Search results matching tags 'lessons' and 'pop culture'

Allusions and Cultural Literacy

Anonymous — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 03:53:57 GMT

I continually hear from my fellow department members that kids today are not as intelligent as kids 10 years ago, and I admit that I have seen a distinct difference between the general students of today and a decade ago; however, I also see a marked contrast between the top 10% of my school’s students today and 10 years ago.

I’ve thought about this quite a bit, and I don’t think the change is intelligence. If anything, in math, students today are a year ahead of the high school students of the early 2000s. Still, my Language Arts students are not as proficient as they once were.

My thinking now is that the students of today lack the cultural literacy of yesteryear. Kids struggle to catch allusions to historical events, biblical figures, and current events. Even in my non-honors classes of the late 90s and early 2000s, kids could explain who King Solomon was when reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This year I have four classes of American Literature of different levels and only two students could identify King Solomon. No one this year knew the Dauphin (a bit more understandable), only a quarter of my juniors knew Hamlet was a Shakespearean play, and (maybe) 10 students knew what decade the Civil War occurred much less that Reconstruction followed it.

I just don’t think today’s kids, on the whole, read as much or are exposed to as much of what is typically defined as “culture.”

Anyway, after seeing this lack of cultural literacy while reading Twain’s novel, I decided to test the kids’ cultural literacy. I have a book about cultural literacy by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., and I had six kids shout out a page number. I wrote these on the board, and I then opened to those pages, wrote down the first item I saw, and had the kids try to identify each item. The ones I chose the first time were:

The Battle of Hastings
coup d’tat
Robert Oppenheimer
Babe Ruth
Canterbury Tales
gulags

After the pseudo-quiz I polled the students to see how they did, and the high score was a single student with four correct answers, two students got three correct, and the rest of the students correctly identified 2 or fewer items.

It would be easy to complain and shrug my shoulders and move one, but I decided to try and help increase the students’ knowledge base. I talked with my students, and they liked the cultural literacy quiz so we’re going to try it once a week throughout the second semester.

Also, I started projecting a political cartoon, a comic, or a short music video with allusions. Each day I project the item onto the front screen, give the kids a minute to think about what is seen, and then I ask someone to explain the joke and/or allusions. They love it!

Does anyone do anything similar?

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Here is the comic I provided on Thursday with two obvious references to Snooki and Kim Kardashian as well as an allusion to Andy Warhol’s “15 minutes of fame” quote (and I had to explain what a timeshare is):

On Friday I shared this comic which uses Angry Birds and The Three Little Pigs:

Filed under: American Lit., Lessons, Pop Culture, Reading

Wax Bieber Video Writing Prompts

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 17:46:00 GMT

3-5: Your Wax Self
Wax figures are made to look identical to the real person, from their hair and clothes to the way they are standing. Imagine a wax figure is being made for you. What outfit would you wear? Describe your wax look and what your look would reveal about you.

6-8: Travel Like a Star
Being a celebrity can provide you with amazing opportunities. Pretend you are a celebrity and have your own private jet that can take you anywhere in the world. Where would you go? List 5 dream destinations. Then, explain why you would want to go to each place.

Check out Wax Bieber Video Writing Prompts

Teaching Satire

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 23:58:20 GMT

Would your kids (or neighbors) recognize that this article is satire?

It could be a good teaching tool; maybe asking the kids where in the article they realized it was satire (if they did) would be interesting.

Filed under: Good Mood, Lessons, Pop Culture

Lost-inspired Lesson Plans

Anonymous — Mon, 24 May 2010 15:27:00 GMT

In honor of the Lost finale, bring some island mystery to your classroom!

Here are some Lost-inspired lesson ideas across grade levels and subjects.

Since Lost watchers are so passionate about the show, it seems like a fun way to teach a lesson that includes watching an episode in class (yay!), offering some extra credit to older students, or just using the get some thinking-outside-the-box lessons.

Get Lost lesson ideas!

Teaching Fahrenheit 451

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:19:33 GMT

I just thought I’d throw out into cyberspace what I like to do when teaching Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.

First, we read Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian” and talk about Bradbury’s views.
I begin the next few days by sharing a number of statistics about television and media in general. Each day I provide 5-8 stats or statements by researchers about the effects of technology, television, and media on people. Then, I have the students compose a reaction which kickstarts a daily discussion. We do this for 3-4 days.
Each of these 3-4 days I show a clip from I Love Lucy, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Honeymooners, and Leave It To Beaver to see what types of shows Bradbury may have seen on TV.
I share the article “*** Is Other I-Pods” with the students. First, we pull out the thesis statement, identify the evidence provided, and other essay elements. Then, the students discuss the article as part of a Socratic Seminar.
I also shared this linked article this year. This interview with a neuroscientist fascinated my students.
All the while I spread out the reading of Bradbury’s novel.
Lastly, I show the students interviews with Ray Bradbury from his website.

My students told me this was their favorite unit of the year. Maybe it was all of the technology and TV use.

Filed under: American Lit., Lessons, Literature, Pop Culture, Reading, Study, Television, Writing

Upcoming in January

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 04:18:38 GMT

I just finished planning for January, and I’m going to be teaching the following this month.

American Literature: First, we’ll review the Edgar Allan Poe writings (“The Raven” and “Masque of the Red Death” and “The Tell Tale Heart”) as well as Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment.” I actually used an excerpt of Stephen King’s Danse Macabre, which is in our textbook, as an introduction to the Poe unit. King’s piece is great for explaining how people’s curiosity is virtually uncontrollable and how the unknown is the scariest of all scares. This was a fun unit, and the kids loved it. It was the most energetic and intrigued they had been all year.

In January we will be reading Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage and looking at Impressionism, Naturalism, and Realism. Then, we’ll follow that up with Nathaniel Hawnthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” and “Rappaccini’s Daughter.”

Mythology: We almost finished our examination of Greek mythology but need to finish The Fall of Troy and the tales of Odysseus. That should take us the first week of the month.

Then, we’re going to read Beowulf, compare and contrast Norse Creation with the Greek version and then read some Norse tales. This will finish the semester. We completed our major project this semester, so we have a fun finish to the class. I will probably show a couple films after school and look at how the myths are changed for films (maybe Troy, the early 80s Clash of the Titans, The Odyssey, or the new animated Beowulf). Sometimes I show the kids the documentary about the mythology of Star Wars if time permits. It’s one that the students like (especially when the film director Kevin Smith says “of course” Annakin is the perfect villain to ruin the universe since Annakin is “an emo kid”).

Sophomore Honors: We finished up Ender’s Game before the Winter Break, which the students really enjoyed. Most of the class went out and purchased or shared the sequel during the vacation time. I got a number of e-mails regarding the Ender and Bean books. It’s nice to see the kids inspired to read more.

This month we’re looking at classic fairy tales and then reading William Goldman’s The Princess Bride. We’ll compare and contrast the film with the novel, and we’ll look at how Goldman satirizes fairy tales and contemporary society. We may even compose an ABC story which I’ve blogged about in the past.

That’s all for now. TTFN!

Posted in American Lit., Good Mood, Honors, Lessons, Literature, Movies, Mythology, Pop Culture, Reading, Writing

Avatar and the Classroom

Anonymous — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 01:12:44 GMT

I recently went to see James Cameron’s Avatar (in 3-D no less) and was visually awed. In my lifetime few movies made me feel like I had seen a change in cinema, but there have been a few: Star Wars, Aliens, Jurassic Park, and Lord of the Rings.

After watching Cameron’s groundbreaking movie, I reflected on themes that could be turned into lessons by using clips of Avatar. Here are a few ideas I came up with:

the preservation of the planet,
the connectivity of all life on Earth,
imperialism,
the western expansion of the Americans into Native American territories,
the bully tactics of larger nations against smaller nations in acquiring desired resources,
word choices (in particular, the ore sought is called “unobtainium”),
the idea of the white savior aiding the people of color,
a dependence on technology versus a life living off of natural resources,
military and diplomatic tactics/solutions, and
how this film is actually a love story.

I’m sure there are more themes in the film, but these are my initial thoughts. Any ideas from the film that you think could be added to the list? Any ideas you think don’t work? Let me know.

Posted in Lessons, Movies, Pop Culture

Obama Speaks to Kids

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:04:03 GMT

President Obama gave his speech to students today on C-SPAN, and I had not planned on having my students watch it since it’s not directly germane with the course of study; however, my students requested to watch it, and I let them.

Here is the transcript.

I don’t really understand the objections to Obama’s speech since his message was to become successful in school.

However as I heard today, if you play it backwards you can hear his Communist plan to indoctrinate our youth and to destroy America…or it’s simply the perfect cheesecake recipe. I can’t tell which.

Posted in Attendance, Diplomas, Discipline, Dreams, Graduation, Lessons, Parents, Pop Culture, Snarky, Television

The Music Video

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 05:01:13 GMT

Each year I try to include a new hook to get my students more interested in my English classes. Usually I can keep the energy level up enough, but another “in” is always welcome. This year I started using music videos (purchased online), and this year I used the following:

Green Day’s “Warning” during our Transcendental unit. The students love the ideas of the Transcendental writers, but they don’t always enjoy reading through the difficult vocabulary of the writings. Thus, I included this Green Day video as part of the idea of living by one’s own rules rather than the rules of society (sort of a Dead Poet’s Society carpe diem idea as well but 3.5 minutes long).
Blind Melon’s “No Rain” while teaching about individuality and finding one’s own group. This worked well with Modernism and Post-Modernism (loosely used) with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The students loved the Bee Girl, and we even had a quick contest to see who could do the dance. A few kids even talked about their own searches for the right group of friends. Powerful!
Dave Matthews Band’s “Ants Marching” is a good one for conformity and not taking charge of one’s life. The students really connected with the idea of going through routines without really thinking about them. This also came up during Modernism and Post-Modernism with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Plus, DMB’s “Typical Situation” has a fantastci chorus for teaching about conformity.
Blues Traveler’s “Runaround” was fun for teaching allusion and allegory. Since the entire video is an homage to The Wizard of Oz (which is perfect for the heroic cycle), the students easily saw the allusions and allegory. Also, Shrek is a fantastic set of visuals for teaching allusions.
Lastly, I taught parody by first showing the students “Who’s On First” by Abbott and Costello while reading The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath and then showing the students a YouTube video of the The Animaniacs’ parody using Woodstock. Then I played The Kinks’ “Lola” and then played Weird Al’s “Yoda” while displaying the lyrics. The kids loved the parody pieces.

I’ll have to see what other clips and videos I can find.

Posted in American Lit., Lessons, Literature, Movies, Music, Pop Culture

Day of Music

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:46:01 GMT

We finished The Grapes of Wrath and are starting A Gathering of Old Men, but I was gone for a few days. Now, I had intended to do this earlier, but I had time today and we had “music day.”

We listened to Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” and look at the final two verses in particular which are often not used when singing this tune. Most of the song is so hopeful and positive, but the last two verses change the feel and meaning of the song.

As I was walkin'  -  I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side  .... it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!

In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.

Next, we listened to Bruce Springsteen’s “The Ghost of Tom Joad” as we finished off The Grapes of Wrath. The kids were at first curious about the song’s folksy sound and gradually got into the tune while easily connecting its ideas and its final verse to the novel. The kids told me it was “cool” that people today still sing about Steinbeck’s work.

Then I talked to the class about how Springsteen may be becoming the voice of new generation. We started out listening to “Born in the USA” and focused on the desperation and sadness in the tune. Believe it or not, I used the film and novel First Blood starring Sylvestor Stallone (we didn’t actually watch the film) to discuss the post-Vietnam society and the veterans themselves as a connection to Springsteen’s 80s hit: the unemployment, the hopelessness, the frustration, and the decision to make a stand. Of course, this connects quite well to Ernest Gaines’ A Gathering of Old Men. We also briefly discussed the irony of how “Born in the USA” became such an American anthem while being a less than patriotic song.

Lastly, we listened to and examined the lyrics of “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday. My students were shocked by the title metaphor and the juxtaposition of the “pastoral scene” and the “gallant South” with the image of a hanging man. Quite a few of the kids actually questioned the truthfulness of the song’s subject, but I also have some pictures of actual lynchings with people smiling and pointing proudly to their handiwork. The kids were horrified at the sight of the pride in the photos. I’m glad they can’t imagine events like these occurring in their community, but I also want them to understand the magnitude of these horrific events and their influence on Gaines’ novel.

All in all, today was a great day and the kids were sad to leave the room at the period’s end.

Posted in American Lit., diversity, History, Lessons, Literature, Music, Pop Culture