real world connection

Setting Up a Classroom Book Club Meeting

You may have read my “Why I don’t do literature circles and what I do instead” post, and now you want to try my classroom book clubs method. But you have some questions: What does it look like inside a “book club” meeting? What types of activities do you do? What questions do you ask students? What do you discuss and how? How do you keep it all organized? In this blog post, I hope to shed a little more light on the anatomy of my book club meetings. If you haven’t already read my first blog post about the concept or structure in general, click here. If you are ready to dive in and build your own classroom book club, keep reading!

1) Summarizing: Summarizing is a critical part of reading comprehension, so lately, I’ve been starting book clubs out with a short summary exercise. I like to use SWBST, and I have a teaching pack available if you’d like to give that method a try. It comes with materials you can use with any text including Twitter summaries and these new SWBST Sketch Notes for any text. I usually have students doing that as their bell ringer, and it only takes about 2-3 minutes, then we share out for another 2-3 minutes. I usually type some examples on the board as they share.

2) Engaging, dissecting, and enjoying content from the week’s assigned pages: This part, to me, is the “fun” part of reading a novel. There are so many activities and creative projects and paired reading tasks that you can do to “make literature come alive” for the students. I always start the meeting off with one of these little bite-sized nuggets that relates specifically to something covered in the pages we read. I like to start with this “fun” piece because it sets the tone, and I really want students to enjoy reading!

For example, during our book club meeting for Chapter 2 of Lord of the Flies, my students created a 3D map of the island using textual evidence. An activity like this requires students to go back and review those chapters and dig for details, while having fun. I played a little island music while they worked, and they had a good time.

After reading Chapter 2 of The Great Gatsby, I feel it’s always important to discuss domestic violence. We close read that section of the chapter highlighting details like the cause of the conflict and the disparity between the men’s and women’s reactions. We set up a KWL chart, and I found a really great TED talk on the topic that we watched. (BTW: My The Great Gatsby Complete Unit is coming late 2019! You can get my The Great Gatsby video viewing guide here now!)

When I design literature units, I try include something “creative” or a “paired text/close reading task” for each chapter or section. I mostly turn to those for this part of the book club meeting. Every now and then, there won’t be something specific for the chapter we’ve read, or I’ll just be in the mood for something different. In that case, I’ll use a quick activity from my “Response to Literature: Making Literature Come Alive” bundle. These are short, little activities that pack a big punch. Each activity is text-based, so it’s a purposeful use of your time. Some require students to take on real-world role create something: T-Shirt Designer, QVC Sells Person, Sports Broadcaster, Crime Scene Reporter.

Others are derived from social media: Twitter Subtweeting, Cell Phone Conversations, Character Song Lists, Making Memes. Plus, every time I think of something new, I add it to the bundle, so you get those updates for free!

3) Small-group discussion: There are several ways you can go about this portion, and you also need to decide if it’s something you think your students need or not. I started small-group discussions as a precursor to large-group when I had a group of lower-level/reluctant readers because they would come to large group discussion with nothing to say, their thoughts weren’t organized, or they were too embarrassed to speak up. Once I started doing it, it just stuck for every group I had. Now, even with my most advanced groups, we almost always have a small-group discussion. They even ask for it, so they can get their thoughts together in a smaller, safer setting.

One method I use is the 3,2,1 approach. This method allows for more open-ended discussion. Students just take a blank sheet of paper out and jot 3 questions about the section/chapter, 2 comments, and 1 connection or key quote. Sometimes they can answer their own questions in the small group, and I love that. They are always going back and digging through the pages to look for info and answers. Depending on time, I give anywhere from 5-10 minutes in small group for 3-2-1. Since they are reading out-of-class, several of them bring questions and comments with them to class, and I love to see them bubbling and wanting to talk about books! Then, they bring that list to large group.

Another approach for small group is a guided focus. After reading Chapters 1-3 of The Great Gatsby, I wanted students to discuss findings from the color tracker sheet they had done in their “packets” for that section. The idea of color symbolism hadn’t gelled with them quite yet, so I felt it necessary to break them up into groups and have them discuss. I had them discuss all the colors on the chart, and then I just gave each group one color to be the “experts” on, and they led the discussion for that color. In that case I set up a specific framework and topic for their small-group discussion.

Another way to guide small group discussion is with literary analysis task cards. You could even use task cards for large group, too. It’s totally flexible. Task cards are perfect to differentiate different levels of readers or just to mix up what students look for and discuss. My Response to Literature Literary Analysis Task Cards come in my “Response to Literature: Making Literature Come Alive” bundle. The task cards come in both printable and digital format. Read more about using task cards in this blog post.

My literature worksheets that come digital and printable in the pack are also a good way to focus small-group discussion if there’s something specific you want to students to note or focus on for a certain set of pages or chapter. These would also work really well for the out-of-class packets you could assign students, especially if you are building your own book clubs or your unit needs more meat. (More on the packets below.)

4) Large-group discussion: In large group, I have us sit in a circle when we can. I usually just let anyone start with a question from 3-2-1, and we go from there. I encourage them to answer each other’s questions and go back to the text where necessary. I model that often. I only interject if I think they are off-base, if they ask a question I know will be answered in a later chapter, or when a little prompting could lead them to a much deeper discussion. Large-group discussion can last anywhere from 15-30 minutes, depending on what else you have done that day and how much time you have. I have had groups that skip small group entirely, and we go outside on a nice day and discuss for the majority of the class period.

In the case that students are reluctant to speak up or if you have students who dominate (especially if you are hosting longer discussions) I require every student to say something. I also made cute emoji puppets for discussion. Those work really well for younger students. Here’s a quick video where I explain a bit more about the accountable talk emoji puppets.

Here’s a quick video tutorial where I explain large-group discussions a bit more.

5) Assessment: Since my students are reading out-of-class, they do take a quick quiz at the end of the book club meeting because I do want to hold them accountable. They are also working through packets as they read alone as well. Those are for a grade, too, and include comprehension questions, figurative language, grammar work, journal topics – just whatever I’ve created for the unit plan that would work to guide students through the reading and enrich learning. Every student completes every page in the “workbook” on his or her own. These packets replace the old-fashioned literature circle sheets students do that can be arbitrary or vacuous if not done correctly or managed correctly. I even think when done as well as possible, they don’t always teach students to really dig in and analyze a text. Here’s a link to a short IG story that shows a glimpse of a Lord of the Flies packet I put together.

I have 75-minute periods, so we have to keep it moving. We do all the above steps in that time period and always on Fridays, but if you have shorter periods, you might want to consider doing a two-part book club meeting each week. Every now and then I’ll do that, especially when I have a bigger project in mind. We might start on Thursday or end on Monday. Everyone’s schedule is different, so it’s hard for me to predict what might work best for your timeline. One thing that I’ve starting doing this year is making a slide show (PPT) for the meeting, so that students can see where we are going, and we can keep up with progress more easily. It also gives them a visual because I add pictures, but it’s also helpful for differentiation purposes to meet various learning styles. I’ve also had admin drop in for pop evaluations during book club meetings, and it helps them see at-a-glance what we are working on. I just make one slide per “segment” of the class (see 1-5 above), plus a “Daily Objective” slide at the beginning.

Love this content? Join a group! There are already tons of ideas, freebies, and fabulous teachers in my new groups, and joining is simple. Just click over to the following links, answer a few questions, and voila! Thanks again for following along my classroom stories and small-business journey, and I really do hope you to see you over in my new “backyards” where we can chat and share all things English and Yearbook.

Feb 2019

End-of-Year Reflection: Top Five Classroom Success Stories of 2018

It seems to me that 2018 has been quite the long year… but then again it does feel like I was just rounding the corner of 2018 not too long ago, and here we are already at 2019. One of the most important things we can do as teachers is reflect, and so that’s why I love this annual blog post. It’s been my new year tradition for the past several years (2015, 2016, 2017), and choosing only five moments is always so hard, but here goes: My top five classroom success stories of 2018! This year in review…

1) Read-o-Lution: Reading is the hallmark – the cornerstone – of any English classroom, but let’s face it: In today’s time, even reading can sometimes take a backseat to everything else we cover. And with our teens walking around with tiny TVs in their hands at all times streaming the latest Netflix Original or watching the newest Youtube sensation, there isn’t much reading going on. I started the second semester (Jan 2018) with a focus on reading and having my juniors make a reading resolution or “read-o-lution” after studying an article about the importance of reading. If you are a Common Core state, you can use the reading passage from Appendix A to discuss the importance and value of reading. If not or if you just want something ready-to-go for the new year, I have this super simple informational hot topics lesson on how Reading Is Good For Your Brain. Throughout the year, I implemented my Article of the Week program, too (another blog post to come on that this year but you can get the materials for it here now). We also read more full-length short fiction texts in class, and my honors students read an out-of-class novel for book clubs. (See more about my book clubs here). I also set up a mini classroom library, and students checked out books all year long that way. I left their poster up the rest of the semester, and many students truly did make efforts to take reading more seriously and achieve their reading resolution.

2) Podcasts: I love introducing students to something new, and surprisingly Podcasts were actually kinda new to my students. They had, of course, heard of them, but they never really listened to them. Again… why would they when they could just watch something on the tube? I actually used Podcasts two ways this year. First, with my yearbook staff, we listened to a Podcast crime series when we finished our book. Up and Vanished (Season 1 carefully edited) was the perfect way to get my staff engaged. They completed a casebook to keep track of their listening and crime solving. That casebook is free in my TeachersPayTeachers store. Second, in my English class, we did some spooky Podcasts from Lore during Halloween, and students took notes on a podcast worksheet I created. (Get those here.) Then, they wrote their own spooky stories. My students wrote some really amazing stories: We had many laughs and many spooky cold chills, too! Readers of my email newsletter Teaching Tidbits with Julie Faulkner got that activity for free back in October. Be sure to sign up for that email at the bottom of the page, so you don’t miss anymore goodies. You can also see some of my Podcast suggestions via this link over to my Facebook page at Julie’s Classroom Stories.

3) Victorian Tea Party: Another focus I had this past year was on careers. Whether students were going straight to a career or college after senior year, I still wanted them to be focused on their futures in terms of where will they work when it’s all said and done. I’ve found that this year especially, my students are so uncertain about what they want to do, and they don’t even really have any idea what’s out there. I’m going to be adding a few more career-based lessons in the new year to possibly help students get a better idea of what their options are and what might be a good fit for them. But this project was an interesting way for students to really think about who they are as a person and what they’d like to become — just like our gal pal Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion/My Fair Lady. Hats are a huge symbol in this text, and I wanted students to not only understand and recognize that symbol and it’s role in the characterization, but I also wanted them to make text-to-self connections as well. I loved seeing how their hats turned out, and it was a fun way to make a class party text-based. See this activity and all the instructions here in my TpT store.

4) Sieve and the Sand Experiment: I’ve lost count how many times I’ve taught Fahrenheit 451 over the years, but this year I did something new that I’d never done before: a science experiment. No we didn’t burn anything… though it alarms me how many people want to burn books as part of teaching this unit. (Insert “I dunno” emoji here.) This was actually an experiment that brought the text to life and helped students get hands-on with Bradbury’s choices. I hid a few “surprises” in the sand for students to find, but ultimately, my goal of them being able to use the experiment as a jumping off point for discussion during book club meeting was super successful. I was really proud of how they went back to the text to see what Bradbury said and truly analyzed Montag’s memory. Get my 451 unit here.

5) Character Stockings: About once a year I can get it together to make a huge reading display outside my classroom door. I wish I could do it more often, but quality over quantity, right? This year, we were inspired by Fahrenheit 451 to design a hearth and decorate it for Christmas. I drew the outline for the hearth and printed up the stockings using clip art. Several of my students drew the fire and bricks and put on the finishing touches with paint. Each student then chose one character from the novel and designed a stocking for that character using text-based details. I LOVE the way it turned out!! I’m so proud of it, I’ll probably be “one of those people” who leave their Christmas decorations up year-round. LOL!

As you can probably see, this year was about all about a focus on reading — fiction and nonfiction. I wanted students to see the value in reading and truly immerse themselves in it. Making text-to-text connections, text-to-world connections, and text-to-self connections really taught students to dig in and read closely. I think the reading focus paid off: Just seeing students doing more guided reading in class and independent reading out was fulfillment enough, but we also saw major improvements in ACT reading scores with students making gains of 5-6 points on the reading section and some students scoring 30+. That sounds like a great year to me! Share your best moments of 2018 below, and here’s to having your own classroom success stories in 2019!

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A Movie Review of HBO’s Fahrenheit 451 from a High School English Teacher

Finally… the moment my students and I have been wishing and waiting for – an updated movie remake of one of our favorite novels: Fahrenheit 451. We always have a little fun playing the role of director, choosing which of our favorite actors and actresses should play Montag, Beatty, Mildred, Clarisse, and all the other memorable characters. However, we do always wonder… would Bradbury actually approve of any screen adaptation of his magnum opus? I had so many questions before watching HBO’s hot, new adaptation: Who would play Montag? Would it capture the theme accurately? What would be removed or added? And most importantly… would it be a good fit for using in class? Keep reading for the answers. WARNING: There are spoilers.

1) Characters/Characterization: Not everything about the characters was 100% spot on, but that is to be expected, I suppose. So what works and what doesn’t?

Beatty – Captain Beatty is our resident manipulative, maniacal manager of the fire. He’s the villain through and through, loving to control the narrative and burn anything that gets in his way. Right. Right? Well, maybe not. Beatty’s ambiguity is what makes him so compelling, confusing, and complex. In my opinion, the film does a nice job of painting a picture of Beatty of which Bradbury would approve.

Faber/Granger – These fiction-loving fellas aren’t named characters in the film, but their archetype is certainly present. In fact, they play a huge role in the film in terms of propelling the conflict. In the novel, the bulk of the conflict is driven by Montag’s internal struggle, but the film really hinges on both the person v. person and person v. society conflict with the “Eels” to move the plot. I suppose that’s a pretty decent substitution.
Montag – I’m not sure anybody can really live up to our Guy Montag. He’s always the hardest one to pinpoint and agree upon when we do our exercise in class of picking the actors/actresses. Everyone just always has a different idea of who he should be. He fumbles through most of the book trying to figure himself out, so maybe that’s why he is so hard to pinpoint. HBO’s Montag experiences a similar struggle, but I am still not quite satisfied for some reason. Montag the confused – yes, I can get on board with that. Montag the superstar – nah, I’ll pass on that interpretation. Maybe my hopes were too high. That said, I would give Michael B. Jordan a B+.
Ms. Blake – What a powerful scene. Glad she – and it – was included. Enough said.

Mildred – Initially, I was bothered by the fact that Mildred wasn’t included. The more I think on it, though, I can accept the choice. In the movie, she wasn’t just an obsessed robotic tv watcher, she WAS the robot. Clever. In the text, Bradbury needed a vessel to paint the picture society’s bad behaviors, etc. On the big screen and with today’s special effects, it is possible to just make it evident in other ways. Figuratively, too, it speaks to the whole idea of how little she actually contributed anything to Montag or society at all and how truly forgettable she was. Gone like a freight train (puns are intended), gone like yesterday. Wait, who was Millie again?
Clarisse – Clarisse provides the most mystery in the book, and the kids always love her. Bradbury is even quoted as saying he is Clarisse in the book: full of wonder and curiosity. It’s with Clarisse that the film falls of the wagon in the characters/characterization category. Clarisse is supposed to be light and airy and a picture of innocence, but in the film, she is too dark and brooding for my liking. And then there’s the whole spark between Montag and Clarisse. Not. My. Favorite. My students always think they’ve “picked up” on something between Montag and Clarisse when they read the scenes with her, and I always stress how incorrect that reading is. Clarisse is a catalyst for Montag’s path toward the truth. In that that way – and only in that way – might she serve as a femme fatale, luring him to the light. Am I surprised “Hollywood” used her character as a way to provide some on-screen romance? No, but it’s just textually inaccurate. As an aside here: My students didn’t like her in the film either.

2) Setting: So much of what Bradbury penned was futuristic – and dare I say prophetic – in the 1950s. Today, though, just about every bit of it has come to fruition, and what hasn’t can be computer generated for the movies. I was pleased to see the infusion of the large screens; they are, in fact, everywhere: in homes, in streets, and even on the skyscrapers. Bradbury’s biggest fear was the detrimental effects of people’s over consumption of and obsession with television. The TVs are ever present and “large and in charge.” However, I’m not so certain the intended dystopian city that Bradbury envisioned really seemed “all that bad” in HBO’s version. The setting, for me, kinda fizzled out.

3) OMNIS: This is a massive change from the book, but it may just be this detail that shows us – 2018 watchers of the film – how close we might actually be to Bradbury’s dystopian future. OMNIS holds every piece of literature, art, and history in a DNA strand, preserving the long forgotten culture that the firemen tried to erase. While there are underground members of society, like Granger and his “railroad” crew that memorize entire books in order to preserve them, it is this OMNIS that they work to protect and preserve. Once the OMNIS is introduced into the plot, it becomes the major source of the conflict, as it is the focus of the firemen’s revenge. The twist is that this DNA strand has been implanted in a bird. After some thought, I decided I might be satisfied with this change as I see connections with it and the prominent role of the Phoenix in the novel. OMNIS becomes a symbol of hope in a bleak, literature-loathing society that hints at the emergence of a better future. It’s a reminder that it doesn’t matter how much “graffiti” (books) the firemen decide to burn, there’s still hope out there for a free-thinking future — much like the Phoenix that is burned but rises again.

4) Theme: Ultimately, Bradbury wants readers to put themselves in the characters’ shoes: What role would you have played in this dystopian universe: perpetuator, bystander, fighter? Would you see the truth like Montag, or continue to fumble your way through the pursuit for ~~emptiness~~ happiness like Mildred. Would you fight to manipulate and cover the truth like Beatty or use truth to lead others to it like Faber or Granger? It is the growth from within that he wants – that really can bring the change that this culture needs. Truth, knowledge, morality — all erased and replaced with what people see rather than what they think. The movie does a good job of making that clear — maybe a little too clear (some points didn’t leave much to the imagination), but in order to bridge the gap to “modern audiences,” I can see the need. Maybe that’s a tad ironic, and telling, in and of itself. Nonetheless, tons of lines from the book are woven throughout, and I enjoyed hearing Bradbury’s voice.

5) The Ending: Bradbury’s ending is open, or so many of my students say, and most really do hate that. I always pose the question to them, though, Is it really open ended? Throughout the entire book, Bradbury wants readers to realize that the value of books is to provide information, but more importantly to make people think. On one hand, the open ending forces readers to do that. On the other hand, maybe the ending so open at all. Montag did figure out his purpose, and if you read it that way, then what else was there? Either way, the movie definitely provides us with Bahrani’s idea of what he thought should be Montag’s purpose: keep the “books” alive. But die? I could see a case for his death in the book, but die at the hand of Beatty. That idea should be torched. In the movie, the books “rise from the ashes” to live on and that offers some hope, but having Beatty kill Montag gives the villain way too much power, and erases hope that the books — and future — will really be safe. To link in another once “hot” film, President Snow said, “Hope, it is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective, a lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it’s contained.” (Sidebar: Does anybody else see the HG connections? I can’t unsee it.) If Bahrani intended to remove that hope, that’s dark and maybe it’s a little too dark. But perhaps that’s just me trying to look on the bright side.

Final thoughts: Is it appropriate for class? HBO rated the film TV-MA for violence and language. That said, just about any novel we pick up is going to have violence and language or worse. I am not a fan of it either, and I don’t want to convey that at all. Otherwise, it’s pretty benign. All in all, I did think it was time well spent showing it to my students. It brought up so many conversations; and we really did decide that the book is better. It doesn’t get much better for my little English-teacher heart. In my school, anytime we show a film, we have to get our principal to approve it. So, I did that, and I wrote a parent letter and created a set of questions student would answer during the viewing. He was fine with that, and I had zero parents ask for an alternative assignment. I do have older students, but if you cover your bases this way you should be fine. (See my Teacher Talk Video on Facebook here about dealing with novels with difficult content.)

Get the letter I drafted and the questions HERE for free!

If you teach Fahrenheit 451 as a novel unit, stop over to my teacherspayteachers store and take a look at my complete unit plan. Also, did you enjoy the memes above? I have to brag on my students. Those were all their original work, and I have to admit, I laughed out loud at most of them.

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Formula for Classroom Success Series Post #3: Interactive and Real-World Strategies

I’m continuing the series today on Classroom Success Strategies. Today’s post is a two-in-one tip for interactive and real-world teaching strategies. At the bottom of the post, feel free to link up with your own favorite strategies in the comments section. Link products, ideas, etc.!

In the fast-paced world of today’s teen, I am always looking for new and different ways to appeal to my students. I don’t always expect everything to be fun all the time, but I know that I’ll accomplish more if my students are engaged. If you are on the cusp of branching out into the interactive world of teaching strategies, or even if you are well-versed, perhaps my take below will spark you to get interactive this week!

1) An interactive lesson doesn’t have to be silly. I think a lot of times, especially
high school teachers, think that interactive lessons are akin to playing games
and are silly. Granted, I’ve seen some
that are. To me, an interactive lesson can be anything from using task
cards with individual students or in a group setting to making human
MLA citations! If you wanted to bring in a little silly with the serious, play a funny song or have students race the clock! It really depends on
your style and, of course, what your goals are for the class.

2) An interactive lesson doesn’t have to take a long time in class. I
like to chunk my classes into segments – usually about 15-20 minutes each. This is usually an excellent structure for my daily grammar bell ringer routine, lesson intro, interactive/group work, and individual
task. Sometimes my “real-world” connection
is simply a relatable video as a set activity or a funny grammar mistake from my growing collection of pictures.
Other times, my real-world connections are more project-oriented, take a
while longer, and give students time to work in groups, process through
problem-solving strategies, and employ critical thinking skills. If you wanted to experiment with longer projects, start small. One really
successful project I’ve done is my Earth Day Info Text and Real-World Project,
which is perfect for April. In this Earth Day
themed lesson, students compare and contrast the presentation of a similar theme
or topic across genres (different types of writing) to explain how each genre
shapes the author’s presentation of the theme. Next, they use their
problem-solving skills to raise awareness of the need to be good stewards of
the earth. Students love getting “their hands dirty” with this
real-world project and presentation, and you will love that they are critically
thinking about the world around them while demonstrating their understanding of
key CCSS. Perhaps, you will give
it a try!

Earth Day Paired Text Reading Lesson, Speech and Poem with

3) An interactive lesson doesn’t have
to be hands-on or project-oriented. In
order for a lesson to be interactive, it doesn’t have to be a full-blown
project or even something where students move around. An effective and purposeful whole-group discussion
or guided small-group discussion can take the attention off the teacher and
make it more student-centered and interactive. I also think when a student is 100% engaged in
his/her learning, that’s pretty interactive, too. I like to give case studies and short research
projects where students are responsible for extracting the information about
the assigned topic on their own, and then they give a presentation. If you wanted to be more adventurous and try something interactive while keeping students focused, my students enjoy readers’ theater or role playing. I love keeping a box of costume props
handy when we are reading some favorites like The Crucible, Macbeth, Beowulf, or Trifles. It doesn’t take but a few minutes, and it’s
great for those out-going students.

4) An interactive lesson doesn’t have
to be labor-intensive for the teacher. The idea behind an interactive or real-world
lesson is that students are going to be doing most of the work and hopefully, they will be more engaged – which takes the pressure off of the teacher. One quick way I review
before a test involves a small ball that we toss around the room. In fact, I
call it Ball Toss Review – creative, right? Each student
must answer a question about the topic, and then he/she gets to toss the ball to
whomever he/she chooses. I don’t have to
prepare anything, but the students are on their toes thinking and
responding the entire time. Technology is another
excellent way to get students more involved, and it may or may not involve a little prep work.
Especially when technology
is involved, most times students will dive right in. I love my newest Google-Drive eWorksheets for
poetry, which are a super-cool tool for bridging the gap between today’s teens and poetry!

Digital Poetry eWorksheets Analysis & Comprehension for An

5) An interactive lesson doesn’t have
to cost you anything. Sometimes it may seem daunting to buy game pieces, cut and laminate game cards, or prepare online worksheets or discussion boards for students. If your time and resources are limited (of course they are), there are plenty interactive ideas that are completely free. If you are in the middle of a writing unit, have students complete a 4-square peer review. Students fold a piece of notebook paper into four squares and review each other’s paper for the thesis statement, grammar/spelling, organization, and language. With April being poetry month, another fun and free hands-on idea is to have students write Characterization Poems for the piece of literature you are currently studying. Just beg and borrow to get a few magazines, and you’ll be set. If you have a bit more time, a smart device, and time to print and cut a glass set of Plickers, you will love the results. Even Plickers are mostly free, and would be excellent way to jazz up your traditional exit tickets.

I don’t think every single lesson, every single day needs to be interactive. Sometimes, teachers come down with
the “activity-itis” syndrome. I’ve been guilty of it myself. See more of my thoughts about that here.
The most important thing to keep in mind for a successful lesson is that it
just needs to be on purpose. More on that topic in another post in this series.
Stay tuned!

If you are looking for more interactive ideas right now, I wrote an entire blog post here a while back that describes several ways to engage secondary students in the classroom.

Heart to Heart with Secondary School Teachers February 2016 Blog Hop

Thank you for joining us on this Valentine’s Day Blog Hop where some great secondary teachers are sharing confessions from the heart about teaching!

1) I like when former students come
back to visit me or see me in a restaurant and say hey! It’s always funny
because they don’t know if they should call me Julie or Mrs. Faulkner. They
usually choose Mrs. Faulkner!

2) I like having student work to hang
on my walls because I hate making bulletin boards. I’m even guilty of having a
cute activity planned but run out of time in class to do it, so I send it home
for extra credit just so I can hang it up!

See
those cork strips pictured where I hang student work up in the hallway? Here’s
how I did it to get a quick and cheap alternative to those expensive bulletin
board strips. Just get the square cork boards that in come in packs at the Dollar
General or Staples and cut them into strips. Hot glue them to the wall, and voilà!
You have instant cork strips for a couple of bucks.

3) I’m always afraid of having a typo
or spelling error in my worksheets or lessons since one of my favorite things
is it to find them in the real-world!

Grammar Fails in Real World, Bell Ringers Proofreading, Ta

Grammar Fails from Real World, Bell Ringers Proofreading,

4) Keep Calm and Have a Red Coke is
my motto. Is it bad that when my students see me drinking a “red coke” they
know it’s been a bad day?

5) Probably one of my favorite things
about teaching is creating lessons and activities that students enjoy and can
connect to. I love trying new teaching strategies or texts. I have a few texts that
I teach over and over each year, but I’m always rotating others in and out
because something in the class, news, or world inspires me to develop a
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An InLinkz Link-up

The Big Game: Analyzing the Commercials in ELA

A little bit touching, a little bit thought-provoking, and a whole lot funny – Super Bowl commercials are rich with material for lessons. Since I’m an English teacher, I see these commercials as the perfect opportunity to cover persuasive appeals, rhetorical devices, literary techniques, and even media choices. I’m sure we all have our favorites for different reasons, but the ones I linked below are the ones I love because I am that nerdy English teacher! I’ve compiled them all in one place for you, so all the research is done. If you haven’t covered Common Core R.7 or SL.2 yet, the Super Bowl would be the perfect opportunity to do so AND make a real-world connection. Your cool teacher rating? 10 out of 10! This lesson always “scores big” with my classes!

1) 2013 Dodge “So God Made a Farmer” with Paul Harvey narrating

Teaching Notes: While Paul Harvey might be an out-of-date reference for most teens today, for older generations, that voice is immediately recognizable – thus, providing a sense of ethos or credibility to the Dodge Ram automatically. Also, the commercial banks largely on pathos or emotional appeal using the techniques of transfer with patriotic images sprinkled throughout and loaded words with lines such as “God made a farmer…. to work hard, to stay up late, to participate on the school board, etc.” Even though it seems that this commercial is targeting only the one audience – farmers – it illustrates beautifully the core of the American Dream: hard work. That is a claim that connects with any audience.

2) Budweiser Clydesdale “Puppy Love” 2014

Teaching Notes: It seems like Budweiser always tugs at the heartstrings with those beautiful horses every year, and they’ve done it again this time by doubling the cuteness factor. This example actually went on my Top 5 Fav list by request of my students. They loved it, and for good reason. It is dripping with pathos from the adorable puppy to the lyrics of the song. Also, the final call to action screenshot employs a pun, and if it’s punny, I’m a fan! #bestbuds – used to pull together the theme of the commercial and to make that final push of the product. Genius, right?

3) Monster.com“When I Grow Up” 2008

Teaching Notes: Wow. This is one really makes you stop and think. Not only is this one an excellent example for pathos, but the underlying dark logic used here with the faulty comparison, “you must go after your dreams or be stuck in a job you hate,” is definitely an “in your face” type approach. Also, important to note is the choice of the black and white color scheme that darkens the mood even further. I like that this commercial works perfectly for an ELA class, but it would also work well in a personal finance class for preparing for your future and goal setting or even for discussion in a human services class.

4) “Cat Herding” (2000) EDS.com

Teaching Notes: I tend to really, really enjoy dry humor and verbal irony, so I had to double check the funny factor of this one with my students. They agreed that it is a solid choice for
funny! When the two cowboys are discussing their “injuries,” I am laughing so hard I can barely breathe – maybe that’s because I can relate to the cat-herding feeling as a teacher some days! This one is definitely tickling the funny bone, which falls into the pathos category, and I also enjoy the metaphor used for the company’s goal of pulling all sorts of information together in one place.

5) “Middle Seat” – Doritos 2015

Teaching Note: This fan-made ad from 2015 is stop, drop, and roll hilarious. If you’ve ever flown, you know that fear of not knowing who is going to be sitting beside you. The struggle is definitely real! I appreciate the creativity here, and it’s a perfect example of situational irony. Of all his antics in this one, it’s hard to choose which one is the most outlandish – maybe the flossing or toe-nail clipping… shudder!

Hop over to my TPT store to get my FREE Big Game Commercial Analysis, updated 2018!