February 28, 2021

What I'm Reading & Teaching in March

February seemed like one long snow day and lesson plans got shifted around quite a bit,  but we finished literature circles and I read 10 more books.

February seemed like one long snow day with lots of headache about the return to in person learning. We started back in person with a hybrid model in mid February, but just had our first full week last week due to snow, parent conferences, and President's Day. Lesson plans got shifted around quite a bit as a result of the weather, but we did finish our literature circle novels on time just with fewer discussion and activities than I had originally planned.

I didn't read all of the books on my February TBR list, but I did read 10 books keeping me on track with my goal of reading 2 books a week (and a total of 104 by the end of the year). I'm now up to 20 reads so far for 2021!

Reading in March
In February, I read 10 books, matching pretty much what I read in January: one young adult title, two middle grades, three adult, and four audiobooks (two of those were young adult, one was middle grades, and one was a nonfiction young adult adaptation). Some of what I read was on my TBR, most of them weren't, but I am pleased with the mix. Several of the titles on this month's to be read list are repeats from the past two months, so I can work on clearing off my bookshelves. Here's what I'm hoping to read:
 

Teaching in March
To wrap up the trimester, students will be creating an infographic based on a topic from their literature circle novels. This is my first time doing a project like this, but I think I've structured it for student success. We'll kick off the project by doing a gallery walk (digitally) of sample infographics. Students will examine the layout and design strategies, thinking about what is effective or not, and what they might want to imitate in their own. Then students will choose a topic from a list of topics connected to their literature circle novels. 

For each topic, I curated four sources (three readings and one video) that students can use to collect information for their infographic. Students will spend two days researching and then create a rough draft in Google Drawings or on paper. Before students create a final draft, I'll give students a day to play around with a few different tech tools and choose the one they feel most comfortable with. I'm planning on two days for creating the final draft, but will also set up a platform for students who finish earlier to share and give feedback to each other.

This project will span the last week of Trimester 2 and the first week of Trimester 3, which will give me a little break from grading new student work and time to finalize student grades for Trimester 2. I made the mistake of assigning an essay at the end of Trimester 1 and had to quickly get them all graded before report cards. 

After finishing up the infographic project, we'll have two weeks to get started on our "Dealing WIth Disaster" unit before spring break. Last year I started with a research project, but I'm not sure how I feel about doing two projects back to back. Instead we may read a nonfiction piece focused on the Boxing Day Tsunami, "Mammoth Shakes and Monster Waves," and Ray Bradbury's short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains," which was a big hit with students last year. I'll also kick off the unit with an introduction to the types of disaster, both weather related and accidental/caused by humans.

Note: The Literary Maven is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

February seemed like one long snow day and lesson plans got shifted around quite a bit,  but we finished literature circles and I read 10 more books.


Everything You Need to Host a March Madness Poetry Tournament

Hosting a March Madness Poetry Tournament is a great way to read and reread poetry as students examine elements and pick favorites.

Ever since I generated this list of 32 poetry pairings, I have wanted to try out a March Madness Poetry Tournament in my own classroom and finally got my act together last year. I printed out packets of my 32 pairings for students to share and posted a giant bracket to fill in as we went along. I began each class with students reading a few poems, examining a selected element, and voting on their favorites. Click here to make a copy of the Google Slides I intended to use at the start of each class.

Unfortunately schools closed last year in the middle of the month due to the coronavirus and our March Madness Tournament had to get a reset when learning resumed online in April. All of our poem examinations and voting had to shift to online activities. After operating on a hybrid schedule the following year, I have finally been able to bring everything back in person.



February 21, 2021

Teaching Symbolism to Middle & High School Students

Use these ideas for teaching symbolism to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama.

While symbolism is a higher level concept that some students can struggle with, it is also such an engaging concept to teach because symbolism is all around us: in songs, movies, commercials and on posters and billboards. I detailed the many ways I introduce and reinforce symbolism in this previous blog post and you can find even more ideas below.

Build Students' Background Knowledge
Symbolism can be a fun literary conversation, but students don't always understand the concept. To ensure that students are able to analyze symbols, you will want to explain colors, everyday gestures, common symbols, intangible symbols, and weather. With these tips for talking about symbolism, teachers can find a successful way for talking about symbolism with secondary students. You can read more about these tips here and as extra help, I've included a free download of 101 activities for literary analysis. . . with an entire section devoted to symbolism.
*Recommended by Lauralee, Language Arts Classroom

Use these ideas for teaching symbolism to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama.

Play Symbolic Pictionary
Before playing the game, you will need to create a slideshow with an abstract noun on each slide (you could also use concrete nouns, specially people or places). Some ideas include determination, power, speed, intelligence, violence, and peace. To play, first break your students up into teams and make sure each team has drawing supplies (whiteboard and markers, paper and crayons, etc). Once a word is revealed, teams begin discussing and drawing a possible symbol. After the allotted amount of team, each team reveals the image that they have drawn and points are awarded. You can read more about the rules of play here.

Introduce The Symbolic Arc To Create Layers Of Understanding
The first arch of the symbolism arc is filled with an object's concrete details (what is looks, smells, sounds, tastes, feels like). The second arch of the symbolism arc is filled with an object's abstract traits, the associations we make with the object because of society, culture, tradition, etc. In the third and final arch of the symbolism arc, students make connections between the concrete details and the abstract traits to determine a possible symbolic meaning. You can read more about this strategy here.

Use Music Videos To Look For Symbolism
Before students dig into printed texts to look for symbolism, start them off with symbols they can actually see. While there are so many choices for music videos, it is often best to use something students are already familiar with (and obviously school appropriate), Musical numbers from Disney movies work well. This blog post from Lit LearnAct describes using "Let It Go" from Frozen to note important objects, describe their purpose or function, and then consider a possible symbolic meaning.

Keep An Eye Out For Objects Of Importance
When you do begin to look for symbols in printed texts have students look for references to concrete objects, especially objects named in titles, and consider whether they could be symbols. Students should also pay special attention to objects or places that are repeated or described in detail. When analyzing a short story or part of a novel or play, assign each student or group of students a page number and ask them to list any objects mentioned. Ask students to share out what they found to create a class list, tallying the number of times an object is mentioned. Beginning with the most frequent mention work down the list discussing the meaning this object might carry with it.

Use these ideas for teaching symbolism to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama.

February 14, 2021

Teaching Theme to Middle & High School Students

Use these ideas for teaching theme to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama.

While theme is a concept I like to teach early and often each year, students first must have a strong understanding of the other literary elements that play into it. The events in the plot, the conflict that develops, and the actions and reactions of characters all help to reveal the theme of a text. I detailed the many ways I introduce and reinforce theme in this previous blog post and you can find even more ideas below.



February 7, 2021

Teaching Point of View to Middle & High School Students

Use these ideas for teaching point of view to middle and high school students with any short story, novel, or drama.

An understanding of point of view as well as perspective is key to interpreting any fiction or nonfiction text. Students need to be able to understand an author or character's view point as well as its impact on the information or narrative presented. I detailed the many ways I introduce and reinforce point of view in this previous blog post and you can find even more ideas below.



February 1, 2021

Tackling the Text Dependent Analysis Essay

Text dependent analysis writing asks students to provide specific evidence from a literary text. Here's how I help my students through that struggle.

Text-dependent analysis writing is when students are given an essay prompt that asks them to provide specific evidence from a literary or informational text while demonstrating the ability to interpret the meaning behind the evidence they provide. When my students come into sixth grade this is not a type of writing they are comfortable with.

The first few times students respond to a text dependent analysis essay, I balance modeling with gradually releasing the students to write independently. We start with a whole class writing of the introduction. Then I assign just one body paragraph. Then next time we tackle a prompt, we may again work through the introduction as a whole class and then I’ll assign two body paragraphs. Gradually we build up to writing a full five paragraph (or more) essay.