Rush the Iceberg

So I was reading a book with my Casen – that means looking at two pages and the him running off – when his book sparked an idea for a project for my students.

These books are super cool because they have little pictures that are at certain parts of the narrative. Kids are then supposed to push coresponding button off to the side that creates a sound relevant to the story and picture.

What if students created something similar with one of their stories or essays?

I asked on Twitter if anyone knew of a soundboard iOS app that allows you to record sounds that you can replicate with a push of a button. @rogre sent me THIS (watch the video – five minutes of awesomeness!).

Imagine the possibilities.

Let me know what you think!

The “Somebody-Wanted-But-So” activity is a classic in many middle school English classes. I tend to use it to help students with the classic Plot Triangle. I have students do this activity immediately after reading the story (preferably after second read through) and then label the parts on the Plot Triangle.

The “Somebody-Wanted-But-So” activity is a hybrid of a graphic organizer and a step by step process that provides an excellent foundation for students to wrestle with the deeper issues of stories.

But I always found it lacking.

So I changed it to “Somebody-Wanted-But/Because-So”

Below is the typical narrative I use when explaining this activity to my students. There is much ad-libbing and many dumb-jokes thrown into the mix – Insert your own middle school jokes liberally throughout…

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OK, write down the following on your paper:

Somebody:

 

Wanted:

 

But/Because:

 

So:

Think about the classic fairy tale “Cinderella” and fill in the words above…

(Here I say: Ok, let’s start with Cinderella…write her name down…)

Somebody:  Cinderella

(Here I ask: What is it that she wants? Discussion follows)

Wanted:  to go to the annual ball

(Here I ask: But what or Because why?)

But/Because: but her evil step mom was jealous of her beauty

Here I ask: So then what? What happened?)

So: Cinderella stayed home and scrubbed floors

The “But/Because” part can be tricky: you need to decide which transition word to use that would be the most logical for the sentence…sometimes it is “but” and sometimes it is “because”. For example…

Somebody:  Cinderella

 

Wanted:  to go to the annual ball to get her groove on…

 

But/Because: because she wanted to dance

 

So: (you can’t really logically complete the thought; it does not make sense)

OK, now  put this into a summary sentence or two:

In the fairy tale, “Cinderella”, Cinderella wanted to go to the annual ball, but her evil step mom was jealous of her beauty.  So (as a result), Cinderella was forced to stay home and scrub floors.

Remember you can change the “So” to “As a result” or another transition whenever appropriate.

You can change who/what the “Somebody” is and continue the process for different perspectives! Try starting with the Prince…what does he want? Try it!

With practice, you can go through this process quickly. This strategy can give you confidence to discuss the story with peers and to deeply think about the story.

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I hope this helps you! I have had students come back from high school to tell me they still use this right after reading to get a basic foundation for analysis.

I have, like most teachers, always intuitively known that much of what is happening in education is BS. I used to rarely let it get to me and I worried more about the students in my class. I would do stuff in my class I felt (and now know) was pedagogically sound, without having trendy education labels attached.

Then I opened a Twitter account and also started blogging.

The classrooms and collective wisdom of the teachers of the world were suddenly opened up to me.

I learned so much! Me AND my students benefited greatly from the collective knowledge of you all. I am extremely grateful!

But it has come with a price, as does everything.

Frustration has grown over time, ever so slowly, and eventually paralyzed me with bitterness and avoidance.

It has not always been this way.

There was a time when I laughed or ignored the inherent stupidity of the education machine and all its machinations, focusing on the needs of my students.

My students influenced my lessons plans: nothing or no one else dictated my lessons.

This year, state requirements, district directives, principal mandates, time’s selfishness, Twitter’s resources, blogs inspiration and my laziness had more influence than the needs of my students.

The frustration is with not only the education machine and all its machinations; but, also with well intentioned teachers who tweet and blog about the great stuff they are doing in their classes.

But, there have been times this year where I read someone’s tweet or blog, was inspired, and tried to replicate the theory and/or lessons in my classroom – often the very next day.

You could imagine the problems, restrictions, and frustrations this lead to…

I need to remember it is not the fault of teachers on Twitter or blogs that have different resources.

Yeah, I know…how stupid of me…I can only blame myself. I need to do better.

Maybe this year should be labeled “Beta”.