Look for new 2021/22 Classroom Stories from our dedicated and talented English Teachers this year.
Archived Stories
Ms. Sarah Newton has taught High School English for 5 years at Gateway Science Academy in St. Louis. This was her second year participating in the TED Ed Club program. She originally learned about the opportunity by just browsing through the TED Ed website, and thought it would be the perfect idea for her Speech and Debate class to enhance and bring closure to the curriculum. After she completed the simple application process online, she was given all of the resources that she needed.
“When I first told my students that they would be giving a TED talk to a large audience, both groups seemed very intimidated and self doubting,” said Ms. Newton. However, “throughout the process, they learned that they actually had important ideas to share and that they had all of the ability to do so.” In addition, Ms. Newton noted that there was improvement in their skills like finding words to say what they mean and mean what they say because they are picking the topics. It fit well with Missouris “approaching tasks as a researcher. Not to mention the speaking and listening skills – “speak audibly and to the point, using conventions of language as appropriate to task, purpose, and audience when presenting including appropriate volume, clear articulation, and accurate pronunciation at an understandable pace, avoiding verbal filler that might be distracting to listeners.”
“This year’s group was so creative, inspiring, and brave” which is why Ms. Newton is sharing some of their work. We at Concept English agreed and highly recommend this to any English teacher, especially those who teach a public speaking course. For those interested, the application can be found: https://ed.ted.com/clubs.
This reminded me of a Post-it note strategy that I used with my students. Here is a similar strategy modeled on the teaching channel: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/enhance-student-note-taking
Edition # 6, Part 2
Mrs. Kline, a colleague of Ms. Foschia at Cleveland Middle School, began a version of the Post-it note strategy with her 7th and 8th grade students after she did her own additional research. At the end of a lesson, she has her students complete a learning objective exit slip (Post-it note) where they reflect on their learning and self-assess their own understanding of the reading. It is a sort of Close Reading end-of-lesson formative assessment. In other words, they write a quick statement about what they have learned and anything they are not sure about. Mrs. Kline then posts the sticky notes on a poster which gives her the opportunity to reflect on the effectiveness of her teaching and the lesson plan implemented that day. She is then able to use the information gathered from her students as our Bell work because it creates a focus to discuss the previous day’s lesson. Mrs. Kline said, “This gives us more opportunities to discuss things learned in class in greater detail and provides students a chance to raise addition questions they still have about the topic by using context clues, and citing textual evidence.” She then has the students reevaluate themselves on a scale of 0-4, i.e. 0 = I don’t know and can’t do any part of the learning target; 1 = with help, I know and can do some of the learning target; 2 = I know and can do the easy parts, but I don’t know and can’t do the harder parts; 3 = I know and can do the entire learning target without making mistakes; 4 = I know and can do the learning target well enough that I can make connections that weren’t taught to me. If you are like Mrs. Kline you may find this practice to be of great value since it gives her immediate feedback on what students have learned and mastered.
Edition # 5
Two Submissions from Ms. Renee Lucas:
Recently Renee Lucas, Columbus High School, implemented a graphic organizer format that derived from page 63 of the Realizing Illinois PDF which provides strategies and ideas for tasks students can do to fulfill and further the students understanding of skills tested by the CCSS standards. She chose the graphic organizer because it provided space and opportunity for students to evaluate the sources they were viewing and come up with a reason why one source was better than another. She made her own changes (below) to the format by adding two additional mediums and clearing the specific title of the example article they used.
In class, she sectioned the room off into four large tables where students were given 6 minutes to view and discuss the specific medium. Students recorded their thoughts and when the timer went off, they switched to a different table with a different medium.
Background:
The lesson started because the day before, the class had read in chapter 7 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that Huck ran away from his alcoholic and abusive father by faking his own death.
Ms. Lucas wanted to incorporate non-fiction and multimedia into the lesson to show the students the relevancy of the concepts brought up by Twain in the book.
End of lesson:
At the end of the lesson, students had to evaluate which medium did the best job of portraying the central idea. Students then cut the bottom portion off of the paper and turned it in to Ms. Lucas for review.
Medium 1 |
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Article: | Intended Audience |
Central idea of Article: | |
Is the central idea reinforced? Y N | Distract from Central Idea? : Y N |
How?
|
How? |
Medium 2 |
|
photo: | Intended Audience |
Central idea of photo: | |
Is the central idea reinforced? Y N | Distract from Central Idea? : Y N |
How?
|
How? |
Medium 3 |
|
Video: | Intended Audience |
Central idea of video: | |
Is the central idea reinforced? Y N | Distract from Central Idea? : Y N |
How?
|
How? |
Medium 4 |
|
Song: | Intended Audience |
Central idea of song: | |
Is the central idea reinforced? Y N | Distract from Central Idea? : Y N |
How?
|
How? |
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Which medium does the best job of effectively delivering the message to the audience?
I believe that _____________________________ does the best job of delivering the central idea of ___________________________________________________________________________because ________________________________________ Name :
Renee Lucas, English Teacher at Columbus High School, also had her 10th grade students read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, last semester. She knew that she had to have a lesson that would help students understand the purpose of an author’s use of figurative language, but also wanted to keep connecting the novel to current events and ideas that would be relevant in their lives. Students had just finished reading Chapter 11 where Pap is suspected of murdering Huck and where a lynch mob starts to form and first go after Pap. For fans of the novel, this is where Jim, who disappeared the same night as Huck, becomes a suspect as well. The topic of “good old Southern justice” resonated with her students and was a perfect segue to the discussion of lynching in the South. Ms. Lucas established background knowledge for the students by playing the song “Strange Fruit” recorded by Billie Holiday. This created interest for the students but also allowed her to extend their knowledge by connecting the writer of the poem Strange Fruit. Using an NPR article on Abel Meeropol, a Jewish teacher from the Bronx, students learned how one man was inspired and deeply disturbed by a very brutal picture of the lynching of a black man which led to him writing his poem that has gone on to inspire so many others about injustice. First Ms. Lucas made sure students understood what an allusion was and took students through some specific questions related to the text as well as the article. Once students had discussed the writing, she then gave them the assignment to write their own songs to reflect the tone of news in the world today around events like Ferguson, Missouri, police brutality and militarizations, ISIS, and class warfare that they brainstormed together as a class. When students wrote their songs they had to use the figurative language technique of allusions in their writing.
The following are student examples from their class:
Guns Blaze in Rage and Anger -Bahirah Abdulmalik
Weapons flashed in fury and anger
leaving another body lifeless
as your lies pierce a
soul without a shield,
leaving everyone asking why,
As no one understands the pain
of losing a child
emotions held back to show bravery
as you so call promise to protect and serve
leaving a mother with a heart in pain and anger
tears came down like rain
but none can wash away
the blood stain
the night you took my brother
left me here in so much pain
I lost all respect for the
badge, your authority, and the name
The Confession by Hibo Tasew
I’m Media, it was me that was singing,
Freedom, that was not what was ringing.
When I make you happy, I get a raise,
I’ve made you mindless, and you give me praise.
I’m Media, it was me that was singing,
Freedom, that was not what was ringing.
I put down rebellion, with hate and destruction,
Oh sweet sweet sweet Hellen, my greatest projection.
World War 1 and World War 2,
And when it hits three
Oh how you’ll rue.
I’ve made you mindless,
I’ve brainwashed you too.
I’m Media, it was me that was singing,
Freedom, that was not what was ringing.
Why can’t you recognize,
All my truths are lies?
“Truths,” I put in your mind,
From the red curtain I hid behind.
My poisons injected,
I’m getting under your skin.
You’ve just digested,
Pray, to purge all your sins.
You’re now infected,
Sins, I began to begin.
POLICE BRUTALITY- by Ikmatu Thullah
In my bed I lie
Deeply stupified
As I ask you why
Do you push me to die
If forgiveness is hidden
The inequities would not be fishing
Then why do the police be tripping
For violence we know is not anyway catching
A person’s life is as valuable as your pain
So it should not be taking in vain
Or put in slain
It kills every emotion
To see people lying around in portion
All in the name of caution
So people should stay in motion
Why can’t it be in a different way
Instead of totally sending people away
Like flying a ray
Gun Violence- Darius Gainer
What has our world become today
Murdering is a sin
Though many lives are taken away
Like the lives of young black men
Who are assumed to be villainous criminals
By many white policemen
Simply due to the color of their skin
They find themselves in a grave
As many people step through their blood in the streets
While addressing their protests
And waiting for police to confess
Our modern world is full of turmoil
Violent shootings are occurring continually
Many involve black men losing their lives
So several people ask for our Father’s advice
And pray that a solution eventually evolves
Lives Lost – Nafisa AbdulMalik
Killed in cold blood
Silence
We have just realized that we can’t breathe
But we have been in a chokehold of racism
-for centuries
6 shots is not only deadly
It’s dehumanizing
We need America to start seeing us as humans
Not a pigment
For people of color, our life is like a game of baseball
But the only problem is that we were born with two strikes already
Hidden behind the shadows of this society
Lies numerous lies and deceptions
But how do lies turn into pride overnight
Murder has become a hobby
When they have a badge upon their chest
But that badge is not protection
From the torments of hell
Black lives matter
But once they realize
It’s too late
You left a family dismantled
Our tears pour like rain
But no matter how much we cry
We will never claim the blood-stained streets
Of this society that runs so deep
We were born black
So that was treason from the start
We have been through so much pain
That it no longer hurts
We are forced to feast
On a bag of Skittles
And a can of Arizona
Full of innocent black blood
Woe we plead for air
Hands up, Don’t shoot!
Titan’s Enigma
Rap by: Jordan Young
It’s nonstop I got a broke clock
Rolleys that don’t quite tick tock sharks hunting so they lower stock
Harp earthquake that’ll shift rock
I’m sorry for the wait, please excuse my charisma but the people are catching on like synchronized swimmers, what’s the USA without the NSA’s Enigma? Why are these officials suddenly pulling on the trigger? Ebola’s on the outbreak, CDC the rigger, lady liberty is on the run so I hope I don’t miss her, they’ll Tagalong your calls and intercept your Twitter-
and sell your information to data thieves highest bidder then plant a bull’s eye on small kids of dark figures, torture you on a chair, Break you up, Broken mirror
Burn your village down, overseas, Commander skipper. They turn you into a patriot or another Jack The Ripper.
They’ll keep us in a box though we beg and pray
Lock our voice away call it Guantanamo Bay
The Bass turnt up and its spraying away. Fought the IRS just to keep my estate.
I try to drown out those broken promises made
Reforms are needed before this democracy fades,
“Hands up, don’t shoot”, but the lads gone a-laid in state
If things are not rectified we’d have to demonstrate.
Every Dime you spend they’ve calculated
Every shread or common logic evaporated
I’m aggravated, exacerbated
Congress thick heads are saturated.
Another lockdown, policy not created. Every simple issue has to be debated, by the Titans in the capital while- we’ve just waited, over our privacy PRISM desecrated
While the media pushes bull that is unrelated-
They speak a foreign language that needs to be translated. A gap between classes that has been inflated.
Look at all the signs we are being dictated-
Legit corporate earnings being fabricated-
The minority of us all singled out and hated-
“I CAN’T BREATHE!” Don’t really know how long I can take it.
Classroom Stories Edition #2
Tonya Schauwecker, English teacher at Horizon Science Academy Toledo, worked with her English II students on a poetry unit. She recognized that students are often at a loss for words when reading historical events that are highly charged emotionally and knew she wanted to give them the freedom to express themselves creatively. She decided that after they read and analyzed the anonymous poem “Trail of Tears” that students would create posters to represent the ideas and feelings they had read about. Many educational organizations discuss the importance of visual literacy and how “students need visualization skills to be able to decipher, interpret, detect patterns, and communicate using imagery” and some of us have been using “Sketch to Stretch” as part of our lessons for years. In the case of Ms. Schwauwecker’s class, however, we can also see how letting students create their own visual images requires us to detect and interpret the patterns they present to determine what they have learned and mastered. For example, read the poem below and compare it to the beautiful image Allicia Munguia created to represent her reading.
There’s a trail of tears
Flowing from our homeland
Washing out the years
Drowning out the red man.
There’s a broken heart
beating like a funeral drum,
A nation torn apart,
So one can be born.
There’s a memory
That the eagle holds high
When we were free
As the wind in the sky.
There’s a feeling inside
That stirs our madness
To have a chosen life
In the fields of sadness.
There are some empty teepees
Falling into dust
Like an endangered species
We’re losing way too much
We are a world forgotten
Pushed aside and left alone
But comes a time when we will rise again.
Oh Great One, hear our prayers and our song.
Clearly meaning is made in many ways. This is one way to demonstrate knowledge in a creative way. As many are saying “….the three R’s are no longer enough. Our world is changing fast – faster than we can keep up with our historical modes of thinking and communicating. Visual literacy – the ability to both read and write visual information; the ability to learn visually; to think and solve problems in the visual domain – will, as the information revolution evolves, become a requirement for success in business and in life” (May 22, 2008 Source ).