookstores in business?

At this point, no one knows.

When it comes to my own bookshelves, I have hardcover, paperback and a lot of eBooks. I love holding a book (especially hard covers with dust-jackets) but I also have great need for carrying more than one book at a time. In one ten-hour shift at work, I read three large books. If I had to carry those books around, it would be a burden, no matter how much I love my books.

How is this affecting teachers/ students?

Students are likely going to be getting textbooks in digital format at some point. This will save schools money on buying replacements for worn or old books and buying new copies. If there was a way for students to get a classroom copy of each book through one school license for that book, it would save everyone involved money.

One of the issues I see with this is the current method of flipping through pages. It would take students much longer to find passages they want, unless they knew specifically where they are. Also, teachers may have a harder time teaching a digital book if they cannot flip around very easily. Imagine waiting for students to scroll through a hundred pages or so rather than flipping to a page number. Something else to consider is that digital reading devices malfunction. It is not often that a paper copy of a book malfunctions—unless someone ripped out pages or wrote all over it. If one student’s device freezes during an open-book quiz and the rest don’t, what happens then?

These are all big questions and as teachers, we will have to adapt to the changing technology. Things will change; it’s just a matter of time. How we embrace that change and use it to our advantage is what truly says something about us as teachers. Get familiar with the technology and learn its uses, just in case you need to use it in the future.

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Learning by Playing

Do we learn through games?

I have to stop and think about this. At first, I would say no. However, when I think about it more, it starts to make sense. From a very young age, our teachers use games, activities and visuals to aid in student learning. Does this expand to older students?

How many times have you played Jeopardy to review for a test? How many of you have been asked to create some sort of game about the concepts used in class? I have done both.

Is learning through games the best for students to learn material?

I think that we could argue both sides here. As the Quest to Learn program demonstrates, games can be useful in the classroom in a variety of ways. First and foremost would probably be acquiring and maintaining the attention of students. Following that, games can include a lot of factual information with brain puzzles that don’t present themselves as such.

On the other hand, I see this becoming an alternate reality which students would much prefer to traditional classrooms. I may be a bit traditional myself, but I would not like teaching solely through the medium of game-play, no matter how super-cool these games may be.

Maybe I have an interesting perspective…..

Growing up, I was not allowed to play any sort of video game. We did not have any system in the house and in fact, we didn’t have one until I borrowed a Wii a couple of years ago. My game time was limited to short stints at other peoples’ houses and we often didn’t play much since my skill level was very inadequate for most games.

I was introduced, however, to World of Warcraft recently. I started playing a few months ago and I’m already at the top level. What have I learned from playing this game? Game-speak, a few more ways to multitask eating, playing and homework, and perhaps some focus on a good day. This game isn’t geared toward education, but I’m betting that most of the games currently used aren’t either. While this would open up a whole new avenue for game engineers, I don’t see classrooms becoming converts to game-play lessons, unless it was a specific class geared toward technology.

 

This is my main toon Wrenkla.

Tauren Druid

I also have Wrail

Troll Warlock

and Wrokkitt.

Goblin Shaman

 

While I enjoy my game time, I think I’ll keep WoW out of the classroom, at least for now.