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News and Information for our Members
Blogging
Mr. John Parsons of Sikeston is experimenting with using blogging as a means of writing in his
classes. Below are some comments from Mr. Parsons on how he uses this type of writing style in his classes and the ideas
behind it.
I have basically used the blog as a form of "response journal" similar to the directed writing activities that I used
to be assigned in high school. I usually post an open-ended question and have the students reply both to my post
and to each other's replies in order to receive credit. As a first year teacher, everything is a work in progress and
so I am sure there is much more for me to learn about the capabilities of this technology, however I have already discovered
a few advantages of using the blog in my class:
1.
Blogs offer some students a “safe” way to be involved-- I found that this form of “class participation” was very popular with certain students who do not
ordinarily speak up (or in some cases look up) during regular class. Several of these students continued
to post and utilize the blog long after they had met the “requirements” for getting extra credit.
In fact, I had one student respond to my new question the day I published it (on a weekend!) before I had even
announced it to the class. This technology apparently appeals to some students and offers them an outlet
for expression which they cannot find in the traditional classroom. If for no other reason,
this justifies making the blog (with its relative anonymity) available to my students.
2.
There’s something magical about a computer
keyboard--Among all my students, on the average, I found that
I received much longer and higher quality responses than I did when we did short “free writes” in class (the pen
and paper equivalent of blog post and a historical staple of the English classroom). Students who regularly
gripe and complain for 8 of the 10 minutes of free write time and then hurriedly scribble something—anything on their
papers to avoid a zero, will post multi-paragraph responses to the initial post and argue their view (sometimes eloquently)
in response to other student’s postings. This is not always the case, but I found most students
seem to be much more willing to “write” when it involves a computer.
3.
You can spell BLOG with four letters E-A-S-Y—Compared to a website, blogs are much easier to build and maintain, due in part
to the fact that your students are responsible for adding new content. You pose a question or topic and
they run with it (also much more brain-engaging than worksheets). In addition, a basic blog can be set
up and running in less than ten minutes because blogs are built around templates that are point-and-click ready.
You can make them fancy with “widgets” or small programs (originally designed for social-networking blog
sites like Facebook and MySpace) which you can cut and paste to “dress up” the basic template provided by the
blog hosting site. In contrast, a website can take days to create and perfect with each
change requiring an upload to the host server. Another advantage is the dynamic nature of blogs versus
the static nature of websites. Your students can post and change the content of the blog (to a certain
extent) on a regular basis. A website can only be changed by the author and this requires uploading a new
or updated file to the server for even the smallest change on every page. Blogs, in my opinion,
offer you much more value in much less time than other “technology” options.
You can check out my class blog at:
http://parsonsenglish.blogspot.com/ .
Please check it out and let me know what you think and feel free to
email me with any comments or suggestions that you have. I would love to know what others think and am always looking
for ideas to "steal" (and share) to make things better.
John Parsons
Grammar Book Discussion
Attention Teachers of Communication Arts:
Are you tired of battling the fire-breathing dragon of poor grammar and
mechanics in your classroom?
Let’s unite forces and slay the dragon once and for all!!!
Who
Open to all teachers of
Communication Arts Grades 5-12
What
A
Book Study/Discussion of Jeff Wilhelm’s new book
Getting
It Right: Fresh Approaches to Teaching Grammar, Usage, and Correctness
When
Book
Discussion: Choose a date:
Thursday,
January 10, 2008
OR
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Grammar, Usage, Correctness Idea Exchange: Thursday, April
3, 2008
Starts at 3:30 –???
Where
Jackson
Middle School Library
Why
Because
NOBODY is talking about it and
EVERYBODY
wants to!
Email or call Terri Fisher-Reed if you are interested:
tfisher-reed@jackson.k12.mo.us
PowerPoint in the Language Arts Classroom
Martha Mangels provided some very useful information during the fall conference on using PowerPoint
in the Classroom. Below is a link to her favorites using the Portaportal website. To access the information, click
on the link below and then type "mlmangels" in guest log-in box. There is no guarentee that all of the links that you
find here will open, but some of them will and are very useful.
Martha Mangels Favorites
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It’s Not Charlotte’s Web: Addressing Participant, Narrative and Emotive
Learning Styles with Technology
Dr. Thomas Eaton of Southeast Missouri State University was very informative with showing
different learning styles using technology. To access the slide show that he presented at the fall conference and to
have access to much more information about this topic, click on the link provided below.
Learning Styles of Technology
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Classic Film by Kim Chronister
To satisfy my minor addiction of classic film I racked my brain on how to use the genre in the classroom. Upon watching
some of my favorites I came to the conclusion that classic film would be a great medium to use to teach prediction, inference
and deduction skills. In addition, classic film can be used to cement story elements and characterization, as well as theme.
To access some of the handouts being used, click on the links below.
Charade Analysis
Arsenic Analysis
12 Angry Men
Hitchcock's ROPE
Hitchcock's THE BIRDS
ROMAN HOLIDAY Analysis
Resources for Lessons by Denise Wright
Denise Wright had a very informative round table at the fall conference and had several useful
resources from the Internet that she shared with the group. To view a list of the sites that she shared, click on the
link below. This link is in Microsoft Word.
RESOURCES FROM DENISE
Using Picture Books in Middle and Secondary English Classes by Danna Brunns
Eight picture books and possible ways they can be incorporated into the english curriculum
- poetry books, illustrating the importance of grammar (commas and apostrophes), introducing a new thematic unit, and teaching
literary techniques are just a few of the possibilites for these colorful, attractive books.
Added Bonus: The list of songs that Prelutsky's poems can be sung to, and an annotated, genre-grouped
list of some of the newest and best Young Adult novels published in 2007! To access more information and some resources
on this topic, click on the link below. This is a Microsoft Word document.
PICTURE BOOK RESOURCES
SMETA By-laws
For those interested in reading the by-laws for the SMETA organization, please
click on the site below. The link is in a MicroSoft Word program.
SMETA By-LAWS
Facts about English
- Did you know that English is the most widespread language in the world and is
more widely spoken and written than any other language?
- Did you know that over 400 million people use the English vocabulary as a mother
tongue, only surpassed in numbers, but not in distribition by speakers of the many varieties of Chinese?
- Did you know that over 700 million people, speak English, as a foreign language?
- Did you know that of all the world's languages (over 2,700) English is arguably
the richest in vocabulary; and that the Oxford English Dictionary lists about 500,000 words, and a further half-million technical
and scientific terms remain uncatalogued?
- Did you know that three-quarters of the world's mail, telexes and cables are in
English?
- Did you know that the main language used throughout the world on the internet
is English?
- Did you know that more than half of the world's technical and scientific periodicals
are in English?
- Did you know that English is the medium for 80% of the information stored in the
world's computers?
- Did you know that English is the language of navigation, aviation and of Christianity;
it is the ecumenical language of the World Council of Churches?
- Did you know that 5 of the largest broadcasting companies in the world (CBS, NBC,
ABC, BBC and CBC) transmit in English, reaching millions and millions of people all over the world?
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