Great Sites! Enjoy A Double Hit of Teaching Propositions

Sometimes, usually on rainy Thursdays - like today,  I can spend hours skimming through my favorite Internet sites for next week's teaching inspiration and find nothing to turn my rain-induced mental frown upside down.

Other times, my surfing strikes my Enthusiasm Jackpot Bell. One of the items that makes my Creative Muse clunk me on my brain and exclaim, "Need inspiration? Check these out for ideas!" isn't even in the Lesson Up! category...until now.

But before I get to it, I just have to talk about this huge Home Run  Planning Double,

Inspiration Ball #1 - Simply Novel's 2016 Spring Catalog.

This catalog is 22 pages of ELA teacher-planning nirvana. Kristen Bowers has long been recognized for her excellent secondary ELA material on her Simply Novel website and in her TpT store Simply Novel Secondary Solutions.    She created this catalog to showcase the abundance of awesome products offered by other ELA Sellers in their TpT stores..Pre-K-2 teachers should browse the

incredible offerings on pages 4-6; Grades 2-5 teachers will find fantastic material on pages 7-10; pages 11-13 offer exciting lessons to those who lead Grades 3-6; teachers in the Grades 6-12 range will sigh blissfully as they peruse pages 3, and pages 14-19; educators whose concentration is Grades 9-12 will find pages 20 & 21 the equivalent of a teacher candy store, and Special Ed teachers' eyes will glow when they see page 12. 

Every product links to its own page in the teacher seller's TpT store. If you want to check out a Seller's complete Store, each ad has a store link for that, too.  Finally, you will find a Seller Index on page 22..

As if this isn't enough to bring out the sunshine, a lucky teacher will win a Flash Drive  full of  ELA plans. Check out the information on the top of page 16, and then click on the Red Arrow in the ad for this cornucopia of Freebies.This offer ends on 7/1/2016.

Inspiration Ball #1 - Amazing Geologist Photographic Bonanza
All of these images are from Amazing Geologist photos

Yesterday, a friend put this picture on Facebook. It knocked the breath out of me, and then followed that reaction by constantly pinging my brain with teaching ideas. The first brain flash I had was to make it my Screen Saver, so I did. My second was to wonder if Chris McCandless from Into the Wild (Jon Krakauer) would have trekked off to Alaska if he came upon this magnificence, Would Meursault from Albert Camus' The Stranger have held onto his existential, "The world is random, chaotic and absurd," views if he gazed upon this design? Those are just two thoughts that I'd mention to my students as I shared these images during their reading.

And then I clicked onto this incredible picture by Ruth Hager offering a close-up of some petrified wood in the Crystal Forest, a part of the Petrified Forest National Park. Now, I'd love Chico's to create one of their flowing-sleeved ponchos with this design.   But what item of clothing would Janie from Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God want using this colorful motif? I can't even imagine what kind of firestorm would occur if a character from The Crucible (Arthur Miller) showed up in Salem strutting this colorful skirt.

This Elephant Rock formation in New Zealand makes my mind conjure up a mythological  story for its existence, Was this elephant turned into a rock for defying the GREAT PACHYDERM?

and, I wonder if this rockin' breakfast plate is a relic from  a volcanic eruption, and was discovered by a future geologist searching for the Great American Lost Diner.

Any of the multitude of, "WOW!" photos in this link could be used as 

1. Mental stretches for Warm-Up or Closure time
2. Story Starters
3. Poetry Generators
4. Descriptive writing topics
5. What If ?writings. For example how would a Setting, Plot or a Character from a novel be affected if the author had included the actual place or object in one of the pictures in the novel students were reading? Maybe the picture would set a different Tone/atmosphere, or the location/object would be a major Symbol or the basis for the Theme.
6. Inspiration for a personal essay for college applications, or
7. Stimulus for a song, or a movie or a play or a painting.

Surely, this smoky quartz from the Haramosh Mountains in Pakistan conjures up images of a futuristic city in a dystopian novel, (imagine it without the hand).

Take a moment and flip through these images, and let them spark your Lesson Idea Muse or jumpstart a brainstorming session with your colleagues. Hopefully  these images will offer you some terrific lesson ideas for the following weeks.

To truly save your weekends for the rest of your school year, be sure to check out Kristen Bower's Simply Novel Spring Catalog. Just go to Simply Novel and click on the blue-backed ELA Products Galore *Brand New Catalog* picture like the one I shared in this post.

Enjoy a Teach It Now Day Every Day,

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Connie

PRE-THANKSGIVING VACATION TpT SALE

 To All of my English Language Arts colleagues-

I wish you a relaxing vacation with family and  friends. 

So you don't have to cram in planning before your break, and 

So you don't have to endure a grumpy week after your much deserved vacation,

I am having a 15% off EVERYTHING SALE in my TpT store
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Connie

Along with all of my literature, writing, vocabulary, grammar and journalism lesson plans, activities, unit plans, PowerPoints and Teacher Resources, be sure to check out these two November Newbies:

WRITING-SHOWING NOT TELLING-THE EMOTION POTION

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/WRITING-SHOWING-NOT-TELLING-THE-EMOTION-POTION-2215478 (on sale for $2.55)

and-

Literary Analysis-MAKING THE MOST OF TIME

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Literary-Analysis-MAKING-the-MOST-of-TIME-681650
(ON SALE FOR $2.13)

Browse the sale so you can make the most of your vacation time. 

Go to https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Connie

Have a wonderful break, and when you return to the classroom next week,

Enjoy a Teach It Now Day, Every Day.

Make a Home for the Unit Plan-'Neverhome'

Image from Amazon  http://amzn.to/1NF0O71

From the first page of Neverhome by Laird Hunt, I was mesmerized. Was my absorption due to

~the first line, “I was strong and he was not, so it was me went to war to defend the republic”? 

~ the knowledge that women masqueraded as men to fight in the Civil War?

~ Laird Hunt’s ability to spin mere words into vivid and emotional word pictures, such as, “…but there had been a bite of sorrows in that empty place made me glad to think we had found another spot and weren’t going to return,” (21)? As an avid reader, I give three solid, “Yes” votes to these questions.

As a teacher, I appreciate the societal/cultural links, as well as the reasons why this 243-page novel provides a rich cross-curriculum unit of study that secondary school English and Social Studies teachers may share.

Societal/ Cultural Links

~ Constance Thompson, AKA Ash Thompson, is a woman who succeeds in a man’s world, though she has to disguise herself as a man to do so.  The two recent graduates of Ranger School, First Lieutenant Shaye Haver, and Captain Kristen Griest also excelled in a – previously -men’s only domain.

~ Some reasons for the Civil War, from both Northern and Southern Points of View are presented.

~ The interpretation of historical persons, places and things as well as their symbolic meanings is timely.

Cross Curriculum Ideas

~English teachers can share elements of literature activities such as Character, Plot/Conflict and Theme with social studies teachers.

~ Social Studies teachers may share activities that deepen students understanding of the people and places of the Civil War, especially those that are shown- with literary license- in this novel.

~ English and Social Studies teachers could “guest teach” in each other’s classes.

What does this 103-page Unit Plan: Neverhome  offer teachers?

Here is a shortened version of the Table of Contents:

Objectives and Teacher Notes

A Unit Activity Plan (specifies the Common Core Anchor Standards and 

Bloom’s Taxonomy verbs for each activity)

Pre-Reading – What Do I Know?  How Do I Know It?                                                      

Research Project

Debate Project

Historical Footnotes

Vocabulary Activity

Section Analysis Activity (3-pages; one set is designated for every reading division section

that I created- three each for the author’s book divisions that he names, One, Two and Three.)

Group Activity –Ash’s Journey 1862-1864    

Character Activities (6)

Plot/Conflict Activities (5)

Setting Activity - Setting Up Ash(1)

Symbols Activities (2)

Theme Activities (2)

Tone Activity (1)                                                                                            

Figurative Language Activity

                 

Points to Ponder/Discussion Topics (10)

Essay Topics (8)

Project Topics (9)

Assessments/Division Quiz

Assessments Unit Test

Answer Keys: Historical Footnotes, Vocabulary, Neverhome Unit Test

This product, Unit Plan - Neverhome,  provides a plethora of teacher notes, activities and assessments that enable students to ~deepen their reading comprehension and their understanding of the Civil War and its impact on contemporary society.

~grasp the fact that what happens in the past always impacts the future

~ strengthen their writing depth and their higher level thinking skills, and, to

~ create lifelong readers and learners.

Download it from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Unit-Plan-NeverhomeLaird-Hunt-2053138

Enjoy a Teach it Now Day, Every Day

Follower Advantage

For an automatic Heads-Up! email about Updated and New  products, and also for Sales and other promotions, please click on the Follow Me star under my Store Name, https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Connie

                                                                               

               

These 16 dos and 11 don’ts form “Writing? Yes!” classrooms

In the movie Finding Forrester, Sean Connery’s character, William Forrester, shared his philosophy on writing with Jamal Wallace, who was struggling to create an opening sentence, when he told the young man, “First write from the heart, then from the head”. Those few paraphrased words create, “Writing? Yes!” classrooms. When students write their first drafts, be they for free writing, an assigned essay, or any time they wrestle with extracting thoughts and ideas wedged like impacted wisdom teeth in the crevices of their brains, they need to feel free to share their ideas without judgment.

Although the How Students Say It - word choice, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure - is seriously important, it should be secondary to the What They Say.  Unless students feel confident expressing their thoughts, they will never reach the point of understanding or caring about the importance of these skill elements.

To become confident and willing writers, students must consider writing as

•  a way for them to show ownership of their thoughts, their ideas, and their own unique voices. 
• a way for them to write from the heart.
• a way for them to believe in their thoughts and ideas.

To become confident and willing writers, students must never

• consider the proficiency benchmark as the means and the end to writing lessons.
• be told, “No that isn’t right,” because their thoughts differ from their teachers' interpretations.
• feel that finely-honed writing skills are more important than ideas.

To foster confident and willing writers, teachers should instill confidence in their students

• by explaining that every opportunity they have to express their thoughts and ideas in their pieces, they will learn what works and what doesn’t.
• by offered a plethora of choices as well as a choose-your-own-topic option for every analytic writing.
•  by focusing their editing on three to four content and grammar areas only, not every single misplaced comma, misspelled word, etc.
• by answering questions about the piece length with words such as, “Write until you have fully developed your idea.” Note: a minimum length should be required, but never a maximum. Teachers may address students’ writing verbosity during conferences.

To create a love for writing, teachers should give young people opportunities to write for fun as well as for analysis. When they enjoy writing, students will increase their proficiency, thereby meeting academic benchmarks. Students should

• create Madlibs.
• write scripts for favorite TV shows to act ou.
•  pretend they are on ESPN and prepare, perform and record interviews or sports commentaries.
•  create song lyrics and write in journals that they are confident will be read by their eyes only.
• combine drawing and painting with writing by creating storybooks that they share with neighborhood children or at local libraries during book reading times.
• respond to  open-ended questions about their favorite television shows  or movies to generate a discussion about plot, characters, filming techniques, and casting.

https://openclipart.org/for/teachers

Why talk about a TV program? Because with every conversation, young people are learning how to express their thoughts clearly. They will remember this and use these same techniques when they have to write a critique or an analysis of a literary piece.

This will ward off the Dreaded Literary Demons, too. When academic dialogs evolve from engaging discussions where students and teachers reveal elements that intrigue them or where they feel free to explain why the author’s words move them or how they create word pictures, students will learn how to write with the same passion and technical prowess that they use verbally. They will develop the faith that they can proficiently identify and evaluate, in writing, examples of themes, figurative language, or any other literary facet they may be asked to explain.

To cultivate a love for writing, teachers should not

• force students to discuss  a topic for which they have virtually no feeling
•  mandate students to format their thoughts into five paragraphs only
• order students to copy, “I will not…” sentences in their notebooks  500 times.
• require students to complete essay quizzes as a penalty for not participating in class discussions or not completing the reading assignments.
• expect students to face overly-edited papers that make them cringe instead of conjuring up an, “I can do this" attitude in their minds for the next writing mission.
•  assign essays as a behavior modification technique
• allow the How Students Say It overpower the What They Say.

Young people must be given a multitude of chances to write from the heart without worrying about being told their ideas are wrong, their writing has no style, or their spelling is atrocious.

Young people must be allowed to feel the flush of excitement when they string plain words into Kodak moment word pictures.

Young people must be allowed to hold onto that love for writing that they had when they were eight- years-old and the thoughts bubbled from the word fountain in their souls so they can open the floodgates to this very same passion when they are eighteen.

While you are generating your own summer Kodak moments, some of which you just might turn into Twitter, Facebook or Instagram word pictures, think about

• what turned you on to writing, as a student, instead of blowing your desire to write fuse
• why , as a teacher, you love grading some writing assignments and not others
• which engaging  ideas that allow students to write from the heart before they  their head steps in, you should add to your writing collection.

Then, when your classes resume, you and your students will exclaim, “Writing?  Yes!”

Happy Summer! 

 

For more writing ideas, check out my store category ELA Writing Activities Grades 6-12
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Connie/Category/Writing-Activities-Grades-6-12-190028

TEACH IT WRITE -BUILD POWERFUL ACADEMIC HOMES 

Make the Most of May with this Independent Novel Study Plan

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

These lessons students want to complete

When the crazy testing schedules of May

Cause learning to take a back seat.

(Thanks to Lewis Carroll for his Jabberwocky inspiration)

Between  A.P. exams and the state standards of learning tests, May is a crazy month to teach. In my three decades teaching at the secondary level, every day anywhere from three-fifteen students missed English class due to the testing schedule. Plus, my colleagues and I had to monitor tests during our "Free" periods. Keeping teenagers inspired and the learning momentum smooth while maintaining my sanity made this month of May not so very merry.

Before I created Making the Most of May, trying to teach that one final required novel unit before the school year ended, while making sure that all of the students were up-to-date with their class work, was nearly impossible. 

I likened it to putting a straw hat upside down on the floor, tossing 25 balls in the air and waiting to see which ones made it into the hat without my being clobbered.

With this independent study plan, though, students are responsible for completing the assignments and projects and for being prepared with the work that they have finished for the mini-conferences. This enables them to be the leaders of their learning while the teacher takes an advisory roll.

The lessons and activities included in this packet ensure that the learning doesn't stop just because test review and reinforcement is done. Plus, students not only know that their fourth quarter grade is dependent on their work, but also they truly are engaged and inspired because they chose what to read and what assignments to complete.

The flexible plan takes absences due to testing into consideration, too, since students choose the novel that they will study, and they also create a daily reading and writing calendar that coincides with their scheduled exams and the teacher’s due dates. This creates a learning environment that engages students and promotes responsibility.  

To begin, teachers have two options. They may select six to eight grade-level novels from the book room for students to choose to read - up tp 4 students may opt to read the same book, or students may choose a book that meets the teacher's length and genre requirements. 

Once this aspect of the unit is completed, students will set their reading and activity completion schedules.The required activities included in the packet are:

1. General Novel Packet with four aspects: Book Notes, Plot Diagram, Memorable Quotes and Theme worksheets
2. Full-length Projects or Essays 
3. Group Project: Threads-Making Connections.

Every day the students will either 

• read for half of the period, or 
• work on their packets for half of the period.

The second half of the period, they will

• participate in a whole class writing session, concentrating on a facet of writing, or 
• discuss various aspects of their chosen novels with peers. 

NOTE: Each student in the group should be reading a different novel. Members take notes on the discussions. These will enable them to complete the Threads-Making Connections activity.

By managing their class time wisely, students will only have to complete any typing they had previously begun, and compile the required activities at home right before the final packets are due. They should bind all of the components together in some way - a folder with pockets is best.

Teaching time won’t be interrupted and chaotic because of testing when teachers choose this unit plan as their May learning keystone.  Its effectiveness stems from dual factors

• students hold the ownership for what they are learning, and 
• when they are learning. 

Teachers do need to 

• specify minimum length, genre and anything else they deem necessary for their charges.
• mentor students’ progress with mini-conferences where students bring their partially completed required work to discuss.

And you, my teacher friends, will appreciate the fact that your students are challenging themselves mentally as they increase their reading comprehension, their critical thinking and their writing skills with substantive activities and no loss of learning continuity.

Making the Most of May, which is aligned with Common Core Standards and Bloom's Raxonomy, includes detailed Teacher Notes and a Project Grading Rubric.

Download Making the Most of May from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reading-Comprehension-Activities-Making-the-Most-of-May-681650 ($), and


Enjoy a month of Teach It Now days,

National Poetry Month Activity- "April Excursions-Poetry in Motion"

In his poem, The Wasteland, T.S. Eliot said, “April is the cruelest month…”. Considering the

fickleness of the weather- bone-chilling sleet one day, sunbathing warmth the next- it’s no wonder peoples’ moods swing from gloom to gaiety.

Maybe April was chosen as National Poetry Month because of it quirkiness. Strong emotions create word pictures and poems are the Kodak moments of writing. 

April is the perfect month for teachers and students to take an excursion on the Lesson-Up Express. This posting offers two tickets:

Option 1. A Literary Connections Tour:
This ticket offers students the chance to find poems, poets and lyrics that fit the themes of any novel or narrative non-fiction book that they are studying. To complete this trip, students will work individually or in teacher-chosen groups to analyze a poem (teacher or student selected). See the Teacher Notes for finding poems that connect with story themes. Stops on this tour include:
A. Atmosphere Alley
B. Poetry Junction
C. Imagery Island 
D. Theme Mountain 
E. Project Pass: On this final leg of this tour, students must prepare the final draft that includes the analytic results of each of their stops on the tour in a poster or in a travel brochure format.

Option 2. A Poetry Camp Trip
If students choose this ticket, they will create five original poems from the types written on the tree branches on the cover of this offering and/or types they choose with the teacher’s approval. After they have composed the poems, they will put them in a literary magazine that they created, and will illustrate each one with original or found images.

3.(Required) Poetry Performance Buffet:

All students will present either the results of their Literary Connections Tour or two poems from

their Poetry Camp Trip at the Poetry Performance Buffet at the end of the month. See the download for complete details on how to manage this aspect of the project.

Also included in this packet are Teacher Notes listing the Common Core Standards, the Bloom's Taxonomy thinking skills that are addressed, and directions for teaching the lesson; a printable student handout with directions and information on how to match poetry, poets and lyrics with stories (with examples) and examples of the Personal Poem and the Rhyming Couplet make up the remainder of the octet of pages. On the last page, are tickets to the Poetry Performance Buffet.

Download this packet from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Poetry-Activity-April-Excursions-Poetry-in-Motion-639372 ($) and make April the coolest, not the cruelest month.

Another poetry activity
Poetry Analysis Activity: Poetry on Parade

Enjoy a Teach It Now Day,

English Language Arts - "Poetry Analysis Activity: Poetry on Parade"

 

"Poetry, It's elemental, my dears." With this unit, Poetry Analysis Activity: Poetry on Parade,  I use this play on the famous quote by Sherlock Holmes to show my middle and high school students that poetry is ever-present in their lives through the music they pipe into their ears.
This is the format that I follow

1. We listen to some of their music. In the days before I begin this unit, I ask students to bring in their favorite song that I s school-appropriate.  Along with the recording, they are to type out the lyrics for me to review. 
2. I choose three-five and make enough copies of the combined choices so each student receives one song. Example - if I choose 3 songs and I have 25 students in my class, I make 8 copies of two songs and one copy of the third selection.
3. Together, we review review some of the basic elements of poetry. After I write a few terms on the board, such as - Metaphor, Simile, Sensory Imagery, Rhythm and Rhyme- the students jot down an example from another song or from a poem that they know or that they have studied.  They initial their response.  For rhythm, students with examples of this tap it out on the desk. Each student gets 1 minute to explain his/her example.
4. Next the students teach one of the poems that I selected for this unit, focusing on one of the elements.
5. After that, they  write a poem that will include any number of the poetic elements we studied, but that focuses on the one that they taught.
6.  The unit culminates with a test on the elements of poetry so the students can show their deeper understanding of these terms.

 

Use this format as it is, or adapt it to fit the skills, abilities and needs of your students.

This product is aligned with Common Core Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy. In ten pages it includes

• Teacher Notes
• Complete student directions
• A sign up sheet where students select a teacher-chosen poem to prepare a lesson for and to present
• An Imagery Activity sheet
• A 60 point test with an Answer Key, and
• Two rubrics: one for grading the students' analysis of their poem and the other to grade their presentation.
• Bonus: both rubrics can be used with any literary analytic essay and any presentation.

This plan will be music to teachers' ears, as it sets poetry in motion in students' minds, thinking and writing.  Download it from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Poetry-Analysis-Activity-Poetry-on-Parade-663467 ($2.50)

Happy teaching,

TEACH IT WRITE

BUILD POWERFUL ACADEMIC HOMES