Monday, August 4, 2008

For Supervisor

Blog Post # II) Lesson/Unit Plan to your supervisor – in this blog post you explain your plan as if you were really going to do this on the job at school and you are providing your supervisor the lesson plan for it

UNIT: Are you a Tigger or an Eeyore?

Subject: 10-11th Grade ELA class with Advanced ESL students

Teacher’s reasoning for Unit:
The idea behind this unit came after I watched Randy Paush’s last lecture. In this lecture, Proffesor Paucsh advises adults to decide whether they are a Tigger or an Eeyore to further reflect on their life. He makes the claim, that Tiggers are the ones achieving the impossible, smiling all the time, and satisfying their personal goals. Eeyores are naturally gloomy, expecting the worst and not dreaming enough. Whereas, I do see how being a Tigger can assist students (and teachers) with more of a positive attitude, I wanted them to explore this topic on their own. In fact, the most balanced of people are probably the most comforted. The students are to use 2 short stories from the Winnie the Pooh series to explore these areas of limitlessness vs. limiting, intelligence vs. wisdom, etc.




Materials:
This is a web based unit, and all materials can be found on the Internet. Students are still asked to manipulated text and utilize classic ELA functions via character analysis and writing prompts. All worksheets, slideshows, rubrics, PowerPoint are original and created by teacher.

Assessment:
The Assessments are two character map worksheets which analyze the personality traits of Tigger and Eeyore, and a PowerPoint presentation which culminates the students’ reflections. Students are asked to make text to self connection in a reflection slide on their power point. The character map worksheets and PowerPoint writing prompts are designed as pre-emptive writing prompts for Regents essays. They are to use Essential Question and show evidence using quotes and analysis.

For Student

Rubrics and other info about Project:
The 411:
You will deliver all assignments via email. Send to LGiunta@williamsburgprep.org. There are 2 assignments in this unit. Please look at Rubrics BEFORE you begin them. Here is a check list of what I should recieve from you when everything is complete.
Assignment 1: 2 Character Map Worksheets
  • Charcter Map 1: Eeyore
  • Character Map 2: Tigger

Assignment 2: 2 Separate PowerPoint Presentations.

  • 1 Rough draft PPT (approximately 3 slides)
  • 1 Final PPT (approximately 3 slides)


Rubrics: Look over these before, during, and after assignments 1 and 2.




Read this document on Scribd: rubrics 1 and 2




REVIEW: Before you start Assignment 1, click on the links below to review some terms used in this unit.
Winnie the Pooh : Famous bear who balances out his friends
Tigger : Happy go lucky 'Tigger' who is bouncy-bouncy-bouncy
Eeyore: Gloomy gray donkey who is always losing his tail
Personality Traits: See what Wikipedia has to say about this commonly used phrase

Friday, August 1, 2008

For Student: Assignment Directions


Unit: Are you a Tigger or an Eeyore?


INTRO to UNIT: We already learned that authors create literary characters to send a message to readers about life.Currently, many fancy pants theorists and authors are studying Tigger and Eeyore from the Winnie the Pooh series as metaphors for how real people (like you and me) approach life. In this unit, you will explore how Tigger and Eeyore utilize their different personality traits to deal with adversity. By the end of this unit, you will hopefully discover your inner Tigger or inner Eeyore.

Assignment 1 : Short Story and Character Map Worksheet'

'A Comparison of Eeyore and Tigger's opposing personalities'

Directions 1-7: Click on hyperlinks to retrieve assignments and short stories.

  1. Read Chapter 6: "Eeyore gets 2 birthday presents"
  2. Complete the worksheet: Chapter 6: Eyore
  3. Read "Tiggers Dont Climb Trees"
  4. Complete the worksheet Tigger Character Map
  5. Link to worksheets
  6. Save and email me back at LGiunta@williamsburgprep.org
  7. Click on Slideshow below to view the strengths and weaknesses of Tigger and Eeyore.

**TIP*** the notes in this slideshow will help you with the worksheet



Assignment 2: " Essential Question Power Point "

Directions 1-9:
1. View the slideshow ‘Essential Questions for Final Project’.


2. Choose one Essential Question from slideshow to use.

3. View the slideshow presentation: 'Assignment 2.Ms. Gs Example w Q’s '


4. Follow the directions in slides 1-3 to help you prepare your ROUGH DRAFT model.
5. Refer to text to answer questions. Use either story.
Link to stories:

Tigger: http://www.just-pooh.com/story3.html
Eeyore:
http://www.winnie-pooh.org/eeyore-birthday-presents.htm


6. When finished with rough draft ppt. send to LGiunta@williamsburgprep.org
7. Copy and Paste rough draft ppt. into new doc. Label it Final Draft.PPT, your name.
8. Your Final PPT should have 3 slides:

  • 1st slide: Essential Q picture slide: the original E.Q slide
  • 2nd slide: Flash Draft (your answers without q’s)
  • 3rd slide: Reflection answers and image(only complete sentences here, without q’s)

9. When finished send to LGiunta@williamsburgprep.org

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Voki me!

During Thursday's class, Ethan showcased his amazing blog with Voki. I just had to try this myself. Voki is a site that allows users free access to Avatar design. Its simple, free and fun-what more could you want.

At a BBQ this weekend, I showed a 5th grader this site, and we created a Voki for her-it was quite exciting.




Get a Voki now!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Art Talk with Miguel Calderon

Attention Ms. G's Students:


Please follow directions for your project below

1. Watch
  • Video Clip below or link about Miguel Calderon, a Mexican Artist who compares some of his works to Goya, an Artist we have studied.



2. Think and Answer

  • Summarize in your own words (1 paragraph) why Calderon compares his work to Goyas. Please include the name of the photographs, paintings etc involved in these comparisons.

  • Add one or two sentences about any similarities, differences or parallels you notice about these two artists' styles.


Thursday, July 3, 2008

Keith Haring Teaches the Kids through Music and Color

Even though he isnt with us any longer, Keith Haring's legacy is strong. He is a New York legend and teachers from around the world are using his art with their students to inspire pop art. The Keith Haring site has a portion totally dedicated to lesson planning. There are lessons for students of all ages, and can be adapted for a range of levels.

This year I did mixed media art projects "a la Haring" with my 10th and 12th grade art class. Pop Art resonates well with kids cause its bright and simple. In my art class, I have several ESL students who were able to show off their skills with color and bold ideas.

One thing that many artists do is listen to music in their studio. Here is a great lesson that uses the 80's Hip Hop Keith Haring would bop to when he created his large pieces.
Click here--->1980's Hip Hop Lesson



Also this is a great lesson for ESL students, where they are given Haring prompts to test comprehension. Each answer for a WHO, WHAT, WHY question is submitted to create a bigger story with kids all over the world. This satisfies the NETS standard, of digital citizenship. A little kids voice is used in the podcast...Must check out!

ESL + Johnny Depp = Literacy in Japanese Students

English as a Second Language is truly strong in Japan. Most children beginning learning English in the Elementary years. Here is a clip of a group of elementary age students who earned the right to perform in front of Johnny Depp. They sing in English and totally ham it up for Depp. The students perform a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean. As an ESL teacher, it is inspiring and daunting to see students so motivated to perform in a language that is not native to them.