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communication arts lessons

 

Here are the TEN most recent Communication Arts Lessons that have been submitted.
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Author Method and Message in To Kill A Mockingbird: St. Louis’s 2008-9 Big Read

As explained in Objectives, this reading of To Kill A Mockingbird is focused on exploring the author’s craft. Why did she do what she did to tell this to us? Why choose Scout at her age to narrate to us about something that happened many years before? Why choose these details and this irony and this humor to report this story? To that end, we briefly put this novel in context and review some author’s strategy to fictionalize another time period to highlight a current one. We speak of the value of decoding unfamiliar vocabulary in context; we discuss the final essay project and the understanding needed to successfully create it, and with those compasses, we read one of the most significant works in the American canon. In between other language arts lessons, students read chapters and take brief recall quizzes to “keep them honest” and to develop their skills in determining new word meaning in context. Lessons are discussed in a variety of ways with a preference in group discussion leading to whole class sharing. Groups brainstorm and plan final essays and support members’ revision. Literary analysis writing skills are reviewed with the eternal reminder to concretely support personal inferences. For variety and review, the court scene is acted out and the novel’s main points are reviewed in a Jeopardy game where the winning team earns dill pickles. (As in Dill? Scout and Jem’s sidekick??) Having chosen essay topics, students contently move through this unit, and agree, maybe not now, but doesn’t Scout talk to us long after her adventure, that they have experienced life through an extraordinary work of art. I joke, but really not so much, that no one should be allowed to become an adult without having read this book.

What are they saying? Put it in your own words!

Students will learn the meaning of colloquialism, dialect and slang. They will then identify these things in 2 nonfiction pieces of literature and put it into their own words.

Tell Me About the Pig

Students will generate descriptive words about pigs and ants and use these words to form simple written sentences. These will be shared with classmates. Finally these sentences will be displayed in the hallway for students, faculty, and visitors to view.

Tell Me About the Pig

Students will generate descriptive words about pigs and ants and use these words to form simple written sentences. These will be shared with classmates. Finally these sentences will be displayed in the hallway for students, faculty, and visitors to view.

STEAM Your Characters

Students will analyze characters using the STEAM chart.

Odyssey of Leadership: Contemporary Examination of Classical Leadership

Studying the Odyssey comes early in the sophomore year at my high school for a variety of reasons. First, sophomore year is loosely a survey of world literature. Following study of traditional Greek and Roman and some comparative mythology, the Odyssey is a natural next step. And, dare I say it, the Odyssey is a classic; some sources talk of it providing the basis for all subjects in school “back in the day,” from geography to history to psychology. I have long remembered a previous department chair sharing that all literature is the Odyssey, as the human story is ever about the wanderer’s journey home, whatever the nature of the “wander” or the “home.” Thinking of that is both a simple and profound framework for sophomore reading and writing students. Yet, the Odyssey is the Odyssey, and the teacher’s challenge is to find a fresh and relevant way to present its study. This unit studies the work within the context of leadership: What is it, and to what degree, if any, did Odysseus have “it”? The assignments offered in files present two assessments, described in Assessments, as well as collaborative exploration and presentation of literature background, leadership essentials, essay question preparation, and “court-martial trial.” Other assignments offered include basic and honors reading quizzes, and the assignment for oral reading of certain passages, to offer variety in experiencing the work, as well as to offer minute appreciation of the oral tradition. Several collaborative learning assignments and presentations are included, to develop effective group work habits and to connect classroom group effectiveness with a leader’s need to effect group effectiveness. A third assessment, the Odysseus Goes to College essay assignment, offers a compacted assessment for honors students. Important Note: The idea to put a literature character on trial was shared with me at a conference. I only deserve credit for tailoring the trial idea to The Odyssey.

Odyssey of Leadership: Contemporary Examination of Classical Leadership

Studying the Odyssey comes early in the sophomore year at my high school for a variety of reasons. First, sophomore year is loosely a survey of world literature. Following study of traditional Greek and Roman and some comparative mythology, the Odyssey is a natural next step. And, dare I say it, the Odyssey is a classic; some sources talk of it providing the basis for all subjects in school “back in the day,” from geography to history to psychology. I have long remembered a previous department chair sharing that all literature is the Odyssey, as the human story is ever about the wanderer’s journey home, whatever the nature of the “wander” or the “home.” Thinking of that is both a simple and profound framework for sophomore reading and writing students. Yet, the Odyssey is the Odyssey, and the teacher’s challenge is to find a fresh and relevant way to present its study. This unit studies the work within the context of leadership: What is it, and to what degree, if any, did Odysseus have “it”? The assignments offered in files present two assessments, described in Assessments, as well as collaborative exploration and presentation of literature background, leadership essentials, essay question preparation, and “court-martial trial.” Other assignments offered include basic and honors reading quizzes, and the assignment for oral reading of certain passages, to offer variety in experiencing the work, as well as to offer minute appreciation of the oral tradition. Several collaborative learning assignments and presentations are included, to develop effective group work habits and to connect classroom group effectiveness with a leader’s need to effect group effectiveness. A third assessment, the Odysseus Goes to College essay assignment, offers a compacted assessment for honors students. Important Note: The idea to put a literature character on trial was shared with me at a conference. I only deserve credit for tailoring the trial idea to The Odyssey.

Odyssey of Leadership: Contemporary Examination of Classical Leadership

Studying the Odyssey comes early in the sophomore year at my high school for a variety of reasons. First, sophomore year is loosely a survey of world literature. Following study of traditional Greek and Roman and some comparative mythology, the Odyssey is a natural next step. And, dare I say it, the Odyssey is a classic; some sources talk of it providing the basis for all subjects in school “back in the day,” from geography to history to psychology. I have long remembered a previous department chair sharing that all literature is the Odyssey, as the human story is ever about the wanderer’s journey home, whatever the nature of the “wander” or the “home.” Thinking of that is both a simple and profound framework for sophomore reading and writing students. Yet, the Odyssey is the Odyssey, and the teacher’s challenge is to find a fresh and relevant way to present its study. This unit studies the work within the context of leadership: What is it, and to what degree, if any, did Odysseus have “it”? The assignments offered in files present two assessments, described in Assessments, as well as collaborative exploration and presentation of literature background, leadership essentials, essay question preparation, and “court-martial trial.” Other assignments offered include basic and honors reading quizzes, and the assignment for oral reading of certain passages, to offer variety in experiencing the work, as well as to offer minute appreciation of the oral tradition. Several collaborative learning assignments and presentations are included, to develop effective group work habits and to connect classroom group effectiveness with a leader’s need to effect group effectiveness. A third assessment, the Odysseus Goes to College essay assignment, offers a compacted assessment for honors students. Important Note: The idea to put a literature character on trial was shared with me at a conference. I only deserve credit for tailoring the trial idea to The Odyssey.

Writing the College Admissions Essay or Personal Narrative

Students will start off the unit with a discussion about tone, diction, and other stylistic devices and how we can manipulate those and thereby interest our reader. We'll read multiple examples of great narratives including essays by Brad Manning, Maya Anglelou, Amy Tan, and an unknown authorJim Dean. We'll discuss interesting techniques that these authors used to engage their readers. We'll then change our focus towards the AUDIENCE and PURPOSE as we discuss the colleges that we hope to apply to. We'll examine the differences between writing a narrative for Notre Dame and NYU and how the purpose for our narrative difference than Maya Angelou's did. It's important for students to recognize the importance of audience and how that factors into the writing process, so that will be a 2-day lecture. The purpose seems easy on the surface, too -- to get into college -- but it's a more sophisticated element for them to consider, too. Students will have to bring in a prompt from one of the colleges of their choice, and they will write a narrative for that prompt. We will perfect that essay, teacher-to-student, through multiple drafts, until we have a perfect product that the student can submit with his or her application before the early admission due date.

Where Do They Go?

Student Prompt Congratulations! You get to go to work at an exciting job today. A community helper from the book needs your help completing special projects and assignments throughout the day. You need to choose a career from the book that you would like to have as your job for the day and describe what and how you helped this community helper for the day that you are at work together. The first thing that you need to do is describe what their career is and what the job is that they do. You will be creating an organizer of your ideas. For that entire day, you will brainstorm ideas describing at least four events which tell what happened during that exciting day. You will also be writing a sentence of at least seven words that gives an explanation of why the career you chose would be great for anyone. Your final project will be a three fold advertisement and you will begin the next day. During the next day, you will write four complete sentences from the ideas that you brainstormed the day before. Make sure that your sentences are complete with capital letters and punctuation. You will also need to draw three pictures of something special that you did during that day. Remember to use lots of color and creativity. These illustrations also need to be labeled. Have fun and use your imagination!