Reading in the Middle, Junior and Senior High Schools, Spring, 2010

Instructional Strategy: Literature Circles

www.litcircles.org

Literature circles are not a strictly formatted instructional strategy. Rather, they are a concept that directs learning toward collaborative, small group-based discussion. The classroom is divided into groups (usually based on book choice) where students actively participate in discussing the text. Literature circles are reader response centered (as opposed to teacher centered), so they are guided by the students' own opinions and ideas. They are designed to give students independence, responsibility, and ownership of their learning. Their concept is flexible, so teachers can adapt this instructional strategy to fit the needs of their classroom. Some teachers find it useful to assign specific roles to each member of the circle. For example, a group may include a discussion leader, someone to identity and define difficult vocabulary, and someone who creates a visual representation of the reading. These roles encourage students to engage with the text prior to class time and provide structure for the discussion.

As a future English teacher, this is a strategy that particularly appeals to my teaching philosophy. I am not a strong reader and I don't love writing (compared to a lot of English majors) but I found high school English classes to be very important in my development as an individual. I love the discussions that take place. I only enjoyed reading because it provided such interesting material to discuss. I hope to facilitate similar discussions in my own classes, discussions which lead my students to discover more about themselves and their community. Literature circles give students control of the discussion, which hopefully will excite them to engage with the ideas being formed.

-Happi

Source: Buehl, D. (2009). Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning (Third ed. , pp. 62-64). International Reading Association Inc.

"Character Quotes" is a simple pre-reading activity used to get students thinking about character personalities. Students are put into groups and then presented with quotes from a character from the soon to be started text. Students make a list of words and phrases describing what they believe the character's personality is like from these quotes. Students then present their list and their reasoning. The teacher compiles this list on the board/overhead/etc, and then lets the students know that all of these quotes are from the same character. Then students make a personality profile for the character. After reading the text, students go back to their profile and discuss what they were right/wrong about, what they learned from the quotes, and what they might want to change about their profile. Students then find other quotes from the character to complete his/her representation. Discussion between or during each part about first impressions, presented self, and always why students felt what they said about a character are recommended.

Source: Buehl, D. (2009). Different Perspectives for Reading. Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning (42-44). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Analogy charting is a great way to help students connect concepts to real-life scenarios that are applicable to a student's life. Sometimes concepts that teachers are trying to get across to students don't always "click" and make sense. An analogy that relates to a student's lives can assist them in making real life connections. Not only are analogies a powerful strategy to help students understand new information or concepts, but they also have other advantages. Analogy charting can help students enhance their comprehension through analysis of familiar analogous concepts, along with connecting new material to previous background or experiences.

When creating analogy charts there are three ways that students can make connections to their understanding of written text including text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world. Analogy charting is a classroom strategy that should be utilized in order to provide a visual outline for students to analyze key relationships within analogies. This compare/contrast instructional strategy is effective because it encourages students to explore relationships via connecting prior knowledge. This ultimatley broadens their understanding of important concepts, making it memorable for a life time.

When using the instructional strategy teachers should first consider how they will utilize the analogy charting (Eg. to introduce a topic, guide comprehension while reading, synthesizing understanding after reading, etc.). Students should first be aware that their chart will compare similarities and differences between the new concept and something that is already familiar to them within their life. The instructional strategy process first requres students to determine what they already know about the analogous relationship. Teachers should then introduce the analogy chart via overhead, computer, handouts, etc. to allow students to begin brainstorming. Students should begin generating ideas about specific characteristics that are common to both the new concept and the familiar concept and then consider differences. Next, teachers should facilitate a group discussion with students in order to collaborate about categories that make up the basis for the comparision. Lastly, students should write a summary statement about the similarities of the new concept compared to the familiar concept.

I feel that this instructional strategy would be an effective tool to use in a variety of classroom settings (Eg. English, Social Studies, Art, etc.). It generates collaboration amongst peers and teachers and facilitates a deeper thought process allowing concepts to be better understood. Analogy charting provides an instructional focus for classrooms and overall insures that a goal, action, and outcome are initiated and completed during a class session. I think that analogy charts also give teachers a flexible tool to alter and individualize for individual classroom interests and needs.

Strategy: FACILITATIVE QUESTIONING

Strategy Explanation: This instructional strategy provides critical thinking in students. The teacher will facilitate discuss in class by provoking students with open-ended questions that clearly have more than one side to them. The students will then discuss them among themselves. This allows students to hear opposing views, or to simply hear a theory that they had not thought of before.

Source: http://glossary.plasmalink.com/glossary.html

Text: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

NCSCOS: Competency Goal 1, The learner will demonstrate increasing insight and reflection to print and non-print text through personal expression. Competency Goal 3, The learner will examine argumentation and develop informed opinions.

Lesson: Students will read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and look at themes of race, maturation, exploration, gambling, humor, Realism, and anti-sentimentalist views. Upon finishing the novel, I would designate a class period for the discussion of these themes. I would merely facilitate the conversation among students with questions that can be argued in different perspectives. I will ask open-ended questions and challenge the students to aide their argument with specific textual evidence, as to help them better understand the concept of argument as well as organization and support.

I really like the idea of the Double Entry Diaries, especially when it comes to looking at literature. I’ve known about this method for ages, but the book mentions it, and so I thought it would be a great idea to cover it in this method thingie. Especially since my computer hates me, and has refused to allow me to post. Gah, I hate everything. I digress.

Basically, what the book instructs teachers to do, is to have students fold a piece of paper in half (hot dog style, of course). You put text based info on one half, and then on the other, the student places notes on said text to help them remember it more so then they would otherwise. I’m pretty sure my AP US History teacher wanted us to use this method…I never really participated because…well, to me this seemed trivial. Which is why I’m moding it.

These are called DOUBLE ENTRY DIARIES. Emphasis on the diary part, I think. And I think it would be more beneficial if, say, a student was reading a novel in a five person literature circle, and on one side wrote what they thought about a chapter, then switch diaries with another student in the same group, to comment and leave their own thoughts. That way, it’s a DOUBLE diary, and the students are exposed to different thought, while thinking about what they read. ALSO it’s building community in the classroom. Huzza. And then of course, as the teacher, you yourself can participate, and comment on students things. Writing my own thoughts on my students work is something I plan on doing—I always cared more about what I was doing when the teacher actually put some sort of input aside from grammatical errors on my paper.

“Save the Last Word for Me” is a strategy designed to help students become more active in class room discussion about literature and to help them develop a better reflective stance as they read. For this strategy, a text is assigned, and the students are asked to mark five passages in the text as they read. Afterwards, they will write these passages on index cards with their views on them on the backside. They will get in a group of four or five. The first student will read out his passage and let the other members of the group take turns talking about their opinions of the passage. After the other members have their turns, the student that read the passage is given the chance to have the last word on that passage. This is repeated with each student’s cards. This strategy encourages the students to pay attention to the text for interesting passages, analyze passages, develop listening skills as the other members talk, and will help with classroom discussions.

I would use this lesson while we are covering Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Before the students begin reading the novel, I will ask them to pay attention to the text and mark any interesting passages that they occur, and that they will need to find at least five of them. After they are finished with the readings, I will give them five index cards and describe the activity. I will say, “Class, when I assigned you this novel, I asked you to mark at least five passages that you found interesting. On these index cards, I would like you to write down the passage on the front along with the page number, and on the back I want you to write you feelings on the passage.” I would put them into groups of four or five now. After they are in their groups, I will say, “Now, I want each group to choose a person to go first. This person will read their passage aloud and let the other members of the group talk about it. However, this student can not talk until the rest of the group has their turn to put in their opinions. Afterwards, the chosen student will be given the last word and the next people read a passage aloud and so forth. Do not feel pressured to rush through these. Feel free to discuss more if the group finds the passage particularly interesting. Is there any questions? Ok, well go at it.” I will circle the room to see how things are going and if they have any questions about the text. Afterwards, I may have them participate in a class discussion if time permits.

Source:
Nambiar, M.K. (1991). Big books for little readers: works in the esl classroom too. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED333736&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED333736

The Big Book approach means exactly what it says, in that it is an instructional strategy that uses a big book to facilitate a child’s learning and knowledge of text. Enlarged texts, normally 18 to 20 inches tall with text at least an inch, helps to engage all students in the classroom, as everyone is able to see and react to the text and pictures. Perhaps the greatest benefit of using a Big Book, is that it truly captures the idea of story-time. Some students may receive the support at home, in which there parents lay in bed with them and read a story, however many may not receive this positive support. Using the Big Book approach, students are able to experience story-time and develop the cohesiveness between the text, themselves, and their teacher. Early literacy is crucial in that it helps shapes the student’s knowledge and learning of reading material. The Big Book approach works by using an enlarged text, and the teacher sits where everyone can see the book, the text and the pictures. The teacher begins by going through all the pictures, engaging the student’s by having them predict what the story is going to be about. Once this is complete the teacher begins reading the text, then showing the class the corresponding picture. It is important to read the text to the students before showing the pictures, as often times, the students will fixate on the images and neglect to listen to the text. After the teacher completes the reading, questions that develop critical thinking can be asked. Teachers should not ask nit-picky questions, rather they should ask questions related to the main idea, plot, setting, characters, etc. The teacher can then go back through the text, pointing out sight words, asking students to show you certain words, the sentence that reflects the main points, etc. Throughout the next few days, the teacher can use the same big book, using it as a guide to teach words, sounds, and repeated readings, through echo readings, choral readings, and assisted readings, which has been proven to develop fluency. To take the big book approach even further, the teacher can supply smaller copies to students, and fluency, phonics, and sight words can be developed even further by focusing on individualized instruction.

Source: http://glossary.plasmalink.com/glossary.html

Accelerated Reader (AR) is a commercially produced reading program that includes quizzes administered via computer and student selection of books. This instructional strategy provides practice with a purpose. Typically found within elementary and middle schools, this instructional strategy encourages students to read books and then test their knowledge via a multiple-choice format on their schools computer. Schools typically provide additional incentive for students by creating a reward system based on the number of books and/or points a students receives over the course of a week or month. I recall in my elementary school an enourmous schoolwide celebration both at the begining of the year and end, in order to encourage AR as a schoolwide program and within all classrooms. Each month there would be contests for classrooms to compete and see who could read the most books, while passing the AR tests. It got students excited about reading, and allowed students to see that reading can both a rewarding and enjoyable experience. This instructional strategy also leaves room for a variety of goals to be implemented according to a students ability. Students who many not read on their grade level, or need assistance with reading can still take part in this program successfully. Accelerated Reader (AR) also provides daily information about student reading to teachers. It makes it easy to continuously monitor comprehension, track the time students spend reading, and differentiate reading practice. A student’s data profile is complete only when it goes beyond test scores, showing the full picture—reading achievement data and how well, how much, and at what difficulty level students are reading. This assists teachers in monitoring students, their progress, and areas that they may need assistance in. Overall, Accelerated Reading gives students, teachers, and families an opportunity to take part in the reading process and help achieve goals for their student, their student's classroom, and their school making the program collaborative amongst the entire community.

Instructional Strategy: RAFT (Role/Audience/Format/Topic)

Source: Buehl, D. (2009). RAFT (Role/Audience/Format/Topic). Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning (144-147). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

This lesson is probably most effective in an English classroom, for it challenges students to form deeper analysis’ and critical thinking about a particular subject—this lesson seeks to solve the problem that many teachers have of student’s writing being surface level, careless, unorganized, etc. The RAFT analogy translates into the following four points of writing: Role of the writer (who are you?), Audience for the Writer (to whom are you writing?), format of the writing (what form will your writing assume?), and Topic to be addressed in the writing (what are you writing about?). Teachers presenting this lesson must ask themselves the following questions when formulating their assignment: how will this writing assignment assist the student’s learning about a particular topic? What roles could the students assume that are relevant to the time period/material studied? What is an appropriate audience for their writing? After answering these questions, teachers form a RAFT outline that assigns students a particular topic, role, audience, etc. This use of the RAFT technique allows students to relate to their topic on a deeper level and provide more specific responses. The book also encourages teachers to have sample RAFT writing examples for students to look at and compare to their own writing in order to further help them organize their assignment. I think this lesson would be very effective in an English classroom because it specifies writing assignments and allows students to have a personal connection to their writing—plus, it gives them the organizational skills they need to get started on their assignment. Providing a clear and detailed structure for an assignment helps to produce clear and well-structured final papers. I can see myself using this lesson when I am a teacher.

Buehl, D. (2004). Classroom strategies for interactive learning: Second edition. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Character quotes is an instructional strategy used to take a look at fictional and nonfictional characters within text. It is a way to study literature but through the perspective of the characters within the text by using quotes from characters as well as real life people. Students will get into groups and explore different quotes from a specific character within a novel, or story previous to reading the actual text. They will look at character traits of this individual based off of personality that they feel the quote illustrates. Through this instructional strategy, students are given a preview of the characters personality previous to reading, which allows students to examen the words of the character and their sense of the world within the story. This strategy also lets students take part in predicting or recognizing major themes or issues of the selected text.

Buehl, D. (2004). Classroom strategies for interactive learning: Second edition. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

This strategy is used to bring out difference of opinions and multiple interpretations of a work. The teacher assigns a story to be read and each student chooses five statements that they would like to comment on find interesting or relate to. These statements can be something they disagree or agree on or they thought they knew. Students need to highlight or place a mark next to the statement they have chosen. The students are then give five note cards in which they write on one side the statement and on the other side they comment on the statement. Once they have completed this they are placed in small groups. One student at a time shares a statement they have taken from the text but not their opinion on it till everyone goes around and expresses their reaction to the statement. In this way the student who presented the statement gets the last word. This continues until everyone has shared their statement and comments. This is a great way to get students to talk about their reading and make personal connections to it. This also gives them a chance to participate in the class discussion but in a smaller version while hearing other students opinions and maybe giving them time to change what they said once they have heard everyone else’s.

Reference:
Instructional strategies online - jigsaw. (n.d.). Online learning centre. Retrieved March 12, 2010, from http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/pd/instr/strats

Jigsaw is a cooperative learning tool that can be used to help students become experts on a particular part of a lesson when in their “expert” groups and then return to their “home” groups and teach the section of the lesson they collaborated and became experts at to remainder of the group. For example, the class should be divided into groups of four, this is the student’s
“home” group. Each student is assigned a number (1-4). These numbers represent the part of the lesson that student will be responsible for becoming an expert about. Then students regroup into “expert” groups (all 1s are together, all 2s are together, and so on). The students in their “expert” groups learn about their section of the lesson. Then each “expert” regroups with their “home” group and each student teaches the rest of the group about their area of expertise. This is a way to make students accountable for learning the material they are responsible to learn and then reteach the information, which is a great way to ensure they know it. One great way to use this strategy is to supplement the collaboration with a study guide that all students are expected to complete. The students in “expert” groups would fill in their area of the study guide and then the students in the “home” groups will complete the other areas of the study guide upon learning about the different areas after the members in their “home” group teach them.

For my RWT unit, I will be doing a measurement Olympics; this will be a 4 to 5 lesson unit. Before the Olympics part can occur I will teach a series of lessons to ensure the students have the necessary prerequisite skills to complete the Olympic-like tasks. These lessons will include measurement using rulers (metric and standard) and measurement of liquids (both standard and metric). The third lesson will be about conversions among similar units (inches to feet, centimeters to meters). On the fourth day, the students will be paired with a partner and travel to the different events. The students will do things like measure the width of their partner’s smiles, a sponge squeeze with water, broad jump, etc. There will be several sets of partners at each event and each event will have a winner. Each win will equate to a certain number of points for those partners and then there will be winners at the end according to the number of points they earned and medals will be awarded. This would work great if there could be more than just one class involved in this event and it would be awesome to get the entire school involved by including an "opening" and "closing" ceremony to make it as close to the real Olympics as possible. It's a great way to get kids interested in math and it gives them a means to an end with measurement.

Name of Strategy: Quick Writes

Source (Use APA or MLA style):
Buehl, D. (2009). Hands-on reading. Classroom strategies for interactive learning (59-61). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Give a thorough explanation of the strategy as it is described in the original source.
Quick Writes are when students just write down their thoughts for an allotted period of time in the classroom. The teacher is not worried about spelling and grammatical errors. This is strictly informal writing and the students are not supposed to polish or edit their papers. Before, during, or after a lesson, the teacher prompts the students to write for a certain amount of time. They are to write down everything that comes to their mind and are instructed to write from the very second the timer starts to the moment it stops. The prompts can be a passage from the text book, outside texts such as magazines, online articles, or newspapers, a question that the teacher proposes, or in response to a lecture or experiment. This is a good way to get students actively involved in thinking through a given topic, situation, or lesson. For the shyer students, this helps them to voice their questions and opinions. When Quick Writes are done before a lesson or experiment, this helps the students start to think about what they are getting ready to learn and relate it to what they already know. Quick Writes are also a good way to keep students’ attention during lessons and get them actively involved in them. They are also a good way to summarize what is being taught in the classroom and start to think deeper about the subject.

Many times, when students see something interesting in a text, they give their opinions about it. when they give their opinion, a lot of times other students start blurting out their opinions also. The Save the Last Word for Me strategy is a good strategy to use to let students share their opinions about certain phrases in a text.
To use this strategy, you first give the students a passage to read. After they have read it you divide them into small groups. While in their groups, you hand out 5 index cards to each student. On the cards, the students write one statement on each and that they would like to comment on, that they agree or disagree with, or on something that contradicts something they already knew. On the back of the card they write their comment. In their group, each student will take turns sharing their statement and helping the others in the group find where it is in the text. After the students reads the statement, each student in the group gives a comment, opinion, or statement, then after all the other students have gone, the student who had the statement would give their comment or opinion last. This way the student that thought it was interesting gets to have the last word in the matter. You do this until each student gets to do their cards. This is a good way for students to be able to give their opinions on articles in a constructive manner.

Cramer, Ron(1978). Writing, Reading, and Language Growth. Merrill.
When children imitate writing, they get a better understanding of the type of text they are reading and understand better what makes good writing. Teachers should often read to the students to give them ideas of what to write about. There are three stages of imitation. Close imitation is a summary of what the student has read. Loose imitation is when the child writes with the same structure as another story but they add or change things that were not in the original. Creative modeling is using the same “basic theme, plot, structure, of model common in literary works” (Cramer 1978) but the resulting composition is completely unique. The steps described in the text were to (a) pick a story or poem that has patterns, (b) read the story or poem to the children, (c) invite the students to join in the chorus with you, (d) discuss with the children briefly what they just read, (e) invite the students to write something patterned after the story that you just read, (f) look at the first draft to be sure that the pattern was being followed, (g) illustrate, and (h) make a book out of the imitation stories with the illustrations.
I can use this in my classroom to help my students become great writers. It is an activity that can be used with many different types of text and it will help my students learn important elements of writing. It doesn’t seem like it will be hard or take very long to do with a class. It looks like it will be really beneficial.

For my RWT lesson plan, I think that I will do something similar to what one of my teachers did when I was in sixth grade. I am going to assign the students a country that they will be doing research on. This lesson will be for fifth or sixth graders and I will teach them how to do research and how not to plagiarize. I am going to teach the students how to take notes out of a book onto note cards and site the source. After the students gather the information, I will have them put together a presentation either with a poster or with a power point and we can have a big country party and the students can cook food from the country that they learned about to bring in and share with the class. We can invite the parents too.

I am not exactly positive on what I want to do for my RWT lesson. I have a few ideas that revolve around students getting into groups of 4-5 and (a) making a newspaper based off a a novel being read in class or (b) making a newspaper based on the period of history being covered (i.e. WWII). Certain requirements will be made about what the newspaper will contain and such. Like I said earlier, this is just an idea, I don't know if it would be appropriate or worthy enough for RWT.

This strategy is used before you begin your lessen. It helps to see what the students already know about the subject by using a worksheet to prompt them to think about the topic. The worksheet is the simply the alphabet listed out in a chart with the subject at the top. The teacher then divides the students into groups or pairs them off. Within an allotted time period the students begin to fill out the chart with words that are associated with the subject that begins with the different words in the alphabet. After they are done the class discusses what each group got for each letter. Also, they see which letters were used for the same idea. For example, “Malcolm X” could be used in the M slot or the X slot. This helps the students become more interested in the topic because they start off already somewhat knowledgeable about it. It also highlights for the teacher some topics that may be overlooked by the students that need to be addressed.

Buehl, D. (2004). Classroom strategies for interactive learning: Third edition. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Quick write s is designed to assist students in fully understanding what they read and clarify questions they may have. One of the main goals of Quick Writes is to get students involved in their reading by adding personal meaning, reformulating what they learn into their own words, and expressing their understanding in writing. Quick Writes are exactly what the name suggests; short unedited writings aimed to gather initial thoughts or questions. When assigning Quick Writes teachers should explain the purpose of the assignment as well what they expect from the student. Ground rules for Quick Write are: Set time limits for students, students are expected to use the entire time, students should write down thoughts that come to them as they respond to the writing prompt, students should not be to concerned with writing form, students may be asked to share their Quick Writes with a partner. For this task a timer with a buzzer is suggested because it encourages students to transition directly into their thinking. Time limits for this assignment depend on the assignment and the students. To jump start student thinking teachers should provided prompts. Prompts should be read aloud and should not be lengthy; a minute or two is usual long enough. Quick Writes can be designed to be open-ended or they can be designed to provoke specific thoughts. Also students can be encouraged to use deeper thinking in the content area by being asked to explore new vocabulary.

I'm not too sure what I want to do my lesson plan on yet, but I found this really cool website that has a lot of interactive games for math that can be played on a smartboard. There is one (http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_277_g_1_t_3.html?open=activities&from=grade_g_1.html) that uses a geoboard to help student learn their shapes. This is an activity that can be done in a full-group teaching session and then the students can have their own geoboards at their desks to practice.

Although I do not yet know the specifics of my RWT lesson, I do know the topic I want to focus on. Since I plan on teaching children who may have intellectual disabilities, these students may have difficulties when trying to think abstractly. One such abstract idea is how to dress depending on the weather. My lesson be geared for elementary school children perhaps specifically k-2. I plan to make this a unit, where they will learn about the four seasons, and what to wear depending on the weather outside. Some activities that the students may do, is by using a webquest, they will help me decide what to pack for various vacations depending on the weather for my destination. They will also get the opportunity to dress a dummy when given certain weather situations. To conclude the lesson, I will let my students play an online game that has to deal with helping a young girl figure out what to wear for the day.

Grade Level/ Subject: 9th Grade/ English
Materials: Day Book and Index Cards with different audiences written on them ( yourself, newspaper, best friend, significant other, parent, and teacher)

I have used this lesson plan for other classes before, but I found it really worked well. I think this activity is great as a warm-up for English classroom. Inform students that they will need to take out their day books or journals and work independently on the next assignment. Tell the students that they will be writing a few paragraphs in their journals, while keeping in mind what specific audience they are writing too. Students will pick one type of audience blindly out of a bag filled with the index cards. Students will then have time to write a few paragraphs to their specific audience on a specific topic: What did you do for Christmas? All students will respond to the same topic, but will have different audiences The class will then reconvene as a whole, and discuss what they have written. Students will get the chance to share their writing and listen to others. The discuss will focus on sharing, but also what elements they included or excluded in their writing based on their specific audience. This activity is quick to do and is a great way to encourage students to explore their writting and discuss it.

For my lesson plan I am going to focus on the elementary age level and have my students explore their research and inquiry skills. Our lesson will focus on animal inquiry and begin by exploring basic facets of animals including basic facts, animal babies, interactions with others, habitats, etc. There is plenty of room for extensions on the lesson and ways to make the knowledge more in depth. After obtaining a general overview of animals within the classroom's interest, student's will break up into small groups and eventually work individually to research an animal of choice, its habits, special qualities, etc. Individually students will create a visual/model of the animal's habitat and include a descriptive essay of the animal's "biography". This will allow for creative thinking and writing to occur, which encourges students to explore, ponder, and generalize newly obtained knowledge about their animal. Finally, students will present their animal in their small group and then to the entire classroom so knowledge can be shared with everyone. This lesson will be followed by a field trip to the local zoo where students when once again generalize new material within a community setting.

I am not completely sure what I am going to do for this assignment, but I know I want to do something that involves creative writing. I am thinking about doing an activity in which I present an ambiguous picture of a child to my students and ask them to create a story based on how they perceive the child's life to be. They could explore what the child's family, friends, personality, etc. may be like. Ultimately, I want them to create a story based on this picture and it can be about whatever they have imagined. The details still need to be worked out, but something along those lines I may try to turn into a lesson.

This strategy is meant to help students really imagine what they read, becoming active readers, who feel what is going on in the book, what an author is trying to convey, and hopefully making them reader who are not always aware that they are reading words on a page at all. In this activity, students are presented with an object that they must describe vividly. This is progressed into imagining then describing an object at home, this is moved to describing this object in a real time scene of motion, going over all the sensations activated by this activity. Once this is done, the teacher does a read aloud, where he/she reads some writing out loud and shares his/her inner imaginary dialogue with the class in order to model this process for them. Eventually students are asked to do the same on their own. I really like it because it is one of the few activities that I've come across that deals directly with making reading a fun and very rewarding experience, as well as improving student's critical literary ability.
Source:
Buehl, D. (2009). Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning (third ed. , pp. 90-92). International Reading Association, Inc.

Students divide a piece of paper into two vertical halves. On the left side they record passages or content from the reading, and on the right side, they put their reaction to it. This is meant to keep the children focused as they read, as well as help them explore and record ideas they have as they read. If they have trouble understanding a passage, have theories on its meaning, or find it interesting or relatable, they can write it down in their journal. This way they have something to refer back to during discussion, test, or projects. It also helps them become more related to the text. Once they have to write about a certain passage that they found relatable, they can recall the passage better because it is tied in with another memory. Also, this will help build references on the text for any future essays. They will already have a multitude of passages and commentaries ready to put into an essay. Also, the formation of an essay would be easier because as they begin to comment on the story, they will start to notice trends in their journal’s commentaries. I plan on having the students share their commentaries in class at the very least. This strategy is effective for poor schools where children have rental books and can not directly write or take notes in the books.
“Ok class, we are going to start reading 1984 by George Orwell today. However, as you read it, I want you all to keep a special kind of commentary journal on it. Here is how I want you to do this. Take out a sheet of paper and fold it in half long ways, or draw a line down the middle. Now, on the right side I would like you to write down and particular passages that you find to be interesting, or summarization of events. Please include page numbers for your later reference. On the right side, I want you to comment on the passage. This can be a reaction, question, theory, or how it relates to something you have been involved with.” I would then pull up a passage from a previous reading, Catcher in the Rye by Salinger. “Ok, let’s try this out real quick. Now, you all remember catcher in the rye, right? “I would recite the quote and have it posted on the over head projector.

“I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes...That way I wouldn't have to have any goddamn stupid useless conversations with anybody. If anybody wanted to tell me something they'd have to write it on a piece of paper and shove it over to me. They'd get bored as hell doing that after a while, and then I'd be through with having conversations for the rest of my life.”

“OK, you would have this written on the left side of the page, such I have on the board. Next, you will write your comments on it on the right hand side.” I would listen to their comments and write it on the bored. Then ask if they all understand. “Do not be afraid to make entries on passages you do not understand. We will be sharing some of these entries later on in class, and it will be a good reminder for you, and you can have the help of the class, as well as help the class out in figuring out these tricky passages. Also, we will be writing an essay on this novel and the more passages you save as you read means you have to find fewer from the text when you are looking for evidence. However, we will talk more about the essay at a later date. If you have any questions about the assignment or the text, let me know.”

Completing the reading strategies assignment has helped extraordinarily in terms of me forming lesson plans. I have gone from having no experience with them, to what seems at the moment a substantial amount. For my RWT, what I may do is a full reworking of the Guided Imagery lesson by Doug Buehl. The lesson really intrigues me in its goal, and I would really like to see what I can do with it to make it successful at exactly what I want.

Name of Strategy: Exploring Setting: Constructing Character, Point of View, Atmosphere, and Theme
Source:
Filkins, Scott. "Exploring Setting: Constructing Character, Point of View, Atmosphere, and Theme." ReadWriteThink. International Reading Association. Thinkfinity, n.d. Web. 16 Mar 2010. .
Standards:
• Subject: English
Grade(s): 9 - 12
Standard: English I: Strands: Oral Language, Written Language, and Other Media/Technology: Competency Goal 5: The learner will demonstrate understanding of various literary genres, concepts, elements, and terms.: 5.01 Read and analyze various literary works by:: explaining and interpreting archetypal characters, themes, settings.
• Subject: English
Grade(s): 9 - 12
Standard: English I: Strands: Oral Language, Written Language, and Other Media/Technology: Competency Goal 5: The learner will demonstrate understanding of various literary genres, concepts, elements, and terms.: 5.01 Read and analyze various literary works by:: explaining how the writer creates character, setting, motif, theme, and other elements.
Explain:
Pre-reading: I will provide students with a copy of the lyric for “The Town Is Lit,” from Toni Morrison’s song cycle Honey and Rue. Next I will guide the students through a reading of the text, asking them to focus on details related to setting.
Then I will ask the students to describe the atmosphere each setting establishes. Students should notice that the song contrasts two different settings. Next I will ask students to predict what music reflecting those settings should sound like.
After that I will play the song for the class, and ask students to share their impressions. Ask students to describe the music they heard and evaluate how effectively did music conveys the settings and atmospheres the text describes.
During Reading: Read the first three paragraphs of Poe’s story “Cask of Amontillado,” and ask students to clarify the narrator’s persona and his attitudes toward Fortunato.
Beginning with the sentence “It was about dusk . . . , ” I will ask students to identify the details Poe gives readers about the first setting of the story. Ask students what kind of atmosphere these details suggest.
During the remaining class time and for homework, have students continue reading the story, stopping frequently to record their observations about the language of the text and its effect on characters and conflict. They should complete this activity as homework.
I also want to remind students that while they are focusing on setting—and study of setting in this story is valuable—they should read for other elements such as character, conflict, and theme as well.
Post Reading: I will ask students to sketch or draw the two settings for the story. Their drawings do not need to be perfect; they are simply to represent the two settings of visually. After they finish their sketches, ask students to justify their choices.
Facilitate a discussion of the story by guiding students to note how integral setting is to Montresor’s method of duping Fortunato; how setting contributes to atmosphere; and how the surprise shift in setting—the events in the story took place 50 years prior to the narrator sharing the tale in the story—contributes to characterization and theme.
Analysis: I want to use this when teaching elements of writing such as understanding of characters within a story, point of view, and atmosphere. Understanding these three elements can help students have a better understanding of what they have read. They can then use these elements to improve their writing skills. Figuring out who the audience is and what point of view you will be writing in are always important and necessary to consider. Incorporating music is a way of helping students relate to piece of writing. They can use music they enjoy and make arguments of why it can relate to the story. It promotes critical thinking while allowing students to incorporate things of interest to them.

A High-Interest Novel Helps Struggling Readers Confront Bullying in Schools
Allison Ollis
Quinn, Kathleen Benson. "A High-Interest Novel Helps Struggling Readers Confront Bullying in Schools."ReadWriteThink. International Reading Association, n.d. Web. 16 Mar 2010..
This lesson plan is meant for grades 9-12 and is to be done over the course of six 90 minute periods. Students will have a more in-depth understanding of bullying after completing this lesson plan. With this lesson plan they will get to read The Bully by Paul Langan that covers bullying and violence that is present in schools today. The students will read the book in stages and discuss topics that are related to bullying. Students will have reflective journals, graphic organizers, and they will be constantly putting themselves in the characters shoes and explain how they would respond to situations.
Standard: Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition: Competency Goal 1: The learner will reflect on and express reactions to print and non-print resources.: 1.02 Respond to resources to: demonstrate an understanding of cultural, historical, and/or social implications with precision, sensitivity, energy, and imagination.
Standard: English II: Strands: Oral Language, Written Language, and Other Media/Technology: Competency Goal 3: The learner will defend argumentative positions on literary or nonliterary issues.: 3.01 Examine controversial issues by:: sharing and evaluating initial personal response.

My Adaptation of the Lesson Plan
I like where this lesson plan is going but I think I want to take it a little further and use a different book that will cover even more topics that my students may be going through. I would use the book Twisted by L.H. Anderson. I personally think that it is a great book and it covers all kinds of topics such as bullying, drugs, alcohol, being accepted, family problems, sex, and so much more. I feel that not only will my students learn a lot by reading this book but that it is a fun and interesting read.
My lesson plan could still be used for grades 9-12 but I may extend it to cover over a two week period, maybe longer. I have made a portfolio that my students can select pre-reading, during reading, and post reading activities from. They get to choose which ones they want to do but I have placed a star beside ones that they automatically have to do. All of the questions cover one topic or another and the students get to use many different materials such as creating a CD, journals, essays, drawings, and much more.

Strategy: Parody of an Author
Smagorinsky, Peter. (2008). Teaching english by design. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Students will need the texts “The Most Dangerous Game,” by Richard Connell.
In this lesson plan, students will first examine the author’s style, themes, and language characteristics. They will learn what a parody is and relate it to common media today. Students then will create their own parody based on the work they are reading. I will use this strategy but with a slight modification.
5.01 Read and analyze various literary works by:
• using effective reading strategies for preparation, engagement, reflection.
• recognizing and analyzing the characteristics of literary genres, including fiction (e.g., myths, legends, short stories, novels), nonfiction (e.g., essays, biographies, autobiographies, historical documents), poetry (e.g., epics, sonnets, lyric poetry, ballads) and drama (e.g., tragedy, comedy).
• interpreting literary devices such as allusion, symbolism, figurative language, flashback, dramatic irony, dialogue, diction, and imagery.
• understanding the importance of tone, mood, diction, and style.
• 5.03 Demonstrate the ability to read, listen to and view a variety of increasingly complex print and non-print literacy texts appropriate to grade level and course literary focus, by: identifying and analyzing text components (such as organizational structures, story elements, organizational features) and evaluating their impact on the text.
• providing textual evidence to support understanding of and reader's response to text.
• demonstrating comprehension of main idea and supporting details.
• summarizing key events and/or points from text.
• making inferences, predicting, and drawing conclusions based on text.
• identifying and analyzing personal, social, historical or cultural influences, contexts, or biases.
I will first say to my students that they need to pull out the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game.” We will review over the story that they should have read the night before. After reviewing and a quick discussion of the work, students will learn what a parody is and examine the author’s tone and style in the story. I will then ask my students to break into groups of four or five and construct a news paper that is a parody of Connell’s work. Each group will be assigned a specific section of the newspaper, such as: top stories, obituaries, announcements, and ads. Students then will design and develop their particular section making fun of the actual story. Students will work on this for the remainder of the class. I will tell my students to finish up any remaining parts for homework. Students will present their work the next day to the class and I will put the newspaper together and display it in class.

I have been through several ideas but the one that has seemed most important to me for this lesson is vocabulary. I want to be able to design a lesson plan that can teach vocabulary in whatever the students are reading. The teacher finding words that will help the students understand the chapter they are about to read. Also chose words that mean different things in different context. I believe for students to be a good reader they need to have a large vocabulary.

I would like to use poetry in this ReadWriteThink project. I think I could make a mini unit out of activities that pertain to poetry. I also think there are lots of fun and interesting things to do with poetry and I have a list of them that I want to use.

Task- Oriented Small- Group Activities
Smagorinsky, P. (2008). Teaching english by design. Portsmouth,NH: Heinemann.
Task oriented small group activities focus on having students expand on a specific literture and create a material finished product. Students are expected to read a piece of literature and then complete a tangible artistic representation of the piece. This may include constructing a board game, coat of arms, painting, or political cartoon. The main goal of the strategy is to provide a creative outlet for students to express their own interests or opinions in reference to a novel. In all of these activities the end result is tangible finished product
I would love to incorporate these types of activities in to every novel unit plan I do. One of the activities I found particulary interesting is the Body Biography assignment. Students are asked to create a giant outline of a human body on butcher paper. Students are then required to decorate the outlined body according to which specific character they are assigned. In the end students will have created a physical drawing/ represention of a character. For example, students may not include a spine when drawing Hamlet because he is a bit of a coward or students my place the heart of a person in their head because they follow emotion instead of reason. I think this activity would be both fun and very educational. It forces students to really think deeply about a character and their specific traits.

I am not fully sure of what lesson activities I want to include in my unit, but I know I want to focus on the Salem Witch Trials. I want my students to read the Crucible, and act out scenes dressed as certain characters. There are a lot of activities and lessons devoted to the Witch Trials, so I am sure I will not have too much trouble collecting ideas. By the end of the chapter I want students to understand the power of group think and hysteria in our society's history.I have always been interested in the Salem Witch Trials, and I hope my passion will encourage students to learn and participate more in my class.

In my unit I hope to teach one of Shakespeare’s plays. The students will read the play in class which will take several days, and then complete several activities to show their understanding of the play. I want to introduce the play with a pre-reading activity, most likely some history about the play. I want the students to read the play out loud in class since plays are
hard to understand without seeing them acted out. The students will rotate in as different characters each day. I want to save a few minutes each day for students to discuss what was read in class. Even if it is a simple as predicting what will happen next and why.
Reading the play is important, but connecting the literature to writing is also vital in the learning process. I would love for students to write a 6th act to the play. They would continue the story, and write a description about why they chose to take the play in the direction they did. Then they would share their work in small groups in order to revise it. The group could then pick their favorite among the group to share with the class. This activity could also include technology. The group could chose to make a short film with a digital camera or flip video recorder. They could also present the piece to the class as a skit which would help them practice oral presentations. The group would be able to choose an interesting way to present the 6th act that they feel comfortable with if acting seems too intimidating. This could be through presenting a power point or some other product. Kids today love technology. If they can use it to show what they have learned I think they will enjoy the assignment a lot more than taking a traditional test.

For my read write think project, I was thinking about doing something on the presidents of the United States. This will be a 5 day lesson and I will use a song to teach who all of the U.S. presidents are in order. It is important to know the presidents in order so you can connect the president to U.S. history and what was going on at that time.

Wow. Sorry, I can never find the login info when I need to. Gah.

I was going to use magical realism, the short story, The Little Green Monster, and a movie as a unit for my RWT lesson plan. In that, I can teach perspective, literary terms, and other sorts of vocab. I can also expose my students to literature of a different culture. I plan on using elements of discussion, and double sided diaries, and other related things. It ought to last about a week, with a paper at the end of the unit to see comprehension.

Again, sorry this is sort of late, this website hates me.

Discussion
http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/de/pd/instr/strats/discussion/index.html

Well, this strategy is designed to have students speak to one another about—well, in this case literature, and writing, in order to share ideas, thoughts, and feelings in order to better understand the information that was presented. Through this method, students are forced to see the perspective of their peers, and thus, their horizons are hopefully broadened in an effort to either modify their way of thinking and to glint things they failed to notice before hand.
A way to integrate this into the class room, is to have a reading circle, where the students read either a novel, poem, or short story; all taking turns reading a part, Every time one of said students stop to switch, as the teacher, you can ask thought provoking questions about the information of which was just presented to them. The students can then take said question, and…discuss! Thus, they understand what they’re reading more so then they did before.

Name of Strategy: Think, Pair, Share

Source: "Instructional Strategies Online". Saskatoon Public Schools. 3/18/10
http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/de/pd/instr/strats/think/index.html

Text students will read: articles about the Confederate Flag, including
Sarratt, David. "The Confederate Flag: Controversy and Culture". American Studies, University of Virginia. 3/18/10 .

Give a thorough explanation of the strategy as it is described in the original source: Think, Pair, Share is a strategy designed to stimulate students thinking, help them develop individual opinions, and practice articulating those opinions with their peers. Instead of traditional responses where one student answers the teacher’s question, this technique encourages all students to participate. To conduct this strategy, students are divided into groups of four and each is assigned a number (one through four). The teacher presents a question or problem-solving situation. First, the teacher gives the students individual “think time” (maybe thirty seconds). The teacher then announces with numbers in the group should pair together and discuss an answer or solution. After students have had the opportunity to discuss, they can share either within their groups of four, or with the class as a whole.

Identify the North Carolina Curriculum Competency Goal(s): The learner will examine argumentation and develop informed opinions.

Provide a lesson plan: As an English teacher, I would like to incorporate reading material into this strategy. One example of how I would use this would be to present two articles on a topic with opposing views. I would like to choose articles which discuss the merits and offenses of the Confederate Flag. This would fit well into eleventh grade English, juxtaposed to American history that they are learning in social studies. Symbols are an important topic for high school students to discuss. We may not always realize how important symbols are in our culture, and it is healthy to examine the different responses symbols elicit from individuals, based on their experience.

I am going to do my lesson plan on the novel Twisted by L.H. Anderson. I feel that this is a great novel for students to read. I know that it covers quite a few controversial issues in it but I am not going to be blind to the fact that some of my students may be experiencing some of the same issues that they can relate to within the book. With this novel I see my students doing a lot of journaling, creativity with projects, class discussions, presentations, essays, and so much more. My first and foremost main concern is for my students and then their grades. I feel that this is a book that they can really get into and therefore I think that the work they will produce from it will be good because it will reflect that they enjoyed it and want to do well.

I am creating a lesson called "Critical Thinking and Creative Writing: Discovering the Beat Movement" in which students are introduced to an important movement in American literature by focusing specifically on poetry. Students are required to think critically about censorship in America and they are given the opportunity to explore their own creative writing. There is an emphasis on the American haiku, with Jack Kerouac popularized.

I plan on developing a lesson plan centered around symbolism and dreams. I plan on explaining briefly about the theories of dreams and their meanings. I will then ask the students to start a dream journal. I will then review different types of symbols found in literature and dreams, have them practice on a sample story or two, and then have them analyze their own dreams. If the students can not remember their dreams, i will allow them to create their own story, or a journal of their actual day, and let them find symbols in the day.

Mandy Deal, Lindsey Dimmette, Sydney Smith, Amber Queen, Sara Cline

Time Line/Agenda- Pg 114 by April 14; Finish book by April 21.
1 blog due each Wednesday. Post at least one new entry (at least one paragraph) and respond to one of your book group member's posts. (you can do this in one entry)

Expectations: Every member actively participate in the blog discussions and to make substantial entries on the blog and give good feedback to other members posts.

-Members: Rosalie McFarland, Elle Tallent, Katherine Wiggins, and Rochelle Medvec
-Timeline:
April 7: Have book and have read through chapter 5
April 14: Have read through chapter 10
April 21: Have read through chapter 16-finish book

-Expectations of each individual book club member:
1) Each week each member will read the assigned chapters in the book

2) After reading the assigned portion, each member will post to the blog one entry weekly which includes:
-summary
-reflection
-highlight of favorite part
-what left us hanging/what we thing is going to happen/what we want to know
-identify a possible activity that we could use with this portion of the book in our future classroom

3) Each member should actively participate in the face-to-face book club meetings and contribute to meaningful discussions

Cassie Sharpe, Brooke Estridge, Happi Adams, Troy Fiss, and Michael Walker.

We are reading "When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead. As far as expectations are concerned, we all are going to get the book and read the first 100 pages by next week. Then, we expect to have the second half of the book finished by the following week. The last week, we will wrap up our discussion of the book as a whole and discuss our thoughts concerning what we liked and disliked about our book and about the book club process in general.

As far as expectations for each member, we require that each person post on the blog one entry before the final night of class. In this entry, we will reflect on the book as a whole, providing comments about its substance, how it should be taught, what we learned, and whether or not we would recommend this book to others. Aside from the final blog post, we require that each member participate with meaningful insight in in-class discussions and keep up with the readings as scheduled.

Sandy Standley, Lyndsey Tice, Brooks Thompson, Allison Ollis, Danielle Presnell

Expectations"
1. Everybody will have book by next class.
2. We will discuss the themes and issues in the book that may relate to the classroom and post it to the blog.
3. We will all agree to participate in discussions, observations, and insights to the novel.
4. We will focus on how the book can be used in the classroom (literary elements, vocabulary, etc.)
5. We will post every Wednesday after each person brings in their contribution of written insights. We will all post individually.

Time Line.
1. Read 80 pages ch 10
2. Read 80 pages ch 21
3. Finish book.