Objective:

Instructional Block

Activator: Students use the teacher-constructed anticipation guide (see the appendix to this unit) and respond to questions on the Harlem Renaissance era, American segregation laws, and African-American culture.

Mini Lesson: Teach the concept of cultural know-ledge, explaining how (and that) a strong reader relates a work to its historical background to enhance understanding. Teach students about segregation practices, the Harlem Renaissance Era,  the role of jazz clubs. Students take notes.

Learning Activity: Students will read two or more poems, such as Langston Hughes “Questions and Answers” , or listen to jazz recordings of the era. They will read/listen to discover details of the plight of African-Americans during the era as well as instances of the sense of hope expressed in the poem/music. They will make a t-chart to record specific details and their implications (and the readers’ inferences) about the era.

Wrap Up: Each student will cite two things learned about the Harlem Renaissance era from the poems/music.

Homework: Distribute student copies of “How It Feels to be Colored Me.” Students will read the piece, highlighting 5-10 words/phrases whose meanings may be unfamiliar but may also be inferred from the context, writing synonyms or definitions in the margin.

Activator:

Teacher Directed Activity:

Identify what made Genghis Khan a great conqueror (provide a biography of Genghis Khan).

Student Directed Learning Activity:

Write an obituary for Genghis Khan including the following information.

a. An introduction to Genghis Khan.

b. Provide a brief summary of his life.

c. Provide a brief summary of his accomplishments.

d. Explain the significance of Genghis Khan to history.

Wrap Up:

Assessment:

Completion of Genghis Khan’s obituary based on teacher created rubric.

Objective: Students identify, analyze, and respond to the effects of poetic form and language as it relates to theme.

Instructional Block

Activator: Students write a personal reflection about what they like or dislike about poetry that is different from other forms of writing.

Mini lesson: Teacher reviews theme, motif, and symbol, as it relates to poetry. Poets have a message to convey that is similar to other authors, and they use a different medium. Use Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Fish” to explore theme, motif, and symbol by first identifying sensory images and figurative language. Also, review denotation and conation of words. Note repetition and sound devices. How does the form, a narrative poem, help reveal symbolic representation as well as theme? Review rubric for literary analysis of the poem.

Learning Activity: Students finalize choice of poem for literary analysis. Then, have students work in pairs, and take turns reading chosen poems aloud to each other several times. Each person in the pair should read each of the two poems aloud at least three times to help writer identify sound devices. Students then work individually to note other poetic elements of importance. Remind students that they are also looking for all figurative language, sensory imagery, symbol, and revelations of theme. If student was unable to print poem of choice, s/he must use this time to write poem in notebook. Also, have students create a web organizer and then group elements together to begin organization for the literary analysis.

Wrap Up: Write a thesis statement for the literary analysis of your poem.

Homework: Refine thesis statement and create a complete outline for the content of literary analysis.

Image © Joseph Breitenbach

The Fish

I caught a tremendous fish
and held him beside the boat
half out of water, with my hook
fast in a corner of his mouth.
He didn’t fight.
He hadn’t fought at all.
He hung a grunting weight,
battered and venerable
and homely. Here and there
his brown skin hung in strips
like ancient wallpaper,
and its pattern of darker brown
was like wallpaper:
shapes like full-blown roses
stained and lost through age.
He was speckled and barnacles,
fine rosettes of lime,
and infested
with tiny white sea-lice,
and underneath two or three
rags of green weed hung down.
While his gills were breathing in
the terrible oxygen
–the frightening gills,
fresh and crisp with blood,
that can cut so badly–
I thought of the coarse white flesh
packed in like feathers,
the big bones and the little bones,
the dramatic reds and blacks
of his shiny entrails,
and the pink swim-bladder
like a big peony.
I looked into his eyes
which were far larger than mine
but shallower, and yellowed,
the irises backed and packed
with tarnished tinfoil
seen through the lenses
of old scratched isinglass.
They shifted a little, but not
to return my stare.
–It was more like the tipping
of an object toward the light.
I admired his sullen face,
the mechanism of his jaw,
and then I saw
that from his lower lip
–if you could call it a lip
grim, wet, and weaponlike,
hung five old pieces of fish-line,
or four and a wire leader
with the swivel still attached,
with all their five big hooks
grown firmly in his mouth.
A green line, frayed at the end
where he broke it, two heavier lines,
and a fine black thread
still crimped from the strain and snap
when it broke and he got away.
Like medals with their ribbons
frayed and wavering,
a five-haired beard of wisdom
trailing from his aching jaw.
I stared and stared
and victory filled up
the little rented boat,
from the pool of bilge
where oil had spread a rainbow
around the rusted engine
to the bailer rusted orange,
the sun-cracked thwarts,
the oarlocks on their strings,
the gunnels–until everything
was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!
And I let the fish go.
Elizabeth Bishop

Activator: List five reasons why family relationships are important for society.

Teacher Directed Activity:

Identify Confucianism.

Student Directed Learning Activity:

1. After the teacher has explained the teachings of Confucius, including the Five Basic Relationships, the students will read selected sayings of Confucius. (See Below)

2. The students will answer the following questions:

a. What does each saying mean?

b. How do the sayings relate to Confucian values of respect for others, proper behavior, and love of scholarship?

Wrap Up:

Summarize what you know about

Assessment:

The students will create their own modern day sayings in the style of Confucius, based on his Five Basic Relationships and values.

Confucius Says:

Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

When anger rises, think of the consequences.

He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.

What you do not wish done to yourself, do not do to others.

Study as if you were never to master it; as if in fear of losing it.

In education there should be no class distinction.

If there be righteousness in the heart,

there will be beauty in the character.

If there be beauty in the character,

there will be harmony in the home.

If there be harmony in the home,

there will be order in the nation.

If there be order in the nation,

there will be peace in the world.

MORE LESSON PLANS ON CONFUCIUS

Welcome to the March 31, 2008 edition of A Teacher’s Life Blog Carnival.

For this edition, we have presented the carnival on our Lesson Plans site, which is dedicated to providing resources to teachers and parents of home schooled students. After checking out each of the informative post below, feel free to explore the rest of our offerings.

Once again, thank you to all the contributors who have made this a great clearinghouse of educational articles from around the blogosphere!

SpiKe presents 4 Life Lessons From Gregory House M.D. posted at Organize IT.

Jeremy Zongker presents 90 Low Cost or No Cost Activities to Entertain Your Kids All Summer Long posted at Destroy Debt.

Heather Johnson presents Top 5 Speakers to Watch at Virtual Worlds 2008 | Educational Gaming Commons posted at Education Technology Services.

Best Practices

BardBlogger presents Where To Start With Shakespeare posted at The Bard Blog.

Fiona Lohrenz presents Recycling at your day care posted at Child Care Only.

Mark Monaghan presents So what is eLearning? posted at eLearning.

Mathew Needleman presents Four Ways to Improve Reading Comprehension posted at Open Court Resources.com Blog.

Eric Koshinsky presents Free Powerpoint Program posted at Teachers Call.

adso.of.melk1@gmail.com presents Um, You?re an English Teacher. posted at Lorem Ipsum, saying, “Thoughts on why a teacher did not achieve National Board Certification.”

Fiona Lohrenz presents Difficult Behaviors posted at Child Care Only.

Colleen Palat presents Considerations In Educating the Blind and Visually Impaired Student | posted at Colleen Palat, saying, “Learn aspects to consider when education the blind and visually impaired student.”

Mark Monaghan presents Ideas for using ICT posted at eLearning.

Alvaro Fernandez presents Brain Teaser: Boost your visuospatial skills posted at SharpBrains, saying, “A teaser on how to exercise our visuospatial skills/ parietal lobes, by Pascale Michelon”

David Cassell presents Degrees For High Paying Entry Level Positions posted at selectcoursesblog.com.

Alvaro Fernandez presents Sleep, Tetris, Memory and the Brain posted at SharpBrains, saying, “Why sleep is so important for learning & the brain.”

Lesson Plans

BardBlogger presents Puzzles The Will posted at The Bard Blog.

GrrlScientist presents Finding Your Wings posted at Living the Scientific Life, saying, “A review of the newly published book by Burton Guttman, is a special workbook designed to help beginning bird watchers develop into intermediate birders!”

Thoughts on Teaching

Eric Koshinsky presents Pronunciation Software to Improve English Pronunciation posted at Teachers Call.

Scott McLeod presents Cell phone cameras in the K-12 classroom: Punishable offenses or student-citizen journalism? posted at Dangerously Irrelevant.

Adsense presents How to avoid trouble when computer crashes? posted at Glowicki ProBlogger – Blogging Tips, saying, “If You go abroad and computer crashes.. Here is what to do !”

adso.of.melk1@gmail.com presents Don?t Know Much About His-to-ry? posted at Lorem Ipsum, saying, “A sharp critique of a school’s plan to require all students to take AP.”

More4kids Parenting and Family Life presents Teachers Survival Guide Part 1 posted at Kevin Heath – More4kids Inc..

Linda Bress Silbert, Ph.D. and Alvin J. Silbert, Ed.D. presents Geometry Proofs Made Easy posted at Our Educational Books.

Mark Monaghan presents Students today posted at eLearning.

Mark Monaghan presents An Overview of the Changing Landscape posted at eLearning.

Mark Monaghan presents The Role of VLEs within the new Education Landscape posted at eLearning.

Alex M presents What Everybody Should Know About An Education Home Tutor posted at Online education: schools, colleges and universities | distance learning.

adso.of.melk1@gmail.com presents Oh, Crap. An English Teacher Who Can?t Spell posted at Lorem Ipsum, saying, “When you can’t spell, you probably shouldn’t be studying to be an English teacher.”

Raymond presents Student Credit Card Rewards posted at Money Blue Book.

BardBlogger presents “Translated” Shakespeare posted at The Bard Blog.

adso.of.melk1@gmail.com presents Why Gifted Students Hate School posted at Lorem Ipsum, saying, “Why gifted students hate school.”

Ian Richardson presents EzyFileZipper is now available. posted at Make Everything EzyAs123, saying, “Free File Zipping Program Now Available”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of a teacher’s life blog carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: a teacher’s life blog carnival, blog carnival.

This lesson can be used to introduce secondary school students to the economic theory of mercantilism. Depending on available time, it can be separated into two or three class sessions.

Activator

Teacher Directed Activity:

Discuss the economic theory of Mercantilism.

Explain the importance and ramifications of the Treaty of Tordesillas.

Student Directed

Learning Activity:

1. Divide students into the following groups:

a. A king in Europe

b. Members of the Catholic Clergy

c. European soldiers

d. Shopkeepers in Europe

e. Farmers in Europe/and the New World

f. Natives in New World

Have students research or use information from the teacher directed portion of the lesson to answer the following two questions:

a. What would be a benefit of mercantilism for you?

b. What do you see as a possible negative aspect to mercantilism?

2. Create a poster that visually expresses both the positive and negative aspects of mercantilism.

3. Have students read a copy of an excerpt from the Treaty of Tordesillas.

Suggested questions:

a. What was the problem that the Treaty of Tordesillas needed to solve?

b. Why would the kings of Spain and Portugal ask the Pope to help them?

c. Do you think this treaty was a satisfactory solution?

d. What problems could arise as a result of the Treaty?

4. Give students a world map and have them locate the dividing line established by the Treaty of Tordesillas. Have students shade in and label the lands that “belonged” to Spain and those that “belonged” to Portugal. (See treaty map.)

Suggested Questions:

a. What European countries were not represented in the Treaty?

b. The Catholic Church was involved in the creation of this document. Do you see any relationship between the countries involved in the Treaty and those left out of the Treaty? Why would this be done?

c. If you were the King of a country not represented on this map how would you feel and react?

Wrap Up

Assessments:

Have students create a news report for a newspaper in Portugal or Spain. The news report should be an interpretation of the treaty for the “common citizen” of Spain or Portugal.

a. Completed poster.

b. Completed map assignment and questions.

c. Completed news report.

Technorati Tags: Treaty of Tordesillas,The Catholic Church,economic theory,mercantilism,Europe,Spain,Portugal,European History,free lesson plan,world History

Activating (i.e. getting students mind active & engaged) & summarizing (i.e. getting them active in discerning what is important, what they have learned, how it is important &/or how it fits with what they already know) are important part of effective study skills.

START OF LESSON ACTIVITY

Activator:

During this time, the teacher is instructing using a clearly stated learning outcome.

An activator (also known as a Do Now! or a Bell Ringer) is a question/task springing from the unit’s work, intended to focus the students on the unit of instruction. The students may write their responses in their notebooks. If appropriate, the teacher may ask the students to share their responses with the class.

Could include:

• Review of a connection to previous learning
• Review of previous homework
• Use an activator to access students’ prior knowledge
• Model use of materials to help the understanding of targeted learning outcomes
• Introduce new vocabulary
• A question/task that allows the student to make a personal connection to the content

For example, activators might be

· Without reference tools, provide definitions for the following: ambition, supernatural, motivation, tragedy.

· Describe a time when you experienced a desire for something you did not possess. What was it and how did you respond to your desire for it?

END OF LESSON ACTIVITY

Wrap Up:

During this time, the teacher and students are communicating about the work completed during the student directed learning activity and connecting it to the learning outcome.

The wrap up (also referred to as a summarizer) requires all students to summarize their learning from this class.

Could include:

• Journal writing
• Presentations
• Questions/answers
• Reports (written or oral)
• Class discussion with a focus question or questions
• Assignment and preparation of night’s homework

For example, wrap ups might be

· Stand and tell

· Ticket-to-leave

· 3 – 2 – 1

· One Sentence Summarizer

Technorati Tags: activator,activating,summarizer,wrap up,lesson activities