Month: July 2017

TED Talks: A Great Resource for Teachers

I have watched videos on TED Talks myself and it is a GREAT place to learn new things. However, only recently did I discover its nearly-unrivaled value in the classroom. With the culmination of marking copious amounts of movie reviews and having report cards ready for record deadlines this week, I have been in a bind for lesson planning time. Enter TED Talks. With a plethora of subject areas to choose from, this resource is a must-have!

There are two places you can find TED talks material. One is the main TED Talks website and the other is the TED Ed teacher resource platform.  While the former offers video footage on just about anything you are curious about, the latter has subject-specific videos with mini-lesson plans around each.

This week I ran to TED twice, and we are only on Wednesday! On Monday, I showed my students 2 video clips from the TED Ed platform, one titled “What makes things cool?” and the other, “Why do people join cults?”. I introduced each one by discussing the concepts of “cool” and “cults” to activate students’ knowledge. After watching each video clip, I discussed with my classes the major ideas presented in the video and then probed their understanding by pushing them to make connections with other things in their lives. Students were intrigued and receptive and I was satisfied with my lesson-delivery.

The second time I showed my students a video clip on the TED Talks website titled, “How megacities are changing the map of the world.” Since my students are transitioning into high school and Geography is a compulsory course, this was a great segue into the different kinds of Geography and how each affects our lives. I discussed major concepts with my students after showing them the video in a “debrief” session and then parceled them into groups armed with chart paper and markers to answer the question, How does Connectography affect our lives?. I required that they be specific in their answers and offer examples wherever possible. Despite the initial bombarding of new terms and complex syntax used by the presenter, my student found this video interesting and the idea-sharing phase of our class session proved this. Students came up with deep analytical reasoning that really surprised me!

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The thing I like most about TED Talks/Ed resources is the amount of opportunity it allows for students to inform themselves and activate their critical-thinking skills. I am a huge pusher of “Think critically, kids!”, so this is quickly becoming my go-to resource even for days when I am preparing lesson plans in advance.

For those of you who have used this resource, let me know about your experience. I would love to hear about new ways to use it.

 

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Teaching Grammar in High School

Have you ever tried marking essays with really bad grammar, syntax and non-existent punctuation? No? Right, you’re not an English teacher. For those of you who are, or at any point have to labour through the ordeal of marking any kind of writing that is painful to look at, let alone grade, you will (I am certain) agree with me when I say that grammar, nay, good grammar, is an essential ingredient to good writing. So what do you do when you have a class full of high school students who do not, I repeat, DO NOT know their grammar? Well, you teach them of course! (I mean the clue is in your title! ;))

Teaching grammar in high school is tedious, boring, daunting and let’s face it, just plain scary, but you gotta do whatchu gotta do, right? (Yes, I cringed as I typed out that line in slang). So, how do you make it fun? You use Kahoot! End of story.

Here is a link to a Kahoot! presentation I created with 25 questions that cover punctuation, grammar and sentence structure: Grammar Face-Off Kahoot! Game

This Kahoot! can work as a diagnostic at the beginning of your course to determine where students are in their grammar, or as a review class where they play the game and you stop after each question to review concepts or teach them (because many of them will have never heard of a gerund or an infinitive phrase. Really? We have those in the English language?). You can choose to play this game individually with each student answering on his/her own mobile device, or do as I did where I grouped them into teams and made them play against each other. I found this to be a more fun approach because they were competitive and participated really well!

The game itself took about 35 minutes to get through and I rounded off my class with a prepared grammar package for each student that I found online. You can use any grammar worksheets and put them into a package depending on the writing abilities of your students.

So there you are, a simple lesson to help make learning grammar fun for your students. And the best part is, you can create an ongoing competition with Grammar Face-Offs once every week. Teams can accumulate points for a final big reward of your choice at the end of the school year (I would include GRAMMAR CHAMP certificates as part of their reward ;)). By taking the time to teach your students proper grammar, you not only invest in their quality of writing, you help groom them into becoming more effective communicators (a necessary life-skill). So there! You are doing your job and making a difference in the world. Well done, you!

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Soul Surfer: A Great Teaching Tool!

When the story of teenage surfer, Bethany Hamilton broke around the world, people everywhere stiffened with fear at the fate of the young girl. A true miracle-story, Bethany fought her way back to life and success. Soul Surfer, by director Sean McNamara does justice to Hamilton’s epic journey. Released in 2011, and with a very Christian-focused lens on Bethany ‘s journey, this film takes a hard look at the role of faith during times of adversity. I showed it to my high school English class and they were riveted.

I found this to be a great teaching tool because it allowed students to learn very important themes around faith, family, love, compassion, perseverance, disability, hardships and overcoming those hardships.

Award-winning AnnaSophia Robb stars as Bethany Hamilton, with Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt in the role of her parents. Essentially a star-studded cast, Carrie Underwood and Loraine Nicholson round off the line-up. The Most actors do a solid job of making their characters come alive and displaying individual foibles and strengths. Robb was a particularly convincing Bethany Hamilton with her tear-jerking reactions to Bethany’s challenges. This movie connected with my students on several personal levels and it was this connection that allowed me to extend the learning into a writing activity (a movie review).

The special effects were quite well done with the surfing stunts and underwater scenes offering viewing depth and clarity.

Teachers, for those of you who would like to show this movie to your intermediate students (it is best suited for the 12-15 year age group), I have attached a Soul Surfer Movie Review Instruction Sheet that you can modify for their writing activity. Along with the instructional sheet it would be worthwhile for you to include a rubric of your choosing as well as a movie review that you think is of a high caliber.

After marking close to a 100 movie reviews, I found this to be a great tool (the movie and the ensuing review) because it helped start the conversation around good writing (including the proper use of grammar, syntax and punctuation – please refer to my previous post, Teaching Grammar in High School). As a diagnostic it worked rather well in identifying which of my students were strong writers and which ones would need more help and in what areas. Since this was a film that everyone enjoyed because they were able to connect to it, it was the perfect conduit for developing writing skills.

Additionally, Soul Surfer worked really well to reinforce goal-setting, a lesson that I did earlier in the summer with my classes. My students were able to see someone in a seemingly impossible situation encounter multiple failures and finally [SPOILER ALERT] succeed.

Available on Netflix, Soul Surfer is a feel-good movie perfect for a girls’ night in, or with the family. As a teaching tool it works even better because larger life-lessons can be had. Teachers, try it and if  you do, please share  your experiences in the comments below.

 

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