Student-Use Websites

Brain Pop

Brain Pop is a student-friendly website that would be useful to students who are looking for additional help in any subject matter, because the homepage allows students to sort by Science, Social Studies, English, Math, Engineering & Tech, Health, or Arts &Music.  Once students click through to the English link they can choose to get further information about Famous Authors and Books, Grammar, Study & Reading Skills, Writing, or View Movies.  These links not only serve as resources to help students with homework, but also provide teachers with videos and materials that can be used in whole group instruction. 

In my classroom, I would consider using the videos about authors as part of an engagement when we start a new novel and the grammar section to reinforce appropriate grammatical use to the class when student work reveal common grammatical errors.  In addition to whole-group instruction, this website would be appropriate for students to explore or play games on if classwork is completed and could be provided to the students at the beginning of the year as a source for help with homework.

(Video from:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E2s6mQTlsg)

Diary Project  

Diary Project is an interesting website that is designed to provide teens with a place to write about their day to day lives.  A daily topic or question is given, but writers can write about whatever they choose.  The diary entries are anonymous, and organized into 24 categories based on content.  Teens can post responses to one another’s diary entries providing feedback, advice, or just simple understanding.  The site encourages students from all backgrounds, ethnicities, and walks of life to share and interact in appropriate ways.

 

This site is not a site that I would require students to use, but I could direct students to check it out if they wish.  Some students may not find value in a personal diary that no one else reads and will appreciate the commenting on the site, other students will like the daily questions to provide inspiration, other students may just read entries for comfort and to relate to others, and other students will just like to have a place to express their deepest thoughts and secrets.  No matter why a student turns to the site, I can be pleased to know that students are reading and writing outside of the classroom.

Online Activity

“Reading Next” reveals the many problems that American secondary students are struggling with in regards to literacy.  In addition to discussing the problems, “Reading Next” discusses elements of effective adolescent literacy programs.  A specific combination of the elements is not discussed, but instead they suggest that different combinations are tried with an audience to find what makes the most positive progress with that audience.  Many of the strategies discussed in detail in McKenna and Gunning also appear in a generalized form in the instructional improvements of the key elements of “Reading Next.”  The IRA reading presents “principles for supporting adolescents’ literacy growth,” that are designed to achieve similar goals to Reading Next’s key elements.  Both IRA and “Reading Next” present some strategies that classroom teachers can take ownership of and implement in their classrooms.  

As a teacher, I can design instruction in my classroom to incorporate the key elements suggested in “Reading Next.”  To incorporate diverse texts in my middle school English classroom, I can use trade books to enhance classroom curriculum and engage students.  Not all reading available in my classroom will be on grade level, but instead will be at a variety of grade levels for students to access information with the appropriate amount of challenge.  Not all books in my classroom will be classic novels and textbooks, but instead I will have young adult literature, curriculum appropriate picture books, magazines, newspapers, and website recommendations.

It is easy for teachers to find themselves teaching the kind of essays that will get students through the state exams, but I can be sure to incorporate a variety of writing assignments that will help students with writing tasks that they will face in the future.  In addition to essays I can help students develop writing skills through reflections, email writing, journaling, and response writing.  Essay writing will be important as students pursue further education, but in the job-force students will face a variety of requirements.  There are a number of ways that I could incorporate text-based collaborative learning in my middle school English classroom.  Discussion groups surrounding novels, blogging and responding to peer blogs, fishbowl discussions about assigned articles or reading, and teams using books, articles, and the internet to uncover learning are a few ways that I could use text-based learning in my class.

Young Adult Literature #3

How can teachers use young adult literature in their content classrooms?

It is not uncommon to see students in an English Language Arts classroom with their noses deep in a novel, but that is not the case with most classrooms outside of the English hallway.  My last post revealed that there is value in incorporating young adult literature into other curriculum, so now we need to know how it is that we can do this as teachers.

Historical fiction lends itself to go hand-in-hand with Social Studies curriculum.  Textbooks can reveal the facts about times of war and peace internationally, but historical fiction novels allow students to experience how history relates to humankind.  With the look into the human aspect of history and the emotions that go along with experiences, students develop more well-rounded concepts of events.  When approaching curriculum, teachers can make decisions based on their specific situation whether they wish to incorporate the reading of a novel directly into their classroom or teach cooperatively with an English Language Arts teacher since many historical novels add value to both classrooms.  If working cooperatively is not an option, and teachers are uncomfortable with taking the lead on pulling historical fiction into the classroom, cooperating with the library media specialist is an excellent option.  Lessons can use a novel as a supplement to enrich understanding and encourage and engage students in class discussions.

A content area that I would not have considered using young adult literature in is high school Health, but Crag Hill did an interesting trial unit that included Angela Johnson’s The First Part Last in sexual education curriculum that changed my mind.  A young adult novel about a teenage father who decides to care for his child, The First Part Last gave students a unique insight into the life of a teenage parent.  Students in the class were asked to use what they read to think critically about topics related to teen sex and teen pregnancy in a variety of ways including exit slips, four corner debates, and silent discussions.  Questions were related less to the content of the book and more to how students felt about the issues that the book raised, such as how having a child as a teenager changes life and the roles of teenage parents in the life of their child.  Students experienced along with the main character the exhaustion, personal turmoil, relationship changes with a girlfriend and parents, and the joyous moments of becoming a father as a teenager, giving the students enlightened perspective that could be compared to their own lives and their own decisions.

The video below is a review of The First Part Last.

The techniques that Hill used with the health unit (exit slips, four corner debates, silent discussions) could be used across all content areas.  Exit slips required students to ask a question or comment about the activities that occurred in class that day.  Four corner debates forced students to take a stance on a given statements standing in a corner that represents agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or disagree, and then defend their decisions.  Based on the arguments that occurred, students were allowed to move to a different corner during discussions.  Silent discussions happened when all students responded to questions in writing and the questions were passed around the room for peers to comment on in writing.  The comments built on each other creating discussions on the topic without overly assertive students dominating the conversation.

As we think about the depth of understand that comes from students relating to human experience, using young adult literature in content area classes seems like a great idea.  If teachers do not know how to do so, the above activities are a great way to start the incorporation of text into curriculum and generate discussion and understanding.

Sources:

Crag, H. (2009).  Birthing dialogue:  using The First Part Last in a health class.  The ALAN Review (Fall 2009), 29-34.  Retrieved from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/v37n1/pdf/hill.pdf

dmbleighton (n.d.). June 2010 Teen Book Talk: The First Part Last by Angela Johnson. YouTube. Retrieved November 11, 2011, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNArG0RTYYQ

Rice, L.J.(2009).  Writing and teaching historical fiction:  the lantern of learning with L.M. Elliott.  The ALAN Review (Summer 2009), 42-58.  Retrieved from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/v36n3/pdf/rice.pdf

I hereby affirm that I have neither given nor received help on this work.