Teaching Today
A blog following teacher Aaron Jura as he plans engaging, yet relevant English Language Arts content for High School students in New Orleans, LA.
I am so excited to be selected as a LEAD Fellow for the 2016-17 cohort representing the State of Louisiana. This is an amazing advocacy and professional practice improvement program that believes that regardless of zip code EVERY child should have access and opportunity to have an amazing education. Over the next few months I will be elevating my voice as an educator and advocate for all students. I am hoping that the work conducted and the lobbying done will make improvements for both students and professional educators through the state. If you want to read more about the fellowship, you can check it out here,
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Well, as you all know, I have been working on creating a teaching unit on graphic novels and comic books. I have my introductory lecture PowerPoint completed (with teaching/lecture notes) and I am currently working on creating the guided notes worksheet for students that goes along with the unit. Next, I will be tackling the V for Vendetta graphic novel and splitting the unit up into the three sections represented in the work. While this has taken a lot of my "personal" time away from me over the past few weeks, I do enjoy coming up with new and innovative lessons to bring into the English classroom. I hope to have the entire unit done by our Winter break and posted to Teachers pay Teachers so that other teachers can check it out and use it in class. Comic books and graphic novels have evolved from a somewhat contrite art form and storytelling tool in their infancy to a narrative powerhouse that ignites the mind and engages the reader from page one. Graphic novels are beginning to become popular for use in the classroom setting. In Nancy Frey’s and Douglas Fischer’s book Teaching Visual Literacy on the topic they argue that using graphic novels and comic books increases engagement, strengthens multiple literacy competences, and boosts student critical thinking and analysis. So why, might you ask, are English classrooms not littered with graphic novels and comics? Well, that’s the issue right there. Many educators aren’t familiar with the joys of comic book and graphic novel reading. Many are even afraid to attempt to tackle the unfamiliar look of a comic book versus a novel. The purpose of this piece is to ignite the imagination by using this highly engaging and flexible storytelling device to drive student understanding of narrative structure and text to text and text to image relationships. For me, some of the most difficult students to engage in the English classroom are the ones who play too many video games. I’m stereotyping a bit here, but frankly we all know the kids I am talking about. They are either into it or they are not and will zone out. They are typically the type of student that is intelligent, but if they don’t want to engage in something they are not going to. As an educator this tears me up, at times. I see the brilliance in these students when they fully engage, but they I see their regression when they are disengaged with a certain unit of study. I had tried and tried – choice projects, differentiation in instruction, project based learning and still I was catching disengagement from kids who were usually trying to slyly engage with a game on their personal device or school computer. Then I discovered graphic novels and the crowds went wild. The same student who I described above was instantly into the idea and their high interest, especially when juxtaposed against their typical disengaged personality, was intoxifying in the classroom and really helped to help shape the classroom culture positively. So what does one do first when trying to tackle a completely new curriculum without any resources provided by the school or typical curriculum companies? Well, you make it … of course. I started with research using Frey’s and Fischer’s book on the pedagogical reasoning for using comic books and graphic novels and then I started research on the genre. Specifically, I used Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud and Will Eisner’s Comics and Sequential Art as my guides. Both books provide a perspective into the entire process of storytelling in comics. I was particularly taken with the relationships between text and art as it relates to this unique art. I also took an amazing online course through the California College of the Arts called Comics: Art in Relationship. I only audited the course and so the course content was free for me to view and access. From all of these sources I came to the conclusion that the benefits to teaching using graphic novels and comics far outweigh the risks. And so, I jumped in head first. Potential Unit Plans It really depends on how you want to teach or use comics on how you would implement it into your classroom, but here I will share a couple ideas I had when I was brainstorming during lesson planning:
I am so glad that I learned about Donors Choose early in my teaching career. I have seen far too many teachers funding their classrooms with the crumbs left over from their paychecks. Why aren't you using the amazing support and donor base at Donors Choose to support you and your kids. How do you think I was able to get a recording studio, photography studio, computer lab, and amazing art supplies to modernize my classroom teaching? ANSWER: Posting requests on Donors Choose is the only answer. Things to be aware of:
Planning is never easy I always start with a few good books on the topic I am looking to have students work on. For this particular unit., I selected the following books for my self-study prior to selecting a graphic novel to use or buying any materials:
Scholarly Research I also typically peruse a good number of scholarly research articles and pedagogical articles to ensure that I am covering (or not missing out on) all the relevant standards and skills that can be mastered using, in this case, graphic novels and comics. For this unit I used several great scholarly articles. My favorites are:
How Could It Go Wrong?
Where I am right now At this moment, I am in the beginning stages of the planning process. While I have reviewed and determined there is a BIG reason why I should use the graphic novel to teach I have not determined exactly what will be emphasized. I think that the basic elements of a story are always important to discuss with the class, the deep themes in V for Vendetta along with the overview of dystopian societies would be good enough to me to warrant an exploration of this engaging storytelling medium. I also hope to explore how characters are developed in visual form to setup the class for future film study/screen writing units or simply to inform their narrative writing in general. Remember: Teaching is the Art of Assisting in Discovery If you always fall back on the fact that, as a teacher, it is your job to assist students in doing the heavy lifting you can not go wrong. Comics and Graphic Novels are engaging, but the questioning and rigor in the classroom should not be compromised for any reason. When I launch this unit I will be sure to update you all with the materials and insights I learned from going high engagement in our classroom readings.
Whew! I just pulled myself out of a hole -- caught up on grading (it's a constant battle.) I also drank a pot of coffee at 10PM and now I am wide awake at 1AM! I'm updating you on what I have been up to and some general classroom strategies I am working on. Accountability I've noticed a lot of late work lately, which is putting students behind. This is problematic because it hinders the progress of a unit when you have to pause to give students additional time to catch up. The part that irks every teacher is that it doesn't seem to be pacing related and instead seems to be grit related. I am implementing 2 new strategies to help with this: 1) Pink Slips: When students are deficient on an assignment I am printing out a pink slip for them that sets an expectation that the item is made up within a certain period of time. Time consuming? YES!!! But needed until students are more organized. 2) Student Performance Contract: Students who have a C or lower are going to have weekly 1 on 1's and a student performance contract. We will work together (tutoring M, T, Thurs after school) to ensure success. If student breaks the contract by not turning in work they will be required to attend Saturday intervention to complete missing work. As for me, I have started doing after school tutoring M, T, Th until 5:30 PM. Wednesday's I am working with the National Archives as a member of the Virtual Foreign Service as an Assistant Curator for the Today's Document project. And, I just started teaching at Dillard University on Saturday's. Oh yea, plus my typical schedule of audited courses, American History courses, and grant writing work.
I guess I should try to get to bed... Greek and Roman mythology is all around us and is heavily represented thematically and symbolically in literature. I have always enjoyed teaching mythology because I find that it ignites a sense of wonder in often even the most reluctant learner. Simply the gore element alone in Greek myth will hook some students. I am using this year's unit as a bridge into our study of Homer's epic The Odyssey. In planning the unit, I couldn't visualize how students would be able to fully contextually understand the work without a general working knowledge of the stories of Greek mythology. Of the resources I have found I am most happy with the content in this resource and this resource. I also must say that the Coursera Greek and Roman Mythology course and Edith Hamilton's Mythology book. I'm excited to get started. This week we will begin with cultural references and a jigsaw activity on creation mythology. Then we will move into the Greek stories of creation with the story of Uranus and Gaia. Students will take notes on the types of mythos and also on the variety of interpretations of myth. At the end of the week, we will work in groups to design paper mache masks of a variety of the creatures from Greek and Roman mythology. So, the beginning of the year is upon most of us. I have already lived through my first week back. I must say, I love the first week back at school. I really do enjoy meeting all the new faces and getting to know them on a deeper level. This deep level of engagement is key to success later on -- especially once some form of fatigue starts setting in. Over the summer, as I have previously posted, I was fortunate enough to attend an NEH seminar on Appalachian Literature at Shepherd University in WV. One activity (of many) I have adapted to my first week lesson was George Ella Lyon's Where I'm From poem. I not only provided students with Lyon's version, but also with a template so that they could create their own. The level of work and creative writing I got back was breathtaking -- nearly publishable. Check out the poem and template here. I'm sure you're familiar with the classic game of Jenga. Pull out a piece and attempt to keep the tower standing. Well, turns out, this works really great as a review activity for studying literature. I ran across the Literary Jenga product on TpT and I am absolutely in LOVE with it. I have been looking for ways to "gamify" classroom learning to increase engagement. Literary Jenga is a way to start out with low/no tech requirements. If you're feeling adventurous -- Breakout EDU offers a cool program where students seek out clues and answers to break into a locked box. Think of the teamwork required to complete this task. There is a library of created games or you can create your own. Set a timer and let the class begin -- no hints! Back at school and enjoying the fresh start of a new school year. After such an inspirational summer working with amazing educators and scholars from all over the country (and world) I am back to school. A particular educator, Marjie Bowker, who I met during my summer NEH seminar, directs an ingenious self-published narrative writing program at her high-needs school in the Seattle, WA area. Check out more on this amazing program here. Being that teachers ARE the greatest thieves out there -- I decided to start a self-published student generated narrative writing program at my school. While the project is just getting going at this point, I will be sure to update you with progress and any takeaways I have with trying to launch this type of program in the classroom. At this point we have brainstormed tie in's for professional writer workshops and readings to support the student's writing skills and we are also thinking about ways to embrace other cultures and tie in English Language Learners to the program through our Latin American studies program. Our graphic design and print layout classes will help a professional designer and typesetter with the development and layout (and art) for the project. I think the best part of this project is it is self-sustaining (if done perfectly.) When students are published we sell their books and the revenue from those sales help to support the next year's printing. Here's to another great year and another HUGE project to tackle. |
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Mr. J is a high school teacher in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mr. J believes in the power of educators to help children and families achieve. Follow his blog for tips and techniques to keep engagement high and student achievement at the forefront. Archives
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