This is probably one of my favorite books for teaching. There are so many fun activities to get the students involved. After having a heart-to-heart with my students last Friday, they essentially told me that they would try harder if the class was more interesting and we did more activities. Therefore, my goal this week is to implement a strategy from this book every day. Today we did Step Forward in which the students were asked to step forward if the statement I asked applied to them. The students responded extremely well and had a lot of fun. It ended up branching into a conversation about the difference between peer pressure, persuasion, and manipulation. All three of which are key components of Julius Caesar. Tomorrow I am going to try a Tea Party with the students using Brutus's speech in Act 3. Each student will get a line and they will mingle with each other and try to figure out the meaning of the lines in their hands. I think this is a fun way to set up Act 3. If there are any other suggestions anyone might have...send them on over!
I used something well with Romeo and Juliet today but I was stumped as to what I could do with Julius Caesar. I will look into the Tea Party tonight too because Act III is right where we are!!
That's great! We did it today. The best part is that I have four of the same tenth grade classes so I was able to manipulate the process to see what worked best. The reason I did this was because when my first period "mingled," they did nothing but stay with their friends instead of collaborating with the whole class. So to fix this, I thought we could set up an outer ring and an inner ring. I had the students in the inner ring rotate. This worked well to keep the students from simply sticking to their friends; however, with only two people collaborating the students didn't really know what to do or discuss. So for the last two classes, I had the students work in groups of four and then had the groups swap members twice so they could see new lines and maybe gain a greater insight. I think this one worked the best because it really kept the students on task. Then they worked together to put all of their lines together and complete Brutus's speech. Maybe this helps! I hope so!!
I definitely agree with Danielle. I use this book all the time when planning my lessons. I have found that most of my students haven't seen material presented in many of the ways Wilhelm suggests. I love his enactment strategies and I think that the best part is that they “harness the power of social nature of learning.” I try to plan lessons that allow my students to be social. Enactments help because they are action-oriented and participatory. They require students to work together and work in a variety of roles. This not only develops new interest in students, but it enables students and teachers to construct meaning together. These strategies help to give everyone a voice.
I cannot wait to implement some of Wilhelm's enactment strategies in my own classroom. He proves that social interaction is the best way to learn something and I agree. If a teacher can help students make a personal connection to the lesson they will be more likely to understand and remember it. My students have just finished reading The Outsiders. I think I may use the hot seat or character roles activity in class today. I will let you guys know how it goes!
I agree, it's all about the students personally connecting with the text. I think hot seat or character roles are great strategies for The Outsiders. Also, I think you could do something like cafe conversations, where the students are put in pairs and each given a character or role (like greaser or soc) and ask them to have a dialogue with each other and pretend to be their character. It might be a great way to let them explore the conflict between the greasers and soc's.
Oh so true! I have seen that when students choose what they read and how they learn, they get so much more out of it! And having them sit and work alone on everything they do is unrealistic! First, they are children! They need to interact with one another and talk and socialize so they hone that skill. And second, you do not exist and work in a bubble alone in the real world; you work together, learn together, teach each other and gain knowledge from one another. We need to prepare the students for real life, not isolation.
These are awesome ideas! I have already added some to my lyric poetry unit we are starting soon. I know that putting movement to new information is always a great way to make sure they remember but up till now I have struggled to come up with creative ideas myself. This might be my new go to book when planning lessons. My 6th graders are always wanting to get out of their desks and move, talk, and tap on the desk. Why not make it productive and educational?!
I agree Anna. Almost any time students can use their whole bodies in a lesson they seem to get more from it. And, who wants to sit for a whole hour anyway!
Thanks for the suggestion Danielle! I decided to try out the character roles activity today. I think it went well being the first time. One of the students portrayed Dally and he did a great job with answering questions from the story. I put my own spin on it and included discussion between another student in the class that decided to be Cherry. The kids loved it. They started off being silly but after being redirected they came up with some great concepts. I then asked the class to write their own dialogue between Randy and Ponyboy. The parts that were not included in the novel. I’m looking forward to reading those.
That's fantastic! I'm so glad they really got into it. I think when the students have a chance to connect like this with the roles of the characters they come away with so much more than if they didn't. I really like the idea of having them write their own dialogue. It allows them to be creative, but still have to connect back to the text.
The Outsiders is a great novel to use these strategies with. I agree that giving the students a way to voice their ideas through writing their own dialogues is a much better way to showcase their understanding than the traditional study/reading guide questions. Let us know about their writing!
I think the writing went really well. One dialogue included a discussion between Randy and Bob about their parents/ guardian being too strict or lenient. I think the student was able to make a personal connection to the character.
I have learned many new ideas from this book. Very informative. Yesterday we did one of the small groups activities and it went well. It was a fly by the seat of your pants kind of thing but will be even better when more prepared. I also put another activity into action today. Another group activity, my kids do well working with groups since I have several co-taught classes, where the kids will tell which parts of the play are important and use modern vernacular rather than Shakespeare to act out the scene. I had students taking part that are usually very quiet and those that have a hard time staying on task were also doing well. I am looking forward to using more of these strategies.
Gloria, I love putting students into small groups for activities like this because it creates an environment that the majority of students feel safe to take risks in. Many students who would not actively participate in a lesson feel more inclined to do so when they are with only a few other people. I am planning on putting my students in groups next week to do some interactive learning about Shakespeare; I hope my students respond as well as your students did.
I LOVE learning new action strategies! This book was jammed packed with new ideas that I plan on incorporating in my class. The strategy I am looking forward to implementing the most is the value cards. Starting in March I am teaching a unit on To Kill a Mockingbird and this strategy matches perfectly with the themes from this book. The thing I love most about action strategies and enactments is that it connects the learning on a personal level for each student. Every student brings different experiences and emotions to the table that effect their perspectives when we discuss a text. Enactments really allow for the diversity of the class to shine and to take on a life of it's own.
I especially like the value cards too. We are completing a culturally diverse unit with a focus on discrimination and this action strategy will really get the students thinking about the social issues that are raised in the text. I agree that these enactments allow the students to connect with each other and to connect with the world outside of school.
Taylor, it really is jammed packed! I like the Stranger in Role enactment as well as Radio Show (to be used during reading). I hope to read something that is a little bit stringent in March. It will be difficult to decide which enactment/strategies to select!
I agree with everyone that the action strategies are phenomenal! I am excited to try these enactments to help students interact with the reading. It makes so much sense to encourage students to discuss what they are reading with each other in these structured ways so that they become involved in the text. I have actually used the responding to pictures enactment to get students thinking about word choice and they were so much more engaged than without the interaction among each other. I can't wait to try more of these strategies with my classes.
I must admit that without this book I would be at a complete loss for lesson planning! It has really be helpful to me on numerous occasions when I have been stuck in a rut or planning block. I also love how this book focuses mainly on learning and always seems to put the student first. I believe that the classroom must be alive, active, and dynamic. Using the strategies found in this book, I am able to keep my lesson from becoming boring or lackluster. I find these ideas to be especially helpful in the ELA classroom. It seems to be becoming increasingly difficult to find students who are interested in reading (as unbelievable as that sounds). It is important for me as an English teacher to engage my students in the world of literature as much as possible. I cannot be a good ELA teacher if I have a classroom full of students who do not enjoy reading. This can only be done through the implementation of exciting, fun lesson plans that also promote learning. I was especially drawn to chapter two as it focuses on grabbing student attention even before cracking over a book. Getting students hyped is one of the key ingredients in engagement. The "Fan Club" strategy is one that I will absolutely be using in my future classroom. I find that it hooks students from the beginning. If this goal can be accomplished, holding student attention throughout the duration of the central piece of literature is a breeze.
This is probably one of my favorite books for teaching. There are so many fun activities to get the students involved. After having a heart-to-heart with my students last Friday, they essentially told me that they would try harder if the class was more interesting and we did more activities. Therefore, my goal this week is to implement a strategy from this book every day. Today we did Step Forward in which the students were asked to step forward if the statement I asked applied to them. The students responded extremely well and had a lot of fun. It ended up branching into a conversation about the difference between peer pressure, persuasion, and manipulation. All three of which are key components of Julius Caesar. Tomorrow I am going to try a Tea Party with the students using Brutus's speech in Act 3. Each student will get a line and they will mingle with each other and try to figure out the meaning of the lines in their hands. I think this is a fun way to set up Act 3. If there are any other suggestions anyone might have...send them on over!
ReplyDeleteI used something well with Romeo and Juliet today but I was stumped as to what I could do with Julius Caesar. I will look into the Tea Party tonight too because Act III is right where we are!!
DeleteThat's great! We did it today. The best part is that I have four of the same tenth grade classes so I was able to manipulate the process to see what worked best. The reason I did this was because when my first period "mingled," they did nothing but stay with their friends instead of collaborating with the whole class. So to fix this, I thought we could set up an outer ring and an inner ring. I had the students in the inner ring rotate. This worked well to keep the students from simply sticking to their friends; however, with only two people collaborating the students didn't really know what to do or discuss. So for the last two classes, I had the students work in groups of four and then had the groups swap members twice so they could see new lines and maybe gain a greater insight. I think this one worked the best because it really kept the students on task. Then they worked together to put all of their lines together and complete Brutus's speech. Maybe this helps! I hope so!!
DeleteI definitely agree with Danielle. I use this book all the time when planning my lessons. I have found that most of my students haven't seen material presented in many of the ways Wilhelm suggests. I love his enactment strategies and I think that the best part is that they “harness the power of social nature of learning.” I try to plan lessons that allow my students to be social. Enactments help because they are action-oriented and participatory. They require students to work together and work in a variety of roles. This not only develops new interest in students, but it enables students and teachers to construct meaning together. These strategies help to give everyone a voice.
ReplyDeleteI cannot wait to implement some of Wilhelm's enactment strategies in my own classroom. He proves that social interaction is the best way to learn something and I agree. If a teacher can help students make a personal connection to the lesson they will be more likely to understand and remember it. My students have just finished reading The Outsiders. I think I may use the hot seat or character roles activity in class today. I will let you guys know how it goes!
ReplyDeleteI agree, it's all about the students personally connecting with the text. I think hot seat or character roles are great strategies for The Outsiders. Also, I think you could do something like cafe conversations, where the students are put in pairs and each given a character or role (like greaser or soc) and ask them to have a dialogue with each other and pretend to be their character. It might be a great way to let them explore the conflict between the greasers and soc's.
DeleteOh so true! I have seen that when students choose what they read and how they learn, they get so much more out of it! And having them sit and work alone on everything they do is unrealistic! First, they are children! They need to interact with one another and talk and socialize so they hone that skill. And second, you do not exist and work in a bubble alone in the real world; you work together, learn together, teach each other and gain knowledge from one another. We need to prepare the students for real life, not isolation.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThese are awesome ideas! I have already added some to my lyric poetry unit we are starting soon. I know that putting movement to new information is always a great way to make sure they remember but up till now I have struggled to come up with creative ideas myself. This might be my new go to book when planning lessons. My 6th graders are always wanting to get out of their desks and move, talk, and tap on the desk. Why not make it productive and educational?!
ReplyDeleteI agree Anna. Almost any time students can use their whole bodies in a lesson they seem to get more from it. And, who wants to sit for a whole hour anyway!
DeleteThanks for the suggestion Danielle! I decided to try out the character roles activity today. I think it went well being the first time. One of the students portrayed Dally and he did a great job with answering questions from the story. I put my own spin on it and included discussion between another student in the class that decided to be Cherry. The kids loved it. They started off being silly but after being redirected they came up with some great concepts. I then asked the class to write their own dialogue between Randy and Ponyboy. The parts that were not included in the novel. I’m looking forward to reading those.
ReplyDeleteThat's fantastic! I'm so glad they really got into it. I think when the students have a chance to connect like this with the roles of the characters they come away with so much more than if they didn't. I really like the idea of having them write their own dialogue. It allows them to be creative, but still have to connect back to the text.
DeleteThe Outsiders is a great novel to use these strategies with. I agree that giving the students a way to voice their ideas through writing their own dialogues is a much better way to showcase their understanding than the traditional study/reading guide questions. Let us know about their writing!
DeleteI think the writing went really well. One dialogue included a discussion between Randy and Bob about their parents/ guardian being too strict or lenient. I think the student was able to make a personal connection to the character.
DeleteI have learned many new ideas from this book. Very informative. Yesterday we did one of the small groups activities and it went well. It was a fly by the seat of your pants kind of thing but will be even better when more prepared. I also put another activity into action today. Another group activity, my kids do well working with groups since I have several co-taught classes, where the kids will tell which parts of the play are important and use modern vernacular rather than Shakespeare to act out the scene. I had students taking part that are usually very quiet and those that have a hard time staying on task were also doing well. I am looking forward to using more of these strategies.
ReplyDeleteGloria, I love putting students into small groups for activities like this because it creates an environment that the majority of students feel safe to take risks in. Many students who would not actively participate in a lesson feel more inclined to do so when they are with only a few other people. I am planning on putting my students in groups next week to do some interactive learning about Shakespeare; I hope my students respond as well as your students did.
DeleteI LOVE learning new action strategies! This book was jammed packed with new ideas that I plan on incorporating in my class. The strategy I am looking forward to implementing the most is the value cards. Starting in March I am teaching a unit on To Kill a Mockingbird and this strategy matches perfectly with the themes from this book. The thing I love most about action strategies and enactments is that it connects the learning on a personal level for each student. Every student brings different experiences and emotions to the table that effect their perspectives when we discuss a text. Enactments really allow for the diversity of the class to shine and to take on a life of it's own.
ReplyDeleteI especially like the value cards too. We are completing a culturally diverse unit with a focus on discrimination and this action strategy will really get the students thinking about the social issues that are raised in the text. I agree that these enactments allow the students to connect with each other and to connect with the world outside of school.
DeleteTaylor, it really is jammed packed! I like the Stranger in Role enactment as well as Radio Show (to be used during reading). I hope to read something that is a little bit stringent in March. It will be difficult to decide which enactment/strategies to select!
DeleteI agree with everyone that the action strategies are phenomenal! I am excited to try these enactments to help students interact with the reading. It makes so much sense to encourage students to discuss what they are reading with each other in these structured ways so that they become involved in the text. I have actually used the responding to pictures enactment to get students thinking about word choice and they were so much more engaged than without the interaction among each other. I can't wait to try more of these strategies with my classes.
ReplyDeleteI must admit that without this book I would be at a complete loss for lesson planning! It has really be helpful to me on numerous occasions when I have been stuck in a rut or planning block. I also love how this book focuses mainly on learning and always seems to put the student first. I believe that the classroom must be alive, active, and dynamic. Using the strategies found in this book, I am able to keep my lesson from becoming boring or lackluster. I find these ideas to be especially helpful in the ELA classroom. It seems to be becoming increasingly difficult to find students who are interested in reading (as unbelievable as that sounds). It is important for me as an English teacher to engage my students in the world of literature as much as possible. I cannot be a good ELA teacher if I have a classroom full of students who do not enjoy reading. This can only be done through the implementation of exciting, fun lesson plans that also promote learning.
ReplyDeleteI was especially drawn to chapter two as it focuses on grabbing student attention even before cracking over a book. Getting students hyped is one of the key ingredients in engagement. The "Fan Club" strategy is one that I will absolutely be using in my future classroom. I find that it hooks students from the beginning. If this goal can be accomplished, holding student attention throughout the duration of the central piece of literature is a breeze.