Author, Scott Nailor
Tag Archives: engage students
Alternative Resources for Flipping Your Lessons
As I have learned more about the Flipped Classroom and as I have searched for smart, innovative ways to practice these methods, I’ve been a little disappointed. I do like the idea that flipped lessons enable teachers to better differentiate their instruction and hone focus on mastering skills, but it seems those who are leading this movement are focusing mostly on science and math to the neglect of the humanities and language arts in particular. Khan Academy and at The Flipped Class Network, for example, have countless math and science videos but very few that are useful to us in the humanities. Given this lack of resources for language and lit, I came up with some alternative sources you might consider if you want to try flipping your middle or high school language arts lessons. Some easily overlooked places you might find these useful videos (often referred to as “vodcasts” … Continue reading
Posted in Flipped Classroom, Informational Texts, Presenting, Technology Integration
Tagged classroom technology, Common Core Standards, engage students, high school english, High School Lesson Plans, middle school lesson plans, online lesson plans, technology integration, Technology lesson plans
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Flipping your Classroom
I have been hearing a lot lately about the “flipped” classroom. If you haven’t heard about it yet, Holly Epstein Ojalvo and Shannon Doyne of the New York Times provide a succinct definition: “an ‘inverted’ teaching structure in which instructional content is delivered outside class, and engagement with the content – skill development and practice, projects and the like – is done in class, under teacher guidance and in collaboration with peers.” It all started when a couple of teachers started recording their lectures and posting them as Power Points on the net for students who were absent. And that is the essence of it really. You provide content for the students to access outside the classroom and structured exploratory activities and lessons based on that content in the classroom. This “flips” the teacher’s role from class lecturer (information provider) to class guide through activities based on the pre-assigned content. … Continue reading
Posted in Common Core Standards, Flipped Classroom, Technology Integration
Tagged classroom technology, Common Core Standards, engage students, flip classroom, flipped classroom, flipped lesson plans, high school english, High School Lesson Plans, interactive lesson, Language Arts Lesson Plans, language arts websites, middle school lesson plans, online english, shakespeare, technology integration, Technology lesson plans
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BBC’s ‘State of Debate’ Game Worth Playing in the Classroom
For a while I have been hesitant to write about games in education. I think it’s the old-school teacher in me. Or, maybe it’s the stigma attached to electronic games in school based on the common assumption that they present distractions from and not opportunities for meaningful learning. But recent research suggests otherwise. In fact, a 2009 MIT study suggests well-designed educational games are valuable tools for developing skills in communication, collaboration, problem-solving, and even innovation. Unfortunately, many educational games only present rote learning—repetition of addition and subtraction, for example. But some games are designed to encourage and support critical thinking. The BBC’s “State of Debate” is such a game. It is very well-designed, it is interactive, and it encourages students to think critically about persuasive arguments. Even hardened critics among us will see this one is a game worth playing in school. In the classroom In “State of Debate,” students are … Continue reading
Take “The Brainstormer” for a Spin
A small group of aspiring authors from among my students just started an after-school creative writers’ club. They meet bi-weekly to share ideas, to collaborate, and to encourage each other to write. So the gathering of this new group got me wondering…what kind of cool resources are online for students interested in creative writing? After a little digging around I found a fun application called “The Brainstormer” created by graphic artist and illustrator Andrew Bosley. The Brainstormer, a simple but innovative tool, is comprised of a set of three wheels that you spin virtually by clicking the center for random ideas about things like conflict, setting, and character to spark the imagination. You can also select ideas manually by moving each wheel to a desired topic. This application is also available through the iTunes App Store for $1.99 so students can download it to their iPhones, iPods, and iPads. This … Continue reading
Common Core Reading Standard #5—Analyzing Plot
Looking at CCS standard for reading #5, I am encouraged to see critical thinking required of our students. It is important to ensure that skills like problem solving, analyzing, and evaluating are at the core of our reading, writing, and speaking skills curricula. It is also essential that we keep in mind the goal of generating independent, self-directed (and self-reflective), life-long learners. 5. Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise. For standard #5, the key term is “analyze.” In Bloom’s taxonomy, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation are the top tiers we strive to reach. A lesson plan from teacher Patricia Schulze provides some excellent opportunities to use technology for this standard. The technology for the lesson comes from a site you are probably familiar with—Read, Write, … Continue reading
Posted in Common Core Standards, Lesson Plans, Reading, Writing
Tagged classroom technology, Common Core Standards, digital, engage students, english, high school english, High School Lesson Plans, interactive lesson, Language Arts Lesson Plans, technology integration, Technology lesson plans
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Common Core Reading Standard #4—Vocabulary in Context
This week is my last one before returning to the classroom on Monday. I have to be honest, thinking about the first day of school still makes me really queasy even after eleven years. Of course, I do plan to continue this series of posts about the Common Core through the fall. This week we begin with “Craft and Structure.” 4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language of a court opinion differs from that of a newspaper). So this standard is all about vocabulary and author word choice, teaching students how to understand meanings in context and how to analyze diction. Usually for this blog I focus only on free resources for integrating technology, but Academic Merit’s Literary Companion is … Continue reading
Posted in Common Core Standards, Reading, Vocabulary
Tagged classroom technology, Common Core Standards, engage students, high school english, High School Lesson Plans, interactive lesson, language arts, Language Arts Lesson Plans, online english, online high school, online lesson plans, online vocabulary, technology integration, Technology lesson plans
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Animoto: Another Great Tool for Adding Music and Video to Your Lit Plans
Summer has finally arrived here in Maine. I hope many of you, like me, have finished up the school year and can now take some time to recuperate. Looking forward to a productive summer, I am planning a series of blog posts focusing on the Common Core State Standards Initiative. My plan is to post regular articles with a simple goal: each blog post will take one specific CCSS outcome and demonstrate a resource and/or method for utilizing technology to meet that standard. Essentially, I envision a CCSS curriculum map for Language Arts, based completely on technology integration. I’m hoping to begin this series the first or second week of July. Meanwhile, I have found a website I think will be fun to use with students in the fall…Animoto. Animoto is a basic online tool that allows you to create “video slideshows” or montages with music and text. The basic … Continue reading
Posted in Audio, Lesson Plans, Presenting, Reading, Video
Tagged classroom technology, Common Core Standards, Edgar Allan Poe, engage students, high school, High School Lesson Plans, language arts websites, middle school lesson plans, online english, online lesson plans, technology integration
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Shmoop Promises to “Vanquish” Dread Over Writing
For teachers and students, Shmoop.com, a popular online study guide website, recently released a new feature called “Shmoop Essay Lab” and it’s a powerful teaching/learning tool, especially for students who struggle with developing ideas and organizing their essays. Students can choose to write about literature or to develop a college entrance essay and Shmoop’s interactive tutorial walks them through the process from topic selection to final edit. What’s really interesting is that the literature essay tutorials are custom designed and paired with any one of dozens of books. So, for example, if a student is writing about To Kill a Mockingbird, she can select that book from the menu and follow the step-by-step tutorial for developing an essay about a theme or a topic related to that particular book. The tutorial even offers specific quotes from the text that students can use to support their ideas in the body of … Continue reading
Posted in Writing
Tagged classroom technology, computers writing, engage students, high school english, High School Lesson Plans, high school writing, interactive writing, Language Arts Lesson Plans, lesson plans, middle school writing, online writing, online writing lab, technology integration, Technology lesson plans, writing lesson plans
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Free Audio and Video Files of Famous Speeches at American Rhetoric.com
With so much literature, grammar, writing, and vocabulary to cover in our curriculum these days, it’s easy to overlook the importance of oral language in our classrooms. Consider also how reluctant many students already are about “getting up in front of the class,” and it’s easy to put off teaching about speeches and oral presentations. But with evermore rapid advancements of technology and the internet, listening and speaking skills are becoming increasingly important. The authors of the Common Core State Standards put it this way: “New technologies have broadened and expanded the role that speaking and listening play in acquiring and sharing knowledge and have tightened their link to other forms of communication. The Internet has accelerated the speed at which connections between speaking, listening, reading, and writing can be made, requiring that students be ready to use these modalities nearly simultaneously.” Looking for tools useful in focusing on verbal … Continue reading
Posted in American Literature, Audio, Classical Literature, Lesson Plans, Listening, Presenting, Speaking, Video
Tagged classroom technology, Common Core Standards, digital text, engage students, high school english, High School Lesson Plans, language arts, Language Arts Lesson Plans, language arts websites, online english, technology integration
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What if Hamlet Had a Facebook Page and Tweeted?
Ok, so the days are finally getting longer here in New England and the end of the school year is within sight…but I still feel like there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done and the students are growing restless by the day. So, as usual, I’ve been digging about on the web, looking for resources to keep my students busy and learning as the weather grows warmer and their attention spans shrink. While digging, I came across a site from the UK that is an impressive social network for teachers called TES Connect. TES Connect call themselves the world’s largest “social network that allows teachers to network, share resources and search for jobs.” Once you sign up for a free account, you will gain access to a very large collection of shared ideas from teachers. It’s very well organized by subjects and grade levels. The … Continue reading