CHS 20 Second Celebration

Mrs. Hancock, English IV teacher, is eccentric in her methods of engaging seniors. Recently, students read ode to a greacian urn with a focus on visualization. This ode is a praise of a beautiful ancient Greek urn decorated with figures. John Keats personified frozen images: a boy sitting under a tree, a priest leading a cow, old men and young maidens, two lovers frozen in time before a kiss could happen. Students were to work together to bring to life scenes from the urn.

Our period 3 seniors became "frozen statues" representing the visuals on the Greacian urn. Following this activity, Mrs. Hancock had her seniors find evidence of the 5 senses in the ode. Students quoted stanzas, identified which one of the 5 senses, and then justified their responses. Fun and learning was had by all!

Technology Infused

Today I had the honor of see our students in speech put their technology skills to work. Our speech teacher showed students a variety of online videos. Students utilized answergarden.com to note non-verbal body language used by the individuals interviewed. Students saw their answers grow. The top non-verbal body language noted was "no eye contact." A few answers were reviewed with justification provided as a class discussion.
Next, students transitioned to powerpoint to demonstrate learning of non-verbal body language (pictures with explanations). After students completed their powerpoint, each student uploaded their final product to Edmodo where students were asked to view a minimum of two and respond with constructive feedback.

It Says, I Say, and So

It Says, I Say, and So is an instructional strategy for reading and answering questions about any content (core or non-core). This activity can be utlized to make inferences, make connections, and synthesize. Start by having students fold a sheet of paper into quarters labeling each section. (Students love to use colored paper for this activity.)


Step 1 (section 1)
Write the question
(created or provided)

Step 2 (section 2) It Says - What does the text say?
Find information from
the text that will help
answer the question.

Step 3 (section 3) I Say - Restate textual information in your own words.
Think about what you
know about that
information.

Step 4 (section 4) and So - Answer the question in Step 1
Combine what the text
says with what you know
to come up with the
answer.

http://www.readingrockets.org/pdfs/inference-graphic-organizer.pdf

Rethinking the Use of Blogs

Today during staff development administrators were asked to rethink the way we are using blogs and how we are getting our blogs out to others. Many ideas were shared. I have been using blogs primarily as a means to share instructional strategies. Blogs can also be used to brag on students and teachers and to share teachable moments. In regards to sharing my blogs, I currently tweet my blogs. Other ideas are to utlize Pinterest, include link on weekly electronic newsletters, and to include hashtags when tweeting. The possibilities of building your digital footprint are endless. Have fun!