I couldn't think of a really cool title for this random post of ideas I have, so I hoped that just being blunt would suffice. I've had a bunch of ideas rattling around in my brain lately, but I've been so busy with helping my student teacher, working on data analysis, and trying to get Tier 2 of PBIS up and off the ground at my school. …not to mention working on data and lessons for our Response to Intervention program. :)
I've been seeing such super cool things on the internet and saving them because I eventually would love to fit all of this great stuff into my lessons. My favorite part of teaching is that I can switch things up and change my lesson plans to add the new things I myself learn and find exciting.
Without further ado, here's the list of things I've seen and how I see myself teaching them. They aren't in any particular order; I am just creating a list for easier reading.
1. If Dr. Seuss books were titled according to their subtexts What a great way to teach theme and main idea! I am thinking I could show this page to my students and then we could come up with some new titles for the books/stories we have been reading in class. For instance, we recently read Anthem. I'm thinking a great new title could be The Dangers of Living in a Communist Society, or Really It Should Be All About Me. Anyway, you get the idea. And then the students could use text support to explain why it would be a good title.
2. GoldieBlox Commercial 1 and GoldieBlox Commercial 2 Really, how great is this idea anyway?! I would love to have my students watch these commercials and then do a writing about our society's portrayal of the sexes, especially towards children and whether or not this is harmful or helpful. It would be really interesting if I could find some articles to add to this discussion; maybe one on the psychological implications of gender roles, an article on the positive side of gender role teaching, etc.
3. Time Lapse of a Makeover If nothing else, I think this is a great learning tool for my students to learn that first impressions are pointless. It teaches about the importance of treating others with respect and dignity and how that can change people. It would be a great way to start out a discussion of first impressions in my classroom; maybe I can connect it with the book Of Mice and Men or to my beginning unit on first impressions.
4. Colorized Historical Photographs If you look at these photos, I hope you are amazed as I was. These images really helped me to see how alive the people really were; it helped me to connect to history. I began thinking about how easy it is to think of the past as "The Past" instead of a time with people just like me. It would be great to show my students some of these as we read stories from the various time periods.
5. Financial Lobbyists Draft Their Own Bill How scary is this?! And the scariest thing is, most Americans aren't even aware. I want to make my students aware of the things that are going on in the world around them. I have them read an article every week (an idea I stole from Kelly Gallagher), and this would be a great one to show them.
6. Spoken Word Poetry: Women This is a powerful poem, one I think would go really well with the gender roles discussion from #2 above. Watch it; you won't regret it!
7. The Wage Gap Another powerful piece of information about which most of us aren't even aware. It would be great to show this to my students and then have them write a reflection about it.
8. Chipotle Scarecrow Ad I think this is a really cool ad, but beyond that, I think my students could really have fun comparing this to "Harrison Bergeron" or Anthem, two dystopian stories we read in my class.
9. Writing Prompts I love this site! There are so many great writing prompts, and the blogger connects it all to the Common Core. I browse through this site whenever I want to find a cool writing assignment or journal writing prompt for my classes.
10. OCD Poem Yes, I am aware that there is some language in this poem. But it is so wonderfully written and so wonderfully performed that I might hope I could show it in my classes anyway. It would make for a great way to start a discussion of mental illness and how it is viewed in our society. Then I could connect it to Of Mice and Men or I could connect it with some nonfiction and have students write a problem-solution essay on how to help people with mental illness.
Again, these are just thoughts that have been floating through my head; I haven't actually planned out how I would use these things. I've just kept them on my bookmarks bar in hopes that one day I will find a great spot and time to use them in my classroom.
