Probable Passage

I used this technique with a copyright class I taught yesterday. I had been trying to find something to help the students realize copyright was a legitimate concern - not just something else adults used to harass them! I found a great article on NPR about DJ Danger Mouse, a rapper who had mixed some music from the Beatles White Album with some music from The Black Album by Jay-Z. (To be honest, I had never heard of DJ Danger Mouse or Jay-Z!) http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1722774

Then I found the transcript by using PowerSearch in Discus. ("Profile" DJ Danger Mouse's 'The Grey Album' mixes Jay-Z and The Beatles.") I then selected 20 words and phrases that were important in the article and had the students arrange them into categories. I decided to let them decide on their own categories. Most did really well! My favorite was the group that put William Shakespeare in with some of the legal terms because "he sounded like a lawyer!"

I passed out the transcripts and played the audio file from NPR - a read aloud with someone else doing the reading! The students really seemed to like it - maybe because it had music embedded in the audiocast.

This particular article was rather lengthy, (1415 words) but all of the students seemed to be listening to the entire broadcast. I suspect that the pre-reading activity had a lot to do with that! Thanks to Nicole and RAISSE!

Choral Reading

I have tried Choral Reading with my ninth grade students and was surprised at the results. It actually went very well. I read the passage first to them and then they read it aloud as a class. They read the passage two times and improved their rate and accuracy with the second reading. I do this activity about three times per week. I don't recommend this with a large group of students. I only have five in that class.

The Scarecrow's Formula

Using movie excerpts is an excellent strategy for hooking students and getting them focused on a particular lesson. I plan to use a movie excerpt to introduce the Pythagorean Theorem to my Geometry classes. We all know that the Scarecrow went to see the wizard to ask him for some brains in the MGM's 1939 version of The Wizard of Oz. After having made the long and perilous journey, the great and powerful OZ bestowed upon the scarecrow a diploma with an honorary degree of Th.D., i.e. Doctor of Thinkology. Once the scarecrow received his "brains" he immediately tried to impress his friends by reciting the mathmatical equation, "The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side". The sounds very familiar to the Pythagorean Theorem in mathmatics. However, the Scarecrow's Formula is incorrect. Showing the movie clip to the students would lead into a discovery lesson on "The Validity of the Scarecrow's Formula" versus "The Validity of the Pythagorean Theorem". This is still a work in progress. I will keep you posted on how it turns out.

THE GREAT FLOOD WEB QUEST

To introduce evolution to my students I read a short children’s book about the great flood. I asked each student to come up with a hypothesis as to why there are great flood stories in so many cultures and to discuss their ideas with their lab group. The students were then asked to find evidence of a 7,000 year old great flood through a web search. They were given 45 minutes to find 5 articles about documented floods and to write five facts from each article. They were asked to decide if the great flood did occur. If so was there enough evidence available to design an experiment to prove that the great flood did occur throughout the earth. This discussion was added to the bottom of their web quest. These students will be asked to do the same thing with fossil evidence to prove evolution.There was lots of lively discussion and interaction as students worked on this assignment.

"Rithmatic" and the other "Rs" too

As I was reading an educational journal, an article on fractions and algebra caught my eye. Lots of good points about how hard it is to learn these two topics and as they addressed fractions, I actually think that they may not want us to teach fractions and just hand kids the calculator. I was shocked, and dismayed, but one statement did make up for the disappoint I felt with the writers opinion: "For mathematics to make sense to students as something other than a purely mental exercise, teachers need to focus on the interplay of numbers and words, especially on expressing quantitative relationships in meaningful sentences. For users of mathematics, calculation takes a backseat to meaning. And to make mathematics meaningful, the three R's must be well blended in each student's mind." I absolutely, do not want to dummy down the curriculum to accomadate those that cannot understand fractions, but I did agree with this part of the discussion and how I can better address the issue of "numbers and words". I may address the algebra part of the article in a later blog.

Don't Forget To Have Some Fun

Hey Gang,
I will say a little prayer for you that the presentation goes well, but know it won't all be work down in the "Holy City". Lotsa great food and music down there....make sure to enjoy yourselves a bit! Right now I'm sitting in the DO writing questions for the upcoming test on waves. Who is having more fun right now? My money is on you!

Looking forward to this Weekend

Hey, guys, here's something you can all look forward to. Your 7 RAISSE leaders are off to Charleston this weekend to learn new things and meet authors and other literacy leaders from across the state. I am sure that we will come back to our schools with even more wonderful strategies to share and even more exciting, more great books or ideas for books you can use in your library, as read alouds, or as class sets.

Say a little prayer for us, too, as we will be presenting on Monday at the conference. We will try to represent all of you well. :)

Problems with the Blog ???

Hi, Everyone

I've been receiving comments that the blog is "not working" for some folks. I don't know what that means unless I receive individual emails with specific problem descriptions and contact info. from these folks. For those of you who are not having problems, please, share my email address: debruhlt@gwm.sc.edu with the folks who are having problems. I need to know what their specific problem is to see if I can assist them.

This is my first blog that I've set up that people are continuing to use. I'm a bit of a newbie, too, but I'm pretty good at problem solving.

Thanks...
And, I am glad to see that a lot of you are blogging on.

Happy Holidays!
Teri DeBruhl

Clubbing

I am using book clubs with my English II Holocaust Unit. The students have been given a choice in their reading selection between Maus I, The Diary of a Young Girl, and Night. Each group member is responsible for a certain role to prepare for the next scheduled book club. I am giving students time in class, on days we do not have book club meetings, to read for an allotted time. I will keep you posted on how this goes! Wish me strength and patience. *smile*

Current Events

Working in a computer lab allows me to use technology everyday. One of the opportunities I have in a computer lab is the access to the Internet. Once a week I have students find current events and summarize these articles. I will ask if anyone read something they would like to discuss and then ask a few other students to share. The emphasis is on the ability to summarize what they have read. This skill of summarizing helps with note taking.