Tag: reading

Colour coding words – Dyslexia

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Hi, remember me? It’s been a while since I last updated my little side project.

Why so long you ask? Well. Turns out, I would MUCH rather write all these wonderful English essays, and pedagogical reflections that university is making me do. Oh, what joy they bring me! 

So, what brings me back you ask? Well. I have quite a number of students who have dyslexia, and quite a number of students who are just learning how to read  in English, and learn all of our wonderful pronunciation and spelling screw-up-ery. I mean, English is a mix-match of Latin, Greek, Germanic and French… plus you also have Shakespeare who bombarded the English language with a whole plethora of new words… spelling just couldn’t keep up.

To sum it up: I really FEEL for anyone who is an ELL (English language learner) and needs to read this damn language. I can only imagine the extra challenge for those who have dyslexia.

As teachers, we are expected to differentiate as much as possible within the classroom, and this brings about challenges as well. How do we help those who have dyslexia to read without increasing frustration? How do we develop a lifelong love for reading?

Here is one little exercise that you can try with your students – those who are beginning to read, as well as those with dyslexia. You can find a similar idea on this fantastic website Beating Dyslexia

First, teach them how to count syllables. One easy way is telling them to look at how many vowels each word has, but it is pretty amazing how quickly students catch on to the whole “clapping words out” idea.

Then, give the the little muffins a short reading passage. Something they can really sink their teeth into – a little difficult, but within their range of learning.

Lastly, tell them that they are going to read their part (alone or with a partner), and colour in words. 

Green – 1 clap word,  Yellow – 2 clap word, Red – 3 clap or more words

This makes them focus more on the word they are reading through saying it out loud and reflecting over it with a friend.

There we have it! Colour coding words. Try it with your students, and let me know how it goes.

Now. I will muster up all the energy (and wine) I have left, and write an essay on something really important for my pedagogical course. 

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Greek Mythology: Create Your Own Myth

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During the last week, I have been battling the cold of the century. I took two days off work, sat on my couch and felt sorry for myself. (However, I did get through an ENTIRE season of “Outlander” – so not a complete waste).

Now that I am back, and semi-healthy, I thought I would tackle this blog post I have been thinking about for the last couple of months. It is quite extensive, so I have been putting it off… But here it goes.

Greek Myths!  Dun- dun – duuuuun

Greek Myths can seem boring… students groan and yawn when you tell them they’re going to read about Zeus and the gang. However, it doesn’t need to be boring at all. I mean, do they actually think about how many movies are based on Greek myths? Probably not. I bet they didn’t know that The Hunger Games was based on Theseus and the Minotaur right? 

Also – Zeus was a complete hound dog, and had some SPI (serious personal issues). I mean, the guy married his sister. Who does that? 

 

 You could amaze them with this fun fact! Did you know that Ryan Gosling (who is Canadian by the way – no big deal), played Young Hercules early on in his career? *mind blown.*

After you have wow-ed your little nuggets with these tales of wonder you can open the door to the world of the Greek Gods.

Check out my lesson plan for a schedule and learning objectives. I have included a PPT, and a link to the two stories – Persephone and the Story of the Seasons and Echo and Narcissus. These cost $3 dollars on Teachers Pay Teachers, BUT it is so worth it. Trust me. Everything is done for you, and you don’t need to worry about it. Finally there are the handouts, and the “Create Your Own Myth” summative activity. 

As an example of the “Create Your Own myth” to show your class, here is an extremely creative presentation that three of my students did a few years back. These students are great examples of what it means to have a good work ethic, because they put so much effort in to everything they did. The way the system works (thank you National Tests) makes us focus so much on grades and outcomes, and sometimes we forget about praising creativity and hard work. I honestly believe that having a good work ethic will get you much further in life than anything else.

Maybe we need to start teaching students that it doesn’t matter what grade they get, only that they gave it 100% on the way there. 

These girls did that – and I can’t wait to see what they will be doing in ten years.

 

Here are all the attachments.

Lesson Plan: My classes range from between 40 minutes – 1 hour, so I take about 4 weeks to complete this unit.

Download

Powerpoint: Greek Mythology

 

 

 

Handouts: Myth Writing, and Group Evaluation

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Persephone Story and Narcissus Story

Teachers Pay Teachers: Echo and Narcissus

Teachers Pay Teachers: Persephone

 

Summative Activity Outline

Download

 

Let me know how your myths go! It would be lovely to see some examples.

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The Heroes Unit: Subunit 2 – Modern Day Heroes

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Subunit 2: Modern day Heroes

The purpose with this assignment is forcing students to get outside of their own backyards and hopefully get a little inspiration. There are so many role models out there that students are not aware of.

The next step in this heroes unit is talking about present day heroes. I have four biographies I use: Malala, Aung San Sun Kyi, Mandela and Terry Fox. They are modern day badasses in my opinion. You find your own modern day badasses if you want.

On the lesson plan this is Activity 2.

Lesson Plan What is a Hero_-Activity 2

I do this as a jigsaw activity. (click for explanation), and in order to differentiate for the learning levels the biographies range from easy to hard. It is a great assessment because it involves a lot of knowledge requirements. (Reading, finding information, writing and speaking).

Group A:  Nelson Mandela Biography Mandela Timeline
Group B: Malala Biography
Group C: Aung San Suu Kyi Biography
Group D: Terry Fox Biography 

How does it work?

Separate into groups and give them a hero based on their reading level. Nelson Mandela is probably the easiest, because I did a timeline for him with quotes attached. Within the groups students work together by doing various tasks that are indicated in the lesson plan.

After they are prepared I make new groups – so each person has a different hero. They present their hero to each other – I have them record their group conversation and send it to me. That’s how I judge their speaking. (Also to make sure they are actually doing something). Alternatively, you could listen to each group one at a time and judge them that way. The students also submit their written work. To add listening comprehension the others in the group could record information about one of the heroes that was presented.

Okay… that’s a crap tonne of information. Let’s break that down shall we?

They hand in the following:

  • Written work 
    • Write a ½ page summary of your hero, and identify parts of the heroic journey
    • Do you think she/he is a hero. Why? (1 -2 sentences)
    • 1 Famous Quote. How can you relate to this? (1 – 2 sentences)
  • Speaking
    • Presentation of their hero to group members
  • Listening
    • Information of one of the other heroes presented by another group member

Afterwards there is this great movie on Terry Fox by ESPN called “Into the Wind” – get the kleenex out.

If you have any other good examples of heroes – let me know! Good luck!

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English Fishbowl/Socratic Seminar Discussion

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Ahhh… the fishbowl assignment. I saw an English teacher do this with her class once a long time ago, and was immediately hooked.

Why is this is my absolute, most favourite assignment to give students? 

  1. It covers an insane amount of knowledge requirements – understanding, showing understanding, using strategies for listening and reading, choosing text and spoken language from different media and using it in their own production… the list goes on
  2. Authentic speech – It makes students think on their feet and interact with each other
  3. Evidence – students have to prove their point with evidence and sources
  4. News – the students read the news, and use facts to back up their arguments
  5. Critical thinking skills – students move away from just memorizing facts (rote learning), and move towards using higher level thinking

How does this work? Watch the video below for a good example of how the fishbowl (or in this case – socratic seminar) should look. 

How to prepare the students: 

I present a PPT to the students (attached). I give them some practice videos and questions so they can sit in small groups and discuss. If you follow the lesson plan (attached) it should give you a guideline on how to structure the lesson. Usually I let them practice in small groups with the video.  I want them to learn what sort of questions to ask each other and how to back up their opinion with facts. We’re living in a day and age where “alternate facts” and “fake news” are everyday occurrences – and so I believe it is important to show our students how important facts are.

I do my fishbowl on the bullying problem. I give them two different news articles that have different opinions on how to handle the bullying argument. I have been toying with the idea that social media might also be a good topic for them to discuss. Maybe next year!

News Articles 

Coping with Bullies

Fishbowl Bullying Questions

Boy Driven to Suicide-147hh3y

It depends on how deep you want to go with this –  but the PEE paragraph is something I used with my students as well. Point. Evidence. Explain.

Powerpoint 

Fishbowl_Bullying

Fishbowl – Bullying – Lesson Plan

How much time to give them: 

Depends on your class – I gave mine six lessons to prepare (40min – 1 hour lessons) and then three lessons to actually do the fishbowl

What are the jobs?

The Moderators

Choose one or two students to be the moderators – these should be stronger students who you can count on to be prepared, to think on their feet and ask the others questions. They are essentially the teachers in the situation – so it is ESSENTIAL that they read the articles  and come up with questions to ask if there is silence.

The Teacher

During the day of the fishbowl – your job is to watch and listen. Try and stay out of the conversation! I can type pretty fast, so I usually sit and type everything the students say – and whether or not they ask questions, are fluent, back up their opinions etc. If you aren’t a fast typer, you could record them so you can play it back later on.

After it is done – I look at what each person said… if they only said one thing, that isn’t enough. They have to say at least three statements and questions.

What do they hand in? 

The students hand in their preparation notes from the articles and the listening notes from the outer circle. This is really interesting to see actually – did they listen? Did they have any opinions on what the others said?

 

What do you think would be some interesting discussions to have fishbowls on?

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below! Good luck fishbowling!!

 

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