Digital Board on Prejudice

At the conclusion of our unit on prejudice in literature, 9th grade English students can access the Discovery Ed Board on Contemporary Prejudice to begin analyzing how discrimination manifests in current society, including how to prevent prejudice. After reading literature set during the 1930’s (To Kill a Mockingbird) and 1960’s (The Secret Life of Bees), students should look to their own lives, opinions, belief systems, and society to critically examine contemporary prejudices in order to work to prevent them. Gardner writes that: “The task for educators becomes clear: if we are to fashion persons who respect differences, we need to provide models and offer lessons that encourage such a sympathetic stance” (Gardner, 2008, p. 110). Students should read powerful literature including the importance of respecting differences, but also move that respect into their own lives and their own interactions with others.

Additionally, pushing students to view their entire society with a more critical eye in order to make positive changes in the future helps them become better thinkers and citizens. Gardner adds that: “The estrangement of young people from the political system, particularly in the United States, is well document. Many do not vote; few see themselves as becoming involved in politics. This estrangement may or may not be equated with a lack of citizenship” (Gardner, 2008, p. 134). In order to inspire students towards a compulsion for action in politics and social justice, teachers need to teach students how to advocate for themselves and others about equality and rights.

After reading the literature and discussing the past, students would benefit from questioning their own biases and prejudices while learning about existing discrimination in society. Many students assume, because they understand that the antagonists in literature act immorally, that they themselves are immune from prejudices. After reading articles and research about contemporary prejudice and the state of discrimination in America, they should work to treat others with equal respect and create a society that does so as well. By opening up the dialogue about prejudice, respect, equality, and ethics, teachers and students can together work to improve society.

The Discovery Board about Contemporary Prejudice can be accessed HERE. 

 

References:

Gardner, H. (2008). Five minds for the future. Harvard Business Press.

Five Minds Vlog

Watch my video blog to hear my thoughts about incorporating Gardner’s Five Minds into a high school English classroom!

Watch the video here.

 

Teaching Respect and Ethics

The introduction of more digital tools in the classroom has both widened and shrank the scope of each individual student’s world view. Depending on how technology is used, students can use it to reinforce their own existing world views either by refraining from finding the opinions of others, or by seeking out only those which reinforce their own viewpoints. However, technology can also be used to broaden students’ perspectives and open their views to cultures, people, situations, ideas, and beliefs much wider, richer, and varied from their own. This process improves respect, empathy, and thus ethics. Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis explore opportunities to broaden students’ minds using what they call ‘flat earth projects.’ These projects occur when teachers “bring the world to your classroom and your classroom out to the world” (Future of Education, 2014). This can occur within one classroom, between classrooms within a school, or amongst classrooms around the world.

Within a classroom, teachers can introduce literature which discusses previously un-championed viewpoints and ideologies. For example, one unit in my 9^th grade curriculum uses To Kill a Mockingbird and The Secret Life of Bees for literature circles to explore the feelings of prejudice, bias, and hatred. Students take turns leading discussions about the obstacles the characters face and their ability to relate or be challenged by the stories. Good conversation built upon respect and empathy further empowers both parties to understand the situation more fully and from more perspectives, which is beneficial whether or not any one changes her mind. In the worst cases, students and groups should be “moving from hatred to tolerance and, ultimately, to respect (Gardner, 2008, p. 124), such as through literature which “encompass[es] instances of racial and ethnic conflict from various corners of the globe” (Gardner, 2008, p. 116). By reading literature where characters from different cultures or social groups clash, and then discussing the cause, implications, and effects of these clashes, students in my English classes can begin to see the benefits of being more respectful and open-minded from the beginning.

This past semester I introduced a new project to broaden my students’ minds a little bit, and I could do so even more by inviting other 9^th grade classrooms to participate in the assignment with us. I asked students to choose a short story written by an author from a different country and then make inferences about the author’s culture based on the fiction. Afterwards, the students used databases to research the true culture of their chosen countries and explain the difference of their understanding to their peers. Students in other classrooms could read the same stories and hold a conversation (whether virtual or in person) to explore the new beliefs introduced in the story, and/or research new countries that students in my classroom did not get a chance to read about.

Another way to teach more respectful and empathetic conversations is to take on a ‘flat earth project.’ Lindsay and Davis explain how, “Many educators mistakenly view global collaboration as an extra but visionary educators realize that global collaboration is not a curriculum topic but an approach to pedagogy” (Future of Education, 2014). Inviting students from other cultures to participate in my own classroom will allow my students to learn about other cultures and ideally converse with dissimilar students respectfully. One way I could do this in my classroom is to find another classroom where students are asked to write memoirs, true short stories about a significant event in their lives, and then have my students peer-edit a rough draft with these other students. They could discuss the dialogue and word choice while also learning about the lives of people around the world. In their book about flat earth projects, Lindsay and Davis often repeat, “you can’t have a world class education without the world,” but students can do so while also practicing content (Future of Education, 2014). By inviting students to open conversations and then learn from and with each other, each independent life will be improved, and they will enter the world as more empathetic citizens.

 

References:

Future of Education. (January 16^th, 2014). Julie Lindsay & Vicki Davis on “Flattening Classrooms” Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVZuwIhjQvA

Gardner, H. (2008). Five minds for the future. Harvard Business Press.

Spotlight on Strategies: Collaborative Graphic Organizers

Teenagers spend more and more of their time communicating, sharing, collaborating, and critiquing online. They like getting and giving immediate feedback, and online tools exist to help students do just that in the classroom as well. By utilizing collaborative digital graphic organizers, students can share ideas and get and give feedback as they explore the content in real time. The Research Center notes that, “as of September 2009, 73% of online American teens ages 12 to 17 used an online social network website,” “38% of internet-using teens say they shared content online in 2009” (Lenhart et al, 2010, p.5).  Often, this time on social media is spent finding, sharing, commenting on, and evaluating visual images and videos. For example, “[t]wo-in-five American teens (41%) use Snapchat to share images and videos” (Lenhart & Page, 2015, p. 30). Individuals send images or videos and then get responses from their friends. When students can practicing content and critical thinking skills such as analysis while also pairing their thoughts with visual representations of the ideas, they will be more engaged in the activities and enjoy practicing the content even more. Students can comment on each others’ posts and see other ideas of how to analyze or find examples of the content, including figurative language in an English classroom.

By asking students to find and analyze the effect of figurative language from a novel they are reading such as To Kill a Mockingbird and The Secret Life of Bees, they can begin to understand how and why authors make purposeful decisions regarding language and diction. They can see how the difference aspects of literature work together such as how the figurative language affects the mood and characterization. Because the nature of figurative language often involves imagery and visualization, students can also find appropriate representations of the quotes to pair with the quotes and their analysis. When posting on a collaborative graphic organizer, all the students reading the same book can see multiple examples of figurative language and then work to critique valid analyses from their peers as well.

The students can spend their time working online to share pictures and ideas all while improving their understanding of language, author’s style, figurative language, critical thinking, and analysis. For more specific examples, look at my Collaborative Graphic Organizers Spotlight on Strategy here!

References:

Lenhart, A, and Page, D. (2015, April 9). Teens, social media & technology overview 2015: Smartphones facilitate shifts in communication landscape for teens. Pew Research Center: Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping the World. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/files/2015/04/PI_TeensandTech_Update2015_0409151.pdf

Lenhart, A., Purcell, K., Smith, A., & Zickuhr, K. (2010, Feb. 3). Social media and young adults. Pew Research Center: Internet & Technology. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2010/02/03/social-media-and-young-adults/

Interview on Creativity

Background

In an interview with three 9^th graders during a study hall in Lancaster County, PA, these students shared their current thoughts regarding the use of creativity in schools. I basically used the suggested prompts, although I think that if I had asked more questions they may have elaborated further. Student One is a male 9^th grade student I have in study hall and in class. He loves the playing computer games more than anything else. Student Two is a female 9^th grade student I have in study hall and in class who is from South Africa, and only moved to the United States a few years ago. Student Three is a female 9^th grade student I only have in study hall now, but will have in class in the spring. The students did not share many ideas after my initial questions, and required more prompting to explain their thoughts on creativity, written below.

Interview

When asked what they value about their ability to be creative in class, they responded:

Student One) “Our ability to use laptops.”

Student Two) “Being able to express myself and come up with my own ideas.”

Student Three) “Working on projects or going on fieldtrips. It’s less boring.”

 

When asked what they wish they teachers would do to improve their ability to be creative, they responded:

Student One) “Be less strict.”

Student Two) “Don’t restrict our ideas or what we can do. Be more open-ended so we can have our own thoughts.”

Student Three) “Less computer time and more work on paper.”

 

When asked what digital tools they thought would help them be more creative, or what else they wished they could utilize or create online, they responded:

Student One) “If we could choose our own classes. I signed up for Spanish but was given German.”

Student Two) “Allow us to work independently. I know that working in a group will help us in the long run, but I like working alone.”

Student Three) “Unblock websites. Sometimes my teacher tells us to go online but it’s blocked. Even YouTube videos are blocked.”

 

Reflection

Overall, the students expressed a desire for more student choice and more freedoms to express themselves in class. It seems like their teachers are assigning specific prompts, webquests, or assignments that simply test their ability to follow directions. In order to allow them more creativity and engaging in class, we should be offering more choices about how to satisfy requirements, more choices about the resources offered (and make sure they work for students), and overall try to make the students feel like they have more responsibility and control over their own learning and time in school. Instead of assignment a movie project where all students follow a similar storyline, they choose a genre and work from there organically. I have often felt that when I students too many choices, or too many resources, they feel overwhelmed. If I assign an essay with no prompt or direction, many don’t even know where to begin. However, that doesn’t mean that all students want to use a single prompt, or even express their ideas in the same format. For example, it is also not fair to mandate that every assignment be a virtual one when some students prefer working with other mediums. Instead, I need to balance giving them direction and making sure they learn and demonstrate their learning with their own ability to come up with creative ideas that fit a more general requirement. Providing more choice and autonomy will help my students feel that our time in class is more authentic and meaningful.

 

Creativity in High School English

If a school’s main objective is to teach students to perform well on standardized tests, then it most likely does not champion independent and creative thinking. For students to answer standard questions correctly, they need to follow predetermined methods of inquiry and present those regurgitated ideas in written form. However, Ken Robinson, in his historic TED Talk on creativity, adds that, “it’s education that’s meant to take us into this future that we can’t grasp,” and thus, “we start to reconstitute our conception of the richness of human capacity” (2007). Being able to memorize facts or say the answer someone wants to hear will not help our citizens to design unique solutions to the never before seen problems of our future society. Instead, students need to experience a variety of methods of thinking, of expression, and of originality that will more probably help us to grow and thrive as society. Finally, Robinson also adds that: “My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status,” so teachers must foster creativity as carefully and purposefully as any other subject (2007). In my own English classroom, I can motivate my 9^th grade students to improve their creative skills by teaching them to create digital projects such as movies, websites, and blogs; to allow them the freedom to decide how to use online resources; to synthesis diverse media through pairing written, visual, and oral communication; and to collaborate effectively with a range of peers.

One of the most useful ways I can teach my students to enrich their creative skills is to help them create new digital media through movies, websites, and blogs. My students create and upkeep a blog where I ask them to post their thoughts at least once a week. They must design the template, widgets, and individual posts by combining a variety of digital media on a chosen topic. Additionally, in a unit requiring students to research, write clearly, and communicate specific messages, I ask them to create a unique website where they design the pages and write all of the content while references other sources. Finally, the movies my students make push their boundaries the most, but they inspire me and their peers to keep working hard at the difficult project. Robinson remarks on this with, “And the only way we’ll do it is by seeing our creative capacities for the richness they are and seeing our children for the hope that they are” (Robinson, 2007). So instead of pushing the students to create something for simple shock value (“Sheer novelty itself is often honored, though perhaps more in the short run over the long haul” (Gardner, 2009, p. )), they practice and then reflect on the creation of an entertaining and meaningful original video based on a novel they read independently. I do the project once per marking period, and reward the students who learn from their mistakes when trying new methods. By watching and discussing the videos, they students were “fully ready to risk failure time and gain in return for the opportunity to make another, different mark” with the next movie (Gardener, 2009, p. 83). Finally, I have my 9^th graders write original short stories towards the end of the semester to demonstrate their understanding of all literary elements and devices, as well as let them stretch their own creative muscles. These projects allow me to specifically teach and provide feedback about creativity.

Another more subtle way to allow creativity in my English classroom is to provide choice to my students in regards to their research and available resources. The Speak Up research states that, “Students see the Internet and the resources available to them in the world as a giant learning sandbox which they can explore at their own pace and in their own time” (Speak up, 2010 p. 8). So, by pointing students in the right direction and teaching them out to search intelligently, efficiently, and safely, the students themselves and play around with how they find, use, and present their findings. Learning centers and interactive presentations with a plethora of available sources such as through Nearpod, Prezi, Googlesites, and Educlipper, can allow students to play around with how they access, synthesize, and share ideas, including what ideas they choose to argue or discuss in class.

This method is an easy way to introduce more synthesis in the curriculum, but students can also practice synthesis in an English classroom by combining visual, written, and oral communication in new ways. Ken Robinson explains that, “We think about the world in all the ways that we experience it. We think visually, we think in sound, we think kinesthetically. We think in abstract terms, we think in movement. Secondly, intelligence is dynamic” (Robinson, 2007). So, students should reflect their various methods of thinking in school, especially through original synthesis. They can combine an image with a quote or example from the text, they can pair songs thematically with their readings or discussions, and the students themselves, when give the opportunity, can decide their own methods of synthesis such as through movement in acting or frozen scenes. Robinson also adds that, “Truthfully, what happens is, as children grow up, we start to educate them progressively from the waist up. And then we focus on their heads. And slightly to one side” (Robinson, 2007). So by allowing students to use their other intelligences and skills in my classroom, they are expressing themselves and engaging the material more authentically and more creatively.

Finally, students can improve their creativity through combining and assessing ideas through collaboration. Gardner explains that, “Some problems are handled better by a small group of individuals who know one another well and who work together regularly over a long period of time” (Gardner, 2009, p. 94). By working with groups, both long term and short term, chosen by both the students themselves and arranged by myself, the students will hear more diverse ways of thinking and will be able to build upon the ideas of others. By cowriting, creating, synthesizing, and problem solving, the students will learn how to listen to the ideas of others and assess them critically while respectfully providing their own ideas and receiving truthful feedback. For example, the students can discuss portions of a novel each day in groups while building upon each others’ analysis in literature circles. Using the combination of ideas, personalities, and backgrounds can provide a richer learning experience and more creative expression in class.

Teaching my students to improve their creative skills in 9^th grade English through the creation of projects, choice of sources, synthesis of media, and collaboration of ideas, will not only better engage them in the content, but better prepare them to face the real world. Practice with creativity and help the students to become creative adults and citizens, thus adding flair and courage to an otherwise standardized future.

References:

Gardner, H. (2009). Five minds for the future. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.

Robinson, K. (2007, January 06). Do schools kill creativity? | TED. Retrieved November 13, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

Speak up 2009. (2010, March). Creating our future: Students speak up about their vision for 21st century learning. Project Tomorrow. Retrieved November 13, 2017, from http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs/SU09NationalFindingsStudents&Parents.pdf

Synthesizing Romeo and Juliet

When preparing my students to read William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, I have previously assigned each student a topic via a slide in a class Google Slide presentation and then asked them to summarize the information and do a gallery walk to share out. By linking all of the information in an eduClipboard, the students can look through it at their own pace and make the connections between background information organically. They can go back during the acts to look over the information as it becomes pertinent, check the character chart, or watch parts of the play after we read them.

Link to the Romeo and Juliet eduClipBoard

Media Infused Presentation

When preparing my students for a literature circle novel unit based on The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, I can utilize these media-infused presentations to help them understand the eras and situations in which the stories are based. The students choose one of the two novels to read during the unit, so they will only need to experience the related Nearpod below. They will sit with a chosen partner during class to go through and discuss the material. If they do not finish during class, they must finish for homework. This resource will allow my students to develop more refined English and social sciences discipline, as well as improve their ability to synthesis the past and present through causal relationships, critical thinking, art, music, religion, and more. Howard Gardner explains in his book, 5 Minds for the Future, that “[t]he most common form of synthesis is the narrative- a form accessible to almost everyone. Powerful images, and metaphors are always welcome” (Gardner, 2008, p. 53).  By introducing this level of digital synthesis through nonfiction, art, music, stories, speeches, and other topics even before reading the narrative, the students should be able to heighten their synthetic abilities during the  reading of the novel by connecting the fictional events to true historical ones.

Historically, I utilized this information in a more traditional webquest format with students in groups following given links to answered specific questions about the information. By having all of the students experience all of the information, but in a more general and philosophical manner (what is your opinion on the morality of censorship as opposed to where in the top banned book list lies To Kill a Mockingbird, as I have used in the past), they will better be able to synthesize the diverse information given to make judgments about humanity and history in a disciplined manner. As Howard Gardner notes, “[a]n individual is disciplined to the extent that she has acquired the habits that allow her to make steady and essentially unending progress in the mastery of a skill, craft, or body of knowledge” (Gardner, 2008, p. 40). By practicing thinking more critically about how the past shapes the present, and how individuals’ backgrounds shape their current perspectives about the world, my students should be able to be more critical about causal relationships and perspective’s in their own lives.

Additionally, these emphasis on the background of the novel will help the students think more critically regarding the relationship between literary elements such as how the setting affects the conflicts, and how the point of view affects the tone and mood which they will be asked to reflect on and argue for a chosen claim using evidence from the text. Additionally, this understanding of the context will enrich their in-class, student-led discussions regarding the plot, characterization, choices, and even reader response throughout each chapter. The students will be able to ask and answer more challenging and interesting questions about the characters’ choices and mindsets before jumping to condemn or celebrate the actions without considering the time period and context.

Hopefully, the students will be able to extrapolate themes and lessons from these novels and the history upon which they are based to better face modern-day challenges and view contemporary society in a more enlightened and critical way.

The Secret Life of Bees Nearpod

To Kill a Mockingbird Nearpod

 

Reference:
Gardner, H. (2008). Five minds for the future. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.

Digital Media Writing Prompt

At the beginning of a Long Fiction Unit based on the fiction novel, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, I could begin activating my students’ prior knowledge with an image writing prompt, below. The students would be asked to consider what they already know about the Civil Rights Movement and the 1960’s and then use that knowledge to reflect on what situation could be embodied in the image. Students would anonymously submit their ideas through an interactive presentation such as Nearpod, and then the teacher could share out the ideas presented in order to segue to learning about the background of the 1960’s through a webquest, videos, and other background information useful to understanding the plot and conflict of the novel.