Please post one recommended discussion question for pages 75-115. These questions will be possibly used to help you lead the whole-school study within your department.
Please respond to a minimum of one of the discussion questions for this section.
How can I incorporate more of the "real world application" hook? Seniors who may not be attending a four year school struggle with how does "this" fit into my life.
ReplyDeleteWonder if we could possibly look at our novels and find a way that the novel relates to their life. For grammar, look and share with them the ways that the grammar will actually be used post high school.
DeleteI agree with Janeen...in most novels there are themes that can always be related to their lives in some way!
DeleteDeb, what’s stopping you (and your ELT) from changing some of the novels and plays that are read by your students? Perhaps more identifiable pieces of literature could be substituted for those that are less appealing to teens.
DeleteHow can I implement the "interior design" hook when I have 35 kids, plus myself, in a space meant for 25? We are on top of each other and this is causing anxiety and issues with behavior.
ReplyDeleteLegitimate concern! A lot of our classrooms are crowded...
DeleteLike the bullet points mentioned- can you remove some desks from the room to create space?
Are there other spaces available to deliver a lesson from time to time with these larger groups? (i.e.- courtyard, cafeteria, gym, chorus room (during planning)
Steve, please feel free to sometimes “safari” over to the Media Center, too. We offer a change of scenery, a little more room to spread out, and of course, instructional assistance with your students.
DeleteAs an EC teacher we want to be involved in the curriculum as much as possible. Attending ELT meetings have helped us become more involved. To my EC Teachers: How can we help create more engaging lessons with our teachers? Feel time constraints due to the amount of paperwork and meetings that we have to have. Not complaining as that is our job, but I would like to help create engaging lessons with my co-teachers and not be worried about making sure the paperwork is completed and all meetings are scheduled.
ReplyDeleteWhat if more teachers collaborated via Google hangouts or Google docs? Face to face, in-person collaboration is the best form, but we don't always have that luxury! Hopefully common planning and regular meetings has assisted everyone...as well as inclusion team consistency!
DeleteOur English II teachers have done a great job this year incorporating some of the hook ideas from the text, intentionally or not! Their activities involving props and actors have almost "placed" the students in the stories and have been very memorable!
ReplyDeleteHow can we employ our colleagues' creative strengths in the classroom? For instance, if I’m not musically, artistically [insert adverb] inclined, why don’t I consider asking someone on staff who is, for a bit of guidance on ways to implement this specific hook successfully? Maybe we need some sort of survey in which teachers could indicate their top three creative gifts as well as the one that they would most like to improve…so that you knew who could possibly help.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of a survey of strengths. We have talked about this from a pedagogical standpoint - ie who should I talk to if I need help learning about questioning, grouping, etc. - so I think this would be a natural extension of this idea. I think in general we know our own departments pretty well but those who we don't deal with on a regular basis are often still unknowns to us (especially with the number of new teachers we have!).
DeleteBurgess refers to Daniel Pink's work in Drive stating that "one of three key elements for motivating people is to provide a high level of autonomy" and follows up by asking the reading "How are you consistently providing choice and autonomy in your classroom"? As an ELT and/or department, how do you feel your current lessons and units align with this goal? Have you experimented with giving up control to entice more buy-in from your students and how did this work for you? Share your experiences.
ReplyDelete