Speaking of Bananagrams, they also have 2 additional products which I was unaware of - APPLETTERS and PAIRSinPEARS. According to their website, these new products were created "in response to requests from teachers" (http://www.bananagrams-intl.com/new_products_dec09.asp).
Anyone tried these out yet?
Monday, December 20, 2010
Scrabbled English
In order to review teaching strategies, it is a good idea to get feedback from students at the conclusion of a unit. Some teachers go for the survey option, but as a more visual-kinaesthetic person and a bit of an anti-technology Luddite (yes I know that it is ironic, given that I am using technology right now), I thought it would be interesting to use Scrabble. I think Scrabble is an underused teaching tool, for which there may be many more applications as yet undiscovered by me.
In the last lesson with my year senior English class, I asked them to reflect, in groups, on their English program by using Scrabble letters to create a statement. I gave a prize for the group which scored the highest when they added the individual letter scores together, though in hindsight I should have qualified that I was after a complete sentence! Nevertheless, the winning group made quite creative use of adjectives in their creation:
This group, however, should probably have received bonus points for coming up with a coherent statement:
Some things to note if you plan to do something similar:
Happy Scrabbling!
In the last lesson with my year senior English class, I asked them to reflect, in groups, on their English program by using Scrabble letters to create a statement. I gave a prize for the group which scored the highest when they added the individual letter scores together, though in hindsight I should have qualified that I was after a complete sentence! Nevertheless, the winning group made quite creative use of adjectives in their creation:
Some things to note if you plan to do something similar:
- I am fortunate in having a number of Scrabble sets sitting around at home growing dusty. You may be able to borrow additional sets from your library, friends, etc. Hasbro sells sets of Scrabble tiles for a very reasonable US$6.50 (http://www.hasbro.com/customer-service/orderform.cfm?sku=4024), but sadly, this offer is only available to US residents.
- Failing that, you could invest in a few sets of Bananagrams (http://www.bananagrams-intl.com/checkcountry.asp?page=index.asp), which I have seen sold in Australia in Borders.
- you'll need to allow a fair amount of time for students to complete the activity. I did this in a 40 minute lesson, and it probably took up a good 20 minutes of the lesson.
- obviously one of the drawbacks with Scrabble letters is the lack of punctuation! Think of some possible ways around this.
- you may like to reward groups for correct spelling (you may have spotted a spelling mistake in the second group's statement!), use of alliteration, rhyme, etc.
Happy Scrabbling!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Teaching is a passion, not a profession
Welcome to my new blog!
After many failed attempts in the past to maintain blogs, I am hoping this one will be more successful, as I plan to share some of my teaching ideas to inspire not just teachers, but anyone looking for ways to educate and entertain young people (preferably both!).
Why do this? My teaching motto is "He who ceases to learn cannot adequately teach". This is a quotation which has been variously attributed to "Anonymous" and "Croft M. Pentz" (who, according to http://e-inspirational.blogspot.com/2008/07/croft-pentz-will-be-missed.html, was a pastor and writer). Anyone who teaches (which is pretty much everyone) can really only be an effective teacher if he/she is an avid learner. We cannot afford to rest on our laurels and go with the old maxim that "teaching must be easy because you just teach the same things over and over". Teachers should be continuously reflecting on their practices and finding new ways to engage young people.
That and the fact that publishing a book seems like too much effort for not enough gain. Why be backwards about coming forwards and sharing our teaching ideas? Why wait until we have enough ideas to fill a book, when the internet gives us instant access to ideas for the lesson we need to teach tomorrow?
Join me as we seek to inspire each other!
Miss Pom
After many failed attempts in the past to maintain blogs, I am hoping this one will be more successful, as I plan to share some of my teaching ideas to inspire not just teachers, but anyone looking for ways to educate and entertain young people (preferably both!).
Why do this? My teaching motto is "He who ceases to learn cannot adequately teach". This is a quotation which has been variously attributed to "Anonymous" and "Croft M. Pentz" (who, according to http://e-inspirational.blogspot.com/2008/07/croft-pentz-will-be-missed.html, was a pastor and writer). Anyone who teaches (which is pretty much everyone) can really only be an effective teacher if he/she is an avid learner. We cannot afford to rest on our laurels and go with the old maxim that "teaching must be easy because you just teach the same things over and over". Teachers should be continuously reflecting on their practices and finding new ways to engage young people.
That and the fact that publishing a book seems like too much effort for not enough gain. Why be backwards about coming forwards and sharing our teaching ideas? Why wait until we have enough ideas to fill a book, when the internet gives us instant access to ideas for the lesson we need to teach tomorrow?
Join me as we seek to inspire each other!
Miss Pom
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