Week 5 - Lessons and Reflection using Blogger

     My Lesson I and II Discussion Strategies (golden lines and graffiti board) were chosen because they provided interactive ways for students to truly connect and engage creatively and respectfully.  For Lesson I (golden lines), this would allow for students to seek and write out specific passages they felt were of importance and see what their peers were also thinking, how many had similar or different golden lines, and have students craft a response to a different student’s chosen golden line and why it was important. If golden lines were similar, students could still provide their viewpoints which could compare or contrast with one another while still creating for a fun, learning atmosphere.

     With Lesson II, today’s generation of students are very much in tuned with technology.  Students enjoy looking for anything on the internet that can be shown to or used with their friends.  I felt this was a great opportunity for students to experience a high-tech platform of interaction which could be used on a laptop or smartphones.  The experience itself would also serve as a learning tool in a graffiti-like fashion with so many different posts placed anywhere onto a screen.  Most importantly, the lesson enables the student some empowerment to choose which two of the four activities they would like to do instead of being told to do one specific assignment, therefore allowing the student accountability for their choice of work and how they will complete it.

     I chose specific discussion golden lines whereas I felt students would best associate with them especially they know about money, student values, different friend groups in and out of school as well social classes in the world around us.  There are many ways to teach literature and incorporate such into a lesson content.  It’s about taking the time to uncover those diamonds in the rough (if you will), and provide students with as many different learning opportunities from available resources; have students connect with varied pieces of literature, interpret and comprehend a story regardless if it is a traditional or modern book; and there will always be something within a story that can be related to in everyday life no matter how great or small.  For me, this week was another learning experience as I collaborated with other language arts teachers to gain ideas and insight on how they teach their classes, along with the tools or resources they have tried and tested that have had the most success in gaining student participation with enthusiasm.