Fold-ables for Poetry Devices

I have found that poetry has a great deal of terms and I needed a way for students to be able to identify examples for the various types of devices to meet our objectives for our poetry unit.

The first thing I did was have students set up a tri-fold paper, so that the two outside columns meet in the middle. Then, they cut two lines in toward the middle on each of the outside columns, giving us six flaps. We began to review the the various devices. I chose to introduce/review: onomatopoeia, hyperbole, metaphor, simile, rhyme scheme and personification. . Each device was labeled and defined on the outside of the fold-able flaps.

Next, students read poem books for elementary aged students and various copies of poems that I found, to locate examples of each device. After identifying the device they wrote the device example on the inside of the matching flap and on the inside center they drew a literal picture of the device.

The students were very motivated during this lesson.However, they kept asking if they could make-up their own examples. I had to explain that the objective we were learning was how to identify and locate the various devices not create them. They were find after that. This gave me plenty of time to assist the students that struggle. Also. some students finished quickly and those students helped the ones that were less motivated. This helped to motivate them. 

Let me know what you think and if you try it out let me know how it goes! 

Thanks!

Vacation Week Not Really a Vacation

Well, today is the first day of my school vacation week and I was up at 6:30. Thank you biological clock. I have watched a Teaching Blog Traffic School video and began working on some new products. One thing I started working on is an inferring scenario sheet. I am working on it and looking forward to sharing it soon. What are you guys working on? I am curious how much time you guys spend blogging and creating in a week?

Enjoy!

Motivating Lesson about Primary and Secondary Sources

Primary and Secondary Sources

  

So, Monday we have a common assessment that our department will be giving. I realized that I had to come up with a quick review of Primary and Secondary sources. So I wrote numerous examples on index cards and decided to review the meanings of primary and secondary source. Then I explained the rules of my game.

The students had to be the first to pop up and name which type of source I described. If the student was correct, they got the card. The student with the most cards won. This was the best activity. The students were all really motivated, it took 15 minutes and only cost me a cool pencil!

The students understood the differences and I think they should do really really well on Monday!

Primary sources I used:

Birth records

A letter to President Obama from the Queen of England

An autoboigraphy about Nicki Monaj

A recording of a speech given by Martin Luther King

An interview given by a passager from the Titanic

A photograph of your great, great grandparents.

A suitcase that was recovered from the ocean floor near the Titanic.

The original screen play of your favorite movie.

Pottery of the Inca.

Secondary sources I used:

A news report about Whitney Houston

A biography about Michael Jackson

An article about the sinking of the Titanic.

A perdiciton about how the Titaanic sunk by scientist of today.

Motivating Lesson about Primary and Secondary Sources.

Deane

Introduction to This Blog

Middle School Students are an unbelievably finicky group of people. I have been a teacher for 13 years and counting. Nine of my years was spent as an elementary teacher in a fifth grade inclusion classroom. The last few years I have been in a middle school teaching Language Arts to sixth and eighth graders. This is challenging for numerous reason. The first of which is that middle school aged children change their mind like the wind. During first term I read Hunger Games with my students, We only got about half way through and the students said this is boring why can't we pick our own books. I did some research and decided that teens need to take ownership of their reading in order to be motivated to read. I let the students choose. You can finish reading Hunger Games or you can choose your own book for the new term. Well, all but one student chose another book. Today students are reading independently and I am giving many reminders to read to numerous students. All of a sudden three girls are saying I would rather read the rest of Hunger Games then finish this book. I wanted to slap them. ( I wouldn't of course.) However, I said a little prayer asking for an extra amount of patience. Then I did say, " I told you so!" because when they all switched originally I told them when the movie comes out in March you will want to finish reading the book.

Teaching eight graders is never a dull moment.