Video Project

Video presentation of a character sketch of Asher Lev! At this point students have read the first half of the book so they are analyzing Asher as his character evolves through Book One.

Storyboard

Here is the link to my storyboard for the multimedia project

"The Perils of Teaching the Books We Love"

As I was looking over one of the blogs that I follow, huffenglish.com, I came across a post called "The Perils of Teaching the Books We Love." I thought it was really interesting since I too have experienced the disappointment of recommending a favorite book to a friend and them not liking it or appreciating it as I do. However, I think that as an English teacher this is just something that we need to be prepared for. Because lets be honest, what kind of a world would it be if everyone had unhealthy obsessions with Chaim Potok? I think our job is to share our enthusiasm and try to cultivate appreciation and understanding of good literature. And I'm not talking about Twilight.

Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things

Like the "We Didn't Start The Fire" video, this video includes a song and a number of photos of ordinary people who have done extraordinary things. I find nothing in this video that violates copyright laws except for the song. If she was just showing it in class it would be fine as long as she had obtained the song legally. But since she has it posted online without the permission of the artist she is breaking the law.

50 States Song

This is another good history video that will help students to learn the state capitals. It is a clip from the cartoon "Anamaniacs." The clip is only 2 minutes long and since the episodes of this show are 30 minutes long, this is less thatn 10% of the final work. It is for educational purposes and, to my knowledge, has not been made into multiple copies. This clip is safe under copywright law, but I think it would be a good idea for the teacher to cite where he or she got the clip from.

We Didn't Start The Fire

This is a really fun video that I found on Teacher Tube. It is a collage of pictures and videos depicting historical events mentioned in the song "We Didn't Start The Fire" by Billy Joel. The creator of this video didn't cite where he got any of his media from but I think it's ok because all of the clips are so short. None of them are longer than a few seconds so it is definitely less than 10 % of the work that is being shown. However, he includes the entire song and posts it online which is in violation of copyright law.If he was just showing this clip once in his classroom it would be fine, but since he posted it online without permission it is technically illegal.

Personal Technology Project

Here is a screen shot of the MindMap I made for Jane Eyre. I will divide my students into groups and they will work together to create one of their own. Basically they will all have the same character, each student will choose his or her own event to focus on. They will summarize the event and then analyze it in relation to the character.

Here is a link to the lesson plan on Google Docs

Lesson Plan: Jane Eyre Mindmeister

Utah State Standards for 9^th Grade Language Arts
Standard 1: (Reading) Students will use vocabulary development and an understanding of text elements and structure to comprehend literary and informational grade level text.
Objective 3: Comprehend literature by evaluating the contribution to meaning of several literary elements within a work of literature

A.      Describe how conflict, character, and plot work together.

                 B.     Explain how character is developed through implication and inference

Objective:

Students will work together in groups to put together a collaborative “Mindmeister” of a character from Jane Eyre. This activity will help them to learn how to analyze different aspects of the plot as they relate to one of the characters in the novel.

Introduction:

One of the most important literary skills for you to develop is the ability to analyze characters based off of the things that happen to them in the book. Oftentimes we assume that the information we have of a certain character relies on what the author tells us, but it is important to learn how to make inferences on our own. [Review what an inference is: a conclusion drawn from evidence or reasoning]

Discussion:

-          What makes a situation worth analyzing? How do you know if it is significant or not?

o   If it involves the main character, has some kind of effect on the main character either at the moment or later on in the novel, relates to an overlying theme of the novel

-          What’s the point of all of this? Wouldn’t the author tell us if there was something important about the character that we need to know?

o   When you are reading good literature there are different layers to the text. If you really want to get something out of the story then you need to be able to dig a little deeper rather than just accepting blindly whatever the author puts on the surface. Example: One of the themes in Jane Eyre is the need that all people have for supportive familial relationships. Bronte never comes right out and says that Jane wasn’t a complete character until she found her family, but we can infer that based off her relationship with St. John and his sisters. Remember, there are no wrong answers here as long as you can support your ideas!

Assignment:

Students will be divided into groups of 4 and each student will be assigned a day where it is their job to work on the collaborative mind map. By the end of the week each group will turn in a mind map that is a compilation of their group’s ideas.

-          Groups will meet together on Monday to discuss what character they want to map. Each student will choose an event that is significant to the character and write a short summary and analysis.

-          When it is their day to add to the map they will put up their event, summary, and analysis (as seen in the example). Each student will have his or her own color so I can see who does what.

-          Extra credit will be given to students who contribute to the analysis’ of other members of their group: be sure and post in your color so I know who to give credit to!