Journal Article About Writing

Smith, C. (2010). "Diving in deeper": bringing basic writers' thinking to the surface: when basic writing
     students are encouraged to value their thinking as they revise their prose: they are likely to become more
     constructive critical thinkers and less fearful performers of academic tasks. Journal of Adolescent & Adult
     Literacy, 53(8), 668-677.

     In this article, Smith is writing about her "Basic Writing" students have a problem with critically thinking about what they have read rather than being horrible writers.  Smith believes that students "shut down" once they read something that they do not understand.  Smith's solution is to teach students metacognative skills in order to better her students' reading abilities.  Once the reading abilities improve, Smith says that their writing abilities will improve as well.  Smith suggests that the most important aspect of writing it the revision process.

     I found this article to be extremely interesting.  My students always have trouble comprehending what they read, but it never dawned on me that my students' writing abilities stemmed from their reading abilities.  The author says, "students can never outwrtie their reading ability."  This statement is so true now that I think about it!  In her article, Smith gives examples of the revisions two of her students did to a midterm exam.  I like how she had the student show her how they corrected their mistake and why they made that correction.  I plan to use this in  my classroom.

Power Point Presentation

Persuasive Devices PowerPoint Click Here!

Double-Entry Journal

Anderson, R. S., & Balajthy, E. (2007). Exploring a literacy website that works: ReadWriteThink.org. The

     Reading Teacher, 61(1), 94-96.

In my classroom, I can use this for any technical reading assignment I give the students.  I believe that this would benefit students when reading non-fiction texts more than fiction texts, but it could be used for both types.

Romeo and Juliet Meet

This is the scene where Romeo and Juliet first meet at the Capulet Ball.  Please watch the clip and write an essay describing the similarities and differences from the actual text and the movie.




The use of YouTube can be invaluable in the classroom because it gives students something "visual" to look at when otherwise, the student may have trouble visualizing what he or she is reading.  It also gives the student another interpretation of the reading material from what is being visualized in the student's head.  PodCasts can be useful to help a student who is not able to read very well get the information.

Anticipation Reaction Guide

I learned that an anticipation reaction guide gives students the opportunity to think about what they will be reading about before tha actual read the selection.  This is an excellent pre-reading tool that gets students thinking about what they are about to read.

Guided Note Taking

Hamilton, S, Seibert, M, Gardner, R, & Talbert-Johnson, C. (2000). Using guided notes to improve 
     the academic achievement of incarcerated adolescents with learning and behavior problems. Remedial
     and Special Education, 21(3), 133-140, 170.

     This article was about a case study done with seven incarcerated adolescents who are also classified as Learning Disabled.  The case study wanted to see whether or not past findings about guided note taking were true for incarcerated students who have learning and behavior problems.  In the past studies, the authors found that in general education classes, students scored significantly higher on daily quizzes when guided notes were used in the instruction.  In the article, the authors found that even students who are incarcerated scored higher on daily quizzes when guided notes were used instead of notes that the students took on their own.

     I had never thought about using guided notes until I read this article.  When my students would read longer stories/novels, I would give them study guides, but I believe that using guided notes would be a much more effective way of getting the students more involved in their learning.  Also, I found that students do not know how to take notes and I think this is a very important skill for students to learn.  Hopefully, using guided notes will help the students learn what is important in a story/article and what is not.  What the student needs to write down so that he or she can remember and what can be thrown my the wayside as extemporaneous information.  I definitely will use guided notes when I beginning teaching again.

Professional Article

Carnegie Counsel on Advancing Adolescent Literacy. (2010). What It Will Take To Get Our Adolescents
       College and Career Ready. Time to act: An agenda for advancing adolescent literacy for college
       and career success. New York, NY: Carnegie Corporation of New York. Pages 7-15.

       According to the article, "What It Will Take To Get Our Adolescents College and Career Ready," literacy rates have been increasing exponentially over the past eight years for students who are in elementary grades.  In middle and high schools, students are expected to read more complex texts that require a high level of literacy skills.  Students are not getting the help the need in order to succeed in these courses and are therefore falling behind in literacy tests.  The authors of the article believe that there needs to be more time spent in the discipline areas on content literacy rather than just the subject.

       I teach English/Language Arts, so the value of this article to me while I am teaching is not as great as, say, a Biology teacher.  As an English teacher, I could help my students decipher tough reading selections that are in other content areas.  This could help with content literacy.  In addition, I could explain to my students that they need to read things in a different way in each class they take.  I could also do some lessons on homophone words, which are the same word but with different meanings.  This could show my students how one word can mean something in this class, but in their science class, it could mean something totally different.

Assessment and Technology

For my unit project, I plan on using many different types of assessments. I will give quizzes over every Act of Romeo & Juliet, I was also do a portfolio type assessment on all of the study guides the students must complete over the course of the book. In addition, the final assessment will be an essay grade that will be graded with a rubric.

I will use technology in the beginning of the unit when I have the students do an internet scavenger hunt.  In addition, I will use technology throughout the unit to show the students examples of different things during Shakespeare's time period.

Unit Plan

1. Romeo & Juliet
2. 9th Grade
3. English
4. National Standards
1. (Standard 1) Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
2. (Standard 2) Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.
3. (Standard 8) Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
5. State Standards
1. (SPI 3001.8.1) Identify and analyze examples of idiom, metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole, or pun in poetry or prose.
2. (SPI 3001.8.2) Differentiate among verbal, situational, and dramatic irony.
3. (SPI 3001.8.5) Determine the significance/meaning of a symbol in poetry or prose.
4. (SPI 3001.8.6) Identify and analyze standard literary elements (i.e., allegory, paradox, parody, foreshadowing, flashback).
5. (SPI 30014.8.12) Identify the elements of drama (i.e., stage directions, dialogue, soliloquy, monologue, aside).

I can use a KWL chart with my students for almost any assignment.  In the past, I have used the KWL chart at the beginning of a unit to find out what my students already know and what they want to learn.  At the end of the unit, we finish out the third column by putting in what we did learn.

My 4 Goals

The four goals that I have for this class:
1.  Learn how to increase literacy in my classroom.
2.  Understand the factors that lead to poor literacy in today's society.
3.  What the different content areas can do to increase literacy.
4.  How to assess students so I can be sure that my students are really understanding the material.