Poetry stations

A snippet from students at different stations

I really hate delving into a unit immediately after break. I have foreign exchange students who usually miss the first week back, students transfer from other classes, and they aren't always back in the educational groove right away.

This year, before getting back into poetry, I spent a day helping students start their year with no regrets and learning about their poetic pasts.

Then we jump into poetic stations. I've done stations before but this time I set them up slightly differently than I normally did. Stations were throughout my classroom more or less in a circular arrangement. Students started at one station with a partner. After about seven minutes, students were able to move on. Before moving on, one student at each station moved to clockwise and the other counter-clockwise. This way they are able to work with different students throughout the day. It also meant for new students, they got a chance to meet everyone in the class (be it only for 5-7 minutes).

My poetic station this year varied a bit from last year because I built off of what they revealed in their poetic journeys.

Students racing with Quizlet!

1. Students expressed fear over needing to know literary terms. So, another Station was two of my yearbook computers set up with a Quizlet Figurative Language set. Students made note of words they didn't know, and raced their partner for the fastest time. Many students said that they were impressed by how many of these words they already knew. 
• This was effective because students expressed a fear of needing to remember all of the literary terms. This showed them that they already knew many of them as we'd used them the previous semester. The students that were less sure have access to this Quizlet and can practice on their own in free time or at home.
• This was hit or miss as far as enjoying it. Some students LOVED it because they races with their partners. If they weren't close with their partners then they enjoyed this station less. 
2. Several students said that poetry is old and no one talks like that anymore. So, one of the stations was "Hip-Hop or Shakespeare" inspired by Akala's TED Talk. Students looked at lines either from a song or Shakespeare and talked to their partner about which one was which and why. After writing down their guesses, they got to see the answers.  Then they wrote one more response about which one surprised them more and why. This helped students see that we still use vocabulary like this today and poets from the past discuss topics we find just as passionate now. 
• As I circulated the room I heard some great discussions here!
3. Another common thread was students said they didn't understand what made a poem good or bad, so at another station they watched a clip from the Dead Poet's Society. They summarized it, said what the teacher felt about poetry and stated if they agreed or disagreed. 
• This was a close second for their favorite station. Students thought the scene was very funny, and they agreed with the teacher.
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4. To get a little more non-fiction in, they answered questions from a non-fiction text about science and language arts being mutually exclusive. Not only did they practice SAT-like questions,  but they read more about the information emphasized in their textbook. 

There were a few other stations (based on the textbook and rhyme scheme) but these haven't changed in the past few years. The stations mentioned above were specifically added (or altered) based on students' poetic journeys. This was a great way to ease them into poetry and students could tell that I took time to cater to their needs, and that they appreciated.

Fun Fall Finds- The Crucible and Ergotism

Fall always reminds me the most of school. Even though my school year seems to start earlier every year (we start at the beginning of August!) 

San Diego hasn't felt much like fall (we've had TONS of hot hot heat) but my school year is definitely in full swing.

This fall thirteen bloggers have come together to offer you the chance to win 13 different products  or a TPT Gift Card.


In October, I get to teach one of my student's FAVORITE stories to discuss: The Crucible!

Click above to find it on Amazon

Students LOVE the blame game, the sexual scandal, the girls being crazy, and of course, they all love to hate Abigail.

The play is also a GREAT chance to bring some non-fiction into my classroom. We read real tales of persecution that happen worldwide now. We look into the effects of peer pressure and authority. We investigate the real identities of the names that Miller borrowed for his characters.

At the end of the year students select where the blame for the witch trials goes using evidence from the play. While many students usually take the easier root of placing the blame on Parris, or Abigail. However, a surprising number of them choose to place the blame on ergot!

Ergot is a fungus that  some researchers have found could be the source of the accusations in Salem. Students really connect to this opinion. It is physical enough to make it easy to understand, yet the science of it makes them really work at it.

For this blog hop I am offering the chance to win this worksheet to help your students learn about this strange fungus and apply that knowledge to the Crucible. It includes a graphic organizer to help them organize their thoughts to answer the prompt, and multiple choice questions based on those seen in the 2016 SAT. This is especially a nice topic since the SAT is integrating more science based texts.

My junior students find it challenging, but it is the one that resonates the most with them. Plus, it involves crops and witches; perfect for the season of fall.

For those of you not lucky to win the contest (which runs from the 20th-25th) you can buy this on TeacherPayTeachers for just $1.50!

Enter the contest below, and then check out some of the other blog contributors to see their great stuff!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

An InLinkz Link-up

Understanding the Author's Craft by Writing

My school has started a Data Team that is in charge of analyzing the data that we receive from exams and letting us know what we should try to focus more on in our classes. I am not going to lie, this scared me a bit when they started (am I just going to be teaching to the test?), but for the most part, what they have told us are things I focus on anyways, now I just have to add a note to my Haiku saying, "We are focusing on __________ because of _______________."

One of the areas they feel students need more exposure is analyzing the author's craft. I am pretty excited because I have wanted to justify using the National Novel Writing Month's Young Writer's Program, commonly known as NaNoWriMo YWP, in my classroom and now I can.

NaNoWriMo is so easy it is almost hard to explain. Essentially, it is an idea that anyone who wants to write a novel can sit down and do it in a month. For the adult's program, on November 1, participants start writing with the goal of hitting the 50,000-word mark by 11:59 PM on November 30.

NaNoWriMo also has a Young Writer's Program specifically for students!! For students, they can set their own word limit, making it achievable at any age.

My NaNoWriMo

There's a teacher's kit you can buy / get for free (depending on their supply and your location) that comes with

• An awesome poster for your classroom where students can chart their novelling progress
• 35 stickers that say "Contents Extremely Imaginative" (great for laptops or binders)
• 35 "I Novel" NaNoWriMo buttons 
• One Writer's Emergency Kit (Fun for speaking activities and downtime in class)

But that's not all! There are some different workbooks (for different school levels)  you can download for free or purchase for $10. It goes through some fun ways to introduce your students to plot, setting, characters etc. They also have some lesson plans developed for Kindergartners through High School Seniors.

I won't be using these exactly. I'll be adjusting them so that we can use them to discuss the characters we have read about and analyze how the author has used the skills and methods we are learning about (as well as use them on their own).

I contemplated doing this on Haiku, but I think I will be using the website they have set up where my students can sign up, get motivational speeches, and track their word count. I can also give them announcements etc.

The best part, if your students meet the goal, then they get a voucher to get free copies of their book published and mailed to them. AWESOME motivation.

This will be my first year rocking it, but I'll be sure to post any amazing lessons I come up with while this goes on, and expect a post in December about how it went.

If you've ever done this before or have any pointers, comments below! If you're a newbie like me and you also teach high school, maybe our students could Skype or otherwise collaborate?

Quizlet for at Home Studying

I recently had the honor of hosting a guest post about the use of flashcards to help students study. One of my favorite ways to help students is by using Quizlet.

Quizlet allows me to create flashcards for students. In addition to making these for vocabulary words, you can also make them for collocations, dates, authors, math formulas, etc. Pretty much flashcards can be made for anything you want to help your students review at their own pace.

Students can view lists that you make without logging in or creating an account. They can also look for lists other users have created (things like GRE, TOEFL; SAT, etc. are very popular). If they create an account they can create their own lists or access them via tablets / smart phones.

Here are some of the ways students can use Quizlet. All of these examples use vocabulary words from Lewis Carroll's The Walrus and The Carpenter. You can click on the screenshots to make them bigger for a better look.

Definition

Word / Phrase

On the Internet
They can use them as traditional flashcards. The Quizlet website has a, "cards" section. Using the mouse to click from the term to the definition (or the arrow keys). Your students can set their own preference: term-->definition, definition-->term, or a mix of both.

"Learn" with quizlet

 "Learn" is a step up from flash cards. The definition is shown and you type the vocabulary word. This can help students with spelling and recalling the word (and not just relying on word banks. If your students are more auditory they can click on, "speak text" where the definition is heard instead of read. This can also help your students with their listening skills.
 

Practice the spelling

The "Speller" option lets your students hear the word being spoken as they see the definition. Then they try to type the word correctly. This is great for students who struggle with English's less than phonetic spelling. It is also nice for character names, authors, and other proper nouns. Not the most dynamic or interesting option, but I know some students have found it very helpful.

Sample Test

 My least favorite option, "Test." The reason I don't like this is  I think students focus too much on memorizing definitions and not enough on understanding. Nonetheless, Quizlet will randomly generate a quiz made up of multiple choice, true false, matching, and written answers (they give you the definition you write in the word). This can be useful for students and teachers as well (though for teachers why not try a more creative quiz)


GAMES!

Scatter!

Gamification is AWESOME and a great incentive for many students. Quizlet has many different options.One is called "Scatter." Essentially the definitions and terms are both scattered randomly on the screen. Your students can click and drag the terms / definitions to their corresponding term. Quizlet times you, so your students can try to make their best times. 

Can you guess the answer?

Word Clue!

The other game is space race! The definition (or term depending on your preference) will scroll from the left side to the right side of the screen. Before it gets to the right side you need to write the term (or definition). Scoring? Each time you guess incorrectly you lose 10 points. If you guess correctly, you get 100 points. By the time it gets to the right you will be given the definition and answer and asked to correctly type the answer. Repetition is key!

Phone / Tablet

Students can search for lists

Here's the most recent list

There's also a free App for the iPhone or iPad as well as Androids. Your students do need an account, but it is free to create an account and their terms of use are pretty standard. The app they can download is also free, so the price is right! 

Once they log in they can access lists that you have made (or other users have made) as well as few different ways to study.

The first perk of the app is it includes access to a list of all the terms and definitions.

Definition

Word

From here, the students  have the same flashcard function under "cards," as the website with some more options.

You can start with the terms, definitions, or both sides.
Another option is to shuffle the cards or keep them in the same order.

Once more, for the auditory students, there's the option for the text to be spoken.

Swiping up and down lets you switch in between terms and swiping to the right shows you the definition.  

"Learn"

Another section is "Learn," this shows the definition and students type the word, so more involved than just a flashcard. Plus it helps them with spelling.

All in all though, not the most exciting function.

Luckily though the app also has a game!

Match

This matching game is more organized than the scattered version for computers, but has essentially the same rules. Students match definitions to terms and race against a clock to score their best time.

Now, do I think that teachers should depend exclusively on sites like Quizlet for students to learn words? No! I believe there are many dynamic ways to really help students learn words. However, this can be a great supplementary tool to help the students get additional help the best way possible for them!

 As a class? You can also use it in class as a review tool! Put one of the games like "Match" or "Scatter" on the white board and have students get into teams. They can take turns buzzing in (raising their hand) to answer a review question. If they get it right, they can try to match the vocabulary words for an additional point (or to make the point valid).

UPDATE as of April 2016 there's a new way to use Quizlet in the classroom. Check it out here

I know there are many other sites like this on the web, but this is my favorite! Do you prefer another site or love Quizlet as much as I do? I'd love to hear from you!

Drop a comment here, tweet me @mELTingTeacher or comment at The Melting Teacher' facebook page.

Flashcards for Vocabulary Retention

I recently had a student come to me for some help with the SAT. I hadn't taken the SAT since high school, so I quickly Googled around to see what I could find. One of the helpful sites was ProProfs Sample SAT tests later I was creating a lesson plan for Thank You Ma'm and stumbled accross this quiz. Overall it is a great teaching resource and I am thrilled to have the founder and CEO contribute to my blog with this guest post on how flashcards help students study.

We all know that there are many different ways to get students to practice vocabulary in class, but how should they study at home? This blog will discuss the benefits of flashcards as a studying tool.
Individuals have different objectives when it comes to studying for a test or an exam. Methods might differ too; while some understand and remember all points, others cram. Whatever be the situation, making studying easier is the common objective of all. Enter flash cards!

However, when it comes to boosting your studying with flashcards in education, you will probably turn a deaf ear to it, citing it as hogwash. That is how it is; at every stage in education, the resourcefulness of flash cards has been underestimated till date. Flash cards are a great way to memorize, test oneself and remember the answers and points in both subjective as well as objective exams. Built on the pillars of rote and memorizing ability, flash cards can be used to teach anything and everything. Right from basic pre-school concepts to the highest echelons of the education ladder, flash cards can be extremely helpful owing to their simplicity and adaptability.

Different Roles of Flashcards:

Boosting your studying with flash cards in education can happen at any and every stage of it. Flash cards needn’t be only alphabetical or numerical, they can be pictorial too. Visual flash cards’ representations can be powerful and leave a long-lasting imprint on the mind. Pre-school kids can be taught about the number system, the alphabets, the parts of the human body and the things around us by simply using flashcards. It will improve their recognition ability beyond doubt. When you move up through middle school, whether it is simple mathematics formulae or calculus equations, chemistry procedures or physics calculations, flash cards are indispensable. All you need to do is spend time in assembling all formulae and writing them down, and then your flash-cards are the one-stop shop for all your revision. Words, spellings and vocabulary can be enhanced by simply buying a set of flash cards with English words. Points to a subjective answer and important dates can be jotted down, making history easy to remember. Language flashcards can contain translations which will help you in learning the subject. Later in life, when you are prepping for your entrance exams to get into a university, flash cards will not only quicken your learning pace but will also help you memorize better for answering questions quickly, as time is of essence after all.
As observed above, boosting your studying with flash cards in education at any point of life in your life is absolutely plausible.

Still, why use flash cards? You can carry them around everywhere, and look them up at your convenience. If you do not want to go through the trouble of making them, simply buy them; they are affordable. If you make them, the biggest advantage you have is that they are customized to your needs, and provide you with immense familiarity when you are studying. Flash cards are helpful in reinforcing and building all your skills and, above all, are fun. To those intelligent beings who consider the humble flash cards beneath them; step up and better your game by using them. Boosting your studying with flashcards in your education will probably be the best thing you might have done in your lives.
As for the professors, who can use them in teaching, your reason for using them is that they appeal to every child on every level; not all of them are at par. Children with learning disabilities will find them immensely helpful to further their education and it will give them a chance to succeed at par with their other mates.

The above said features are all incorporated in an electronic version of flashcards as well. In addition,  it can be shared with any friends that the student would like to and make flashcards creatively with a lot of imagination.
Boosting your studying with ProProfs flashcards in education is something that should have happened long ago indeed. The electronic version makes it possible to improve the scope of IT based education in the future.
Sameer Bhatia is founder & CEO of ProProfs.com rel="nofollow" which is a leading provider of online learning tools for building, testing, and applying knowledge. Sameer has a background in technology with a Masters in Computer Science from USC (University Of Southern California) and is an ed-tech industry veteran. You can find Sameer on Google+.