Freebie: Reading Challenge

 My English II class has a state reading comprehension test.  Now, I can go over all the tips and testing strategies, but when it comes down to it, a student must read and read often to improve their reading comprehension skills.  But how do you go about it with students who hate to read or struggle with reading disabilities or both?  Sure, classroom reading with questions and a test is a standard and one that is a necessity in our line of work, but it is not always effective, especially when a kid would has already learned that it is easier to take a low grade on reading assignments.

My solution is nothing new.  You may even have a version of it you do yourself, but here is my version that you can feel free to borrow and change up as you wish.

Quarter 1 challenge

Quarter 2 challenge

The idea behind this challenge is that they just read for the sake of reading.  No questions.  The only thing I have to measure if they read or not is the grade they give it and the signature from themselves and a parent/guardian verifying that it was completed.  Can students cheat on this?  Yes.  However, I am willing to take that risk because the students that don't cheat will come out with more reading under their belt.  

The beauty of this challenge is that they get to pick the direction they want to go with it.  There are plenty of big point items for actual books and also plenty of smaller point-value items to get them going (anything from poem to Wikipedia article to cereal box).  I just want them reading.  It also helps to have a small in class library and to give them time in class for reading.  We play with time spans from ten minutes to twenty minutes - building up as we go to give them practice on stamina.  

I've found this to be very successful in the past.  It gets tweaked every so often.  When I had English I, I would always throw the driver's ed manual in the mix too.  

Do you have a reading challenge?  Tell me about it in the comments!

Tech Tuesday: Missing Chrome Cast Option

You may have come back from break and noticed your Cast option is not where you left it on Chrome. Here is how you find it:

Go to the hamburger menu (the three dots in the upper right corner) - Click it

Scroll down and find the SAVE AND SHARE option - that opens a side fold out menu that has CAST as an option. Click it

Once you cast, the cast icon will appear in your toolbar to the right of the URL bar.  Right click it and choose ALWAYS SHOW ICON.  Then you will always have it right there ready to click when you want to cast.

Freebie - Macbeth Background Slides

 When we read Macbeth, I like to make it as immersive as possible.  We have the fog machine for all the witch scenes, sound effects students, etc.  I am still looking for an affordable lightning and thunder strobe, but none fit the bill (either in what I want from it or the price).  I also need to get my hands on a few items for students to wear or have on their desk while reading (like a crown for whoever is king at the time, etc.).

One thing I do is to have images on our screen to help set the mood.  None of the images are mine, but if you like them, each slide has a link to where the image came from. You can get the slides for free here:  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1GtXRutPEQd7WG-cXGNe4p80i8ZJayqNMfrm2y3jFSEU/edit#slide=id.p

I would love to here what you do to make that Scottish play work in your classroom!

Image Quiz

 Today's my birthday, so in the spirit of the hobbits, I'll give you a gift!

Don't get too excited, it's a small one, but I think it is something you haven't seen.  I am always on the lookout for alternative online quizzes to compete with Kahoot and Blooket.  This isn't on their level, but is very different, which gives it a nice twist.  Introducing Image Quiz!

http://www.imagequiz.co.uk/

The idea behind this is the old adage a picture is worth a thousand words.  I teach a mythology class, so I took an image of the Egyptian death journey that we study in class.  Then I uploaded the image and picked areas on the image to label.  It was super easy to do so.  When students bring up the image, they select START and it will start to give them the labels and they click on the part of the image that reflects that label.  For example, if it says Ammut, they will click the part of the image that has Ammut in it.  

If you want to give it a test run, try my Death Journey one: http://www.imagequiz.co.uk/quizzes/5641603758686208

This isn't perfect.   While it is a competition for speed, it is not as easy to figure out a clear winner as the top scores list only goes by number correct and not time, so your students may get a faster time than what is on the Top Scores page, but not be listed in the top scores.  Also, tying an image into English isn't as easy as biology or some other lesser course.  :)  However, when you have an image that could be labeled, say a character chart or something, then it serves as something different than what every other teacher in your school is using.  I use this for this one activity only and the students get a kick out of it.   

Give it a shot, and if you create on that could be useful to English classes (or various English electives), then post a link for us in the comments!

Multiple Choice Monday: Racehorse

I borrowed this idea from someone else, but for the life of me, I do not know who created the idea.  Here's the the unsung extreme teacher out there!

This assignment was done in my AP Lit class, but it works just as well in any class that works with multiple choice reading passage questions (AP Lang, English classes with standardized state tests, SAT/ACT prep, etc.)

Students picked names for their horses and we were off to the races!

TLDR Rules: Students are put into groups and work together to get multiple choice questions correct.  Each correct answer moves their horse up a slot.  Each wrong answer moves the teacher's horse up a slot (limit three slots per question).  First to arrive at the finish line gets prizes.

More details are provided on the presentation slides I set up.  You are welcomed to copy it for yourself - no charge!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/111Xcu8tpFYVGfWsyOMUfLbazz1SbqoLl0OSbB_ooW-c/edit#slide=id.p

I would love to know any tweaks you make to make this a better experience for your students!

Frankenstein Kahoot!

 For a little fun this Halloween, try giving your kids this Kahoot! I made based on the book Frankenstein.  

They do not have to have read the book - in fact, it is designed specifically for students who have not read the book.  The clever students will soon realize that much of what they know about popular culture Frankenstein's monster has little to do with the monster in the novel.

You can get it here: https://create.kahoot.it/share/frankenstein-introduction/516466e7-6006-4104-a3e4-1d2549871555

Jack's Lament and Teaching Allusions

If you have not seen the movie Nightmare Before Christmas by Tim Burton, you really should.  It is excellent for middle school age children and older.  As far as class goes, there is a particular song in it that is useful for instruction: "Jack's Lament."

A quick bit of background information for those who have never seen the movie. Jack Skellington (pictured to the left) is the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town (every holiday has their own town).  He has just had another successful Halloween.  He has, once again, won all the praise of the inhabitants of Halloween Town.  And he is bored out of his mind.  This is the song he sings to express how unhappy he is, even though everything is going great.

Why show this song clip in your class?  To teach allusion. There are several examples and depending on the level of student that you have, they should be able to pick out most.

Here they are in order as they appear in the song:

1. Sally, the rag golem is an allusion to Frankenstein's monster.  Students might be able to figure that out from the stitch marks.
2. He is walking through a pet cemetery (Stephen King's Pet Cemetery).
3. Zero the ghost dog - easy Rudolf allusion
4. There is a grave stone figure that looks like Mushu from Mulan.  If students make that connection, that's great.  However, The Nightmare Before Christmas came out in 1993 and Mulan came out in 1998, so no true allusion there (though perhaps it inspired the look of the dragon?).
5. The horse head tombstone is actually an allusion/pun.  It looks like the chess piece knight.  Use the homophone reference for night.
6. You have two versions of the Scream painting by Edvard Muench.  One tombstone looks similar to the painting and the other looks similar to the Halloween mask designed after the painting.  To really drive it home, he even says that he, "grows so weary of the sound of screams," at the same time that he drapes his arm around one of the tombstones.  Students might recognize the tombstone from the movie Scream, which has a mask based on the same painting.
7. He calls himself Jack, the Pumpkin King.  Maybe an allusion or at least a play on the idea of a Jack o' lantern?
8. As Jack stands in front of the moon, it is a reference back to Tim Burton's Batman, when the batwing flies in front of the moon for a special visual effect.
9. And of course, the Hamlet allusion as he takes off his skull and holds it to recite "Shakespearean quotations."

O.K., did I miss any?  I feel like I did.  If you notice any more, please leave a comment so that I can add it to the list.  I'll give you full credit!

If you have the movie, you'll find this song starting at about 6:10 and ending at 9:45.  If you don't, here is a You Tube version:

You can find the lyrics here if you would like to do a lesson on assonance.  Every second and fourth line of each stanza uses assonance to fake the rhyme.

Happy Halloween!