Third Informal: Limericks

For my 3rd (and last) informal observation, I taught a lesson on limericks. I knew this would be a fun topic, but at first, I had no idea what to do for my lesson plan! I had to do a lot of research to find ways to teach it without being boring or obvious, and I am pretty happy with how the lesson turned out. I started by asking my students what the definition of a limerick is. To provide an example, I showed this clip of "The Brothers Limerick":

Then we discussed the defining qualities of a limerick, such as rhyme, rhythm, and how to properly use inflection, pitch, and rate. For examples, I used poems written by Edward Lear, author of A Book of Nonsense (1845) and Limerick legend.

Finally, I showed this clip from Spongebob Squarepants to demonstrate the proper way to perform a limerick:

The students then had to make their own limericks, so I figured we'd have a little fun with it. I had them download a picture of Gary reading a limerick into Pic Collage and insert their own limerick. Here are a few examples of what they came up with:

They then memorized their limerick, and recited it to a group of students in class with proper inflection, pitch, and rate. Overall, it went very well! We had a few technical glitches the first time around, but it all came together. The kids had fun and I was happy with how it turned out!

Sources:

Pic Collage // http://pic-collage.com/  

Springboard, level 1, lesson 5.9 

Second Informal: Tone

Got my second informal out of the way today! Once again, I think it went well and I had a lot of fun with it.

To bridge the gap between the poetry we've been analyzing and the drama unit we are about to start, I taught about Tone. We defined tone as a speaker's or writer's attitude toward his or her subject. We also clarified the difference between Tone and Mood- Tone shows the emotions of the speaker, whereas Mood is how we feel when we read and react. I also used a tonal scale worksheet to make sure the students had vocabulary to express the tone.

We also discussed the difference between reading tone and speaking tone. We understand tone and "hear" tone as we read through the descriptive language, punctuation, and figurative language that the author uses. When we perform, we can further convey tone using our voice, facial expressions, and body language.

I had a lot of fun with our first activity. I randomly selected a student using an App called GroupMaker. The student then picked a number, 1-12, which corresponded with a picture of a person or animal whose expression portrays a certain tone. The students then draw a sentence from and must read the sentence in a tone that matches that of the picture. The students loved it!

Next, since we had been working on "Sonnet 130," I used that poem to look at different interpretations of tone. We discussed what Shakespeare intended the tone to be and then compared that to three different performances of the poem.




While the kids listened to the interpretations, they used todaysmeet to contribute what they thought the tone of each version was. Todaysmeet allows all the students to simultaneously contribute to an online forum. As a teacher, I can then make sure everyone is participating AND I can use their comments as a means of formative assessment. With this transcript, we had a class discussion to pin point the tones of each video clip, as well as which clip best matched Shakespeare's tone.

Finally, I had the students write their own sentences conveying tone using descriptive language and figurative language. This, again, was a great formative assessment to help me see if they are grasping the concept.

The lesson went well and I had a lot of fun planning it AND teaching it!

Ozymandias

Mrs. M taught a great lesson on "Ozymandias" and poetry analysis. She started out by having the students listen to "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay. As they listened, they used Padlet to record words and phrases that stood out to them during the song (Padlet is like an online corkboard that allows each of the students to post notes simultaneously).

After they listened to the song (which they loved), Mrs. M pulled up Padlet on the smart board and organized the posts they had all contributed to give the class an idea of what had stood out to everyone. Next, the class had a discussion on the meanings of the words and phrases they had written to figure out what the song was about. They also went through the lyrics and identified figurative language. The kids made great connections and got a lot out of the song.

Next, Mrs. M introduced Ozymandias by first talking about the author's background as well as the background of the poem. Ozymandias was written by Percy Bysshe Shelly as part of a bet with his friend and fellow poet, Horace Smith. When the bust of Ramses II was shipped to a London museum, Shelly and Smith made a friendly wager to determine who could write the better poem about the Ramses the Great, or Ozymandias.

Here are their two poems:

"Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelly

I met a traveler from an antique land  

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone  

Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, 

  Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, 

  And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,  

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read  

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,  

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; 

  And on the pedestal these words appear:  

“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:  

Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”  

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay  

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare  

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

"Ozymandias" by Horace Smith

In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone,
Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws
The only shadow that the Desert knows:—
"I am great OZYMANDIAS," saith the stone,
"The King of Kings; this mighty City shows
"The wonders of my hand."— The City's gone,—
Nought but the Leg remaining to disclose
The site of this forgotten Babylon.

We wonder,—and some Hunter may express
Wonder like ours, when thro' the wilderness
Where London stood, holding the Wolf in chace,
He meets some fragment huge, and stops to guess
What powerful but unrecorded race
Once dwelt in that annihilated place.

The students analyzed "Ozymandias," compared "Ozymandias" to "Viva la Vida," Red Scarf Girl, and Smith's "Ozymandias" through class discussions held over a couple of class periods. Does that give you a good idea of how impressive my GT kids are??? I have also seen Ozymandias taught a couple of other ways. In my Literary analysis course through BYU, we compared Ozymandias to "On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness" by Arthur Guiterman, and then had to describe which was better poetry. This poem would also be very appropriate for younger audiences.

OZYMANDIAS COMPARISON POEMS. State, of these two poems of similar theme, which contains the more excellent poetry. Then, briefly, tell whether the other is bad or whether it can be praised for achieving something different.

"On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness by Arthur Guiterman 

The tusks that clashed in mighty brawls

Of mastodons, are billiard balls.

The sword of Charlemagne the Just

Is ferric oxide, known as rust.

The grizzly bear whose potent hug

Was feared by all, is now a rug.

Great Caesar’s bust is on the shelf,

And I don’t feel so well myself.

A couple of my classmates at UTD also taught lessons on Ozymandias and included this interpretation by Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad).

We weren't sure about using this one with 6th graders because of the association they may discover...

Sources:

Padlet // padlet.com

Viva la Vida // http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvgZkm1xWPE

Brian Cranston recites "Ozymandias" // http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3dpghfRBHE

TPCASTT

To teach our students poetry analysis, we are using the acronym TPCASTT:

• Title: Predict what the poem will be about by analyzing the title.
• Paraphrase: After reading the poem, paraphrase what it is about by putting it into your own words. Who is the speaker?
• Connotation: Look beyond the literal language and assign additional meaning by focusing on figurative language
• Attitude: Identify the tone of the poem. Does the author's attitude mirror the speaker's attitude?
• Shift: Look for transitions within the piece that occur in tone, setting, etc. When do they occur? Why do they occur? What is the effect?
• Title: Revisit the title to determine further meaning.
• Theme: What is the overall message? Identify literal and abstract ideas.

To help drive this practice home, we analyzed "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes with our classes. We went through the poem using TPCASTT and used the smart board to annotated it. I love poetry, and I was impressed with how this activity made meaning more accessible to these young readers. They really got into it!

"Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes

Well, son, I’ll tell you:

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

It’s had tacks in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor—

Bare.

But all the time

I’se been a-climbin’ on,

And reachin’ landin’s,

And turnin’ corners,

And sometimes goin’ in the dark

Where there ain’t been no light.

So boy, don’t you turn back.

Don’t you set down on the steps

’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.

Don’t you fall now—

For I’se still goin’, honey,

I’se still climbin’,

And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

First Informal: Website Credibility

Throughout student teaching, my supervising teacher from UT Dallas, Mr. D., will be coming to observe me while I teach. Today was my first of three informal observations that will take place before spring break, after which I will have three formal observations as well. My lesson plan was an introduction to research. These students have just recently finished doing a research project, so the purpose of this lesson was not to introduce my to research journals and the like, but rather to help them understand the need for research in their daily lives.

For my anticipatory set (or introduction) I had the students analyze this quote:

The meaning was pretty clear :) From this, we discussed the need to be active learners who seek out correct information, not just passive learners who believe everything they see at face value. I had the students log onto nearpod.com for a quick activity to drive this idea home. I presented them with two different pop culture news headlines I saw online this weekend and they used the information given to guess whether the story was true or false. They had a lot of fun with these two articles, and the connection to their interests really caught their attention. Here are the articles:

1. "Justin Bieber to Attend BYU by Court Order"

-thebunYion.com

 

MIAMI — Canadian-born pop sensation Justin Bieber was arraigned early Thursday morning under charges of intoxicated driving without a valid license. As part of a court-ordered remedial program, Bieber will be moving to Provo, UT to attend Brigham Young University.

2. "JK Rowling says Hermione should have married Harry Potter, not Ron."

-cnn.com

The majority of the kids caught on to the Justin Bieber article (duh), but the class was pretty split about the JK Rowling story (which is true, by the way!). We talked about how they came to their conclusions and what further research they could conduct to discover the validity of these stories. Does it seem legit? Where is the information coming from? Can we trust the sources? If you don't know, look it up!

Following this activity with nearpod.com, we had a class discussion wherein we discussed the need for research and sited sources, and the effects faulty stories can have on individuals and society. Most of the classes were able to link false reports to panic and ignorance. They really are bright kids for their age, allowing me to ask higher level questions throughout the lesson.

Finally, I split the class into groups by their table clusters and had them evaluate two opposing articles online about causes of cancer and cancer prevention. I used a link that was going around Facebook a little while back claiming to be an update about cancer from Johns Hopkins and the rebuttal from Johns Hopkins University. Within their groups, they were to consider the following:

• Does it seem valid? What specific language makes you think this information is valid or invalid?
• What specifics can you use to determine whether this article is a primary or secondary source?
• Analyze whether the website and sources look legitimate
• Do some research of your own. What can you learn about this topic to help you analyze whether or not this information is accurate?

They did great! They noticed the differences in tone and researched each source's credibility. They even recognized that the hoax was really just an advertisement trying to sell them a product. My supervising teacher loved the lesson and was happy with how my very first observation went. I definitely felt this lesson was a success, and I thoroughly enjoyed teaching. I've found my calling!

Sources:
Justin Bieber Story // http://www.thebunyion.com/2014/01/23/justin-beiber-to-attend-byu-by-court-order/

JK Rowling Story // http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/02/showbiz/rowling-hermione-ron-revelation/

Johns Hopkins Hoax // http://www.facebook.com/notes/earth-patriot/johns-hopkins-medical-hospital-cancer-research-update-alternative-natural-soluti/202417983157665

Johns Hopkins Rebuttal //http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/kimmel_cancer_center/news_events/featured/cancer_update_email_it_is_a_hoax.html