Making Curriculum Pop

Keith Schoch
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How to Teach a Novel

How to Create Interactivity, Even Remotely

Q: My students are reluctant to speak in some classes. What's worse is that in other classes, two or three students monopolize the entire conversation. How can I increase interaction in class while making the best use of class time?

Asking students to complete reading assignments outside of class or to watch videos on their own time can immediately net you precious minutes in the classroom. But how can we increase the likelihood that this outside work gets done?

One possible solution is Verso. Verso allows you to create a collaborative yet closed social media space in which students anonymously respond to a video, site, or reading. Students then craft a response, comment upon the responses of others, and upvote the responses they found to be most helpful. The video below illustrates this process.


 In the classroom, Verso can be used to

  • build understanding of historical context of a novel. In connection with a novel set in the 1960s, for example, students might view videos of the Vietnam anti-war movement, the Civil Rights movement, or the Space Race.
  • review a concept or skill covered in class. This video on dramatic irony, for example, could either precede or follow a lesson on the same topic, while Simile School pokes fun at a concept in a way students will enjoy (after watching, students could write creative similes for those comparisons mentioned in the video).
  • generate background information for a current events debate or writing. Above the Noise is a public television series that will appeal to middle and high schoolers. See this recent post on Universal Healthcare.
  • review the steps of a process. After a lesson on writing hooks, for example, a student might need a refresher.
  • integrate SEL and discuss sensitive topics such as bullying. These videos from Pass It One can serve as excellent conversation starters for any age level, whereas this video titled Talent Show is intended for more mature audiences.
  • provide alternate interpretations of classic literature. From staged versions of Shakespeare to the Simpsons' take on The Raven to animated texts of classic speeches such as The Gettysburg Address, YouTube is full of possibilities.
  • practice inferring skills. This commercial titled The Perfect Daughter requires the viewer to put together the limited information available in order to make sense of the narrative.
  • to create an online crowd sourcing site. In response to any one of dozens of issues, students could share and debate opinions. These ideas can later help students who struggle for ideas in their essay writing.
Choosing the correct video is half the battle; crafting a student response prompt that fires a conversation is even more crucial. The more open-ended, the better! Verso provides several videos of High Impact Teaching Strategies to get you started.

In addition to creating a common experience for students, Verso provides younger students with a closed environment of social media. Verso provides an excellent venue to teach students that they need to own their social interactions online. Once students learn that they are accountable for what they say, they tend to make comments that are more helpful and incisive. And when they choose to do the opposite? They'll receive instant feedback from classmates and teacher alike.

If you're looking for ways to embed questions, videos, and text within existing webpages, I highly recommend Insert Learning. Perfect for formative assessment!

How to Give an IGNITE Talk

Most of us have heard of the inspirational TED Talks.

Slightly less well-known are the Ignite Talks, which allow speakers only five minutes, with accompanying slides that automatically advance every fifteen seconds.

One of my favorite speakers is Matthew Inman, creator of The Oatmeal, speaking about How to Get 5 Million People to View Your Website:



Another favorite comes from Scott Berkun, author of Confessions of a Public SpeakerWhy and How to Give an Ignite Talk not only gives a cool insight into the Ignite format, but also provides a pretty compact lesson of effective storytelling:



For your next staff meeting or student presentation, give this format a shot. Perhaps just three minutes instead of five. Sometimes less is more.

(This was originally posted at Teaching that Sticks).

How to Instantly Increase Interaction Using Insert Learning


Q: How can I get my students to interact with their text? So many students seem to read without stopping to reflect or make meaning of the content. 

Many of us are enthusiastic to explore opportunities in flipping, differentiating, and screen casting in an attempt to increase reader interaction with texts.

One simple Chrome extension called Insert Learning allows you (and your students!) to do all three, on nearly any page of the Internet.

Insert Learning creates instant interactivity on nearly any web page by allowing you to add
  • highlights,
  • annotations and definitions (to accompany those highlights),
  • sticky notes (which can contain links, YouTube videos, or screen casts),
  • open ended questions,
  • multiple choice questions (instantaneously graded), and 
  • discussion questions (the responses to which are visible to all students).
The following video demonstrates the ease with which this extension is used.


What's awesome is that when students load the extension onto any page, even those that you haven't assigned with tasks, they can then highlight, annotate, and create sticky notes with screen cast videos. One student, for example, may visit three different sites to research the traits and habits that make the cheetah such an effective predator. Even after the student closes those sites, she can reactivate all notes, highlights, etc. on that same site, even weeks later, by simply launching the Insert Learning extension again while on that page. This is an incredibly simple way to create a close reading experience with online content.

The video below shows you how you, as the teacher, will be able to view student-created annotations from the main teacher document which you've assigned. What the video doesn't show is that students can paste a sticky note into the document and access their device's built-in camera and microphone to record themselves. A student-generated video would be a great way for a teacher to hear a student's fluency in reading a passage from the given text, or to simply have the student share an oral versus written response.




The free version allows you to create and store five lessons, which provides ample opportunity to see the power of this extension. Go to Insert Learning and give it a go!

If you're looking a site that offers free nonfiction sources that work perfectly with Insert Learning, check out Wonderopolis.

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Profile Information

What is your connection to education?
MS / Junior High School Teacher
What subjects do you teach / specialize in?
English
What 5 essential pop culture artifacts (CDs, DVDs, Books, Images, Toys, etc.) would you have on your desert island?
EZ Bake Oven, Tinker Toys, Rockem Sockem Robots, Etch a Sketch, Sno Cone Machine

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At 7:14am on March 1, 2010, Ryan Goble said…
Keith, I love that you'd have a Sno Cone Machiene - awesome ... you might consider posting your excellent How To Teach A Novel text box in the Adolecent Lit or Middle School group discussion forums, I think people would dig it.

In the meantime you might consider joining some of the ELA groups to stay up on resources and discussion.
Popular Music
Teach with the Moving Image
World Literature
American Literature
British Lit (sans Shakespeare)
Making Shakespeare Pop
Poets and Writers
Adolescent Literature
Graphic Novels
New Modern Languages & ELL
and the brand new Making Drama POP! group

At the top of the group there should be an little + sign similar to the one in the International Educators group (image below) that says "+Join Group X." Easy stuff.


Good Vibes,

Ryan:)
 
 
 

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