I’ve mentioned this before, but if you’re looking for a great collection of educational videos streaming on the Internet, check out HippoCampus.
Archive for the ‘lessons’ category
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January 13th, 2012Research Scavenger Hunt
November 24th, 2010I’m a fan of experiential learning to build connections and help students find the relevance, hopefully remembering some of what they learned. (If they truly learned it, they will remember. If it’s just storing the information in working memory, then you can wave bye-bye.)
Many times we ask students to find information using multiple sources, but we don’t coach them on how to do it. 7th grade Language Arts teacher Mrs. Clerke and I created a quick scavenger hunt to familiarize students with print references. If we were to jump straight into a big research assignment, the students wouldn’t quite know where to look. Add that confusion to students not realizing what information they really need for their project and a research unit becomes more exhausting than it should be.
Below is a copy of the handout we gave them for the scavenger hunt race. (This is also for Clerke’s and my reference in case the district wipes our computer user accounts and e-mail in the same year. What are the odds of that happening, right?)
Research Scavenger Hunt
Find a biography of a president. What’s the title of the book? Who’s the author?
Is Warsaw, Poland north or south of Prague, Czech Republic? What’s the title of the book? When was it published?
Let’s say you’re writing an essay and you want to start it with a quote about winter. Find a quote about winter. What’s the title of the book? Copy the quote about winter. Which page was it on?
Your teacher has asked you to make a travel brochure to visit Guyana from the story “Three Skeleton Key”. Draw the flag from Guyana. What is the title of the book you found the flag in?
What are two synonyms for the word “sovereign”? Which book did you use?
What part of speech is the word “jealousy”? How do you spell its plural form? Which book did you use?
Who invented the Geiger counter? When did that person invent it? What country was that person from?
Name a type of fluke worm. What does it do? What’s the title of the book? Who published the book?
*Bonus Point: Draw the flag from Libya.
Citing the Career Opportunities book
September 28th, 2010Field, Shelly. “Sportscaster/Radio”. Career Opportunities in the Sports Industry. New York: Checkmark Books. 1999
Careers in Sports and Fitness
September 21st, 2010This is a collection of websites for Ms. Cuppage’s career research unit.
Here’s a link to how to cite the Career Opportunities book.
Field, Shelly. “Sportscaster/Radio”. Career Opportunities in the Sports Industry. New York: Checkmark Books. 1999
Here’s information from the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Announcer
Athletic Trainer
Chiropractor
Coach
Dancer
Dietitian and Nutritionist
Doctor
News Analyst, Reporter, and Correspondent
Nurse
Professional Athlete
Recreation and Fitness Worker
Recreational Therapist
Sports Business and Administration
Account Exec for Special – Risk Insurance – Sports
Athletics, and Recreation
Sports Event Coordinator
Coaching and Education
Coach or Manage – Professional Sports Team
Physical Education (PE) Teacher – College, HS, JHS, Ele.
Officiating Sports Teams
Umpire/ Referee-Pro, college, HS, JHS, Rec Leagues
Sports Journalism
Recreation and Fitness
Sports and Fitness Program Coordinator
Health Club Manager, Assistant Manager
Tennis Director
Tennis Teaching Professional
Golf Pro
Lifeguard
Horse Racing
Harness Driver (pull carts behind horses competitively)
Harness Racing Judge
Racing Secretary
Racetrack Announcer
Sports Medicine
Sports and Fitness Nutritionist
Specialties:
Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Sports Acupuncture and related therapy
And all the assistants to these positions.
Wholesaling and Retailing
Manufacturer’s Representative – Sporting Goods
Boxing and Wrestling
Matchmaker
Boxing Referee
Professional Boxing Judge
Boxing Trainer
Boxing Manager
Boxing Trainer
Ring Announcer
Professional Wrestling Referee
Leadership qualities in Girl Who Owned a City [re-posted]
September 14th, 2010This is a re-posting of an activity we did last year. It has been updated to include the 2010 Time List.
This is for Ms. Redden’s 7th grade Language Arts class. We’ll be looking at leadership characteristics in both a modern day setting and in the novel The Girl Who Owned a City.
The first site to look at is the Time Magazine Top 100 Influential People of 2010. You can find the site by clicking here.
Click on a person’s name from the list. Read through the person’s description looking specifically for leadership qualities.
Look at the Venn diagram side of your handout. In the middle of the diagram, write down qualities that Lisa and your person share.
On the left-hand side of the diagram, write down qualities that Lisa has as a leader that your person does not have.
On the right-hand side of the diagram, write down qualities that your person has that Lisa does not have.
The next site you’ll look at is the Top 10 Leadership Qualities from HR World. You can get to the site by clicking here.
On your own, answer the three questions on your handout in complete sentences.
Teaching Symbolism Using Mockingjay
August 30th, 2010When I was a Language Arts teacher, I would always look for examples from life of symbolism to help students connect the concept to reality. Things like a heart representing love or a red light representing the idea of stopping translate well.
Where it got tough was connecting it to literature. Sure, we understand a peace sign, but what about a character carrying an olive branch? Sometimes it’s like we’re stretching too much (and it seems like that because, frankly, sometimes we English teachers find symbols everywhere…even if the author didn’t intend them).
Mockingjay (and the whole Hunger Games series) has symbolism all over the place. I want to focus specifically on the mockingjay. It’s a bird that the rebels used in their fight against the Capitol before the first book starts. Throughout the story arc we see the mockingjay show up when freedom is discussed.
But what I think is the really cool spin that Suzanne Collins does is to label Katniss as the mockingjay (most characters call her that at least once). She is now the symbol of freedom for those oppressed by Panem. What makes it work is that Katniss struggles with freedom. She is in constant rebellion and many characters are able to point out that her individualism has swung so far that it is considered a character flaw. She isn’t completely free, though. Throughout she is described as the girl on fire (another symbol) who will fly away, but she doesn’t feel like she has the wings to do it (she even voices her concern for a lack of wings).
Her fight for freedom, not just from Panem but in the larger “transition to adulthood” freedom, is what causes every other plot point. She is a flawed mockingjay figuring out how to fly (cue the Foo Fighters song).
I think that many students will be familiar with the Hunger Games series after a while and that the series will provide a great example for symbolism that they can connect to.
Leadership Qualities in Girl Who Owned a City
March 10th, 2010This is for Ms. Redden’s 7th grade Language Arts class. We’ll be looking at leadership characteristics in both a modern day setting and in the novel The Girl Who Owned a City.
The first site to look at is the Time Magazine Top 100 Influential People of 2009. You can find the site by clicking here.
Click on a person’s name from the list. Read through the person’s description looking specifically for leadership qualities.
Look at the Venn diagram side of your handout. In the middle of the diagram, write down qualities that Lisa and your person share.
On the left-hand side of the diagram, write down qualities that Lisa has as a leader that your person does not have.
On the right-hand side of the diagram, write down qualities that your person has that Lisa does not have.
The next site you’ll look at is the Top 10 Leadership Qualities from HR World. You can get to the site by clicking here.
On your own, answer the three questions on your handout in complete sentences.
