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Monday, August 13, 2007
Just as bad as the students - TKAM thoughts
Yep, give me an assignment that I'm not in love with and I procrastinate just like the students do.
I finally sat and read the first three chapters this weekend. Just read. Didn't focus on curriculum or vocabulary or anything but getting the gist of the book.
I think this was a good point to carry in for the actually lesson planning of this unit. If the students are expected to focus on the vocabulary and decoding and understanding every single word then you will have students who will give up.
My first recommendation is to to read this book aloud to the class. Let them hear you occasionally pause and work to decode a word - it teaches them you are human too. Book on tape is fine, and helpful on a day where you just need to get caught up on something else, but reading to them is an option I hope you consider.
In Chapter 3 Scout has a run in with her teacher about reading. Her teacher is less than thrilled that she has been reading with Atticus and wants her to stop reading with him so she can "undo the damage". Scout doesn't remember learning to read, she doesn't know how she knows the vocabulary she does - she's just absorbed it through the years.
In the opening of this book, I'm not sure I would focus on anything other than hooking the students into the story. How excited would they be if you left out the vocab? It's just a thought.
As I'm letting thoughts of HOW to hook them into the story rumble around in my head, my original idea was to make the comparison between the social structure in a high school and the social structure in a small town. However, this gets dicey when considering the race issues in the book. Do you have a group who can tackle the comparison of how African Americans were automatically the lower class with whatever group your students perceive to be the lower class in the high school structure today? Would they understand the nuances that you were NOT saying that African Americans are automatically lower class today? I like the idea of comparing small towns to high schools - especially since there are many small towns with a smaller population than a suburban high school - but the comparison of social class in TKAM to today's high school is one that would really depend on your comfort level as a teacher and the make up of your student's personalities and the general group dynamic.
Off to read more!
I finally sat and read the first three chapters this weekend. Just read. Didn't focus on curriculum or vocabulary or anything but getting the gist of the book.
I think this was a good point to carry in for the actually lesson planning of this unit. If the students are expected to focus on the vocabulary and decoding and understanding every single word then you will have students who will give up.
My first recommendation is to to read this book aloud to the class. Let them hear you occasionally pause and work to decode a word - it teaches them you are human too. Book on tape is fine, and helpful on a day where you just need to get caught up on something else, but reading to them is an option I hope you consider.
In Chapter 3 Scout has a run in with her teacher about reading. Her teacher is less than thrilled that she has been reading with Atticus and wants her to stop reading with him so she can "undo the damage". Scout doesn't remember learning to read, she doesn't know how she knows the vocabulary she does - she's just absorbed it through the years.
In the opening of this book, I'm not sure I would focus on anything other than hooking the students into the story. How excited would they be if you left out the vocab? It's just a thought.
As I'm letting thoughts of HOW to hook them into the story rumble around in my head, my original idea was to make the comparison between the social structure in a high school and the social structure in a small town. However, this gets dicey when considering the race issues in the book. Do you have a group who can tackle the comparison of how African Americans were automatically the lower class with whatever group your students perceive to be the lower class in the high school structure today? Would they understand the nuances that you were NOT saying that African Americans are automatically lower class today? I like the idea of comparing small towns to high schools - especially since there are many small towns with a smaller population than a suburban high school - but the comparison of social class in TKAM to today's high school is one that would really depend on your comfort level as a teacher and the make up of your student's personalities and the general group dynamic.
Off to read more!
Monday, August 6, 2007
TKAM Prep Work
Yahoo Education has the Cliff Notes - it's definitely worth a look -
Click here to link to Yahoo Education.
I am two pages in and I am DYING here. I have 16 vocab words and phrases. Things that I understand through connotation and context and experience with the words - things that an average high schooler will not have heard of and an academically challenged high schooler - no chance.
In looking online I am seeing again and again that this book is at a high school level. I have found information indicating it has a Degrees of Reading Power (DRP) Score of 54 here. I have seen it stated that it has an 8th grade reading level, Amazon lists it with a Fog Index of 13.2, Flesch Index of 53.8 and Flesch-Kincaid Index of 10.4. I used an online readability calculator and at the end of the first five paragraphs had a calculated Flesch-Kincaid Index of 14 and an a Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score of 45. So while overall this book should be more or less appropriate for 9th and 10th graders, the bang at the beginning is incredibly difficult - So we have to look at how to make this a positive start for all your students.
Did you know it takes approximately 15 exposures to a vocabulary word to make it start to take meaning for a student?
As I tackle this project I will be doing my best to figure out how to make this more accessible to your below average student. This is important, because as soon as your lower ability students realize this is unfamiliar territory, if they cross the line into believing they aren't going to understand this no matter what they do, they will tune out and all your behavior problems are soon to begin attracting attention.
Click here to link to Yahoo Education.
I am two pages in and I am DYING here. I have 16 vocab words and phrases. Things that I understand through connotation and context and experience with the words - things that an average high schooler will not have heard of and an academically challenged high schooler - no chance.
In looking online I am seeing again and again that this book is at a high school level. I have found information indicating it has a Degrees of Reading Power (DRP) Score of 54 here. I have seen it stated that it has an 8th grade reading level, Amazon lists it with a Fog Index of 13.2, Flesch Index of 53.8 and Flesch-Kincaid Index of 10.4. I used an online readability calculator and at the end of the first five paragraphs had a calculated Flesch-Kincaid Index of 14 and an a Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score of 45. So while overall this book should be more or less appropriate for 9th and 10th graders, the bang at the beginning is incredibly difficult - So we have to look at how to make this a positive start for all your students.
Did you know it takes approximately 15 exposures to a vocabulary word to make it start to take meaning for a student?
As I tackle this project I will be doing my best to figure out how to make this more accessible to your below average student. This is important, because as soon as your lower ability students realize this is unfamiliar territory, if they cross the line into believing they aren't going to understand this no matter what they do, they will tune out and all your behavior problems are soon to begin attracting attention.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
To Kill a Mockingbird
Confession:
I don't love To Kill a Mockingbird.
I know. Gasps of shock, surprise and disbelief that a teacher doesn't like TKAM. I get that it's a great book with an important story, it's just that when people list it in their top five favorite books my reaction is always more of, "Really? Mockingbird?"
This is the reason I'm choosing Mockingbird as the first book to read and write curriculum for on this site. I know it's a common book to read in high school, and I never had a student who was gleeful to be doing the TKAM unit in 9th grade.
My goal is to read the book and try to find the fun in it for myself, and hopefully that will convey to your students.
Day One starts tomorrow!
I don't love To Kill a Mockingbird.
I know. Gasps of shock, surprise and disbelief that a teacher doesn't like TKAM. I get that it's a great book with an important story, it's just that when people list it in their top five favorite books my reaction is always more of, "Really? Mockingbird?"
This is the reason I'm choosing Mockingbird as the first book to read and write curriculum for on this site. I know it's a common book to read in high school, and I never had a student who was gleeful to be doing the TKAM unit in 9th grade.
My goal is to read the book and try to find the fun in it for myself, and hopefully that will convey to your students.
Day One starts tomorrow!
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Word of the Day - portfolio
portfolio
click above for link to definition
I've been reading the financial pages, which is where volatile and portfolio came from.
click above for link to definition
I've been reading the financial pages, which is where volatile and portfolio came from.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Book Cover
This is a LOT of work to go into a book cover - but I know some schools require students to make them, and this might be a decent starting point for instructions. If any FACS classes teach sewing it can be an immediate, practical project.
Click here for book cover project
Click here for book cover project
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