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Image Citation:
Shift happens. Retrieved July 8, 2008 from http://www.jonathansblog.net/userfiles/shift_happens_web-poster.jpg
This week, I tested a couple of new ideas in my English classrooms. First, I should explain that in one of my classes, we read short stories every week, and as many students and English teachers know, reading and discussing short stories can get boring quickly if the teacher does not integrate a unique approach into discussion. Of course, dialogues about themes, symbols, and characterization are exciting to me, but eighth graders for some reason do not have the same internal desire to discuss such things. Okay, I can live with
that, but usually, students enjoy watching film adaptations of novels and plays, right? So, where do you find film adaptations of short stories? YouTube! After an effortless search for Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” I discovered numerous hits, and I had each student view a different adaptation while taking notes on the director’s interpretation of plot, characterization of Mrs. Mallard, and overall point of view. After watching their video clips, which were more than likely produced by high school or college English students around the world, I let each student share his/her observations and explain why they agreed/disagreed with the director’s production. Anyone up for some critical, reflective conversations? This was an awesome exercise, and I would recommend it to everyone. Now, only if I had enough time for them to create their own rendition of the short story.
our novel for class, the characters travel along the east coast of Denmark hitting three large cities in addition to Copenhagen. With the list of other cities, students had the following mission: locate the four cities on a map, calculate the total distance traveled by train from Copenhagen to the northernmost city, and draw a map of eastern Denmark and southwestern Sweden. (The proximity of Denmark to Sweden plays an integral role later in the novel.) What made the activity interesting was that all of the city names were in Danish (e.g., Copenhagen = Kobenhavn). Overall, it was a fun activity. Students enjoyed using Google Map and found it “cool” that you could add destinations to extend your route. I wonder how they would have responded to Google Earth.
From reading blogs and instructional technology magazines, I come across quite a few different tools that I can supposedly implement into the classroom to improve instruction. With enough time and resources, I could probably make my classroom into one of the most interactive and rich learning environments around, but time is tough to come by. During the school year, it only takes a few months (if you are lucky ;) ) to fall a little behind schedule, and once behind schedule, you must utilize every extra moment to get students back on track. In the summer, however, teachers generally have a lot more time on their hands. Now, before I hear the cry of tired teachers, “We need a break from school, too,” trust me, I understand. Occasionally, though, over the next two-and-a-half months, experiment a little with various Web 2.0 tools. If you practice during the summer months, you may prevent many mistakes in the fall.
Audacity. After exporting the sound files as .WAV files, I easily inserted them into our Wikispaces classroom website. Once the two students were finished, each student listened to the other student’s recording and responded to the recording with a one-paragraph response. The exchanges were incredible! With a primary focus on a couple of character relationships from the short story we read in class, students generated original analysis of characterization by creating hypothetical verbal exchanges between characters. Overall, students found the experience enjoyable, and I look forward to experimenting with other tools over the course of the next few weeks.
