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Music and Jewish Prayer Music in Jewish worship can be high art or popular song, by solo expression or with group participation. Reprinted with permission from Entering Jewish Prayer (Schocken Books). Music and ritual have been united since the most ancient times. Even storytelling was accompanied by music. The bards were musicians as well as tellers of tales. Certainly the psalms were songs as well as poems, as the headings of many of them indicate. The religions that sprang from Judaism have all used music and chant as part of the experience of worship, and there is every reason to assume that this was influenced by the practice of the parent religion. Over the centuries, music that accompanies worship has been developed into a high art. The Talmud teaches that "If one reads [Scripture] without chant or studies [Mishnah] without melody, of him is it written, 'I gave them laws that were not good' (Ezekiel 20:25)." Melody adds not only to the beauty but even to the quality of the words. To this day, learning in traditional yeshivot is done to the accompaniment of a kind of singsong melody. The Torah is not read during the synagogue service; it is sung. Cantillation of Biblical Texts The chanting of the Torah follows notations which were applied by the classical tenth-century Masoretes (those who carefully preserved the text of the Torah). Each sign (trop--actually from a Greek word, tropos, meaning "manner") indicates a musical phrase. There are various melodies for this chanting, differing among the ethnic groups that make up the Jewish people, but there are similarities between them, and all of them help to clarify the way in which the Hebrew words are to be put together. They indicate where a phrase begins or ends, and actually aid in interpreting the meaning of the text. These same signs are applied to all the books of the Bible, but they have different musical values depending on which book is being chanted: the Torah, the Prophets, or different books of the Writings. One must learn to read not only a particular sign but to know how it is sung when found in different texts. Since there was music in the Temple (the choir of Levites who sang the appropriate psalms accompanied by musical instruments), it is likely that this practice would have been taken over when psalms and other prayers came to be recited in synagogues. Nusah: Musical Modes for Prayer In regard to prayer itself, there are no musical notations in the printed Siddur, but there is a musical tradition called nusah which has been transmitted from generation to generation. Nusah refers to the musical motifs that are utilized in various combinations when chanting the prayers. The nusah sets a pattern for a particular service, much as a leitmotif does for a character in an opera. These musical modes differentiate between one service and another. Weekday nusah has one set of tones, the Sabbath another, the holidays yet another, and the High Holy Days a completely different one. There is one tune for the Sabbath day and another for the conclusion of the Sabbath. These tunes reflect the mood of the time. We begin the Sabbath, for example, with exaltation and joy. We conclude with nostalgia and the sadness of parting. The melody creates the mood and reflects the appropriate feeling that should accompany the words. Here too the musical traditions differ from one ethnic division of Judaism to another and reflect the music of the place where each group lived. Did you like this article? MyJewishLearning is a not-for-profit organization.

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- Each school day begins with an intensive reading session of between 25-35 minutes. During this time pupils work towards achieving their individual reading targets. With guidance from tutors and English teachers, pupils select their reading books from our Reading Resource Centre. - Reading is also an integral part of every lesson and takes many varied forms. - Reading tasks are meaningful and, where possible, relevant to the interests of the students. - In addition to the Reading Resource Centre, there is also a well-stocked library at Frewen with a wide selection of both fiction and non-fiction texts. These are presented in both traditional book form and also as e-readers and interactive digital texts that are part of our e-library. Pupils are encouraged to borrow books from here and many pupils choose to use the library during their break-times. - We encourage pupils to read at home and provide opportunities for both staff and pupils to share their thoughts about books that they have read. - We encourage pupils to read independently with a variety of reward systems and regularly become involved in national reading challenges and initiatives. - Spelling is taught according to the needs of the student. The high frequency words identified in the National Literacy Strategy are tested and individual targets are set for each pupil. All pupils at KS3 build up personal spelling and vocabulary dictionaries which are also include subject specific vocabulary and key words. - Phonological awareness training (PAT) is undertaken on a daily basis for those pupils who require it. - Synthetic phonics underpins the teaching approach. This is differentiated using a variety of schemes. Phonemes and their grapheme choices remain a mainstay of the teaching of spelling and teachers present these by using the same picture cues for each sound ensuring continuity of approach as pupils progress within the English Department. - We encourage the use of dictionaries and spell check and have a variety of dyslexia specific strategies both within the classroom and also installed on our ICT network and intranet system. - Regardless of spelling age and ability, work is varied and age appropriate. - Communication is acknowledged as a crucial life skill. - Each pupil has the opportunity to gain experience of class, group, and paired discussion, open ended questioning and comprehension work. - GCSE English and Entry Level Certificate speaking and listening assessments, including role-play, are an integral part of the course. - ESB Speech exams are planned and taken in years 9 and 11. - Creative work is assisted by the use of novels, poetry, pictures, short stories, non fiction texts, extracts and discussion on a theme. These are presented in a multi-sensory way, including pictorial, live performances, talking books, e-books and pupil dramatisations as well as the more usual written forms. - When writing creatively, marking is modified to take into account the learning intention of the task. Drafting and re-drafting are important skills in this area and copies are kept to show progression. A variety of supportive approaches are used to scaffold this process. Writing frames help pupils to structure their work. Dictaphones are provided where appropriate and a variety of new technology is constantly being appraised to find the most effective methods for our pupils to convert their ideas into written form. Voice recognition software maybe suitable for some of our older pupils. - Computers can be used for best copy. - Evidence of the following elements of creative writing may be annotated on pieces of work where limited literacy skills result in an end product that may not reflect a pupils underlying abilities. - expression of sustained ideas - effective description - imaginative thought - plot development - Writing for different purposes, as outlined in the National Literacy Strategy, includes letter/postcard writing (formal and informal), form filling, reports, directions, order forms and other kinds of writing for a variety of audiences. Again, these are scaffolded to suit individual learning styles such as the provision of writing frames, real life experiences to make the writing meaningful and drawing on pupils’ personal experiences and interests. - Factual writing at Frewen has strong cross-curricular links with our KS4 BTEC, Careers and Life Skills courses. Further down the school we also make strong links and support work with humanities topics to ensure pupils are more able to transfer their skills from one curriculum area to another. - Discursive writing is modelled through debate and discussion. These are often set in meaningful contexts such as the school council, or focussed tasks such as a recent KS4 activity where pupils traded stocks and shares and justified decisions in a mock stock market situation. - Reviews of books, websites, theatre shows, films and other media form an important part of factual writing at Frewen. Pupils are encouraged to be critical and to back up opinion with evidence from a variety of source materials. - Weekly comprehension work is undertaken using individual reading books, group and class texts. Work is very carefully differentiated to encourage pupils to gain independent work skills during these kinds of tasks. - Cross-curricular links are established to ensure that keywords and subject specific vocabulary is consolidated wherever possible. All pupils at KS3 build up an individual spelling and vocabulary dictionary to ensure that knowledge and understanding is effectively transferred from one curriculum area to another. - Discussion methods and open-ended questioning is used to improve logical thought and structure in answers. - Texts are carefully selected which are age appropriate, reading age appropriate and interesting, taking into consideration the interests of the students. - Vocabulary is expanded by use of dictionaries, thesaurus, spell check and computer programmes. - Keywords are consolidated in a variety of ways including pre-cueing techniques to ensure better understanding later on. - Basic grammar is taught and related to the student’s own work. Individual targets are set on pupils’ IEPs. - Use of capital letters, full stops, sentences and paragraphs are consolidated on many levels. - Adjectives and adverbs should be used to build more complex sentence structures and are taught through teacher modelling with pupil interaction and multi-sensory consolidation. - For GCSE and Entry Level Certificate coursework a basic level of grammar should be expected. - Presentation of work is important. Neatness is expected and where possible, developed using a cursive hand. - A handwriting scheme is used to support the teaching of handwriting. Pupils work at their own individual levels and additional support in provided by our Occupational Therapist. Where appropriate, recommendations by our therapists are followed up in class. - If a student has a neat non-cursive style, there is no need to change. - Work can be word-processed and touch-typing is taught and encouraged at Frewen if a student has the ability.

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Reading 4: FOURTH GRADE READING AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS Reading and English Language Arts Fourth grade students will develop as readers and writers who are independent, self-directed and critical thinkers who take responsibility for their learning, connect new information to existing knowledge, develop habits of learning and work with others to use information. Students will learn to critically analyze and evaluate what they read, create effective oral, written and multimedia communication in a variety of forms and contexts, access and integrate information using a variety of media sources, and use listening as a reading strategy. Each of these strategies is to be applied in the content areas. At this level, students are provided with a variety of opportunities to interact with a wide range of literary and informational forms and 21st century skills, building the foundation for lifelong reading. The West Virginia Standards for 21st Century Learning include the following components: 21st Century Content Standards and Objectives and 21st Century Learning Skills and Technology Tools. All West Virginia teachers are responsible for classroom instruction that integrates learning skills, technology tools and content standards and objectives. Grade 4 Reading Standard 1: RLA.S.4.1 Students will apply reading skills and strategies to inform, to perform a task and to read for literacy experience by · identifying and using grade appropriate essential reading components (phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, written application) and · selecting a wide variety of literature and diverse media to develop independence as readers. RLA.O.4.1.01 Students will identify and practice appropriate vocabulary: · multiple meaning words; synonyms; antonyms; homonyms; content area vocabulary and using context clues RLA.O.4.1.02 Students will apply structural analysis including etymology and context clues to decode and encode words. RLA.O.4.1.03 use pre-reading strategies to comprehend text (e.g., activating prior knowledge, predictions, questioning). RLA.O.4.1.04 apply and generate tiered levels of vocabulary in speaking and reading experiences. RLA.O.4.1.05 read fluently with appropriate rate, accuracy and prosody. RLA.O.4.1.06 examine meaning clues to aid comprehension of content across the curriculum (e.g., pictures, picture captions, titles, headings, text structure, topic). RLA.O.4.1.07 read fourth grade instructional level texts and use self-correction strategies (e.g., decoding, searching for cues, rereading). RLA.O.4.1.08 interpret and extend the ideas in literary and informational texts to summarize, determine story elements, skim and scan, determine cause and effect, compare and contrast, visualize, paraphrase, infer, sequence, determine fact and opinion, draw conclusions, analyze characterize and provide main idea and support details. RLA.O.4.1.09 determine the author’s purpose in literary and informational texts and use supporting material to justify author’s intent: to persuade; to entertain; to inform; to determine a specific viewpoint RLA.O.4.1.10 compare and contrast self to text in making connections to characters or simple events in a literary work to own life and other cultures (e.g. events, characters, conflicts, themes). RLA.O.4.1.11 distinguish between the ways in which language is used in literary texts: simile, metaphor, idioms, analogies and puns RLA.O.4.1.12 recognize and explain the defining characteristics of genre in literary and informational texts: fairy tales, folk tales, myths, poems, fables, fantasies, biographies, short stories, novels, plays, legends,· autobiographies, magazines, newspapers, textbooks, essays, speeches, electronic databases, reference materials, RLA.O.4.1.13 judge the reliability or logic of informational texts. RLA.O.4.1.14 select and use a variety of sources to gather information (e.g., dictionaries, encyclopedias, newspapers, informational texts, electronic resources). RLA.O.4.1.15 use graphic organizers and visualization techniques to interpret information (e.g., charts, graphs, diagrams, non-verbal symbols). RLA.O.4.1.16 use reading skills and strategies to understand a variety of information resources to support literacy learning (e.g., written directions, captions, electronic resources, labels, information texts). RLA.O.4.1.17 increase the amount of independent reading to build background knowledge, expand vocabulary and comprehend literary and informational text. Grade 4 Standard 2 Writing RLA.S.4.2 Students will apply writing skills and strategies to communicate effectively for different purposes by using the writing process, applying grammatical and mechanical properties in writing and selecting and evaluating information for research purposes. RLA.O.4.2.01 demonstrate proper manuscript and cursive writing techniques: legibility, uniformity in all written work RLA.O.4.2.02 develop and apply the proper structure for simple and compound sentences. RLA.O.4.2.03 identify and produce a sentence with proper word choice to include: verb tense, verb usage, subject/verb agreement, pronoun usage, adjectives and adverbs, RLA.O.4.2.04 compose a written composition from a prompt using the writing process in a timed and un-timed setting. RLA.O.4.2.05 develop proper form in written composition: · beginning-middle-end, indentation, topic sentence, introductory and concluding paragraphs, · related details, related and cohesive paragraphs, transitional and descriptive words RLA.O.4.2.06 write to persuade using order of importance, classifying differences and similarities, classifying advantages and disadvantages. RLA.O.4.2.07 develop a composition that demonstrates an awareness of the intended audience using appropriate language, content and form. RLA.O.4.2.08 create an effective response to a task in form, content and language (e.g., letters, poems, brief reports or descriptions, instructions, journals). RLA.O.4.2.09 use editing strategies to correct errors in sentence structure (fragments and run-on sentences), capitalization, punctuation and grammar. RLA.O.4.2.10 identify and apply conventions of spelling in written composition (e.g., spell commonly misspelled words from appropriate grade level lists, use syllable constructions to spell words, use vowel combinations for correct spelling, use affixes). RLA.O.4.2.11 use reference skills to identify words. RLA.O.4.2.12 use strategies to gather and record information for research topics: note taking, summarizing, paraphrasing, describing in narrative form, gathering information from direct quotes, maps, charts, graphs and tables RLA.O.4.2.13 select and use a variety of sources to gather information (e.g., dictionaries, encyclopedias, newspapers, informational texts, electronic resources). RLA.O.4.2.14 use strategies to compile information into written reports or summaries (e.g., incorporate notes into a finished product, include simple facts-details-explanations-examples, draw conclusions from relationships and patterns that emerge from data of different sources, use appropriate visual aids and media). RLA.O.4.2.15 critically evaluate own and others’ written compositions. Grade 4 Standard 3 Listening, Speaking and Media Literacy RLA.S.4.3 Students will apply listening, speaking and media literacy skills and strategies to communicate with a variety of audiences and for different purposes RLA.O.4.3.01 listen and respond to different literary forms and speakers (e.g., summarize and paraphrase to confirm understanding, recount personal experiences, listen to information and exhibit comprehension, provide reasons in support of opinions, respond to others’ ideas). RLA.O.4.3.02 distinguish a variety of messages conveyed through visual media (e.g., internet, database, email, electronic resources, online research). RLA.O.4.3.03 recognize communication skills (e.g., speaking rate, audience, etiquette, active listening). RLA.O.4.3.04 create an age appropriate media literacy product that reflects understanding of format, characteristics and purpose.

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In Kabuki theatre, wooden clappers whose beats accompany a mie pose at a particularly intense or profound moment. In Kabuki theatre, a sudden, striking pose (with eyes crossed, chin sharply turned, and the big toe pointed toward the sky) at a particularly intense or profound moment; accompanied by several beats of wooden clappers, the Ki. An encyclopedia of classical Indian dramatic theory and practice, written ca. 200 BCE-200 CE. Teaches actors dancing and stage gestures; also covers costume design, plot construction, music, and poetry. Men who play female roles in Kabuki theatre. See also Kabuki. Japanese puppet theatre with large wooden puppets with many movable parts, onstage puppeteers dressed in black, and a narrator who chants the script. A popular, robust, and spectacular version of the Japanese Noh theatre. The name comes from the characters for "song" (ka), "dance," (bu), and "skill" (ki). See also Noh. "Story play"; a form of Indian folk drama begun in the second century CE and based on the Hindu epic poems Ramayana and Mahabharata. A form of traditional Japanese drama combining poetry, acting, singing, and dancing that was developed during the 1300s. Compare Kabuki. Theatre that does not have its origins in ancient Greece; includes the ancient ritual theatre of Africa, traditional theatre of Asia, and Islamic shadow and puppet theatres. In the Peking opera, supernatural beings, warriors, bandits, and other stock characters whose makeup used elaborate geometrical designs and colors that symbolized character traits: red for loyalty, blue for vigor and courage, yellow for intelligence, black for honesty, and brown for stubbornness. A synthesis of music, dance, acting, and acrobatics first performed in the 1700s in China by strolling players in markets, temples, courtyards, and the streets. Known in China as the opera of the capital," or ching-hsi, it was founded by Qing dynasty Emperor Ch'ien-lung (1736-1795). precolonial African theatre Indigenous African theatre that grew out of ritual and predates contact with Europeans. A combination of ritual, ceremony, and drama, it incorporates acting, music, storytelling, poetry, and dance; the costumed actors often wear masks. Audience participation is common. The middle stage of theatre's evolution from rituals; the theatrical techniques of song, dance, and characterization were used, but the performances' purpose was that of rituals. One of the earliest forms of theatre in India, performed in Sanskrit by professional touring companies on special occasions in temples, palaces, or temporary theatres. A form of theatre created by lighting two-dimensional figures and casting their shadows on a screen. Probably originated in China around 100 BCE and later became popular in Islamic lands, where people were prohibited from playing characters. A form of postcolonial theatre in Africa that mixed traditional African ritual theatre and Westernstyle drama; appeared during the 1960s after African nations won their independence from European rule. Drama that grew out of the theatre of Thespis in ancient Greece around 500 BCE. It passed from the Athenians to the Romans to the medieval Europeans and then to North America.

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MFL Secondary resource collections index Rachel Hawkes’ TES Collections - Secondary Modern foreign language resources - The Olympic games provide an excellent opportunity to enhance the interest and appeal of language learning. Having a powerful, expansive context in which to situate many themes that are not usually inter-related in the languages curriculum is very welcome. - Games are motivating and useful, particularly for 5 minute slots at the beginning or end (or middle) or a lesson, but they can also be time-consuming to make and difficult to think up the night before a lesson. It is also easy to get stuck in a rut with a couple of game formats that you already have up your sleeve. Here is a bank of game ideas - most are templates that can be easily customised to suit different languages, ability levels and key stages. - It is widely accepted that speaking is both the most under-developed skill in language learners, and also the skill most closely related to motivation. This collection brings together for French, German and Spanish at KS3, 4, and 5 a number of tried and tested strategies and resources that really work to promote both unplanned/spontaneous and planned talk in the classroom. - Music and song can be an invaluable tool in language learning. Familiar tunes can be re-purposed to aid the memorisation of key structures and vocabulary; raps can be written and performed to develop creative writing skills, embed grammatical knowledge and improve pronunciation and speed of spoken target language production, and songs can be listened and responded to to develop comprehension skills and enhance cultural appreciation. This collection offers a wide selection of resources where songs are successfully exploited for all of these learning aims. - French, German and Spanish revision aids for GCSE. - Using film in language learning is an excellent way to generate motivation, develop listening skills, encourage creativity and add authenticity and culture to lessons. Here is a selection of excellent resources that exploit foreign film for learners of different languages and at different levels. - Resources to help improve memory. - For all languages, French, German and Spanish. - It is once again important for success at GCSE that students are able to look up and use accurately new language by themselves. This, together with the new secondary curriculum focus on creativity and using language in new contexts and for new purposes, has increased the need for teachers to help learners to develop dictionary and reference skills from the outset. This collection includes some of the best resources for developing dictionary skills with KS3 learners. - This is a collection of ideas not connected with typical textbook topics. Some of the ideas are projects and would extend over several lessons and others are one-off lessons. All have a cultural focus of some kind and would be therefore likely to be motivating for students. - This collection of resources is a bank of both collections of teaching and learning ideas for the classroom, as well as some very useful ‘how to’ guides for teachers. Enjoy! - Whilst there are many ways to teach grammar and many opinions about how best to teach it, the vast majority of languages teachers believe that students need a knowledge of structure if they are to make good progress and be able to say/write what they want to in the language they are learning. With that in mind, this collection of teacher resources focuses on grammar teaching and grammar practice. Often the most time-consuming of resources to create, I hope this collection will give teachers inspiration and save them time!

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Coast Salish Villages of Puget Sound On this page is a map of the known permanent village sites (c.1800) of the Coast Salish people who lived--and still live--in the Puget Sound area of Washington State. If you are interested in a particular group or area of the Sound click on the appropriate section of the small black and white map to the left. Then, a color map of the area you choose will download. It is only from these larger scale (smaller area) maps that you are able to access information about each of the villages. (The maps are not at all designed to pinpoint locations, which might result in unlawful vandalism or destruction of the sites, but rather to provide a context for imagining both where and how the Coast Salish people lived on this land.) * * * * * These people inhabited an incredibly bountiful and mostly heavily-forested area, interspersed with myriad waterways. They shared a similar life-style oriented towards fishing, hunting and gathering, as well as creating the implements necessary to engage in these activities. Salmon was the most important food. The dugout canoe was the primary means of transport. A typical village was located adjacent to navigable water and composed of a small number of large cedar-planked longhouses--each giving shelter to thirty, forty, or more, usually related individuals. In some cases, all of the longhouses of a village were located right next to each other. In other cases, houses considered part of the same village might be strung out for miles along a river. Inside the longhouse, along the walls, sleeping platforms were constructed. Woven reed mats were piled for mattresses and cushions, animal skins for covers. These would be removed during the day so the platform could be used for seating. Above the platforms were storage shelves holding baskets, tools, clothing, etc.; firewood was often stored below. Dried food hung from the ceiling above the earthen floor, which could be used as a work area or cleared for gatherings. In the larger houses each family would have a fire and partitions made of mats would separate the family compartments. Roof slats could be adjusted to let smoke out and light in. The people took their principal identity from these permanent villages where they lived during the rainy winter months. (During the rest of the year variously composed bands would migrate among traditional camps at resource-rich areas, usually mingling with people from other, sometimes faraway, villages.) Strength of "tribal" affiliation varied among groups and probably throughout time, depending on whether there was a need requiring organized action. Although I have used currently accepted tribal designations in the village descriptions, some would consider them to be vast oversimplifications, or even largely artificial constructs, made for the sake of convenience by the early white settlers and perpetuated ever since. The period around 1800 was one of flux. Settlers had not yet arrived in this area but their diseases had. Vulnerable coastal villages were already being decimated. Some coastal groups were re-consolidating in more favorable locations. Some riverine people were moving to occupy depopulated villages along the coast. So, although most all of the village sites described herein were of long-standing, their composition may have been of more recent origin. And memories of other settlements have not only long been lost, but doubtless were never recorded. This assumption led me to be generous the handful of times I had to decide whether or not a questionable site should be included on the map. Base map used with written permission, based on landform map "Puget Sound Region, Washington", copyright D Molenaar, 1987 The base map on which both the village and storytelling sites are plotted represents the way this area appeared before the arrival of settlers in the early 1800s. This was achieved by removing from a beautifully rendered shaded-relief map (provided by Molenaar Pictorial Maps), all--that could be identified--of the contemporary roads, cities, dams, fills and clearings, and then restoring a number of rivers to their original beds and Lake Washington to its pre-1916 level. It was a process akin to acting like a virtual Corps of Engineers in reverse. I would like to acknowledge my debt to David M. Buerge for his inspiring description of Seattle-area Duwamish villages, particularly those on Lake Washington. And I am very grateful for the continuing guidance and assistance of Dr. Jay Miller, anthropologist, linguist and author, who has generously reviewed and edited the village descriptions. Do you have advice? criticism? praise? questions? Please contact me: My e-mail address is firstname.lastname@example.org. Thanks.

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ReadWriteThink couldn't publish all of this great content without literacy experts to write and review for us. If you've got lessons plans, activities, or other ideas you'd like to contribute, we'd love to hear from you. Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals. Teacher Resources by Grade |1st - 2nd||3rd - 4th| |5th - 6th||7th - 8th| |9th - 10th||11th - 12th| Investigating Genre: The Case of the Classic Detective Story |Grades||9 – 12| |Lesson Plan Type||Standard Lesson| |Estimated Time||Three 50-minute sessions, plus additional time for reading, listening to, or viewing a mystery.| - explore the concept of genre and generate a list of conventions for a given genre. - critique a list of genre conventions to reveal the social norms behind them. - generate a list of genre conventions with awareness of the social norms that inform them. - compose a text that responds to a list of genre conventions. - reflect on their text and the ways in which it adheres to and deviates from genre conventions for effect. - After reading, viewing, or listening to a mystery such as The Hound of the Baskervilles, ask students to write down all the ways they knew the story was a mystery. - Have students share some of the features or characteristics they listed. Record the examples on the board, a projector, or a piece of chart paper. - Review with students the concept of genre, making sure that that students have an acceptable grasp—both in terms of its rigidity (guidelines that examples within a genre tend to follow or characteristics that they tend to share) and flexibility (rarely does an example follow all guidelines). - Share with students some background on the subgenre of traditional detective fiction, the genre they have been describing, and the essay "The Mystery Genre" which is part of the Masterpiece Teacher's guide before projecting the “Ten Commandments of Detective Fiction” from Ronald Knox, a British mystery writer active in the 1920s. - Read over the commandments with students, clarifying any unfamiliar words or concepts. Ask them to share their responses regarding the validity or applicability of Knox’s rules. Students will inevitably, and rightly, be surprised and offended at the fifth commandment. Use his racist comment to begin a conversation about genre as a construction of a certain period and set of beliefs, not something that is rigid and unchangeable. - Elicit from students ways in which The Hound of the Baskervilles follows and does not follow the guidelines Knox suggested, reinforcing the understanding that genre conventions are not completely rigid. - Then, using Knox’s Genre Commandments as an example, work with students to generate an updated list of rules for a “traditional mystery” that suits the realities of the present day. For example, students might think about ways technology and social networking should and should not be allowed to function in a mystery. - Record students’ ideas on the board, a projector, or a piece of chart paper. Ask students to think about this list—including anything they would want to change or add—for the next session. - Begin the session by reviewing the list of genre conventions for a contemporary mystery that the class generated in the previous session. Ask if students have any additional ideas they want to share. - Facilitate a vote to select ten genre conventions that will be the focus for the creative writing portion of the lesson. - Have students copy down the ten agreed-upon conventions so they can refer to them as they work. Assure students that they do not need to agree with every characteristic, since the notion of genre is flexible and they will have the opportunity to bend and play with characteristics in their own original writing. - Share with students that they will be getting the opportunity to write their own mystery, using the conventions as a guide. - If you wish, provide students with the list of Genre-Defining Sentences from a recent film adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles that they can use as story starters or incorporate throughout their story. - Challenge students to be aware of when they are purposefully using a genre convention (from the list of conventions the class generated, Traditional Detective Fiction “Commandments”, or the Genre-Defining Sentences handout) to make their story function as a mystery—or when they are breaking, altering, or bending a convention to make their story fresh and new. - Consider letting students use the Mystery Cube or provide the Mystery Cube planning sheet to help students as they plan and write their mystery. - Determine with students a date for a future session when students will share their mysteries with a small group of peers. On the determined date, students should bring three copies of their completed mystery. - After students have had time to write their mysteries, select—or have students select—groups of three for sharing their writing. - Distribute the Original Mystery Peer Feedback Guide and explain to students that they will use this handout to record some comments that they will eventually share with their peers. Each student will give copies of his or her mystery to the others in the group. The author will read his or her mystery as peers follow along, stopping occasionally to record comments they wish to offer. - After all three group members have read, students should take turns offering their comments. They should use the space a the bottom of the guide to record ideas they have for their own writing now that they have listened to and commented on two other mysteries. - Ask students to make any revisions or additions they feel are appropriate based on the comments from their peers. - Have students write a reflective piece that highlights the intentions behind their mystery’s adherence to and deviation from the expectations for the genre. - After students write and share their updated mysteries, have students view the new interpretation of Sherlock Holmes set in modern London and utilizing tools such as the Internet and cell phones (PBS Masterpiece, fall 2010). - After investigating the subgenre of classic detective fiction, allow students to choose another subgenre within mystery—or another genre entirely—to explore. - Students can record their mysteries, add music and sound effects, and publish them as podcasts on a school website. - Focusing more on students’ reflective writing that the mystery itself, look for evidence of students’ blind adherence to genre standards or capricious or ineffective deviation from them and provide appropriate corrective feedback on their drafts. Also look for evidence of thoughtful use of the conventions to make the story identifiable as and function as a mystery and justifiable deviations that enhance the effectiveness of their

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ReadWriteThink couldn't publish all of this great content without literacy experts to write and review for us. If you've got lessons plans, activities, or other ideas you'd like to contribute, we'd love to hear from you. Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals. Teacher Resources by Grade |1st - 2nd||3rd - 4th| |5th - 6th||7th - 8th| |9th - 10th||11th - 12th| Creative Writing in the Natural World: A Framing |Grades||4 – 8| |Lesson Plan Type||Minilesson| |Estimated Time||Two 50-minute sessions| - freewrite about a specific place that is framed by their piece of paper using imaginative and literal observations. - identify nouns in their writing that they would like to focus on and develop further. - write using specific sensory imagery and figurative language in order to accurately describe their framed “worlds.” - Ask students to get out a loose piece of paper. - Have them fold it in half at least once and tear or cut out the center. (Some students may want to fold it more than once in order to create an unusual shape. That’s okay.) The goal is to be left with a piece of paper with a hole in the middle of it like a frame. The frame can be of any shape or size. - Explain that you will be taking the class outdoors and that each student will find a spot to place his or her frame. Also explain that students will pretend that what is inside the frame is the entire world, the only thing students will focus on. In their notebooks, students will freewrite about what they find in their frames. Encourage students to use their imaginations. Perhaps they’ll find a bug and write about it as a giant dinosaur or a talking creature. However they proceed, students should write as freely as possible to get as much detailed information down about their framed “worlds” as they can. - Once students have found a place outdoors for their frames, give them ten to fifteen minutes to freewrite. - Back inside the classroom, ask students to remind you what a noun is. Ask them why nouns are important in writing. How do they function in a sentence, for example? (One answer is that nouns help us know who or what a sentence is about. They are they focus, and they help us visualize ideas as we talk or write about them in any genre.) - Have them read over their freewriting and underline three to five nouns that they would like to focus on. - Collect students' freewriting to be returned in the next session. - Return students' freewriting from the previous session where they had finished by underlining three to five nouns to focus on. - Ask students to list their five senses. Ask for a volunteer or two to provide one of their nouns. Use these to practice developing these nouns into fully described sensory experiences. Help students describe them using all five senses. Encourage imaginative leaps so students understand that their descriptions don’t have to be literal. - At this point, discuss the difference between literal and figurative language, and explain that the goal is for students to describe their nouns using sensory detail and figurative language. Show students the Literal vs. Figurative Language Guide overhead or give them the handout. If the students were to write literal descriptions of their framed “worlds,” for example, they will simply write exactly what is in their frames (Grass looks green; sand feels rough; grasshoppers make a high pitched noise, etc.), but if they write figuratively, they will use their imaginations to describe their observations. This might include using similes, metaphors, hyperbole, and personification. For example, the grass looks like spiky green hair; sand is solid water; grasshoppers are fiddlers who play their legs, etc. - Using the Flip Book Student Interactive, have students create a page for each of the three to five nouns they underlined. (Each student should complete at least three pages.) On each page, they will develop these nouns by adding sensory-rich, figurative descriptions of them in paragraph or poetry form. The goal is to describe each noun using as many of the five senses and as much figurative language as possible. Encourage students to be imaginative for this process. What might an ant sound like? How might a rock smell? - Students may need to finish their Flip Books outside of class, or you might reserve some class time tomorrow to finish these up. - Give students the opportunity to share their finished pieces with the class. - Encourage students to develop their flip book pages further by illustrating them. - Students might also use an additional page in their flip books to create a piece of writing such as a short story, poem, or reflection about the natural world. Encourage them to find connections between the nouns in their list. How might that list become one piece of writing instead of three to five separate pieces? - Discuss ways students can use these writing techniques to improve other writing that they are doing. You might ask students to review one of their past writing assignments and underline places where they might add detail or figurative language in order to develop their ideas. As long as students participate fully in the freewriting activity and complete at least three pages on their Flip Books, they should receive full credit for this activity. If you would like to turn the Flip Book into a graded assignment, you might require that each page include at least three sensory images and one instance of figurative language. Students might also earn credit by reading one of their pages aloud in front of the class.

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Students begin working with descriptive language during their elementary years, so high school activities dealing with descriptions must demand a higher level of thought. Instead of relying on simple adjectives that only describe the obvious senses, students must identify and write complex descriptions that incorporate all five senses. Work with familiar objects and events to help your students relate to and analyze the subject more easily. Give each student a piece of chocolate or other small morsel of food, instructing your class not to eat the food yet. Guide your students in describing the sample using all five senses, beginning with sight before working up to taste. Students may include a few simple adjectives but should also describe the food in more complex ways. For example, students might draw comparisons between the sample and unrelated objects. For sound, students must describe how the food sounds when being unwrapped, broken or otherwise handled. Students must describe taste last, at which point they can eat the food. Pass a photograph or other picture around the class. Choose a picture with a subject that most students can relate to, such as a family gathering or school event. Instruct students to describe the setting of the photograph using all five senses. At the high school level, students must use complex descriptions instead of simple adjectives. For instance, instead of saying that a person in the photograph sitting near a fireplace feels "hot," students might describe the sensation of the sweat likely beading on the individual's skin. Help students understand the difference between weak and strong descriptive language through identification. Pass out samples of prose containing multiple examples of sensory descriptions. Instruct students to read through the samples several times, underlining or highlighting descriptions that use one of the five senses as they go along. Afterward, ask students to take several examples from the text and identify whether the language is simple and weak or vivid and strong. Identifying Objects by Description Promote the importance of strong descriptive language by challenging your high school students to identify an unknown object based entirely on its description. Give students two descriptions of the same object. One description should use very little detail, only relying on basic adjectives to describe the object. The second example should use vivid, complex descriptions that make use of all five senses. Ideally, students will identify the object more easily from the second description than the first. One Sense at a Time Focus your lesson on descriptive language by instructing students to practice writing about the senses one at a time. Instruct students to write a short poem or block of prose describing the sights involved with a memorable event, such as a favorite family vacation. After they complete that assignment, instruct students to describe the same event by describing the sounds involved. Continuing assigning writing exercises based on the same event until students finish writing about a smell, taste and touch associated with the event, as well. - Alabama Learning Exchange: Hershey Kiss Descriptive Essay - Kentucky Department of Education - Jefferson Schools: Teaching Students to Write and Read Poetry - Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute: Elements of the Short Story - Warren Wilson College: Creative Writing Prompts - Lesson Tutor: Using Senses of Sensible Writing - Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images

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Meade School District “To Build Knowledge and Skills for Success Today and Tomorrow” Sixth Grade Reading Meade School District provides students with a comprehensive, integrated, standards-based language arts program. Learners are actively involved in authentic and meaningful reading, writing, speaking and listening experiences. Students are provided with research-based learning strategies to become effective and efficient communicators. Read at increasing levels of complexity for a variety of purposes. Evaluate literary elements within various texts. Interpret and respond to a diversity of works representative of a variety of cultures and time Access and evaluate information from a variety of sources. Recognize and analyze words to improve reading. Comprehend their reading material with 80% accuracy. Use appropriate listening and viewing skills. Meet their individual AR goals. Read using appropriate reading strategies. Express themselves and participate in discussion. Learn to summarize information from the text. Major Course Projects: Quality grade level literature books (novels) Use of the new language arts text book Letter grades for the course are based on the guidelines outlined below. Student evaluation will be based on: Completion of daily assignments Completion of required projects Attainment of a minimum 80% average on tests Advanced A 98 - 100 A- 94 - 97 Proficient B+ 92 - 93 B 89 - 91 B- 87 - 88 Page 1 of 3 Basic C+ 85 - 86 C 82 - 84 C- 80 - 81 Below Basic D+ 78 - 79 D 75 - 77 D- 73 - 74 F 72 & below Antonyms, Synonyms, 6.R.1.1 Students can expand Reading basal, novel text sets, homonyms, acronyms, word meanings using word teacher generated materials, abbreviations, prefixes, suffixes, categories and word parts. and resource materials. root words, and root origins 6.R.1.2 Students can utilize Dictionary Skills and context context to comprehend words clues with multiple meanings. Reading basal, novel text sets, Connect to prior knowledge, 6.R.2.1 Students can utilize teacher generated materials question, visualize, monitor for direct and implied meaning to and resource materials. meaning, infer, synthesize and comprehend text. 6.R.2.2 Students can Fluency – accuracy, rate, demonstrate the elements of expression/voice and phrasing fluency to comprehend text Compare/contrast, sequence, 6.R.3.1 Students can describe Reading basal, novel text sets, description, stanza, and verse text structures to determine teacher generated materials meaning in fiction, nonfiction, and resource materials. Characterization, setting, conflict and poetry. resolution, plot, theme and point of view. (Literary elements: 6.R.3.2 Students can describe Problem, rising action, climax, literary elements to determine falling action, meaning in fiction, nonfiction, conflict/resolution) and poetry. Figurative Language (simile, 6.R.3.3 Students can describe metaphor, alliteration, literary devices to determine personification, onomatopoeia meaning in fiction, nonfiction, and idiom), imagery, and poetry. foreshadowing and flashback Locate and gather information to 6.R.4.1 Students can compare Reading basal, novel text sets, Page 2 of 3 compare and contrast cultures, and contrast text from teacher generated materials time periods and historical different time periods, and resource materials. events. cultures, and historical events. Expository, persuasive and 6.R.5.1 Students can compare Reading basal, novel text sets, procedural text and contrast information on teacher generated materials one topic from multiple and resource materials. Fact from opinion, author’s 6.R.5.2 Students can evaluate purpose, credibility, expository, the credibility of informational persuasive and procedural. texts. 6.R.5.3 Students can utilize sources to locate information. Novels Used: My Side of the Mountain, Island of the Blue Dolphin, Summer of the Swans, Behind the Bedroom Wall, Tuck Everlasting, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, There’s a Boy in the Girls Bathroom, The Art of Keeping Cool, Bill Wallace Unit(4 novels), Hatchet, Bridge to Terabithia, Where the Red Fern Grows, Snow Treasure, Pinballs, Julie of the Wolves, Esperanza Rising, Anne Frank, Old Yeller Text- Glencoe Literatue Reader’s Choice Page 3 of 3

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Educators Call for an Expanded Definition of Literacy When Doug Pusey prepares his Earth Systems students at Canyon View Jr. High School in Orem, Utah, for a study of “the genetic relationships between lizards,” he starts with something his students know well: The Simpsons. As he describes in a commentary for The Science Teacher (December 2002), Pusey asks students for the first names of Bart Simpson’s immediate family and grandparents to create a family tree that will later serve as a model for lining out lizard relationships. Next he shows students a species of lizard that inhabits the Canary Islands before posing this question: “How could lizards travel from one island to another if they can’t swim?” Creativity increases as the answers pour forth. Finally, Pusey passes out the lesson’s reading and an assignment. The approach is called “frontloading,” which he explains as the teacher’s conscious effort “to lay the foundation for the lesson at hand.” He’s found it successful in reaching students, both boys and girls, and capable of unlocking something in boys. “My junior high boys seem to be particularly in need of getting the right mind-set or frame-of-reference before they can make connections in a mental way. It seems that boys are particularly resistant to learning if they are missing frontloading, or the ‘painted scenery of the educational pathway.’” An Urgent Problem Finding ways to reach boys in school has taken on increased urgency in light of reports that show they are falling behind. For example, girls bested boys in reading in the 22 countries that took the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), according to research by Stephen Gorard of Cardiff University, who also found this gap has existed since the mid-1970s when testing began (Education Daily, March 17, 2005). And according to the U.S. Department of Education’s Trends in Educational Equity of Girls & Women: 2004, “early childhood education experiences are similar for girls and boys. In elementary and secondary education, however, girls consistently outpace boys in reading and writing in all grades” (School Reform News, The Heartland Institute, March 1, 2005). Jeffrey Wilhelm, a well-known researcher on boys’ literacy and an associate professor at Boise State University, Idaho, says he’s worked with many teachers, including Pusey, who are hungry for ideas about an inquiry approach to teaching. Describing his work as director of a national demonstration site in adolescent literacy, Wilhelm explains: “We ask teachers to bring in a unit that kids have trouble with and we have them reframe it as inquiry. So instead of teaching Romeo and Juliet, you teach what makes a good relationship. . . . You start with where kids are and [with] a problem they have that is also a problem in the culture that you don’t know the answer to and use the text as a way to interrogate that issue. Shakespeare didn’t write Romeo and Juliet to torture ninth or tenth graders, he wrote it to explore a human problem. The reason that we still read that play, make movies of it, and perform it, is that problem is still alive.” Wilhelm has found that this form of connecting, or making literacy more like life, is a way to hook boys into reading and writing. Wilhelm and Michael Smith wrote about their research shadowing 52 students for a year in “Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys”: Literacy in the Lives of Young Men and in a follow-up study being published this fall, Going with the Flow: Making School Literacy More Like Life. Wilhelm says that all the boys in the study could find literacy that appealed to them—literacy that had a clear purpose, provided immediate feedback, imparted a sense of competence or control, instilled a feeling of improvement, and allowed them to be in the moment and be part of a social network. School literacy, he says, usually didn’t hold this appeal. Wilhelm says the boys often felt that teachers broke a “social contract to care. They felt teachers assigned stuff and evaluated them but never helped them. They wanted teachers to be passionate about what they were teaching. One kid said, ‘the teacher doesn’t even bring her game to school; the teacher wouldn’t even do this crap.’ We heard this over and over again.” Wilhelm thinks changing teaching to reach more students is both simple and complex. “I think it’s simple because all you have to do is reframe what is already in the curriculum. [However], it goes against the salience of American education and the pressure to teach how you were taught. “I would argue that we need a wider view of literacy and literate practices, and to find ways to bridge the literacies from boys’ lives with the literacies we would like them to practice, valuing both equally.” Article Offers Insight Jane Braunger, chair of NCTE’s Commission on Reading, echoes this perspective. “I think the issue of choice is very important; boys and girls both need to know that the literacy practices and interests they pursue outside of school—for example, computers, the Internet—are valued and can be built on in school literacy.” To consider the issue of a boys’ literacy gap, she turns to Donna Lester Taylor’s “‘Not Just Boring Stories’: Reconsidering the Gender Gap for Boys” (Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, December 04/January 05), which rounds up recent research about boys and literacy. Braunger summarizes some of the article’s recommendations as honoring preferences for informational texts; teaching ways to read and discuss narrative such as engaging students in think-alouds; and offering support for challenging texts so readers can expect to be successful. “Don’t Give Up on Boys” Expanding the definition of “what counts” as literacy and encountering teachers who don’t give up on boys are two things that Thomas Newkirk, English professor at the University of New Hampshire, thinks would go a long way toward helping boys with reading and writing. The author of “Misreading Masculinity: Speculations on the Great Gender Gap in Writing” (Language Arts, March 2000), Newkirk believes there are enduring cultural messages about novel reading as something for women. “To the extent schools define ‘reading’ with novel reading, I think boys can check out. “I think teachers need to be more open to forms of popular culture that boys love—humor, parody, adventure, amazing facts, suspense, sports. It’s hard for some teachers because these cultural attractions may not have been part of their childhood or their literacy. I think boys resist some slow-moving plots that focus on character development—as one boy put it ‘fifty pages about the next five minutes of your life.’ “I also think that teachers need to be careful that they don’t give up on boys. Boys may say, ‘I hate reading,’ but that may just mean they don’t feel successful at it. I’m particularly worried at half-baked ‘brain research’ claims about this difficulty coming from boys’ hardwiring. I think that’s just as pernicious as people claiming that girls are not ‘naturally’ good at math—because girls are certainly disproving that. “I think that boys may disengage from the kind of novel reading stressed in schools. But I suspect that other kinds of reading continue outside of school—magazines, newspapers, news on the Internet, instant messaging. Sometimes I meet men who say they are not ‘readers.’ I ask them, “Do you read the paper?” “Do you read for your job?” “Do you have hobbies you read about?” “Then I want to ask: ‘Then who the hell convinced you you weren’t a reader?’”

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From a digital storytelling learning experience, students would have the opportunity to gain the following skills: written communication skills to describe, inform, entertain, and/or to explain; oral communication skills for narration and an oral presentation; non-verbal communication skills through the use of other media, such as still pictures and video; technological skills such as using audio effect, video effects, editing, inserting text overlays, applying transitions, using jpg files and program files, folders, camera skills and filming; other planning and organizing skills such as utilizing an outline, a storyboard, following through with the project; and if working within a group, cooperation skills, communication skills, and conflict resolution skills. For a teacher to properly implement the use of digital storytelling in his/her classroom, the teacher will need to have an understanding of digital storytelling and should have completed an example him/herself to be able to demonstrate and model the process. Training could be from personal research on digital storytelling via the internet, software instructions/directions, workshops, classes, professional development courses, etc. In short, the amount of preparation and training will depend upon the individual teacher and his/her previous knowledge and experience with technology. As seen in our lab for this course, the spectrum of previous knowledge/experience of the teacher candidates is wide and varied. However, it must be noted that if a teacher would like to utilize digital storytelling but does not have a strong background with technology, there are plenty of resources and examples available on the internet for the teacher to be successful with the lesson. Digital storytelling would be beneficial to shy, quiet students because the student would be able to produce the final product without having to leave his/her 'comfort zone'. However, if an oral presentation is required of the final product, this may hinder the shy student. Also for students struggling with writing skills, so 'shy' in the sense of a lack of confidence in his/her writing ability, the digital story will also make available to them another form of communication. Exposure to digital storytelling for a shy and/or quiet student may open an avenue for that student that he/she never knew existed, allowing him/her to have an outlet for expression. Digital storytelling may also help this student to realize his/her potential in communication. For an outspoken student, digital storytelling will provide for him/her an opportunity to express him/herself in ways other than verbal while also exposing him/her to technology and creativity as additional channels to progress with communication skills. For integrating digital storytelling into the classroom, I've learned that I must take into account the spectrum of technological experience/knowledge of each student, allow ample time and practice for those who lack technological skills to be successful with the assignment, when considering my obejectives for digital storytelling I will also need to consider the spectrum of communication skills of the student, and most of all, to allow the students to have 'fun' with this assignment rather than seeing it as merely an assignment to complete. Digital storytelling has a wide range of uses for history, science, language arts, and most other areas of concentration; each student will learn more by teaching others.

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Lesson Plans and Worksheets Browse by Subject Memoirs Teacher Resources Find Memoirs educational ideas and activities Are you working on an autobiographical or narrative writing unit? Bring this lesson to your class, as it takes young writers through the process of drafting and sequencing an autobiography. After observing and demonstrating steps of the writing process, they read and discuss examples of poetry, and write a letter to themselves. Additional activities include reading a passage from a memoir, creating a friendship graffiti wall, and writing about an adventure. Eighth graders explore Civil War campaigns. In this Civil War lesson, 8th graders collaborate and conduct research to create presentations that focus on specific Union or Confederate generals and battles. Students take on the roles of photographers, reporters, and biographers. Explore the concept of literal and figurative language in this language arts language lesson plan. After reading an excerpt from Gary Paulsen's memoir, middle schoolers then classify the information in the memoir by drawing conclusions, inferring information, and identifying literal or figurative language. Students explore terrorist interrogation issues. For this human rights lesson, students read articles and documents related to torture in terrorist investigations. Students respond to discussion questions regarding the articles. Students write position papers on the topic. High schoolers comprehend how the past affects individuals and society. They comprehend how to perceive past events with historical empathy. Students produce written work that makes connections to related topics or information. They recognize a range of literary elements and techniques and use these elements to interpret the work. Students investigate why the Treaty of Versailles took the form that it did. They read an interactive memoir of a soldier after he returned home after WWI, conduct research on the Treaty of Versailles, and write the front page of a German newspaper the day that the peace treaty was announced. Did you know the word memoir is related to the word memory? It makes sense once you study the root word. This presentation starts with an introduction into memoirs and what characteristics will set a written memoir apart from the rest. This presentation focuses on how to write a powerful, telling memoir. Explore nonfiction writing with your class. They will identify elements in nonfiction by reviewing elements of fiction. Then they use biographies, memoirs, menus, Time for Kids, and text books to identify elements of nonfiction. They will respond to the text using thoughtful questions. Help your writers get started with these hooks! Twenty-five opening lines from the "Lives" column in the New York Times Magazine act as prompts for creative writing. Have your learners choose one prompt and write an original essay. Scholars can write memoirs, poems, plays, etc.

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Lesson Plans and Worksheets Browse by Subject - Jenna H., Teacher Climax Teacher Resources Find Climax educational ideas and activities Fifth graders identify the role succession plays in the adaptation of our environment. Students identify pioneer and climax species and order habitats in succession. They recognize that different characteristics of species make them more suitable to early or late succession. Students review the literary elements of plot and conflict. In this plot and conflict lesson, students read a story and answer questions about the plot and conflict within. Students create a concept map for the novel to identify the conflicts outlined in the novel. Students complete daily activities for the analysis of the text and make their own Powerpoint for the lesson. Binoculars are used as a metaphor for good descriptive writing. Class members first view a small picture and then an enlarged view of the same image in which the details come into focus. Next, learners examine a paragraph lacking sensory details and one rich in description. Finally, class members craft their own personal narratives. Prompts, story ideas, check lists, and assessments are included in this richly detailed plan. Scholars demonstrate the ability to evaluate authors' use of literary elements such as metaphor, simile, personification, imagery, and onomatopoeia. They are provided with a checklist and must shop for poems that contain the poetry terms on their list. Poems can be posted around the room or in hallways. Learners are assessed on their accuracy in finding the literary terms on the checklist. Use the Visual Thesaurus to predict the subject matter of Rick Riordan's book The Lightning Thief. A pre-reading activity encourages middle schoolers to use context clues and word meaning to discover what the book is about. After they finish the activity, they read the first chapter of the book and research Olympian gods. Beginning a persuasive writing unit with your middle schoolers? Approach it through something that persuades us all: advertising! Through studying video and print advertisement, your class will practice Common Core skills for reading informational texts. They will also sharpen their narrative writing prowess as they study and craft emotional charged stories meant to persuade. Includes several handouts that are sure to help any ELA teacher lead up to a more in-depth persuasive writing unit. Dive your class into a reading of Island of the Blue Dolphins with this in-depth study guide. Breaking the novel into three parts, the resource begins each section with a focus activity that identifies a specific theme or question to be addressed in the reading. Learners are then provided with background information, key vocabulary, and a graphic organizer to use while taking notes, before answering a series of five comprehension questions. Each of the three sections concludes with extension ideas for writing and discussing key concepts from the book. Also included are reading guides for five additional pieces of writing that encourage young scholars to expand their learning and make connections between multiple texts. A thorough resource that supports students in reading and understanding this award-winning novel. Here is a widely applicable set of materials to enhance any reading task. You'll find graphic organizers, response to literature activities, writing prompts, a reading schedule, study guides, a story plot flow chart, and a character map. Resource is designated for Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, but these materials would work for any literary text, at home or in the classroom. Why just show your class a movie when you could teach them how to critique film the same way they do literature? While this lesson uses Battlestar Galactica as its visual text of choice, this plan could be used with any film selection. It would be perfect to use with the film adaptation of any literary work. Teens learn what it means to critique as well as how to identify literary and technical aspects of film as they watch various films. Thorough and all-encompassing, this study guide summarizes an entire semester, or possibly a year, of language arts vocabulary words. Vocabulary from The Diary of Anne Frank, Night, Romeo and Juliet, and various short stories is listed for review, as well as the elements of drama, stories, and literature. Concepts for MLA format and grammar finish the worksheet. Use the study guide as a way to plan your semester, substituting any stories or concepts that you cover instead. The principles of levers and simple machines are presented here. An easy-to-make lever is constructed by each group of scientists, and they use it to explore how this simple machine makes heavy things so much easier to lift and move. A good lab sheet is embedded in the plan, as are some terrific extension activities. Fabulous! Prepare for a wild ride on the plot roller coaster! Budding authors outline their novel plots through this set of visual and entertaining worksheets. They follow the story of Boris the Unicorn, which demonstrates the various stages of a typical fiction plot. Thankfully, the story is hilarious and will have your kids wanting more. For anticipation, have them read it only one section at a time, filling out their own plot in the space provided as they go through the six sections. If your pupils are studying plot development, consider taking a look at this resource. The video models a read-aloud of a series of passages that reflect the rising action, climax, and resolution of "The Story of Arachne, Nature's Weaver." After reading, the narrator charts each virtual sticky note on a plot development chart. Class members can follow along and then practice with the additional materials provided on the page or a text of your choice. Take a look at the presentation and the printable assessment. Author Pearl Buck's, The Good Earth is the central focus of this terrific eighth grade language arts lesson. Essentially, it is a very thorough study of the book. While reading, there are worksheets embedded in the plan to be completed. There are many postreading assignments as well, all supported with worksheets. This is a fine educational resource to complement the study of this book.

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Slave and Slaveholder Descendants Break Free of History's Trauma—Together “Collective trauma” happens to large groups of people—attempted genocide, war, disease, a terrorist attack. Its effects are specific: fear, rage, depression, survivor guilt, and physical responses in the brain and body that can lead to illness and a sense of disconnection or detachment. Collective trauma can be transmitted down generations and throughout communities. It is further described as historical, transgenerational, cultural, or ancestral. “Each of these terms has its own nuances,” says Sousan Abadian, a former fellow at the MIT Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformational Studies, who wrote her doctoral thesis on collective trauma and international development work. For example, she says the term “cultural trauma” reflects that “trauma is not just at the level of the individual, it’s at the level of culture—that culture has been damaged, meaning institutions, cultural practices, values, and beliefs.” Dr. Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart is one of the pioneers of applying the concept of historical trauma to native people in the Americas. For them, she writes, “Genocide, imprisonment, forced assimilation, and misguided governance have resulted in the loss of culture and identity, alcoholism, poverty, and despair.” She says she was looking at native historical photos at one point in the late 1970s when “It was almost like a light bulb went off in my head, like some kind of spiritual transformation.” She began making connections between indigenous people and Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. Historical trauma, she says, “is cumulative emotional and psychological wounding across generations, including one’s own lifespan, because everything up to a minute ago is history.” For historical trauma, Brave Heart identifies four necessary steps for healing: confronting trauma, understanding it, releasing the pain, and transcendence. Ray Daw, a Navajo who currently works as a health administrator in Alaska, is one of many people using this model of historical trauma in work with Native communities. As a result of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and mass shootings, collective trauma is something that all Americans have experienced, according to Daw. “The idea of historical trauma has really grown across the United States,” he says, “particularly among Native people.” Daw sees the Idle No More movement as bringing indigenous models of healing to the forefront and doing a lot to catalyze healing from the wounds of history. Instead of being stuck with behaviors generated by anger or sadness, Daw says identifying the effects of trauma can help us “think of ways to not feel as angry or as sad, and connect with others who feel the same way.” And through this process, regardless of ethnicity, “We all begin to create a better world for ourselves.” The trauma of Hurricane Katrina, and the lack of adequate government response, catalyzed the creation of the Kindred Southern Justice Healing Collective, a network of more than 100 healers and activists of color and their allies in the southern United States. They envision emergency response teams of healers, nurses, and doctors who could be ready in the face of any future disaster. Collective member Cara Page says that Kindred roots itself within a Southern understanding of how transgenerational trauma is connected to a history of slavery, unethical medical testing, and economic displacement. “Healing generational trauma is not separate from political liberation,” she says. Unacknowledged historical trauma can keep social activists in a cerebral, disconnected state which has the potential to tear movements apart. Collective resilience can be an antidote to collective grief. In Kindred’s recording, “Good Medicine,” Southern healers and activists of color challenge the current capitalist model of medicine and celebrate the healing traditions that kept their ancestors going: song, art, prayer, touch, and community. America’s legacy of slavery and continuing racial injustice has led to “survival behaviors” in both blacks and whites, says Dr. Joy DeGruy, a professor of social work and author of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing. In whites, one such behavior is a denial of the past, which obscures the causes of current privilege. Unresolved historical trauma can render us invisible to one another. “Re-spect,” says DeGruy, is another way of saying “Look again.” Whether the historical trauma was caused by slavery or genocide, the “looking again” that DeGruy describes—at ourselves, our history, and at one another—can lead to the last stage in Brave Heart’s four stages of healing: transcendence. “The lesson of centuries of torture and millions of human sacrifices, including of my own people, on the altars of extremists and fanatics is not a lesson for exacting revenge,” writes Israeli author Avraham Burg in The Holocaust is Over; We Must Rise From Its Ashes. “Rather, in the name of those who went through it all and saw the inferno’s flames firsthand, we must prepare the ground for a better world.” Burg, along with other Jewish writers, has written about Israel as a nation formed from the collective trauma of the Holocaust, with fear driving it to be like the “battered boy” who becomes an abusive father. Without transcendence, or what Abadian would call “reframing the post-traumatic narrative,” collective trauma in any nation or ethnic group can play itself out on the personal and group level as paranoia or inflicting internalized trauma on others. For Armand Volkas, a psychotherapist and child of Holocaust survivors, exploring and owning the potential perpetrator in all of us is an important part of the reframing process. Using techniques of drama therapy, ritual, and storytelling, he facilitates workshops between groups with a history of collective trauma between them: Jews and Germans, Israelis and Palestinians, Turks and Armenians, Japanese and Chinese, African Americans and European Americans. “Humanizing the enemy is one of the first steps,” he says. “Just the act of bringing people together.” Like what you’re reading? YES! is nonprofit and relies on reader support. Click here to chip in $5 or more to help us keep the inspiration coming. In his workshops, individuals can reach personal catharsis and transcendence of national or ethnic conflicts that have played out over generations. In one instance, on the day a restaurant was bombed in Jerusalem, emotions in a workshop were running high as a group of Israelis and Palestinians passed around an invisible flame of hope during a warm-up exercise. When someone dropped the imaginary flame, an Israeli woman burst into tears and a Palestinian woman took her in her arms and held her. But are compassion and empathy enough? What about justice? “I know a lot of people say without justice, healing cannot take place. And I completely agree on one level,” says Abadian, who acknowledges the importance of changing institutions and cultures damaged by trauma. “On another level, if we wait around for justice, or think that our feelings or well-being are dependent on others changing their stance, or having our pain recognized by them, or making some sort of reparation, we are not free. … If we were to truly recognize the importance of healing collective trauma, it would reframe and transform our approach to everything, including international economic development, diplomacy, and nation-building.” An embrace between an Israeli and a Palestinian, remembered by a roomful of people. Health workers re-envisioning a medical model that values our rich and distinct cultural traditions. People speaking out about how we hold collective memory in our bodies, our relationships, and our institutions. These may seem like small gestures when faced with the enormity of collective trauma. But for those who are working toward healing, they are the beginnings of a new social tapestry of respect, understanding, and hope. Lisa Gale Garrigues wrote this article for Love and the Apocalypse, the Summer 2013 issue of YES! Magazine. Garrigues is a writer, teacher, and healing consultant based in San Francisco. For information, go to: healingcollectivetrauma.com - Israelis and Iranians Feel the Love As their leaders talk violence, some residents of Israel and Iran are reaching out to each other directly with a promise of peace. - World-Healing Wisdom: Karen Armstrong's Vision for a Compassionate Future Armstrong believes that we can find the wisdom we need by looking to the origins of today’s world religions. That means, we rely on support from our readers. Independent. Nonprofit. Subscriber-supported.

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Better Students Ask More Questions. Why is the power of speaking, swearing oaths, and making promises important in Beowulf? 1 Answer | add yours High School Teacher Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon poem which reflects the code of honor and action of that time. Because they believed that Fate (Wyrd) was in control of their destinies, what a man promised or swore or endeavored to do was more important than being able to do it. This epic poem is full of actions and speeches (plot) more than character development, and the characters in the poem are defined only by what they say they are going to do and then actually endeavor to do. Beowulf says: I had a fixed purpose when I put to sea… I meant to perform to the uttermost what your people wanted or perish in the attempt… And I shall fulfill that purpose, prove myself with a proud deed or meet my death. Hrothgar promises to build a great hall from which he can reward his people for their deeds, and he does it. Beowulf promises to help Hrothgar and his people defeat Grendel, and he does; then he makes a vow to defeat Grendel without weapons, which he also does. But if he had made the attempt and failed, there still would have been glory for Beowulf (and reflected glory for Ecgtheow, his king) in the effort. You see, it was the oath and the effort that mattered; the outcome of the actual battle was up to fate. Examine Unferth for a moment, a man who does much speaking and vowing but who is considered a coward because he is a man of talk and no action. The most we ever see Unferth do is hand Beowulf a sword (offering to let his sword fight but not offering to fight himself), which would not be considered particularly valiant in any culture. He does not even try, which is what makes him a coward in this culture. Beowulf does his exploits not because he will get a reward for doing them but because the only thing that will truly last is the glory and honor which come from making oaths and promises and then endeavoring to keep them. Even the dragon's hoard of treasure is meaningless and is buried with Beowulf. They let the ground keep that ancestral treasure, gold under gravel, gone to earth, as useless to men now as ever it was. Knowing the risks, the men of valor and honor (like Beowulf) were not reckless but willing to take the risks involved with doing honorable and valorous deeds. At a time when courage was valued above all things, heroic men like Beowulf promised to do courageous deeds and then took action on their oaths. Whether they won a victory or suffered a loss was immaterial; fighting the battle was more important than defeating the foe. To the Anglo-Saxons then, Beowulf's last battle, against the dragon, is no less heroic than his battle against Grendel or his mother just because he lost. In the Middle ages, chivalry will take oath-making and promises to an entirely new dimension, but for the Anglo Saxons, speaking oaths and promises (and then acting on them, win or lose) was their means of achieving honor and lasting glory. Posted by auntlori on September 9, 2013 at 8:40 PM (Answer #1) Related QuestionsSee all » Join to answer this question Join a community of thousands of dedicated teachers and students.

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We made some additional modifications to the arrangement of the room in order create more space for the children's dominant play themes. In order to emphasize and expand our puppet theater and storytelling, the puppet theater and materials have replaced the dramatic play kitchen. In order to promote and better facilitate paper puppet making, those materials have been moved under the loft for greater access and closer proximity to the puppet theater. This will allow teachers to help guide children's thinking while creating their puppet characters to act out various stories. Name writing strips have been added to the writing table in order to scaffold children's alphabet knowledge as well as letter and name writing. The class will also continue to expand their ideas and knowledge regarding seasonal change as we build homes and habitats for woodland animals out of clay, match animals to their homes at the science table, and observe live footage of animal behavior in their habitats on the computer. -Materials: Clay, plastic woodland animals, cardstock, construction paper, tape, popsicle sticks, toilet paper rolls, found objects, watercolor paint, brushes, paper. -Rationale: Children will continue to explore the clay and will apply their knowledge of animal homes by creating clay homes for the various animal figurines. Paper projects continue to be of great interest in the classroom so we added found objects to expand the creation of the children's increasingly complex three dimensional paper sculptures. The paper puppet making materials have been moved under the loft in order to allow greater access, facilitation by teachers and close proximity to the puppet theater. The light table will continue to be used for watercolor painting as many children have displayed interest in this activity. -Skills: fine motor development, creative problem solving, eye-hand coordination, representational creativity, self-expression, divergent thinking and functional representation. -Materials: Moist sand, containers, buckets, scoops, shovels and hand rakes. -Rationale: Children will apply their skills of scooping, sifting, filling containers and exploration of new sensory materials to moist sand. Children will be able to apply their knowledge of building structures to the moist sand as it will keep its form when compacted in various containers. -Skills: sensory awareness, creative thinking, spatial awareness, large motor, fine motor and construction skills. -Materials: animal pelts, acorns, antlers, feathers, the computer, animal home matching activity, paper and colored pencils, Boxy the box turtle, and Bart the python. -Rationale: Children will continue to learn about what animals do to prepare for seasonal change. This will continue to build awareness of hibernation and animal homes. For children who are more familiar with the concepts of hibernation and migration, a matching game is provided in which the children match the animal to their home. The computer will still be used to show videos of various animals' homes, food collecting habits, and sleeping habits as colder temperatures set in. Children will be given the opportunity to represent their observations of the live footage or items on the science table with paper, colored pencils and clay. -Skills: learning about natural science, information gathering, observation, representation, matching, critical thinking and inquiry. Math and Manipulatives -Materials: Assortment of Lego pieces, people and platforms, puzzles, shoe strings with large wooden beads and alphabet beads, and lacing cards. -Rationale: To encourage greater interest in beading, small alphabet beads will be added. In order to facilitate more complex Lego building, Lego people and platforms have been added for inspiration. -Skills: Hand-eye coordination, spatial relationships, whole/part relationships, fine motor skills, and small-scale constructive play. Dramatic Play and Blocks -Materials: Baby dolls, baby bed, baby accessories, cardboard boxes, and various fabrics. -Rationale: To promote dramatic play and interest in the baby dolls, baby accessories and furniture will be added to the classroom. Cardboard boxes will continue to be available to children as they combine them with their hollow block structures to act out imaginative stories. Fabrics will continue to be available to facilitate character development or to contribute to their structures during dramatic play. -Skills: Role-play, pretend-play, peer-interaction, creating imaginary scenarios, construction skills, communication, negotiation and collaboration, and care taking. -Materials: Animal puppets, puppet theater stage, our classroom community book, paper and writing utensils available in the classroom, simple multi page paper books, model name strips with child's picture and blank paper strips. -Rationale: The new puppets and puppet theater will replace the kitchen area in order to provide more space and attention for utilizing these materials in meaningful ways. Children will continue to create increasingly longer stories with the multi page books in the writing center and will be encouraged to write/draw stories that they act out in dramatic play. In order to support writing, children's names will be written on paper strips with their picture. Blank paper strips of the same size will be provided to encourage name writing and letter consistency. -Skills: Receptive and expressive language, cooperation, negotiation, creative thinking, divergent thinking, creative representation, alphabetic knowledge, letter consistency and fine motor skills. -Materials: Monkey bar swings, bumpy slide rope climb, A-frame with ladder bridge, uneven mat obstacle course, climbing wall, Pedalo. Outside there are shovels, buckets, bikes, and wagons. -Rationale: Many changes have been made to the gym this week. The Pedalo was added to promote balance, coordination, lower body strength, and turn taking. The A frame obstacle course is set up as a ladder bridge suspended between the two A-frames, which are connected to a course of bolsters to walk across. A rope has been added to the rolling slide so children can climb up the slide. On the monkey bars we have added ropes for children to practice swinging. These new additions to the gym will provide opportunities to practice skills such as grasping, jumping, balancing, and even upper/lower body strengthening. The wall ladder will remain in the gym for children to practice climbing. On the playground we will continue to promote meaningful play through process skills facilitated by raking, shoveling, hauling and unloading. -Skills: Dynamic balance, lower body strength, spatial awareness, turn-taking, jumping and landing, sliding, upper body strength, grasping strength, risk taking, eye-hand/foot coordination, climbing, coordination, and climbing. Monday - Crackers & craisins Tuesday - Frozen peas & pretzels Wednesday - Bananas & milk Thursday - Bagels & pumpkin butter Friday- Trail mix

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•Dec. 1492: Columbus discovers Haiti (the island of Hispaniola) •ca. 1600: Native Carib population (Taino-Arawak Indians) virtually wiped out. African slaves begin to arrive in increasing numbers. •1600s: Rise of British, French, and Dutch activity in Caribbean. •1697: The Spaniards cede the western third of Hispaniola to the French crown at the Treaty of Ryswick. Haiti is now called Haitian History 2 •1697-1791: Saint Domingue becomes the richest colony in the world. Its capital, Cap Francis, is known as the Paris of the New World. •August 1791: The first major black rebellion takes place. This begins the markings of civil war between the black dominated north and the mulatto dominated •1796: Toussaint L'Ouverture emerges as the leader of the former slaves in the north. He restored order, ended the massacres, and restored some of Saint Domingue's Haitian History 3 •January 1804: Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaimed the independent black Republic of Haiti in the northern half of the island (the first independent country of former slaves in the world). The name of the new country, "Haiti," is the name that had been given to the land by the former Taino-Arawak peoples, meaning "mountainous country." •1843 to 1915: Haiti sees 22 heads of state, most of whom leave office by violent means. Rivalry continues among the whites, the mulatto elite, and Haitian History 4 •1915: President Guillaume Sam is dismembered and the Americans invade the country. They remain for •1934: The Americans leave Haiti, which is now prospering once again. •1937: Thousands of Haitians living on border of the Dominican Republic are massacred by General Trujillo's soldiers. (background to The Farming of Bones) •1957: Francois Duvalier (“Papa Doc”) was elected president, terrorized the country, rooting out any and all opponents to his administration and ensured Haitian History 5 •his power through his private militia, the tontons macoutes (which means in kreyol, "uncle •1964: Duvalier changes the constitution so that he can be elected president for life. •1971: Duvalier dies and is succeeded by his son Jean-Claude, age 19 (also known as 'Baby Doc'). By this time Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere (and remains so to this day). •1972: Haitian "boat people" begin to flee to US. Edwidge Danticat--Biographical Sketch •born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti January 19, 1969, under the dictatorship of Duvalier. •raised by her uncle and aunt (parents in New York)--moved to America at 12--remained silent for most of her teens-- “I sought solace in books, read a lot, and kept journals written in fragmented Creole, French, Edwidge Danticat--Biographical Sketch 2 •wrote her first short story at 9 (about a girl who was visited by a clan of women each night) •1990--undergraduate degree in French from Barnard College. •wrote Breath, Eyes, Memory as her MFA thesis at Brown University •1995--Pushcart Short Story Prize •List of Works •Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994) •Krik? Krak! (1995) •The Farming of Bones (1998) Danticat on Literature and Writing • “Literature is a society mirror. I think that empathy is necessary for our common surviving. Literature teaches us to step into the other. Literature doesn’t only teach the secrets of our hearts, but of the others’ hearts as well….” • “For me, writing has always been about bearing witness and trying to understand who you are and your writing context in the world. Being a child of migrants I think my life was always a kind of search and writing is a way for me to interpret that •a mixture of French, Spanish, African, and English called Creole, or "Kreyol”--Danticat was taught French in school, but spoke Haitian Creole at home. Creole was her first and primary language; English is her third language. •her writings as attempts to represent the cadence of a recent speaker of English: getting to the point, listing important events, incorporating less literary •a finalist for the National Book Award in 1995. • Krik? Krak! represents the call and response of after- supper storytelling: krik? is the call asking if anyone has a story to tell, and krak! is the reply. --usually what follows the formula are light stories, jokes, riddles •using her autobiographical experiences in Haiti--"to raise the voice of a lot of people that I knew growing up, and this was, for the most part, . . . poor people who had extraordinary dreams but also very amazing •translated into Kreyol for Haitian radio broadcast. “Children of the Sea” •What is special about the narrative form? •the two narrative voices--the man and the girl letters that can never be sent •Identify some of symbols, or possible symbols, of the •Butterflies (5, 25, 28-29); children of the sea •Who are the “children of the sea"? •the comparison of the escape to Miami to the experience of the middle passage--going to bathroom on the boat (15); the young man has to throw his notebook overboard (27-28) “Children of the Sea” 2 •Who is identified by name in the story? Who is not, •Madan Roger; Celianne; Lionel; Swiss; Justin Moise Andre Nozius Joseph Frank Osnac Maxilmilen •How do people react to tragedy, calamity, and brutality in the story? •powerless (17); escape; fight •What do you think about the ending of the story? What are the attitudes toward the future? Do they

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- NAME: Homer - OCCUPATION: Poet - BIRTH DATE: c. 800 BCE - DEATH DATE: c. 701 BCE - PLACE OF BIRTH: Greece - PLACE OF DEATH: Greece - Full Name: Homer - AKA: Hom?ros Best Known For Although very little is known about the life of Greek poet Homer, credited with being the first to write down the epic stories of The Iliad and The Odyssey, the impact of his tales continue to reverberate through Western culture. Think you know about Biography? Answer questions and see how you rank against other players.Play Now The Greek poet Homer was born sometime between the 12th and 8th centuries BC, possibly somewhere on the coast of Asia Minor. He is famous for the epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey, which have had an enormous effect on Western culture, but very little is known about their alleged author. "Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another." "Yet, taught by time, my heart has learned to glow for other's good, and melt at other's woe." "Light is the task where many share the toil." Homer is a mystery. The Greek epic poet credited with the enduring epic tales of The Iliad and The Odyssey is an enigma insofar as actual facts of his life go. Some scholars believe him to be one man; others think these iconic stories were created by a group. A variation on the group idea stems from the fact that storytelling was an oral tradition and Homer is the one who took the time to write it down. Homer’s style, whoever he was, falls more in the category of minstrel poet or balladeer, as opposed to a cultivated poet who is the product of a fervent literary moment, such as a Virgil or a Shakespeare. The stories have repetitive elements, almost like a chorus or refrain, which suggests a musical element. However, Homer’s works are designated as epic rather than lyric poetry, which was originally recited with lyre in hand, much in the same vein as spoken-word performances. All this speculation about who he was has inevitably led to what is known as the Homeric Question—whether he actually existed at all. This is often considered to be the greatest literary mystery. Much speculation surrounds when Homer was born, because of the dearth of real information about him. Guesses at his birthdate range from 750 BC all the way back to 1200 BC, the latter because The Iliad encompasses the story of the Trojan War, so some scholars have thought it fit to put the poet and chronicler nearer to the time of that actual event. But others believe the poetic style of his work indicates a much later period. Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484–425 BC), often called the father of history, placed Homer several centuries before himself, around 850 BC. Part of the problem is that Homer lived before a chronological dating system was in place. The Olympic Games of classical Greece marked an epoch, with 776 BC as a starting point by which to measure out four-year periods for the event. In short, it is difficult to give someone a birthdate when he was born before there was a calendar. Once again, the exact location of Homer’s birth cannot be pinpointed, although that doesn’t stop scholars from trying. It has been identified as Ionia, Smyrna or, at any rate, on the coast of Asia Minor or the island of Chois. But seven cities lay claim to Homer as their native son. There is some basis for some of these claims, however. The dialect that The Iliad and The Odyssey are written in is considered Asiatic Greek, specifically Ionic. That fact, paired with frequent mentions of local phenomena such as strong winds blowing from the northwest from the direction of Thrace, suggests, scholars feel, a familiarity with that region that could only mean Homer came from there. profile name: Homer profile occupation: Sign in with Facebook to see how you and your friends are connected to famous icons.

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A pedagogical term for any form of writing that conveys information and explains ideas: exposition. As one of the four traditional modes of discourse, expository writing may include elements of narration, description, and argumentation, but unlike creative writing or persuasive writing, its primary goal is to deliver information about an issue, subject, method, or idea. Expository Writing Strategies: - Cause and Effect - Process Analysis Examples of Expository Writing: - A Definition of Pantomime, by Julian Barnes - Hot Hands, by Stephen Jay Gould - Process Analysis in Barry Lopez's "Migration" - Jessica Mitford on the Embalmer's Art - Contrast in Rybczynski's "Home" - Process Analysis in Richard Selzer's "The Knife" - Examples in Frank Trippett's "Loaded Words" - Barbara Tuchman's Historical Narrative: The Black Death - Academic Writing - Advanced Composition - Business Writing - Critical Essay - Technical Writing - "Expository writing analyzes and explains information to inform or educate your reader. As we move to expository writing, your knowledge of description and narration will help you provide the vividness and interest essential to effective expository writing. With its emphasis on logic and organization, expository writing is most likely the type of writing you will be doing in college and throughout your career. When you enter the workforce, you will find that expository writing is necessary in almost any profession and that your ability to write exposition requires the same skills necessary to succeed in many careers: thinking critically, analyzing complex situations, and presenting information clearly to coworkers." (Luis Nazario, Deborah Borchers, and William Lewis, Bridges to Better Writing. Wadsworth, 2010) - "The worst catastrophe that could befall the study of English literature would be to allow the programs in expository writing to become separate empires in the universities and colleges, wholly cut off from the departments of English and American literature. . . . "I do not minimize the difficulties involved in keeping expository writing and the study of literature together. Nor do I minimize the changes that will be necessary in the present structure of programs in literature, from basic courses for freshman and sophomores on through the most advanced graduate seminars. I view the development of integrated programs in reading well and in writing well as the major challenge to our profession at the present time. "'Rhetorical study' is the key to this integration." (Joseph Hillis Miller, Theory Now and Then. Duke Univ. Press, 1991) - Dissatisfaction With the Concept of Expository Discourse "[E]xpository writing has been the dominant form of text throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. In the last several decades, however, dissatisfactions with traditional conceptions of expository discourse have grown. "There are at least three concerns. First, some scholars find the definitional ambiguity of the phrase expository writing problematic. Critics argue that the same phrase has been ambiguously used, referring in some contexts to a particular aim or aims and at other times to patterns of organization or modes. "A second dissatisfaction concerns the realist epistemologies in which the notion of expository writing is rooted. . . . [C]ontemporary scholars are increasingly thinking about writing in terms of writers' and readers' purposes rather than the organizational forms necessary for clear exposition. . . . "A third concern about traditional conceptions of expository writing arises from doubts about the utility of having students identify and practice expository forms as principal means by which they learn to write effective academic and professional prose. . . . Currently, while appreciation of these forms of organization is seen as important, scholars increasingly maintain that instruction should focus on helping writers to identify their goals and those of their readers and on selecting text forms that best achieve relevant goals in particular contexts." (Katherin E. Rowan, "Exposition." Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition, ed. by Theresa Enos. Taylor & Francis, 1996)

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Structured character education has flourished as schools seek to instill the values of integrity, respect, responsibility, fairness, honesty, caring, and citizenship in their students to strengthen the social fabric of the school and community. Though not without criticism, these efforts to strengthen children's character through school-based programs are welcomed by parents who want their children educated in a strong culture of respect, integrity, and self-control. Children's character development certainly can't come from the classroom alone. The qualities of character develop through an interplay of family, school, church, and community influences, and the child's individual temperament, experiences, and choices. What can parents do to encourage their child's development of the qualities of good character? We have many opportunities and tools for this important task. Using them will give us the joy and satisfaction of seeing our child grow into a person of integrity, compassion, and character. Social Learning - A Family Culture of Character Parents who exhibit the qualities of good character powerfully transmit their values by modeling the choices and actions that are essential to being a person of good character. Are we honest, trustworthy, fair, compassionate, respectful, involved in the greater good of our family and community? How do our children know this? They see it in our everyday actions and choices. They see that it brings a sense of joy, satisfaction, and peace to their family life. Children also learn that when they violate these guiding ethics, parents will implement consequences with fairness and dignity. In her books on moral development in children, Michelle Borba teaches that the first step is empathy. Empathy is the necessary condition in the parent-child relationship that allows us to teach all of the other character values to our children. When our children feel that we understand and care about them deeply, they have the intrinsic motivation to learn the lessons of love and character we share. Direct Instruction - Teachable Moments to Build Character Discipline strategies are an important tool to use teachable moments to build character. We should always take the opportunity to explain why our child's behavior is wrong when we correct him. Make a habit of identifying in your own mind the value you wish to teach the child based on the particular behavior. Choose a consequence that is appropriate to teach that value. One natural consequence that we can use is to 'make amends'. For example, dishonesty is best resolved when we confess and are held accountable. Sometimes an apology to the person wronged is enough; other times we must take action to right the wrong. Brief, but direct instruction about why we have a family rule and the underlying value we hold helps the child learn from consequences and discipline. Story Telling - Learning Qualities of Character from Literature and Life Parents and teachers used stories to teach moral lessons long before the books were invented; and if you think about it, we still do. As we tell the stories of our lives and the world around us, we convey lessons of virtue and ethics to our children. Discussions about the stories we see on TV are opportunities to reinforce our values. Listening and responding to our child's stories about school and peers, we can help them think through the right thing to do. Being mindful of our children listening to the stories we tell other adults, we teach that our values guide all aspects of our life. Children's literature abounds with great books that illustrate important values. Great books reach the inner child and teach their lessons without the parent's interpretation or instruction. About Children's Books will guide you to finding some good children's literature choices that teach character. Sharing real-life stories from the news and internet with our children inspires us all to pursue our values in life. Experiential Learning - Practicing Qualities of Character We know from education models that we must practice what we learn before it comes naturally to us. We can learn vicariously when we see it and learn directly when we hear it. But, we need to do it and feel it to know the true meaning of character in our selves. We can use opportunities for decision-making to help our child take ethical action and see the positive results in their daily lives. We can also find opportunities to be involved in social and community action that is accessible for our children. Find ways for your children to learn altruism through good deeds.

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Children love to hear stories, and reading with your child is an excellent way to help her develop a love of reading, as well as an enjoyable way to spend time together. However, not all stories need to be read from books. You can keep your child interested and entertained with your own stories, whether they are true accounts, paraphrasing of stories you have heard before, or tales you create together. Children love to hear stories about themselves, about you, or stories that have been passed down from other family members. • The story of the day your child was born might be a favourite. If you tell the story often, try to use some of the same descriptive words and phrases so he can help tell the story. • Talk about some of her firsts: her first word, the first time she crawled or walked, or cute things she did as a baby. Hearing stories about her life helps her see how much she has grown and how many things she has learned and accomplished. This helps her develop self-confidence. • Share some events from your own childhood that made you feel proud, excited, scared, or embarrassed. • Keep your family’s history alive by sharing stories you remember hearing as a child. Playing storytelling games can allow your child to use his imagination and expand his literacy skills. • Leave one word out of a made-up story and let your child fill in the blank. "Once upon a time, there lived a _______." After she chooses a word that fits, start the next sentence and let the story take on a life of its own. • Preschoolers and school aged children can help tell a story one full sentence at a time. The more people involved in the game, the more interesting it becomes. When each person takes a turn making up a sentence, you are teaching cooperation, patience and good listening skills. • ‘Fortunately/Unfortunately’ is a fun game for older children. Participants take turns building the story one sentence at a time, but this time the sentences must alternate between including the words ‘fortunately’ or ‘unfortunately’. For example: "Once there was a family of mice who, fortunately, were all happy and healthy." "Unfortunately, a big, hungry cat moved in next door." "Fortunately, the cat was a vegetarian and they became great friends." And so on. Sharing stories with your child can be a great learning tool, a helpful distraction, or a wonderful bonding experience. Take some time to brush up on a few tales and memories, and get ready to share the art of storytelling! Shawna Munro works at the Elspeth Reid Family Resource Centre, a facility of Child and Family Services of Western Manitoba that offers parenting information and support. » 255 Ninth St., Brandon Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition October 31, 2013

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In Year 4, children are expected to take responsibility for their own equipment, making sure they have what they need on the correct day, e.g. musical instruments, PE kit. Pupils receive set prep work to do at home on a weekly basis, as well as reading and spelling practice. The children are encouraged to develop a quiet and sensible work ethos as a greater level of independent learning is introduced. It is also important that pupils are happy, courteous and considerate of others. All of this contributes positively to pupils’ increasing self-confidence and the ability to be proud of their work. Maths – The Heinemann scheme for Mathematics is used as the foundation in which to provide a stimulating and challenging curriculum that can be accessed by pupils of all abilities. There is a firm emphasis on mental maths agility and development is achieved through a diverse range of teaching styles and progress is partly measured via a weekly mental maths test. Pupils are required to use their mathematical skills across the curriculum. English- Year 4 will work from the CGP Scheme where all the building blocks and subtle conventions of English are covered and they will also do creative writing and poetry. Through careful cross curriculum planning, pupils will be challenged to use the skills garnered in English lessons across all subjects. There will be a weekly spelling test along with a class novel which will be read by the class teacher and opportunities for them to also have a weekly session of independent reading. It is expected that each individual pupil will continue to develop a fluent, expressive and confident reading style along with a good understanding of the text. By this stage, pupils should be able to select a wider range of personal reading material, encompassing fiction and information books. Pupils develop their writing skills with continued attention to punctuation and the appreciation of writing for different purposes. Science-Over the three terms the children will cover areas of Forces, Electricity-Conductors and Insulators, Micro-organisms and our environment. These will all entail the children to plan, carry out and evaluate their own experiments. Geography- Out topics this year are Volcanoes and Mountains, Deserts and St.Lucia. Children will build on the skills, knowledge and understanding in which they have previously acquired. Geography will develop and stimulate the children’s interests in, and foster a sense of wonder of, places and the world around them; they will consider important issues about their environment and recognise how people from all over the world are linked. Religious Education- Islam, Holy symbols and Christianity: the Ten Commandments. Physical Education- Taught by a specialist teacher. There will also be a weekly session of swimming. Music – Year four will have one lesson per week taught by Mrs Price, a music specialist. History- Aztecs, Pirates and Christopher Columbus. They will develop their curiosity about the past, the characteristics of different periods, from early times to the present, and the ways in which they are different from each other and from the present. The will engage in stimulating and focused historical enquiry using a wide range of sources. Welsh & Modern Foreign Language- Year four will be grouped together when having their Welsh lessons. We aim to promote the use of Welsh in and around Llandovery Prep through the use of everyday language. They will also have a weekly session of French. From within Llandovery Prep, a MFL club will be offered every week where pupils will learn about France, Spain and Wales along with certain language skills. Art & Design Technology- This year we will be covering Visual language of art and design, Shape/observational drawing and seasonal art. Children will use a variety of materials and processes and communicate their ideas and feelings through visual, tactile and sensory language. Exploration, appreciation and enjoyment in art and design enrich learners’ personal and public lives. They will be taught to design and make simple products by combining their designing and making skills. They will be encouraged to be creative and innovative in their designing and making while being made aware of issues relating to sustainability and environmental issues.

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Lesson Plans and Worksheets Browse by Subject - Kristina C., Special Education Teacher - Covina, CA Jasper Johns Teacher Resources Find Jasper Johns educational ideas and activities Students analyze the work of three artists whose art work illustrates important political and social events. In this art analysis lesson, students analyze the art of Jasper Johns, Charles Moore, and Andy Warhol. Students complete image based discussion and three related projects. Betsy Ross - fact and myth. As an introduction to American Literature, class members become detectives and search web sites to find information about the flag, prominent places it has been displayed (on the moon, at ground zero, in films, etc.), and treatment of the flag. A photo montage and a quiz are mentioned but not included. Students analyze three dimensional art that uses a variety of materials and is part of Minimalist art. In this art analysis lesson, students explore artists' choices for materials and their use of space. Students complete image based discussion and four related activities. Students analyze Pop artists and their art. For this art analysis lesson, students consider the choices and mediums Pop art artists Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, and Jasper Johns. Students make connections between culture and art by completing image based discussion. Students research prints and multiples created by Pop artists in the 1960s. Students select an everyday object and create a nontraditional self-portraits. First graders discover artists who used numerals in their artwork. Using chalk pastels, they experiment with what the medium can do to a new piece of art. They review warm and cool colors, the concept of overlapping and how to use stencils. They practice adding number sentences as well. Visual arts lessons don't always mean the children need to make art. Here, they will practice using their visual literacy skills to analyze four images through the compare and contrast method. The first two images deal with gender identity and portrait art, the second two utilize geometric parts to create a whole. Both sets of images are interesting and are sure to inspire great classroom discussions. Young art enthusiasts will create an imaginative animal painting, write a story, and hold a storytelling conference. Next, they research the inspiration of one piece of politically charged art. These three fun activities are inspired by the Sufi artist Gora Mbengue. Interesting background information on the artist, his philosophy, and art is included to kick-start these activities. Who was Andy Warhol? According to this slide show, he was one of the most famous artists in the world. Share a biographical, image-rich presentation as you cover the life of the grandfather of pop art. Note: This presentation would make a good example for learners to use as they set out to research other famous artists. Students analyze geographic maps. In this map analysis lesson, students analyze the symbols in geographic maps and the impact of cultural, historical, and political concepts. Students compare and contrast maps in various mediums by artists from varying backgrounds. Students complete image based discussion and related activities. Students analyze the folk art 'Flag Gate' and complete analysis activities it. In this art analysis lesson, students complete analysis of the folk art using the careful looking questions, discussion questions, and context questions. Students may also complete activities for the lesson. Sixth graders complete activities to demonstrate various math concepts in visual art. In this math concepts and line art instructional activity, 6th graders review optical illusions and complete a related worksheet. Students discuss symmetrical balance and create their own versions of line art. Students then discuss negative and positive space and create a composition incorporating symmetrical balance, color gradation, and positive and negative space. Students explore art of the 1950s. In this art history lesson, students examine works by Kofman, Groky, deKooning, Indiana, Hamilson, and Warhol as they identify the attributes of Abstract Impressionism and pop art. Students sketch selected examples of the art presented in the lesson. Eighth graders investigate modern-dance choreographer Merce Cunningham's historically significant contribution to dance-making history. Specifically, 8th graders explore and practice Merce Cunningham's choreographic use of chance operations (probability), through kinesthetic and movement exploration. Eleventh graders produce a work of art that symbolizes peace and their experiences with it. In this peace symbolism lesson, 11th graders sketch symbols associated with peace view art examples of peace images. Students complete a reflective writing activity and complete a project with peace imagery.

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As parents, most of us have heard how important it is to encourage a love of reading and writing early in our children’s developmental process. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines literacy as the “ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. (Source: www.unesco.org). The key to literacy is ones reading development that begins with comprehension of spoken words and the ability to decode written words. There are several tips that Literacy Connections.com has provided to encourage parents to become active in establishing a love of reading and writing in their children. Start to read to your children at a very young age. You don’t need to wait until your child is old enough to be read to. Literacy Connections recommends this habit of reading to your child start well before their first birthday. Make reading at bedtime a habit. This might take some time to get established but soon you will both be looking forward to this nightly habit. Have your child help pick out the books he/she would like to have in their regular rotation. This can be hard if they want you to read the same books over and over again – but your child will gain a lot from these repeated readings. Make it fun. Look at the pictures together and roar like a lion, squeak like a mouse or just be silly together looking at the illustrations. The more a child has a positive connection to reading the more likely they will continue reading on their own for enjoyment once they learn how to read. Make up new stories. The art of storytelling and writing is a wonderful skill that can be developed with practice. You can use pictures from children’s books or magazines and create a whole new story. (Source: www.literacyconnections.com) Programs that Support Literacy Some programs that support literacy include First Book and Jet Blue and PBS Kids “Soar with Reading” program – both provide books to low income families and communities who might not have the money to purchase books for their children or centers. Mrs. P, one of the most popular entertainment and educational sites for kids on the Internet, promote a love of reading and writing by hosting an annual Be-A-Famous Writer Contest that students from the ages of 4-13 years of age can enter. Kathy Kinney of the Drew Carey Show acts as Mrs. P and offers storytelling via You Tube. They work with teachers that make this writing contest a classroom project! The winners in the two categories 4-8 years of age and 9-13 years of age have their book professionally illustrated and made into a hard cover book. This year they are working with some top judges including Julia Roberts, Melina Gerosa Bellows, the VP and CCO of the National Geographic Kids and Mary Frances Smith Reynolds, a teacher. I had a chance to speak to Ms. Kinney who says that “she is convinced that children who read and exercise this skill will grow up to help solve problems and world affairs.” You can read more about the contest and what Mrs. P has to offer at www.mrsp.com. It is so wonderful to see organizations such as Jet Blue/PBS Kids “Soar with Reading” program and Mrs. P provide books and contests that encourage these important life skills. Literacy is a lifelong intellectual process that benefits individuals and the world around them! Originally posted on Mom It Forward: http://momitforward.com/literacy-love-reading-and-writing The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) www.unesco.org Literacy Connections: www.literacyconnections.com Mrs. P Be-A-Famous-Writer Contest: www.mrsp.com Jet Blue/PBS Kids “Soar with Reading” Program: www.soarwithreading.com FACEBOOK PARTY August 30th at 5:30 pm PST with Mrs. P! Come join us to celebrate the love of reading and storytelling with Mrs. P! She will be joining us on Penelope’s Facebook Page. We will also be handing out some goodies including a gift card, signed copies of books, original artwork, and more! See you then and tell your friends!

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How to Teach with Technology: Language Arts Students fire off ideas for using digital tools to learn language and literature. Credit: David Julian Check out these tips from students and educators for high tech teaching: "I think students would retain a lot more information if they made a video about the person they're studying or created an instant message dialogue in which they imagine a fictional conversation between characters, as opposed to just taking a test or writing an essay. "If every class could use some type of blog or Web page, students could post their questions and the teacher would be able to respond for the whole class to see. This means the teacher wouldn't have to answer the same question multiple times, and students would understand homework better. The class could use this blog in other ways, too. "For example, students could respond to a prompt on the blog for homework, or students could check their answers on the blog to review for a test. This site could also help a lot with students who are absent. In my math class, the teacher created a Web site where students can access all the worksheets. This is a big help to students, because they can complete makeup work more easily, and kids are always losing their worksheets." Every Picture Tells a Story "With Photo Story, you tell a story with pictures. You get pictures for your story, you add voice, and, as an option, you can put in effects or music. It helps me with voice and dialogue in my writing, which you need to keep your listener interested." Photo Story is a free application within the Windows XP operating system that allows users to create a digital presentation of sounds and images. Fifth-grade students at Denton Avenue School, in New Hyde Park, New York, use the program as part of the language arts curriculum. In a recent project, students wrote narratives about the teachers at their school. The added layers of images, timing, visual effects, and music help students think critically about narrative and audience. "Last year, my teacher used Skype in a different way. We read the book The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, by Chris Van Allsburg. We had to come up with a story about each picture in the book, and we worked on the stories with a class in Florida! We were able to work on stories with kids in an entirely different state without even getting on a plane." Skype is a simple way to conduct phone and video calls free of charge through the Internet. For a free download, visit Skype.com. Give Bios a Backbeat "Students could use Apple GarageBand to come up with a song for English class about their lives, instead of writing in a journal. If I were a teacher, I would first ask the students to write an entry about their life. Then I would ask them to add in words to make the song rhyme. I would also show them how to add beats, change their voice, and remix a favorite song and add it to their song. "This would give the students freedom, and it would help them work on their grammar skills. I would also advise teachers of other subjects to use this idea. For example, in social studies, we could use GarageBand to come up with a song about a famous historical person and write it as if the person were speaking during a year in which he or she lived. We could then take all the songs and burn them onto a CD so every student had a copy." "When I'm writing a story by myself in a Word document, I'm usually at a loss for what to say. I'm always going back and changing things or messing around with fonts. But when my friend and I use the online chat tool Google Talk, we make a story. Line by line, going back and forth, we add on to our crazy plots. "See, when you chat, you're not alone. Someone is always there to add on. Also, you cannot go back and change things. It keeps the story moving forward, and it's great for rough drafts. I think people could definitely use this in the classroom for creative writing. "Once you've made your chat, it can be automatically saved and you can easily print it out. When you want to edit the story, all you have to do is copy and paste it into a Word document. It's a way to work together, get out your ideas, and use technology." "I would use VoiceThread to record responses to poems. Kids think about poems differently than adults. VoiceThread helps kids express their thoughts easily and record their feelings, emotions, and understanding." VoiceThread is collaborative slide show software that allows users to contribute audio, images, and video. Students in Lisa Parisi and Christine Southard's fifth-grade class at Denton Avenue School use VoiceThread to recite poetry and voice their responses to literature as well as to connect with students around the world. For example, an ongoing project on their class Web site uses VoiceThread to share common phrases in dozens of languages. Study Homer with a Hedgehog "If we're studying Homer's Odyssey, I would like the opportunity to learn about it in ways other than just reading. For example, an opportunity to use movies, photographs, or games (such as Sonic Odyssey, which takes Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog character through Homer's Odyssey) would make learning more enjoyable and easier. Students could relate to the events a lot better and maximize what they get out of it. The option to create a digital presentation (a movie, cartoon, drawing, or online debate) for testing and homework purposes would make it even better." "For drawing, I use Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Flash. (I am not much of an artist, but they are the ones I like the most.) I recently found Doozla, and my five-year-old cousin loves to draw with it. For cartoons and comics, I use an application called Comic Life." The Mural of the Story "In art class, we made murals in groups. We wrote down a script about different aspects of our mural and then recorded audio tours using GarageBand. Then, we loaded the recordings onto iPods. We're going to display the murals with the iPods so people can listen to our audio tour." GarageBand is free software in the Macintosh operating system that encourages users to learn the basics of piano and guitar. It also allows you to record, mix, and edit multiple audio tracks. Visit GarageBand online for explanations and tutorials. Sara Bernard is a former staff writer and multimedia producer at Edutopia. Go back to the main article, "How to Teach with Technology."

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AYU RIA WULANDARI, DYAH (2006) THE ROLE OF STORY TELLING IN IMPROVING THE FIFTH YEAR STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENTAT SDN BANJAREJO KEDIRI. Other thesis, University of Muhammadiyah Malang. Download (82Kb) | Preview Now, Indonesia has special attention in English teaching. It has been proven by giving the English subject to elementary school students. The Decree of Ministry of Education and Culture (R.I/No 0487/4/1992, Chapter VIII) states that an elementary school can include extra lessons in its curriculum as long as they are not in contradiction with the objectives of national education. One of the language components to be given to the learners is vocabulary. It is written in the English syllabus that they have to master 500 words by the end of Elementary School year, 150 words for the fourth grade/class, 150 words for fifth and 200 words for sixth respectively. Teaching English vocabulary to young learners is not easy. Teacher must have many ideas. The introduction of the review of vocabulary items should be carried by means of instructional media and oral presentation. Picture and the media support meaning. One way to make English more interesting is storytelling that can be used to increase student’s vocabulary. This study used an experimental method because it was intended to know the better method of teaching vocabulary for young learners. The subject in the study was fifth year students of elementary school in SD BANJAREJO KEDIRI. The number of this grade was 30 students. Then the writer divided them into two groups randomly, a half of the students as an experimental group and the other half of the students as control group. The instrument of this study was vocabulary test. The type of vocabulary test was multiple choices. This study focuses on investigating whether or not telling story in vocabulary teaching improves the students’ vocabulary achievement. Therefore, to find out whether or not there is difference between the two groups (experiment and control groups) in the case of vocabulary achievement, t-test formula is used. The finding is, then, interpreted by utilizing the table of significance of t-table. The result of computation shows that the counted t is 2.944, which exceeds 2.048 at .05 and 2.763 at .01 level of significance. It means that the alternative hypothesis is accepted. From the result, it can be stated that teaching vocabulary by using storytelling is more effective than teaching vocabulary without story telling. Therefore, story telling is worthwhile applying in the teaching of vocabulary for young learners. |Item Type:||Thesis (Other)| |Subjects:||L Education > L Education (General)| |Divisions:||Faculty of Teacher Training and Education > Department of English| |Depositing User:||Rayi Tegar Pamungkas| |Date Deposited:||31 May 2012 02:39| |Last Modified:||31 May 2012 02:39| Actions (login required)

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Earth Day is Everyday by Donna M. Duresne Director, Ragged Hill Woods 4-H Environmental Education Program, Brooklyn CT Young people are increasingly aware of an concerned about the environment. As parents, teachers, and day care providers, we can help them to explore the outdoors and develop their environmental awareness. The iridescent wings of a Japanese Beetle; a spider's web draped in dew; the inconspicuous hole made by a meadow vole, are some of the magical discoveries children can make in their own backyard. Their enthusiasm for the smallest details can be infectious. Sharing the outdoors with children heightens our own awareness and inspires young people to nurture a sense of respect for the world in which they live. The following activities can be accomplished in a backyard setting, or a city park. Most can be duplicated in an urban area. Wilderness is not necessary to the discovery of wildness! ACTIVITIES AGES 3-5 ACTIVITIES AGES 5-7 ACTIVITIES AGES 7-9 Besides the activities above, day care providers can help to cultivate a healthy environmental attitude by separating and recycling trash, and composting food scraps. Young people can be encouraged to swap old toys and to hand down their clothes rather than discard them. Choose an animal or habitat of the month to study and talk about and Native American Storytelling resources for outdoor activities with young people, but first, read Rachel Carson's book A Sense of Wonder!. Baylor, Byrd, The Other Way to Listen. Charles Scribner's Sons, N.Y. Caduto, Michael J. and Bruchac, Joseph, Keepers of the Earth. Folcrum Press, 1988, Golden CO. Columbe, Deborah A. The Seaside Naturalist: A Guide To Nature Study at The Seashore. Prentice-Hall, Inc., NJ, 1984. Cornell, Joseph Bharat, Sharing Nature With Children. Ananda Publications, 1979. Hunken, Jorie, Botany For All Ages (Discovering Nature Through Activities Using Plants). Globe-Pequot Press, Chester CT, 1989. Sisson, Edith A., Nature With Children Of All Ages. Prentice-Hall Inc., 1982, NJ. Rockwell, Robert E., Sherwood, Elizabeth A., & Williams, Robert A., Hug A Tree: And Other Things To Do Outdoors With Young Children. Gryphon House Inc.,1986, MD.

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Childcare workers nurture and teach children of all ages in childcare centers, nursery schools, preschools, public schools, private households, family childcare homes, and before- and afterschool programs. These workers play an important role in a child’s development by caring for the child when parents are at work or away for other reasons. Some parents enroll their children in nursery schools or childcare centers primarily to provide them with the opportunity to interact with other children. In addition to attending to children’s basic needs, these workers organize activities that stimulate the children’s physical, emotional, intellectual, and social growth. They help children to explore their interests, develop their talents and independence, build self-esteem, and learn how to get along with others. Private household workers who are employed on an hourly basis usually are called babysitters. These childcare workers bathe, dress, and feed children; supervise their play; wash their clothes; and clean their rooms. They also may put them to bed and waken them, read to them, involve them in educational games, take them for doctors’ visits, and discipline them. Those who are in charge of infants, sometimes called infant nurses, also prepare bottles and change diapers. Nannies generally take care of children from birth to age 10 or 12, tending to the child’s early education, nutrition, health, and other needs. They also may perform the duties of a general housekeeper, including general cleaning and laundry duties. Childcare workers spend most of their day working with children. However, they do maintain contact with parents or guardians through informal meetings or scheduled conferences to discuss each child’s progress and needs. Many childcare workers keep records of each child’s progress and suggest ways in which parents can stimulate their child’s learning and development at home. Some preschools, childcare centers, and before- and after-school programs actively recruit parent volunteers to work with the children and participate in administrative decisions and program planning. Most childcare workers perform a combination of basic care and teaching duties. Through many basic care activities, childcare workers provide opportunities for children to learn. For example, a worker who shows a child how to tie a shoelace teaches the child while also providing for that child’s basic care needs. Childcare programs help children to learn about trust and to gain a sense of security. Young children learn mainly through play. Recognizing the importance of play, childcare workers build their program around it. They capitalize on children’s play to further language development (storytelling and acting games), improve social skills (working together to build a neighborhood in a sandbox), and introduce scientific and mathematical concepts (balancing and counting blocks when building a bridge or mixing colors when painting). Thus, a less structured approach is used to teach preschool children, including small-group lessons, one-on-one instruction, and learning through creative activities, such as art, dance, and music. Interaction with peers is an important part of a child’s early development. Preschool children in childcare centers have an opportunity to engage in conversation and discussions, and to learn to play and work cooperatively with their classmates. Childcare workers play a vital role in preparing children to build the skills they will need in school. (Teacher assistants as well as teachers—preschool, kindergarten, elementary, middle, and secondary school are discussed elsewhere in the Handbook.) Childcare workers in preschools greet young children as they arrive, help them to remove outer garments, and select an activity of interest. When caring for infants, they feed and change them. To ensure a well-balanced program, childcare workers prepare daily and long-term schedules of activities. Each day’s activities balance individual and group play, and quiet and active time. Children are given some freedom to participate in activities in which they are interested. Concern over school-age children being home alone before and after school has spurred many parents to seek alternative ways for their children to constructively spend their time. The purpose of before- and afterschool programs is to watch over school-age children during the gap between school hours and their parents’ work hours. These programs also may operate during the summer and on weekends. Workers in before- and after-school programs may help students with their homework or engage them in other extracurricular activities. These activities may include field trips, learning about computers, painting, photography, and participating in sports. Some childcare workers may be responsible for taking children to school in the morning and picking them up from school in the afternoon. Before- and afterschool programs may be operated by public school systems, local community centers, or other private organizations. Helping to keep young children healthy is an important part of the job. Childcare workers serve nutritious meals and snacks and teach good eating habits and personal hygiene. They ensure that children have proper rest periods. They identify children who may not feel well or who show signs of emotional or developmental problems and discuss these matters with their supervisor and the child’s parents. In some cases, childcare workers help parents to locate programs that will provide basic health services. Early identification of children with special needs—such as those with behavioral, emotional, physical, or learning disabilities—is important to improve their future learning ability. Special education teachers often work with these preschool children to provide the individual attention they need. (Special education teachers are discussed elsewhere in the Handbook.)

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Redirected from Alexander Pushkin He pioneered the use of vernacular speech in his poems and plays. He created a style of storytelling, mixing drama, romance and satire, that has been associated with Russian literature ever since and greatly influenced later Russian writers. His Romantic contemporaries were Byron and Goethe, and he was influenced by the satire of Voltaire and by the tragedies of Shakespeare. Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin was born in Moscow on May 26, 1799. His father was a descendant of one of the Russian gentry's oldest families, while his mother was the grand-daughter of Ibraham Petrovich Gannibal[?], a slave from Abyssinia (Ethiopia) who became the adopted godchild and Engineer-General of Peter the Great. Pushkin published his first poem at fifteen. By the time he finished as part of the first graduating class of the prestigious Imperial Lyceum in Tsarskoe Selo[?], he was already seen as a force on the Russian literary scene. After finishing school, Pushkin installed himself in the vibrant and raucous intellectual youth culture of the capital, St. Petersburg. When his political satire was deemed seditious, however, he was exiled to south Russia, where from 1820 to 1823 he wrote two poems which brought him wide acclaim, The Captive of the Caucasus and The Fountain of Bakhchisaray. The latter was finished in Odessa, where he transferred to resume his cosmopolitan and promiscuous lifestyle. Puskin's political leanings led to his virtual imprisonment on his mother's estate in north Russia from 1824 to 1826. He was allowed to visit Tsar Nicholas I to petition for his release, which was granted. But his early political poems had been found among the insurgents in the Decembrist Uprising[?] in St. Petersburg, and soon Pushkin found himself under the strict control of government censors and unable to travel or publish at will. He had written what was to be his most famous play, the drama Boris Godunov, while at his mother's estate, but was not allowed to publish it until five years later. Later, Pushkin and his wife, whom he married in 1830, became regulars of court society. When Pushkin was given an honorary title by the Tsar, he became enraged, feeling this was done simply so that his wife, who had many admirers--including the Tsar himself--could properly attend court balls. In 1837, falling into greater and greater debt while his wife was having a scandalous affair, Pushkin challenged her lover to a duel which left both men injured, Pushkin mortally. He died two days later, on January 29, 1837. The government feared a political demonstration at his funeral, which was moved to a smaller location and made open only to high society members. His body was spirited away secretly at midnight and buried at his mother's estate. Critics have labelled many Pushkin works as masterpieces, including the poem The Bronze Horseman and the drama The Stone Guest, a tale of the fall of Don Juan. Pushkin's own favorite was his verse novel Eugene Onegin, which he wrote over the course of his life and which, starting a tradition of great Russian novels, follows a few central characters but varies widely in tone and focus. Perhaps because of his political influence on generations of Russian rebels, Pushkin was one of only a few Russian pre-Revolutionary writers who escaped condemnation by the Bolsheviks during their attacks on bourgeois literature and culture.

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The only chance many of today's students have to learn the traits of solid character is from a caring, committed teacher. But do you know how to teach them? Included: Five steps to teaching character traits. The teacher read Alfred's misbehavior report and shook her head. It was his third playground citation this week and like the others, it was about his derogatory comments. "Alfred, you can't keep saying negative things to people," she explained. "You've got to start acting more respectfully." "I'll try," he sadly responded. "It's just that I don't know what respectfully means." Teachers everywhere are voicing a concern: far too many of their students do not know the meaning of critical character traits. As a result, a growing number of students are failing in a core subject needed for successful living: solid character. Psychologists tell us that one way students learn character traits is by watching others do things right. Recall just a few incidents children have seen recently on national television -- professional baseball players spitting in umpire's faces, a champion boxer biting a chunk off his opponent's ear, Super Bowl Sunday events requiring airing delays because of what an entertainer might reveal to the kiddies. Then there is the litany of national scandals involving everyone from politicians to priests to corporate officials to teachers. Now ask yourself, "To whom are your students looking to learn sound character traits?" The answer is troubling. The breakdown of appropriate role models certainly is not the only reason for the decline in character development. Dr. Thomas Lickona, author of Character Matters, cites an increase in ten troubling youth trends in our society that point to an overall moral decline: violence and vandalism, stealing, cheating, disrespect for authority, peer cruelty, bigotry, bad language, sexual precocity and abuse, increasing self-centeredness and declining civic responsibility, and self-destruction. It's yet another reason why so many of today's students lack solid character. The fact is that school might very well be the last beacon of hope for many students. Where else will they have a chance to understand the value of a trait called "responsibility" or "caring" or "respect" or "cooperation?" Where else will they have the opportunity to watch someone model those traits appropriately? Where else but from a caring, committed teacher will many of today's students have a chance to learn the traits of solid character? How do we help students develop strong character? The answer is found in this premise: Character traits are learned; therefore we can teach them. It means that educators have tremendous power because they can teach students critical character traits. But building students' character involves a few steps. No matter what character trait you choose to enhance -- perseverance, determination, empathy, responsibility, respect, caring, or another -- there are five minimum steps to teaching it. The steps can be integrated easily into your lesson plans, but each is equally important to ensure that your students develop stronger character. The five teaching steps are: Step 1. Accentuate a Character Trait The first step to teaching any new character trait is simply to accentuate it to students. Many schools have found that emphasizing a different character trait each month can be a successful, practical first step approach. When everyone at your site is reinforcing and modeling the same trait, students are more likely to learn that character trait. As each new character trait is introduced, a student campaign committee can start a blitz, creating banners, signs, and posters to hang up around the school to convince other students of the trait's merit. Four of the simplest ways to accentuate a character trait are: Step 2. Tell the Value and Meaning of the Trait The second step in teaching a character trait is to convey to students exactly what the trait means and why it is important to learn. Explain the trait to students within their realm of experiences; never assuming they've been exposed to the trait. Many have not. Ways to define new traits to students include: Step 3. Teach What the Trait Looks and Sounds Like There is no perfect way to teach the trait, but research on teaching new skills says telling students hw to do the behavior is not nearly as important as showing them the behavior. You can make a significant difference by modeling the trait and making your character education lessons as concrete as possible. Three ways you can do that are: Step 4. Provide Opportunities to Practice the Trait Generally students must be provided with frequent opportunities to practice the new behaviors. Learning theory tell us it generally takes 21 days of practice before a new behavior is acquired. This is an important rule to keep in mind as you try these activities with your students. Three ways you can help students review their character progress are: Step 5. Provide Effective Feedback, The final step in teaching any character trait is to reinforce to students appropriate or incorrect trait behavior as soon as convenient. Doing so helps clarify to the student: "You're on the right track; keep it up," or "Almost, but this is what to do instead." Catching students doing a behavior wrong before it becomes a bad habit increases the student's chances of acquiring more positive character traits. Here are a few reminders about giving effective feedback: With the growing number of today's students lacking solid character development, it is imperative that schools incorporate ongoing character education. Keep in the mind, the best character lessons are ones that blend naturally into your existing plans. There are endless ways to use literature, videos, music, quotations, news articles, and historical figures that embody the themes of strong character. Perhaps the simplest way to enhance your students' character development is to accentuate a character trait each month. Doing so optimizes students' chances of developing solid character they'll use not only now, but for the rest of their lives. Above all, never forget your own impact on your students' character development. You do make a difference!

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Common Core Standard 7 for Reading presents teachers with many possibilities for mixing all kinds of art forms with literature. Music, photography, painting, sculpture, and many other media are easily brought into the classroom today because of the internet…the important thing is to use these resources heuristically. 7. Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment (e.g., Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts” and Breughel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus). Teaching students to analyze subjects or scenes in comparative forms gives us an opportunity to explore with them the traditions of storytelling—the many and various ways stories can be told and have been told throughout history. Poetry, short stories, plays, and even novels and epic tales have important connections to art and present new, thoughtful ways to analyze and evaluate themes. To start, you might explore the J. Paul Getty Museum’s “Telling Stories in Art” website where you will find a wide variety of art to connect to literature as well as lesson plans and other resources. The Getty Museum’s stated goal here directly supports standard seven: “To build students’ awareness of how stories can be told visually and how artists use color, line, gesture, composition, and symbolism to tell a story.” These lessons encourage students to think critically about how writers use particular elements to tell stories compared to how artists tell stories similarly but with different elements such as color, line, and gesture. In the Classroom Though it is listed for grades 6-8, the lesson titled “Painting Europa” is especially useful for our purposes of meeting standard seven. Integrating technology effectively means teaching students to apply it heuristically—to discover ideas and to solve problems. Try approaching the lesson with students this way: Tell students to imagine they are editors for an online, multimedia textbook that will include an illustration for a selection from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Two paintings are being considered. Students must submit their choices along with a brief explanation as to why the chosen painting best illustrates the selection. Expand further by having them also choose music to accompany the selection. You might pair them and have each team create a wiki with the chosen text, images, and music. Try wikispaces…it’s an excellent tool for online classroom collaboration. I hope you find the resources at the J. Paul Getty Museum and at Wikispaces useful. Standard seven is one we can easily revisit often and technology affords us the ability to make each activity meaningful and beneficial to our students.

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The Victorian Era was in many ways like our own. It was the first age of consumerism, and the Industrial Revolution was the forerunner of the current Technological Revolution. New discoveries and inventions revolutionised manufacturing processes in the Victorian age. Railways and steamships made travel faster and cheaper, rapidly shrinking the world. Mass production and increased international trade made more and more products available and affordable. And with the growth in industry and trade, the middle classes grew in number and wealth, and wanted to buy as much as possible of what was on offer. Yet while the Middle Classes prospered in the Victorian era, the working class did not. Work in factories, sweat-shops and mines was dirty and dangerous; hours were long and poorly paid. Children had to work, in order for families to survive, and working conditions were often worse for children than they were for their parents. Towns and cities grew quickly to house the workers, but much of the housing was poor quality and overcrowded. Vast slum areas sprung up, putting pressures on water supplies and the disposal of waste. Coal fires and factories filled the air with smoke and other pollutants. The reaction to living conditions and the gap between the haves and have-nots generated rebellion and revolt in many parts of Europe, as people fought for basic human rights. These first lines from “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens are certainly amongst the best openings to a novel ever written. But not only do they set the tone and atmosphere of the book and give a flavor of what is to come, they also capture a taste of the challenges and uncertainties of the Victorian era. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way...” Nowhere were these contradictions in Society more obvious than in the Morality of the Victorians. They say the Victorians invented Childhood, treating the child as someone who needed to be protected and nurtured, and yet children as young as five were working in mines and factories, quite legally, during much of Queen Victoria’s long reign. Women too, in the middle-class household were regarded almost as saints, “protected” from anything that might offend or morally corrupt. Yet they were often little more than prisoners in their own homes with few freedoms in terms of what they could own or how they could behave, and outside the home, prostitution and pornography were rife. We also know that drugs were readily available in Victorian times. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes injects cocaine when there are no stimulating cases to occupy his mind, much to the disapproval of Dr Watson. Opium dens also feature in Dickens’ “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” and Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” Yet the real drugs “problem” in Victorian times was not with the illicit drugs that they frowned upon, but the propriety medicines they consumed in great quantities. Numerous popular household remedies and tonics contained substantial amounts of opium and yet could be bought over the counter. These included “Dr Collis Browne’s Chlorodyne” a general nerve tonic, “Dover’s Powder” used to treat a wide variety of common complaints and “Godfrey's Cordial” which was commonly given to children and infants to “help” them sleep. Opium and a range of other drugs were also used by brewers to strengthen beer Opium Dens were publically condemned and the smoking of opium was seen as a mainly Oriental vice, though few questioned the fact that China had been forced into accepting opium by the British. The wealthier classes in Victorian England had an almost insatiable demand for tea, silk, porcelain, and manufactured goods from China, but had nothing that the Chinese wanted to trade in return. So the East India Company began sending them opium until addiction was rife. The Chinese government resisted the trade, writing to Queen Victoria asking her to stop it. Eventually they dumped 20,000 chests of opium in the sea. Britain’s response was to go to war with China and impose the drug trade. My first novel “Avon Street,” is set in Bath in 1850. In writing it I have tried to bring the Victorian era to life, with all its contradictions and its similarities to modern life. “Avon Street” takes the reader on a journey behind the fine Georgian facades of Bath to expose the darker side of the city. It’s there that James Daunton has to fight for his life. His survival depends on the help of others, but who can he trust – the gentleman, the actress, the seamstress, the doctor, the priest, or the thief? – and how far can he trust them? Paul Emanuelli Paul Emanuelli was born in Stoke-on-Trent, of Welsh parents and Italian grand- parents. He went to University in Cardiff and stayed in Wales for a few years before moving to Shropshire and then toSomerset. He is married and has two children who have now flown the nest. Paul studied creative writing for several years at his local further educationcollege and on occasional courses at Bath University, concentrating at first on short stories. He was a prize winner in the short story competition at the Wells Literary Festival in 2004. "Avon Street" is his first novel. It is set in Victorian Bath in 1850, a city which by then was in decline. Going behind the Georgian facades beloved of innumerable period dramas, it exposes a city rife with poverty, crime and hypocrisy. Paul is now working on a second historical novel, also based in Somerset. Visit Paul Emanuelli's site

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Lesson Plans and Worksheets Browse by Subject Critical Thinking Skills Teacher Resources Find Critical Thinking Skills educational ideas and activities Turn your 6th graders into detectives while growing their love of reading. Using critical thinking skills, they will be able to describe the five basic elements of detective fiction, read detective novels, make predictions, use the scientific method, and write their own detective story. This engaging activity includes all plans and questions. Get your young scientists excited about geology through the study of dinosaur tracks! They will use their power of observation to learn how tracks are made and use critical thinking strategies to suggest a scenario in which they were made. The suggested inquiry activity could be whole group or individual projects. They will be assessed on inference and sequence of events. While this lesson isn't detailed, the ideas for outcomes are very strong and highly engaging. What is a haibun? With this interesting activity, writers will experience the Japanese writing form haibun, identify elements important to Japanese writing styles, analyze a haibun, and compose their own. Different from the typical journal you'd see in the West, the goal of this style is to condense and intimate, rather than expand and explain. Critical thinking is promoted with this challenge. Chapters 28 – 31 of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird are the focus of a series of critical thinking questions. Responders are encouraged to refer directly to the novel to support their inferences and interpretations. Consider dividing the questions amoung groups and then having them share their findings with the whole class. What are the structures in cells and what are their functions? Budding biologists discover the answers to these questions through an in-depth examination of cells and organelles. Using the 5E learning cycle, learners explore the types of organelles using an electron microscope, research, draw, and describe the function of each one, explain how different cell types make up different kingdoms, then design and execute an experiment to determine the effect of pH on algae. Students develop critical thinking and awareness about the complexity of natural resource use, wealth distribution, population densities, poverty, and the environment. They think about people living in different parts of the world and about the varying effects of population vs. consumption in rich and poor countries. Students integrate Author and Biography study with Students personal perspective. They make connections between research and creative writing. Students enrich research and critical thinking skills. They encourage students to think about and develop their own life stories. Experiment with electric circuits and conductivity. Young scientists will model and discuss how an electric circuit works. First they will draw a model of the flow of electrons and then build an actual circuit. Finally, they will explain the circuit path and test the conductivity of a variety of materials. They use critical thinking skills to explore circuits and conductivity of materials. Be sure to check the materials list before planning for this activity. Experimental data for a chemical reaction is available in a table. Chemistry cohorts use critical thinking skills to analyze the data and answer questions about reaction rates and reaction order. This activity is neatly formatted, user-friendly, and comprehensive in its coverage of these concepts. Assign it as homework when covering reaction rates. Where does an electron reside? Chemistry scholars determine an electron's "address," that is, what orbital it can be found in. This resource is both instructional and practical, providing a thorough explanation of energy levels and orbitals, as well as several critical thinking challenge questions. Consider using this as a foundation for teaching these chemistry concepts.

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Literacy is changing–not at its core necessarily, but certainly at its edges as it expands to include new kinds of “reading.” Digital media is quickly replacing traditional media forms as those most accessible to most 21st century learners. The impact of this change is extraordinarily broad, but for now we’ll narrow it down to changes in how learners respond to the media they consume. The most fundamental pattern of formal academia is to read something and then write about it. Sometimes this writing comes in the form of responding to questions, while other time it’s in the form of an essay. And sometimes the reading is watching, playing with, or otherwise interacting with a digital media. So I thought it might make sense to compile a list of “things” learners can do as the result of “consuming” a digital media. Some of these tasks will look familiar, especially to English teachers. But it needn’t be only for them.The Common Core standards call for literacy efforts across content areas, and while much of the list below is indeed English Teacher oriented, it might help all educators see the fundamental ways media are changing. Also, I know that medium is the singular form and media the plural, but to me the connotation of the word medium hints at the form (e.g., film, text, video), whereas the media seems more apt to refer to a specific example of a media form (Schindler’s List, The Odyssey, Charlie Bit Me). Hopefully this grammatical “error” isn’t too confusing. You also might notice that many of them apply to both traditional and digital media. That is by design. I’ll be updating this list, revising it to add better examples, alter clunky phrasing, and so on. So, below are 50 ways teachers across content areas–and homeschooled learners too–can promote digital media literacy. I may even categorize them roughly by Bloom’s Taxonomy. Overall, these are specific, practical, and rigorous tasks that will place a cognitive demand on the student, and can be used as a go-to list for teachers to bridge formal academic study with the new demands of digital media. 50 Activities To Promote Digital Media Literacy In Students - Infer the author’s purpose. - Distinguish between primary and secondary audiences. - Summarize the media by identifying its 3-5 most important ideas or events. - Identify and diagram the literary elements (e.g., setting, characters, conflict, etc.) - Identify and analyze characters as major or minor; flat or round; static or dynamic; symbolic or non; protagonist, antagonist, or neither. - Analyze the relationship between character and plot development. - Identify obvious and non-obvious literary devices. - Infer what an author’s position on issue X might be after consuming an otherwise unrelated media (Infer what Emily Dickinson’s position on social media might be given only a reading of her poetry—or the themes of a single poem). - Revise and repackage a given media so that it is optimized for another platform (e.g., an essay to a YouTube video to a blog post to a Jux.com image to an infographic, etc.) - Debate the author’s choice in publishing platform. - Analyze the structure of the media, and determine its impact on its purpose. - Evaluate the medium for relevant ideas that were left unsaid. - Revise the media for a new audience. - Create a graphical representation of the relationship between the text and subtext of the media, and include evidence from the text to support any response. - Anticipate the cause-effect relationship between various self-selected media elements by altering them (e.g., revising the diction would impact the audience this way, revising the structure would impact the available publishing platforms this way, etc.) - Evaluate the impact of the publishing platform (e.g., blog, storify, YouTube, etc.) on the purpose and tone. - Experiment with new chronological styles of narrative or argument sequence, and analyze the effect of each. - Recreate the media from another perspective (another character, a different narrator, etc.) - Design a “modal antithesis,” where some or all of a medium’s given modalities are revised to their opposites (e.g., identify the basic structure and tone of “Southern Man” by Neil Young, and revise it to create their respective opposites). - Estimate the stage of the writing process that was most crucial to the media’s success. - Design or outline an app to supplement a given media’s purpose. - Based on some important and self-selected element of this text, what does it make sense to consume next? - Critique or defend the sequence of ideas (idea organization). - Judge where supporting details are inadequate to support the thesis or theme. - Identify the ways making a selected media social impacts its use of the writing process. - Interpret the themes, tone, or other media component through a given critical position (e.g., Predict what John Locke would’ve said about the possibility of mobile learning given his stance on human consciousness). - Experiment with various syntactical styles, and analyze the effect of any changes in a basic diagram. - Analyze the ratio of pathos, ethos, and logos in the media. - Evaluate only the credibility of a piece, and identify three ways it might be improved. - Alter the ratio of pathos/ethos/logos in the media, and analyze the impact of any changes. - Analyze the relationship between the sound, color, text features, and text. - Critique or defend the author’s choice in diction. - Prioritize the implicit and explicit ideas for their immediate relevance for a given context. - Analyze the media to extract the theme. - Criticize or defend a given media’s form (e.g., this book would’ve been better as an app for this reason) - Criticize or defend the media’s balance of substance and whimsy. - Separate the information the media offers that’s new and what’s been heard before. - Concept-map the thesis and primary and secondary supporting details. - Propose sources that would improve over stated sources cited (e.g., these three sources would’ve improved the overall credibility of the media). - Identify the three modalities most critical to the media’s purpose. - Question the media’s brevity, intensity, or duration. - Analyze the tone, and identify the primary contributors to that tone. - Identify the most visual, most useful, and most natural methods of sharing a given media, and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each. - Determine the most elegant, most useful, and most natural methods of curating a given media, and analyze the impact of each. - Discuss the relationship between the media’s style, the author’s style, and the apparent audience. - Describe the relationship between the tone and mood. - Analyze the relationship and/or tension between implicit and explicit themes. - Image the most logical follow-up media creation based on a self-selected and stated purpose or goal. (e.g., based on the author’s goal of increasing awareness of pancreatic cancer, a natural follow up to this blog post would be…) - Design an innovative diagram that analyzes the media in concept map form. - Collect and categorize convergent elements of divergent media (e.g., a tweet, poem, video game, and folk song with similar tone but clearly divergent structures). Image attribution flickr user flickeringbrad

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Children and the Media (page 2) Today, all members of our society are influenced both directly and indirectly by powerful media vehicles, including printed materials, television, sound recordings, and the Internet. Publicists, promoters, and sales personnel have at some point used all of these media to advocate what people should wear, what they should eat, and what values they should hold. Vivid colors and language tell us what is happening in the world and how to react to the events shown. Although much of our society’s media seems dominated by superficial chitchat, hyped news events, and depictions of violence, it is also a source of education, humor, and nonviolent entertainment. Just remember that the effect of media will vary with a child’s age and stage of development. Most realize that although the different media forms can be used elegantly for mediated learning, their major objectives are entertainment and product promotion. In the following section, we discuss what we broadly term the entertainment industry in its role as a general, society-wide influence on young children. We first discuss two of its primary forms, print and television, and then treat other current media under the rubric of the industry in general. The kind of books and other print media that children read and have read to them influences and supports their emotional, social, and intellectual development both directly and indirectly. Print materials, such as books, magazines, and newspapers, reach the child indirectly, through parents, caregivers, and teachers, and directly, such as when children participate in a library presentation or select particular publications to buy or borrow. The printed material made available to children implies the values of the home, school, and community (Aldridge & Kirkland, 2006). Print media affect children’s development indirectly through the publications their parents read. Books and magazines inform adults how to lead healthy and productive lives and proclaim the dangers of unhealthy practices. Advertising affects the types of clothing, food, and (especially) toys bought for children. Some toys engage children’s imagination and are designed for groups of children playing together. Other toys are more suitable for children playing alone. Children’s potential for social and intellectual development is affected by which type of toy adults are motivated to buy. Studies on early literacy indicate that the amount and types of printed materials that adults have in the home, as well as how adults interact with these materials around children, affect the children’s interest and literacy achievement (Desmond, 2001). From the books that adults read to children, children internalize attitudes, feelings, and biases about their own and other cultures. Zach, in the chapter’s opening vignette, had a chance to express aggression in acceptable ways through Three Billy Goats Gruff. He was influenced in the kind of clothes he wanted by the story Max’s Dragon Shirt. Books, like peers, provide children with a vision of their world that sometimes reaffirms their own lives and sometimes challenges their perspectives. Television’s substantial impact on all growing children began in the 1950s with the proliferation of TV sets. Three generations of children have been raised with TV, and very different role models, interaction modes, and experiences are now visited on American youth. Today, more than 99% of American households contain at least one television set, and children start the viewing process early even before they reach 2 years of age. Conservative estimates are that preschool children watch nearly 3.5 hours of TV per day (Gentile & Walsh, 2002), and this average continues through age 18 (Singer & Singer, 2001). In the 21st century, however, television viewing is becoming somewhat diminished because of increased use of computer games and the Internet, and also because children now spend more time in child-care, school, and after-school-care programs. Television influences children in direct proportion to both time spent viewing and the overall effect of what is viewed (American Academy of Pediatrics, 1990). Certainly, eating habits, family interactions, and use of leisure time are considerably influenced by television (Hewlett & West, 2005; Horgen, 2005; Winn, 2002). Commercials take up 12 to 14 minutes of every hour of television, and in that time, advertisers try to influence viewers with all types of consumerism. Schools and parents are far behind advertisers in finding the most effective ways of using media. Children are especially susceptible to electronic media, and televised advertising has a huge effect. Heavy viewers are drawn to the advertised products, including unhealthy food products, and they tend to eat more snack foods and be overweight. Social interactions are also affected: Heavy viewers hold more traditional sex-role attitudes, behave more aggressively, are less socially competent, and perform more poorly in school compared to light or nonviewers. (Arendell, 1997; Desmond, 2001). Not all TV advertising is negative, of course. There have been efforts through TV to modify behaviors such as smoking, drunken driving, and poor nutritional habits (Van Evra, 2004). How children are affected by both positive and negative advertisements also depends on such factors as parent–child interactions, how children are disciplined, and even to some degree on social–economic factors (Strasburger & Wilson, 2002). Advertising is not the only way in which television influences viewers. Two additional, concerns about the effects of television are the amount of violence, in both commercials and programs, and the amount of time children’s television watching takes away from more creative and intellectual pursuits. Research on the impact of television viewing on academic achievement indicates that such influence is complex in nature. Television viewing takes time away from important social interactions, such as conversation, storytelling, imaginative play, and for primary-school children, the leisure reading that promotes literacy. We must remember, however, that the amount of viewing, the kind of programs watched, IQ, and socioeconomic status are all factors that affect children’s attitude and achievement (Gunter, Harrison, & Wykes, 2003; Winn, 2002). © ______ 2008, Merrill, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The reproduction, duplication, or distribution of this material by any means including but not limited to email and blogs is strictly prohibited without the explicit permission of the publisher. - Coats and Car Seats: A Lethal Combination? - Kindergarten Sight Words List - Signs Your Child Might Have Asperger's Syndrome - Child Development Theories - GED Math Practice Test 1 - 10 Fun Activities for Children with Autism - Social Cognitive Theory - Why is Play Important? Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development, Creative Development - The Homework Debate - Problems With Standardized Testing

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This is the question we parents are always trying to answer. It's good that children ask questions: that's the best way to learn. All children have two wonderful resources for learning-- imagination and curiosity. As a parent, you can awaken your children to the joy of learning by encouraging their imagination and curiosity. Helping Your Child Use the Library is one in a series of books on different education topics intended to help you make the most of your child's natural curiosity. Teaching and learning are not mysteries that can only happen in school. They also happen when parents and children do simple things together. For instance, you and your child can: sort the socks on laundry day--sorting is a major function in math and science; cook a meal together--cooking involves not only math and science but good health as well; tell and read each other stories--storytelling is the basis for reading and writing (and a story about the past is also history); or play a game of hopscotch together--playing physical games will help your child learn to count and start on a road to lifelong fitness. By doing things together, you will show that learning is fun and important. You will be encouraging your child to study, learn, and stay in school. All of the books in this series tie in with the National Education Goals set by the President and the Governors. The goals state that, by the year 2000: every child will start school ready to learn; at least 90 percent of all students will graduate from high school; each American student will leave 4th, 8th, and 12th grades demonstrating competence in core subjects; U.S. students will be first in the world in math and science achievement; every American adult will be literate, will have the skills necessary to compete in a global economy, and will be able to exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship; and American schools will be liberated from drugs and violence so they can focus on learning. This book is a way for you to help meet these goals. It will give you a short rundown on facts, as well as many simple, fun activities for you and your child to do together. As U.S. Education Secretary Lamar Alexander has said: The first teachers are the parents, both by example and conversation. But don't think of it as teaching. Think of it as fun. So, let's get started. I invite you to find activities in this book that fit the needs of your child and try them. and Counselor to the Secretary

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Story Common Narrative Structures and How to Reproduce Them Foundations • first theory of narrative formulated by Aristotle in The Poetics • his theory is still the basis of all mainstream storytelling • came up with “Beginning, Middle, End” (What does this really mean?) According to The Poetics: • the beginning is that which has no cause, and causes other things • the middle is that which has a cause, and also causes other things • the end is that which has a cause, and causes nothing else Two important observations: • the basic relation in narrative is cause and effect • causal relations are filtered by relevance (seems obvious, but this is belied by the existence of crap) • relevance implies that causation is not merely physical, but psychological • characters are provoked, do stuff which provokes other characters Conflict • protagonist wants something, can’t get it • usually because some other character wants the opposite • or an impersonal situation prevents it Result: characters act against one another, or against their situation (again, seems obvious, but belied by crap) Types of Conflict: • person vs. person • person vs. self • person vs. nature • person vs. God (not mutually exclusive; distinctions between them may be fuzzy) Leads to well-known three-part structure: 1. development - status quo is perturbed; characters act and take sides 2. climax - conflict reaches its height; protagonist wins or loses 3. resolution - things settle back down (different people use different terms) 3-part structure actually insufficient - need 5-part stucture 1. development - as before 2. first climax - gives false sense of security, exposes deeper problems in situation and protagonists 3. nightmare/living hell - situation at its worst; protagonists truly struggle 4. second climax - protagonists either grow and win, or don’t grow and lose 5. resolution - as before • purpose of first climax and nightmare/living hell phases is to reveal character flaws • forces characters to overcome their own flaws in order to prevail in the second climax • shows the importance of character development • (also useful for providing extra length) Star Wars 1. Luke wants to join the Rebellion, become a Jedi, rescue the princess, etc. 2. Escape from the Death Star! 3. Kenobi dead; Death Star tracks Luke & Co. to the rebel base. 4. Destroy the Death Star! 5. Happy ending. Every romantic comedy ever made 1. Boy and girl meet. 2. Boy and girl become romantically involved (“climax”, get it?). 3. Boy and girl have some sort of huge misunderstanding. 4. Boy and girl overcome their problems and re-unite permanently. 5. Boy and girl live happily ever after. Cars 1. Talking cars that race! 2. Lightning McQueen wins first race, shows himself to be an jerk. 3. Jerkiness causes him to get stranded in Radiator Springs, where he learns good ole’ rural values. 4. Loses the second race, but wins AT LIFE. 5. Goes back to Radiator Springs and lives happily ever after. 1. Afredo and Remy find themselves at Ratatouille Gusto’s restaurant. 2. Initial success with the soup; Alfredo and Remy team up and become professional chefs. 3. Alfredo’s a fraud; Remy’s still a rat. They alienate everyone and raise Skinner’s suspicions. 4. Gusto’s is shut down, but not before they win over Ego with the ratatouille. 5. The three start their own restaurant and live happily ever after. Extra stuff • when to resolve conflicts? • reversals • recognition • repetition and foreshadowing Conflict Resolution • a non-trivial story typically has many conflicts • if resolution of a conflict is necessary to advance the plot, then resolve as needed • if a conflict exists only to add suspense and place a psychological burden on the protagonists, then resolve after the climax • reversal - pretty much what it sounds like; things end up the opposite of what’s expected • recognition - protoganist learns something profound that he didn’t know before, which changes everything Foreshadowing & repetition • creates suspense • prevents the appearance of randomness • encourages economy and re-use • creates emotional resonance Application Tom & Jerry: “Puppy Tale” • 5-part structure • “rule of three” • recognition • reversal • foreshadowing & repetition How can I create good stories when I have limited time, education, and experience? Steal. (also known as:) • borrowing • re-using • imitating • emulating • finding inspiration • alluding • referring • parodying • paying tribute • making an homage • etc. One source: Design • Patterns (a.k.a archetypes) the quest • slaying the monster (Star Wars) • rags to riches (Ratatouille) • rebirth (Cars) • voyage and return (~Wall-E) • comedy (every romatic comedy ever made) • tragedy (Revenge of the Sith [video clip!]) (Booker, The Seven Basic Plots) Another source: steal from the best or oldest • Myths, legends, folklore • Fairy tales, nursery rhymes, urban legends • Literature Example: Pygmalion (Ancient Greek myth) Pygmalion, a great sculptor, carves a statue of his idea of the perfect woman and falls in love with it. Aphrodite pities him and turns the statue into a real woman. Pygmalion and the ex-statue live happily ever after. Pygmalion (Ancient Greek myth) Pygmalion (Theatrical play, 1912) My Fair Lady (Musical & film, 1956) She’s All That (Teen movie, 1999) Not Another Teen Movie (Vulgar parody, 2001) (video clips!) Trans-historic Cross-genre Arc of Narrative Re-use (not a real thing) Myth & Legend Literature/High Art Mainstream/Pop Art Value Parody/Trash Art Time Amleth (Scandinavian legend) Hamlet (Shakespeare) Hamlet (Mel Gibson) Value Hamlet (Simpsons, South Park) Time Biblical & mythological allusions Moby Dick (Melville) Moby Dick (Gregory Peck) Value “Dicky Moe” (Tom & Jerry) Time Yet another source: steal from yourself • personal experiences • personal issues, crushing psychological trauma, etc. • re-use or extend stories you’ve already created Example: James Bond • recurring plot #1: manipulation of supowers into military conflict, escalation to World War 3 • recurring plot #2: artificial scarcity and monopolization of a precious commodity Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) 1. Villain stages military incidents between Britain and China. 2. Britain and China blame each other. 3. Escalation to WW3. 4. ??? 5. Profit! The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) 1. Villain launches nuclear missiles at New York and Moscow. 2. USA and USSR blame each other. 3. Escalation to WW3. 4. ??? 5. Profit! You Only Live Twice (1967) 1. Villain captures US and Soviet spacecraft. 2. USA and USSR blame each other. 3. Escalation to WW3. 4. ??? 5. Profit! (video clips!) Goldfinger (1964) 1. Villain attempts to detonate atomic bomb in Fort Knox. 2. US gold supply is irratiated. 3. Value of villain’s gold stockpile increases tenfold. 4. Bonus: economic collapse of the West. A View to a Kill (1985) 1. Villain attempts to destroy Silicon Valley. 2. US semiconductor production halts. 3. Villain’s semiconductor cartel monopolizes the market. 4. Bonus: economic collapse of the West. The World Is Not Enough (1999) 1. Villain attempts to cause a nuclear meltdown in a major oil distribution hub. 2. Pipelines relying on that hub become useless. 3. Villain’s pipeline monopolizes oil distribution. 4. Bonus: economic collapse of the West. Quantum of Solace (2008) 1. Villain dams up subterranean rivers in Bolivia. 2. Creates drought, controls most of Bolivia’s water supply. 3. Villain becomes Bolivia’s new utilities provider. 4. (Economy of the West already collapsing.) (video clips!) The Moral: • Go ahead and steal. Everyone does it. • There’s nothing new under the sun. • All of this stuff is much older than you think.

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How can I help my child to develop literacy skills? - Establish routines - Experiential learning - Meaningful activities - Read aloud - Exposure to reading and writing - Evidence-based recommended practices When routines are established, children begin to learn about objects and vocabulary associated with certain activities. Active participation in all steps of a routine can reinforce concepts and language skills. Routines can also help a child to develop sequencing skills (first/then; start/finish), and some tasks can be arranged in left to right order, such as setting the table, laying out clothes, or arranging materials for any activity. Children who are blind or visually impaired need the opportunity to experience things through hands-on activities that are meaningful and fun. As mentioned above, they will often need specific instruction because of the lack of access to information through incidental learning. For example, a book about a farm will be much more meaningful if the child has first had a chance to visit an actual farm, touch different kinds of animals, touch their fur or feathers, feel how big they are, listen to their calls (moo, neigh, quack), examine what they eat (hay, grain), and learn about what they produce (e.g. milk, eggs, wool). The development of a wide range of vocabulary and concepts are essential to success in literacy. Model appropriate language for your child throughout the day. For example, "Let's put on your smooth rubber boots today. It's raining and they will help keep your feet dry." Or "Let's put the cold milk in the red plastic cup. Can you help me pour it?" Just adding some adjectives (wet/dry, rough/smooth, big/little) and more detailed descriptions can help to expand a child's vocabulary and to reinforce concepts. Many children benefit from reading aloud. It is a time for them to enjoy special individual attention, to reinforce language and concept development, and to work on book handling skills. In order for the experience to be pleasant and meaningful, however, it is important to follow a few basic tips. - Reading a book with a young child should be fun for both the adult and child. - Choose a book that relates to the child's own experiences. - Read at a pace that is appropriate to the child. - Provide props to supplement the illustrations. Concrete objects, movements, and sounds may all be helpful. - Modify the book to meet a child's individual needs and interests. Add texture, color, tactile cues, or anything to enhance the experience and make the book more accessible to the child. For more ideas about reading aloud, see Enriching the Reading Experience for Children with Visual Impairments: Reading to Young Children with Vision Loss by Holly Allen. Include the child in the process of reading and writing lists, directions, recipes, menus, messages or letters to friends and family, and any other activities that occur within routine activities. Because they may not be able to observe you reading or writing, you will need to be creative in finding ways to make these activities accessible. For example, before going to the grocery store, ask the child to help you think of what things you might need to buy. Have him or her help you look in the refrigerator or cupboards to see the supply (e.g. "This carton of milk is almost empty! It feels light and I can hear it sloshing around in there. Let's add it to our shopping list, so we'll remember to buy more when we get to the store.") Be sure to refer back to the list once you get to the store, and even check it when you get back home again, to be sure that you got everything on the list. For more ideas, see also: Essential Literacy Experiences for Visually Impaired Children by Eva Lavigne (TSBVI) This article suggests a way to individualize literacy experiences for visually impaired students in order to promote meaningful reading and writing. It includes a list of global experiences and suggestions of how to use the essential literacy experiences for students with a visual impairment. A blank form of Sample Essential Literacy Experiences for the Visually Impaired Student can be downloaded; available in English and Spanish. Move, Touch, Read is an informal collection of sample units by Wendy Drezek that provide simple techniques for adapting print books. It grows out of the belief that experiential learning can help children who are blind to develop concepts, motor skills, and an understanding of the world that are at the foundation of braille literacy skills. Beginning with movement and sensory-based experience, vocabulary and concepts are introduced or reinforced, and tactile symbols using real objects supplement each story with a hands-on component. Story boxes or props help to make each story more meaningful to the child through tactile exploration. Each unit includes an introduction, vocabulary, concepts, skills, symbols, and suggestions for movement, touch, and reading activities. "To facilitate emergent literacy in young children with disabilities, early interventionists should provide collaborative, family-centered support that is developmentally appropriate and based on evidence-based and recommended practices that result in functional outcomes within naturally occurring learning opportunities." -- Early Intervention Training Center for Infants and Toddlers with Visual Impairments Strategies and interventions to facilitate emergent literacy focus on the development of the six key components: - oral language - phonological awareness - concept development - knowledge of the conventions of print/braille and print/braille intentionality - alphabetic knowledge - rich literacy environments Developmentally appropriate strategies and interventions that promote functional outcomes include: - routines-based literacy - responsive literacy environments - shared storybook reading (especially dialogic reading, storybook preview, and storybook sounds) - storytelling, including decontextualized language To learn more, see the power point presentation What Is Emergent Literacy? from the Early Intervention Training Center for Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments, FPG Child Development Institute, 2005 Young children must develop skills in a wide range of areas, including tactile, fine motor, listening & attention, concept, and book & story. This chart shows a variety of prerequisite skills and concepts that will help future braille readers to be successful.

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Tips for Writing Mysteries By Laura Backes, Children's Book Insider Mysteries are very popular with middle grade readers. They are generally fast-paced stories that build self-confidence by allowing the reader to solve the crime. Simple mysteries for this age group follow a clear formula where the author lays out clues for the reader in a predictable fashion, using escapes, setbacks and coincidence. The Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books fall into this category.Copyright 2001, Children's Book Insider, LLC. As readers become adept at solving mysteries, they reach for books that require careful scrutiny to discern clues. Goody Hall by Natalie Babbitt and Mystery of Drear House by Virginia Hamilton are good examples. The following are tips to keep in mind when writing mysteries for children. * Unlike other types of children's books, the child protagonist in a mystery does not go through major character development during the story. His or her character must be strong at the beginning of the book, and have qualities the reader will identify with or admire. However, one of the protagonist's character traits (such as having a photographic memory) can be used to solve the mystery, as long as the readers know about it. * Another difference between mysteries and other types of fiction is that in mysteries there is little or no underlying theme to the story (such as loneliness, peer pressure, etc.). The plot drives the story, and the conflict and tension is derived from what happens to the main characters from without, rather than what's going on inside themselves. * The child in the story must be as smart, or smarter, than the adults. Adults can help in certain situations in order to make the story believable, but the child must uncover the major clues and solve the case. * The clues to the crime, as well as the crime itself, must be accessible to children in real life in order for the story to be realistic. This also helps the reader solve the mystery. A child would not know, for example, how someone could alter the brakes on a car, but he or she could probably figure out how this was done to a bicycle. * The reader must have access to all the clues available to the protagonist. It's not fair for the author to withhold information. * It helps if the author rehashes the entire crime and rounds up all the clues at the end of the story. Often this is done by the protagonist summarizing the crime to another character right before solving the case. This will remind readers of the clues, and give them a better chance of coming up with the solution on their own. ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Laura Backes is the publisher of Children's Book Insider, the Newsletter for Children's Writers. For more information about writing children's books, including free articles, market tips, insider secrets and much more, visit Children's Book Insider's home on the web at http://write4kids.com Reprinted with permission. Follow this link to the Children's Book Insider website.

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- Content Type Ten Timeless Persuasive Writing Techniques Want to convince your readers to do something or agree with your point of view? Okay, that was a silly question. Of course you do. Persuasion is generall... Brief History of Psychology Before we begin, let's ask ourselves-what is psychology? |Psychology is the academic and applied scientific study of mental processes and behaviour. Psychology also involves the application of knowledge to various spheres of human activity, from daily life, work and family to the treatment of severe mental health problems. Psychology revolves around such broad areas as emotions, perception, individuality and personality, relationships, social dynamics and functions, plus many other subjects. Psychology also attempts to identify the physical, biological processes that underlie mental functioning. The earliest origins of psychology are, unsurprisingly, found in the ancient civilizations of Greece, Egypt, China and India. This took a highly philosophical form though- the early psychology involved theories on the mind, body and soul and how they all operate together, so they weren't really what we would call psychology today. However, these great early psychological philosophers identified things like the brain and speculation of its functions, basics of human nature, and the "self". The Medieval Times saw more psychological progress. As early as the 700s Medieval Muslim had built insane asylums and practices to help patients with diseases of the mind. Ahmed ibn Sahl al-Balkhi was among the first to suggest that if the mind gets sick, the body may eventually develop a physical illness. He recognized and analyzed what we modernly call depression. Several other modern psychological phenomena and neuropsychiatric conditions were emerging: hallucination, mania, dreams, nightmares, epilepsy, paralysis, stroke, vertigo, psychotherapy and musical therapy, social psychology, neurophysiology, and the subconscious. Western Psychology Emerging The Ancient writings were preserved thanks to Islamic translators, and together with their theories and experiments became the basis for modern psychology which started to emerge during the Renaissance. While early psychology involved the study of the soul, modern psychology focused more on brain functions. During the Enlightenment period, thinkers like Descartes, Thomas Willis, and John Locke, discussed the nature of mind and soul, but also supported the development of clinical psychology as a discipline of medicine. Those times also saw the rise of popular yet false psychological developments. This included the science of hypnotism, developed by Anton Mesmer as a way to cure diseases using the "magnetism of the mind". Phrenology, the study of the brain and skull structure to establish personality traits and mental disposition. All the while though, psychology was treated as just a branch of philosophy. Scientific, empirical psychology was not seen as plausible or acceptable, since the mind and soul were abstract concepts. Experimental Psychology is Born During the Scientific Revolution, concepts that were thought to be philosophical were fused with mathematical and scientific thoughts to come up with profound disciplines such as economics and early engineering. Psychology was no exception. Johann Friedrich Herbart was among the first to try and apply a mathematical basis for a scientific psychology. As a result, more research followed. Fechner attempted to mathematically relate external stimuli and resulting sensations, coining psychophysics in the process. Bessel, Donders, and other scientists measured things like reaction times and the speed of mental decisions. During the later 1800s, Wilhelm Wundt, the father of psychology, founded the first laboratory dedicated exclusively to psychological research in Germany. Experimental psychology became important during the late 1800s especially in Germany, but also in Russia, the US, and the rest of Western Europe. Pioneers like Ebbinghaus and Pavlov made important discoveries in the areas of memory, learning processes and more. In the 1890s, psychoanalysis was developed. Sigmund Freud, probably the most well-known psychology theorist, developed this method of study of human psychological functioning and behavior through interpretive methods and observation. He became famous after tackling taboo subjects such as sexuality, repression, and the unconscious mind, and he influenced Carl Jung who developed analytical psychology. This laid basis to many modern psychological concepts still used today. Behaviorism, Humanism, Cognitivism, and other Modern Developments Experimental psychology led to the use of things like recollecting childhood experiences and analyzing them subjectively and introspectively. Opposition to this led to the development of behaviorism, which states that all things which organisms do can be regarded as behaviors, which can be described scientifically without recourse either to internal physiological events or to hypothetical constructs such as the mind. This was developed by John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner, and based on animal experimentation. Behaviorism was popular in the US for the first half of the 1900s. In the 50s, drawing from psychoanalysis, behaviorism and existentialist philosophy, humanistic psychology was developed. It focused on human issues such as self-identity, death, aloneness, freedom, and meaning. Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs and Carls Rogers's client-centered therapy are humanistic developments still used today. Cognitivisim is another psychological school of thought. It accepts the use of the scientific method, rejecting introspection (and pscyhoanalysis), and it acknowledges the existence of internal mental states (unlike behaviorism). Cognitive psychology sees mental functions as information processing, and is advancing thanks to computerized developments and a better understanding of how the brain and neural systems work. Where is psychology going? Modern psychology incorporates all of these fields to provide useful solutions to mental problems. Using psychoanalytical therapy, behavioral theories, humanist concepts and cognitive understanding, psychologists can learn and offer the best solutions possible. Future developments and questions that need to be answered in psychology are numerous. The application of genetic research and the discoveries of new genes that relate to behavior and personality will pose a challenge for psychologists. Using new bioengineering and computerized techniques can help develop medicines and cures for neuropsychological symptoms. As well, new social concepts have to emerge to explain changing, modern societies. With depression and eating disorders constantly on the rise, psychological answers are in high demand. In engineering and technology, the development of artificial intelligence will require thorough psychological understanding of human intelligence. Psychology went through a lot, but there's a lot more to be done. Study Psychology in the USA by starting here!

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When you adapt course or teaching materials to the online environment, be sensitive to the advantages and disadvantages of the Virtual Classroom. Web-based learning is well suited for communications, collaboration, and information acquisition, but not for reading long text files. It is difficult to read screen after screen of text on a computer, although recent developments in e-readers and tablet computing may be changing that. In the Virtual Classroom, text-based lectures should be short and few. With that, where will students get the information they need to meet the learning objectives? Design the curriculum of an online course to cause dialogue among the students. During online discussions, the participants collect information and send it to the virtual classroom for comments, critiques and more discussion. In order to generate this type of information, students must actively seek out the required material. The synergy of the discussion is itself a learning tool. With that in mind, the participants themselves discover and share much of the information presented to the class. They are used for the following purposes: Assign a segment of a chapter to an individual. Assign a segment of a chapter to a team. Provide discussion questions that require students to summarize the reading, or ask students to come up with their own discussion questions. Provide discussion questions that require students to synthesize the material. Provide an activity that requires students to apply the information from the reading. They are relatively inexpensive. Students do not need any additional equipment to use the material. Students can go back and retrieve information when they need it. Some learners need the hardcopy for reading and They require distribution by mail or retail network. They convey information only by written language and figures. They do not afford a channel to give direct feedback to or ask questions of the author. Basic concept of the course content subject or resources for the virtual classroom discussion can be provided through video. Whole films can be used in online courses in ESL, literature, any foreign language, creative writing, etc. Students can watch the film outside of "class" and then discuss/critique it in the virtual classroom. During online discussions, students can compare the film to the book, discuss character profiles, plot, theme, symbolism, historical context, etc. Facilitator can distribute information such as visual or procedural concepts that are hard to express in textbooks. For example: in a manufacturing management class, a short film showing a real factory may effectively illustrate certain concepts and provide a springboard for discussion questions. Supplemental video may help learners whose basic learning style is not text-based. If all the students view the same material, assign discussion questions or projects on the topic. If publishing to the web is available, the information can be accessed asynchronously, with each student viewing the material at his or her convenience. TV broadcasts can be recorded for later study or Students need to have the corresponding viewing equipment. Some programs are only available at certain designated Physical media can only be distributed by mail or retailing network. When distributed via the WWW, video files are large, require long download times, and use substantial memory. These issues are diminishing with time. / Radio Programs Basic concept of the course content subject or resources for virtual classroom discussion can be provided. The cost and technical requirements are less than for video and/or TV. Audio files can be downloaded from the Internet. If all the students listen to the same material, then discussion questions or projects can be assigned to generate discussion on the topic, the information will be presented equally as well as using a textbook or related articles. Radio broadcasts can be recorded for later study. Audio files lack a visual component. Although much smaller than video files, audio files are quite large and slow to download. Guest speakers can be invited to hold either a synchronous chat session with the class, or post a lecture and be available for 2-3 days to answer questions from the group. Students can learn about what is happening today in the real world pertaining to the course content subject. The guest speaker is able to bring outside resources to the course. It may be difficult to find an appropriate person to invite as a guest speaker. If your guest is unfamiliar with your technology or the basic principles of online learning, supporting them becomes your job. For synchronous chat sessions: (see drawbacks below) As with video, material which is not easily adapted to text format can still be covered in the course. Programs can contain short tutorials for specific skills/information that students need to know, then require them to apply that knowledge in exercises. Software can be distributed through the Internet. Students must have the software in hand to use it (download or purchase media) Learners must know or learn HOW to use the software. from Web Sites Each participant finds outside, related articles on the Internet; then reads, summarizes, and shares a critique with the other participants. Classmates can then choose to access the article themselves, and/or comment on their classmate's critique in a discussion forum format. A lot of learning can come from this activity. It allows students to choose what to focus on and take control of their own learning experience. The number of articles and amount of information which students can access is unlimited. It brings outside resources into the course. It provides participants with an extensive list of summaries of related resources that they can choose to read, or archive for later use. Students are learning and practicing research skills--searching, summarizing, demonstrating what has been learned, integrating new information into already-learned material. Information literacy is assumed of participants. Web sources vary in their accuracy, legitimacy, and reliability. Newsgroups and Weblogs This includes subscribing to or even just browsing newsgroups on topics related to course content. There is a large quantity of material generated Most newsgroups and blogs have excellent archives of previously There is often a high percentage of "noise" (garbage) to sift through. These are focused email discussions on topics supplemental to course work. Discussion lists exists on virtually every academic subject and/or related field. Discussion provide an exchange of ideas with people not enrolled in the class who are, nevertheless, good resources on a given topic. Reading time may increase exponentially when there is a large number of messages generated by a busy discussion list. These include web sites where users can read information updates, view stills and video, and listen to audio related to their course work. For example, the ESL Cafe http://www.eslcafe.com puts ESL students in touch with other language learners around the world as well as offers expert help in grammar and vocabulary and a chance for students to publish their writing online.

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An epic is a long narrative poem in an elevated style that deals with the trials and achievements of a great hero or heroes. The epic celebrates virtues of national, military, religious, political, or historical significance. The word "epic" itself comes from the Greek épos, originally meaning "word" but later "oration" or "song." Like all art, an epic may grow out of a limited context but achieves greatness in relation to its universality. It typically emphasizes heroic action as well as the struggle between the hero's ethos and his human failings or mortality. Increasingly, scholars distinguish between two types of epic. The first, the primary epic, evolves from the mores, legends, or folk tales of a people and is initially developed in an oral tradition of storytelling. Secondary epics, on the other hand, are literary. They are written from their inception and designed to appear as whole stories. Note: References throughout are to Robert Fagles' poetic translation, Homer: The Odyssey (New York: Penguin Putnam Inc., 1996). Citations are by book and line; for example, line 47 in Book 3 is represented as (3.47). The Odyssey as Epic Composed around 700 BC, The Odyssey is one of the earliest epics still in existence and, in many ways, sets the pattern for the genre, neatly fitting the definition of a primary epic (that is, one that grows out of oral tradition). The hero is long-suffering Odysseus, king of Ithaca and surrounding islands and hero of the Trojan War. He has been gone 20 years from his homeland, his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus. Odysseus embodies many of the virtues of ancient Greek civilization and in some ways defines them. He is not, however, without his flaws, which sometimes get him into trouble. Epics usually open with a statement of the subject and an invocation to the Muse or Muses — the nine sister goddesses in Greek mythology, the daughters of the king of gods, Zeus, and Mnemosyne ("Memory"). Certain Muses preside over song and poetry, which are joined in epics. Sometimes Muses are assigned to all the liberal arts and sciences. Clio is usually thought of as the Muse of history. Erato takes care of lyrical love poetry. Calliope is the Muse most often associated with epic poetry. Having invoked the Muse, the epic poet then begins in the middle of the tale; teachers sometimes use a Latin term, in medias res ("in the middle of things"), to identify this technique. Beginning in the middle of the action, the poet then fills in significant prior events through flashbacks or narration. The Odyssey also employs most of the literary and poetic devices associated with epics: catalogs, digressions, long speeches, journeys or quests, various trials or tests of the hero, similes, metaphors, and divine intervention. Although few contemporary authors attempt to compose epics, the influence of the genre and of The Odyssey is extensive. Many critics consider James Joyce's Ulysses (1922), which uses Odysseus' Latin name ("Ulysses") for the title and places a very flawed non-hero in Dublin, to be the most important novel of the twentieth century. Other works that students might compare to The Odyssey include Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn (1884), J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (1951), John Cheever's short story "The Swimmer" (in the collection The Brigadier and the Golf Widow, 1964), and Donald Barthelme's The Dead Father (1975). The Setting of Ithaca While it includes recollections of earlier times, most of the action in The Odyssey takes place in the ten years following the Trojan War. Historically, was there ever such a war? W. A. Camps (An Introduction to Homer, 1980, "Preliminary") argues impressively that there probably was but that it was much different from Homer's depiction in The Iliad or the recollections of the characters in The Odyssey. Archaeological evidence indicates that the war may have taken place around 1220 bc and that the city Homer calls Troy was destroyed by fire. The Odyssey was likely composed about five hundred years after these events. In the interim, countless bards had worked over the stories. What we see (or hear) in Homer, is not a depiction of history but a world created out of legend, folk tales, at least one poet's imagination, and a little bit of history. The "Wanderings of Odysseus," as his travel adventures are often called, take place largely in a reality beyond our own; the settings vary widely. Ithaca, on the other hand, is a constant for Odysseus and Homer's audience. Politically, the system in Ithaca is less formal than a city-state, but it does provide structure based on power. Odysseus is not just a great warrior or excellent seaman, although those are important talents. He also is the best carpenter that Ithaca has known, the best hunter of wild boar, the finest marksman, and the leading expert on animal husbandry. Odysseus can plow the straightest furrow and mow the largest stretch of meadow in a day. In fact, it is his superior skill, his intelligence, and his prowess that enable him to maintain his power even after many years of absence. As long as he or his reputation can maintain control, Odysseus remains king of Ithaca and surrounding islands. Along with power, of course, comes wealth. Because Ithaca has no coined money, wealth is measured by livestock, household furnishings, servants, slaves, and treasure. Slavery is not only accepted and encouraged in Homer's world, but slaves are viewed as symbols of wealth and power. Piracy, war, and raids on foreign cities are all accepted means of increasing wealth. The first thing that Odysseus does after leaving Troy, for example, is to sack Ismarus, stronghold of the Cicones. In addition to plunder, he captures the women. Social traditions are strong in this community; ironically, it is the social tradition of hospitality that proves dangerous for Odyssey's wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus. Finally, the people of Ithaca believe strongly in fate and the right of the gods to alter human life at any time. They hope that virtue will be rewarded, but they accept the vicissitudes of fortune. If an Ithacan stubs his toe in the garden, he may say, "Some god sent that rock to alter my path!" Odysseus himself is proof that, if the gods choose, anything might happen, even to a king. King Odysseus of Ithaca has been gone from home for 20 years. The first 10 he spent fighting heroically and victoriously with the Greeks in the Trojan War; the last 10, he spent trying to get home. From other sources, we know that the goddess Athena arranged for storms to blow the Greeks off course as they attempted to sail home from the war. She was outraged because a Greek warrior had desecrated her temple by attempting to rape Cassandra (daughter of the last king of Troy) in that sacred place. Worse, the Greeks had not punished the man. Although Athena intervenes on Odysseus' behalf repeatedly throughout the epic, her curse originally causes his wanderings. With Odysseus gone, all that he has — his kingship, his wealth, his home, and his wife and son — is in jeopardy. His wife Penelope finds herself surrounded by unwanted suitors because she is the key to the throne and to Odysseus' wealth. Her new husband would, at the very least, have a distinct advantage in the competition for a new king. Like her son, Telemachus, Penelope lacks the power to eject the suitors who have invaded her home and are bent on forcing her to marry. In his absence, Odysseus' son, Telemachus, is referred to as the heir apparent and, as such, is constantly in danger, the more so as he becomes a man and is perceived as a threat by his mother's suitors. Telemachus lacks the stature of his father, and although he can summon the Achaeans (Greeks) on the island to full assembly, he cannot accomplish his goals — namely to rid his home of the unwanted suitors who have abused a custom of hospitality. Not only does Telemachus lack power to maintain control, but he also has no formal system of laws or courts to support him. Telemachus himself acknowledges that he may, at best, be ruler only of his own house. If Telemachus were to assume the crown without sufficient resources to defend it, which he currently lacks, he risk being deposed and, most likely, killed. If Penelope stalls much longer in selecting a suitor, Ithaca could find itself in civil war, and she and her son may well be among its first victims. If she chooses a husband, her son is still in danger unless he is willing to abdicate his claim to the throne. As repugnant as marriage seems, it may be necessary for Ithaca's and (possibly) her son's survival.

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Classroom Guide for by Tony Medina, illustrated by David Diaz | Teaching Tip| This is an excellent selection to include in your collection of holiday books. Prereading Focus Questions Before introducing the book, share the background information with students. Then you may wish to set the stage for reading with questions such as the following. - Why do people celebrate holidays? What are some ways they celebrate them? - What is your favorite holiday? Why? What is special about it? - With whom do you usually spend your holidays? - Why is education important? How can it make a difference in your life? - What are some things you enjoy sharing with others? How does sharing make you feel? Exploring the Book Display the book and discuss the title with students. Ask them what might Christmas make them think about. What thoughts might the boy in the story be having? Study the illustrations and encourage students to determine how the artist created them. Read the dedications. Ask students if they offer clues to the story, and to the author’s and illustrator’s feelings. Setting a Purpose for Reading Have students read to find out why Christmas makes the boy think and what he thinks about. Students will be familiar with most words in this book, but you can reinforce meaning with this activity. Draw two large outlines of Christmas stockings on the chalkboard. Label the first stocking nouns and the second stocking adjectives, and write the words below in each stocking. Review that a noun names a person, place, or thing, and an adjective describes a noun. Then have students take turns making up oral sentences using at least one word from each stocking. |Stocking 1:||Nouns||Stocking 2:||Adjectives| After students have read the book, use these or similar questions to generate discussion, enhance comprehension, and develop appreciation. Encourage students to refer back to the book to support their responses. - Who is telling this story? How do you know? - How does the boy feel about Christmas in the beginning of the story? How do his feelings change? Why do they change? - Why does the boy worry about Christmas trees? - How does the boy change his mind about turkeys and pigs at Christmas? - What does the boy realize about his toys and clothes? - Why does the boy think he should share his presents? - What does the boy mean by being “new” Santas? - What is the message of this book? If you use literature circles during reading time, students might find the following suggestions helpful in focusing on the different roles of the group members. - The Questioner might use questions similar to those in the Discussion Questions section of this guide to help group members explore the book. - The Passage Locator might look for ways that the boy’s feelings change. - The Illustrator might draw scenes from the book using different media. - The Connector might find other books with holiday themes. - The Summarizer should provide a brief summary of each section that the group has completed. - The Investigator might collect books and other materials with ideas for helping in a school or community. There are many resource books available with more information about organizing and implementing literature circles. Three such books you may wish to refer to are: Getting Started with Literature Circles by Katherine L. Schlick Noe and Nancy J. Johnson (Christopher-Gordon, 1999), Literature Circles: Voice And Choice in Book Clubs and Reading Groups by Harvey Daniels (Stenhouse, 2002), and Literature Circles Resource Guide by Bonnie Campbell Hill, Katherine L. Schlick Noe, and Nancy J. Johnson (Christopher-Gordon, 2000). Use the following questions or similar ones to help students practice active reading and personalize their responses to what they have read. Suggest that students respond in reader’s journals, oral discussion, or drawings. - Do you agree with the boy’s ideas of how to celebrate Christmas? Why or why not? - What would you give up to make things better for someone else? - The boy suggests that people could just visit a tree and give it presents. What present would you give a tree? - Lots of children have toys they don’t ever play with. What ideas do you have for “recycling” such toys? - How could people make Christmas last “a week, a month, or even a year”? Other Writing Activities You may wish to have students participate in one or more of the following writing activities. Set aside time for them to share and discuss their work. - After reading Christmas Makes Me Think, students might write their own holiday stories. - Some students may wish to write a proposal for a class activity to help others. Suggest students brainstorm ideas with a partner or in a small group beforehand. - Have students turn to the page showing the boy sitting on a pile of presents. Ask them to imagine a gift that might be in one of the packages and then write a description of the gift without naming it. Students can then read their descriptions aloud for classmates to guess the gift. - Some students might enjoy writing a menu for a holiday celebration. ELL/ESL Teaching Strategies These strategies might be helpful to use with students who are English language learners or who are learning to speak English as a second language. - Make key words as concrete as possible by linking them to the art. Use the list of nouns in the Vocabulary section to help students make associations. - Read the story aloud slowly, repeating lines for emphasis. Invite students to join in on subsequent readings. - Use the illustrations in the book to expand students’ understanding and vocabulary. For example, for the first illustration the following statements could be made: The boy has on a blue jacket. He is carrying two bags. His mother is coming out of a store. There is a bike in the store window. There is a tree in the window. To help students integrate their reading experiences with other curriculum areas, you might try some of the following activities. - Point out to students that some of the lines in this book rhyme, then challenge students to identify the rhyming words. Follow up by having students write their own rhymes about a holiday they enjoy. - Draw attention to the line “and presents piled to the moon.” Explain that this is an exaggeration. Tell students that writers sometimes use exaggeration to get the attention of readers when making a point. Encourage students to think of common exaggerations that people use and then to try writing their own. - At the end of the book, the author lists several ways that students can help out in their community. You might use the book as a way to launch your own class project for making a difference in terms of the environment, service programs, or helping the needy. - Start a bulletin board display of news clippings about different kinds of community celebrations. Place a United States map in the center of the display. Arrange the articles around the map and use colored yarn and thumbtacks to link each celebration with the town or city in which it takes place. Remind students that in the book, the boy hands out hats and gloves and scarves to homeless people. Present math problems relating to this idea. For example: It costs two dollars for a pair of mittens. How much will the boy need to buy ten pairs to give away? Have each student make up a problem, then set aside time for students to present their problems to the class for solving. In the story, the boy thinks it would be better to visit a tree and give it presents rather than cut down lots of trees to decorate. Have students look into other ways that communities deal with Christmas trees. For example, some people buy living trees that can be planted later. Others buy artificial trees that can be used for many years. Some communities recycle discarded trees by making mulch from them. When students have completed their research, hold a tree conference. Based on their findings, students might consider making recommendations to your own community. About the Author Tony Medina grew up in the projects in the South Bronx of New York city. He graduated from Baruch College with a B.A. in literature, and is currently an associate professor of creative writing at Howard University. Medina is known as a children’s book author and a poet, and was chosen by Writer’s Digest as one of the top ten poets to watch in the new millennium. In addition to Christmas Makes Me Think, Medina is the author of the children’s books I And I: Bob Marley, Love To Langston, and DeShawn Days, and is a contributor to Love To Mamá: A Tribute To Mothers. As an advocate for literacy among today’s youth, Medina emphasizes not only the importance of being able to read, but of loving to read. As a young reader, his favorite book was Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. Medina has also written extensively for an adult audience, including several volumes of poetry. About the Illustrator Chandra Cox is an artist whose paintings and sculptures have been exhibited throughout the United States. She earned her B.A. at Hampton University and an M.F.A. at The Ohio State University. She has traveled extensively in West Africa and much of her work reflects African patterns and forms. Cox is presently the Director of the College of Art and Design at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Christmas Makes Me Think was her first picture book. The illustrations were created from cut paper, paint, pastel, and colored pencil. Download this guide in PDF Learn more about Christmas Makes Me Think Also by Tony Medina Love To Langston BookTalk with author Tony Medina

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In the days immediately following the September 11, 2001 terrorism attacks, PBS pulled together resources to help educators teach students about peace, tolerance, war, patriotism, geography, and other related issues. Although time has passed, educators can continue to use these valuable resources to teach lessons on these important subjects. Afghanistan Today: Civil War and Human Rights Your students (grades 9-12) may be hearing a lot in the news about Afghanistan and the Taliban. Help students understand the Taliban's position within Afghanistan, how the Taliban's practices have raised concerns about human rights, and the economic and cultural climate in Afghanistan today. Students may use this knowledge to postulate about what a war would mean for the Afghan people, short- and long-term. Afghanistan And Its Neighbors: Model Summit As U.S. officials plan retaliation to the terrorist attacks on September 11, help students in grades 11-12 understand the complex relationships America has with countries in Central Asia and the Middle East. Students will research the recent political history of one country in the region and represent its interests at a model international summit designed to debate response to the terrorist attacks on America and propose measures to achieve long-term stability in that part of the world. A World At Peace Designed for younger students (grades 2-6), this lesson plan invites students to brainstorm the basic rights of people everywhere, explore the United Nation's Declaration of Human Rights, and then use international photography galleries as part of a multimedia creative writing assignment imagining a world at peace. A Nation of Many Cultures Designed for younger students (grades K-5), this cultural lesson invites students to create a visual representation of themselves to include their family, heritage, and interests. The creations are then used to compare and contrast similarities and differences of the students. The lesson culminates with the creation of an American Flag for the bulletin board. Tolerance in Times of Trial Designed for middle-high school students, this lesson plan uses the treatment of citizens of Japanese and German ancestry during World War II--looking specifically at media portrayals of these groups and internment camps--as historical examples of ethnic conflict during times of trial, and about the problems inherent in assigning blame to populations or nations of people. Students will look at contemporary examples of ethnic conflict, discrimination, and stereotyping at home and abroad. Designed for middle school students, this lesson plan introduces students to governmental and humanitarian response mechanisms for natural and man-made disasters. Students research and report on a variety of organizations, including the Red Cross, FEMA, and more; as an extension, students learn about locally- and regionally-based resources like the National Guard. This lesson plan for high school students poses the question, "Who can stop international terrorism?" Students learn about different international agencies working to eliminate terrorism, study the recommendations of various international summits and conferences, and debate the effectiveness of various proposed measures. The American Flag Designed for grades PreK-5, this lesson plan offers information on the American Flag, including its history, what the symbols represent, and the proper way to display it. Also provided is a list of links to flag and patriotic crafts for all ages. Use political maps of the world to provide geographical knowledge of Afghanistan, the United States of America, and other relevant countries. Learn the history of Afghanistan and the Taliban as they relate to U.S. foreign policy and actions. Using conflict resolution skills, brainstorm possible solutions to the conflict between the United States, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. Write an opinion paper on possible solutions. Access information for educators available elsewhere online. Resources for Parents and Caregivers Access content to help kids cope with tragedy, from Mister Rogers, Sesame Workshop and other providers.

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Investigating the Titanic Disaster and the Historical Commemoration Compare/Contrast: Students view the one or more of movies made about the sinking of the Titanic – for example: Titanic, 1953 with Barbara Stanwyk, Robert Wagner, A Night to Remember, 1958 (no fictional subplots), James Cameron’s Titanic, 1997, or even The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964). Compare the stories with known facts. Discussions can include historical fiction, and how the facts figure into the story, how fictional elements contribute dramatic effect, and effectiveness of the story elements and construction. Students can also specifically study visual elements of storytelling such as lighting, camera angles, movement and composition to enhance visual literacy. You can generate inquiry through the use of the motion picture analysis tool from the Teachers’ Page. Website Analysis: Students can use or develop a rubric or checklist to determine how legitimate and accurate Titanic-related websites are. As we approach the 100th anniversary, more “commemorative” sites are appearing. Have students consider newer sites as well as those which have been available for some time. Memorials: Investigate the types of memorials – monuments, commemorative ceremonies or other items for the Titanic and compare/contrast to our memorials for other large scale tragedies or natural disasters. Study the purpose of such memorials, who initiated each, how the media played a role and if there were any controversies. Evaluate these similarities and differences and determine the elements of “national (or international) memory.” A possible reference is the lesson plan on natural disasters. Character Analysis: Research one of the passengers or survivors of the Titanic to determine who really acted in a heroic manner at the time of the tragedy. First construct a rubric to define the term hero. Second, choose a person and research his or her life and what documents have reported about his or her actions during the tragedy. Third, apply the rubric to those actions, and write a defense of your opinion of whether the term hero applies. Additional online ideas for Titanic activities (outside the Library of Congress website): - Math activity plan - Buoyancy experiment - Science lesson - Multiple elementary-level ideas - Read the book Finding the Titanic by Robert Ballard and use lesson worksheets based on the Ballard book - The Wreck of the Titanic, a poem by Horace Greeley available as an e-book. - The Library of Congress references some background information about the Titanic on the Main Reading Room research page under Maritime History.

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This resource helps students answer questions by picturing the concepts behind them. Highly-visual content bridges the gap between concrete and abstract language. - Communicate with less frustration - Answer questions about feelings and comprehend these question forms: why/because, going to, what if, what happened, what do you need, what do you do when, and what should Click here for more information on Digital Downloads. Simple illustrations help students understand the logic behind the question and respond appropriately. Students look at the picture, read the question or statement at the top of the page, and respond. The complexity of response can range from single-word answers to complex utterances. Visual prompts can be faded and question forms intermixed to facilitate generalization of the question concepts. Eight chapters include: - Describing Feelings: Students answer the question, "How does he/she feel?" and identify emotions of hurt, mad, sad, happy, and scared. - What Happened: Students answer the question, "What happened?" and explain situations like spilling a drink or breaking an object. - What Do You Do When: Students draw from personal experiences or the experiences of others to answer the question, "What do you do when . . . ?" This section gives practice in answering questions in novel, yet logical ways. - Why/Because: Students give logical reasons for questions such as "Why is she taking her medicine?" and "Why is she mad?" - Going To: Students learn to make and express predictions and draw conclusions as they answer questions that pertain to related objects (e.g., "He has a drum and drumsticks. What is he going to do?" ) . - What Do You Need: Students name two items needed to complete tasks like washing hands or drawing a picture (e.g., "Name two things you need to make toast"). Simple organizational skills like verbal sequencing and basic storytelling are developed. - What Should: Students demonstrate beginning logic and problem-solving skills by stating solutions to simple problems like what to do if a glass breaks ("John broke a glass. What should he do?"). - What If: Students hypothesize about events they may not have experienced themselves ("What happens if you let go of a balloon?"). You may purchase Autism & PDD Answering Questions Level 1 individually or in a 2-book set, which consists of: Copyright © 2001 - Many children with autism spectrum disorders learn more readily through the visual modality (Taylor-Goh, 2005). - Asking wh- questions is a common method of teaching. Difficulty answering wh- questions affects a child academically, linguistically, and socially (Parnell, Amerman, & Hartin, 1986). - Explicitly teaching and reinforcing inference-making leads to better outcomes in overall text comprehension, text engagement, and metacognitive thinking (Borné et al., 2005). - Reasoning skills encourage critical thinking and meta-awareness of internal thought processes. Reasoning skills support students' logical judgments based on conscious reflection and sensitivity to multiple viewpoints (Little, 2002). - Reasoning and critical thinking are necessary skills for competence across the curriculum. They require students to examine, relate, and analyze all aspects of a problem or situation. Students engaged in critical thinking must make associations that connect problems with their prior knowledge (Pellgrini, 1995). Autism & PDD Answering Questions Level 1 incorporates these principles and is also based on expert professional practice. Borné, L., Cox, J., Hartgering, M., & Pratt, E. (2005). Making inferences from text [Overview]. Dorchester, MA: Project for School Innovation. Little, C. (2002). Reasoning as a key component of language arts curricula. The Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 13(2), 52-59. Parnell, M.M., Amerman, J.D., & Hartin, R.D. (1986). Responses of language-disordered children to wh- questions. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 17, 95-106. Pellegrini, J. (1995). Developing thinking and reasoning skills in primary learners using detective fiction. Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, 1. Retrieved March 11, 2009 from http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1995/1/95.01.05.x.html Taylor-Goh, S. (2005). Royal college of speech & language therapists: Clinical guidelines. United Kingdom: Speechmark.

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What is a picture book biography? Its simple title gives us everything we need to know: it is a picture book and it is a biography, and it is both of those things simultaneously and symbiotically. Imagine two spotlights on a stage. One light illuminates picture books, where story and style and the turn of the page combine in a book begging to be shared. Another light exposes biography, with authoritative research and impartial presentation offering an informative and compelling biographical portrait. To identify the picture book biography, we look at the books that exist in the space where those two lights overlap. To identify the excellent picture book biography, we look within that shared space, the overlapping lights, to find the books that shine. Spotlight on picture book elements First and foremost, a picture book must engage its young readers, talking to and with them, rather than at them. Deborah Hopkinson and John Hendrix fulfill this requirement admirably with their collaboration on Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek. Engaging in direct dialogue with both her audience and her illustrator, Hopkinson invites the reader to speculate about history, to imagine the experience of Abe and Austin, his childhood friend. Illustrator Hendrix complements her tone as he sketches and then re-sketches what might have happened to the two young boys. While biographical purists might dismiss the effort, the engaging meta-narrative provides a very accessible and human introduction to Lincoln where the young reader is as much a player in the story as a recipient of it. In a well-crafted picture book, text and illustration share the storytelling duties, with the art often adding detail not found in the narrative. A picture book biography offers the illustrator an opportunity to do the same thing, using sophisticated imagery to complement the narrative with a sense of the time and place of the subject’s life. With his illustrations for What to Do About Alice? Edwin Fotheringham does not provide a photographic likeness of Alice Roosevelt. Instead, he shows us her energy and vivacity. His illustrations, rendered in a saturated palette that includes Miss Roosevelt’s signature “Alice blue,” match the lively tone of Barbara Kerley’s text. Stylized depictions of the clothing, hairstyles, modes of transportation, and even child-rearing practices at the turn of the twentieth century inform the reader about the era in which Alice lived, and reflect her youthful exuberance. Summer Birds, by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Julie Paschkis, about a young naturalist born in Germany in the 1600s, breaks with biographical convention by relating the story in first person. This stylistic choice invites an intimacy between the reader and the text that one expects in a work of fiction. Engle chooses to include much of her biographic detail in an appended historical note, thus leaving the bulk of the text free to engage in the storytelling function. Paschkis’s illustrations are based in a folk-art tradition that puts the viewer in mind of the era in which Maria Merian lived and worked. Her occasional use of bold black backgrounds calls attention to the ever-important dramatic page turn. In addition to providing a biographical story that is both visually and verbally engaging, the author and illustrator together acknowledge their subject’s commitment to carefully observing and recording the natural world. The rich character development adds depth to the story and provides young readers with a valuable insight into scientific methodology. All biographers must determine what to include and exclude when writing about an individual’s life. The parameters of the picture book format make these decisions even more crucial and often limit a biography’s scope. While thirty-two or forty-eight pages won’t allow for a comprehensive, cradle-to-grave exploration of a subject’s life, ingenious biographers can communicate the essentials, carefully excerpting struggles and accomplishments, and reinforcing their expression with appropriately resonant words and imagery. In Georgia Rises, author Kathryn Lasky and illustrator Ora Eitan paint an indelible portrait of the artist within a day’s activity. Recounting O’Keeffe’s arthritic morning ritual, pulling on her stockings and arranging her hair, Lasky reveals volumes about the painter’s work ethic and passion. The inspiration derived from a simple encounter with a raven exemplifies O’Keeffe’s life-long relationship with the natural world. For her part, Eitan matches Lasky’s spare, lyrical musings with flat, elegant, determined paintings, capturing the quiet strength of O’Keeffe’s work and the landscapes that inspired it. While the picture book format invites creative abbreviation, the biography demands the same documentation required of its longer counterparts. A biographical account, however essential, must rest upon a foundation of rigorous research. In Bad News for Outlaws Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and R. Gregory Christie offer a compelling yarn both adventurous and sympathetic — and documented. Nelson supports her candid account with comprehensive back matter: a photograph of the hero at the end of the story signals a transition to the facts, followed by a glossary, a historical timeline, a bibliography for further reading, some background information on other players, and a selected bibliography including some notes about her own research. With such appendices, the book’s veracity is inarguable. But strong documentation need not be straightforward to be effective. The same meta-awareness that enhances the irresistible storytelling in Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek also highlights that book’s informational integrity. By breaking the fourth wall to discuss the story’s origins with the reader, Hopkinson and Hendrix simultaneously document their research and offer the reader a rudimentary lesson in the process of historical inquiry. Acknowledging the audience Illuminated within the shared spotlight that defines the picture book biography, there are a variety of titles crafted to inform and delight children of every age. Replete with naive sweetness and scientific substance, Patrick McDonnell’s account of primatologist Jane Goodall’s childhood, Me…Jane, squarely entertains the preschool audience with a simple story designed for sharing. A young Jane, stuffed monkey in tow, investigates the wildlife around her country home, imagining one day traveling to the jungles of Africa to do the same. Period spot illustrations and a collection of Goodall’s own childhood drawings accompany McDonnell’s gentle watercolors, complementing Jane’s genial enthusiasm with a seriousness of purpose. At story’s end, the child Jane goes to sleep in her bedroom and awakes, an adult, in Tanzania. A photo of the naturalist reaching out to a chimpanzee completes a singular picture of a remarkable woman’s fascination with and abiding commitment to the world’s wildlife, perfectly calibrated for the biography’s intended audience. Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet deliver an equally well-tuned picture book biography for an older child audience in A River of Words. Bryant’s narrative both tells and shows. The text directly conveys information, affording the young reader straightforward facts about the poet’s life and work. At the same time, the spare beauty of the writing communicates the power and influence of poetry in an indirect way. Sweet adds story-extending detail with her round, ebullient collage work. Her inclusion of text in virtually every illustration reinforces the importance of words in the life of William Carlos Williams. Built on ledgers, lined paper, and newsprint evocative of the time when Williams was composing, the illustrations include multiple iterations of his poems, hinting at his relentless dedication to writing. Together, author and illustrator have crafted a book of subtle and layered meaning suited to the growing understandings and aesthetic sensibilities of an older audience. There are as many opportunities for successful picture book biographies as there are children to consume them. The lives of real people offer countless varieties of inspiration. Some open a page on a forgotten hero. Others expand appreciation of an iconic figure. By offering varied pictures of achievement, from the personal to the monumental, picture book biographies demonstrate that there are countless avenues to individual success. In sharing the literary spotlight, the writers and illustrators of picture book biographies illuminate another type of success as well. Through their efforts to honor two literary traditions within a single book, they shine a light on both genres and allow us the opportunity to celebrate creative cooperation. We can only hope that the two spotlights they have so carefully focused will continue to shine on. Good Picture Book Biographies A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams (Eerdmans, 2008) by Jen Bryant; illus. by Melissa Sweet Summer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian (Holt, 2010) by Margarita Engle; illus. by Julie Paschkis Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek: A Tall, Thin Tale (Introducing His Forgotten Frontier Friend) (Schwartz & Wade/Random, 2008) by Deborah Hopkinson; illus. by John Hendrix What to Do About Alice?: How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy! (Scholastic, 2008) by Barbara Kerley; illus. by Edwin Fotheringham Georgia Rises: A Day in the Life of Georgia O’Keeffe (Kroupa/Farrar, 2009) by Kathryn Lasky; illus. by Ora Eitan Me…Jane (Little, Brown, 2011) by Patrick McDonnell Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal (Carolrhoda, 2009) by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson; illus. by R. Gregory Christie From the March/April 2011 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

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Prompt: What message does Le aim to convey through “Love and Honor…?” Think about family, oral traditions and lessons on storytelling. In Love and Honour and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice, Nam Le tells the story of a young author who is faced with a dilemma of whether or not to “sell out” and write about his “ethnic story” in order to meet an upcoming deadline. The young author in the short story eventually relents and writes an “ethnic story” but is unable to submit it after his father burns the only copy of the story. However what appears to be an act of betrayal, in hindsight, is yet another example of the young author’s father saving the young author from himself. Through this compelling short story, Le offers an empathetic view of Americans, Asians, and Asian-Americans, ultimately showing the reader that conflicts arise between these groups from a lack of knowledge, not malice. In the short story, Le makes clear distinctions between Asian, American, Asian-American people and their values. Le has characters throughout the short story that are symbolic of each kind of culture. Le introduces characters that represent American culture such as the young author’s girlfriend Linda, a young white woman who does not understand the young author’s insistence on staying in contact with his father, and some of the young author’s friends who encourage him just to write an ethnic story to gain “easy” notoriety. Also Le has characters that represent Asian culture (the young author’s father) and Asian-American culture (the young author). Through his portrayal of these characters Le makes a firm statement on the intentions of these particular groups of people. Even though, in the story, Anglo-Saxon Americans are portrayed as somewhat antagonistic to many aspects of the background of Asians and Asian-Americans, Anglo-Saxon Americans are never portrayed to be truly antagonistic and instead suffer from a lack of understanding. One of the young author’s fellow writers describes to the young author what he perceives to be the cheap story telling that comes with ethnic literature. The friend even discounts the young author’s ethnic background as something the young author can “exploit” rather than respecting the young author’s ethnic background as a legitimate struggle. However the young author’s frustrated friend, while disrespectful, never objects to the struggles of ethnic people but the cheap writing he associates with it. And while it is unfair to tie the two together, the young author’s friend, a representation of Anglo-Saxon Americans, does not hold negative feelings towards ethnic people. If anything, expressing his disdain for ethnic literature has made the friend feel like “a bad person.” The young author’s girlfriend Linda has misunderstandings about Asian culture as well, as she struggles to understand the young author and his insistence to keep in contact with his father, who she simply sees as abusive. This misunderstanding can be accredited to the young author himself, as that is the only way Linda learned and misinterpreted the actions of the young author’s family. Ultimately Linda, a symbol of an Anglo-Saxon American, can not truly be antagonistic as she herself is dating an Asian-American man, not something to be expected out of a person who is truly antagonistic against Asians or Asian-Americans. The young author’s struggle between his father is symbolic of a larger intrinsic disagreement between first generation Asian-Americans and their Asian parents. Throughout the short story the young author is conflicted between western and eastern culture. On one hand, the young author treats his father as an annoyance and shows such a disconnect to his Asian heritage that he blatantly exploits his father’s background instead of showing restraint and respecting his father’s story. However despite his reservations about his father, the young author still willingly takes care of his father’s need during his father’s visit and is angered when his friend suggests that ethnic stories were cheaply done. At the end of the story, when the young author’s father burns the ethnic story, the young author expresses remorse (retrospectively) at the angry way the author reacted. This suggests that the young author’s conflict with his father, and the Asian-American first generation struggle with their Asian parents, can be reconciled with understanding. While much as in real life the understanding is not immediate nor is it guaranteed, the young author demonstrates that with time it is possible to reach an understanding. Conflicts between Anglo-Saxon Americans, Asians and Asian-Americans can be contributed to a lack of understanding and not ill-intentions. In the short story, Anglo-Saxon Americans display antipathy toward some Asian-Americans and Asians but ultimately just need more understanding and already have the good intent necessary to do so. Similarly, the conflict between Asian-Americans and Asians suffers from a lack of understanding but the story expresses promise for understanding over time. Post Submitted by: Jesse Chiang

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Respect for One Another and Respect for Self For Native Americans, storytelling is important in teaching responsibility, respect, and how to live in a good way. Listen for the lessons as Little Hawk shares his account of “The Two-Legged Nation.” This story tells how we are all one family living in different rooms of the same house and that respectful behavior is a choice each of us makes. “How Helping Hands Got His Name” is an enchanting tale about a Native American child who was a bully, but learned that to make others feel bad makes us have bad feelings about ourselves. This is an interactive assembly that addresses Character Development and Anti-Bullying issues in an enjoyable, effective way. Little Hawk captures audiences with his words, actions and manner - drawing students in and encouraging them to think about the type of person they want to be, the choices that they make, and their contribution to “The Two-Legged Nation" that they live in. Grades K-12; College & Adult • Great Family & Community Program Available CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO OF LITTLE HAWK'S TWO LEGGED NATION Kenneth Little Hawk Kenneth Little Hawk webpage Chris Marksbury; CM Photos Before attitude is a problem… Before peer pressure is a problem… Before alcohol and drugs are a problem… SELF ESTEEM IS THE ANSWER. Scot Cannon brings students through one full day of school in this stage presentation, portraying an adolescent trying to make all the choices and decisions necessary to keep him going in the right direction. The first 30 minutes is silent pantomime with an original background score of music and sound effects. In the second half, Scot removes his make-up on stage and delivers his comic monologue filled with questions for the audience. Using the memories of his struggle with an adolescent speech problem, Scot brings students closer to this message: "If you think you can or you think you can't... you're right." (Henry Ford) His battle to be understood and accepted gives hope and encouragement to kids desperately trying to pull it all together. This Character Education program focuses on self-esteem and making good choices. In this powerful mime & music presentation, Scot Cannon begins in make up and brings the audience through a series of fast paced skits. On the surface it seems simply to be a fun, entertaining, engaging show. The program shifts dramatically when Scot removes his make-up, breaks his mime silence, and speaks to the audience about acceptance of people despite our differences. Using his own experiences with a childhood speech problem as a springboard, Scot explains that a kind word, an extra moment spent or a simple wave can change a bad day for someone - and that those simple things can sometimes be a defining moment and be remembered for a lifetime. Scot uses the skits he performed to strengthen his simple message of kindness, and finishes with a five-minute mime class for the audience, to further reinforce his program. This is a Character Education program focusing on bullying, tolerance, acceptance and compassion. |Chris Marksbury; CM Photos

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Communities that are isolated from the mainstream population often develop distinct, rich cultures, based on a firmly established set of values and practices. There are many examples of these communities in Canada, from sea to sea to sea. Yet, a strong set of values is no guarantee that community or its culture will persist. And what holds true for communities, also applies to organizations and groups. Communities and cultures under siege Haida people have occupied Haida Gwaii, on Canada’s Pacific north-west coast, since time immemorial. The aboriginal Haida Nation population was in the tens of thousands in pre-contact times. With the arrival of the explorers in the 18/19th centuries, and smallpox, pre-contact population in tens of thousands was reduced to 600. Entire villages were lost. Traditions were lost. Structures were pillaged. A few years ago I visited the Chicago Museum, and was astonished to see a large showroom filled with Haida (and other west coast aboriginal art) artifacts, removed from Haida communities to meet the needs of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Today, the Haida work hard to gain autonomy over their lands, return stolen artifacts, and put their values into practice. In the Canadian North, on the Arctic Ocean, is Nunavut, our largest federal territory. The people are mostly aboriginal, with Inuit forming the bulk of those people. And like the Haida, the Inuit have not entirely benefited from contact. Long-standing values and practices, which were communicated to younger Inuit through stories and song, have been interrupted by outside influences and new institutions. Inuit are looking for ways to build these beliefs (e.g., storytelling) into what we do today so that once again these beliefs become the value system for Nunavut. And on Canada’s east, Atlantic coast, is an island community I’ve visited many times, Cape Breton. Initial island inhabitants were ancestors of the Micmaq aboriginal peoples. During the first half of the early 19th century, the Highland Clearances saw an influx of 50,000 Scots to Cape Breton, who brought their rich musical traditions with them. The community and culture remained almost untouched for almost 150 years. Today, a causeway connects the island to the mainland, economic realities see much of the local population working in Alberta oil patch, and cultural traditions are being impacted. What keeps the community flame burning? Across these three different communities, I see three common attributes being applied today: - Re-commitment to core values - Celebrating the best of features of the community; e.g., through arts and culture - Adapting strategies, congruent with values, to the current situation And in your community? - What are your organizations guiding principles and values? - How do you appreciate the core strengths and attributes of the people you work with? - How are you adapting your organizational strategies and actions to current possibilities? And for you? - What and your personal beliefs and values? - What is unique about you? - Are you aligning your values with your current thoughts and actions? And if you’re having difficulty with answers to the above, maybe it’s time to go offline, and re-connect with your core, in your outpost of choice! Make sense? Photo credit: Sam Beebe / Ecotrust

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Creative writing is at the forefront of many educational plans, especially in the earlier grades. Being able to write creatively is a sign of a well developed mind and taking the reader outside of a traditional essay and into your imagination is a skill only solid writers can do well. When you think of creative writing, a wealth of material should spring to mind. Your creative writing classes might have included poetry, prose, plays, narratives, and much more. For your child, she is likely still back in the entry levels of creative writing which centers on the imaginative, or fiction based, story. That is, she’s making up stories and writing them down. If your child has always been creative, she likely has some terrific stories and make-believe characters. Getting those ideas onto the paper is a different matter entirely for most children. The Common Scenario Most children who can tell a story, start to write the story as they would tell it. But many fizzle out after only a few lines or paragraphs. There is simply too much in the brain to get onto the paper. Many of these children bog down in the details and can’t move the story forward. The other common scenario for children that have difficulty with creative writing is failing to find a foothold in a topic or idea. They stare at the white piece of paper and experience the worst kind of writer’s block. Helping your child become a better creative writer is an investment in the long-term, but the process itself is straightforward. Creative Writing Breakdown When trying to write a story, taking it from your head to the paper is frustrating for many children unless they are writing only a paragraph or two. The story becomes convoluted and the brain can process much more quickly than the pencil or fingers. To get around this problem, you should simply add a step between the thinking, or brainstorming, and the actual writing. Generate an idea and then start to sketch that idea on paper. You can use many different forms of prewriting, but for the most part, you’re not actually writing more than just a few words or possibly a sentence as your child learns to organize her ideas. One common way to prewrite to make lists on a separate piece of paper. Make one list of characters in the story much like you would see in a play. Consider this a running list you can add to as she writes more of the story. Your next list will be a list of action in the story itself, i.e. what’s going to happen to those characters? If she already has an idea for the story itself, making a list is much easier than writing the full paper. She simply jots down ideas such as: - Fights evil troll. - Loses fight and becomes slave in his kingdom. - Meets prince in disguise. - Makes plan to escape. - Runs away. - Prince fights off troll once and for all. - Married and lives happily ever after to prince. As you can see from the short series of action steps, there are three primary characters in the story that show up in the character list – the main character, presumably your daughter herself or another female, the evil troll and the prince in disguise. She can add extra characters as she pleases, but the story should center on the main three. Expand the Lists Lists are only one way to get thoughts in order during the prewriting stage. Your child might put together a full outline, draw a timeline and write out the action sequence on that, create a bubble web that fall into place, or do anything that helps her sort out the pieces all clashing together in her mind. Once your thoughts are in order in front of you and your child, it’s a good time to flash out the lists a bit. Look for gaps that might be expanded and add details. How do the prince and the main character escape in the above example? What plan did they make? How did the prince fight the troll – with weapons and skill or clever tricks? Which weapons, which tricks, etc… Writing the Story Finally, when the bulk of the urgent questions have been answered, it’s time to start the story itself. With your child’s story outlined in a list in front of her, it’s simply to put those thoughts into detailed sentences and begin to write. As she writes, she should be focused on the following aspects of creative writing: - Add details to make the scene and story more interesting – don’t just fight the troll, for example, show the audience through words what sights, sounds and smells there were during the fight. - Keep the plot moving forward. Don’t get so bogged down in details and descriptions that you lose the story. Quality details are meaningful; the color of the main characters shoes and eyelashes is not. - Develop your characters as necessary. The troll might be there just to be the bad guy, but if the reader is following the actions of the female telling the story, it’s nice to be able to hear her thoughts and emotions as well. Develop characters as much as possible to make them resonate with readers. - Build the plot up. The story your child is writing should be building to the climax. In the troll story this is likely the part where the troll catches the two escaping and the prince must fight for their lives. Explain the power of a thriller movie to your child. Perhaps even let her watch a tamer one to see how things build and build until you’re breathless with anticipation. You can show her in many of her favorite books as well, especially mysteries, dramas and horror stories. Encourage her to do the same with her story. - Use a creative ending. If you have a brand new idea for a story, it shouldn’t end with the same tired ending that’s been used ad nausea. Encourage her to use a clever new way of ending the story. They can wind up together, but does it really have to be “happily ever after?”

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What is Kathak Dance? is among the six major classical dances of India and one of the most dynamic theater arts in the world. The word Kathak is derived from katha, meaning "the art of storytelling." It is also synonymous with the community of artists known as Kathakas whose hereditary profession it was to narrate history while entertaining. With dance, music and mime these storytellers of ancient India would bring to life the great scriptures and epic so ancient times, especially the great Indian epics - the Mahabharata and the Ramayana - and the Puranas of Sanskrit literature. From its early form as a devotional expression dedicated to the Hindu gods, Kathak gradually moved out of the temples and into the courts of the rulers; the Hindu maharajas and the Muslim nawabs (kings). With these rulers' cultural wealth and preoccupation with lavish entertainment, a class of dancing girls and courtesans emerged to entertain the palaces. Much later, during the mid-1800's, Kathak enjoyed a renaissance and gained prominence among the kings and zamindars (feudal overlords) not only as a form of entertainment, but as a classical art form. In the Hindu courts of the vast semi-desert of the principality of Rajasthan, kathak developed in the Jaipur gharana (school), a regional style emphasizing the technical mastery of pure dance. To the east in the court of Wajid Ali Shah, the last nawab of Oudh and himself a student of Kathak, the dance emphasized dramatic and sensuous expression and developed into the style characteristic of the Lucknow gharana. This gharana is said to have originated with Wajid Ali Shah's court dancer Thakur Prasadji. The lineage of Kathak dance can be traced from generation to generation, father to son, guru to disciple. Thakur Prasadji's nephews, Binda Din Maharaj and Kalka Prasad, excelled in the study of Kathak. Binda Din's three nephews, Achhan, Lacchu and Shambhu Maharaj, helped carry the Kathak tradition into the twentieth century. Achhan Maharaj, and upon his death, Shambhu Maharaj, had among his many disciples Ram Narayan Misra and Prohlad Das, respectively guru and father of Chitresh Das.

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How to Write a Short StoryPosted by How to Write a Short Story Say you need to write a short story for a school project, or you want to write a short story just to unleash your creative potential. You have your inspiration, you have your characters, and you have just about everything you need, except that you don’t know how to write the story down. Here are ways and tips that can help you write a short story. Structure of the Story There is no one way to write a short story, but it helps to have a structure to make writing your story more convenient. Think of the structure as the “frame” or “skeleton” where you fill in the details with plots, characters, and other events that make up your short story. A typical short story follows the same pattern of a dramatic sequence: - The exposition provides an introduction to your story. Here you can introduce some characters, describe the setting, and provide a background to the events that will take place in your story. - The rising action narrates the pace of the story as it reaches its turning point. Here you can provide some conflicts, use plot devices, or write down the story as it goes along. - The climax is the turning point of the story. Think of the climax as the height of the story, where you draw out emotions and impressions from the reader. - The falling action is where the story winds down, and gives the reader an idea of how the conflict is resolved in the story. - The resolution, also called the dénouement, is where the story ends. You can opt to give your story a happy ending or a sad ending, although some authors prefer not to give their short story an ending at all. Make It Simple and Interesting There’s a saying among writers that goes, “Write to express, and not to impress.” Unlike novels, a short story is meant to be read quickly, but land a lasting impression on the reader’s imagination. Avoid using long sentences and complicated words. Always simplify your sentences and phrases; if there’s a way to simplify the thought, then you should always go for the simpler choice. Just because you’re keeping things simple doesn’t mean that your story should sound childish. While you’re not out to make life-changing epiphanies, your story should be meaningful enough to land a lasting impression on whoever reads it. Keep the plot straightforward, but at the same time give your readers the room to think about your story. It’s often easier to write a long story or a novel than to write a short story. You may feel the urge to cram as many details about events and characters into your story, to the point that your story becomes longer than expected. Think of a simple short story as an action-packed narrative of a single episode; instead of cramming in details about events and characters, you should focus on one or two events surrounding one or two characters. When writing your short story, focus on the plot, the conflict, and how it is resolved. Don’t allow yourself to wander off into too many directions; your story should be tight, concise, and descriptive. If it’s your first time to write a short story, it may help to focus on only one plot thread. Remember that even the most experienced short story writers are very challenged when forced to work with two plot threads in a single story. Whether you want to express thoughts or experiences, or if you’re filing applications for a short story-writing contest, these tips should help you write your story the way you best want to express it.

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year, work in the elementary class begins with five important stories, called the "Great Lessons". These stories dramatize known facts about the universe and the progression of human civilization. Dramatic stories, experiments, charts timelines, and illustrations center the children's interests by helping them create a picture of the whole universe at work. From here, the classroom opens up to endless possibilities as students follow their own particular interests with a large measure of freedom. This unit of study forms the backbone that integrates the daily curriculum. Great Lessons are part of what Montessori called "Cosmic Education". This is the child's gradual discovery of how all things on earth in the past, present and future are interrelated. Through this work, the children develop a greater global vision of their world. History work in the elementary class begins with the development of the solar system and early life on earth. Students study aspects of early civilizations, the development of humankind, and recorded history. Students learn how the contributions of humankind throughout history have brought us to where we are today. Elementary students extend their knowledge of continents and countries with further research about the people, language and cultures of different lands. Map work continues with the study of geographical features and landforms. Project work crosses several subject areas, and students strive to achieve their own personal best while cooperating with others. In this area, the children's natural curiosity is stimulated through discovery projects and experiments, from which they draw their own conclusions. The first science experiments are designed to give the children basic knowledge, which will help them to understand the development of the solar system, the earth and its configurations, life on earth and the needs of plants and animals. As they progress, the curriculum encompasses physics, chemistry, botany, biology and zoology. Students learn how to collect and analyze data, observe systematically and carry out experiments using appropriate scientific methods. LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE The elementary language curriculum emphasizes creative and expository writing, interpretive reading of literature and poetry. The elementary language curriculum emphasizes creative and expository writing, interpretive reading of literature and poetry. The focus is on word study, spelling, grammar, punctuation, penmanship and capitalization. Research skills are introduced, practiced through individual project work and refined as students work with a wide range of research materials. The computer is used for some research. The children are encouraged to present their projects and read their stories with confidence, clarity and expression, strengthening their oral language skills. Good literature is always available in the classroom library. The children enjoy well-written story and information books on all subject areas of the curriculum. In addition, the classroom uses SRA Reading Comprehension books. Students practice and use their reading and writing skills throughout the curriculum supplemented by weekly writers' workshops and daily independent reading time. The mathematics curriculum is presented with concrete materials, which reveal arithmetic, geometric, and algebraic connections. Work with the Montessori mathematics materials ensures that mathematics is not simply memorized, but understood. These concrete materials help the student transition into working mathematical concepts abstractly. The children�s knowledge of the decimal system is extended as they explore its quantities & qualities. Students practice operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Number hierarchy, fractions, decimals, negative numbers, squaring & cubing are studied. Throughout math work, what is learned is continuously applied to daily situations. Elementary students continue exploring geometry on a sensorial level. Students gain a strong understanding of fundamental geometric concepts through consecutive lessons with Montessori materials. Students gradually begin to study geometry abstractly. Students begin with a study of congruency, similarity, equivalence, and fractions which prepare them for later area and theorem work. The study of lines, measurement of angles and the construction of geometric figures is also introduced. Self-expression is nurtured in all children. Children experience visual art, music, poetry, theatre, writing, dance and other forms of creative arts with confidence and passion. As current research continues to indicate the importance of this area of study, we find it a very natural part of our Appreciation and Art History is as natural part of the curriculum as technique and use of various media. We learn about art as we do everything else, from the perspective of history. We study the various forms of media as we study the artists who created and used them. Weekly formal art instruction from Art and Montessori trained teacher Kelly Rauscher introduces new techniques, materials, and art is an important part of our classroom as well. Daily singing and listening are accentuated by weekly training on rhythm and singing from our specialist, Dr. David Eslick. The arts are naturally integrated into cultural studies and language (creative writing). Special guests will join the class occasionally to share cultural art forms. The students attend at least one performance of children's theatre each year. Classroom-based drama production and performance encourages the public speaking, poise, self-control, and games. Continuing our commitment to foreign language instruction that began in the Early Childhood Environment, each Elementary student receives instruction in Spanish language. The children are introduced to vocabulary, conversation, music and dance. Spanish is spoken frequently in the classroom, both by teachers and students. Supplemental Spanish language materials will be available in the classroom for independent study. Large muscle skills are a heavy focus during this stage. Games and team sports are encouraged to teach good sportsmanship skills. Each week, the students attend Physical Education class to develop stretching, flexibility, coordination, balance, breath-awareness and strength-building techniques. This is in addition to daily largely unstructured outdoor time. The 6 to 12 year-old child is eager to be part of a community. Acceptance, justice and fairness are of supreme importance. With the Cosmic Curriculum as the foundation, peace education and conflict resolution are taught daily so that children learn to be part of a warm, respectful and supportive community. Our peace education emphasis also reaches beyond the classroom, through community service projects and pen pals. The students are closely involved in both school-wide and classroom-based community service projects. Our gardens and animals provide an indoor-outdoor classroom for our elementary students. Life science studies will have direct correlation to our botanical and zoological resources. Ecology, environmental studies and conservation are integral to the children's outdoor activities. Students have opportunities to experience first-hand care of animals, care of earth, and gardening. Weekly animal husbandry and gardening experiences are incorporated into the integrated cultural curriculum. The computer is a vital learning tool for the elementary student. Students learn basic word processing and design skills to enable independent and efficient computer use. In addition to practicing basic keyboarding and computer operation skills, students learn how to conduct research using educational software and how to safely navigate the internet. The worldwide web provides unique and exciting opportunities for the older student to interact with the world, and to be part of a truly global community.

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The WDS K/1 is an exciting classroom where children engage in creative play to ignite their imaginations and create community while becoming mathematicians, authors and readers. We start each day with a Morning Meeting which helps us create a common repertoire of songs, games and activities. Throughout the day, students are challenged to work cooperatively with many hands on group activities and can often be found making use of our beautiful campus as we take our clipboards and journals outside to explore our natural world. Math and Language Arts are separated by grade. The Kindergarten and First Grade join together for Morning Meeting, Lunch, Choice Time and Social Studies. Social Studies in the K/1 is a time when the K/1 is combined, often working in small groups on hands-on projects. Each year begins with a focus on the social aspects of being in a community and being a unique individual. We use the Tribes Agreements as our guides to explore how we treat each other, ourselves and the classroom. The five Tribes Agreements are Mutual Respect, Listening, No Put Downs, Participation, and Appreciations and Apologies. We do many different activities and games that help teach and reinforce these important life skills. For the rest of the year, the Social Studies Curriculum is divided into an A and B year. During the A year, we focus on Communities and during the B year we focus on United States Geography. Throughout the A year, we explore various communities that we are a part of beginning with our families, our classroom, our school and finally spreading outward to our towns. We go on various field trips to learn about community helpers and institutions like the firehouses, farms, post offices and local merchants. We also explore the natural community around us to find out what animals and plants live in our community and how we effect and are affected by them. During our B year, we “travel” around our country learning about the food, key features, states and ecosystems that make up our country. We begin by exploring geographical elements like landforms, borders, maps, and regions to create a common language and skill set that we can use when we explore our country. Students get their hands dirty cooking food from various regions, making up songs in the style of different regions and creating various landforms and environments that they would find across our country. The Kindergarten Language Arts curriculum is rich and exciting, as the children are taking their first steps towards literacy. We have a balanced approach to guiding students on their journey of reading and writing. The children are provided with daily opportunities for oral language through storytelling, sharing and discussions. Students have the opportunities to explore a variety of genres through quality literature and texts. The students learn recognition and reproduction of uppercase and lowercase letters. They develop phonemic awareness as they learn the letter names and sounds and gain an understanding of the conventions of print through daily games and lessons. Emergent literacy skills and strategies are developed through authentic reading and writing opportunities during Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop and explored during literacy stations. Our goal is for all of our students to enjoy the purpose and process of reading and writing, as well as view themselves as readers, authors, and illustrators. Our Math program is based on the understanding that children learn in different ways. Our studies are integrated throughout various subjects such as Language Arts, Social Studies and Science and Nature. Our young mathematicians participate in metacognitive strategies such as Math journaling, where they monitor their own thought processes. Manipulatives and hands-on games help students explore new concepts and encourages active learning. Students often choose to work with Math materials during free play time; creating games and transferring their learning into new situations. In Kindergarten, students learn to match, sort, order, and identify shapes and patterns. They experiment with length, weight, time, and money, compare and contrast, and begin to add and subtract numbers up to twenty. The curriculum as a whole is inquiry based and multidisciplinary. We use thematic studies and many of our lessons combine components from several disciplines. Like so much of the Kindergarten work, the Science curriculum utilizes a lot of hands on situations. We are grateful to have the resources of our beautiful campus. We go on several nature walks a week. We model for the children how to be a scientific observer and give them the opportunity to be observers themselves. We have a science table in our classroom where we always have things for them to explore. Children learn about what is alive and what is not and what plants and animals need, and do, to survive. We do a lot of measurement and graphing. The curriculum includes Earth science and life science, especially in the spring, when we do a unit about sprouting seeds and planting, etc. Some anatomy is included in our “all about me” study, where we talk about our senses and how our amazing bodies work. Physical geography and astronomy is fascinating to young children and we have many discussions, such as the fact that the sun is the center of the universe and everything spins around it. We do a float tank to see what floats and what sinks and we do experiments with snow when it arrives, melting it and seeing how much space it takes up etc. Of course we are always talking about ecology and how to best take care of our Earth. During First Grade Language Arts, students explore reading and writing in many genres. We write and perform plays and songs based on stories we read, we write letters to our buddies around campus, poetry during our nature research reports bad on our social studies curriculum to name a few. We use a four blocks approach to our Language Arts program. Guided Reading is where students read in small groups with the teacher to focus on comprehension, fluency, and strategies for decoding. During Self-Selected Reading, students read independantly to apply strategies we are working on and build an appreciation of literature. During Writer’s Workshop, students apply writing concepts, experience the joy of writing and sharing a story and editing. Working with Words is where we play with words, spelling patterns and endings. The SRA Math curriculum includes Mental Math exercises, teacher demonstrations, concept reinforcement, thinking stories, and mastery checkpoints. We use a Problem of the Day and re-teaching strategies for additional support. In Unit 1, students solve problems involving adding and subtracting 1, 2, and 3 using counting up, counting back, and counting on a number line. Lessons in Unit 2 develop memorization of basic facts with numbers 0 – 10 and introduce subtracting numbers through 20 and one digit numbers. Unit 3 extends work to numbers through 40 and introduces counting by tens to 100. Unit 4 promotes mastery of basic facts through 10 + 10 and gives an informal introduction to two-digit addition and subtraction with regrouping. Science for the First Grade is a transition from the unstructured exploration of Kindergarten science to the more structured unit study of First Grade. In First Grade three categories of science are introduced: Life science, Earth science, and Physical science. By introducing them to several different branches of science, they become more aware of the world around them from many different aspects. Encouraging them to ask questions and to get pleasure from their own discovery of the answer is very important in First Grade. The year begins with an introduction of rocks and their formation, progresses through a study of five animal groups and their characteristics, we then look at matter, and conclude with magnets and magnetism. The Music class explores singing and classroom instruments through an integrative arts approach. Songs are interwoven with creative movement, artwork, and stories, thus creating depth of understanding and connection to the songs we sing. The 1/2 Music class learns several songs in a variety of styles. We learn and compose pattern pieces with simple rhythm, including whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, and rests. Pitch and rhythm syllables are introduced as precursors to standard notation. Active listening, music games, and in-class performance are all be a part of learning developmentally appropriate music concepts. Over the course of the year the children are placed in situations where they can learn through movement exploration and put their imaginations to work. Basic movement patterns such as running, galloping, skipping, jumping, rolling and leaping will be emphasized. All sorts of objects are manipulated including jump ropes, beanbags, a plethora of balls, hula-hoops, scooters and the parachute. Students move to music, act out stories and play what seems like five-dozen variations of tag. Personal Space and Body Awareness are important themes at this age. This allows students to move and learn in a safe environment. Students are also put in situations in which cooperation and teamwork are important. Last and perhaps most important, the students have fun while learning. In our class, students begin their adventure into the elements of design and the classical arts. This is done first subtly by using the language of art and then a bit later by actually studying the color wheel, mixing colors, painting, using clay, printmaking, collage, etc. Some of their art work is done solely to learn the different mediums and some of it is done in conjunction with their classroom studies.

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Serious Play: Writing and Performing Plays With Children - Why is Play Important? Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development, Creative Development - Second Grade: Play is the Business of Children - Musical Instruments for Young Children - Dramatic Play-Creative Arts: Ages 3-5 - Why Creative Play Matters - Toys and Materials for Preschool Play - Technology Materials, Creative Thinking, Play, and the Arts - Housekeeping and Play Development - Activities for Sensory Play There are many ways of sorting people into groups. One of the most important groupings for a parent to be aware of is extrovert vs. introvert. Extroverts outnumber introverts three to one. Extroverts are natural performers, but writing and acting out plays isn’t only for them. Introverts can also experience the important challenges, liberation and fun of performing. Does your child take a big step back and say, “I can’t” when asked to present a project in front of the class? She, like many children who resist presenting in class, may be a perfectionist whose standards are so high they are hard to meet. She may dread failure, but when the task is performing as a character, she suddenly relaxes. It’s a liberating experience that often leads to increased achievement in writing as well as speaking. Maggie Shepherd is a veteran kindergarten teacher at Marin School in Albany, California, who has been doing plays with children for decades. “There are so many skills they are honing, being able to interpret their character’s emotions, developing more language experience, memorizing, self-discipline and being a team player,” she says. The benefits of writing and performing plays are not limited to youngsters. When John Camera taught creative writing at several colleges in New York City, he invited students to transform stories and poems into plays. Camera found that students “felt free to not only express their own ideas but express them in a way unique to them.” As Camera suggests, writing and performing plays is an exciting challenge. All that’s needed to put on a play—at home or at school—is a good story or poem and a few items you already have on hand. Make a play from a poem. Invite children to act out the lines of a poem. For example, Sky Seasoning, a poem in Shel Silverstein’s famous book Where the Sidewalk Ends, describes a piece of sky falling into a bowl of soup. Children get to imagine what a piece of sky looks like and stage the fall, which is punctuated in the poem with a huge “Kerplop!” Imagine the energy building up as your child and a couple of friends read the poem and memorize the lines. They call first for the literal props and you oblige with a folding table, an old tablecloth and the plastic salad bowl you use for picnics. Then they start talking about that piece of sky. How big is it? What color? Can it be made from cardboard? What about a piece of packing foam? As the set comes together, the children run through their lines. Your creative genius comes up with the idea of making the “Kerplop!” echo by repeating it. It’s hard to decide what’s more fun—getting ready for the performance or the performance itself—but one thing is for sure: The thought, visualization and creative use of language that go into a play are all valuable. Improvise and record a play. Children naturally follow the classic piece of writing advice: Write what you know. Let children invent their own plays by improvising with hand puppets and homemade masks. Their characters will be themselves, friends and family, pets, TV personalities and heroes from familiar stories. Encourage them to run through the same scene several times and then write the lines down. A few minutes of dialogue can develop into a scene with characters, setting, conflict and resolution—everything you need to create a play. When the play is ready for performance, record it and send it to family and friends. Your child will love to see herself on stage, and positive feedback from the virtual audience is a powerful incentive to do more plays. Today on Education.com - Kindergarten Sight Words List - Signs Your Child Might Have Asperger's Syndrome - Coats and Car Seats: A Lethal Combination? - Child Development Theories - GED Math Practice Test 1 - The Homework Debate - Graduation Inspiration: Top 10 Graduation Quotes - Social Cognitive Theory - 10 Fun Activities for Children with Autism - First Grade Sight Words List

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Why Use Graphic Novels: "Although comic books or cartoons are often considered subliterature and hardly appropriate for schools, these genres make an interesting bargain with young readers. According to read-aloud specialist Jim Trelease (2001), to become proficient readers people need to master a set of about 5,000 'rare words' that appear infrequently in conversation. In the average adult novel, these words appear 52 times per 1,000 words of text. In comic books, they appear 53 times per 1,000 (Hayes & Athens, 1988). Consequently, comic books don't reduce the vocabulary demand on young readers, but they do provide picture support, quick and appealing story lines, and less text. The comic book-like Captain Underpants series, wildly popular with reluctant boy readers, fits this pattern, not by over-simplifying vocabulary, but by drawing readers in with the visual story of a principal-turned-superhero in cape and briefs." Educational Leadership September 2006 "Media and Literacy: What's Good?" Graphic novels can: - help poor or unmotivated readers by engaging them to practice their reading skills - benefit English Language Learners who can use the pictures to increase their understanding of vocabulary - engage readers who learn visually, and who are comfortable with visual media such as video games and computer graphics - develop vocabulary - encourage readers to explore different genres - teach positive messages such as helping others, being selfless, working to one's best ability, participating in teamwork, and perseverance - help readers develop an appreciation for different literary and artistic style - open a reader's mind to new ways of storytelling, and increase their imagination, through the unique combination of text and pictures to convey a story Comics and Multiple Intelligences An activity in which students create their own comic or graphic novel taps into Howard Gardner's "Multiple Intelligences." What are some of the things your character says or thinks? There is no limit to what words can do in a comic. On the other hand, some artists have made comics using almost nothing but words. Cartoon drawings are naturally visual. Placing the characters in sets and backgrounds encourages spatial learning. Comics has a long history of formalism, which has always involved mathematical arrangements of panels. What is your character doing? Artists across the globe will attest to the physicality of drawing their characters. Students can make the faces their characters make, and get into their positions in order to draw them. Who are your character's friends? Collaborative games can lead to brainstorming. What are your character's moods? What does he or she think? Comics has a rich history of exploring the Intrapersonal. Where is your character placed? Explore his or her natural surroundings. Comics tell stories in rhythmic ways. Repetition of panels, and innovative and abstract stories are fostered in comics. For more information on this topic, read Jenn's article for the Diamond Bookshelf, titled "Why Teach with Comics?"

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What are they? Digital stories combine the art of traditional story-telling with the use of new technologies, making stories more compelling, educational, engaging and creative. Digital story-telling allows students and teachers to tell their own stories by using simple multimedia software to combine the use of video, photos, art and audio such as music, narration and/or sound effects into a single presentation. See also Animation and Presentation Tools. What do they look like? What's happening in Victorian schools? - Saving Nak − the students at Thornbury High were stirred into action when they learned a popular student was forcing deportation. They protested, sang, and discovered politics. Their film was featured on the ABC's Video Lives: Your place your story. Ideas for the classroom - Connect Primary and Connect Secondary − these Department sites include an excellent range of digital stories. Search for 'online stories' or 'digital stories'. You can also click 'listen', 'watch', 'make a movie', 'animate', 'read' under the Backpack heading on the Primary site. See: FUSE Primary and FUSE Secondary - Youth Central − digital stories vault and excellent tutorials on Microsoft Photo Story, see: Youth Central. You can download a free version of Photo Story from Microsoft - Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) − student and teacher digital stories workshops. These workshops are supported with funding from the Department. For information on sessions, see: ACMI Digital Stories. There are also a selection of digital stories at: Made by Kids. - ePotential − there are many excellent examples and resources to assist teachers in the creation of digital stories in ePotential. You can find them by logging in using your 8 digit pin/TO number and then searching for 'digital stories'. Tools for creating digital stories - Microsoft PhotoStory 3.1 − is a free application that allows users to create a show and tell presentation from their digital photos. The software allows adding narration, effects, transitions and background music to create a Windows Media Video movie file with pan and zoom effects. - Kahootz − all Victorian government schools received Kahootz 3.0 at the beginning of Term 2, 2008. The Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF) developed Kahootz to provide students with dynamic tools to create, share and collaborate with digital curriculum content. With a range of exciting new features, Kahootz 3.0 provides students with even more ways to create amazing stories, inventions, habitats, games, movies and soundtracks. - Microsoft MovieMaker − is video creating/editing software that is included in recent versions of Microsoft Windows. It contains features such as effects, transitions, titles/credits, audio track and timeline narration. - Microsoft PowerPoint − is a presentation program and part of the Microsoft Office system that runs on Microsoft Windows and Macintosh OS operating systems. In PowerPoint, text, graphics, movies, and other objects are positioned on individual pages or 'slides'. The slides can be animated, and voice, sounds and hyper-links can be added to create a story, games or movies. - iPhoto − is a software application made by Apple Inc. exclusively for their Mac OS X operating system. It is part of the iLife suite of applications and comes bundled with every new Macintosh computer. iPhoto can import, organise, edit, print and share digital photos. It is often compared to Google's Picasa and Adobe's Photoshop Album. How it works − iCan is found on the Sfett.com website. It is a short film festival inspired by Marco Torres, produced by students from San Fernando, CA, USA. The movies are projects for school assignments as well as projects for community building. Digital storytelling is their way of promoting the arts, celebrating culture, and improving communications with the world. Safety information − videos are selected for uploading to the site. There are no stated guidelines for appropriate content. Portable Film Festival How it works: the Portable Film Festival is an Australian-based international festival of short films just for portable devices including play station portables (PSPs), iPods and MP4 players, 3G phones, netbooks and laptops. The site is also a portal to digital video resources and collections. Safety information: the site is available for use by people over the age of 13. Minors are advised they require parental consent to submit content. The One Minutes Jr How it works: sixty second videos made by young people aged 12 - 20 years from all over the world. The One Minutes Jr site is a project of the European Cultural Foundation, The One Minutes Foundation and UNICEF. 'The network gives young people, especially those who are underprivileged or marginalised, the opportunity to have their voices heard by a broad audience.' Workshops are run throughout the world and there is an annual competition for youth-created videos. Safety information: videos are approved before they are published on the site. There is copyright information. There are no stated guidelines for appropriate content.

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Worksheet One: Learning Stories The aim of this worksheet is to give you some hints and tips for learning stories. These are the techniques that I was taught when I first started storytelling and still use to a greater extent today. Although not exhaustive they will hopefully help you to get started and find your own voice as a storyteller. The first and most obvious step is to read stories. Lots of stories. Read as many stories form as many different sources as possible. Read traditional folktales, epic myths, the classics and modern writers (Ted Hughes, Terry Jones, Peter Dickinson, Joy Chant, Ursula Le Guin and Angela Carter to name but a few). Phillip Pullman says that he reads like a butterfly and writes like a bee, and I find this a great attitude to apply to finding new, good stories. The more stories you read the more familiar you’ll become with their different structures, contents and styles. When you find a story that you like (and it really is important that you like the stories and want to share them with others), read it properly a few times. On your first reading you are interested in where the story is taking you (just as your listeners will be when you re-tell it) and can miss some of the subtler aspects of the plot. On subsequent readings you will get a better feel for the story. This is important as it will help you understand which parts have a direct influence on events later on in the story; many stories have long unrelated pre-ambles and red herrings and though these add character to the story, they are not the essential blocks of the story’s structure. I wouldn’t advocate getting rid of these elements without due consideration but it is important to distinguish between the plot and the trimmings. Once you feel that you know the story well enough, try telling it out loud. Hide the text so you’re not tempted to have a sneaky look to remind yourself what happens next. Do this at home or whilst out walking the dog, it doesn’t matter. The aim is to show yourself that you do know your way through the main events of the story, that you could explain the plot if you had to. Check the text again if you need to and then tell it out loud again until you feel comfortable that you know the story. Next tell the story to a friend or colleague. This can be a nice informal telling without all the embellishment that creeps in later. Tell a couple more people if you need to, just to reassure yourself. Once you’ve told someone else, and seen that you do actually know the story, you are ready for a more formal telling. It is important to note that learning a story isn’t the same as learning a play script or memorising a poem. You don’t need to learn the story as it is written down word for word and in fact doing so will make the re-telling a lesser thing. The beauty of storytelling is that every time you tell a story it becomes richer and will change to suit the needs and mood of each particular audience. If you need a boost to learning your first few stories here’s a handy tip. An easy way to learn a story is to break it down into seven main parts (I don’t know why seven, it just seems to work for most stories). When I was first learning the art of storytelling I was told to think of these as a fish’s bones with each telling adding flesh and eventually scales to these bones. These seven points are your steppingstones through the story and as you learn more stories you will become adept at knowing where they naturally fall. Finding your seven points isn’t a case of breaking the text into seven equal parts but rather finding the main events and plot blocks of the story. Learn the stepping-stones and you learn the story. Remember that your troll or princess or hero will be different to anyone else’s with your unique description and voice so you don’t need to memorise someone else’s descriptive words for characters or places in the story. Joseph Collins 2005 | Freelance Storyteller | Visit www.pocketuniverses.co.uk for more information about storytelling. Worksheet One: Learning Stories Once you know the plot you need to get into the story. You need to know how the story feels, looks, sounds and smells. An easy way to do this is to think about one scene from your story, one that most strikes you. Picture the scene in as much detail as you can; think about the lighting, the sounds, the characters, the smells, the mood. This is your doorway into the story so try and fix as much detail as possible in your mind. You might not ever use all this detail in an actual telling but it is important that it is there in your head. This done, pick a few other scenes or events and do the same with them (if you have used the seven plot point method above, it helps to do this for each point). Now you have learnt the story practise, practise and yea verily thrice practice. Only by telling your stories to real audiences do they gain life as you add flesh to their bones. You will find some bits work on an audience and some don’t. Don’t try to control the story. Let it live and let it find its natural rhythm, highs and lows. Jokes will creep in, characters will find their voice and even the plot might take a few twists that you hadn’t expected. Don’t be scared to scrap bits or add extra elements as you see fit either. It is all too easy to become precious about the purity of traditional stories. It is just a story not a sacred artefact. Finally, and absolutely most importantly, enjoy yourself. If you are having fun with the story and the audience it will show and your telling will be that much richer for it. Learning stories really is that simple and it gets easier with practice. So now you have no excuse not to learn a couple of stories even if you start with the ones we all know – Three Billy Goats, Cinderella, Snow White. Seeing these and other characters and places come to life in front of us and not on the flat screen of a TV is something we have all been deprived of for far too long! Joseph Collins 2005 | Freelance Storyteller | Visit www.pocketuniverses.co.uk for more information about storytelling.

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A Graphic Design Primer, Part 2: The Principles of Design In the last part, we covered the elements that make up most designs. In this part, we’ll cover the principles you can apply to those elements to create a design. All of these principles can be applied to any project, and have a direct impact on the success of that design. Learning to recognize and apply these design principles to your own work is a key step in becoming a better, more competent designer. Some of these elements are inherent in any design, regardless of whether they were consciously applied or not. The key to creating better designs is learning how to master these principles and apply them proactively to your design work, so that you use each to its maximum effect. Balance is the way elements are distributed throughout a design. Good balance lends stability to the design. Bad balance leaves it looking off-kilter and skewed. However, it is possible to create designs that are slightly off-balance, in order to emphasize one element of the design over others. There are three basic types of balance: symmetrical, asymmetrical, and radial. Symmetrical balance occurs when two sides of a design are the same. Generally, this happens along a vertical line, though sometimes it can also happen along a horizontal line (and sometimes both). Asymmetrical balance is when the two sides of a design aren’t the same, but have elements that compliment one another and still provide the same kind of stability a symmetrical design provides. Asymmetrical designs are generally more visually interesting than symmetrical ones. Radial balance occurs when design elements are laid out in a circular pattern. Radial balance can give a real sense of movement to a design, though it’s also one of the most difficult to achieve in a web design environment while still maintaining good user experience. Balance can be achieved through the use of shapes, lines, colors, textures and other elements. Think of each element as having a “weight”, with brighter, larger, and more visually striking elements being heavier than other elements. The goal is to balance a scale set on the imaginary center line of the design. So on one side you might have a small but bright red element, while on the other side you have a larger gray element. The brightness of the one element offsets its smaller size, making it have the same visual weight as the larger element. Scribble and Tweak An example of slightly asymmetrical balance, especially in the header. Quirky Kid Clinic A good example of a symmetrical design. Proportion is the scale of elements in relation to one another. Proportion has a strong effect on the dominance of elements, with larger elements having a stronger visual impact than smaller ones, all other things being equal. The proportion of elements in your designs is an effective way to indicate what’s important in the design and what isn’t. The most important parts of a design should logically be larger than the less important elements. Notice how your eye automatically falls on the largest rectangle in the layout below. This is an example proportion effects our impression of what’s important. SimpleGeo uses proportion of different elements to place emphasis on different areas of the page. The very large slideshow is a good example of using proportion to draw the eye to a specific element. Dominance and Priority The priority of elements within a design can make the difference between a good user experience and a bad one. Without some kind of priority or dominance among elements in a design, it’s difficult for the user to figure out what they’re supposed to do. Dominance of one element over another gives us a sense of what’s important and what’s not. There are generally three levels of priority. Primary elements are the most important. In a website design, these are things like a call to action or headline. Secondary elements are important, but they’re not vital. These are things like the images you use to illustrate a point or your navigation. They need to be easy for a visitor to find, but they’re not the most important part of the design by any means. Tertiary elements are mostly unimportant. These are things like meta information on blog posts, some navigation elements, or footer links. Tertiary elements, to an extent, sort of “blend in” with the rest of the page’s design, rather than calling attention to themselves. There’s a definite sense of priority and hierarchy on this page. Another site with a definite sense of priority in the design. Contrast is fairly self-explanatory. Good designs have sufficient contrast between elements so that each element stands out as much as needed. Note that in some cases, contrast is minimal, because the intention is for elements to blend together. In other cases, contrast is high, because each element needs to be distinct. The most basic method of creating contrast is through color. But you can also have contrast with style (this is especially common in typography), texture, shape, and other elements. Contrast should be used to reinforce the priority of elements on a page. A good example of a site design that has varied contrast for different elements within the design. The varied contrast among different elements effects the emphasis placed on each. Rhythm and Flow The rhythm of a page directs the visitor from one element to the next. There are a handful of different rhythm patterns. Regular rhythm is orderly and even. There’s no variation in a regular rhythm. Think of it like a staircase: each step is the same height and width, and the same distance from the previous step. Fluid rhythm is more organic in nature. There’s variation between the elements, and movement between them is not in a regular, orderly pattern. Think of fluid rhythm as a river: all the water is flowing in the roughly same direction, but there’s variation in how it moves. Progressive rhythm could also be called sequential rhythm. There’s a definite sequence in how the eye moves from one element to the next. Progressive rhythm could best be thought of as like a fanned-out deck of cards. There’s a definite regular rhythm to this layout. The Cornerd site is a good example of a fluid rhythm in design. Harmony and Unity Even if you follow all the principles listed above, without unity and harmony, it’s impossible to create a good design. When all of the elements of your design are working together, you achieve unity. Without that unity, all you have is a bunch of individual elements on a page, without any real “design”. The elements should complement one another, and work together to create a design that’s both functional and pleasing to the eye. All the elements here work together, while following the principles above. The Moove site uses all of the elements above to great effect, creating a unified design. More Examples of Design Principles in Action Keith Homemade Cakes This design gives a good sense of priority, and uses both symmetrical and asymmetrical balance in different sections of the site. International Storytelling Center A great example of a site with asymmetrical balance and excellent proportion used to influence the priority of elements on the page. Another site that uses roughly symmetrical balance, as well as a regular rhythm. Platform45 is a great example of how proportion effects priority. The site also has excellent unity throughout. SiteOptimizer uses slight progressive rhythm in their header, as well as proportion to make some elements dominate others. Wade | A Retrospective One of the few successful site designs out there that uses radial and asymmetrical balance, as well as fluid rhythm effectively. An excellent example of good contrast, regular rhythm, and symmetrical balance. A good example of a site with moderate contrast and a symmetrical design. Very creative use of balance, proportion, dominance, and contrast. Turks & Caicos Sporting Club A great example of how proportion is used to create a visual hierarchy. In the third installment of this graphic design primer, we’ll cover different composition methods and guides, including the rule of thirds, Gestalt principles, and grid layouts. - The Principles of Design A comprehensive overview from Digital Web Magazine. - Basic Principles of Graphic Design Another overview article, this time from Gonzoblog. - Graphic Design/Principles of Design An overview from Wikibooks. Cameron Chapman is a professional Web and graphic designer with many years of experience. She writes for a number of blogs, including her own, Cameron Chapman On Writing. She’s also the author of Internet Famous: A Practical Guide to Becoming an Online Celebrity.

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- slide 1 of 5 According to the book, "Brain-Based Instruction for the 21st Century, For The Learner's Sake," by Judy Stevens and Dee Goldberg, stressful learning environments cause the brain to produce chemicals that interfere with learning. Through the use of small group activities such as the ones presented here, the learning environment is less likely to produce stress for students. Barbara Gross Davis, author of "Tools for Teachers," includes information in her book that supports the use of small group learning for increasing students' learning success, regardless of the subject being taught. Small group activities also encourage healthy social-emotional development of children, supporting appropriate peer interaction as modeled and monitored by teachers. The activities and lesson circumstances presented here support a stress-free learning environment which encourages positive social and emotional development of your first grade students. - slide 2 of 5 Peer Tutoring Trios By grouping students into peer tutoring trios, high level students apply newly learned skills by teaching it to others and on level and low level students observe and collaborate within the group to master that same skill. Using this small group idea for your first graders will move them toward independent application of the newly learned skill while deepening the high achievers understanding. To employ this method in your classroom, do the following: - identify a mathematics skill recently taught, but not mastered by the majority of students. - identify the top third of the students who mastered the skill (each of these students will lead a tutoring trio). - place two students with each of the high-end learners to form the trio. Homework reviews are ideal for this type of grouping. Another option: re-teach a skill through a mini-lesson for the whole group before splitting students into their trios. Following the mini lesson, hand out worksheets for students to complete within their groups. Helpful hint: to ensure success with this activity, outline specific group expectations on the board such as the following: - use indoor voices - use kind words and actions - take turns speaking - ask peer tutor for help - check your work together Reminding students of group expectations consistently and posting the expectations in the classroom will assist in establishing the routine for this specific small group activity, making future tutoring trios effortless research-based practice used in your classroom. - slide 3 of 5 Circle Story Groups In first grade, students identify the beginning, middle and ending of stories. Students' understanding of narrative structure increases with the use of circle story groups. To conduct this activity, do the following: - Group students into four and provide each student with a piece of paper folded into four separate boxes. - Inform students they will create stories within their groups. - Direct each student to draw a picture of their favorite characters in the first box on their papers. - Inform students that everyone's story will be about a lost pet. - Instruct students to draw a picture showing their characters interacting with their pets (feeding, washing, etc.) in the next box. - Direct students to draw a picture in the third box showing what happens when the pet goes missing. - Instruct students to raise their left hands (show which is left) and pass their papers to the student seated to that side of them. - Direct students to read the picture stories on the papers and create a picture ending in the last box. - Allow students to take turns telling each other's stories in the small groups. By following these simple steps and monitoring students' behaviors throughout the activity, circle story groups will certainly become a student favorite. - slide 4 of 5 Peer Reading Time To increase students' reading fluency, group students on the same reading level together for peer reading time. This small group idea for first graders provides for classroom reading time while allowing for peer interaction. The reading materials selected for each group should be on-level reading text for each group, so grouping students by same reading levels is necessary. Students take turns reading sections of the text. Provide students with a choice of activities to do after the reading. Allow student groups to choose from a list of three activities. Some activities that can be listed: - identify action words from the story by writing words in a list. - draw a picture of your favorite part of the story. - Create a different ending to the story in a drawing. Use the first grade reading series as a resource for finding activities that can follow this group reading activity. Helpful hint: be sure to read the list to the students and include simple drawings next to each item for easy student identification. - slide 5 of 5 Frequent use of small group activities for first graders assists in building community in the classroom. Using these small group activities supports students' efforts and encourages positive social interaction within the classroom. Students are more willing to ask for assistance in a classroom where peer interaction is a regular practice and the social climate is positive and supportive. Many names have been assigned to group learning: cooperative learning, literacy circles, shared reading and many others. Though the names may change the purpose and relevance of small group activities does not - these activities increase students' learning; that alone makes it a useful and relevant practice in your first grade classroom. - Gross Davis, Barbara. Tools for Teaching. Jossey-Bass Publishers.1993. University of California, Berkeley. http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/collaborative.html - Sanoff, Henry. "Research Based Design of an Elementary School" http://ncsu.academia.edu/HenrySanoff/Papers/100768/Research_Based_Design_of_an_Elementary_School - Stevens, Judy, et. al. Brain-Based Instruction for the 21st Century: For The Learners Sake. Zephyr Press. 2001.

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Making Geography Happen Making Geography Happen is an Action Plan funded project about good quality, innovative curriculum-making. It focuses on the work done by students in geography lessons and how this contributes to their wider understanding of the world. Five schools participated in the project and their work is available on these web pages. In addition, King Edward VII School, Sheffield is being used for a longitudinal study, tracking four students through the whole of their Key Stage 3. The school projects A Village Comparison Perton First School, Staffordshire - Year 4 During this unit the children compared their own place - a new, modern, urban village - to Brewood, an old, traditional, rural village approximately seven miles away. The main focus was a full day's field visit to Brewood. North Reddish School, Stockport - Year 4 & 5 This unit aimed to develop the children's idea of place through the people who live there and built upon an existing school link with Saudi Arabia. It was extremely cross-curricular and included literacy, art, drama, DT and science. Stopsley High School, Luton - Year 7 The 'School of the Air' unit helped students explore the key underlying concept of place by thinking about life in remote areas of Australia. It also incorporated the geographical concepts of space and physical and human processes. King Edward VI Five Ways School, Birmingham - Year 9 In this unit of work Year 9 students focused on uneven development in different places and at different scales. They were encouraged to be critical about what they saw and consider why it is important to learn about development. Understanding the Local Area St Peter's Smithills Dean CE Primary School, Bolton - Years 3 & 5 This unit aimed to help students develop a greater knowledge and understanding of their local area, Barrow Bridge. It incorporated elements of place, interdependence and connectedness within a wider cross-curricular context. Bottesford Primary School, Leicestershire - Year 5 Year 5 pupils were introduced to the Lincolnshire coastal town Skegness. Through field visits and classroom activities, the pupils learned about coastal environments, erosion and sea defences in a contrasting locality. High Arcal School, Dudley - Year 8 In this series of lessons, students learned about the basics of plate tectonics, how and why earthquakes happen and how countries can minimise their impact. The activities included creative writing, practical tasks and drama. About the Making Geography Happen project Background information on this Action Plan for Geography funded project and what it hopes to achieve. You can can also read about the participating schools and find out what materials are available on these pages. Thinking about progression in geography A key aim of the Making Geography Happen project is to understand progression in geography. This page explains progression in more detail and contains additional information about curriculum planning and assessment. Thoughts and advice from teachers who participated in the project including their opinions on curriculum-making, progression, how to involve students, encouraging creativity, combining geography with other subjects and fieldwork. Comment on this page Comments made by GA members appear instantly and don't require security words to be entered - make sure you're logged in! Guest comments will be sent to a moderator for approval.

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Parents - How do children learn to read and write? What does this website have to offer you? Learning to Read and Write lays the Foundation for Academic Success All parents want their children to be successful in school and this website is dedicated to supporting children’s school learning. How well children learn to read and write in the early elementary years plays a central role in how much success they experience in all academic subjects of school. When children are successful in learning to read and write they are more likely to feel happy and to flourish in school. - This website is primarily aimed at assisting teachers and school administrators provide your children with the type of instruction that will help ensure their success but the site also has a great deal to offer you. Does learning how to read and write seem somewhat of a mystery to you? You are not alone if you answered yes... For many parents just how children learn to read and write is something of a mystery. What do children need in order to grow in literacy? The simple answer is a “healthy and appealing literacy diet” that contains the appropriate Food Groups for literacy. These “foods for literacy” cannot be purchased at the grocery store! This website will explain what these foods for literacy are and will provide some "free samples" in the form of brief videos. It will introduce you to the types of strategies (Recipes for Literacy) that effective teachers use to help children develop their literacy skills. You will be able to view examples of such the strategies in the hundreds of How-To Videos on the site. It will also explain how children’s literacy diet requirements change as they develop literacy skills across Stages of Literacy Development in the elementary school years. - You may also be interested to have a peek into some exemplary classrooms through the Virtual Tours to see what teachers at different grade levels do to make literacy programs exciting and effective for their students. Where to learn more about literacy development: We hope that you enjoy exploring this website and that many of your questions about how children learn to read and write will be answered. To further extend your access to useful information about literacy learning we recommend that you visit the following websites: - Reading Rockets offers a wealth of literacy information and resources for parents Free websites that support children's reading and writing at home: StarFall is an outstanding website to support beginning reading at home and at school A wealth of spelling activities and resources can be found at Vocabulary Spelling City The Sesame Workshop engages children in storytelling to enhance early reading and writing At Storyline Online actors read storybooks aloud, supporting language growth and love for books Father and Son enjoy Nightly Read Together

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readers engage in a close transaction with text, totally immersing themselves in the text world. are text worlds in your mind full of a vast horizon of possibilities. Successful readers actively live in these text worlds during their reading experience and through it build rich literary all readers create meaning by unconsciously utilizing the envisionment-building process, less successful readers have difficulties applying these skills to what they read in order to create a rich interaction with the text. term stance refers to a mental process that readers employ in order to make meaning out of what they read, no matter what reading ability they have achieved. Stances reflect the way readers stand in relationship to the text at any given point in reading. Effective readers adapt four basic stances as needed, creating their own unified understanding of the text. building is not a teaching method imposed on readers, but rather it describes how successful readers interact with texts and suggests ways to help students build competence. demonstrates that many language arts instructional practices are based on the premise that literary texts are seen as sources of information to be mined, rather than as text worlds that invite interaction and reflection. Many teachers have been taught this way and trained to teach this way. Thus, techniques such as gathering plot summaries and searching for the best interpretation of the text have often been ingrained in their pedagogical practices. Yet, teachers want their students to have rich literary experiences, and they need to find new ways to accomplish that. can help students grow as envisionment builders by creating literary communities that allow for thoughtful discussions by providing opportunities for students to think about text in multiple ways, from a wide assortment of perspectives. The Four Stances: Being Out and Stepping Into an Envisionment When readers step into the text world, they search for clues in order to form initial impressions about the literature and their journey through it. Readers stand in this position from the first moment they pick up the book. This relationship to the text also occurs when readers are confounded by new information in the text, and are then forced to return to this stance to clarify or adjust an envisionment. Being In and Moving Through an Envisionment Being In and Moving Through text allows readers to connect personal experiences and background knowledge to the text world. Here, readers move through the text world, observing the lives of the characters, breathing in the setting, conflicts and dilemmas, and wondering what they might do if they were in the characters' situations. Readers become part of the text world through their own cognitive journey. As they take multiple perspectives and consider possibilities, their understandings deepen. Stepping Out and Rethinking What One Knows When readers Step Out and Rethink, they use the text as an opportunity to reconsider aspects of their own lives, reflecting upon decisions, experiences, and dilemmas. This is one of the most powerful reasons we read literature to understand ourselves and the world around us better. In this stance, readers have an opportunity to examine their past lives, their present lives, and the lives that lie ahead of them. Stepping Out and Objectifying the Experience This stance provides readers with the opportunities to critique the text as a literary work, analyzing the author's craft, use of imagery, language, structure and allusions and objectifying their interpretations of the text. In this position, readers have the opportunity to see how the literary elements relate to the whole work's meaning, as well as how the work relates to other texts. Principles of an Envisionment-Building Classroom: Teachers can offer support to students as they grow as envisionment builders by: - Students are treated as life-long envisionment builders. - Questions are treated as part of the literary experience. - Class meetings are a time to develop understandings. - Multiple perspectives are used to enrich interpretation. - Providing framed questions that provoke students to respond to text in multiple ways. - Building a literary community of engaged readers where mutual respect is the basis. Here, students have respect for the text, for one another, and for the unique perspectives that each community member offers, and for well-developed and well-explained interpretations.

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Introduction for Teachers This site offers a flexible curriculum for teaching all or portions of Uncle Tom's Cabin in a high school literature or American history class. The lesson plans offered here integrate an exploration of the novel's central issues with skills-based activities in close reading, critical and creative writing, research, and oral presentation. While parts of the site may be used by classes without internet access, several of the activities offer ways to integrate the Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture site, as well as other helpful web materials, into a high Special Features of the Site - Progression of Selected Chapters Ranging in length from 400 to 600 pages depending on the publisher's format, Uncle Tom's Cabin is too long for most high school classes. The Progression of Selected Chapters suggests several options for assigning excerpts of the novel. Links in this section allow teachers to move directly to the online novel to print their selections. - Lesson Plans Teachers may choose to use all or only a portion of the activities suggested in the three units here, depending on the length of time allotted. Each unit consists of three lessons. Most lessons are designed to last only a day or two. While the unit names suggest a sequence, the lessons may also be rearranged or used singly. Unit 1: Starting Out The three lessons in this unit are designed to introduce students to Uncle Tom's Cabin. Lesson 1, "America in the 1850s," uses primary documents to provide students with important background about Stowe's historical moment. Lessons 2 and 3 suggest activities designed to run throughout a class's reading of the novel. Unit 2: Reading the novel The three lessons in this unit focus on the novel's central themes: anti-slavery, women readers and characters, and religion. Each theme focuses on a single chapter in the novel -- with the exception of the lesson on religion, which focuses on two of the novel's final chapters. Unit 3: Finishing the novel This unit focuses on readers' reactions to Uncle Tom's Cabin and incorporates materials from the Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture website. The lessons in this unit examine reviews by Stowe's northern and southern contemporaries, visions of a post-slavery America, and the transformation of Uncle Tom's Cabin into popular culture. - Student Site Most lessons on this site offer printable worksheets, primary documents, and other lesson- specific materials. The materials may be accessed and printed directly from the lessons in this Teacher's Guide, or teachers may opt to send students directly to the companion site for students. The student site offers: printable materials students will need for each lesson, brief overviews of each lesson, resources for additional research, and links to the novel online. - This section suggests books, essays, websites, and teaching materials for further study of Uncle Tom's Cabin and its historical moment. Also included here are links to websites that provide plot summaries of the novel's chapters, which might be helpful supplements for classes not reading the novel in its entirety. Created by Ellen Greer Harris MA Program in American Studies University of Virginia

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Lesson Plans and Worksheets Browse by Subject Arabic Teacher Resources Find Arabic educational ideas and activities Students discuss the stereotypes they have heard mentioned against the Arab community. Using examples, they identify the uses of discrimination, hate crimes or stereotyping these individuals. As a class, they discuss ways to prevent discrimination and hate crimes and explore the accomplishments of those in the Arab community. Create a language mosaic to reveal the linguistic diversity in your community. Pupils interview a person with a home language other than English and contribute to a bulletin board display representing the variety of languages spoken. The activity is part of the 1996 Canadian Census Results Teacher’s Kit. A link to other activities and materials is provided. Although the background information and statistics are based on Canadian census data, the concepts could be applied to any country or area Students explore the basis of Iago's persuasive power by analyzing Shakespeare's use of rhetoric and figurative language. In this Othello lesson, students analyze Iago's rhetoric in monologues and dialogues with other characters. Students identify rhetorical terms and the power of language. Students complete the related links and worksheets for the lesson. Learn about the diversity of the culture of Lebanon through this series of cross-curricular lessons. Compare and contrast various cultures through activities and readings. An introduction to the culture of Lebanon is included along with explanations of food, religion, and recreation. Learners will be able to compare their own culture to that of an Arab culture. You can use this lesson plan with English language learners, a young language arts class, or speakers of a foreign language. The phrases learned are I need and I don't need. The teacher collects several items around the room, and learners practice using their new target language. This lesson combines math, visual art, and language arts activities that all focus on the making, and bailing of hay. The activities can be adjusted to address different age ranges. Most of the activities focus on gainin proficiency with numbers, counting, and patterns. The worksheets embedded in the plan are terrific, and provide you with everything you need to successfully implement this fine plan. Flowering learners explore the concept of figurative language as it relates to poems, songs, or creative written expression. In this creative writing lesson, they complete several phrases using similes, metaphors, and personifications. Teach them to use questioning techniques while reading a selected poem. The lesson concludes when the individuals compose an original poem using figurative language. Eighth graders examine the linguistic and cultural impact of the Arabic language and Islamic culture on the Spanish language. They analyze and label maps, listen to and differentiate between Spanish and Arabic music, and compare and contrast modern Eastern and Western popbmusic with traditional flamenco music and modern pop fusions. Young scholars observe global cultures by listening to music and watching videos. In this Latin American dance lesson, students define merengue, salsa and other dances from the Hispanic culture while listening to Latin rhythm music. Young scholars view educational DVD's which discuss reggae as well as the tango. Prepare yourself for a top-notch presentation on colonialism in Africa! Discussed are the reasons for African multilingualism. Maps and a country-by-country look at various colonists that made their mark on the African continent are explored. A case study and look at the effects of colonialism are covered in sociolinguistic terms. Remember that language houses culture and the shifts seen therein. Students complete activities to study the traveling Jewish theatre and the ideas of tolerance. In this theatre study lesson, students read information about the Traveling Jewish Theatre and learn about the project to unit artists from the US and the Middle East, Jews and Muslims, and Israelis and Palestinians. Students complete several activities to learn how theatre can help students explore important social issues. Students discover the 3 heritages of Africa. In this African studies lesson plan, students discover how these heritages combine in African culture as they examine the Oral History and the Bakari Scrapbook in which Bakari’s life comes alive and then identify how the three heritages influenced Bakari’s life. Young scholars compare indigenous Africa, Islamic Africa, and European Africa. In this African studies lesson, students read about Bakari Bakari on the provided handout. Young scholars discuss the three cultural heritages that Bakari experiences after they complete Venn diagrams about them.

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I. OVERVIEW OF THE LESSON A. April 10, 2012 B. 45 minutes C. Eileen Black D. 2nd grade, Language Arts, Jan Brett II. BIG IDEA A. Comprehension requires and enhances critical thinking and is constructed through the intentional interaction between reader and text. III. ESSENTIAL QUESTION A. How do we think while reading in order to understand and respond? IV. PENNSYLVANIA STATE STANDARDS A. Reading, Analyzing, and Interpreting Text 1.2.2.D: Make inferences from text when studying a topic (e.g., science, social studies) and draw conclusions, citing evidence from the text to support answers. B. Reading, Analyzing, and Interpreting Literature 1.3.2.C: Identify literary elements (characters, setting, and plot) in selected readings V. GENERAL OBJECTIVE A. Students will understand that essential ideas, details, and literary elements inform meaning. VI. BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVE A. Students will be able to identify the main idea, characters, topics, events, setting, and/or plot. B. Students will be able to make predictions and draw inferences from text. VII. INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS A. The Hat by Jan Brett B. Animal Masks D. Story Map Worksheet IX. INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES i. The teacher will introduce the students to the book, The Hat, by Jan Brett. The teacher will ask the students to make predictions about the story based on the front cover. i. The teacher will tell the students that there are two stories going on in this book. She will tell them to pay close attention to both storylines as she reads the book aloud. i. The teacher will give the students a prediction worksheet for them to fill out while she reads the book aloud. The teacher will pause periodically throughout the book and allow students to make predictions about what will happen next. The teacher will ask the students to share some of their predictions. ii. Once the teacher has finished reading the book aloud, the students will be invited to come to the carpet. The students will now participate in a readerŐs theater version of The Hat. Each student will receive a part to play in the book. iii. After the students have finished reading the book, they will be asked to go back to their seats. The students will each receive a story structure worksheet. The students will complete the worksheet, recalling the information they gathered from the book. iv. If students finish the worksheet early, they will be encouraged to complete the learning centers that will be available to them. D. Strategies for Diverse Learners i. The teacher will make sure that all the students are included and active in the readerŐs theater version of the book. ii. The teacher will also walk around and help any students that are having trouble completing the story structure worksheet. E. Summary and Closure i. The teacher will go over the story structure worksheet with the class, while asking for students to share some of their answers. The teacher will ask the students if they could complete a story structure web for the border story as well. i. The teacher will look at the studentsŐ story structures to gage how well they understood the book. The teacher will also look for active participation from the entire class in terms of volunteering answers. XI. Reflection & Self-Evaluation W: The teacher will introduce the book to the students before she begins the lesson. The teacher will also explain that it is important to make predictions while reading and to use the text as evidence. H: The students will hook studentsŐ interests by encouraging them to pay special attention to both storylines in The Hat. She will tell them to follow along because they will be stopping periodically to make predictions about the next part of the book. E: The students will be participating in a readerŐs theater version of the book so that they can really get involved in the story. All of the students will be engaged and be able to have success in their reading. R: The students will reflect, revisit, and rethink their learning when they are completing the story structure worksheet. They will have to look back on what they read in the story in order to recall the different aspects of the book. E: Students will self-evaluate by filling out the story structure worksheet and completing the centers. The students will express their understanding by sharing their answers with the class. T: The teacher will pay special attention to struggling students when they are working on their story structure maps. She will aid them if they are having any trouble recalling the information and question them to gage their understanding. O: The teacher and class will work on the prediction worksheet together and then the students will be on their own when they are doing the story structure worksheet. The class will come together at the end to discuss everyoneŐs responses and to discuss the story overall.

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“Our children constantly have their eyes fixed on some kind of computer screen.” “It seems that every time we turn around there’s some new gadget that everyone needs.” “You never see anyone with a book or doing anything productive on those things.” “The amount of time the tech generation spends on computer games can’t be good for them.” Karl Kapp, professor of instructional technology, would argue there’s a benefit to each of these statements. In fact, in his latest publication, Games, Gadgets and Gizmos: Tools for Transferring Knowledge from the Boomers to the Gamers, he says this technology can be used to train and teach people a variety of skills. The book encompasses the work he has done on what he calls “gamification,” defined as “using game-based mechanics, aesthetics and game thinking to engage people, motivate action, promote learning, and solve problems.” Kapp actively blogs on his gaming research and related tech topics. “We talk about information overload, but these kids have never had information underload,” Kapp says. “They create behaviors to adapt to continual communication stimulus. “It’s a shame that walking into some classrooms is like getting on an airplane: ‘Turn off all electronic devices.’ Students end up using electronics all the time, except in the classroom.” Kapp believes that discouraging the use of digital devices in a professional atmosphere leads to the illusion that members of older generations are out of touch with this new digital era. “These games can teach,” he says. “We know from research that strong emotions tie learning events together.” When Kapp’s son played Age of Empires, for example, the learning was secondary to the fun of playing the game. If you enjoy it, you’ll play again and again … and that’s how we learn. “It helps you encode knowledge more richly and deeply for future recall. Additionally, video games teach problem solving and higher-level thinking skills,” he adds. Kapp is sharing his perspective on the role of video games at a conference in Las Vegas. He will discuss the use of 3-D avatars to change learner behaviors and how storytelling as part of a video game helps learners memorize facts. — C.J. Shultz ’13

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Tips for Inside the College Classroom (page 2) Do's and Don'ts of Class Notes Listen and Learn: Note taking is helpful, not only because it gives you a record of what was covered in class, but also because it prompts you to really digest the ideas. Here are some tips for getting the most of your effort. Listen actively: Good note-taking begins with active listening -- keeping your attention focused: - Come to class prepared, having done the reading and reviewed your notes from the previous class. Be ready to ask questions and take notes. - Sit where you can see and hear what's being presented without being distracted. - Commit to being interested in what you're listening to. This will help you pay attention and retain the information. - Question what the speaker is saying and think about how it ties in with the assigned reading, with your other classes, and with your other activities and interests. - Look for how the speaker organizes the ideas presented, paying attention to elements like a general introduction, a summary of the previous lecture, an emphasis on larger themes, the inclusion of illustrative examples, a developing argument through the course of the lecture, or a comparison that gives structure to the material presented. Pay attention to clues from the speaker, such as a raised voice or arm gestures, that accompany the presentation of important ideas. Also, watch for when your teacher: - mentions that a particular point is important - writes a sentence or quote on the board - repeats a point - spends a lot of time presenting or asking the class about a particular idea. Use a system: The key to note taking itself is having a notebook in which to write and having a system for getting information down quickly and accurately. Here are some tips for taking notes: - Date and number pages so that you can keep them in order. - Have a binder, clipboard, or notebook in which you keep your notes all together. - Write in convenient shorthand. Use contractions, abbreviations, and symbols. - Leave space in your notes to add points or explanations later. - Put a question mark next to anything you miss or don't understand and clarify after class. - Get down the speaker's main points. You don't need to have a word-for-word copy of every lecture. - Indicate the notes that reflect your own responses or ideas rather than what the lecturer says. For example, you can write the word "me" next to your own ideas. - Jot down key words, which include new vocabulary, important facts, and formulas. - Organize your notes as you write. The lecturer often helps with this task by enumerating points or stating a contrast. Underline or put a mark next to larger points, with subsidiary points listed underneath. - As soon as you can after class, review your notes and fill in missing points that you remember but didn't write down. Highlight important points, and mark anything you want to ask about at the next class meeting. Make sure you can read and understand everything you've written. - Write a brief summary of each lecture to reinforce the main idea. If you start getting confused about what to write or where the lecture is heading, there's a good chance that other students are confused, too. Do yourself and other students a favor by asking questions if the material presented is unclear. Cultivating Relationships With Faculty Get To Know Your Professors: After listening to your biology professor lecture for an hour and a half on the Krebs cycle, you may be less than inspired to linger after class for further discussion on cellular respiration. Don't hesitate, though, to approach your professors outside of the classroom. Professors genuinely want to get to know you -- that's a good part of why they became teachers. Getting to know them will enrich many parts of your college experience, such as: Your understanding of coursework: If you have a question after a lecture or doing some reading, take the time to ask your professor about it after class or during office hours. The professor will probably be pleased that you're interested enough to discuss issues and will give you the information you need to better grasp the material. Your motivation: Even if you have a perfect understanding of the class material, your professors can still help you push yourself to do your best. For example, they can give you suggestions for related reading or help you explore and choose topics for an assignment. Your grades: A huge advantage of seeing your professor before turning in a paper or taking a test is that the professor gains insight into how hard you prepared. This will be an important factor when it comes to grading your work, since it makes your professor more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt and to give you credit for your effort. If you don't get to know the professor, by contrast, she has no way of knowing whether your work has flaws because you didn't take enough time on it, or, as you may have explained in office hours, because it is the first lengthy research paper you've ever written. Your letters of recommendation: When it comes time to apply for internships, jobs, or graduate school, you'll probably need professors to write letters of recommendation for you. They can write much better letters, of course, if they know you as more than a face in a crowd. Your networking opportunities: Your professors may be able to help you plug into a professional community or even find an internship or job. For example, let's say you can't get enough of contemporary fiction, and you're considering becoming a book editor. Your creative writing teacher may be able to tell you about local author readings, invite you to book parties, or put you in touch with a publishing house. Granted, some professors may be more approachable than others. You may get someone to answer a question after class, or someone who ends up being a mentor. But whatever role they play, they're there to help you learn. They're a resource that you shouldn't pass on. Reprinted with the permission of White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans - Coats and Car Seats: A Lethal Combination? - Kindergarten Sight Words List - Child Development Theories - Signs Your Child Might Have Asperger's Syndrome - 10 Fun Activities for Children with Autism - Social Cognitive Theory - Why is Play Important? Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development, Creative Development - GED Math Practice Test 1 - The Homework Debate - Problems With Standardized Testing

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Four Freedoms and the Short Story |Overview:||This lesson will explore a seminal document, President Roosevelt's Message to Congress, and the theme of freedom from fear-one of the four points of President Roosevelt's speech. After listening to the speech, the class will read and discuss an excerpt from Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese-American Family by Yoshiko Uchida and explore the theme of freedom from fear.| As a results of this lesson, students will be able to: |Time Required:||Two class periods of 45 minutes| |Era:||Great Depression/World War II, 1929-1945| |Illinois Learning Standards:| 1-Read with understanding and fluency. 1.B-Apply reading strategies to improve understanding and fluency. 1.C-Comprehend a broad range of reading materials. 2-Read and understand literature representative of various societies, eras, and ideas. 2.A-Understand how literary elements and techniques are used to convey meaning. 2.B-Read and interpret a variety of literary works. 3-Write to communicate for a variety of purposes. 3.B-Compose well-organized and coherent writing for specific purposes and audiences. |Analysis Tools:||Photo Analysis Worksheet and Graphic Organizer (print page 4-5 of PDF).| |Library of Congress Items:||Title of Source:Freedom of expression, of religion, from want, from fear everywhere in the world.| |Title of Source:Four Freedoms| |Title of Source:Civilian exclusion order #5, posted at First and Front streets, directing removal by April 7 of persons of Japanese ancestry, from the first San Francisco section to be affected by evacuation.| |Title of Source:Santa Anita reception center, Los Angeles, California. The evacuation of Japanese and Japanese-Americans from West Coast areas under U.S. Army war emergency order. Registering Japanese-Americans as they arrive| |Title of Source:Japanese-american camp, war emergency evacuation, (Tule Lake Relocation Center, Newell, Calif.| |Title of Source:Sumiko Shigematsu, foreman of power sewing machine girls, Manzanar Relocation Center, California| |Online Resource:||Title:Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum| |1.||Show LOC Item Freedom of expression, or religion, from want, from fear ask what the two images are, who/what is represented. Then explain and discuss pirctures.| |2.||Show LOC Item Four Freedoms. Play an excerpt from FDR's speech.| |3.||Show LOC Item Civilian exclusion order #5 and ask What are the four freedoms.| |4.||Show LOC Item Santa Anita reception center and discuss image.| |5.||Hand out graphic organizer (page 3 of PDF) and have students list what they know about Japanese internment camps and then discuss.| |6.||Show LOC Item Japanese-american Camp, War emergency evacuation and out Photo Analysis worksheet (page 4 of PDF), complete with class. Shwo LOC Item Sumiko Shigematsu, give time for students to complete photo analysis. Discuss student's answers.| Evaluation will be derived from the students' graphic organizer and the follow-up discussion the following day. This lesson is the first of four lessons focusing on the different themes highlighted in FDR's Four Freedoms Speech. After discussing the short story that related to Freedom from Fear, the lesson will progress through the other three themes and related short stories/poems/ excerpts: Freedom from Want (The Weary Blues), Freedom of Speech (The Censors), and Freedom of worship (excerpt from Elie Wiesel's Night). Each short story, poem and excerpt will include a graphic organizer or follow-up questions. At the end of the unit, the students will be given a writing assignment to choose one of the themes and compose a fictional narrative. Charleston High School

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Editor Krista Marino spoke at the 2011 SCBWI LA Conference and shared the following insight on how to perfect your YA voice: There are Two Types of Voice: - Authorial Voice – this is when you know a book is by a certain author. For example you know when you’re reading a John Irving or Meg Cabot book. - Narrative Voice – This is the voice invented by the author and the voice of the protagonist. What is Voice? - Voice is illusive and hard to define. - Marino’s says voice is made up of: diction, perspective, characterization, and dialog. Diction as Voice: - Diction is vocabulary choices and a style of expression. - Think word choice! - Marino used an example from The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. She pointed out how the author does not use contractions in the novel to reflect the “old fashioned” sensibility of the town/people, but when a scene started to pick up in pace the author would begin to use contractions (Cannot vx. Can’t). - Focus on your character’s distinct vocabulary or expression. This doesn’t mean slang. This will reveal how the protagonist relates to the world. - Does your character use cultural references (X-men, animal planet) to define how they relate to the world? This is part of his or her diction. - Beware of leaning on cultural references too much for your voice. That will become a crutch. Take a look at Frank Portman’s King Dork as an example of teen voice that feels current without using specific cultural references. Perspective as Voice: - This is the mental view of the character and how it affects the storytelling. - This is not point of view. - How does the limited teen experience influence how they view the world and the way they speak? For example look at the movies BIG and 17 Again. In Big you have a kid in an adult body. How does this “adult” act and speak to reveal they are really a kid? Or in 17 Again you have an adult in a kid’s body, how does action/speech reveal that they are really an adult with an adult way of thinking? - How does the setting (historical fiction or futuristic) change the experiences of your character? - Voice can convey info about character, age, gender, hobbies, religion, motivation, ambitions, looks, etc. - You must know everything about your protagonist. - Everything in the book with be filtered through the protagonist. - Character driven books are amazing because the character feels real and you (the reader) will follow them anywhere. The secret is to have an amazing character and a plot to sell to a larger audience. - Think about the protagonist in your favorite book and write down reasons why you like them. Why did they come to life for you? Was it their speech? Actions? - A solid 3D character will come to life and have a believable voice. - You need to know your characters and you want to know them emotionally. Dialog as Voice: - This is about the verbal exchange in the book (not interior monologue). - Dialog directly reflects a character’s voice and personality. - This is about more than just the words. - Dialog needs to feel real, not like on a sitcom. - Dialog doesn’t exist just hanging there in space. If they just say something but there is no context for it, the reader won’t understand who they are and what they are thinking. Interior Monologue as Voice: - Interior monologue is what the character is thinking and gives context to the dialog. - The #1 thing that Krista Marino finds is missing in manuscripts is interior dialog or interior monologue. - Interior monologue is important, if not most important to conveying the feelings, reactions, and judgments of your character. - Interior monologue shows a character’s perception of a scene and their feelings. - Without interior monologue we lose the inner emotional stakes of the scene. - All dramatic irony is lost without interior monologue. - You need interior monologue to create empathy, rather than having the reader observe and make guesses about the character. - You loose back-story, sarcasm, and emotion without interior monologue. - We always want to know what a character (on the page) is thinking. Stay Tuned for Part 2 – Coming Soon! Krista Marino is a senior editor at Delacort Press where she edits and acquires young adult and middle grade novels. Books she has edited include King Dork, The Necromancer, The Maze Runner, and The Forest of Hands and Teeth.

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montgomery place app Union Church App Pinkster is a holiday that was celebrated over several days by African and Dutch New Yorkers throughout the 1700s. Pinkster was brought to the New World by Dutch settlers in the 1620s and flourished in the areas of heaviest Dutch settlement: the Hudson Valley, northern New Jersey, and western Long Island. These same areas also had significant populations of enslaved Africans from the 1600s until emancipation in New York in 1827. For enslaved people, the year offered few holidays or breaks from tedious and often grueling work. For rural captives in particular, who were often isolated from larger African communities, Pinkster became the most important break in the year. Despite Pinkster’s Dutch origins, Africans in New York and New Jersey were so successful at incorporating their own cultures into the celebration that by the early 1800s Pinkster was actually considered an African-American holiday Pinkster was celebrated over several days. The Dutch observed Pinkster by attending church services, and important church functions like baptisms and confirmations were often held during the festival. Neighbors visited one another, and children dyed eggs and ate gingerbread. Slave-owning families granted time off to captive men and women. The Pinkster holiday afforded enslaved Africans the opportunity to reunite with loved ones and family members who often lived some distance away. Many journeyed from rural areas into New York City, with its significantly larger population of both free and enslaved Africans. By the mid-1700s, markets in New York and Brooklyn were attracting large gatherings at Pinkster time. Enslaved men and women sold such items as berries, herbs, sassafras bark, beverages, and oysters at these markets, and in turn used the money earned to participate in the Pinkster celebration. Africans and Europeans alike enjoyed drinking, game-playing, dance, and music at these gatherings. Vendors adorned market stalls with greenery and flowers (azaleas are associated with Pinkster), and European vendors hired skillful African dancers to draw crowds to their booths. Dances such as the “jig,” “breakdown,” or “double shuffle” synthesized African and European elements with newly invented steps and were the forerunners of tap and break dancing. Pinkster Becomes an African-American Holiday Pinkster as an African-American creative expression reached its zenith in Albany during the period between 1790 and 1810. In the weeks prior to the holiday, temporary shelters woven from brush and clearly based on African forms, were set up on three sides of a square at the top of “Pinkster Hill” (the present-day site of the New York State Capitol). During these years Pinkster was always presided over by King Charles, a figure of great local renown and preeminence within Albany’s African community. Charles, an Angola-born captive claimed by the Mayor of Albany, was tall, handsome, an athletic and tireless dancer, and a gifted speaker. As the Master of Ceremonies, he was responsible for directing the event and keeping up the spirits of participants during the long sessions of drumming and dancing that crowned the celebration. The style of dance and the complex layering of contrasting rhythms by the drummers and clappers attest to the survival and retention of West African traditions. Although Pinkster still attracted African Americans, Euro-Americans, and Native Americans to its festivities, by the early 1800s it was viewed by observers as a primarily African-American holiday. The Dutch had shifted their focus to newer American holidays like Election Day and Independence Day. The Meaning of Pinkster Pinkster meant different things to different people. To Dutch celebrants, Pinkster was a religious holiday, a break from work, and an opportunity for visiting. For enslaved people, gathering in rural areas or at urban markets, the holiday was all this and more. African men and women enjoyed temporary independence, made money, and purchased goods. More importantly, Pinkster meant the opportunity to reunite with family and loved ones and the chance to preserve, reshape, and express African traditions despite the restrictions of enslavement. During the late 1700s and early 1800s, the festival in Albany was presided over by a King who was himself a captive – an inversion of the usual social order. The crowning of the Pinkster King, like the election of generals or governors during other holidays celebrated by African people elsewhere in the northeast, invested respected members of the African community with symbolic power over the whole community and with distinction within their own community. Celebrations featuring this sort of inversion of rank can be traced both to West African and European antecedents. Pinkster is related in this way to more famous New World festivals such as Mardi Gras. Another significance of Pinkster was the opportunity for enslaved Africans to slyly mock their white captors through caricatures of European fashions and behavior, and to voice their own anguish through speeches, storytelling, and improvised call and response singing. Philipsburg Manor, a nationally significant historic site in Sleepy Hollow, New York, continues the Pinkster tradition today. The Pinkster festival at Philipsburg Manor is a fun, educational event for visitors of all ages. The event acknowledges both the oppression of slavery in New York and the ultimate triumph over it. It is the only authentic re-creation of Pinkster in North America, combining some of the most vibrant elements from over a hundred years of Hudson Valley Pinkster celebrations. From the Dutch tradition come children’s games like ninepins and stilts, special baked goods of the holiday, egg-dyeing, and European-style country dancing. From the African tradition come storytelling, drumming, dance, a grand parade, and the election of a Pinkster King. In the colonial period, Philipsburg Manor’s Upper Mills property consisted of over 50,000 acres owned by the Philipses, wealthy Dutch merchants. A community of 23 enslaved Africans lived there year-round, overseeing the operation of a grist mill and large farm. European tenants, many of them Dutch, rented manor land from the Philipses and grew wheat as a cash crop. We do not know whether the African and Dutch residents of the manor held their own Pinkster festivities at Philipsburg in the 1700s or if they traveled to one of the larger urban celebrations nearby. An account in the New-York Weekly Journal newspaper in March, 1737, describes a Pinkster gathering in fields just outside of New York City. In particular it notes the use of African-style musical instruments during Pinkster. Market festivities during Pinkster are described in Thomas DeVoe’s The Market Book: A History of the Public Markets of the City of New York, which was published in 1862 but drew on memories of earlier, first-hand experiences. James Fenimore Cooper includes a description of an 18th-century Pinkster celebration in his novel Satanstoe, published in 1845. Two important descriptions document Pinkster at Albany, including details about the character and role of King Charles. A detailed account appeared in the Albany Centinel in June 1803. In the same year, a pamphlet appeared in Albany entitled “The Pinkster Ode,” written by Absalom Aimwell (probably a pseudonym). This lengthy poem has satiric elements, but also a strong abolitionist viewpoint. It was reprinted in 1952 in the New York Folklore Quarterly, Vol. Eight. Another eyewitness account is provided by Dr. James Eights in “Pinkster Festivals in Albany Sixty Years Ago,” which appeared in Collections on the History of Albany, Vol. 2 (Albany, 1867). The following books are of interest for their treatment of Pinkster and other African American festivals. Roger D. Abrahams, Singing the Master (Penguin, 1993) Graham Russell Hodges, Slavery and Freedom in the Rural North (Madison House, 1997) Shane White, Somewhat More Independent (University of Georgia, 1991) A.J. Williams-Myers, Long Hammering (Africa World Press, 1994) Sharon Dennis Wyeth, Once on This River (Random House, 1998)

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Heroes in the Classroom: Comic Books in Art Education Berkowitz, Jay, Packer, Todd, Art Education "I think the only real difference between fine art and commercial art is a deadline.ff (caputo, 1997, p. 62) How would you like to put some "POW!" into your arts instruction? A lesson in comic books-history, design, story, and production --can make your classes come alive! In the following article, we present some background, guidelines, and a lesson plan to help you use comics and cartoons in developing these artistic skills of students. So, as they say, "Up, up and away!" Comics and cartoons provide a wealth of pedagogical opportunities. By placing comics in historical, aesthetic, educational, and empowering contexts,we present a new approach to using these materials to build artistic skills and involve students in art appreciation. After a brief history and critical analysis of comic books and cartooning, we provide a lesson plan and guidelines for using these materials in teaching children and adults. Many art teachers have met students who state that they hate drawing or that they can't draw-yet often these students get reprimanded by other teachers for drawing in class instead of paying attention. These students may even have a notebook full of drawings that were produced every place except in an art class. Why? As an art teacher, Berkowitz has noticed how many students interested in comic books and cartoons did not perform well in art class. Students who could not stay focused in a 40-minute art class would spend hours drawing comic book characters. They also were interested in comic book history. Comic books and cartooning can be valuable for art teachers, but little has been written about these in the literature of art education. Brent and Marjorie Wilson (1976,1977,1980) suggest that children should be permit ted to copy comics. Other educators have written of using comics to educate children (Smith, 1985; Marston, 1944). Scott McCloud's (1993, 2000) sophisticated analyses of comics, presented in comic book format, provide ample resources for links between comics and art history. His definition of "comics" as "juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer" (p. 9) provides a frame to link traditional art history to the medium of comics. Will Eisner (1995), a renowned comics artist, places comics in the history of art, literature, and storytelling with analysis of graphic narrative; he defines "comics" as "The printed arrangement of art and balloons in sequence, particularly as in comic books" (p. 6). Comic books are a big business and a major presence in the lives of children and adults. According to Caputo (1997), "In recent years, comic book sales have exceeded $4 billion worldwide." Many adults, including teachers, grew up reading comic books, and they form a background for many cultural and visual references. Students can learn traditional art concepts through the history and design of comic books. For example, children who like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' will also be interested in learning about the artists after whom they were named (Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, and Leonardo). Batman fans would be interested to learn that his costume was originally based on a drawing by Leonardo Da Vinci. The students could even be introduced to fine artists such as Roy Lichtenstein or Roger Shimomura, who use comics as a source of inspiration in their work. As a motivational and educational tool, comic books can be used with adults and children in a variety of teaching and training settings. Teachers can focus on line drawing technique, history, aesthetics, empowerment (i.e., student as super-hero) or creative writing. Comic books present a lowcost, accessible, familiar, and highly engaging medium to guide, entertain, and inspire students in many areas. Berkowitz (1996) designed an informal … Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com Publication information: Article title: Heroes in the Classroom: Comic Books in Art Education. Contributors: Berkowitz, Jay - Author, Packer, Todd - Author. Magazine title: Art Education. Volume: 54. Issue: 6 Publication date: November 2001. Page number: 12+. © National Art Education Association Mar 2009. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved. This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.

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Six blind men meet an elephant for the first time and each man touches a different part of the elephant and makes predictions about what the elephant is like. (See the story) The sequence and activities suggested below could be spread over two or three lessons depending on the amount of detail you wish to go into to. Aim to finish the before storytelling activities and possibly the first telling of the story in lesson one. Begin and end each subsequent lesson with a retelling of the story. - To learn elephant and story-related vocabulary - To listen and respond to instructions - To learn adjectives to describe objects - To listen and understand the general meaning of a story and make predictions - To learn an elephant rhyme to practice rhythm and rhyme - To help children understand the importance of using all evidence and listening to other people before coming to a conclusion - To ask simple yes/no questions using adjectives - A sheet of white A4 paper for each child for the picture dictation - Objects for the feely box or bag - Rehearse picture dictation and instructions - Read the story through and rehearse reading it aloud. Read the section on storybooks and storytelling techniques in the CIEP mallette pédagogique. Stage 1: Picture dictation Tell children you are going to tell them a story but first they are going to draw a picture of an animal and they must guess what it is. - Explain that you are going to dictate some instructions to draw the animal. Use mime to help convey the meaning of unfamiliar words. - Draw a semi-circle on the board and two small eyes on the left side. It is best to practice this activity a few times yourself before doing it with the children to ensure that you give them clear instructions. - Now dictate the following instructions at least twice: 'Copy the semi-circle and eyes on to the middle of your paper. Hold up a sheet of paper to show pupils. Draw four legs. Draw two big ears. Draw a long, thin tail. Draw a long trunk. Draw two tusks.' - Repeat the instructions again, adding each feature to your drawing on the board. Say the words pointing to the eyes, ears, legs, body, tail, trunk, tusks and invite pupils to repeat. - When the drawings are competed ask pupils to show them to each other and then to colour them. Check everyone has an elephant! Stage 2: Vocabulary check Check understanding of the vocabulary by asking pupils to come to the board and point to different parts of the elephant: 'Nicole, point to the tail'! 'Henri, what's this?' - Ask pupils to label their elephants and then display their drawings. If appropriate, ask children to show you where elephants come from by pointing to a world map (Africa, Asia). Tell pupils, later you are going to tell them a story about an elephant from India. Stage 3: Feely bag or box Play this game to teach or revise adjectives. You need a cardboard box with a hole cut out for pupils to put their hands in, or a bag. Ask children to close their eyes or use a blindfold but don't use this if they feel uncomfortable. When they put their hand in the box they have to describe what they feel. - Here are some ideas for the feely bag/box and the adjectives that can be elicited. An effective way to help children learn the adjectives is by comparing objects and learning opposites, e.g., rough, smooth; long, short, etc. - A pencil with a sharp point at one end and a rubber at the other: sharp, short, thin, smooth - An orange: round, rough, big, large - An apple: round, smooth, hard - A ping pong ball: round, light, round, smooth, small - A tennis ball: round, soft - Sand paper: rough, light - A piece of string: thin, long, wiggly - A piece of wood: hard - A piece of cotton wool: soft, light Stage 4: Six blind men and the elephant Read the story below aloud to the children acting it out using your elephant drawing on the board as your main visual support. - Cover you eyes on the word blind and 'feel' the parts of the elephant. When you get to each of the features, read 'It felt big and wide. An elephant is like a ….?' and invite suggestions from pupils. It doesn't matter if they say these words in their mother tongue - the importance is to get them predicting and thinking. - Translate the words they say in English. Hopefully, a child will say 'wall' - point to a wall in your classroom and draw one on the board and repeat 'An elephant is like a wall' and encourage children to repeat. - Continue telling the story in this way. At the end of the story, you should have your elephant surrounded by drawings of a wall, a spear, a snake, a tree, a fan and a rope. - Read the story again, inviting as much participation as possible using the drawings on your board as prompts to activate vocabulary and encourage participation. - Invite children to act out the story. The Story of the Six Blind Men and the Elephant Once upon a time there were six blind men. They lived in a town in India. They thought they were very clever. One day an elephant came into the town. The blind men did not know what an elephant looked like but they could smell it and they could hear it. 'What is this animal like?' they said. Each man touched a different part of the elephant. The first man touched the elephant's body. It felt hard, big and wide. 'An elephant is like a wall' he said. The second man touched one of the elephant's tusks. It felt smooth and hard and sharp. 'An elephant is like a spear' he said. The third man touched the elephant's trunk. It felt long and thin and wiggly. 'An elephant is like a snake' he said. The fourth man touched on of the legs. It felt thick and rough and hard and round. 'An elephant is like a tree' he said. The fifth man touched one of the elephant's ears. It felt thin and it moved. 'An elephant is like a fan' he said. The sixth man touched the elephant's tail. It felt long and thin and strong. 'An elephant is like a rope' he said. The men argued. It's like a wall! No, it isn't! It's like a spear! No it isn't! It's like a snake! They did not agree. The king had been watching and listening to the men. 'You are not very clever. You only touched part of the elephant. You did not feel the whole animal. An elephant is not like a wall or a spear or a snake, or a tree or a fan or a rope'. The men left the town still arguing. A little girl heard them and said 'Each of you is right but you are all wrong … but I know what you are talking about' (Printer friendly version of story) Stage 5: Elephant rhyme Introduce the following rhyme. If appropriate, children can walk around slowly swinging from side to side, head down and one arm hanging down as a trunk. The elephant is big and strong His ears are large, his trunk is long. He walks around with heavy steps, Two tusks, one tail and four thick legs. Stage 6: Guessing game: What am I thinking of? In the children's mother tongue, discuss the importance of using all evidence and listening to other people before coming to a conclusion. - Pre-teach or revise questions and adjectives as appropriate. Demonstrate, by saying what you are thinking of, for example, an animal, an item of food, an object, etc. - You could re-use the objects from your feely box or bag if you wish or introduce or recycle other vocabulary. - The class has 10 chances to ask yes/no questions. Explain that they should first ask strategic questions, for example, Is it hard/soft, rough/smooth, heavy/light, made of wood? Has it got a tail, four legs, etc? Is it like a snake? Once they have gathered evidence, they can ask specific questions like, Is it a dog? Is it a pencil? Project: Our senses Make a poster for the classroom listing all the things in the school that children can see, hear, touch, taste and smell. Our senses at school |Our senses at school| Project: Researching elephants If appropriate, children could use the Internet or reference books to research the differences between African and Asian elephants and produce a classroom display or small project. A couple of good sites on elephants are: By Gail Ellis

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BIG DIPPER STORY WHEEL Background: The circumpolar constellations are the basis for this story from Canada. It is important to emphasize to the students that the people who told this story were describing the apparent motion of the Big Dipper and other constellations around the pole star (Polaris). We now know that it is the motion of the Earth that allows us to see the stars in different positions (a) from hour-to-hour throughout a night and (b) from month-to-month during a year. Remember that there is a season for storytelling in Native American traditions (approximately late Fall to early Spring)! Storytelling is not done at other times of the year. Objectives: The students will learn about a Canadian Indian tale and will compare the action in the story to the scientific facts about the motion of the Earth and apparnet motion of the stars. 1 large sheet construction paper per student 1 paper plate per student glue or rubber cement markers, crayons, paper scraps for decorating Never-Ending Bear Hunt story 1. Attached is a summary of the story. The full text can be found in North American Indian Stories: More Star Tales by G. W. Mayo, 1990; an alternate version appears in The Dance in the Sky Native American Star Myths by J. Monroe and R. Williamson, 1987. A pattern for the constellations and a template for folding the large construction paper are linked with the write-up. 2. Share the story of the Never-Ending Bear Hunt with the students. You may want to discuss seasons, constellation patterns, the Big Dipper asterism (asterism = a recognizeable pattern of stars that is not one of the 88 official constellations), Polaris (the North Star, Pole Star), navigation, etc. as part of the lesson. 3. You will need one paper plate (sturdy ones with raised edges do not work well), one pattern sheet, one brass fastener, and one large piece of construction paper for each student. Crayons or markers for decorating the constellations and/or the construction paper foreground, glue, and a stapler are also needed. 4. Decorate the constellation pictures on the circular pattern. Cut it out and glue it to the center of a paper plate. 5. Using the large template (or the measurements from the template), locate and mark the position of Polaris on a large sheet of construction paper. Caution: Our template is for 11x14 inch copier paper, which is not an exact match for 12x18 inch construction paper. Follow the written instructions on the template. Option: Prefold the paper and mark the positions for Polaris and the side staples for younger students. 6. Push the brass fastener through the Polaris on the paper plate pattern and again through the mark on the construction paper. Secure the fastener. 7. Fold the construction paper up from the bottom edge as indicated. Staple slong the side edges, close to the edge. Be sure the staples are not too close to the top (horizontal) folded edge; the paper plate needs clearance in order to rotate, as Polaris is not in the center. 8. Slowly rotate the paper plate counterclockwise, allowing the bear to exit her den and the hunters to fall below the horizon, as described in the story. If the horizon is too low, the students can add trees, rocks, or other decorations to help rise the horizon. Continue to decorate the construction paper foreground with crayons, markers, construction paper scraps, etc. 9. Share the story again. The teacher or student(s) can rotate the pape plate to illustrate the changing positions of the constellations throughout the seasons. 10. Be sure to emphasize again that it is not the stars that move, but the motion of the Earth that makes them move. Early cultures used star positions and stories to mark seasons, especially planting and harvesting times, even though the science might not be as accurate as our current knowledge! Return to Project ARTIST Home Page

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Newborn babies turn towards their mother's scent or voice, preferring her to everyone else. This strong biological bond continues throughout life but is most powerful during the early years. Although children are born with basic temperament characteristics, mothers -- and fathers -- help mold those characteristics through example, daily interactions and direct teaching. Children must feel safe and secure to develop normally. A warm, nurturing mother provides this sense of security. When a child is hurt, for example, he usually goes to his mother for comfort, even if other people are nearby. These early feelings of trust and safety give children the freedom to explore, learn and develop. When children lack these early experiences, normal development is thwarted. During the 1980s and 1990s, abandoned children in Romania were sent to orphanages, rather than placed in foster care. These children's basic needs were met, but the children received little individual care or attention. Most of the children displayed abnormal personality development, including lack of language development, head banging, aggression and the inability to form attachments, notes Charles A. Nelson of Harvard University. Brain scans found that the children's brains were actually smaller than normal. Children rely on the feedback they get from the adults around them to learn appropriate behaviors and character development. Mothers encourage persistence, independence and confidence through gentle encouragement. Young children also learn norms for acceptable behaviors through their mothers. A disapproving look lets a child know when she's crossed a line. A warm embrace rewards positive behavior. Mothers transmit character and values by their own behavior, as well. Young children are born with an innate temperament and interests, but mothers do play a role in shaping these characteristics. A rough and tumble toddler may prefer blocks, trucks and active play to all else. But this same toddler might sit on mom's lap enjoying a quiet story before bedtime. Mothers can encourage and support natural interests while introducing children to other hobbies and activities. This doesn't mean you have to rush out to buy the latest educational toy or stock up on the flash cards, according to Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, authors of "NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children." Simply spend time working and learning together. Rake the leaves, work on a puzzle, listen to music and have family dinners together. Socialization and Emotional Development A mother's social and emotional well-being can have profound effects on a child's early development. A child whose mother suffers from untreated depression, for example, is three to five times more likely to have some form of mental illness than other children, according to the Royal College of Psychiatrists. On the other hand, emotionally healthy moms can teach young children important social and emotional skills, such as sharing and taking turns, communicating and expressing emotions appropriately. While mothering styles vary, depending on cultural norms, personality and individual circumstances, the most effective mothering style is one of nurturing warmth and strong leadership, according to Stephan B. Poulter, author of "The Mother Factor." - Time: Measures of a Mother's Love: How Early Neglect Derails Child Development - The Harvard Crimson: HMS Professor Studies Orphanage Impact on Brain Development - Royal College of Psychiatrists: Maternal Mental Illness and Mother-Child Relations - The Mother Factor; Stephan B. Poulter - NatureShock: New Thinking About Children; Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman - Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images

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Lesson Plans and Worksheets Browse by Subject Discriminant Teacher Resources Find Discriminant educational ideas and activities Students read story excerpts from the BBC WW2 People's War archive to discover the contributions and obstacles faced by Asian and Black participants in World War 2 British forces. They prepare a radio report describing the commonwealth troops' war effort, prepare a leaflet on preventing discrimination in the military, and explore the lives of Asian and Black war heroes. Students examine the contributions made to our country by Barbara Jordan. They read and discuss the books "The Sneetches" and "Building a Bridge," write journal entries, participate in a discrimination simulation, create a class bulletin board, and create a poster about tolerance. Students explore quadratic equations. Using dry erase boards, students graph solutions to quadratic equations and solve problems using the quadratic formula. They explore the quadratic formula and the use of the discriminant to predict the number of solutions. Links are provided to a quadratic calculator and animation of the derivation. Students analyze racism and justice. In this legal system discrimination lesson, students listen to their instructor lecture on disparities in the legal system. Students respond to discussion questions following the lecture and evaluate proposals put forth to prevent discrimination in the criminal justice system. Eleventh graders analyze the role of women in the workplace. They study laws that protect women from discrimination in the workplace. They role-play scenarios where women are discriminated or harassed. They discuss times when they have been discriminated and compare to women's roles in the workplace. Students examine how artists can be influential in shaping human values, discuss how art addresses social and global issues such as poverty, starvation, crime, and discrimination, research specific artist and his/her social philosophy, and engage in debate on value of art in shaping social awareness and social values. Fourth graders read the book "Teammate" after participating in pre-reading activities that include examining the concepts of segregation and discrimination. In this six week literature study, they make timelines, discuss what they know about the concepts, study vocabulary, conduct interviews, and examine the art of storytelling as they read the book. Students explore multicultural tolerance. In this multicultural character development and social studies activity, students define and discuss words related to multicultural intolerance. Students view "Molly's Pilgrim" and discuss examples of discrimination. Students research a country of their choice, make a construction paper flag representing that country, and compete a questionnaire. Students discuss and share their research with classmates. Students are introduced to the United Nations Declaraion on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerence and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. Using the document, they discuss issues raised about the source of rights linked to one's freedom to belief in any religion. They use the Declaration to discover its relationship to the human rights framework. Fifth graders interpret stereotyping and discrimination as limiting and hurtful behaviors and demonstrate how to address these behaviors in a positive manner. In this discrimination lesson plan, 5th graders use the poem The Woman Who Outshone the Sun to prompt critical thinking and deep discussion on the impact of making judgments about people based on stereotypes. Fifth graders create a KWL chart on discrimination and human rights. While reading different stories, they take notes on each character in the books. To end the lesson, they discuss the forms of discrimination today and how African Americans gained more rights during the Civil Rights movement. High schoolers read the decision of the Michigan Supreme Court in the Ferguson v. Gies, a case dealing with discrimination in a restaurant. They participate in a class discussion about the case and the justices that presided over it. They develop a guide for helping people read primary source documents, such as court cases. Introduce learners to the discriminant. The discriminant, used to find the number of real solutions to a quadratic equation, is part of the quadratic formula. The video shows where in the formula you can find it, and provides an example with a real quadratic equation. A decent resource. Students investigate the pass laws that resulted in the Sharpeville Massacre. In this racism lesson, students find information about the massacre and attempt to find similarities to their own lives. They determine how similar incidents make a statement about race relations in the US. They investigate racial profiling. Students compare and contrast price and age discrimination and discuss their own experiences with discrimination. They relate discrimination to airline ticket pricing and discuss how two competitive airlines can charge different prices for flights to the same destination. Finally, they examine the Robinson-Patman Act which defines illegal discrimination practices.

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is the largest area of ELT and is often divided into Upper Intermediate, Intermediate and pre-intermediate. It is a good time to start using simpler authentic material and really build students vocabulary. I find that Intermediate students can often handle magazines aimed at the teenage market and I always try to collect magazines such as Cleo and Just 17. VAK Learning Styles This is a simplified Visual Audio Kinaesthetic (VAK)learning style quiz designed to make it quicker for students to have a better understanding of their learning styles and techniques that they can use to help them remember things better. - Handout version (56KB PDF) Complete quiz with helpful advice sheet - Interactive version (269KB Flash) This version asks 12 questions, calculates your score and provides simple advice on what you can do to improve your learning. - Downloadable version (1.08MB EXE) This version can be downloaded to a Windows PC for school or class rollout. Resources on this Website Complete Lesson Walkthroughs Each of these lessons is ideal for new teachers with minute-by-minute guides as to what to do. I did them during my CELTA training and each lesson was very well received. They also contain Word files with matching cards, which are good templates for novice Word users. Reading expressions with prepositions (332KB PDF) Handouts (200KB Zipped Electronic Flipchart file (506KB) Lesson Plan (265KB PDF) Handouts (28KB Zipped Electronic Flipchart file (188KB) Handouts and Exercises - Create a Money Board Game (158KB PDF) This enables students to create a money board game, which is both useful for reviewing some business concepts and encouraging creativity. - Sentencing (240KB PDF) A look at crime and punishment in England. This would make a nice starter for discussing cirme particularly for ELT students studying citizenship or preparing for the Life in the UK test. - Football (203KB PDF) introductory guide to football that will not only provide insight into British English, but also provide some interesting Trivia about the world's Number 1 game. - Top 10 Games of 2007 (116KB PDF) short reading exercise with vocabulary, discussion and writing exercises to encourage students to discuss their hobbies. Could also lead into a review writing lesson. - Describing Feelings (116KB PDF) A handout to encourage students to describe their emotions and talk to each other. - Top 5 Inventions (131KB PDF) A reading exercise that can lead into superlatives and comparitive grammar presentation or a compare and contrast essay. - Children of East Asia (181KB PDF) An exercise that explores children's values, aspirations and expectations in East Asia. It includes, a vocabulary exercise, reading comprehension, discussion and writing questions and an IELTs style Writing task 1. - House Plan (216KB A good discussion exercise. Also revises prepositions of place and furniture lexis. to make a vocab book (62KB pdf) Step by step guide to making your own vocabulary book. - Dress Codes (317 Complete Lesson plan with Matching cards and exercises to assist students understanding of dress codes. - How Do You Like To Learn? (52KB PDF) Survey to encourage student centred learning - Getting To Know You Survey (53KB PDF) A simple survey to encourage students to get to know each other. Also useful for creative writing sessions. For Girly classes Ideal handouts for all-girl classes... Other Useful pages - Top 20 Fillers We provide a First Aid kit sure to revive any English lesson How to use comics in lessons How to use TV in lessons - Sound Scripting your speeches and presentations more natural How to use the International Phonetic alphabet - Using Realia How to use real life material in your class Our Intermediate guide to writing essays Handouts and tips for teaching and learning grammar

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Part Two: The Theory of Second Language Acquisition Stages of Language Acquisition - Sample Teaching Strategies at Each Stage of Language Development [For further information on English Language Proficiency Standards, go to: http://www.nj.gov/njded/bilingual/resources]. |Stage I: Preproduction Definition: Students at this stage tend to be non-verbal. Most of what is spoken in English is completely incomprehensible. Students will exhibit some level of frustration, anxiety, and withdrawal, characterized as “culture shock.” Students will focus intensively on listening and viewing what is happening in the classroom. They will copy from the board and repeat what they hear with little or no comprehension at first. Please note: Students may exhibit inattentiveness at times. However, it should be noted that the language overload of second language learning can be exhausting. Suggestions for the classroom are: - Use of visuals, real objects, manipulatives. - Response through physical movement or manipulation of objects. - Allow students to listen, observe. Do not force students to speak. Provide many listening opportunities. - Group students with more advanced ELLs or cooperative mainstream peers for group activities. - Provide reading materials with simplified text and numerous pictures. |Stage II: Early Production |Definition: Students will begin to repeat language commonly used in social conversation and will be able to use routine expressions. They will make statements and ask questions with isolated words or simple phrases. They will decode according to the phonetic rules of first language. Students can identify people, places, and objects and can participate in class activities by relating information to this type of information. Students may continue to exhibit inattentiveness at times, but not to the frequency and intensity noted for students at Stage One. Suggestions for the classroom are: - Use simplified, abbreviated text materials, focusing on the main idea[s]. - Continue to provide listening activities with visual support. - Begin writing activities, such as dialogue journals for reflection and response to learning materials. - Ask yes/no questions, or questions requiring a 1-3 word response. - Response to assessments can take the form of actions, manipulation of materials and/or simplified response. - Introduction of predictable books with limited words, more pictures and/or graphics for primary age ELLs. - Introduction of structured retelling activities, with the use of physical responses, visuals, manipulatives for primary age ELLs. |Stage III: Speech Emergence Definition: Students will exhibit increased proficiency in decoding and comprehending second language words and text. Students will begin, with or without phonics instruction, to decode according to second language rules and from expanded experiences with oral interactions and text. Students will demonstrate an increased understanding of conversations, dialogues, simple stories containing a few details and factual or simple procedural information from content area texts. Teachers will note that written expression will include an expanding vocabulary and the emergence of a writing style. Students can edit writing with guidance [e.g. checklists, peer editors, teacher assistance] and will be able to self-evaluate writing. Suggestions for the classroom are: - Develop activities with content and context embedded practice in all four skill areas. - Ask open-ended questions, but provide models for response orally or through word banks. - Shared or partnered reading and writing activities. - Expanded use of predictable books containing more text, with primary-age ELLs. - Use of content area picture books, with expanded text [fiction and non-fiction] to support learning of content [e.g. science and social studies, such as Adler, David A. A picture book of Sacagawea; illustrated by Dan Brown. New York: Holiday House, 2000. ISBN 082341485X. A biography of the Shoshone woman who joined the Lewis and Clark expedition. See “Resources” for a short list of other suggested content area picture books. - Expanded writing opportunities in a variety of genres—descriptive, narrative, instructive, etc. - Introduce learning strategies instruction examples. [See CALLA in Part Four.] |Stage IV: Intermediate Fluency Definition: There is a marked increase in listening, speaking, reading, and writing comprehension and accuracy of response. Students will demonstrate an increased use of strategies for word attack and comprehension of content reading materials. In addition, the student can read and understand a wider variety of genres in literature. He/she can summarize, make simple inferences, and can use language to express and defend opinions. First language background knowledge and strategies become a resource for the student. Overall, the student, at this stage, can perform well in the classroom, but teachers will need to provide structure, strategies, and guidance. Suggestions for the classroom are: - Provide guided instruction in the use of reference/research materials for middle-high school ELLs. - Expand learning strategies instruction. - Provide practice in making inferences from content reading. - Model appropriate language for expressing abstract concepts from content learning by providing students with response “stems.” - Example One: For students studying Colonial America and the events that led up to the Revolution, teachers want to help students learn to make inferences and reflect on different points of view about historical events and be able to discuss the underlying causes of events, a teacher might ask one or more of the following structured question types, with a provided “stem” for student response: - Question: What was Great Britain trying to show the colonists by putting a tax on tea? - Student response “stem”: The British were trying to ** that: - Place a choice of response words appropriate for the ELLs current level of comprehension, such as: **show, prove, demonstrate, illustrate, confirm, uphold, etc. - Example Two: For students studying light, light waves, reflection, refraction, and telescopes, teachers would want students to be able to compare the differences between how each telescope works and the purposes for which they are used. A teacher might ask one or more of the following structured question types, with a provided “stem” for student response: - Question: How is the view through a reflective telescope different from the view through a refractive telescope? - Student response “stem”: The view through a reflective telescope a refractive telescope : - Place a choice of response words appropriate for the ELLs current level of comprehension, such as: is different from, differs from, is dissimilar to because, since, in that, given that - Move toward expanded text reading to include supporting details and extended reading activities. - Expand writing repertoire to include various types of letters, newspaper journalism, and creative writing experiences. - Can begin to work in collaborative groups for content activities. |Stage V: Advanced Fluency Definition: At this stage of development, the student performs “almost” like a native speaker. He/she can produce language that is highly accurate, incorporating more complex vocabulary and grammatical structure in his/her communicative discourse. The student’s reading interests broaden and he/she can read independently for information and/or pleasure. His/her writing skills are at a near native English level. The student continues to use his/her native language as a source to enhance comprehension of English. Although most English Language Learners are exited at this level of performance, students may still need a “lifeline” for clarification of new concepts and/or vocabulary. Suggestions for the classroom are: - Continue to build concepts through advanced content area reading. - Continue to expand on learning strategies instruction. - Continue to provide enriched writing activities. - Help to build an expressive vocabulary to match the strength of the receptive vocabulary development. - Work in collaborative groups for content activities.

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The Power of Family Literacy Children exposed to reading and storytelling at home have greater success in school. Second in a series of nine, this NebGuide suggests language- and literacy-related activities. Janet S. Hanna, Kayla M. Hinrichs and Carla J. Mahar, Extension Educators John D. DeFrain and Tonia R. Durden, Family Life Specialists - Family Activities That Prepare Young Children for School - Parental Involvement - How Families View Literacy - Tips for Building a House of Literacy for All Families |StoryQUEST’s Vision: High-quality early relationships and experiences throughout their daily routines provide each infant and toddler with the tools and skills to build a strong foundation for future school readiness. Families, caregivers, and communities as a whole collaborate to enable all children to become highly competent in language and literacy. This series was developed as part of a national research project — StoryQUEST — through the California Institute on Human Services, Sonoma State University.| Virtually all parents want their children to learn to read, write, and succeed in school, and are eager to provide any support necessary. Family involvement in everyday language- and literacy-related activities has a significant impact on children’s language development and acquisition of early literacy skills. Early language and literacy activities at home contribute to differences when children enter school. Parental attitudes and activities convey messages about schooling, work, the joy of learning, and the value of education. Children who see literacy as a family value and learn early on that reading, writing, and communicating orally are pleasurable, important, and meaningful are more successful in school. Research found that children who had fewer language experiences in their homes in the first years of life started school behind peers who had richer language experiences. This gap continued until age 9 when the study was concluded. - Talking and singing with children - Reading books and other print and environmental materials with children - Adults reading books and other print and environmental materials for their own enjoyment - Accessing community resources, including libraries and museums, as a family - Using reading and writing and oral storytelling in everyday activities - Father involvement at home and school may be linked to higher literacy achievement of boys. - Factors outside the home that contribute to challenges children experience in school include lack of access to social, political, and economic support for families in dealing with housing, health, and other social problems. - Research shows that the more education the parent has, the greater their accessibility to quality educational resources for their child and the better the child tends to do in school. Numerous issues affect how families view and deal with literacy. Many factors impact families’ willingness and ability to engage in literacy-related activities, such as reading to children or pursuing their own education. They include: - their own reading ability - their self-confidence - daily economic struggles Some families use literacy differently than it is used in the traditional school culture. For example, they may use storytelling or popular literacy activities such as TV viewing, cartoons, and video games rather than reading books, writing, and using educational materials. Some families may view literacy as work rather than an activity to engage in for personal enjoyment and pleasure. They may focus on mechanical skills (e.g., letter naming, decoding) rather than engaging in playful communication or meaningful interactions around print and oral language. As a result, they may think literacy activities are inappropriate for infants and toddlers. Also, families may not see how literacy experiences are all around, beyond simply the words in a book. Establish Trust. “If you tell me that the way my Momma raised me was wrong, I’m probably not going to listen to you. If I learn to trust you and find other things you tell me to be useful, I might just think about what you have to say about raising children.” (Mikulecky, 1996). Develop Collaborative Relationships. Families and professionals should build collaborative partnerships based on explicit dialogue and collaboration that stress reciprocal understanding. The family’s role: - Share your thoughts, beliefs, and practices about language, literacy, and learning honestly. - Talk about the role that literacy plays in their daily lives. - Remember that children with disabilities are children first. - Think about how the parent(s) could make a difference in a child’s success at school. - Start by working just one new thing into what they already do each day. - Identify mutual goals and specific practices to help reach these goals in the home, in socialization, and/or in child care. The professional’s role: - Reflect on your own thoughts, beliefs, and practices about literacy and learning. - Listen to the family. - Recognize your own thoughts, beliefs, and practices, and respect the families’ views — even if you disagree with them. - Acknowledge, honor, and respect the family’s beliefs and practices. - Honor the time it takes families to trust a new person in their lives. - Build trust slowly and don’t demand a lot before everyone is ready. - Talk about the role that literacy plays in the family’s daily lives. - Consider the unique issues faced by families of children with disabilities and find ways to address language and literacy activities in that context. - Share specific information with families about how they can make a difference in their child’s future school success. - Make concrete suggestions that are compatible with what the family already does and with items already in the home that support children’s literacy development. - Identify mutual goals and specific practices to reach these goals in the home, in socialization and/or in child care. The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of the 2003-2004 StoryQUEST – Central Nebraska Community Services team. Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2009). Child, family and community: Family centered early care and education (5th ed.). Columbus: Pearson. Mikulecky, L. (1996). Family literacy: Parent and child interactions. Family Literacy: Directions in Research and Implications for Practice. (Retrieved February 7, 2003 from http://www/ed/.gov/pubs/FamLit) This publication has been peer reviewed. Visit the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension Publications Web site for more publications. Issued January 2010

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Essays are concise pieces of writing often required by most educational programs and institutions. This type of composition allows the student to illustrate his or her writing ability and convey individual thoughts and ideas as well as comprehension of texts and presented evidences. Essays can be grouped into four main categories: narrative, expository, descriptive, and persuasive. All four are general to different types of academia and may be requested quite often in literature-based courses such as English, Journalism, Psychology, and the Humanities. Most likely, if you can think of a type of essay, you can find it in one of these categories. Advertisements? Persuasive. Autobiography? Narrative. Cause and effect? Exposition. And so on. In this article we will explain each type of essay, its format and structure, common examples, and the major elements to be included in each. *Note: One frequently assigned writing that would not fall under one of these categories would be the research paper; research writing is considered to be a separate category. A major objective in writing is to tell a good story. Narrative essays are usually just that-storytelling. As a very common type of narrative is a short story. Short stories are assigned to students all throughout their primary and secondary years and are familiar to many. The details may get a bit more complex as you get older but the structure is the same. A short story is made up of four main elements: a narrator, characters, plot, and setting. Yet, every narrative is not a story that can be explained in such a way. An example of this would be a book report. A book report falls under the narrative category but follows a more distinct format of simply restating information presented in a book. Another type of narrative essay would be the autobiography. An autobiography is a story about yourself written by you (hence the prefix auto) and is a good example of the incorporation of I in narrative writing. Unlike other categories it is permissible to use the pronoun I when formulating this type of essay. Things to remember When writing your narrative you want to make sure to: Clearly indicate the main objective of your essay and the type of narrative you are writing: Let your reader know where you will be taking them. This is important if you are not telling a traditional story with a beginning, middle and end. If you are relaying a personal experience or specific event be sure to indicate that in your essay's introduction. Identify your point-of-view: Will you be writing from a first-person, or third-person point-of-view (note-there are three types of third person; dramatic, omniscient, and limited omniscient)? Whichever point-of-view you choose, be sure to show clarity and consistency throughout your writing. generally ask you to explain or evaluate concepts and ideas and inform the reader of specific information. Therefore a thesis statement is essential to an expository essay. A thesis statement is one or two sentences that explicitly tell the reader what you will be covering and your main purpose or objective in writing. In addition to this, your essay should include support statements that will further explain and aide your thesis statement. A dependable and candid method of forming your paper would be to follow the five-paragraph format of writing; i.e. introductory paragraph (1) support paragraphs (3) and conclusion paragraph (1). Please note that this is not the only method of formulating an expository essay. Its a good idea to engage your reader in any type of writing so try and experiment with other formats as well. Common examples of expository essays include; comparison and contrast , cause and effect , problem and solution and definition essays . Out of these examples it is clear that the writer will be supplying the reader with clear evidence to support their main objective or thesis within their paper. To begin thinking about descriptive essays try to identify the color Jorge Luis Borges is describing in his essay Blindness; "that great color, which shines in poetry, and which has so many beautiful names in many languages. Think of scharlach in German, scarlet in English..." Did you guess it? The color is red. Take note of the very detailed and descriptive way it is explained by the author. This is a great example of a descriptive essay. Descriptive essays are essays that address your sense of touch, smell, sight, sound and taste. In the above example the author, Borges appeals to our sense of sight in imagining this astonishing color as well as our sense of sound in formulating the articulation of each word variation presented. Types of descriptive essays Descriptive essays can further be categorized by type. Some types include: - functional descriptions - detailed descriptions of primary physical characteristics (the thing described can be a person, place or thing) - character profile and sketch - character profiles and character sketches differ in that profiles are descriptions reserved for real or actual people while sketches are descriptions of fictional characters - observations - a description of something the writer witnessed or experienced (should be nonfiction) A persuasive essay attempts to convince or persuade the reader to agree with the author's position on an important issue. This essay is also known as an argumentative essay and involves a great deal of research and effort on the part of the writer. Convincing someone that your opinion is the right one can be a hefty task outside of writing so you can imagine the weight of each word when writing a persuasive essay . The main areas of focus are the evidential portions of your paper which will prove to your reader, in a sense, the validity of your points. A persuasive essay like the exposition should have a precise and clear thesis statement as well as strong support statements. A quick outline of your persuasive piece is as follow; Persuasive essay outline This area should house your thesis statement, a brief introduction of the topic and its significance. The body of your essay should include your researched evidences to support your thesis statement. For example, if you would like to argue that background checks are necessary for employment in public child care settings you should therefore provide examples of cases or news reports in which a negative outcome resulted from a child care provider not being properly screened prior to employment. This portion of your essay should highlight the most striking evidences presented as well as revisit your thesis statement and give your reader a final thought or idea to ponder over. A suggestion for writing conclusions in general is to leave the reader with a "call to action" requesting that they make some sort of change, provide the reader with an ending solution to the problem addressed, or to make statements about the future or advancement of the issue or idea. A key area not to be overlooked in persuasive essay preparation is the investigative or research aspect of this type of writing. It is not simply about stating your opinion but providing the necessary research required and then formulating an informed, logical and clear response. Book reviews for example require that the reviewer first read the book in question and obtain an amount of background information on the author before writing the review. Personal essays are interesting to note as they do not exactly fall under any one of the categories presented. A personal essay is a nonfiction piece of self-expression that reveals the personal experiences, thoughts or ideas of the writer. The personal essay may be a narrative in which the author decides to tell you a story or a sort of persuasive essay in which the author speaks freely about his or her opinion on a matter. These types of essays are also known as personal opinion essays and do not follow the same guidelines as other persuasive essays. The approach is much more relaxed and informal and may not provide substantial evidence to support opinions stated. Though this type of writing does allow for a bit of freedom and flexibility writers should still be cautious of proper organization and comprehensiveness while writing. Example topics for personal essays include; analysis of personal growth and development, memories, and major incidents or events that occurred in the author's life. The essays discussed cover a wide range of writing types and styles. Knowing them will hopefully improve your writing ability and give you a comprehensive understanding of the formats and guidelines expected of you as a student and as a writer.

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Source and activity 2 Fairy tale characters: The hero Most fairy tales feature at least one hero. Heroes can be male or female, rich or poor, children or adults. This illustration is from 'Little snow white and other fairy stories' from about 1898. Download hero illustration (PDF: 2.09 MB; 1 page). Challenges a hero might face The hero is usually faced with a problem which has to be solved. This may involve going on a journey, solving a riddle or puzzle, or undertaking a difficult task or impossible test. The hero often has to face danger and difficulties, but wins through in the end. The hero often has to defeat or capture the villain in the story in order to survive. Sometimes the hero has to rescue someone else who is in trouble or danger, as for example the sister in 'The six swans'. At other times, the hero has to save himself or herself, for instance Hansel and Gretel who manage to escape from the witch who lives in the gingerbread house. What makes a hero? The hero is often described as: The hero does what needs to be done, even though it might be difficult or challenging. The hero may be reluctant or fearful about going on a journey or taking on a task, but does it anyway. The hero doesn't usually have magic powers, but sometimes he or she has access to magic helpers or objects. At other times, the hero has to rely on outwitting his or her enemy. - Read the following stories: - Ask the pupils to decide: - Who is the hero in the story? - What problem does the hero have to solve? - How does he or she eventually solve the problem, and what resources do they use? - What do the heroes in the stories have in common? - Ask the pupils to think of words and images that they associate with the word 'hero'. Can they think or name any modern day heroes? What heroic qualities do these people have? - Find examples of heroes in recent news stories. What kind of people are described as heroes today? Take one example of a news story, and decide who is the hero, what problem they had to solve or overcome, and how they achieved this. Ask the pupils to try re-writing the news story in the style of a traditional fairy tale. [LIT 1-14a; LIT 2-14a] - Read or tell the story of 'Hansel and Gretel'. Who is the hero in this story, and why? What problem does the hero have to solve, and what dangers do they have to face along the way? Encourage the pupils to consider that there might be more than one hero in this story. How do the brother and sister work together to solve the problem? What do each of them contribute? [ENG 1-19a; ENG 2-19a; ENG 1-17a; ENG 2-17a] Download character comparison activity (PDF: 47KB; 2 pages) Related material at NLS Find out more about fairy tales and the Brothers Grimm in NLS collections: Search our main catalogue for books about fairy tales and the Brothers Grimm. Discover more about the Brothers Grimm in our past treasures display. Take part in our exciting Hansel and Gretel creative writing competitions. Read a news story about the Grimms' Scottish connections in a letter that Jacob Grimm wrote to Sir Walter Scott.

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Mr. Thompson's Fourth Grade Class Language Arts Curriculum Language/Creative Writing: Grammar skills are integrated with creative writing, using the writing process. (See attached sheet). Also, students write in their journals almost daily to build these skills. In addition, the reading series incorporates the identified language skills that are required for the students to master. The students will be assessed over many of the language and grammar skills that are used in the reading series. Handwriting is D’Nealian style. (See attached sheet). Cursive writing will begin in January. Our district has adopted the Treasures reading series by Macmillan McGraw- Hill. It incorporates reading with language arts: grammar, creative writing, handwriting, phonics, and spelling. Sight words are attached that your child needs to know. Practice these words until your child has mastered them. During the school year, the students will be reading for Reading Counts. After testing your child’s reading level, each student will read a book and take a test on the computer to earn points. Students receive prizes for points earned. Whole Group (Shared) Instruction: Together as a class, we will read stories, write, edit, and practice grammar and spelling. I plan to meet with small groups of students to give them instruction that is on their current reading level. I conduct guided reading and writing conferences. I will read individually or in small groups with every student several times a week. Self-Selected (Independent) Reading: Students will read on their own daily. Students will eventually be responding in writing to their reading. Students will participate in many cooperative activities to build on their learning. I plan many activities where students can edit, read, or write together. We will work on many skills in second grade. These include: § Basic phonic skills and letter sounds § Decoding and identifying digraphs, blends, and high frequency words § Reading skills including predicting, summarizing, retelling, and sequencing § Connecting reading and writing to self, world, and other texts, Study skills § Sight words and word families § Spelling, grammar, and handwriting § The writing process—from prewriting to publishing § Following directions and being active listeners § Sharing, contributing, and respecting ideas DIBELS Reading Assessment: This test is given individually to each student at three different times during the year. Usually one in October, January and May. I may have a substitute for the day and pull children out to read with them. This test will help me determine your child’s ability to meet specific reading benchmarks for first grade. This is an informal assessment that I will occasionally do during guided reading with individual students. It allows me to monitor their instructional reading level by counting the number of words read correctly (usually out of 100 words) in a reading passage. Spelling: There will be a spelling test each week. The students will get the words to study at the beginning of the week (typically on Monday) and they will be assessed over those words at the end of the week (typically on Friday). Sight Word Testing: I will occasionally check off the sight words a student can read immediately (within 3 seconds) without help or sounding out. I will be sure to keep you aware of the words your child knows. See the website for additional information on the Fry list. We are very excited about Investigations Math, our new math curriculum. Investigations Math uses a hands-on approach to make math more meaningful to students. It is very different from our previous math adoption in many ways: · Students will play games almost daily to reinforce basic facts and math concepts. I will use observation to assess during periods of game play. I will let you know in my weekly newsletter when I have introduced a new game. · There are homework pages that will take 10-15 minutes to complete. It is extremely important to complete and return this homework, as we will use the completed assignments in the next day’s whole-group lesson. · Students will not be bringing home many worksheets because second graders use their Math Journals. These stay in their desks all year. You are welcome to come look through your child’s Math Journal at any time. · Investigations Math looks different than what you might be used to seeing. Reading the Family Math Newsletters and Homework pages will help you understand the different strategies we are introducing. If you feel you need further explanation, feel free to contact me. These assessments will be administered during second grade: · Investigation Tests: After administering a test at the end of the investigation t, you will receive your child’s progress. · Units Benchmarks: At the end of each unit of study, a test covering all of the skills that have been learned up to that point will be given. We will report these scores to you as well and provide you with recommendations when benchmarks are not being met. · Performance Tasks: These are problems that your child is expected to solve independently. The problem is usually multi-step and can usually be solved in more than one way. It is crucial to show work, or a child cannot receive full credit. We will be sure to show our work as we do problems throughout the year. Performance tasks may be included in the quarterly benchmarks. Addition and subtraction facts tests are on Fridays. Practice sheets will go home to study for Friday’s facts test. These three subjects will be formally covered all day on Fridays. We call it “Discovery Day”. Read alouds and dialogue will take place during the course of the week pertaining to the topics covered. Newsletters are sent home on Friday. These outline the units for the following week and share the skills and concepts being taught. I will try to post them to the internet for you to view from home. (Just in case one doesn’t arrive home!) First grade students have the opportunity to be a Homework Hero by completing required homework. I will send home a reading log for the first full week of school. I expect students to complete around 30 minutes of homework a night, as outlined below: · 15 minutes of reading together (initially the parent will do some of this reading) · 15 minutes for reviewing spelling words, reading activities, math assignment, etc. · All work is required to be completed and returned the next school day unless otherwise stated on the assignment. Typically, students have the following homework activities: * Vocabulary/Reading on Monday * Take Home Books on Wednesday * Math response page on Tuesday * Spelling Activity on Thursday Mr. Thompson's Fourth Grade Class

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The Writing Style of Beatrix Potter When thinking of classic children's literature, one of the first names that may come to mind is Beatrix Potter. Her series of illustrated "little books," referred to canonically as the 23 Tales, became very popular upon publication in the early 20th century. The Tale of Peter Rabbit, her first book, combined imagination with cruel and realistic situations, whimsical illustrations, and clearly-written language to create an enjoyable, memorable experience for the reader. Potter utilized this combination of techniques throughout her 33 publications, causing her to become the most famous children's author of the post-Victorian era. Good writers of books for children employ imagination in their prose, and Potter was no exception. She created a world where animals had human-like characteristics. The animals in her books had family structures and expressed human emotions. While this idea seems fantastical to adult audiences, it appeals to children. Stuffed toys in animal shapesstill a relatively new product during the early 20th centurystimulate a child's desire for imaginary play. Potter satisfied this desire by creating literary adventures featuring animals often sold in toy form. Contrasting with this world of imagination, Potter's works provided a cruel, yet realistic balance. Humans were creatures to be feared in Potter's world, as they would often try to harm, ward off, or kill the animal characters. For example, in Peter Rabbit, Mr. McGregor, the antagonist, spends much time trying to capture Peter Rabbit because rabbits are considered to be garden pests. Peter later encounters other evil predators until, after a wild chase, he finally arrives at his family's rabbit hole. These cruel situations are a direct application of Potter's expertise as a keen natural scientist and conservationistroles that she could not publicly participate in as a Victorian woman. Another literary application of Potter's scientific knowledge was her ability to illustrate her books with whimsical, charming watercolors. Prior to becoming a children's book writer, Potter drew and painted scientific illustrations. This gave her the skills necessary to create richly detailed pictures, an aspect of Potter's work that is a large part of its appeal to children. The aesthetic used in her paintings was timely for the period and added to the audience's ability to believe in the world that Potter had created within her books. Enhancing the anthropomorphic characteristics of her animals, she depicted them wearing clothing appropriate to the character's social class and role in the story. The clarity of Potter's prose is another reason why she is considered one of the world's best children's writers. With careful word selection, and emphasis on simple, appropriate language, Potter's works display an elegant style that utilizes rich descriptions. Although her books are illustrated, it is possible to fully understand the action in each scene without the accompanying picture. Potter also utilizes onomatopoeia and short, rhyming verses to break up her prose. These add tonal diversity, making the works more interesting when read aloud to a child at bedtime. Beatrix Potter employed a number of elements to create popular children's books. By crafting an imaginary world where animals wear clothing, live human lives, and go on grand adventures, Potter's books appeal to a broad, wide audience of young children. This connection with her audience, combined with strong descriptive skills, made Beatrix Potter one of the world's best-selling authors. © Creative Writing Software 101 . com | Read more articles

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September 11 terrorist attack on the United States has left many students frightened NewsHour Extra has provided a forum space for students to discuss the devastating emotions and difficulties of this developing situation and a background report on what happened. The following lesson plans can help teachers and parents form learning experiences out of this ongoing Today: Civil War and Human Rights (grades 9-12) may be hearing a lot in the news about Afghanistan and the Taliban. Help students understand the Taliban's position within Afghanistan, how the Taliban's practices have raised concerns about human rights, and the economic and cultural climate in Afghanistan today. Students may use this knowledge to postulate about what a war would mean for the Afghan people, short- and long-term. And Its Neighbors: Model Summit As U.S. officials plan retaliation to the terrorist attacks on September 11, help students in grades 11-12 understand the complex relationships America has with countries in Central Asia and the Middle East. Students will research the recent political history of one country in the region and represent its interests at a model international summit designed to debate response to the terrorist attacks on America and propose measures to achieve long-term stability in that part of the world. in Times of Trial: for middle-high school students, this lesson plan uses the treatment of citizens of Japanese and German ancestry during World War II--looking specifically at media portrayals of these groups and internment camps--as historical examples of ethnic conflict during times of trial, and about the problems inherent in assigning blame to populations or nations of people. Students will look at contemporary examples of ethnic conflict, discrimination, and stereotyping at home and abroad. Designed for middle school students, this lesson plan introduces students to governmental and humanitarian response mechanisms for natural and man-made disasters. Students research and report on a variety of organizations, including the Red Cross, FEMA, and more; as an extension, students learn about local and regional resources, like the National Guard. Designed for high school students, this lesson plan asks the question, "Who can stop international terrorism?" Students learn about international justice (including the U.N.'s call for an international criminal court) and debate the effectiveness of various proposed measures. World At Peace: for younger students (grades 2-6), this lesson plan invites students to brainstorm the basic rights of people everywhere, explore the United Nation's Declaration of Human Rights, and then use international photography galleries as part of a multimedia creative writing assignment imagining a world at peace. In this time of strife, there has been a lot of intolerance directed at Arab Americans. Already, there is much concern within Arab American communities in our nation about the backlash that resulting from Tuesday's attacks. the attacks in school papers ASNE for high school newspaper advisors and journalists covering local stories emerging from the Sept. 11 attacks. are more lesson plans in our teacher resource If you would like to help create curriculum for this page, please contact Leah Clapman at firstname.lastname@example.org

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Lesson Plans and Worksheets Browse by Subject Flashback Teacher Resources Find Flashback educational ideas and activities Flashback to the time just before the turn of the century. The industrial revolution was in full swing, but why? Investigate key innovations and inventions that made it all possible. Covered are things like, steel, steam, oil, railroads, cars, communication, and airplanes. Tip: Have learners investigate the impact of each invention. Here's a real life research project that should get those upper graders excited! They conduct research into everything they'll need to know before moving out on their own. They compare university tuition, housing, textbooks, living arrangements, leases, credit card offers, and financial aid packages. This lesson is top-notch, and it offers essay tips, financial aid links, and motivational speech links. Analyze and create a well-known, but little studied form of literature: the fable. After learning important vocabulary associated with this genre, use the well-known fable, The Hare and the Tortoise to illustrate the various parts of a fable. This collaborative work as a class should prepare your class for the next creative step: writing and performing their own fable! This resource is great because in addition to an easy-to-follow lesson plan, it provides all the worksheets, graphic organizers, and rubrics students need to feel supported. Note: You will need to provide fables for your class to work with, as this resource only contains the one. Discover how authors design narrative and thematic structure with these practice activities for McLaurin’s “The Rite Time of Night.” Learners are encouraged to track repeating patterns such as references to nature or types of conflicts experienced by the characters in the story, and annotate them by color. From their findings, pupils can create their own story with a narrative structure similar to structures used by a professional. Spend a productive hour in the classroom as your scholars develop their context clues skills by working with short newspaper or magazine articles. The exercise introduces these skills and allows time to practice and discuss the strategies that need to be taken in identifying the context of words in question. Practice begins with articles that are provided by the teacher and learners practice the newly learned context procedure. Modify the lesson with short fiction pieces and practice context clues in other genres of writing. Need a quick but comprehensive reading strategies exercise? Even your most reluctant readers will be engaged by the story of a nuclear reactor explosion at a top-secret Idaho base. After reading the short passage, learners answer nine multiple choice questions. The answer sheet includes detailed explanations of the strategies used to determine the correct response, which models how to approach reading assessments. Use the instructional activity as in-class practice or for homework. Prepare your classes for the impending state testing! Give each student the reading passage and questions, and then set the timer. Encourage them to use specific reading strategies to improve comprehension. They could start by reading the questions before beginning to read the passage. Teach your class the basics of narrative writing! The resource first describes the Common Core standard for narrative writing in-depth, and then moves into how to apply the standard. Show your class the example essay and quiz them briefly before moving on to explain their writing assignment. While an assignment is not included, you could easily figure one out by reading through the example and quiz. Trace the mental breakdown and suicide of a character in William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. After a close reading of chapter two, discussion focuses on Quentin’s watch and the symbolism of stunted times signifying the lack of success in the lives of the Copson family and in the Old South. Stream of consciousness as a narrative technique is also examined. Lesson two of the curriculum unit William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. Viewing Tent City launches a study of the frame story and how authors use this format to draw attention to their theme. The richly detailed plan from Futurestates Community Classroom includes pre-viewing activities, discussion questions, viewing guide, suggested assessments and resource links. A great addition to your curriculum library. The final exercise in a series of lessons about writing a novel, this resource focuses on how to begin a story. The directions are clear, examples are plentiful, and practice activities provide writers with several possible options. Whether they start at the beginning, start with an inciting incident, start in the middle of things, or start at the end, your writers will be well prepared to draft their novel or a narrative of any length. If a blue jay could talk, what would it say? Find out by reading Mark Twain's "Jim Baker's Blue-jay Yarn" with your class. Make sure to discuss dialect beforehand and adopt the accent while you read. Compare and contrast American English and dialect by examining quotes and filling out a Venn diagram. Once your learners have a grasp of dialect, and once you have modeled how to write in dialect, have pairs compose and perform brief fables that feature birds that speak in dialect. Students develop vocabulary skills and create a logbook. In this Touching Spirit Bear lesson plan, students make predictions, write chapter summaries, and create a detailed character sketch. Students participate in a sharing circle and discuss their thoughts and reflections on the reading. Students keep a learning log and role-play to discover how a positive attitude can affect their lives. In this Touching Spirit Bear and optimism/pessimism instructional activity, student discuss optimism and pessimism in scenarios and in learning circles before reading passages from the novel and writing vocabulary words. Combine the study of poetry with the NACC tournament and March Madness? Sure! After a study of narrative poetry (“The Highwayman,” “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” and “Casey at the Bat,” etc.) class members are assigned a team from the NCAA regions and begin gathering data. They then compose a narrative poem about their team following guidelines developed by the class. The richly detailed unit plan includes a materials list, technology resources, activities, and assessments. This comprehensive and detailed resource offers a solid set of ideas for exposing early high school readers to the complexity of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. The lessons offer strong pre-reading discussion questions, effective activities for analysis, close reading practice, and recognition of basic elements of story, and possible symbols. The instructor is offered multiple options for assessment that explore Kafka’s purpose in writing The Metamorphosis, and his use of complex literary devices. Learners of any age can participate in this imagination and improve development activity. With the use of a small box, they work through a series of questions or situations posed by the teacher. Each group uses the box to create short improved scenes. This could also be a good way to develop storytelling skills. Ninth graders explore contemporary Korea, as well as pre-war Korea. They do this by reading One Thousand Chestnut Trees. After reading, they participate in classroom discussions about excerpts from the novel. They also research historical and cultural topics related to the novel.

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Oscar Wilde biography Born on October 16, 1854 in Dublin, Irish writer Oscar Wilde is best known for the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and the play The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as for his infamous arrest and imprisonment for being gay. Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on October 16, 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. His father, William Wilde, was an acclaimed doctor who was knighted for his work as medical advisor for the Irish censuses. William Wilde later founded St. Mark's Ophthalmic Hospital, entirely at his own personal expense, to treat the city's poor. Oscar Wilde's mother, Jane Francesca Elgee, was a poet who was closely associated with the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848, a skilled linguist whose acclaimed English translation of Pomeranian novelist Wilhelm Meinhold's Sidonia the Sorceress had a deep influence on her son's later writing. Wilde was a bright and bookish child. He attended the Portora Royal School at Enniskillen where he fell in love with Greek and Roman studies. He won the school's prize for the top classics student in each of his last two years, as well as second prize in drawing during his final year. Upon graduating in 1871, Wilde was awarded the Royal School Scholarship to attend Trinity College in Dublin. At the end of his first year at Trinity, in 1872, he placed first in the school's classics examination and received the college's Foundation Scholarship, the highest honor awarded to undergraduates. Upon his graduation in 1874, Wilde received the Berkeley Gold Medal as Trinity's best student in Greek, as well as the Demyship scholarship for further study at Magdalen College in Oxford. At Oxford, Wilde continued to excel academically, receiving first class marks from his examiners in both classics and classical moderations. It was also at Oxford that Wilde made his first sustained attempts at creative writing. In 1878, the year of his graduation, his poem "Ravenna" won the Newdigate Prize for the best English verse composition by an Oxford undergraduate. Upon graduating from Oxford, Wilde moved to London to live with his friend, Frank Miles, a popular portraitist among London's high society. There, he continued to focus on writing poetry, publishing his first collection, Poems, in 1881. While the book received only modest critical praise, it nevertheless established Wilde as an up-and-coming writer. The next year, in 1882, Wilde traveled from London to New York City to embark on an American lecture tour, for which he delivered a staggering 140 lectures in just nine months. While not lecturing, he managed to meet with some of the leading American scholars and literary figures of the day, including Henry Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Walt Whitman. Wilde especially admired Whitman. "There is no one in this wide great world of America whom I love and honor so much,'' he later wrote to his idol. Upon the conclusion of his American tour, Wilde returned home and immediately commenced another lecture circuit of England and Ireland that lasted until the middle of 1884. Through his lectures, as well as his early poetry, Wilde established himself as a leading proponent of the aesthetic movement, a theory of art and literature that emphasized the pursuit of beauty for its own sake, rather than to promote any political or social viewpoint. On May 29, 1884, Wilde married a wealthy Englishwoman named Constance Lloyd. They had two sons: Cyril, born in 1885, and Vyvyan, born in 1886. A year after his wedding, Wilde was hired to run Lady's World, a once-popular English magazine that had recently fallen out of fashion. During his two years editing Lady's World, Wilde revitalized the magazine by expanding its coverage to "deal not merely with what women wear, but with what they think and what they feel. The Lady's World," wrote Wilde, "should be made the recognized organ for the expression of women's opinions on all subjects of literature, art and modern life, and yet it should be a magazine that men could read with pleasure." Beginning in 1888, while he was still serving as editor of Lady's World, Wilde entered a seven-year period of furious creativity, during which he produced nearly all of his great literary works. In 1888, seven years after he wrote Poems, Wilde published The Happy Prince and Other Tales, a collection of children's stories. In 1891, he published Intentions, an essay collection arguing the tenets of aestheticism, and that same year, he published his first and only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. The novel is a cautionary tale about a beautiful young man, Dorian Gray, who wishes (and receives his wish) that his portrait ages while he remains youthful and lives a life of sin and pleasure. Though the novel is now revered as a great and classic work, at the time critics were outraged by the book's apparent lack of morality. Wilde vehemently defended himself in a preface to the novel, considered one of the great testaments to aestheticism, in which he wrote, "an ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style" and "vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art." Wilde's first play, Lady Windermere's Fan, opened in February 1892 to widespread popularity and critical acclaim, encouraging Wilde to adopt playwriting as his primary literary form. Over the next few years, Wilde produced several great plays—witty, highly satirical comedies of manners that nevertheless contained dark and serious undertones. His most notable plays were A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), his most famous play. Personal Life and Prison Sentence Around the same time that he was enjoying his greatest literary success, Wilde commenced an affair with a young man named Lord Alfred Douglas. On February 18, 1895, Douglas's father, the Marquis of Queensberry, who had gotten wind of the affair, left a calling card at Wilde's home addressed to "Oscar Wilde: Posing Somdomite," a misspelling of sodomite. Although Wilde's homosexuality was something of an open secret, he was so outraged by Queensberry's note that he sued him for libel. The decision ruined his life. When the trial began in March, Queensberry and his lawyers presented evidence of Wilde's homosexuality—homoerotic passages from his literary works, as well as his love letters to Douglas—that quickly resulted in the dismissal of Wilde's libel case and his arrest on charges of "gross indecency." Wilde was convicted on May 25, 1895 and sentenced to two years in prison. Wilde emerged from prison in 1897, physically depleted, emotionally exhausted and flat broke. He went into exile in France, where, living in cheap hotels and friends' apartments, he briefly reunited with Douglas. Wilde wrote very little during these last years; his only notable work was a poem he completed in 1898 about his experiences in prison, "The Ballad of Reading Gaol." Death and Legacy Wilde died of meningitis on November 30, 1900 at the age of 46. More than a century after his death, Wilde is still better remembered for his personal life—his exuberant personality, consummate wit and infamous imprisonment for homosexuality—than for his literary accomplishments. Nevertheless, his witty, imaginative and undeniably beautiful works, in particular his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and his play The Importance of Being Earnest, are considered among the great literary masterpieces of the late Victorian period. Throughout his entire life, Wilde remained deeply committed to the principles of aestheticism, principles that he expounded through his lectures and demonstrated through his works as well as anyone of his era. "All art is at once surface and symbol," Wilde wrote in the preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray. "Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex and vital."

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Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan in 1945. Charles Levy - Wikimedia Commons Students use history knowledge, critical thinking and digital literacy skills to tweet clues and guess the historical figure, period or event related to those clues. Twitter, history, tweet, digital literacy, critical thinking, creative writing, historical, figures, events, review, game, activity This lesson makes a great review activity and can be done in either a single class period or over the course of several weeks (by setting aside a few minutes per class). First, ensure that all students have created individual Twitter accounts and that each student will have access to an Internet-connected device. NOTE: For those uncomfortable with using Twitter in the classroom, or for teachers in schools that block access to Twitter, here are some alternatives, all of which are free, and some of which do not require individual accounts: TodaysMeet.com is a quick and easy discussion tool that can be used to set up a chat room in seconds. The room is accessible via a link on the Web. It takes two minutes to set up the room, and it's an easy discussion or brainstorming space for students. Chatzy.com is another type of instant chat tool for class discussions. It allows you to create a password-protected virtual chat room. The room is shared with a simple link and can be set up within minutes, even from an iPad. CoveritLive.com is a very powerful liveblogging tool for classroom discussions that can be logged and stored on your Web site for later viewing. It’s free, and it works on the iPad. Setup for the administrator takes longer because it does require an account, but it gives you the ability to moderate the chat and embed it into a Web site. Next, decide which historical periods/events/figures will be used. Select ones relevant to what students have been studying in class. In case students guess the answers quickly, have a relatively large number of people and events ready. You may wish to serve as the “quizmaster” who will tweet clues about these people and events. If you decide to add to the challenge by having kids serve as quizmasters, write the people and events on slips of paper and place them in a bowl for random selection by students. Decide how you’d like students to make their guesses (on paper, on individual dry-erase boards, verbally, etc.) and set rules for participation (raise your hand to share your guess, no shouting out guesses, etc.). Also decide if you will award prizes to winners. (Consider awarding prizes both for correct guesses and for the best or most creative sets of clues, since good clues require deep understanding of history content.) Then choose one of the following activity options and adapt them to suit the size and climate of your class: Next, create a hashtag for each game. You may want to use a numbering system to keep track of them. (An example hashtag for guessing game #1 in Mr. Cameron’s class at George Washington High would be #MrCameronGWH1.) It is important to remember that these hashtags will be public. As such, when students begin using them, their friends will be able to see them. It is unlikely that the hashtags will be trolled, since this activity would be public. You will, however, want to monitor them. Since Twitter can open the door to distractions, you’ll also want to keep an eye on students to ensure that they remain on task during the lesson. If you are using an alternative to Twitter, simply set up a chat room on your chosen platform and provide the link to students. Within the chat, make it clear where a new game begins by entering GAME 1, GAME 2, etc. into the conversation at appropriate points. Explain to students that Twitter has changed the way people communicate today. But what if this technology had existed in the past? Imagine Colonial Americans tweeting about their lives, or think about what the Twitter feed of someone like Napoleon might have looked like. How many followers would Socrates have amassed? Let’s use our history knowledge, digital literacy skills and imaginations to explore famous people and events from the past. Divide students into teams as needed, get everyone logged in and describe how the game will proceed. If applicable, provide the list of hashtags on a dry-erase board or projection screen. Make sure to erase already-used hashtags as the games proceed, so that students can always see the most current one. If you’re using alternatives to Twitter: These platforms will not place a 140-character limit on the length of clues, so remind quizmaster students to keep their clues brief. Prior to playing, it might be helpful to run through a few examples with students. If students will be providing clues, remind them that their clues should be neither too easy nor too hard, and have them do planning on paper prior to beginning the game. Decide whether you will allow students to use textbooks or other sources in order to plan their clues. Let guessing students know whether they will be allowed to send inquiring tweets (requests for “hints”) to the quizmaster(s) during the game. Here are a few sample clues and answers: Answer: The late former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Answer: U.S. dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan at the end of WWII Once the games are underway, keep track of scores and winners on a blackboard, dry-erase board or projection screen and award prizes accordingly. This activity offers a fun, informal end-of-class or end-of-unit formative assessment to check for student understanding. You may leave the activity ungraded and use it simply for motivation and engagement, or you may choose to grade students on the creativity and accuracy of their tweets, as well as their success in identifying historical figures, time periods or events based on the clues provided. Lesson Plan Source Jason Tomaszewski, EducationWorld Associate Editor NSS-WH.5-12.6 Emergence of the First Global Age NSS-WH.5-12.7 Age of Revolutions NSS-WH.5-12.8 Half a Century of Crisis and Achievement Copyright © 2013 Education World

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Copyright, Creative Commons & Mix & Mash: Lesson Plan Students understand how to legally adapt and reuse Creative Commons and public domain material. This means that students: - understand what copyright is; - understand the range of Creative Commons licences; - can choose and apply a creative commons licence for their own work; - find content that can be reused and remixed; - learn how to correctly attribute remixed works; and, - understand plagiarism. Work produced here may be entered in Mix & Mash 2013: The New Storytelling. In general, copyright works cannot be copied, adapted, remixed, reused or shared without the copyright holder’s permission. In New Zealand, copyright lasts for the life of the author plus fifty years. For more information, see the Copyright Council’s Introductory Factsheet. When material falls out of copyright, it enters the public domain. In New Zealand, all works produced by an author who died in 1962 or earlier are in the public domain. Remember, copyright also applies on the Internet. Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand provides a series of licences which give users permission to share and adapt copyright works. This video provides basic information about the licences: Creative Commons Kiwi More resources explaining the Creative Commons licences can be found at Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand. Creative Commons International provide a more philosophical take on remix and adaptation: Building on the Past. How to Adapt, Remix and Attribute Your Sources All Creative Commons licences require users to attribute their sources. If you fail to attribute properly, you violate the terms of the licences. While attribution can take several difference forms, in essence you should include: - the name of the author or creator; - the title of the work; - a link to the work’s URL; - a link to the Creative Commons licence the author or creator used; - any additional information required in the licence statement. You can put this information at the end of your work, or on the work’s webpage. This Free to Mix guide outlines how to find and reuse digital content. This fact sheet from Creative Commons Australia goes into more detail about using attributing Creative Commons works. - ‘Building on the Past’ argues that all creativity builds on the past. Is this true? Discuss some examples of famous artists—such as Shakespeare, Walt Disney and Peter Jackson—who famously adapted earlier works. Is all creative work a remix of one kind or another? - Discuss with students the differences between copyright, the Creative Commons licences and the public domain, using a scale from ‘most free’ to ‘most restrictive.’ - Discuss with students the difference between remix and plagiarism, leading into a discussion of the importance of attribution. Students should always credit the original creator when reusing work. Highlight the importance of note taking, summarising and referencing to keep track of all sources. This game reinforces the different licences and makes students think about how you can mix and match different licence types. - What is the purpose of copyright? - If we didn’t have copyright, would we still have creative work? Why or why not? - What’s the difference between plagiarism and ‘inspiration’? - What’s the difference between owning a song and owning a car? - Give your own definition of plagiarism. In this activity, students will create a new work that creatively re-uses and adapts source material provided by DigitalNZ, Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand and the National Library of New Zealand. Students may submit their work to Mix & Mash 2013: The New Storytelling for showcasing. 1) Check out the material provided at the Mix & Mash 2013 set at DigitalNZ. The Mix & Mash set. 2) Search for additional material here, remembering to takes notes on all your sources. 3) Generate ideas 4) Find the tools you need to realise your idea. Pixlr, free online photo editor Fotoflexer, distort and retouch photos online GIMP, open source photo-editing program, free to download to your computer Slideshare, to make a presentation using your remixed images Audacity, a free-to-download, open source software for recording, editing, and converting audio files 5) Tell your story. 6) Attribute your sources. There are many ways to provide attribution. See above for what kinds of information to include. 7) Choose your Creative Commons licence, to enable others to share, remix and reuse your work. Use the simple Creative Commons licence chooser. 8) Enter Mix & Mash 2013: The New Storytelling! Display this poster to explain the Creative Commons licences. Read the Free to Mix Guide Read Helen Baxter’s series of Remix Columns Lawrence Lessig Ted Talk: In this 20 min presentation, Creative Commons co-founder and Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig argues that the current copyright regime restricts, rather than encourages, creativity. Lawrence Lessig’s Free Culture: Chapter One, pages 20-30, discusses the story of Disney’s use of public domain material in the early 20th century to produce Mickey Mouse. Everything is a Remix Kirby Ferguson speaks about the impact of remixing on creativity through a series of videos and presentations. Creative Commons for Teachers In most situations, the works produced by a teacher in a school (handouts, resources, lesson plans) are owned by their employer—which in New Zealand is the school’s Board of Trustees. Technically, this means that teachers who want to share their teaching and learning materials need to gain written permission from their employer before they can legally do this. Some schools make the process of sharing easier by adopting a Creative Commons Policy which makes all material produced by a teacher available under a CC-By licence. Examples of Creative Commons policies include: Other schools to use Creative Commons licensing include Tawa Intermediate and Wellington High School. Read more about New Zealand schools using Creative Commons policies at Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand’s Education Portal. This work is partially based on Wikieducator’s New Zealand Digital Citizenship Module on ‘Copyright, Copyleft and Plagiarism.’ That work is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence. This work also draws on material from the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa’s Free to Mix Guide. That work is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence. This work is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Licence

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The past tense is a verb tense expressing action, activity, state or being in the past of the current moment (in an absolute tense system), or prior to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future (in a relative tense system). Each of these may also be found in the progressive (continuous) aspect. Simple past is formed for regular verbs by adding –ed to the root of a word. Example: He walked to the store. A negation is produced by adding did not and the verb in its infinitive form. Example: He did not walk to the store. Question sentences are started with did as in Did he walk to the store? Simple past is used for describing acts that have already been concluded and whose exact time of occurrence is known. Furthermore, simple past is used for retelling successive events. That is why it is commonly used in storytelling. Past progressive is formed by using the adequate form of to be and the verb’s present participle: He was going to church. By inserting not before the main verb a negation is achieved. Example: He was not going to church. A question is formed by prefixing the adequate form of to be as in Was he going?. Past progressive is used for describing events that were in the process of occurring when a new event happened. The already occurring event is presented in past progressive, the new one in simple past. Example: We were sitting in the garden when the thunderstorm started. Use is similar to other languages' imperfect tense. Present perfect simple is formed by combining have/has with the main verb’s past participle form: I have arrived. A negation is produced by inserting not after have/has: I have not arrived. Questions in present perfect are formulated by starting a sentence with have/has: Has she arrived? Present perfect simple is used for describing a past action’s effect on the present: He has arrived. Now he is here. This holds true for events that have just been secluded as well as for events that have not yet occurred. Present perfect progressive is formed by prefixing have/has before the grammatical particle been and the verb’s present participle form: We have been waiting. A negation is expressed by including not between have/has and been: They have not been eating. As with present perfect simple, for forming a question, have/has is put at the beginning of a sentence: Have they been eating? Present perfect progressive is used for describing an event that has been going on until the present and may be continued in the future. It also puts emphasis on how an event has occurred. Very often since and for mark the use of present perfect progressive: I have been waiting for five hours / I have been waiting since three o’clock. Furthermore, there is another version of past tense possible: past perfect, similar to other languages' pluperfect tense. my6cel Past perfect simple is formed by combining the simple past form of to have with the simple past form of the main verb: We had shouted. A negation is achieved by including not after had: You had not spoken. Questions in past perfect always start with had: Had he laughed? Past perfect simple is used for describing secluded events that have occurred before something else followed. The event that is closer to the present is given in simple past tense: After we had visited our relatives in New York, we flew back to Toronto. Past perfect progressive is formed by had, the grammatical particle been and the present participle of the main verb: You had been waiting. For negation, not is included before been: I had not been waiting. A question sentence is formed by starting with had: Had she been waiting? If emphasis is put on the duration of a concluded action of the past, since and for are signal words for past perfect progressive: ''We had been waiting at the airport since the 9 P.M. flight. / They had been waiting for three hours now. In South Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the preterite is mostly used solely in writing, for example in stories. Use in speech is regarded as snobbish and thus very uncommon. South German dialects, such as the Bavarian dialect, as well as Yiddish, and Swiss German have no preterite, but only perfect constructs. In certain regions, a few specific verbs are used in the preterite, for instance the modal verbs and the verbs haben (have) and sein (be). In speech and informal writing, the Perfekt is used (eg, Ich habe dies und das gesagt. (I said this and that)). However, in the colloquial language of North Germany, there is still a very important difference between the preterite and the perfect, and both tenses are consequently very common. The preterite is used for past actions when the focus is on the action, whilst the present perfect is used for past actions when the focus is on the present state of the subject as a result of a previous action. This corresponds to the English usage of the preterite and the present perfect. instance, has an imperfect tense of similar form to that of German but used only for past habitual contexts like "I used to...". Similar patterns extend across most languages of the Indo-European family right through to the Indic languages but also exist in non-Indo-European languages of these same regions.Semitic languages tripartite non-past/past imperfective/past perfective systems similar to those of most Indo-European languages are found, in the rest of Africa past tenses have very different forms from those found in European languages. Berber languages have only the perfective/imperfective distinction and lack a past imperfect. Many non-Bantu Niger-Congo languages of West Africa do not mark past tense at all and only have a form of perfect tense derived from a word meaning "to finish". Others, such as Ewe, distinguish only between future and non-future, comprising both present and past time frames. In complete contrast, Bantu languages such as Zulu have not only a past tense, but also a less remote proximal tense which is used for very recent past events and is never interchangeable with the ordinary past form. These languages also differ substantially from European languages in coding tense with prefixes instead of such suffixes as English -ed. Other, smaller language families of Africa follow quite regional patterns. Thus the Sudanic languages of East Africa and adjacent Afro-Asiatic families are past of the same area with inflectional past-marking that extends into Europe, whereas more westerly Nilo-Saharan languages often do not have past marking. A number of Native American languages like Northern Paiute stand in contrast to European notions of tense because they always use relative tense, which means tense relative to a reference point other than the time an utterance is made. Papuan languages of New Guinea almost always have remoteness distinctions in the past tense (though none are as elaborate as some native American languages), whilst indigenous Australian languages usually have a single past tense without remoteness distinctions. The acquisition of past tense in preschool children with specific language impairment and unaffected controls: regular and irregular forms *. Mar 01, 2003; Abstract The main aim of this study was to provide an analysis of the acquisition of past tense in preschool children with... Interpreting Dissociations between Regular and Irregular Past-Tense Morphology: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials Jun 01, 2008; Neuropsychological dissociations between regular and irregular English past-tense morphology have been reported using a lexical... Imaging the Past: Neural Activation in Frontal and Temporal Regions during Regular and Irregular Past-Tense Processing Sep 01, 2005; This article presents fMRI evidence bearing on dual-mechanism versus connectionist theories of inflectional morphology. Ten...

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Common Core Through the Eyes of a Storyteller The first time I looked at the Common Core website, I remember feeling a little bit overwhelmed. Even looking at the all the information with a very tight focus—in my case, what the standards say about reading informational books—it felt like a lot to process. It took me a little while to understand that there are ten big standards, the Anchor Standards for Reading, and that each of these standards then has grade-specific guidelines for implementation. The Anchor Standards discuss aspects of writing from an educator’s viewpoint, with educator vocabulary—and I’m a writer, not a teacher. So understanding what each Standard was asking students to do took a little processing as well. But I am coming to understand that many of the Standards address things I think about all the time as I am working on storytelling. Take Standard 2, for instance. It asks students to identify the main theme of a text, and I think about the main theme of every book I write. The theme is the big picture idea, the ‘so what?’ of every story. Why the story matters. What we can learn from it. We can enjoy reading about all of Alice Roosevelt’s antics, but the takeaway is what matters: “eating up the world.” Having a zest for life. That’s the theme. Standard 3 asks students to look at how people interact, something I thought about constantly as I tried to show the development of the relationship between Adams and Jefferson—how two total opposites could come together to work for a common purpose. Standard 4 is all about word choice and figurative language—a writer’s dream standard, if you will. Finding just the right word to express an idea is my favorite part of the job, capturing, for example, Walt Whitman’s passion for taking notes everywhere he went in his little notebooks, and how these notebooks were “fertile ground for the seeds of his poems.” Standard 5 looks at structure, and boy is that a big part of crafting a story. Every story needs a beginning, middle, and end, and especially in a picture book, the opening lines are crucial to set the story in motion and establish the promise to the reader that will be fulfilled by the story’s end. And so when we learn that Susy Clemens is “’annoyed’” that everyone is wrong about her famous father, and that she is “determined to set the record straight,” we’re launched into the story of how she does this by creating her own biography of Mark Twain—excerpts of which were eventually published for all to read. And finally, Standard 6, which asks students to think about how an author’s purpose shapes the text. This ties into everything I do when crafting a story. How do I present the facts of a person’s life in a way that illustrates my theme, shows character development, and gives a satisfying ending to the story just read? Which events, quotes, and details do I choose to include, when I’m limited by the fact that a picture book text must be short—and that every word counts. When I think about the Standards and how they apply to nonfiction books, what I understand is that the Standards will change the way that students interact with nonfiction texts. Students won’t just be reading nonfiction books to gather information. They’ll be reading books and analyzing how that information is presented. And for someone who cares deeply about storytelling, this is very good news indeed.

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Here's a snapshot of the historic figure Joe Blundo's Blog Get Email Updates Lincoln's casket in the Statehouse rotunda on April 29, 1865 Many people regard Abraham Lincoln as one of our greatest presidents. Best-known, perhaps, as the president who worked to abolish slavery in our nation, Lincoln helped keep the Union from permanently splitting during the Civil War. As we recognize Lincoln's 200th birthday on Thursday, it's a fitting time to look at the 16th president and his life. Just how much do you know about this legendary figure? Here is a sampling of interesting facts: • Lincoln was the first president born outside the original 13 states. • He had no middle name. • His paternal grandfather's name was also Abraham Lincoln. • His parents, Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, were pioneer farmers. • When possible, Abe and his sister, Sarah, were spared their chores so they could go to a log schoolhouse where they learned reading, writing and "cipherin' " (solving math problems). • As a boy, he shot a wild turkey, but the sight of the dying bird filled him with such sadness that he vowed to never hunt game again. • At 8 years old, he was big for his age and had learned to use an ax. He helped his father build their cabin in Indiana. Although he was good at plowing fields and splitting logs, he wasn't fond of manual labor. • Although Abe had less than a year of formal schooling, he craved reading and learning. He was known to walk long distances to borrow books. • He often carried a book along with his ax, and by age 11 had read The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Robinson Crusoe and A Thousand and One Arabian Nights. • At night, he read by the light of the fireplace. Like other kids of his time, he made his own arithmetic textbook, a few pages of which still exist at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. • Even as a boy, Abe showed great ability as a speaker. He often amused himself and others by imitating a preacher or politician who had spoken in the area. • Lincoln worked at a variety of jobs, including piloting a steamboat, storekeeping and surveying land. He also was a postmaster. • He was interested in new technology and is the only U.S. president to hold a patent -- for "a device for buoying vessels over shoals." It was never marketed. • As a lawyer, Lincoln "traveled the circuit" for six months each year. He loved this kind of life. The small inns where lawyers stayed had few comforts, but they offered many opportunities for meeting people. Lively talk and storytelling appealed to Lincoln. He also liked the long rides across the prairies. • Lincoln developed traits as a lawyer that made him well-known throughout Illinois. He could argue a case strongly and sometimes persuaded clients to settle their differences out of court, which meant a smaller fee, or no fee at all, for him. In court, Lincoln could present a case so that 12 jurors, often poorly educated, could understand it. He could also argue a complicated case before a well-informed judge. He prepared his cases thoroughly and was unfailingly honest. • The largest fee he ever received, $5,000, was for his successful defense of the Illinois Central Railroad in a tax case. After 1849, Lincoln's reputation grew steadily. In the 1850s, he was known as one of the leading lawyers in Illinois. • When William Berry, his business partner in a general store, died, Lincoln was liable for the debts of the partnership, about $1,100. It took him several years to pay what he jokingly called his "national debt." His integrity earned him the nickname "Honest Abe." • He wore a signature stovepipe hat in which he would stash his letters, bills and notes. • He was statuesque -- at 6 feet 4 inches, he is the tallest of the 44 U.S. presidents. • Lincoln signed a proclamation in 1863 that set the precedent for the national Thanksgiving Day we celebrate today. • One year, he used his presidential power to "pardon" a turkey that was supposed to be the White House Christmas dinner. (Each Thanksgiving, the president of the United States "pardons" a turkey, just as Lincoln did.) • Lincoln wrote most of his own letters and all of his speeches. For several hours each week, he saw everyone who chose to call. • During his years in office, he was away from the capital less than a month. • Lincoln received thousands of letters from well-wishers and critics. After issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, he received a flood of mail, mostly supporting his action. • Lincoln found some relaxation in taking carriage drives, and he enjoyed the theater. He read the works of Shakespeare and the Bible. • Lincoln visited Columbus twice: On Sept. 16, 1859, while a presidential candidate, he gave a speech at the east door of the Statehouse. A plaque there commemorates the event. And on Feb. 13, 1861, he stopped at the Statehouse on his way to Washington. While here, he received a telegram notifying him that the Electoral College had officially made him the 16th U.S. president. • A week before his death, Lincoln had a dream of someone crying in the White House. In the dream, when he found the room, he looked in and asked who had passed away. The man in the room said, "The president." When Lincoln looked in the coffin, "it was his own face he saw," his friend and bodyguard recalled. • On the night he was assassinated, Lincoln was carrying these items in his pockets: two pairs of eyeglasses, a lens polisher, a pocketknife, a linen handkerchief, a watch fob, a brown leather wallet with a $5 Confederate note, and nine newspaper clippings. • Before he was buried, Lincoln's body lay in state, viewed by thousands of mourners, under the Capitol's newly completed dome in Washington. • The nine-car funeral train left Washington on April 21, 1865, bound for Springfield, Ill., where Lincoln was entombed May 4. The train passed through Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Indiana. Mourners lined the tracks. The train made a stop in Columbus, and Lincoln's body lay in state in the Statehouse rotunda on April 29. • The horse Lincoln rode while he traveled the legal circuit, Old Bob, was brought out of retirement to lead Lincoln's funeral procession in Springfield. The horse was draped in a mourning blanket, and a pair of boots turned backward were placed in the stirrups. • As president, Lincoln had been bitterly criticized. After his death, however, even his enemies praised his kindly spirit and selflessness. Millions of people called him "Father Abraham." • He has no living descendants. His great-grandson Robert Lincoln Beckwith died in 1985, and he left no heirs. ALL THINGS LINCOLN • The Lincoln Highway, dedicated in 1913, was America's first major memorial to President Lincoln. It was the first automobile road across America and runs through northern Ohio. • The Lincoln Memorial, with its famous statue of Lincoln by Daniel Chester French, was dedicated in Washington in 1922. Carved into the walls are Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and his second inaugural address. • His likeness is on our penny and $5 bill, and he's immortalized in stone on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. • Lincoln, Neb., and many other American cities are named after him. • Lincoln Logs, the classic toy introduced in 1916, are a tribute to the president's childhood cabin. Sources: World Book Encyclopedia; Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site; Lincoln Home National Historic Site; Library of Congress (American Memory); The World Almanac for Kids; Dispatch research

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Now that I feel the kids are comfortable with each bird and what each bird means and also a strategy to handle each level of anger; we have moved on to creating our own birds. I directed the students by telling them they are allowed to create an Angry Bird of their own. The bird can represent anger or a calming technique. I was (happily) surprised by some of their responses. Some students that I thought would choose to do anger actually chose to develop a calming technique! Am I getting through to them???? Goodness, I hope so!! I found these great creative writing templates at TpT about creating our own Angry Birds. They are free for download at SmartChicks TpT store or by clicking below to read on Scribd. I use pages 1, 2, 6, 7, and 8. There are some very interesting creative writing ideas within in this document, but I used what I needed to fulfill my needs. Angry Bird Project Make Your Own New Type of Angry Bird Free Here are the birds my kiddos came up with: 1. Twister Bird: Angry Bird, His anger level is between the throwing objects bird (the white bird) and the body out of control bird (bomb bird). When this get bird gets angry he twists his body like a tornado and wipes out everything in sight. 2. Raining Bird: Angry Bird. His anger level is between cutting words (yellow bird) and throwing objects (white bird). When he gets really angry he begins to cry (rain). 3. The Luck of the Irish: Calming Bird. His calming technique is to play the flute when feeling anger. This student expressed that he likes to listen to music when he is upset, because it helps him feel better. (The name comes from something they are learning in music class and it's March, soooo....Leprechauns, Irish, you get the picture!) (In the game this bird would lull the pigs to sleep with his Irish music) 4. Steam Off: Calming Bird. His calming technique is to imagine yourself outside in the snow when you are mad. When we are mad we our temperature rises and we become very hot. If you imagine yourself in the snow then you would cool off very quickly and the heat from your body would turn to steam. LOVE!! :) (In the game this bird would freeze the birds into blocks of ice that the bird could smash) My students completed the pages in the packet to plan and create the bird. After all of the planning and writing was complete the student used whatever decorations we could find to create the birds! Hope you enjoy! Next up in this little series is the PIGS!! :) Stay tuned!

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I just finished facilitating a session that aimed to make explicit connections between technology activities and specific pedagogical theories of learning. It went okay — we struggled a bit with the challenge of speaking about pedagogy in sufficiently specific terms, in the context of technology activities. Two or three people invoked multiple pedagogical constructs for a single technology example. While this might authentically reflect the real complexity of actual classroom work, I also feel that we would benefit from at least narrowing the conversation to one pedagogical construct at a time in order to truly understand the reason for its effectiveness. Participants expressed interest by posting stickies under the session description. Here are our notes from today’s session: - Behaviorism: rewards, grades, stars, stickers, reinforcements - Cognitivism: intellectual complexity, Socratic method, programming, debating - Constructivism: building meaning based on experience, building knowledge base, socially, based, Montessori, project-based learning, not one authority - Connectivism: working in a highly connected environment, using your network, blogging, lurking on backchannel (sidebar convos, perhaps) chat - Engagement, joyful participation - Differentiated Instruction - Inquiry model, studio - Understanding by Design - Universal Design for Learning: multiple representations Internet Safety — 5th and 6th graders - Lecture, poster or comic about one safety rule - Build a web page and publish it, demonstrating that they can follow the rule - Connectivism, Understanding By Design: project is available for any student to be successful with, every student completes the task; more than constructivist, because of group work, connected to all teachers, working with and supporting each other Art/music collaboration: history of silent films, background in nonverbal communication, drama, what it takes to create a movie - students created storyboard, ideas for how they would create a silent movie - how can we make this more open to different kinds of students? break students into groups? not so product driven? Podcast project with ninth grade - vignettes, write about an experience in their lives, added music and sound effects - extraordinary podcasts in terms of writing and expression, correcting themselves as they were speaking it aloud - one kid in particular related his experience with parents getting divorced - very personal, not shared outside of the class - differentiated — being able to express themselves in a different way - kids who had decided they were not good writers - read vignettes written by other people Digital Storytelling — fifth grade - kids had a personal narrative, Macs, iMovie, Garageband - music, sounds effects, parents made up the audience - blogged and podcasted so that relatives far away and teachers could also enjoy it - behaviorism: rewarded for their work - constructivism, engagement, personal narrative - can add to story by including random elements, discussing how that impacts the story - using photos may not be easier, especially if gathering other peoples’ images - visual literacy: how are images interpreted? How do you tell a story well with images? Google Tools: teachers investigating tools themselves and thinking about how they could use them in their classrooms, present the tool to the rest of the class - larger group response and feedback to the tool - greater opportunity for creativity — more ideas about how tools could be used VoiceThread: bridging podcasts and vodcasts - focus on the up-front preparation before you get to the technical tool - could also have value to throw kids directly into the tool to explore it (e.g., Scratch) - teachers didn’t think that one would be allowed to submit a research paper as a VoiceThread - when is the purpose of the lesson exploration? (especially when it is something new). No matter how teacher-directed an activity is, learners find the opportunity to explore. - exploration is highly constructivist — building your own representation of the tool based on your toying around with it - power of exploration when there is a direction to it: e.g., “build a house” “build a bicycle”. Need to have some kind of goal, allow the time to explore, fewer projects, more time per project. - Able to accept as research once you set the bar high for product expectations Simple repetition: elementary school students record own stories and then, on their own, decide to re-record over and over in order to improve them.

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Promoting Family Literacy: Raising Ready Readers By NCLD Editorial Staff The research is clear: Children raised in homes that promote family literacy grow up to be better readers and do better in school than children raised in homes where literacy is not promoted. We know that promoting family literacy is important to future reading and school success, but does that mean parents should be prepared to read 100 books a week to their preschoolers? Of course not. While family literacy activities are often based in reading, there are lots of other ways families can conduct literacy activities at home through picture books, songs, poetry and storytelling. Family literacy is defined as home literacy activities that provide literacy skill-building opportunities for young children while enhancing literacy skill development in all members of the family. While researching family literacy you will often come across terms like, "literacy-rich homes," "family-focused reading" and the importance of building strong "home-school communication." All of these components are essential for promoting family literacy activities and raising ready readers. This month's feature will provide you with ideas for promoting family literacy in your home that go beyond reading storybooks, as well as provide you with free resources to use at home or to distribute to parents in your setting or school. Books: Key Members of Your Family One of the easiest ways to show your child the importance of reading is to make a special place to store your child's books. Assigning a place for your child's books shows your child that books are special and deserve an organized storage place all their own. Making room on a bottom shelf of the family bookcase or placing books in a drawer within your child's reach are great ways to create a home library. Parents and family members should model how to organize books on the shelf and teach children how to handle books as a way to promote ownership of the library. Have you ever flipped through a friend's photos and imagined a story to go along with them? Young children love to use their imaginations to create stories to go along with pictures. One of the earliest literacy skills children develop is the concept of sequencing, or telling a story from start to finish in order. One way to practice this skill at home is to create your own picture books, or books without words. Using photos, pictures from magazines or your child's drawings, books can be created and placed in the home library for easy access. Family members can "read" the story with the child by asking him or her to take them through the story. As the child gets older, family members should have the child dictate the story to them so they can write it down and then move on to encouraging the child to write the words themselves. Storytelling: Talking about Family History and Creating New Adventures One of the best ways to help foster family literacy in the home is to encourage all family members to engage in storytelling. Not only is storytelling a great way to share family history, it is also a great way to engage all members of the family -- especially those who are building literacy skills regardless of their age. Start by having an older member of the family tell a story about a major family event (wedding, birthday, graduation). Afterward, ask a younger member of the family to re-tell the story in his or her own words. Family members should be supportive when the child misses an important element and help the child pronounce key vocabulary words like names of relatives, locations, etc. This activity helps build vocabulary, understand sequencing and recall information. Writing Notes: Connecting Family and Friends Learning to read and learning to write go hand in hand. It is important to practice and encourage emerging writing skills with young children and those new to learning a language. One way to encourage writing practice is to have family members leave notes for one another on a regular basis. Leaving a note in a lunch box, taping a note to the mirror in the hallway or slipping a note under a pillow are great ways to reinforce the importance of writing to communicate information. Children should be encouraged to send notes at every stage of their development -- from scribbles to sentences. Another way to encourage written communication between family members is to send each other frequent e-mail messages. This is a great way to help young children keep in touch with distant relatives or friends. Working with an adult, have the child dictate or attempt to type a short message. If the child has typed the message without help, the adult can type a translation of the message underneath it. All attempts at typing and dictating should be encouraged. Engaging in a frequent email exchange with relatives and friends builds a child's letter recognition skills and provides practice organizing thoughts and ideas. Using the Library with the Whole Family Visiting the library together is a great way to foster family literacy activities. Not only do libraries often offer access to books on a wide range of literacy levels and subjects, libraries often have books in several languages as well. Adults and children can improve their literacy skills by reading books in the family's first language and then reading the same book in English. By doing this, family members will build vocabulary, the ability to use context clues to learn new words, and enable adults to ask the child questions about the illustrations and predict what will happen next. Families should also visit the library to connect with community literacy projects, storytelling, tutoring and reading clubs. Learning to love to read starts at an early age and often starts at home. If families make the effort to encourage, support and engage all aspects of literacy in their homes, children and family members will enjoy reading and writing together for the rest of their lives. Some of these tips were taken from the U.S. Department of Education's booklet, Helping Your Child Become a Reader. Visit the Department of Education's "Reading Tips for Parents" online to read and order free copies of the booklet and to get additional suggestions for building family literacy at home. Get Ready to Read! has a great Home Literacy Checklist (available in English and Spanish) that can help you or the parents you create a literacy-friendly home. Download it free today. Read Books New Ways Does it feel like you’ve read the same story 100 times? Read it a new way: Ask the child questions about what they think will happen next and encourage them to tell you what they see in the illustrations. Learn more >

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The Board of Education Criteria for Character Education (PDF) The Character Education Partnership (CEP), a nonprofit, nonpartisan and nonsectarian organization that supports and promotes social, emotional and ethical development in youth defines character education as "the deliberate effort by schools, families, and communities to help young people understand, care about, and act upon core ethical values." (1999) The Council of Chief State School Officers states that "character education holds that certain core values form the basis of 'good character,' i.e., the kinds of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that the school wants from, and is therefore committed to teach to, its children." (1997) Character Education is a national movement creating schools that foster ethical, responsible, and caring young people by modeling and teaching good character through an emphasis on universal values that we all share. It is the intentional, proactive effort by schools, districts, and states to instill in their students important core, ethical values such as respect for self and others, responsibility, integrity, and self-discipline. It provides long-term solutions that address moral, ethical, and academic issues that are of growing concern about our society and the safety of our schools. Character education may address such critical issues as student absenteeism, discipline problems, drug abuse, gang violence, teen pregnancy, and poor academic performance. Parents are the primary moral educators of their children. An effective character education program in the schools supports the home by encouraging positive character development. At its best, character education integrates positive values into every aspect of the school day. Thomas Lickona in Educating for Character (1991) states there are 9 classroom strategies and 3 school-wide strategies for an effective comprehensive approach to character education. - The teacher as caregiver, model, and ethical mentor: Treating students with love and respect, encouraging right behavior, and correcting wrongful actions. - A caring classroom community: Training students to respect and care about each other. - Moral discipline: Using rules and consequences to develop moral reasoning, self-control, and generalized respect for others. - A democratic classroom environment: Using the class meeting to engage students in shared decision making and in taking responsibility for making the classroom the best it can be. - Teaching values through the curriculum: Using the ethically rich content of academic subjects as vehicles for values teaching. - Cooperative learning: Fostering students’ ability to work with and appreciate others. - The “conscience of craft”: developing students’ sense of academic responsibility and the habit of doing their work well. - Ethical reflection: Developing the cognitive side of character through reading, research, writing, and discussion. - Conflict resolution: Teaching students how to solve conflicts. - Caring beyond the classroom: Using role models to inspire altruistic behavior and providing opportunities for school and community service. - Creating a positive moral culture in the school: Developing a caring school community that promotes the core values. - Parents and community as partners: Helping parents and the whole community join the schools in a cooperative effort to build good character. Strategies to start, evaluate and enhance your school-based character education programs: - Form a leadership group, including students, parents, teachers, counselors, and administrators. - Develop a knowledge base: Study the Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education at www.character.org - Look at your school’s Mission Statement. Does it indicate the school’s responsibility for promoting character development? - Conduct a survey that gets input from staff, students, and parents. Use the data to discover areas of strength and weakness. - Involve all staff (custodians, cafeteria workers, administrators, bus drivers, etc.) in a planning meeting. Brainstorm ways you currently promote character development and consider an additional approach to expand or enhance your focus. - Identify target virtues for your program. - Obtain feedback on how to focus or enlarge the school’s program. - Design an action plan for implementation to include evaluation points. - Hold regular meetings to evaluate and reflect on progress. - Share your school’s focus and publish activities and celebrations. - Educating for Character: A Virginia Tradition This is a series of video modules written and produced in 2004 by the Virginia Character Education Partnership. It begins with a short history of character education development within Virginia, including a discussion of the Code of Virginia, which requires character education within all schools. - Training guide and sample lesson plans (PDF) - Module 1 – Introduction & Background (MPG) - Module 2 – Why Character Education in Virginia Public Schools? (MPG) - Module 3 – What is Character Education? (MPG) - Module 4 – How Do I Begin? (MPG) - Module 5 – What Does Character Education Look Like? (MPG) - Module 6 – How Do I Integrate Character Education Into What I Am Already Doing? (MPG) - Module 7 – How Do I Know It Is Working? (MPG) - Center for the 4th and 5th R's - Character Education Partnership - Character Education and Life Skills Lessons - Character Counts - Character Development Group - Character Development & Leadership - Good Character - I Am Going To College - Peace Learning Center - Youth Leadership Initiative - National Service Learning Partnership - U.S. Department of Education, What Works Clearinghouse - Josephson Institute - Learning For Life - Virginia Rules - Wings – Helping Kids Soar

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While at IATEFL Glasgow 2012, I was lucky enough to see Khulood Al-balushi’s presentation, in which she shared various ideas for using movies with your students, as well as offering advice on how to choose suitable movies, especially important in the Kingdom of Bahrain, where she works as a Curriculum Specialist at the Ministry of Education. I asked her to share her ideas via my blog, and she agreed. Over to Khulood: How can you make your students benefit from watching movies they like ? Since movies are a rich source for language learning and they are considered to be fun and enjoyable, here are some practical ideas that you can implement to make use of movies in the English Classroom: - Make students watch a movie trailer of the movie you intend to use and present the following activity: This will help you motivate your students to watch and respond to the movie and can tell you if the movie is favored by the students. Otherwise you can look for a different movie. Watching movie clips You can make your students watch movie clips if the length of your lesson is short or if you intend to present a specific language skill such as reading, speaking, grammar or writing. The following are a few examples: - Students can watch a scene of the movie “The Cat in the Hat” and write down the process the cat uses to make cupcakes. - Students watch a scene from the movie “Volcano” and answer the following question: “What would you do if you were in this situation?” to promote critical thinking and present a lesson about natural disasters. - Ask students to watch a scene from the movie” Cast Away” and ask them to think about the following question “What would you do if you were trapped on a remote island?” (critical thinking and second conditional) - Students watch a scene from the movie “Titanic” and answer an activity that involves reading and vocabulary and promotes critical thinking by comparing the actual story and the selected scene. Click to download the activity: Titanic movie task - Students watch the movie trailer of the movie “Inkheart” and answer the following question: ” What if you had the power to bring a book to life by simply reading it aloud?” to promote speaking and critical thinking. - For creative writing and speaking, you can show your students a clip from “Spy Kids 2″ movie and ask them to imagine being in a virtual reality game and ask them to describe their game in writing and present it to their classmates. Watching full-length movies - Students watch ” Charlie and The Chocolate Factory” and answer an activity that aims at discussing characters: - Students watch the movie “Oliver” and read the book and then compare between the movie and the actual story by answering a given activity. Click to download the activity: The Movie versus the Book - Student watch a full-length movie and answer the activity sheets which are designed for two different levels. Click to download an example: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Students watch the movie “Finding Nemo” and asked to produce a creative project such as drawing, creating bookmarks, designing a puppet show, performing a play…etc. Of course, all of these activities can be modified based on your needs and your students. By: Khulood Al-balushi

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/watching-movies/

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en

three Olympic values – Friendship, Respect and Excellence – along with the four Paralympic ... suggested books and activities. For schools ..... teaching pack and series of lesson plans (KS1 and KS2). Personal Development and Mutual Understanding: Key Stage 2, Year 5. Strand 2 : Mutual .... Suitable story, for example. 'Charlotte's ..... friend which items on the list are basic needs and why. Provide ... Personal Development and Mutual Understanding: Key Stage 2, Year 5. Strand 2 : ... asked to give a personal response to, for example, a story, piece of music ... knowing how to be a good friend; and. the form of a summary of outcomes (including quotes from the boys interviewed) ... It is someone who is a critical friend. of conflict – sectarian; racist and family; war and friendship – key stage 2/3. Reid Banks, Lynne, Broken Bridge (New ... maintaining identity; adoption; parent/child relationships – key stage 2/3. Carville, D & Roisin .... their friendship in spite of the odds against a background of economic hardship – key stage 2/3. Piers H ... Key Stage 2. Croydon Agreed ... Through the use of story, video, artefacts and visits, pupils .... Muslim friend can eat it. The king made sure that all Siddattha's friends were young and healthy. No-one was ever allowed to look sad or ill ... for Key Stage 2 ... BEN: Maybe. What are some differences between a play and a story? .... What about their friends? INSPIRING CREATIVE WRITING AT KEY STAGE 2 ... structure stories by following a strand of Shakespeare's plot ... arguing with her father, and her story also deals with relationships and friendship. Ref: Children's Reading Book List KS2 Y5 (9-10yrs).doc ... Just So Stories, The Jungle Book ... Secrets. Best Friends. forgive us when we see one of our friends hurting, but do nothing to help. Jesus, may your story be our story. Article 18: ... Discovery Zone Curriculum Links at KS2. 11 .... stories and secondary ..... Jan - John Lennon asks his friend, Stuart. and the selection of Buddhist stories to illustrate the Dharma and Precepts ... Buddhism Key Stage 2 is accompanied by a Teacher's ...... ferences, they were good friends and always found things. KS2 Poems concerning growing from birth to adulthood. ... Loneliness can make you aggressive, but friendships can start in strange ways. ... KS1 Non fiction through stories to demonstrate bravery. story this project would not have been possible. ... This KS2 pack is an additional resource and compliments. Crossing the White ..... friend. Can I say more! Except that I hope that those who remain may. This unit aims to promote friendship and belonging through activities ... story scenarios, and the activities are designed ... Key Stage 2 ... The programme also features a story about two cousins who don't always see eye ... Composing poems. A powerful story of friendship across generations, species and abilities. KS1/2 ( JP) Relationships. Foreman, M. considering the meanings of stories, symbols and language for members of faith communities ... demonstrate by the end of Key Stage 2. ..... (e.g. Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, Theravada,.

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.mybookezzz.org/friendship-stories-for-ks2/

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en

The first thinkers in the arts, literature, drama and poetry were the Greeks. They generated the first analysis of art performed, and elaborated the first qualitative distinctions for it. The two greatest thinkers of the arts in the Greek world were Aristotle and Socrates. Aristotle said that art is mimesis, i.e. a copy of reality. Making words, drawings, paintings and others are simply means of the imitation of reality, and that the beauty in art lies in the mimesis of nature. In contrast, we find Socrates, who argues that the beauty of art lies not in mimesis, but the ability to make us think and meditate. As the arts must submit a thesis and reflect a problem appealing to our reality. We might understand the thesis of Socrates as opposed to Aristotle, but on the contrary, both must be understood as complementary. Aristotle gives us the way we produce art, and Socrates gives us a sense in which we produce art. Today we do not speak of mimesis, but subtraction, subtract and rearrange elements of our paradigm for the creation of the arts. We cannot create anything new, and what we create as artists is simply what we know. Making a story of an unknown emotion is impossible for our minds, for we can only subtract and dissect the emotion. But, if we align it too, the emotion ends up being misunderstood, so it would have failed according to the thesis of Socrates. In drama, our work is similar. We operate around the abduction and seek the nomination of thesis, but unlike a painting or a sculpture, our narrative approach is the action of characters and the conflict against them. That is why the characters are one of the most important elements in the drama, they are the vehicles of history and those who defend our thesis. We understand that the character of every fictional being from a story, fable, tale, or novel has a conscious and personality inside the story. Even if they come from reality, there are still fictional characters because they mimic the real character. The author has to make the character independent from his or her ideas, to refrain from sharing information that may mistakenly change the character’s identity. Classifications of the Character The characters are divided into different types, which we will see three classifications: classification according to role, development, and objective. Classification According to Roles The classic typology of characters that we were taught in school, are the characters by role. Among these are: “It represents one of the forces in the play, and that is in conflict.”<1> “It represents the force opposing the protagonist.”<1> “They do not represent any conflicting forces, but if they support one of the two.”<1> “Individual characters that represent a collective.”<1> “Incarnation of abstractions.”<1> The protagonist and antagonist, originally called Hero and Villain, are the most important characters in the story, the protagonist being the action force of the play and who struggle against the opposing forces. And the antagonist, who uses Machiavellian mean of moving the opposing forces against the protagonist. An antagonist may not be a character, and there can only be one antagonistic force in the story. Classification by Development Inside the classification of character development we can see there are two types, the linear characters and the circular characters. The linear characters are those described by a basic feature and that behave the same way throughout the story.<2> The linear characters only have a few personality traits and are simpler and less credible.<3> A linear character is Rorschach, who never sacrificed his principles, as he says, even at Armageddon day. Who say`s that only circular characters are interesting? The circular characters are those that are characterized as the action takes place, evolving naturally throughout the story.<2> The former are designed with many features of personality and tend to be complex, more realistic and credible.<3> A circular character would be Scott Pilgrim, who is oblivious against his own evil and bad deeds, only to face the true and acknowledge his evil as his good, changing his way of thinking and doing, so he can achieve his goal. Classification According to Objective/Goal When it comes to objectives or needs, characters are divided into two sections: those with objectives and those with no purpose. The characters with objectives are those who want something; they are the classic heroes who face adversity with a specific goal or the anti-heroes who are bent by circumstance. While aimless characters are more complex, since they have no goals and should use other characters or action that over come the character to maintain interest and the end approach of the thesis. A character that falls into this more complex classification is Gustav Klimt played by John Malkovich in the film Klimt, where the character has no goal or purpose and the events over come his own actions. We will focus on the characters with goals, as they are focusing on the central conflict of action, which is the classic spinal of comics and video games. If you want to write a story for a video game I recommend you to focus on the characters with goals, because video games are based on action and reaction according to reasons, so a story with a character with no goal runs counter to that concept. There are games like Minecraft, that have been able to clear the objective of the character, but not the objective of the player. So far, we have seen how the characters are classified into the narration and our minds. However, a big question remains in the air about the characters: how do we create a character? So now we will go into different authors and visions of how to make a character. The explorations around the problem of building the character are oriented around two poles: Essentialist view of the character: created in a container of attributes or quality, being completed by a set of essences and data. By analog, it is like a character role, in which he/she fills a set of attributes to understand who he/she is.<4> Dynamic view of character: understood as a set of activities, changes in a unified representation that makes sense and provides meaning to the extent that it represents an action. That is, the character is what the character does.<4> Some authors suggest that a character must have the following features: The character’s name. A one-sentence summary of the character’s storyline. The character’s motivation (what does he/she want abstractly?) The character’s goal (what does he/she want concretely?) The character’s conflict (what prevents him/her from reaching this goal?). The character’s epiphany (what will he/she learn, how will he/she change? A one-paragraph summary of the character’s storyline.<5> Some of those are extremely important, as the goal, conflict and motivation, but others might not be important for you, like the epiphany, and others you might want to go deeper, like the character’s storyline. A leading author those who are interested in writing should read is Lajos Egri. In his book The Art of Dramatic Writing, he writes about the theoretical and methodological foundations of how we writers create drama and create stories in a deep and educational way. Lajos Egri shows that because things have 3-dimensions, so must a character, which in the case of the characters they are: physiology, sociology and psychology. But these dimensions need a “why”; an atheist character is nothing without a reason for his position. Lajos Egri sit us in the first vision, the essentialist vision, where before we can write, first we must know who our characters are. For when the story is told, the actions of the characters will be the reaffirmation of its principles and so it’s an idea planted by the author in the middle of the action.<6> But the character does not come to body and life in a prior space to writing, as this has a life only within the narrative. Thus the question arises, how do we go from this fictional individual to a narrative individual? That is why we now go into the art of storytelling. An important and timeless writer is Miguel de Cervantes, who made his mark in history with Don Quixote, a work that has been brought to life not only on paper but also in theater and in film with a failed attempt (Man of La Mancha was about trying to make film adaptation that failed). Cervantes built his characters through how they are defined (archetypes), their acts, and by how other characters define and judge them. Moreover, the narrator provides descriptions of physical and moral qualities of these characters and tells their actions.<3> When we work on comics, our storytelling system is not as different as the one in which M. de Cervantes used. The display in each panel is equal to telling the actions or describing features, moments, dialogues and the thoughts of the characters. They are judgments that work in building the narration of who the character is. So every time we write a script, we need to think like Cervantes, giving an image of the moment and characters supported by dialogues and thoughts. 6. The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri The Poetics by Aristotle

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CC-MAIN-2013-48

http://www.mangatutorials.com/2011/guide-for-the-beginning-storyteller-part-1-introduction-character/

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en