Back to School as a Nomadic Teacher

Posted on July 21, 2016 by msdickson

Back to school means setting up the classroom.  Pinterest is already full of amazing ideas for desk arrangement, alternate seating options, bulletin board ideas, and themed decorations.  It’s an exciting time…

Unless you are a Nomadic Teacher (or Cart Teacher).  We’re the teachers that don’t have our “own” classroom.  Due to issues with budgets or space, we have to share classrooms.  Often, we “borrow” another teacher’s classroom during their prep period.  We don’t get to decorate.  We don’t get much or ANY say on seating arrangements, alternate or otherwise.  We may not even get a place to hang our coat and hat (or lock up our purse).

Slide1Back to school for the Nomadic teacher is less about decorating and preparing the classroom.  It’s more about defining the survival strategy and making nice with the teachers whose territory we are involuntarily invading. Some teachers are generous and understanding of the plight of the Nomadic teacher.  Others are a bit more territorial of their space.

I’ve been a Nomadic teacher my entire career.  Here are my survival strategies for back to school:

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  1. Establish one or more base of operations.  This may be in the classrooms where supportive teachers allow me space to store things and work.  It may be a spot in the teacher’s lounge or even copy room. Having a place to store things means that I do not have to carry as much around, plus it helps with a sense of belonging.  Bonus if one or more of those spaces is in a classroom where I do teach.
    • Ideally, I establish a space in every room where I am teaching.  A small two-drawer file cabinet is great and relatively unobtrusive.  I prefer space that I can lock up myself– but I do not leave any sensitive material in other rooms.
  2. Plan my route and routine.  Evaluate where my classrooms are and what route(s) would be fastest or best during passing time.  Since I will be fighting my way through the crowd, I need to plan quick and effective routines for end of one class and start of the next.
    • Ending routines: I clean and pack my things early.  Ideally, I only get out what I need, keeping the rest ready to travel.  I aim to collect the last items into my mode of conveyance and be out the door with the last student.  And I’m honest with my students about that I have to be ready to go with them.
    • Slide2Beginning routine: Before moving rooms, I have my beginning routine ready to provide to students immediately upon arrival.  And my arrival may be as the bell rings, if I get caught my students, staff, or slow moving hall-traffic.  Bellwork is crucial in my survival as a Nomadic teacher– I provide the students with an activity they are expected to start upon entry (or at least by the time class starts), and while they are working, I have time to set up the remainder of our class activities.  Half-sheets of paper with assignment directions pre-made are faster to set out than writing things on the board (plus easy to give to absent students later.)
  3. Establish access to computers and printers.  This will depend on what the technology set up is.  In some cases, I may need to share the computer with the teacher whose classroom you are using– such as a desktop– and will need to establish that I will be able to log in as needed.  I prefer to use a laptop, which also ensures I have access to my own files, which, combined with printer access, means I may be able to print off another copy of an assignment or do other prep while students are working.  I also try to establish access to projectors or other media.  Knowing what’s in each room also helps with lesson planning later as I know my resources– from internet to projector to printer.  At times, I do teach things differently for the same course simply because the classrooms I am in have different access.
  4. Slide3Prepare and obtain my modes of conveyance.  I may be provided with a cart– often a two-tier cart better used for transporting audio-visual equipment than stacks of teacher supplies, but hey, at least is has wheels.  Bonus if all wheels roll smoothly and quietly.  Extra bonus if the floor is smooth and not tile-with-grout that is both dreadfully noisy but also excellent at toppling delicate stacked materials… A cart is not guaranteed, though, say, if it is reclaimed for use with audio-visual equipment.
    • I try to make the best of any available cart, includes using different totes and storage.  I’m not afraid to use rope or bungy cords to corral my stuff for travel on uneven terrain or through crowds.  Zip-ties can also be used to hold small storage onto the sides.
      • Hanging Storage File Tote for carrying assignments to classrooms where I don’t have dedicated storage space.  Work best on the bottom, especially since it gets heavy.
      • Art/ Cleaning Caddy for teacher supplies: pens, pencils, staplers, paper clips, etc.
      • Use grip shelf liner to keep stacked totes from slipping on your travels OR totes designed to fit together.
      • I like a small tote, big enough for papers on the top to toss miscellaneous things into between classes.  I can move the tote to a lower position if I need to stack additional items on the top– such as novels when we start a new one, or a box of short stories.
    • A heavy-duty, roomy back-pack or other bag works great for taking home papers to be graded.  I can collect them all day in my classes, stuffing them into the back pack, to deposit at a base of operations for grading, or even just carrying them straight home.  I also use the laptop pocket– standard on most bags these days– to carry my laptop, rather than a separate bag.
    • I am prepared to store and carry everything I will need, down to scissors and art supplies.  While other teachers may offer to share their supplies, they might one day forget to leave them unlock.  Other teachers are a bit more territorial about the supplies they have gathered for their room (and rightfully so if they purchased them), so I generally just bring my own.  A box of regular craft supplies can suffice– I’ve been known to use a copy paper box from the copy room and fill it with scissors, construction paper, a couple rulers, glue, tape, and at least several boxes of 16 count Crayola crayons.  Markers and color pencils are nice choices, if I can get my hands on them.  A set of decorative edge scissors can be fun, too.

Being a Nomadic teacher has its challenges, but with careful planning and storage, it’s manageable.  The important thing is that, while it’s not “My” classroom, I am still in A classroom with my students.  And that’s what makes it all worthwhile.

 

Posted in Secondary Education, Shoestring Budget, Smooth Classroom, Teaching, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

5 Back to School Activities– with an ELA Twist

Posted on July 14, 2016 by msdickson

I enjoy getting to know my students.  But I also feel pressure to make sure all activities are learning something.  My time is limited– and in the alternative classroom, there was little or no homework: assigning it was pointless because it never came back.  My students had other priorities than school.  Unfortunate, sure, but I have to work with what I have.  And with what time I have.

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So, I found ways to make sure each activity had some value, such as reviewing or reinforcing concepts.  Including those quintessential get-to-know you activities the first day of class.  I snuck in descriptive writing, symbolism, even theme and genre into different get-to-know you activities.

Here are my five favorite get-to-know you activities that include ELA concepts in them.  Each of these is also available in my TPT store a pre-made activity, ready to print and use.

  1. Animal Mash-Up: Students use animal traits to share who they are.  Then they design an animal mash-up with parts of those animals.  ELA tie in: analogies, comparisons.  Fast as a cheetah (and might draw cheetah legs or spots on their mash-up.)Slide3
  2. Move of My Life: Students imagine a movie version of their life (or a part of their life).  The pick actors/ actresses to play the roles, summarize main events in the movie, identify theme and genre of their movie.  ELA tie in: Theme and Genre.  Also summary.Slide4
  3. Wanted Poster: Students introduce themselves with a drawing of themselves and what they are wanted for.  Can be wanted for Good or Bad reasons.  Also includes bonus printable for use with any person or character from any text.  ELA tie in: Wanted poster for a character or person in a text and description of a person.Slide6
  4. Welcome to My Island: Students design their own private island and tell what’s on it using descriptions and location words.  ELA tie in: descriptive writing and location words (around, next, nearby etc.)Slide5
  5. Coat of Arms Project: students create a coat of arms with symbols and colors that identify them and their values.  Also ties in with “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe– which is an engaging short text that makes a good, flexible start to the year.  ELA tie in: Symbolism.Slide2

How I use these:

While these can be put on the board, I like to have students take a printable since it means they can work on it immediately upon arriving while I greet others and get the class rolling that chaotic first day.  Then they can share with the class.  Some classes I let students choose from two or more of the activities, while other classes get assigned.

Given that adult coloring is a thing, it also reinforces what I saw with my students and how much they would enjoy drawing and coloring.  Good relaxing task for the first day for students, different than the common get-to-know-you activities, and can avoid any issues with Ice Breakers.

Once we have gotten to know each other, then it’s time to figure how to deal with my roster still being in flux the first week(s)!  But at least the first day is generally a solid start with these activities.

Posted in Fun Projects, Secondary Education, Teaching, Teaching Ideas, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Strategies For A Flexible Start of the Year

Posted on July 11, 2016 by msdickson

If your roster is ready, then you know you can jump right into your course content.  Most everyone who is in your class is already on your list– and probably even in attendance the first day or so of school.

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Not gonna lie– I do envy that!  Being in an alternative school or in other places with a high amount of at-risk students and a transient population, my roster was never complete the first day, or week of school.  In fact, I could expect a good deal of variation through the first month of school, sometimes even up to count day before things settled down.  That doesn’t even address the attendance issues in this same population.

So, I had to get flexible.  Late arriving students felt punished if I made them do the work from the first week(s)– before they were registered.  Or at another school. Or in another classroom until teacher conflict or review of grades/ credit.  Or whatever the reason was.  But at the same time, it would send the wrong message to the students in attendance if we just did fluff or busy work– things that they might construe as merely filler.

I had to get creative to strike a balance in making the work useful but also easily dropped from the grading and expectations for those coming in late to the class.  Here are my best strategies for a flexible start of the year:

  1. Use short texts.  Can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry.  We would delve in and study the texts same as any in the year.  But they were generally stand-alone texts.  A late arrival to my classroom could be easily exempted from the whole set of  activities surrounding a poem like Casey at the Bat or a short story like The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  Similarly, if they were present for any part of that, the texts are short and I could choose which assignments to require and which to exempt.   While they were catching up on reading, I could exempt one project and require another once they finished reading.
    1. Most subjects have informational texts as well that can be used in a similar fashion.  Introductory study, but easily dropped from the grade book.  A recent article or finding.  A fascinating discovery.  A humorous essay.

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2. Review important concepts.  This can have added value for the at-risk population. Because of the issues with attendance and transience in these populations, a good solid review can be help start the class.  Late comers can generally miss the review with minimal impact overall.  They could also be assigned a shortened version of a review activity.  Classmates can help support their late arriving peers, especially if the class relies on group work and teams (also good strategies I’ve found for working with students who are at-risk or have attendance issues.)

  • In order to get the semester off on a positive note with review, the review should be fun and engaging.  Not “you don’t know this so we need to review” but a let’s refresh your memory on these important concepts. For example, literary terms or poetic devices are a solid ELA choice for review.  Have students jigsaw the terms, complete or create a crossword puzzle.
  • Review games tend to work great.  Break concepts into related groups for different review games.

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3. Have students teach each other the important concepts of the course with projects they have created.  Students can create posters (such as Word Walls), videos, rap/rhymes to share, and more.  Students learn from the process of creating the resource.  Plus, late-comers can benefit from the student-created resources with minimal loss from not being present for the creation.  (Bonus: use these projects for review materials and differentiated learning).

  • Have students create the review materials (see above) for important concepts to the course or area of study.
  • Have students create materials to introduce new, important concepts.  They do the research to learn the information, then share with classmates.
  • Have students create resources to teach or reinforce the rules of the class.

4. Work on stand-alone real-world projects.  Projects engage students.  A real-world project can also emphasize the relevance of the class while still being fairly easily dropped from the grade book or course requirements.

It’s important to work with the students I have, even if my roster kees changing and my students are absent.  What helps me have a smooth start of the year can also help my students to be successful in my class.

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Posted in Secondary Education, Smooth Classroom, Teaching, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

5 Terms I Don’t Use– In or Out of the Classroom

Posted on June 29, 2016 by msdickson

While these terms are not quite worthy of the LSSU’s Banned Words List, they are words that I don’t use in, or out, of my classroom in reference to teaching.  I admit sometimes being a just a little bit literal, but as an English teacher and word-nerd, I feel quite strongly about word meanings– denotations and connotations.

Slide1Now, my entirely pedantic reasons:

  1. “Saved my Sanity” in reference to anything about teaching or the work that goes into teaching.  Most days, I do love my job.  It does not make me crazy.  Even the days when I’m burying in paperwork or petulant teenagers, I do not feel that my sanity needs saving.  For me, the literal implication of my job driving me crazy suggests I am not fit for the job.  While there are days that I have questioned if I was crazy for enjoying the job, the job is not making me crazy.  I might refer to it making things easier or smoother, or cutting down prep time.  But my sanity is not an issue.Slide2
  2. “You’ll/ They’ll Love This” in reference to any project or activity.  I always hope that my students will enjoy the things that I do.  I’ll call it a victory if they tolerate it with less complaining than normal (bonus points if they complete the whole task as designed.)  But there is such a variety of students– of people– in my classroom that I will not assure or assume all of them will love something.  Some may be contrary and just because it is a school assignment, they simply cannot love it.  Others find that taking something fun and making it work– such as song lyric analysis or reading a popular novel– means that they won’t actually love it.  I may lay out the parts that I think will be fun or interesting, but I just won’t assume anyone will like anything.
  3. Slide3“Cheat Sheet” as used for handouts or note cards/ sheets for students to refer to later.  I believe firmly that a reference source is not a “cheat” but rather a guide, a support, a tool.  I much prefer the term “Quick Guide” or even just “Handout” rather than calling anything a “Cheat Sheet.”
  4. “This is preparing you for the real-world.”  Oh, where to start with this fallacious phrase.  If a specific tasks has real-world applications, I will certainly address that.  Perhaps it’s the writing skills or completing tasks in a timely fashion.  However, most classrooms– including my own in ways– are not at all a reflection of the workplace.  And I’m not going to do my students a disservice by assuring them it is in a blanket statement intended to mollifying and encourage compliance (shut up and work.)
  5. “I’m not an artist” or “I don’t teach [insert other subject]”  I try to model for my students good, professional behavior.  While there’s nothing wrong with being weaker in some subjects– for example, my math brain is certainly less speedy and adept than my English language brain– it also can send the message that some subjects can be dismissed.  We want our students to take all subjects seriously and not dismiss one or more as “I’m not good at it” but then model that sort of dismissive attitude towards it.  Should I make an error in drawing or math, and it is noticed by me or students, I prefer to not use an attempt at self-deprecating humor or deflection, but to instead model graciousness and composure.  Basically, show them how to gracefully make and correct a mistake.

What words or phrases rankle you?

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5 Strategies for Teaching Summer School

Posted on June 13, 2016 by msdickson

Aside from the fact that summer school inevitably fell during the 20 most beautiful days in July, I rather enjoy teaching summer school.  I’ve always been big on second chances.  Plus, I tried to make it as fun for me as for the students.

I did have some parent complaints, though, about my summer school classes.  Seems they thought it was supposed to be a punishment.  I just can’t get behind making education a punishment.  In fact, I tried to make the experience pleasant and engaging for my students and myself.

Teaching Summer School

Here are some of the things that helped make my 20 days of Summer School enjoyable, in spite of the enticing, beautiful weather out side.

  1. Be careful re-teaching the same books or activities– know your audience.  Your summer school students might be there for attendance reasons.  Or they may have completed select readings from the course they failed.  Repeating the same readings may instill in them additional information missed the first time.  Or it may bore them, increasingly the likelihood of misbehavior.
    • Personally, I prefer to pick something wildly different that the local high schools tend not to use.  It increases my chances of engaging the students in large part because they’re not likely to have read it before (nor will they read it again.)
    • Slide3
  2. Include Choice.  Students may not have a choice of being in summer school.  Even some who “chose” to be there may very well be attending under duress, such as from highly displeased parents.  Allowing choice in projects or readings allows them some measure of control over the experience.  And if they have some control, they’re less likely to try to fight me for control.  After all, these generally aren’t the studious, well-mannered students who are in summer school.  They’re still good kids, but they may be more prone to missteps in behavior.
    • Task Cards, Student Contract or Choice Boards are great for offering choice.  Even something as simple as allowing a prediction to be written as a narrative or drawn as a comic strip (focus on predicting, rather than writing).
  3. Use projects with a variety of types of activities.  Great if also including choice.  If summer school uses block scheduling (of a sort), then you’ll be staring at the same students for 2, 3, or even 4 hours a day, several days a week.  Reading or writing for that whole stretch would be arduous for all involved. Projects allow flexible movement in the classroom and can be intermingled with other tasks, like mini-lessons or related readings.  In particular I enjoy real-world projects for high engagement.
    • Bonus: projects tend to be faster to grade as well, which can help with keeping on top of student grades, so they are continually aware of their standing.  I liked to give grades on Thursday, then threaten to call home on Friday about missing work– very motivating! Slide2
  4. Balance rigor with accessibility in tasks.  Unlike a traditional classroom where you will have ample time to get to know your students and their work over the course of a couple weeks (or more), the summer school classroom has no time to spend on getting to know.  When selecting texts, consider keep the texts accessible– say on or slightly below grade level– so you can catch most of the students.  Then, use the projects or assignments to allow and push students to higher level thinking.
  5. Be Flexible.  It’s like the last month of school, but it’s the only time you have with these students.  The weather is likely very nice– your classroom… may not be.
    • Be flexible on the stories and activities.  Be flexible on which normal school rules you can be lenient on or ways to make the classroom more relaxed.  Consider low-stakes quizzes and projects over unit tests and in-depth formal research papers.

Lastly, for me, it was important to keep in mind that this was my summer, too.  If I was poring over tons of summer school essays and reading questions, then I was spending my summer still teaching at the same sort of level– or above– as during the school year.  It’s important to fully recharge during the summer so we can be prepared to tackled the long school year.  (Or at least make it until Christmas Break!)  In this way, projects and engaging texts combined with flexibility and moderate content helped me still enjoy enough of my summer to recharge.

Posted in Secondary Education, Teaching, Teaching Ideas, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Give Students a Voice on Standardized Testing

Posted on March 31, 2016 by msdickson

No one likes standardized testing.  Students have to suffer through testing.  They often suffer from the pressure of needing to perform, anxiety over how much or little they know, and the stress of getting scores back.  In addition, they have to deal with the disrupted routine, the tedious testing procedure, and increasingly issues with computer-related testing.

It can be hard, as a teacher, to deal with the overflow of student emotions.  Some teachers may try to let students vent, a bit.  Others try to keep their classroom positive and free from standardized testing gripes.

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One strategy that can be useful is harnessing those complaints in a real-world writing activity.  Life includes things to complain about.  Being able to express those complaints well is an incredibly useful life skill.

Writing a Complain Letter about Standardized Testing is a way to practice articulating one’s complaints.  Plus practice writing with the basic business letter format– still useful even in this digital era.  It can also make a lighter assignment for any filler days before or after testing.

One fun thing to do with this activity– if permissible in your classroom– is to let students share how they really feel and then discuss how to say it professionally and politely.  I’ve even let my students swear in this context, which is fun for venting and then leads nicely into how it can be better said.

Along with writing the letter, students can discuss the purpose of testing, whether the current testing meets those goals, or even how to better accomplish it.

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* Be aware of your school’s climate or student needs before assigning.  It’s quite possible that not all environments would be appropriate for this activity.

Posted in Teaching, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

5 Ways to Make Students HATE Poetry (and 5 Things They’ll Like)

Posted on March 18, 2016 by msdickson

Follow this sure fire method to make sure your students come to hate studying poetry in class, or better, reading it at all!

Make Students Hate Poetry

  1. Emphasize one right interpretation of a poem. Make sure not to explain that interpretation, but insist that it’s obvious.
  2. Focus on how students feel about a poem. Ignore that some students may not feel anything, may not care to discuss feelings, or may even not be touchy-feely sorts anyway.  Everyone needs to have feelings from and about poetry, so make sure that is your focus.
  3. Pick only challenging poems with unusual structure or vocabulary and lots of implied meaning. Make sure that no poems are easily accessible so that students have to work to understand and ‘get.’ the poems.  Also, see #1.
  4. Don’t let students hate selected poems or poetry. If they express that, dismiss it or assure them they ‘just don’t understand.’

One Right Meaning

However, if you’re interested in some ways to engage and encourage students to enjoy exploring poetry, try some of the strategies below that have worked with reluctant learners in alternative ed:

  1. Encourage students to interpret poems themselves and give their reasoning with textual support. This is good for explaining their thinking process. For poems that have generally accepted interpretations– such as those that may appear on a standardized test– share the accepted answer in that light. It’s not the one “right” answer, but what would be expected on a test.  (Bonus: students often appreciate that honesty).WP_20151104_005.jpg
  2. Allow students to explore poems that they find interesting.     Or, even better, have students analyze a song as an example of poetry. Students can find examples of poetic devices in a (school appropriate!) song as a great introduction or reinforcement of poetic terms and literary analysis.  Let Poems be Art
  3. But, don’t analyze every poem to death. Let some of them just be art, be experienced, be enjoyed. Let students illustrate, perform, or create media without dissecting the poem until their eyes blur from staring at it.  Poetry was not written for analysis, but for expression.
  4. Encourage exploration of poem forms by discussing a variety of structures and forms. Invite students to write their own poem in one or more form. Challenge students to write their own on different topics– funny, serious, nature, unexpected.  Allow and encourage topics that are not “traditional” poetry topics– video games, zombies, an ode to their cell phone, or more.
  5. Use a variety of poems, from the easily accessible to the more challenging. Include a variety of topics to appeal to students who enjoy different topics.  Pair poems by themes or topics, like Snow Poetry.  Use both light poetry like The Road Not Taken and dark poetry like The Raven or Annabel Lee.

Share your favorite poems to teach below for other readers, too!

Posted in Secondary Writing, Teaching, Teaching Ideas, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Winter Reading for the Secondary Classroom

Posted on January 16, 2016 by msdickson

Even secondary students can enjoy themed assignments.  Not the snow-flake or pumpkin adorned worksheets of primary grades, but themed content done age-appropriately.  It’s much easier to read and imagine winter stories when there is snow on the ground, in my experience! (But not the only way.  Sometimes reading cold-settings in summer months is a nice escape from the heat, too!)

Winter Reading

Some ideas for snow related activities for the secondary classroom:

Poetry:

These poems each include snow in different ways.  It makes a great compare-contrast activity for the ideas and language used.

Another related activity is for students to write their own snow poetry.  Would they write about peace and tranquility (like Frost) or the harsh winds or temperature (like Emerson)?

Multimedia projects can have students taking snow photography (great after a heavy snowfall) or searching online for images.  Turn the poem into a multimedia project and discuss theme and tone as it relates to the poem’s words or the images in the photos.

Fiction:

Jack London is an obvious choice for snow-related fiction.  “To Build a Fire“is a short story with a dark ending, set against the frozen Klondike and the danger of extreme cold.  Another good choice is “Call of the Wild“– a story told from the point of view of the dog, which allows for some different discussions about narrators and point of view.

Activities for Jack London stories:

  • Research the Klondike and the related gold rush.  (Combine with science class for cross-curricular project)
  • Examine the role of the narrator or the idea of wild vs. civilization
  • Write letters to and from those in the Klondike
  • Make advertisements for the Gold Rush

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich— set in the 1950’s Soviet Russia during the winter where cold freezes the construction site where the prisoners work.  Based off the author’s stay in a prison camp, the book itself is fictional.

Activities for Ivan Denisovich:

  • Explore the themes of censorship or unjust imprisonment
  • Examine the role of the setting.  Rewrite in an alternate setting
  • Write about a day in their own life, or a single day in the life of another character (their own character or a character from another story.)

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe— the White Queen keeps the land of Narnia frozen.  Students can explore the use of the wardrobe as a portal (in literature) and other magical elements.  Complex themes can appear in lower level writing– works as a good short read, too.

Activities for Narnia–

  • Compare to Frozen in the use of ice and themes of being frozen, power to freeze
  • Explore the role of sacrifice or the story as an allegory for Christ’s crucifixion (if appropriate for your environment)
  • Examine the setting during the war and the need for escape

Non-Fiction

The Hard Winter of 1880-81 (From the “History of South Dakota” by Doane Robinson.) http://files.usgwarchives.net/sd/history/robinson/liii.txt  This particular winter was one of the worst on history with length and amount of snow fall in South Dakota.  Can be paired with reading parts of The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Also, search for photos related to the winter of 1880-81 for some amazing images of how very deep the snow was– great for multimedia projects.

Klondike: A Manual for Goldseekers– Published 1897 and digitized online.  https://archive.org/details/klondikemanualfo01bram Primary source material on the Klondike Gold Rush.   Students might make their own pamphlets using the material, compare it to Jack London stories or use it to write their own historical fiction or poetry. There are also amazing images online related to the gold rush.

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5 Activites for Teaching A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Posted on December 3, 2015 by msdickson

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a story that tends to fit nicely in the two or three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Depending on the class and the time available, the activities included may vary. It’s a story with a lasting cultural impact, and a positive message. Whether using a play script, an abridged text, or an original text, these activities are good for studying the story A Christmas Carol.

Activities for A Christmas Carol

Here are some activities I like for building my A Christmas Carol Unit:

1. Graphic Organizers: I like to use one for comparing the ghosts and their visions. Another I like for cause and effect of major events. If time allows, I like to do Word Webs for Christmas Spirit, Scrooge, and/ or Mood. Graphic Organizers are a great way to differentiate and increase analysis.  A KWL is also a great choice, since many students have been exposed to the ideas in the story, even if they’ve never read it (or seen it– since there’s many TV shows that use the ghost visits!)

(Purchase the resource: A Christmas Carol Graphic Organizers)

Ghost Lessons Graphic Organizer

2. Scrooge is a well-known character.  His name has become synonymous with being a grouch.  An engaging essay writing topic is for students to review the text and decide, well, how did he get to be that miserable?  Another approach is for students to analyze how “Scrooge” has become a descriptive word, and how that relates to the text.

(Purchase the resource: A Christmas Carol Literary Essay Writing, with 6 topics and rubric)

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3. Design an Ornament or Christmas Sweater related to the text. Fun activity, good decoration as well. Let’s students be creative and artistic while still working with the text. Have students incorporate symbols, motifs, theme or character relate items into their design.

(Purchase the resource: A Christmas Carol Design an Ornament or Christmas Sweater Activity)

4. Complete a word search with terms from the text.  Sometimes it’s okay to just do something fun. Sure, the terms are all related to the text, but there’s not much learning or review. I suppose you could have students define the terms– or at least tell Admin that’s part of the task.

(Get the free resource: A Christmas Carol Word Search)

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5. Compare the text with a whole or partial movie, including evaluating which is better? Have students write a response,  create an organizer, or discuss the different versions.  This is my go-to activity for the day or so before Break.  A play version would work as well.  The students really seem to enjoy comparing what is changed. And it keeps them from just zoning out while a movie is on.

(Purchase the resource: A Christmas Carol Movie vs. Book Comparison Activity)

Movie versions to consider:

  • Mickey’s “A Christmas Carol”– appropriate for all ages, but does the use of child-friendly Disney characters and storytelling affect the story?
  • Scrooge, or, Marley’s Ghost: 1901 Silent film (5 minutes, with some film tricks pretty advanced, for the time!  (Wikipedia page includes a link to the digital film)
  • 1910 Silent Film (10 minutes)
  • Muppet Christmas– another one appropriate for all ages, but does the inclusion of humor impact the story?

Culminating projects area also a great idea for any story– get ideas for Culminating Projects for a Christmas Carol here.

Also check out my posts on Christmastime in the Secondary ELA classroom or Why I Use Holiday Themed Materials.

Posted in Holidays, Secondary Writing, Short Stories, Teaching, Teaching Ideas, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

I’m Thankful for the Thanksgiving Rap or Rhyme

Posted on November 15, 2015 by msdickson

We always have a short week before Thanksgiving break.  At least two school days, sometimes three.  The students are incredibly difficult to focus.  I’ve found that even if I can engage them in our  current task (unit, story, etc.), they don’t retain as much of the activity or information as they do at other times.  (Worse if they have family or financial problems that make Thanksgiving break more stressful than celebratory.)

Thanksgiving Rap or Rhyme Project Blog
One year, I wrapped up the previous story the Friday before Thanksgiving week.  I wasn’t about to try to start a new story– I’d only have to re-do/ review that same information.  So, I brainstormed hard over the weekend, and came to school Monday with the Thanksgiving Rhyme project.  Students would come up with a Rhyme about some aspect of Thanksgiving– such as their traditions (or a modern Thanksgiving), the first Thanksgiving, the meaning of Thanksgiving.  I hoped they would find it fun while they also worked on some concepts: tone, rhyme scheme, and storytelling (narrative poems).

First, they whined about having to write rhymes.  But, I pushed back and told them they could rap it instead. (Really, it’s the same thing, but in marketing, words matter.)  Many of my young men enjoyed rapping, so they grumbled less about having to do a Thanksgiving rap.

Whining over with, they began working.  And they really started to get into it.  I circulated the room and chatted with students about their Thanksgiving plans as well as helped them review and apply tone and rhyme scheme to their writing. They used the thesaurus and looked up rhyming words to make their rhymes fit.  We talked about meter and counting out syllables.  It was useful reinforcement of select English concepts.

They had fun completing their Thanksgiving Rap or Rhyme Project.  The stayed on task– even talking about their weekend plans counts as being on task with this assignment!  The time passed fairly quickly on those two pre-break days.  Thanksgiving Rap or Rhyme Project Pin 2

And I always enjoy reading their rhymes (or raps, if you prefer) usually alongside left-over turkey and gravy.

Posted in Fun Projects, Holidays, Secondary Education, Secondary Writing, Teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment