“On the day of judgment, it will be demanded of us not what we have read, but what we have done.”
― Thomas à Kempis
I apologize in advanced to anyone reading this that is NOT a literary aficionado. I realize that I view most things in life on some figurative level. This was the case as I pondered this week’s blog topic: Describe at least one way you can connect your summer externship experience to your classroom curriculum.
For me, I quickly thought about a 2010 Consumer Report ranking of medical schools. (You probably are thinking “what does this have to do with the topic.” Just bare with me!) In the article, both schools were ranked in the top 10 , but UNC-Chapel Hill as a PRACTICAL science hospital while Duke was ranked highly for its RESEARCH. I remember joking around with my parents about why this was proof that UNC was the best. Really- which surgeon do you want: the one who got an A+ in lab or the lecture hall?!?
In the same manner, I feel blessed that my Kenan project- Common Core ELA Lessons and Reflective Videos– will allow me to directly apply the knowledge I acquire through the process DIRECTLY to my classroom. The flexibility afforded to my project cohort by our wonderful mentors (shout-outs to ANNA FROST at Department of Public Instruction!) is allowing us the autonomy to create and implement lessons that are geared to the direct needs of the learners we serve.
After struggling to pinpoint a unit topic, I happily settled on creating a unit that would attempt to deal with middle school learners natural deficiency with the ANALYIS OF POETRY. Historically, my middle school learners have shown extreme deficiencies in the comprehension of poetry. However, many of my students willingly interact with poetry on a daily basis; yet rarely realize it. That is because they are interacting with the modern offspring of poetry- in the form of music lyrics. Many of my learners spend countless hours bopping their heads to the radio tunes or shaking their hips to the accompanying rhythms of the newest music video; but what they DON’T do is spend time analyzing the lyrical meaning of the pieces. By first teaching my learners how to listen to the same music with a more critical ear, I plan on tapping into their interests and teaching them to transfer their analytical skills to the interpretation of classical poetry.
Rap Allusions in Mainstream: 2012 Ford Fusion Commercial
My muse for this unit has been Tupac Shakur’s “The Rose that Grew from Concrete”- an compilation of Shakur’s poetry and rap lyrics. By paralleling Tupac’s works with well-known poems, learners will begin to see how common themes transcend space and time. (See the 2012 Ford Fusion commercial above to understand a little of what I mean)
I’m extremely thankful for the practical strategies and resources that I was able to acquire at our recent week at NCCAT; many of which I will be able to incorporate into my unit. One strategy that I’ve already begun to incorporate into my unit has been the Flipped Classroom model. Through flipping my review on figurative language techniques, I will be able to free up class time for discussion and time to work on authentic assessment projects.
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I love how passionate you are about your project- it definitely shines through in your writing. I think there are many teachers across the state and many students that will benefit from your project. My group is also excited about the work we’re doing for DPI and deeply believe in it. We are still wondering how this work will be distributed though. Do you know how your ELA work will be shared- will it be through Home Base do you think?
Thank you! We actually created some LESSONS last school year when we found the major poetry deficiency; that helps me to not be creating from scratch. Our culminating project was a complete TEAM effort- as we put on a school-wide poetry OPEN MIC with (local) poetry giant Josephus as our MC. The students loved it and are still talking about it!
It is my belief that our ELA lessons will be shared on HomeBase.
Thanks for stopping by 🙂