My students and I have been studying mythology (Greek and otherwise) recently. I wanted to come up with something to challenge those who have finished a myth-writing assignment with the tremendous speed that I wasn't expecting. While browsing the K-12 Online Conference archives, I came across Kevin Hodgson's The Heroic Journey Project. He is a 6th grade teacher and so am I, so it made perfect sense to adapt his idea to my situation. I used Google Docs and Google Maps to create an introduction to the project and a tutorial.
Google Maps is involved because this project involves a journey, created and mapped out by students. The journey involves a hero or heroine who has to get home from some remote location on the globe. He or she has to encounter mythical creatures and battle them along the way. It is a modern day "The Odyssey" that combines literature, writing, and technology. It also presents a challenge to those students who need one and can handle the independent nature of the activities.
In Kevin Hodgson's version, his students also uploaded pictures from Picasa into their maps. I have left that feature out of mine for now, until I become more familiar with the service, or find another way to involve images.
This link will bring you to the Google Doc about this project.
Challenge Project
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
I Hope the New Year....
Recently, I asked my students to write an entry in their Warm-Up Journal in place of the usual poem response. The entry was to be about the new year and their hopes for it. Instead of asking for the usual paragraph of ideas, I thought I'd try something a little different.
On the board I wrote, "I hope the new year is/isn't..." and then asked them to help me list the 5 different types of figurative language we've been studying. Simile, metaphor, personification, idiom, hyperbole. They were to write use one or more in their response. I wasn't sure what to expect, especially after seeing some of their faces when they heard what I wanted them to do. I told them I wasn't giving them an example, for fear that it would distract them from an original thought.
The responses were quite varied and thoughtful. I'll include a sampling here. I was glad I asked for these, because it became clear that many of my students have more on their minds than I might have once guessed.
"I hope the new year is like a piece of cake so that we can get through it easy and fast."
"I hope the new year isn't going to be dangerous like a raging bull on a deadly live wire."
"I hope the new year isn't a bad dream."
"I hope the new year is like a roller coaster with ups and downs, but always thrilling and exciting."
"I hope the new year isn't the Great Depression."
"I hope the new year is like a yellow bird, graceful and peaceful."
"I hope the new year isn't like when taxes are due."
"I hope the new year is like a newly paved highway, once bumpy, but now smooth."
"I hope the new year is like a door of opportunity that brings luck and awareness."
What is your hope for the new year?
On the board I wrote, "I hope the new year is/isn't..." and then asked them to help me list the 5 different types of figurative language we've been studying. Simile, metaphor, personification, idiom, hyperbole. They were to write use one or more in their response. I wasn't sure what to expect, especially after seeing some of their faces when they heard what I wanted them to do. I told them I wasn't giving them an example, for fear that it would distract them from an original thought.
The responses were quite varied and thoughtful. I'll include a sampling here. I was glad I asked for these, because it became clear that many of my students have more on their minds than I might have once guessed.
"I hope the new year is like a piece of cake so that we can get through it easy and fast."
"I hope the new year isn't going to be dangerous like a raging bull on a deadly live wire."
"I hope the new year isn't a bad dream."
"I hope the new year is like a roller coaster with ups and downs, but always thrilling and exciting."
"I hope the new year isn't the Great Depression."
"I hope the new year is like a yellow bird, graceful and peaceful."
"I hope the new year isn't like when taxes are due."
"I hope the new year is like a newly paved highway, once bumpy, but now smooth."
"I hope the new year is like a door of opportunity that brings luck and awareness."
What is your hope for the new year?
Sunday, November 22, 2009
The Perfect Paragraph
I just finished reading Coal Black Horse by Robert Olmstead. It is a brutal story of a teenaged boy searching for his soldier father during the Civil War. Robey's main companion during his journey is the smart, sturdy animal for which the book is named.
Olmstead's writing is powerful and poetic. Because his words are so fresh in my mind, it may be that I am overstating his talent when I say he has written the perfect paragraph. In any case, the possibility in itself is a testament to how masterful a storyteller Olmstead is.
Here it is (from page 156):
He gentled the coal black horse and then he lay down on the warm ground with his head on his father's shoulder. He felt his father's arm lift and his fingers fumbling until he hooked them to his belt. He lay quietly with his arm across his father's chest and his father's arm holding him. He felt the rise and fall of his father's breathing and he wished that sleep would overtake him and painlessly carry him from that place. He knew now that when he left, his father would remain.
This tender description of a boy who has found his father after both have experienced the horrors of war is the best of the few gentle moments to be found inside a heartbreaking story. I will read it again and again.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
A Foggy Lesson
It seems fitting that I chose to use Fog by Carl Sandburg as the Daily Warm Up poem this week...
We've been reviewing the different types of figurative language -metaphor, simile, personification- and looking for examples in different things we read. To make the information stick, each student is in the process of making their own "Guide to Figurative Language" complete with definitions and illustrated examples. We have discussed and worked with these concepts daily for over a week. I thought they were getting it.
Yesterday, at the beginning of my first language arts class, I put Fog up on the overhead and read it out loud. My students were looking for the figurative language as I read. I told them I'd be asking each one to tell me which type was being used before they began to write about it. I wanted to be sure they were on the right track. It is a good thing I checked, or they all would have been explaining why Carl Sandburg used personification to describe the fog in his poem.
In case you are not familiar:
Fog
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on. http://www.bartleby.com
We've been reviewing the different types of figurative language -metaphor, simile, personification- and looking for examples in different things we read. To make the information stick, each student is in the process of making their own "Guide to Figurative Language" complete with definitions and illustrated examples. We have discussed and worked with these concepts daily for over a week. I thought they were getting it.
Yesterday, at the beginning of my first language arts class, I put Fog up on the overhead and read it out loud. My students were looking for the figurative language as I read. I told them I'd be asking each one to tell me which type was being used before they began to write about it. I wanted to be sure they were on the right track. It is a good thing I checked, or they all would have been explaining why Carl Sandburg used personification to describe the fog in his poem.
In case you are not familiar:
Fog
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on. http://www.bartleby.com
Daily Warm Ups and a Plexer
This year I came up with a new idea for how to begin my language arts classes. Each day we do a different activity according to the following schedule:
Monday: Poem Response
Tuesday: Plexer /Analogies
Wednesday: Vocabulary Review Activity
Thursday: Paragraph Edit
Friday: Quote Response
I have enjoyed the results so far and have noticed that my students appreciate (or at least follow without being reminded) the routine. They love Tuesdays and Wednesdays especially. Mondays and Fridays are met with slightly less enthusiasm. I can't really tell what they think about Thursdays yet.
For those of you who are not familiar with Plexers, they are visual puzzles, often made with some arrangement of letters, meant to represent a common saying, person, place name, etc. We are beginning to study South America in my geography classes, so today's Plexer looked something like this:
guay
guay
What do you think it is? Leave a comment with your guess.
Monday: Poem Response
Tuesday: Plexer /Analogies
Wednesday: Vocabulary Review Activity
Thursday: Paragraph Edit
Friday: Quote Response
I have enjoyed the results so far and have noticed that my students appreciate (or at least follow without being reminded) the routine. They love Tuesdays and Wednesdays especially. Mondays and Fridays are met with slightly less enthusiasm. I can't really tell what they think about Thursdays yet.
For those of you who are not familiar with Plexers, they are visual puzzles, often made with some arrangement of letters, meant to represent a common saying, person, place name, etc. We are beginning to study South America in my geography classes, so today's Plexer looked something like this:
guay
guay
What do you think it is? Leave a comment with your guess.
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