Adventures of a Teacher in Transition
Allison. 24. Illinois.Recently graduated with a B.A in English education. AVID tutor. Substitute teacher. Attempting to navigate life outside of college.
Feel free to send me a message, especially if you have any questions about student teaching :]
[Also if you follow me and then randomly get a follow from another Tumblr with "Allison" in the title, that's my personal.]
Poetic Wasteland: Oh Great Tumblr Teacher Gods/Goddesses.... ›
Does anyone have a good (engaging/creative) do now/activator idea for a lesson that involves Shakespeare’s biography & influence over the English language? I really don’t want to do the standard, “what do you already know about Shakespeare’s life” or a KWL chart, but my brain appears to have shut…
I created a really in-depth online scavenger hunt. I had multiple groups so students worked on a multitude of topics (early and late life, influence, English language, the Globe, influence on theatre, maybe another? I think I had 7 groups because my classes were so large and I didn’t want more than 5 in a group.)
My students were responsible for learning the knowledge and then had to teach their topic to the class. That way, I wasn’t lecturing them (even though I would have loved to because he’s so interesting) but they’re still learning all the information. I let them have two work days (because I was at a conference one day and the sub couldn’t help them when they had issues) and then took another day to present.
Depending on how much time you have, you could easily adapt it to them just doing a scavenger hunt so they teach themselves the knowledge you want them to know.
Also, my cooperating teacher was teaching Hamlet to sophomores and for the first day, he gave a little no-credit quiz (maybe 10 questions) and had the students answer them based off what they already know and then used those 10 questions to have a really quick discussion about his life and influence. That could be an easy way, without doing a KWL chart.
:)
There has been an influx of support on my failed MLA lesson and I really appreciate it!
I’m completely finishing my poetry unit on Monday with a poetry slam. It’ll be a fun way to finish it out since they’ve taken their exam already.
Then Tuesday I’m starting Romeo and Juliet. But I can’t be there because I have to go to a job fair that’s mandated by my education program. So the students will be in the computer lab starting a Shakespeare Online Scavenger Hunt as a way to learn about him in a fun, non-lecture way. There will be 5-6 groups which each focus on different parts of his life and work and then they’ll teach it to the rest of the class. FUN!
I will admit. I’m excited for all the fun activities that I want to do with R&J. I’m just terrified of the language barrier. I taught The Raven during poetry, and they had issues with Poe, so I’m worried what they’re going to think of Shakespeare. I’m planning on using a variety of approaches including reading aloud, acting, and listening to different oral versions. But I know that I had/have issues with Shakespeare myself and I’m just not sure how to address that every day with the freshmen.
Edit: My student population is fairly diverse. It’s a “regular” level class, but in it there are a couple of ELL students (both are from Germany originally), some future honors students, and some uninspired, uncaring students.
Any suggestions?
