Top Ten Toolkit -Group 3

Top Ten Toolkit

Text Set:

Eliot, Thomas Stearns. Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Florida: Harcourt, 2009. Print.

This collection of children’s poems was written and compiled by T.S. Eliot during the 1930s. The poems were the basis for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway musical “Cats”, in which the poems are set to music. Unlike much of Eliot’s modernist poetry, this collection is incredibly approachable. While intended for children, the poems utilize all of the traditional mechanics of poetry, and are written to be entertaining for both adult and children. The poems are divided into sub-headings mostly by the cats’ names, and explore issues of cat psychology and sociology. Many of the cats are personified, and a variety of human characteristics can be seen in the cats.
I would use this book of poetry for middle grades ELA students, and up. This poetry is a perfect way to introduce the modernist poets in an interesting, fun manner. Students will learn and study the traditions and mechanics of poetry, and will enjoy the illustrations by Edward Gorey. This poetry will give the students a great opportunity to practice speaking and learning the rhythm of poetry with a lighthearted subject matter. The students will also enjoy watching the musical cats, as they will already be familiar with the musical’s dialogue.

Bright Star. Dir. Campion, James. Pathe Renn Productions, 2009. DVD.

The film Bright Star chronicles the late life of poet John Keats, including his relationship with Fanny Brown. The film is particularly well made: it does a fantastic job incorporating Keats’ poetry, and chronicling the period. The film illustrates traditions of the period, including the traditional life of poets.

Students in middle grades ELA classrooms will enjoy this film in conjunction with reading Keats’, and other Romantic poets’ work. Bright Star gives the student’s an opportunity to glean some background knowledge on Keats’ poetry. The students will think critically about how the events in Keats’ life are incorporated into his poetry. Furthermore, the film provides a visual rendition of the time period, including the prevalence of Tuberculosis, which ultimately killed Keats.

Strategies:

Character Bulletin Boards (Engaging Diverse Cultures)

Character Bulletin Boards as helpful for struggling readers as they transition out of young adult-literature to more mature literature. For many students, reading without pictures is quite boring, leaving little incentive for them to read at all. As students read novels, etc. the teacher encourages them to really visualize the components of the literature. As they visualize the different characters in their setting, they are instructed to draw illustrations of these characters. The illustrations should be based entirely on the author’s descriptions, and the students’ interpretations of these descriptions. In addition to the illustrations, the students are encouraged to write short descriptions on note cards that will accompany them. The descriptions can be quotes from the text, or original student comments on the characters’ disposition. The illustrations and comments are then posted on a bulletin board in the classroom with the title of each book. This strategy is most appropriate for middle grades students, who are struggling with reading comprehension, and text visualization. This kind of exercise empowers students, and makes them feel like they are truly part of the meaning making process as they read. They are encouraged to feel as though their previous experiences are useful in interpreting the writer’s words, and that just because the author didn’t include illustrations doesn’t mean that she does not intend for you to visualize her words. The strategy gets kids in the habit of thinking critically about the characters’ descriptions, with a purpose. This purpose will soon become part of the student’s natural reading process, which will greatly increase comprehension. I will use this strategy in my ELA classroom with middle grades students. Students who are reading different books, or the same book can look at each other’s illustrations and compare them to their own interpretations. If the students haven’t read that particular book yet then the illustrations may spark their interest. I believe that this strategy will increase students’ interest in reading, and encourage them to read with purpose.


Vocabulary Tree (Struggling Reader)

The Vocabulary Tree strategy is used to help teachers more effectively teach root words. The students actually create a visual enactment of the language process. Students are given a root word, which is placed at the base or root of the tree. Then, students are told to find the definition of this word, and write it under the word. As the tree grows upward, the students are asked to write a provided word that uses the root word in it, with the definition below it. In each of the tree’s branches, the students are asked to find and write as many words and their definitions that they can find that use the original root word. In addition to these words, the students are asked to use these words in a sentence, and write it on the branches. Shooting off of the branches on the tree’s twigs the student writes where they found this sentence, whether they heard it, made it up, or found it in a book, etc. The students keep these trees in their vocabulary binders, and are asked to build upon them every chance that they get. This strategy is appropriate for teaching root to all grade levels, and all levels of readers. Instead of just giving the students a list of words, and asking them to memorize them, this strategy really re-creates the vocabulary process. The trees are a concrete example of this process, and the students have a physical manifestation of it to keep in their binders. The words stay in the students’ mind
As they read different materials, because they are eager to contribute to their tree. The students can even be graded on the number of branches that they ultimately add, in order to increase their incentive. I will use this strategy in my ELA classroom to teach the meaning and process of root words. By illustrating this process I believe that students will actually begin to look for it in their reading. When they come across a word that is unfamiliar to them they will visualize, and flip through their root trees and look for root words within those unknown words. This strategy will really help struggling readers in my classroom to work out the meanings of unknown words on their own. This is a tool to encourage dependant readers to transition to independent readers.


Words Across Contexts (Assessment)

This strategy encourages students to make connections across the curriculum through polysemous words. The students are given, or encouraged to look for words in their reading that have more than one meaning. After that, students are asked to use the template “What would the word (insert word) mean to: example a, example b, and example c.” In order to keep up with the different words the teacher creates and distributes a template for the students to fill in, and keep in their binders. This strategy is appropriate for all grade levels, and really helps students with reading in the different content areas. This exercise informs students that words can always have different meanings, and encourages them to look at the words context before assuming its meaning. Because the students are encouraged to fill in the template with their own examples for word context, they are able to associate the words with something that is meaningful to them. This really encourages students to remember the words because they have created their own associations that mean something to them. I would use this strategy as an assessment by providing the words, and allowing the students to fill in the rest of the template. I would also use this strategy in y ELA classroom as an opportunity for different students to guide the discussions. Different students could come to the board and lead the discussion of the words using their own examples; this way students will be exposed to all the different word-contexts. Students might be exposed to an example of a word that is particularly meaningful to them. Furthermore, using this strategy, as an assessment will make students feel like their individual ideas are meaningful and valid, and that memorization is not the only valid means of learning.