Southeast Missouri English Teachers Association

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 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

book1.jpg

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

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

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?