first day.

tomorrow=first day of school=SCAAAAARY.

we finally made it to the first day. and i am scared senseless by the though of actually having students in my classroom. for the first time, EVER, they'll be MY students.

i have a homeroom, and three other classes besides them. we'll be meeting twice a day. learning together. working together. i hope.

i know that the first day and the first week set the tone for the rest of the school year. i've been reading The First Days of School all this past week, trying to prepare myself as much as possible.

i've got some pretty good icebreakers lined up, so it's not all business up front. i want us to get comfortable with each other. i just hope it goes well.

PLEASE OH PLEASE let it go well.

attention: english teachers!

check out THIS WEBSITE right now!

i'm going to steal so much stuff from it. yay!

just for fun.

some fun examples of figurative language.

i know what you're thinking: FUN? figurative language?? HA!

but you're wrong, because it's totally fun.

my first year of teaching starts in just a few short weeks. i haven't hit panic mode yet, but i'm sure it's on the horizon. for the past couple of weeks i've been scouring the shelves of the library i'm currently working at, grabbing as many reading and writing theory/lesson plan idea books i can find, and killing many trees in my effort to copy all of the good stuff i find. and i'm finding a LOT of good stuff, which is comforting.

with all the ideas i have sitting in binders around my bedroom right now, i'm confident that i'll never run out of activities to do with the kids. especially since i want to set aside at least 15 minutes three times a week for DEAR (Drop Everything and Read!) or SSR (Sustained Silent Reading).

my goal for this weekend is to get the first couple of days hammered out. the first two days are going to be all about getting to know each other and creating a comfortable classroom climate. (say THAT three times fast!)

then, i think we're going to jump into some short stories.

my cooperating teacher i worked with all last year started her school year off with short stories, because she felt they were a rich (but easier) way to help students see the structural patterns that are inherent in stories. also, short stories are just plain awesome. there are some amazing ones out there.

it's also a great way to introduce some figurative language! which leads me back to my current post topic.

i feel like when it comes to explaining figurative language, examples do it best. words definitions are just confusing, for both me and the kids.

and even though there is a cornucopia of examples in any piece of literature we might read, i love VISUAL examples the best. and there are really no better visual examples than the ones found in comics. so, today i took a look at the past month's strips for my very favorite comic, Pears Before Swine. Stephen Pastis, the cartoonist responsible for Pearls, has a great style. it's dark, a little silly, but most importantly, he uses TONS of figurative language in his work. i've already used a couple of his strips in my IRONY lesson plan.

here are a few of the examples i found just looking at strips from July 2010:

ALLUSION

PERSONIFICATION

SATIRE

updates!

i realize i've been a pretty lousy blogger, lately.

but hey! it's summer, for crying out loud! not a whole lot of teaching going on at the moment, especially for a newbie like me.

however, i did manage to land myself a teaching position for this upcoming school year!

that's right, ladies and gentleman. you're friendly neighborhood student teacher is finally coming into her own.

i'll be teaching middle school english at the Harmony School of Science, a public charter school.

i know what you're thinking. middle school! *involuntary shiver. but beggars can't be choosers, and i think this might be a nice way to start out in the profession, regardless of the hormones that will be no doubt be running rampant at the school. it's a nice, small school. somewhere along the size i grew up in. definitely not like the one i student taught at, but i think it'll be nice, nonetheless.

in the meantime, i've got lots of teacherly duties to attend to!

towards the middle of my last semester, i was awarded a scholarship to an AP Summer Institute here at UT Austin, and that starts tomorrow morning at 8am sharp. we were each asked to bring along 30 copies of a successful lesson plan we've used in the classroom, a non-fiction book we'd like to teach in the classroom, and a non-fiction essay to use for teaching as well.

i'm so excited to get lesson plans from other teachers, as well as reading suggestions!

for my lesson, i made 30 copies of the final group project i used at the end of my classes' ANIMAL FARM unit. the kids all really enjoyed the freedom and creativity that came along with the project, so i thought it might be nice to share it with my fellow APSI classmates.

the project asked the students to create a country of their own. they were responsible for coming up with the land mass, the type of population (and social hierarchy) that would live in the country, the laws of the land, etc. some of the kids came up with pretty wacky stuff, but that just made it all the more interesting!

if you're interested in doing something similar, the lesson plan and handout can be downloaded right HERE.

for my other materials, i decided to gravitate toward a subject i've been really fascinated by lately: violence. the essay I'm planning on taking is not really an essay at all. it's actually an excerpt from Richard Wright's BLACK BOY. It's a great excerpt, about Wright's first run-in with desperate violence. you can check it out HERE.

this is also another really great story about a young man's first run-in with violence, it's called ALAN, and is only about a quarter of a page long. really powerful, though.

i'm currently working my way through the non-fiction book i think i'm taking tomorrow. like the excerpt from Black Boy and the short story "Alan", it focuses on children growing up and into violence. it's a memoir about a man's childhood in a violent neighborhood.

Fist Stick Knife Gun
by Geoffrey Canada

check it out! it's definitely worth a read. i'll try to keep up with posting the knowledge i gain in the next four days. :)

side note: i finally figured out the whole document hosting thing! that's why i seem to have gone crazy with it in this particular post. i'm hoping to start a daily blog once school starts with each day's assignments, etc on it. exciting!

some things i like about fifth graders.

number 1: their relative honesty.

it was amazing to me how very "pure of heart" some of the kids were. when it came time for recess, they were all antsy and ready to run, but they also had a sense of dignity about them. the ones who knew they were supposed to sit out for five minutes didn't put a fight. they didn't try to worm their way out of doing the time.

they simply took a seat at the side of the playground and waited it out.

the teacher in charge had a sticky note with the names of those who owed time. there was one little boy sitting out whose name was nowhere to be found on the tiny piece of paper.

so she asked him, "what are you doing?"

he looked up at her, and i could tell he wasn't even trying to make up a story that would relieve him from his current state of punishment. he just shrugged and said, "the principal told me i had to sit out."

so we left it at that.



number 2: they're adoring nature.

"miss? will you come back and be our teacher again tomorrow?"

you gotta be kidding me, right? i've just been through hell and back, thanks to YOU, and you want me to come back for more tomorrow?

"PLEASE?"

some things i DON'T like about fifth graders.

number 1: how spastic they are.

new directions.

last night, i had a little chat with my lovely sister about how her classes were going. she did the usual complaining, i commiserated, and then we started talking about a different aspect of school altogether.

we started talking about those classes--those TEACHERS--that just get you fired up to learn.

you know the ones.

the ones whose classes you ACTUALLY DO THE READING FOR.

the ones who inspire you to speak up in class, or whose classes you find yourself impulsively shouting out opinions in.

the ones who you seek outside of class time, because you just know they have SO MUCH KNOWLEDGE to give you, and you don't get enough of it when you're only seeing them three times a week.

the funny thing is, a lot of students don't like these teachers, because these teachers are often the ones who ask you to work the hardest.

i've never really minded that bit.

i figure, if the teacher's worth it, the work's worth it. right?

anyway, my lovely little sister was telling me about a few teachers of her own, whose classes were particularly compelling. one was a teacher who used a lot of hands-on activities in the classroom.

as she regaled me with stories of the team building and leadership activities she'd experienced in his class, two things became very apparent to me:

(1) i needed to get these activities down on paper as quickly as possible (we were driving at the time...) because

(2) these were things I WANTED TO DO IN MY CLASSROOM.

i'm hoping to post some (or all) of the activities she described to me at some point in the future. she also suggested i sit in on the professor's class and take notes, because it would no doubt be an interesting experience.

as an english teacher, we're painfully aware that we're SUPPOSED to be teaching speaking and listening along with everything else, and that sometimes, these two things get pushed aside, and only pulled out when we ask our students to give presentations.

we forget that one of the most important parts of our class is the conversations students should be having with each other. i want my students to be comfortable enough speaking with each other to discuss novels, poetry, and the like with each other. but the truth is that it's hard for a group of 30 high school students to get to the point where they're all comfortable voicing their opinion. up to that point in their lives, most students have learned to keep quiet, because saying what they think only gives other students ammunition.

BUT, if we do some low-risk activities, where students are making decisions and discussing thought-provoking concepts, we can kill two birds with one stone.

we can get students talking, listening, and realizing the importance of each of these skills. AND we can start breaking down some of those walls.

THAT'S what i'm after.

p.s.: sorry about the no capitalization thing i've got going on. i realize it's very e.e. cummings of me. i don't know what's come over me, lately. those english language values are going right out the window!






also, if you're wondering, i DID name this post after the awe-inspiring glee club in Fox's GLEE. because i love that show. it's got teachers, and students, and singing, and dancing...and the cutest little guidance counselor EVER.

just for fun.

doing the substitute thing.

Tuesday was my first day of substitute teaching. I was going to be working with fifth graders. In an elementary. I had little to no idea what to expect.

It. Was. AWFUL.

I'm so used to working with almost-adult-although-they're-still-a-little-immature students that I was just completely flabbergasted when it came to handling these 10-year-olds.

The other fifth grade teachers in the hall (all women) were incredibly nice to me. They took me under their proverbial wings, showed me the ropes, and basically got me through the day.

There were kids EVERYWHERE.

I only wish I had as much energy as they do.

I've never wanted to be a yell-y sort of teacher, but these kids made me want to scream and shout, and tell them to stay in the seats, or that was it! they'd all miss recess! see if I cared!

But I didn't scream. I didn't shout.

I was too exhausted to do either one.

The first and third classes were eerily well-behaved compared to classes two and four. I arrived at the school a little late, having been misled by my unreliable GPS (it directed me to a VERY empty field), so the first class was already in full-swing. The kids were listening to an audio reading of The Summer of the Swans, and then we took a test over the novel. They were ANGELS.

They left, and I had 20 minutes of free-time while they went to PE. I thought to myself, ha! That was easy. This elementary thing is a piece of cake.

I was so wrong.

Second class came in, and I had them at the beginning. I introduced myself, let them know we were having a test, and all of the joy immediately drained out of them. I mentally patted myself on the back for taking the fight out of them so quickly.

However, as soon as that test was done, things got a little crazy. I had no idea that kids could be in so many places at once. Also, I had been under the impression that the need to cheat arose somewhere around middle school, but these kids were CHEATERS. I monitored the classroom the entire time they were testing, keeping an eagle eye on the especially suspicious-looking students whose eyes kept popping up over their neighbor's privacy folders. Needless to say, so much constant vigilance was a little wearing.

Third class was WONDERFUL. This was immediately after recess. They came in red-faced and panting and I think they were pretty worn out.

Those privacy folders that had no effect whatsoever on class two? Well, they did wonders for class three. When students finished with their tests, they just left them up! They started on their next bit of work, shielded from the prying eyes of their fellow classmates by those taped manilla folders. And they were QUIET. I was afraid to speak and break the spell. I was almost afraid to breathe.

I whispered to them the entire class, and they just stayed QUIET the whole time.

If it were Christmas, I might say it was a Christmas miracle.

The miracle died right after lunch.

Fourth class came in, and I immediately knew that we were going to have problems. The kids weren't BAD, they just had way too much pent up energy and were ready to get home. I would have been more than happy to get them on their way, but when they're 10, you can't really just shove them out the door and hope for the best.

As much as I might have wanted to...

I had one student in particular who was especially entertaining. He coudn't stay in his seat for anything, but his hilarity made up for it.

"Miss!" he dropped his head back behind his seat and looked up at me from his upside position.

"Yes?"

"Miss, you smell like Burger King." He grinned up at me and pulled himself into an upright position.

"I do? That's funny. I haven't been to a Burger King in ages. And I didn't even have a burger for lunch."

I walked over to a girl sitting beside Burger King Boy. "Do I smell like Burger King to you?" As only a 10-year-old would do, she grabbed my sweater-clad arm and took a long, exaggerated SNUFF! Then she shook her head slowly. "Nope. You don't really smell like anything."

I turned back to BK Boy. "I'm pretty sure you just WANT some Burger King, don't you? That's probably why I smell like Burger King to you."

Another girl at the same table giggled. "Like when I really want ice cream! And everyone smells like ice cream! And some people even look like giant, walking ice creams!"

We all stared at her, a little taken by surprise.

SNUFFgirl broke the silence. "Um, I've never had that happen."

BK Boy eventually told me that his REAL name was Michael Jackson.

By this point, I'd just resigned to having the class in chaos. "Michael Jackson, huh? Should I start calling you that?"

"Yep. Watch this."

He proceeded to moonwalk across the classroom. I was thoroughly impressed.

He asked if he could sign his paper "Michael Jackson." I said, "Sure. Why not?" I asked him to write his ACTUAl (but not REAL) name, and just put "Michael Jackson" underneath in parenthesis. You know, just in case the regular teacher wasn't up to speed on his REAL identity.

The truth is, the whole Michael Jackson thing wasn't too weird. While student teaching, I had a girl went by her middle name (which wasn't on the roster), and was so obsessed with the Jonas Brothers, that she always wrote her last name as "Jonas."

It was extremely confusing.

So, the fact that this kid wanted to be referred to as Michael Jackson didn't really bother me at all. By the end of the class, I was affectionately referring to him as "MJ."

However, as exhausting as MJ was on his own, there was ANOTHER student who was just plain ridiculous. He couldn't sit still. During the first 20 minutes of class, while the students were supposed to be testing, he COULD NOT sit still.

He wiggled from side to side, dumping himself out of his tiny plastic chair and onto the ground. Then he'd pop up, right himself in his seat, and began the whole process again. He couldn't keep his privacy folder up. Everyone else's seemed to be working fine, but his was up, down, up, and down again.

Eventually, he looked at me very seriously and said, "Miss, I don't work very well in the classroom. Can I do this out in the hall?"

By that point, I was ready to try anything. "Sure, kid."

Fifteen minutes later, a girl from the class across the hallway came wandering in. "Uh, Miss?"

"Uh, Yes?"

"Did you send Dusty* in the hall to do his work?"

"Yep, sure did."

"Oh, well, I just thought you should know he's not really doing it. He's just goofing around out there."

I sighed and followed her outside in time to see Dusty terorrizing three girls who were actually TRYING to do some schoolwork.

I towered over him. (Which is saying something, considering he was more than half my height.) "Dusty? You done with that test yet?"

He showed me the test. Only two questions remained blank.

"Why don't you come back in the classroom and finish that up?"

He reluctantly followed me back into the class.

Getting Dusty to finish those last two questions was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

He physically could not stay in his seat. I'd turn around for two seconds to help another student, and the next thing I knew, Dusty was at it again.

He kept doing this thing, where he'd run to the hand sanitizer dispenser. He'd pump it about five times, until he had a huge glob of it in his hand, and then he'd find an unsuspecting victim. The first unsuspecting victim was, of course, me.

He grabbed my hand, pretending like he was going in for a heartfelt shake, and all I can say is, THANK GOD it was just hand sanitizer. Anything else, I don't think I could have handled.

He'd almost punked another girl, but I stepped in just in time. "Stop!" I yelled to her, just as Dusty closed in. "Don't fall for it!" One student saved, at least.

When the day was over, I poked my head out of the empty classroom, feeling both drained and shell-shocked. The other teachers, standing by their class doors, grinned at me.

"So you survived."

"Barely. How do you do this every day?"

They just laughed and told me to go home.

NEVER. AGAIN.




*some names have been changed. for instance, Burger King Boy is not the actual name of the student in question.

"Identity" poetry activity.

This is the lesson I had planned on doing my last day of student teaching.

But you know what? The celebratory free day was much better, in my opinion. :)


Polanco's poem, "Identity," which this activity is centered around, was introduced to me in one of my learning-about-how-to-teach classes, this past spring semester. I loved it, as I love most poems about identity and finding out who you are. I think these themes in particular ring true for teenagers. They're still in that phase where identities are like their clothes: questionable and frequently changed.


Objectives:
*Students will take a close look at a poem that uses extended metaphor.
*Students will create an extended metaphor poem of their own!

Materials:
*"Identity" by Julio Noboa Polanco.
*"Identity" worksheets and cross-change poem sheet

Procedures:
*Read the poem aloud with your students.

Identity

Let them be as flowers,
always watered, fed, guarded, admired,
but harnessed to a pot of dirt.

I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed,
clinging on cliffs, like an eagle
wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks.

To have broken through the surface of stone,
to live, to feel exposed to the madness
of the vast, eternal sky.
To be swayed by the breezes of an ancient sea,
carrying my soul, my seed, beyond the mountains of time
or into the abyss of the bizarre.

I'd rather be unseen, and if
then shunned by everyone,
than to be a pleasant-smelling flower,
growing in clusters in the fertile valleys,
where they're praised, handled, and plucked
by greedy, human hands.

I'd rather smell of musty, green stench
than of sweet, fragrant lilac.
If I could stand alone, strong and free,
I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed.

-Julio Noboa Polanco

*What do the students think this poem is about? How do they know this?

*Have students read the poem to themselves again silently, marking the images that stand out most to them.

*Have students work in pairs or small groups to map out the images in each stanza, one by one. What is the narrator speaking about in each section of the poem? Who is the "them" he continually refers to?

*Students may use the following questions on their worksheet to guide their discussions:

1.Why do you think Polanco compares himself to a weed?


2.What kind of a person do you think Polanco is, from the way he describes “weeds” in his poem? (Use evidence from the poem!)




3.What kind of people do you think are the “flowers,” and what is Polanco’s feelings towards the “flowers” of our society? (Use evidence here, too!)

*Now, have students consider what an "extended metaphor" is. Is Polanco's metaphor of himself as a weed effective? What does it say about him as a person?

*Now it's time for students to write their own poem!

Polanco’s “Identity” is an extended metaphor poem. Polanco tells us a lot about his character by simply describing this “weed” that he identifies himself with.
Now, it’s your turn to write an extended metaphor poem!
First, let’s find something you might identify yourself with…
Answer the following open-ended questions:

1.If I were a plant or animal, I’d be a _______________.

2.If I were a piece of furniture, I’d be a ____________.

3.If I were a color, I’d be ___________________________.

4.If I were a vehicle, I’d be a _______________________.

Anything else you might compare yourself to?
Now choose one, and write!

*Provide students with the copy-change model, but let them know that if they feel they need to break free of the provided structure and go on their own, they should! This is all about THEM.

Identity
By _______________________________________


Let them be as _______________________________________

always___________________________________________________________________

but ______________________________________________________ .


I’d rather be a ____________________________________ ,

______________________________________ like _________________________________

____________________________________________________________________ .


To have ___________________________________________ ,

to _____________________________________________________________ .

To be __________________________________________________________

or __________________________________________________________ .


I’d rather be _____________________________________ , and if

then __________________________________________________________ ,

then to be __________________________________________________________________

where ___________________________________________

by _____________________________________ .


I’d rather ________________________________________________

than _________________________________________ .

If I could _______________________________________________ ,

I’d rather be a ________________________________________ .

*It might be fun at the end to have some willing students share their works of art. I always like to create along with my students, and having a teacher share his/her own work first tends to break the ice. Have fun!

the end of student teaching.

I have to apologize up front. This might be the cheesiest post I'll ever write.

Last Thursday was my last day of student teaching.

I had an awesome lesson planned out. One I thought would let me go out with a BANG! We'd be reading a poem entitled "Identity" and then write a poem of our own, using an extended metaphor for ourselves. I thought it was super cool, and was pretty excited.

My last day arrived, and the kids trickling in before the first bell rang were acting mighty suspicious. One of the more quiet ones crept into the room, saw me sitting there, and immediately crept back out.

Needless to say, something was UP.

It turns out the kids had planned a lovely little party to celebrate our time together and push me out into the real world with fond memories of them. They all brought food, two students brought me flowers (tulips and roses!) and one student even bought me a cake and decorated it with the words: "Good luck Ms. Salinas!"

It was all incredibly sweet.

We were partying away, munching down, and having an all around good time. The only thing that could spoil such a party was the end of the period. We all gathered around for a group picture of the whole class. While standing with the students surrounding me, they began to notice how small I am for the first time. Most of them are at least a half foot taller than me. They grinned and forced me to the front of the group.

MT, a particularly outspoken student, looked at me and said, "Miss! You're so small! You're Fun Size."

After the group picture, the students presented me with a gift they had all chipped in to buy me. PL whipped out her camera and began snapping pictures.

"I better not see any of those on Facebook!" I warned her, but laughed just the same.

The gift was a James Avery bookmark. It has a small, neat engraving on one side. My cooperating teacher held her iPhone up for a picture, and asked me to read what it said to the class.

I couldn't even make it through the phrase without choking up. A tear squeezed itself out of one of my eyes, and one of the kids shouted, "Group hug!" Next thing I knew, the bell was ringing, and students were hugging me one by one on their way out the door.

My CT smiled at me. "I knew you wouldn't get through today without crying." She laughed and began picking up empty plastic cups from around the room.

I smiled too. It was the damn bookmark that had done it.

I placed it back in its small, coral box and proceeded to assist in cleaning the classroom.

The bookmark read: "I touch the future. I teach."

Revolutionizing English Curriculum.

I've been reading a little about teaching English lately. Mostly, I've been reading Kelly Gallagher, and his marvel of a book Readicide.

Gallagher's Article of the Week inspired me to start thinking about getting my students to read MORE and more DIVERSE texts. It seems so obvious, but OF COURSE it's important for our students to read news articles!

In Readicide, Gallagher talks about linking novels we're obligated to read in the classroom with subjects that are applicable to our students' lives. He uses the example of To Kill a Mockingbird and racism. He brings in examples of racism that occurring in our world today and has his students pick these examples apart.

This little anecdote got the wheels turning.

I'd read/heard that students mostly respond to English units surrounding universal themes. These are the kinds of units that they get the most out of.

And then, today in the shower, it hit me!

Picture this:

(and I'm sure I'm not going to do it justice, because it's all still quite a jumble in my mind...)

A 6-week unit, surrounding a single piece of literature, that you're obligated to read with your students.

Currently, in my mind, I'm working with Romeo and Juliet, because there's a very good chance that if/when I get a teaching contract with a school, it will probably be teaching freshmen, since I'll be a first-year teacher and all. This I have no problem with.

Romeo and Juliet, however, I do have a problem with. I've always found this play unsatisfactory. Compared to some of Shakespeare's other works (*cough! Othello!), this one just isn't up to par. But, we've all had to teach things we're not completely thrilled about, right? (I'm thinking about Animal Farm here...)

So, in thinking about my iffy relationship with Romeo and Juliet, I began thinking about ways in which this play might come alive for ME. Because, really, I'm not that much older than the students I'll be teaching. (Although I have to admit that somedays they make me feel MUCH MUCH older than I actually am.)

I'm a big fan of pairing texts. While teaching Animal Farm this past semester, I read several other novels along the same lines--novels about those in power, and the powerless. It was a subject that fascinatd me, and I so I tried to find out as much about it as I could.

I'd set this little project aside in lieu of the next unit I was starting with my classes (this one over the Holocaust, and Elie Wiesel's Night). However, it hung around in the back of my mind.

Just recently, I picked up The Outsiders, by S. E. Hinton.

I finished the novel this morning, amazed that I'd never read such an incredible book before today, and lo and behold, here came the idea.

I wanted nothing more than to pair this novel, The Outsiders, with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. But how could I do that?

BEAT. Through THEME! That's how.

But wait! There's more.

Why stop at pairing Romeo and Juliet with this one, tiny (although huge in spirit) novel? Why not pair it with other things as well.

And then the idea evolved into an entire basis for a curriculum.

Each six weeks, you have a novel you, as an English teacher, are often obligated to teach.

Let's continue on with Romeo and Juliet, since that's the text we've been running with so far.

Let's pick a theme applicable to our students' lives, a la Kelly Gallagher.

How about VIOLENCE.

This is something I could see interesting my students a lot, especially since violence is a part of their everyday lives. So I'm simply asking them to take something they're very familiar with, and pick it apart.

VIOLENCE is our theme. Now, we'll create a question surrounding that theme. This question will guide much of our reading and discussion over the course of the unit. We'll need to post it, and our theme somewhere where they're both highly visible in the classroom. We need a question where there's no right or wrong answer; one which students will be able to bring many different opinions and ideas to.

Consider the following: "Is violence the only solution?" Or, reworded into a Likert-esque statement, "Sometimes violence is the only solution."

This is our big idea. We see violence in Romeo and Juliet, no doubt about it. But this is only one text in which to examine the viability of violence as a solution. And, at the end of the play, the reader often feels that violence is no solution at all. Clearly, we need some other examples.

Hence The Outsiders.

Here is what I propose. You read Romeo and Juliet as planned. You don't cut out the bit about Elizabethan culture and Shakespeare--you sprinkle some of that into the unit as well. But you don't let it take over. Instead, you let the students take over.

Umbrella'd under your theme (VIOLENCE), and your question ("Is violence the only solution?"), you have other mini-themes/questions. For instance, "Why does senseless violence occur?" Or, "Why do many young people turn to violence?" Or anything else you can come up with. "Why is violence perpetuated from generation to generation?" "Why are young people desensitized to the violence they see on television, in movies, or experience in video games?" Etc.

You group students according to these questions. Let students decide what they're most interested in exploring. Then, as a group, it is their responsibility to create a presentation surrounding their question.

Students in each group will be given a list of texts they can choose from. However, all students must read one other piece of fiction (i.e. something like The Outsiders), a short story, a poem, a non-fiction piece, and a news article--all surrounding their topic. As other, extra-credit items, students might find a song, piece of art, comic, or any other type of text that also feeds into their chosen topic. Groups will choose the second novel together, and then help each other find other examples that will help them explore their question. They'll have discussion time in class to determine where their texts are leading them, and what they say about their assigned topic.

After their presentations, students will take a stab at the overarching question ("Is violence the only solution?") in a two-page paper, where they'll cite at least three of the texts they explored in their group project, as well as Romeo and Juliet (because we can't forget about R&J, now can we?)

Obviously, this is going to require quite a bit of work on the teacher's part. Which is why I'm starting now. It's up to us to lead our students to appropriate texts. That's what we're good at. It's up to us to teach our students how to have meaningful discussions about the things we read.

So, the first six weeks will probably be spent learning these important skills. Second and third six weeks will be spent giving our students these directive questions for them to explore. Fourth and fifth units will consist of an overarching theme, but one where students are free to create their own topic questions and explore them as they wish (as long as they continue to use many types of texts). And, if everything goes as planned, students will be able to choose a Theme of their own the last unit.

I'm so excited about this whole idea, I can barely contain it! I believe in holding all students to high expectations, and I know that the above stated curriculum idea is probably the highest of the high. But I feel they can do it. I can't wait to get my own classroom to start attempting this in. :)

Teaching Irony Using Alanis Morisette.

I can't take complete credit for this lesson plan.

We had a guest speaker in one of my teaching/methods classes, and were given this idea to teaching irony using Alanis Morissette's song "Ironic."

Of course, if you're familiar with "Ironic" and the actual meaning of irony, you'll realize that many of the situations in Morissette's song aren't, in fact, IRONIC. But that's okay! That's where the real learning comes in.

Objectives:

* Students will be able to identify the three types of irony, and distinguish between them
* Students will be able to create their own examples of irony


Materials:

* Irony notes/worksheet
* "Ironic" lyrics with blanks
* "Ironic" music video or song recording
* "Actually Ironic" College Humor music video

Procedures:

* Hand out Irony notes/worksheet. Go over the three types of Irony, and have the students fill in the notes as you discuss them.

1. VERBAL IRONY: When you say one thing, but mean another. When done to be mean, this is referred to as sarcasm.
2. SITUATIONAL IRONY: When you expect one thing to happen, but another does.
3. DRAMATIC IRONY: When the audience knows something that a character does not.

* Have the students identify the examples of irony on their worksheets as either VERBAL, SITUATIONAL, or DRAMATIC examples of irony.
* When students have completed this exercise, discuss the answers as a class. Make sure that all students are clear on the different types of irony.
* Hand out the lyrics (with blanks) to Alanis Morissette's "Irony." Play the "Ironic" music video, or song recording. Have the students pay close attention to the song and fill in the blanks as it plays. If nothing else, this will keep them paying attention while the song plays.

* When the song has finished, make sure that all students have filled in their blanks correctly. Show the complete lyrics on the overhead or dot-cam, so that students who have missed important words can now fill them in.
* Tell the students that although the name of the song is "Ironic," and Morissette claims in her lyrics that all of these situations are, in fact, IRONIC, some aren't.
* Students will work in pairs to identify the situations in the song that are NOT ironic.
* List these situations on the board so that all students can mark them on their lyrics.
* Now, have students get back in their pairs, and ask them to make these non-ironic situations into ones that ARE ironic.
* For example, the lyrics "It's like rain on your wedding day," are not really ironic. However, if we change them to "It's like rain on your wedding day, when your wedding is taking place in the middle of the desert," it's VERY ironic!
* Have the students choose 3 of the non-ironic situations on the board, and make them ironic with their partners.
* Students will share their creations with the class.
* Show students the College Humor music video "Actually Ironic." This video is a parody of Alanis Morissette's song "Ironic," and it does the same thing you just had the students do. It takes those situations in "Ironic" that aren't really ironic, and makes them such. Also, it's just good fun!

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Evaluation:
* As a sort of "Exit Slip" activity, project these three images for the students to see. Have students identify each comic/image as either Verbal, Dramatic, or Situational irony. (There is one of each.)

1.

2.

3.

* Students will turn this in as they leave class.

Credits:
"Actually Ironic" courtesy of CollegeHumor.com
Pearls Before Swine comics courtesy of Comics.com
Dead End sign image courtesy of Google Images