Helping students understand color in photos

 At my school I teach yearbook and journalism. I understand the different writing styles quite well, but I only have a very basic understanding of photography.

I had the opportunity to receive this book to add to my class room in exchange for honestly reviewing the book for others.

To really give you an honest review, it is helpful to know what types of audience you are.

Personally, even for just a coffee table book, I find these picture BEAUTIFUL. However, the book is intended to those whom have a DSLR camera and intend to plan and take great pictures in camera (rather than depending on Photoshop or another editing software).

As stated before, I am a beginner, but I found the different examples of photos easy enough and while I haven't tried everything personally the great thing about digital is I can try try again.

A couple yearbook students have already flipped through and one of them has already asked to take it home.

A great addition to any yearbook or journalism classroom and great for anyone else who just wants to have a better idea of taking better pictures with their camera.

You can purchase Understanding Color in Photography: Using Color, Composition, and Exposure to Create Vivid Photos from Amazon (affiliate link) or most of the big book stores.

My Rad Life: Journal Review

There are more and more books today reminding students that they live in a wonderfully diverse  world. In fact the author of this journal have written quite a few books that focus on bringing attention a diverse variety of women wo otherwise live in the shadows of history.

This journal was created as a companion to those books (Rad American Women A-Z and Rad Women Worldwide). However, I own neither and find it great as a stand-alone.

Basically it's a guided journal that makes it easier to relate these larger than life women to students' own lives. AND in many cases introduce them to women who they probably haven't heard about in the classroom.

There are pages for drawing, doodling, and sketching...and pages with lines for writing. There are prompts based on quotes encouraging them to write about their own life or draw how they see themselves today.

The people vary from Beyoncé, who let's face it they already know to Agnes Varda (a European film maker).
 
In my mind, the journal accomplishes three tasks:
1. It gives students a touch of history and may ignite a curiosity in something or someone bigger than their life.
2. It helps students get to know themselves at a deeper level
3. It can have students create connections with people they otherwise distant from

As a teacher, I LOVE this book as inspiration for my own journal bell ringers. I plan on gifting it to a student I know who has a love of history.

I was lucky enough to get this book in exchange for an honest review. If it seems like something you're interested in, please check out three of Kate Schatz's books (including this one!) below. The below links are Amazon affiliate links. Regardless, these are 100% honest.

Book Review: The English Tenses

Tenses can be tricky!

This review is late. I read this book about a month ago and had a review written up to auto publish about two weeks ago. Unfortunately, due to the magic elves that live in my computer. I have no idea where the original review went, and I've been very busy with school lately and unable to write a new one. Apologies again to author Phil Williams for this delay.

The English Tenses Practical Grammar Guide is not a book I would suggest students or teachers read from start to finish (though you certainly could). I would suggest that teachers keep this on hand to review before teaching a specific tense (or to brush up if they are teaching a new level). I would also encourage advanced students who learn well independently to consult this book to help them grapple with English tenses.

Basically, this would be a great addition for any English teacher's bookcase.

This book goes into a detailed description of the differences between all the different tenses of past, present and future. Seriously, all of them. Go to the link I gave above (or click on the book cover below) and check out the, "look inside" function Amazon gives. You'll be able to peruse the very detailed table of contents to get an idea of exactly what is in the book.

To the left you'll see a quick example of the table of contents with all of the different information is has on past tense! This repeats for the future and present tense as well.

Each section includes an explanation and the basic rules of the specific form in question. Then, Phil goes over the affirmative, interrogative, negative and negative question forms using multiple different examples and charts to make it clear what part of the sentence correlates to previous examples.

As a paperback, this book is under $25. If you read books on your tablet, kindle or online, then you can download the Kindle version for less than $7.00! It has AT LEAST 100 pages of solid information on tenses sure to clarify this topic to anyone who reads it.

Overall I'd encourage you to add this book to your wishlist. If you do get a chance to read it, or have a different text you'd recommend let me know in the comments.

Giggle Poetry: Book Review

I am a huge fan of humor in the classroom (reminder there's still 5 days to submit your blog for the ELT Blog Carnival on humor). I think that getting students to laugh lowers their inhibitions and makes them feel more comfortable. In addition to making class a happier place to be it also allows students to participate more.

I am also a fan of poetry. I like the dream flag project because it encourages students to participate in more figurative thinking, not worry so much about rules, and get interested in other parts of English (other than just short stories and novels).

Giggle Poetry Reading Lessons is a great book for teachers of hesitant learners (especially readers). It introduces new vocabulary in a fun way, and encourages fluency by having students present their poems in front of the class. Many of the poems also encourage motions and movement, making this a TPR expereince.

Approximately the first 10% of the book is helping teachers (or parents) learn how to navigate the book. It goes over studies (why they developed the book), methods (how they encourage the book to be used in class) and examples. You can (clearly) ignore this part if you just want the poems, but the content is pretty solid and helps you understand how you may best use the poems in your class.

Keep them smiling while reading!

Then, we have thirty-four different poems. Quite a few of these I like enough to use with my high school students! Several I didn't like at all (but I can see how students would), and the vast majority I found perfect for middle school or elementary students.

To give you an idea of the topics of poems here are some of the titles: Dirty Socks, What I found in my Desk, Bad Hair Day Rap, Ish!, Someone's Toes Are in My Nose, and How to Torture your Teacher.

The poems are usually 1-2 pages and divided into stanzas. Next to the poem there is often direction as to the desired motions or intonations (e.g. "Act stern. Wage your finger.") While the poems are fairly basic in terms of vocabulary there are some cases where rather advanced words are used. If you are dealing with EFL students, you may like to scaffold more than the book does. An alternative is to substitute advanced words with cognates or more basic synonyms. Most of the poems are written with a rhyme or meter that makes memorizing and reading them easier than a standard text.

After each poem the book provides a lesson plan. As with all prefabricated lesson plans, I suggest you make many adaptations to best suit your class. These ideas area great start! The objective for each poem;s lesson plan is more or less the same, "Objective: The student will read text fluenty, with attention to pace and expression and with a high level of accuracy, as a means of comprehending the text."

Then it walks you through the five steps they suggest you follow:

1. First activate background knowledge. The book provides sample questions to ask students to get them thinking of the topic. In an EFL environment some visuals would probably be helpful too!
2. Skim/Scan. Usually they advise students to underline any words they may don-t know without looking at the context or situation. There are other great skimming and scanning activities you could use here.
3. Modeled Reading. Usually this is set up for the teacher to read (and it gives guidance on how it should be read), but you could do this in many other ways as well.
4. Guided Reading. Students are given the chance to look at vocabulary, inference,  and practice reading as a class (echo reading and choral reading) or in pairs (buddy reading)
5. Finally students are given time to read on their own during Independent Reading.
6. The last step is to have a student present (the book emphasizes to encourage them heavilily and focus on their successes rather than failures).

Personally, I feel that after the third poem this lesson plan structure is BORING! It has a great structure, but repeating it again and again isn't very fun to read. Don't be afraid to vary it for your class. Use the skeleton but adapt the activities, or do your own thing!

After the poems, at the end of the book, there are rubrics and suggested assessment methods. Again, feel free to adapt these as needed to keep your class interesting and best suit your students needs. This is by far the best book I have read all year, and I suggest you look into purchasing it yourself. To read more about Giggle Poetry you can check out their website.

Book Review: On Top of the World: How the Finns Educate Their Children

The Finnish flag

That orange section in Finalnd

If you teach anywhere in the world you have surely heard about how, Finland has, “the best education,” in the world.

Many of the educational forums or Facebook pages I am a member of will often reference Finland’s educational system in research, news articles or memes.

In addition, when I did my Masters in Spain we studied how the education in Finland was unique. We mainly focused on the attitude people have towards teachers as well as the training that teachers have.

Even with this background, I found the book really interesting. Part of what I really liked about it is it was written by the mother of three children (aged 7, 9, and 12). I really like that it is written by a mother, not an educational expert or a curriculum designer. 

Basically, with the fame of the Finnish educational system, Maria is often asked about what makes their system so much better than everywhere else. She doesn’t claim to have all the answers, but in how in a quick 14 chapters she answers the question: what are the Finns doing in their school?

I found On Top of the World: How the Finns Educate Their Children a nice overall summary of how the educational system works. Some of it was new to me, and some of it was review, but none of it was pretentious or useless.

She ends the book with several key takeaways I feel I can implement as an educator:

·         Communicate with the parents!

o   My colleagues and I have discussed how this can be different with different schools. Some schools don’t encourage communication with parents. Other schools foster it! I think the key is to remember that parents are your allies, not enemies.

·         Encourage students to learn another language.

o   As a language teacher…I may be biased

·         Don’t be afraid to add a physical nature to your lessons

o   Not every lesson can be a soccer game, but getting students to move around can be helpful.

·         Use “playing” as a learning tool.

o   We all learn better when we aren’t trying to learn! Maybe try a vocabulary game!

·         Respect students as individuals

o   Understand that not all students will succeed at the same things.

If you want to read a concise compilation of how the Finnish education system works, this is a fast, easy and simple read I encourage you to look into. Plus, it LESS than a dollar!
No time for the book? Check out this infographic on Finlands.

Avoiding Burnout through Prayer

Don't let the title scare you! This isn't some "convert to Jesus only he will save you" post. However, I know it is summer now and many of us are recharging our batteries. I know this mainly because I have seen a lot of posts lately on teacher burnout and how teachers handle it.

My friend and I at our First Holy Communion
(I am the brunette on the right)

Before I start, please be patient with me as I explain my religious background. When I was a baby, I was baptized into the Catholic Church. I had a horrible fever and went to the hospital soon after! This began my tumultuous relationship with the Catholic Church. I don’t often discuss my faith, as I am at a battle with how to define it, or how it defines me depending on how you look at it. Nonetheless, when I was younger, I went to Catholic school preschool through eighth grade. I received my first holy communication, reconciliation, and confirmation. Despite my struggles with my faith I will always consider myself a Catholic, though at times a lapsed one.

Why am I writing about my religious upbringing when talking about burnout? I want you to know a bit about where I am on the “religious person” scale before I suggest this book. Just as I believe most of the messages in The Bible are for everyone (e.g. be nice, don’t kill, lying is bad), I also believe that this book is helpful for teachers who don’t have any Christian beliefs.

Update: This book is no longer available on Amazon. I am keeping the post here because the concepts are still valuable. If I discover the book again, I'll update the link. The book is called, "Teachers' Devotions to Go" by Diane Stark. She wrote 32 chapters that follow a simple pattern. First there’s a bible excerpt. Then there’s a story about teaching; she ends the story by connecting it to her relationship to God, and with a sample prayer for the reader to use. Most of the prayers thank God, or ask for assistance. Finally the chapter ends with a, “Time Out.” These are like little homework assignments. They are easy tasks to complete to make your life a bit easier.

Now, for those of you who are wondering how on Earth this is related to teacher burn out let me share some of the easy tasks she shares in the “Time Outs”:

• Don’t talk about the negative. Enjoy the positive. Write down 10 things you like about your school, class, etc. and focus on those.
• This is great advice for every teacher regardless of religious beliefs!
• Instead of worrying pray about it
• OK, I get how this one may be harder for non-religious teachers. However, to me prayer is very similar to meditating. All she is really saying is don’t overthink things you can’t control! If you are worried about something take some deep breaths and decide if you can or cannot do anything. If you can, then do it! If not, move on.
• Take a mini-vacation. Even just an hour at a new café.
• Here’s another one I think where I think anyone could benefit. By taking a little time to “get away from it all,” we avoid overloading ourselves!

I don’t completely agree with everything that Diane says, but I am a teacher! When I don’t like someone else’s lesson plan I can almost always find a way to adapt it to best suit my class. This book is similar. She’s giving us the lesson plan that she finds works best for her. Take the ideas that you like and use them! Take the ones you don’t like and adapt them to better suit your life.

 Since I am type of the person who thinks of prayer more as meditation, I don’t tend to use pre-written prayers. However, if you are the type of person who likes pre-written prayers "40 Prayers for Teachers"
 is a nice collection.

I am curious, how many people who read this blog consider themselves religious? I try to keep my religion out of my job (and thus this blog), but I do feel that being Catholic is a part of who I am. 

SEVEN Great Alphabet Books

I think alphabet books are great for ALL levels of English classes. Lower level classes can use them to help improve their letter recognition. Whereas older students can mimic the templates the books provide and create their OWN alphabet books.

I really think having students create their own books is an AMAZING project! I am hoping to put up a step by step process (including worksheets) by Monday.

In the meantime, here are SEVEN alphabet books that I think are great for students to peruse.

This book has simple clipart-like graphics which I like because it shows students that their own book's graphics don't need to be overly complex.

It is easy for students because it follows a set pattern. LETTER is for ANIMAL and a(n) ANIMAL can't VERB like a DIFFERENT ANIMAL.
It uses rhymes, and repeats animals throughout the book making it easy for younger students to follow along. Note: some of the rhymes are partial rhymes which I normally avoid as a teacher. If.you are also that way, maybe you should skip this book.
Since it uses a pattern it is also a GREAT "template" for students to follow with other categories
People: "A is for astronaut and an astronaut can't speak languages like a polyglot!"
Food: "A is for apricot and an apricot isn't small like a kumquat."



You'll notice that a lot of alphabet books are about animals. While that's great, I encourage my students to pick creative themes. As such, I enjoy showing them The ABC's of Kindergarten since it isn't about animals!

The book itself isn't very fancy LETTER is for WORD. Then there's a sample sentence.
 Students can use this"template" if they like, though it isn't very creative.
H is for hamburgers. Our cafeteria's hamburgers are the best!

This one uses alternating rhymes, which my students struggle to understand. That is to say that there isn't a rhyme for each letter. Instead the rhyme for A is found at the end of B.

For example: "K is for kangaroo hop hop hop. L is for lion ready to chop."

The graphics are super adorable. Plus the writing is simplistic enough to be an attainable goal for your your students.  Even though this is about animals, it works well for all topics.

For example, "T is for a trombone. Being a really big trumpet, trombones are fun to play. U is for ukulele. This small guitar, coming from Hawaii, needs a lei. 


This is my FAVORITE alphabet book! The "star" of each letter is a composed of a made up monster.

The graphics show the monster surrounded by lots of words starting with the appropriate letter.

The sentence is very simple. For example: Being at the beach the belchamonster avoids the sun. The picture would then have a beach ball, a balloon, etc.

The creativity in this makes me feel like students could do something similar and have a LOT of fun.

Most of my students use clipart that they find online to make their alphabet books.

A few of them use pictures, but otherwise they don't get very creative. That's why I think this is a GREAT alphabet book.

Basically there are scenes made of bricks for each letter. The students are invited to examine the scene and find things that start with the given letter.

Very dynamic, involved and unique (compared to the other graphics).

This book is unique because each of the letters is designed to look like the animal. Some of them, like the octopus, are pretty good. Others, like the pig, involve some suspension of belief.

Another awesome part, is if you buy this book you can download the coloring book version for free and allow students to color in the book (perhaps making your own version for the class library?)

The text is written in limerick form. If you teach limericks in your class it could be fun to make your own limerick book!
This last book is fun because of the theme. The author didn't pick animals even though it is a book about rats. He picked the fun theme of pirates! He also made his book follow a plot!

Most of my students steer away from a plot when making their books, but I find that it can be a really fun way to put an alphabet book together. Plus, it makes it very engaging for the audience.

Just check out this trailer for the book:



Do you have a favorite alphabet book?

Book Review: Am I small?

Spanish and English

I teach high school and university students know, but a special part of me will always have a special place in my heart for teaching younger learners.

Earlier this month I was picking up some Kindle books and I grabbed "Am I small?" Phillip Winterberg Nadja Wichmann
. I normally don't read the kids books that I buy (other than the alphabet books) but for some reason I did skim through this one.

I LOVED it. Lots of repetition to help 'lil ones get used to structure and words! Many different words being used to help them improve their vocabulary (or pick the best word!).

The Vietnamese version

English Only

Most importantly, it sends a good message about how being unique and different is good. I STRONGLY suggest you check this book out! Your students don't speak Spanish? No worries. This book is offered bilingually in MANY different languages from Dutch to Vietnamese!

If you are one of those teachers who prefers to have books in just the language you are teaching, the book is also sold in an English only version (or Africaans, Dutch, Spanish, etc.).

To help motivate you to use this book with your students I am creating activities that would go well with the book. This one focuses on expanding your students' vocabulary, this is an awesome spring time craft and this one helps them realize the different meanings a word can have.

If you want to check out other books my Phillip his website http://www.philipp-winterberg.com/ links to three other books he has written you can download for free! Out of all of them, "Am I small?" was my favorite, but you may like the other ones as well.

Great E-books about teaching with theater

Every wondered how to use acting or drama to teach? Or, why to use theater in your class? This blog seeks to give you three ebook suggestions you may find helpful to find more ways to use theater with your students. After all, who hasn't used a role play to cement vocabulary? I know my Korean students LOVED taking turns reading from a book, while other students acted them out in front of the class. My students now create adaptations of books we read in class. Most English Language teachers love to use acting in the class, and these three books help us with new ideas.
Mary Ann Loesh is an elementary Theater teacher who regularly had, “Fourth Grade Show Off Night” where her students would perform in front of family and friends. She strongly believes that having students move and perform helps them to understand and has so happy with the results she choose to share some plays and monologues to be used with your students.

These plays and monologues are designed to help students understand history, and enjoy acting. As an English Language teacher I also think you can use or adapt these to help your students practice using English. The book specifies grade levels 3 through 5, but I think all teachers can gain inspiration and ideas from reading it regardless of the grade.

This blog only discusses one of her ebooks Out of the Picture!: Using Theatre Arts to Teach Social Studies. In that book there are a lot of starters to get your students using theater. You can use them as plays or readers theaters. If you don't know the difference, check out her other book, The Day Our Teacher Lost Her Mind! which explains it quite well, or check out this Scholastic explanation.
So, why use drama? As she says, “The plays and monologues within this book are designed to help students improve their speech and diction skills, boost their stage presence, and help them understand the basics of putting on a play. However, they are also meant to help students learn about famous historical figured from all walks of life by blending fact and humor together.”

Out of the picture starts with a brief listing of terms that a teacher / director should know. I never acted, but I was familiar most of them. For example, some of the words are: stage left, stage right, center stage, etc. Nonetheless, there may be some terms that are useful for a teacher to appear knowledgeable to her students. If you want to use more terms with your class you can use an online glossary like this one from TheatreCrafts.com

Next she includes several games students can use to practice dictation, emphasis, connotation, and several games to practice the new terms.

Speaking of games, there's another great book about drama for teaching by Julie Meighan: Drama Start Two Drama Activities and Plays for Children.
This has over seventy games! Some of them you probably know ("Two Truths and a Lie" for example) but I am sure there are some that are new to you. For each game Julie explains the difficulty, the directions AND (most importantly) the importance from a theater perspective. It also includes two scripts for plays about animals the students can perform. The title says ages 9-12, but I know teachers who teach below or above this group could still find many of the games useful!

A drawing of The Alamo from the 1600s

Back to Mary Ann's book, the plays and monologues start with monologues from the Alamo. She gives a brief history of the Alamo and introduces a few basic tips for a monologue: speak loudly, speak clearly, and speak slowly. She goes through the differences between a speech and a monologue, and advises students make brief introductions BEFORE their monologues.

Then come the monologues: Jim Bowie, Moses Rose, Santa Ana, Davy Crocket, William B Travis, The Wife, The servant girl, James Bonham, Susanna’s Tale, Travis’ Letter. All minus Travis’ letter are fictional accounts which Mary Ann feels best show the emotions of the time.

Sample Costume!

As the book winds down, she introduces her concept of a living museum. A living museum is essentially when students select a historical figure to research and present a speech about. Sometimes the students even dress up a bit! The short plays she has written take it to another level.

"Night at the Wax Museum" and "I Dream of History" both are plays in which different historical characters come to life. Rather than being complete, these plays allow for the students to insert their own speeches on behalf of the characters. I LOVE this idea It is less work than creating a whole play by themselves, but it makes the play more their own.

The last play is complete without any need of additions from your students. However, I think you could still easily add more paintings to make the play personalized from the students. I would use the play as a model and have students create their own. You could divide the class into small groups and have them each select one painting from a different era. Then put it together and make a unique version of, “Out of the Picture.”

Finally, the last ebook I'll discuss is by Maggie E. Morgan, How To Teach English Culture To Foreigners Through Drama. This is definitely more research based. It goes through the importance of teaching culture, the role of drama in contrasting two cultures, and looks at a specific research study (analyzing the results as well). It includes lesson plans and exercises. This is a very thorough read; however, I found it much less interesting and harder to get through than the other books. Nonetheless, if you are interested in the research this is a much different book than the previous two and gives a very complete look at the why and how of drama in the class (it also includes a comprehensive bibliography for more research).
In summary, if you are looking for a way to use theater in the classroom, any of these books would be a great start. If you do get a chance to read them, let me know what you think! Alternatively, if you have a different suggestion I'd love to hear about it. Just leave it in the comments.