langston hughes poem

For the chapter 8, I used the lesson from p. 119. I gave each student a copy of "Dreams" and asked them to read it to themselves. I explained that, when reading poetry, the first thing you should do is try to visualize the poem in your mind, using the visual words from the poem. I then asked students to close their eyes, and imagine what I was reading as I read the poem. After that, I asked some volunteers what they imagined. Then I showed a youtube clip of the poem which used visuals to illustrate the poem. After that, I asked the students what they saw in the clip, and how it correlated to the poem. Then I asked the students what questions they had, and told them that there are no "dumb" questions. I had the students go up front and write their questions on the promethean screen. Some of the questions we answered as a group, but many of the questions just led to more questions. Most of the students decided it was a sad poem, but there was one student who viewed it as a happy poem. A student asked why Hughes used "a frozen field" to describe a dream that was lost. At first, I was worried that the lesson wasn't going to work, because it was really slow at first, but gradually, as more students slowly started asking more questions, more students got involved, and more interest was shown toward the poem.

Questioning Across the Curriculum

My students use what we call the "Reading Strategy", when reading any text in any subject. The students stay more interested in the text. They are constantly thinking about questions about what they are reading instead of worrying about knowing the answers at the end of the passage. The students stop and think (ST) at the end of each paragraph. They summarize each paragraph and they look at important vocabulary and its meaning in each paragraph. They know the questions matter, and that they will stay more involved in the passage/story if they are asking themselves questions as they go.

Inferring themes

Last week I talked with my students about theme for our novel study, Maniac Magee. We reviewed what a theme means, and then I asked what the main messages or purpose of the book was. After discussing, we came up with three themes: homes/homelessness, racism, and names/nicknames. I made the point that no where in the book does it say that the theme is racism, etc. We had to infer what the themes were. I reminded them that inferring is using background knowledge plus context clues to figure out meaning from the book where it doesn't say it outright. Once we uncovered the three themes, I had students find evidence from the book to support each theme. Then we discussed it as a class.

Question Webs to Expand Thinking

Great way to help students with questioning is utilizing a question web. These webs can be used individually or in a small group. By having my students read a variety of lit (nonfiction-books/magazine, etc.) to gain knowledge, then come together and share their common thinking. Question webs help students to develop the idea of the essential questions by initiating conversation through questions obtained through the webbing.

Visualizing Hatchet

After finishing Hatchet, I divided my class into partners. I typed out the different chapters with ideas that were in them. The partners chose which chapter they were to become experts on. They reread their chapter using partner reading. I didn't just want to work on visualizing but incorporate language as well. They found examples of adjectives that helped describe the setting. They had to list the main events that happened in that chapter. Next, each student had to draw on a blank piece of paper the main setting of the chapter, including details and the "adjectives" they found in the chapter. When each partner was finished, they compared and contrasted their pictures writing down areas the other partner included or drew better, and who left off details etc. Then they were to brainstorm all the items they would need to make a diorama shoe box of their chapter's main event and detailed setting. They worked for three days working on their shoe box in class and the creativity and imaginations were great!

Inferring with Text Clues

(Need: 3 column chart titled Background Knowledge/ Text Clues/ Inference)

While reading "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon," use the chart to gain a deeper understanding of the character's emotions. There are a wealth of examples where the characters act in response to their surroundings and circumstances. Using their own personal experiences, combined with textual examples, students will be able to infer the feelings / mood that the author is portraying.

Visualizing Ch 9

After reading the novel Hatchet I assigned pairs of students a chapter to read. Each partner group had to reread their chapter together visualizing the setting and list 10 adjectives that described the setting. Each student then drew a picture of the setting of their chapter using the adjectives they had found. After each student was finished they shared their picture with their partner noting similarities and differences. Each group then planned to create a panorama box that displays the details of the main event and setting.