Beyond Book Reports: Using technology and Drama to Share and Celebrate Literature in the Classroom...
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Beyond Book Reports: Using technology and Drama to Share and Celebrate Literature in the Classroom Freyja Bergthorson Loudoun County Public Schools English SALT, Farmwell Station Middle [email protected]
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Transcript of Beyond Book Reports: Using technology and Drama to Share and Celebrate Literature in the Classroom...
Beyond Book Reports:Using technology and Drama to Share and Celebrate
Literature in the Classroom
Freyja BergthorsonLoudoun County Public Schools
English SALT, Farmwell Station [email protected]
Nature of the Beast(middle / HS students)
• Highly social• Need movement• Easily bored• Must be monitored• Pacing• Desire for fun and recognition from peers• May not ‘value’ English as area of study• Desires options / choice• Naturally curios / inquisitive (at school?)
Nature of the Beast(middle / HS students)
Nature of the Beastand English Instruction
• May not value ‘English’• Satisfied with literal (reads good
enough)
• Needs a ‘reason’ to care about English
• Reading and writing are silent, sedentary, and individual activities (aka – boring)
Overview
• Poetry Performance Project• Audacity – “The Bells” • Lyric Project• Trailers / choices
– Movies
• Theater Games• Literature Circle Groups• Shakespeare “Out Loud”• Illuminated Poetry
Formative Assessment and Project Work
• Teacher monitors & corrects misconceptions
• Peer discussion of content• Product develops communication
skills (21 Century communication)• Active engagement of students with
content
Poetry Performance Project
• Guided practice– Group– Teacher
• Engagement• Formative Assessment• Emphasis on academic skills• Memorization (a first)
Poetry Performance ProjectProcess
Students • Select poems• Analyze & apply literary terms (SOL)• Create academic and creative
presentation
Teacher - • Teach skills for group (explicitly)• Formative assessment – walk the room
Student Examples
• “Oranges” • Sonnet• Eldorado
Playing with Sound
• Poe’s “The Bells” mood, sound devices, voice
• Support SOL objectives– Sound devices / figurative language /
voice
• Focus on author’s craft and purpose– Student engagement
Process
• Whole Class / complete table• Listen to reading – identify type of
bell & sound / stanza• Identify mood & supporting word
choices / stanza• Deeper meaning / theme
• Group work – 20 minutes
Student Samples
• 2010 6B online
• “O Captain, My Captain”
IV
Hear the tolling of the bells-Iron Bells!What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!In the silence of the night,How we shiver with affrightAt the melancholy meaning of their tone!For every sound that floatsFrom the rust within their throatsIs a groan.And the people- ah, the people-They that dwell up in the steeple,All AloneAnd who, tolling, tolling, tolling,In that muffled monotone,Feel a glory in so rollingOn the human heart a stone-They are neither man nor woman-They are neither brute nor human-They are Ghouls:And their king it is who tolls;And he rolls, rolls, rolls,Rolls
IV
A paean from the bells!And his merry bosom swellsWith the paean of the bells!And he dances, and he yells;Keeping time, time, time,In a sort of Runic rhyme,To the paean of the bells-Of the bells:Keeping time, time, time,In a sort of Runic rhyme,To the throbbing of the bells-Of the bells, bells, bells-To the sobbing of the bells;Keeping time, time, time,As he knells, knells, knells,In a happy Runic rhyme,To the rolling of the bells-Of the bells, bells, bells:To the tolling of the bells,Of the bells, bells, bells, bells-Bells, bells, bells-To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.
O Captain! My Captain!
O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won;The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:But O heart! heart! heart!O the bleeding drops of red,Where on the deck my Captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills; For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths--for you the shores a-crowding;For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;Here Captain! dear father!This arm beneath your head;It is some dream that on the deck,You've fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won; Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!But I, with mournful tread,Walk the deck my Captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.
Introduction to Poetry
I ask them to take a poemand hold it up to the light
like a color slideor press an ear against its hive.I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.I want them to water-ski
across the surface of a poemwaving at the author's name on the
shore.But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with ropeand torture a confession out of it.They begin beating it with a hoseto find out what it really means.
Billy Collins
Lyric Project
• Music is poetry• Apply poetic terms & analysis to
song lyrics• Connects school learning to ‘real
world’• Student beg to do this project• Value of sharing projects (how to do
this efficiently)
Student Samples
• Fireflies
• Hungry Like the Wolf
Book Reports / Trailers
• Importance of choices• No summaries• Critical thinking• Writing skills reinforced• Group options• Grading
• Homework they WANT to do!
Student Examples
• The Hand• Drew, Nick, Thomas song• Emily & Luis 451• Nathaniel 451• Giver trailer Phil James• Giver Soundtrack Arens• Giver trailer Alison & Taylor• Body Biography
Literature Circles
• Student choice for books• Grouping• Reluctant readers and…• Clear objectives & monitoring
– Allow for differences / choices
• Self & peer evaluation of progress• Daily MVP
Student Projects
• Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie
Value of Video Analysis
• Students record presentations & analyze their efforts
• Reflective process to improve performance
• Video group analysis– Select focus (general area for
improvement)– Identify strengths
Theater Games
• The Doctor is in• Tableau• Dumb Show (Shakespeare)• Reduced performances
See additional resources
Importance of Peer Feedback
• Immediate, valued, treasured, raises the bar, improves climate
Quick & Easy Ways to give feedback• MVP• Post-it• Project guest sheet• 2 stars and a wish• Discussion
Illuminated Text
New idea – power point manipulation of text to imaginative new form of communication…
HandoutsWeb site -
http://cmsweb1.loudoun.k12.va.us/509125612142226/site/default.aspE-mail – [email protected]
• Group Support Materials • Poetry Performance
– Instructions– Rubrics
• “The Bells’– Table & web link
• Lyric Project• Lit Circles Project• 451 Project choices• Body Biography
It’s all about
Student Engagement!
Fun Extras!
•Kipling’s “If’
•“Lost Generation”
