Hope this helps my fellow Night teachers out there!
My honors class has just finished reading night, and we are moving on to a literature unit focusing on novel dealing with genocide. In order to get my students ready to see the similarities most genocides have in common, I wanted them to reference something they already knew a lot about; the Holocaust. I used this worksheet to introduce my students to the 8 stages of genocide, and had them provide examples from Night and our other Holocaust readings to get them to synthesize the information. ( Blooms word! extra credit point for me!) Here is the worksheet I used. I found the information online and take no credit for the work done defining the 8 stages.
Hope this helps my fellow Night teachers out there!
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While starting my Unit on the Freedom Writers Diary, I like to give my students some background knowledge on where the story is taking place and what has happened in history when the story is set in . This leads to a lesson on the Rodney King Riots. Now, teaching this subject in a room full of all white children who have no concept of inner city life ( in fact most have never been to a city like L.A or Chicago) is a bit of a challenge. I give them an article to read, but by the confused looks on their faces, I know that words are not going to get across to these students what exactly happened in LA and why it was such a big deal that the police officers were found guilty. I knew my kids needed a visual, but I am very unwilling to show them the uncut footage of King's beating, and the truck driver's beating. What I was able to find was a more appropriate trailer for a documentary done by VH1 on the LA Riots. Now, the whole documentary was not something I was willing to show in class, it was hard for me to watch and I am not a sheltered 14 year old... But I thought this trailer could give them some grasp of what was happening and why there is so much anger and violence in the city our book is set in. Here is the link to the video. The F word is used a few times, so make sure you watch it all the way through so you know when to turn the sound off for a bit! It really gives a good visual and some interesting perspectives for teaching this topic.
Im about to start teaching "The Freedom Writers Diary" again with my English 101 students. One of my biggest challenges with my students is that they are from a small town and don't have the prior knowledge to fully understand the everyday troubles of the students they will soon be reading about. Additionally, the book is set in the 90s, about a billion years in the past in my students' minds. So.... to deal with this issue, I've decided to create a reading soundtrack for my students first reading day with the novel. My plan is to play 90s hip hop and rap songs (CLEAN VERSIONS ONLY!) for my students who might not know who Dr Dre is or who 2pac is. When you watch a movie, what helps you figure out the mood and the setting of the story? The music! I'm going to play music in the background of my students reading in hopes of helping them visualize, feel, and create the setting of the novel, and to get the tone of the time. Maybe it will be like subliminal messaging, or maybe it will flop. But I think it's worth a shot! Here are links to youtube videos of the songs I'm planning on playing so far. I;m not going to show the video, but youtube was the easiest way for me to find clean versions of the songs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5XPV5mDm3g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWwdeypwNOg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDdIKSA54eY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUB86wHz658 (California love) Enjoy! Here is a look at the powerpoint I create for my honors students to view before we start reading the novel "Night". I wanted to give them some prior knowledge to refer to as they read the novel, and as they read about all of the camps that the author is taken to. It's often confusing to visualize the story since it changes settings again and again. I'm hoping viewing these pictures before and during reading will help my students really get a good feel and a deeper understanding of what exactly the author is going through. Especially since my students have not had a very good WWII and Holocaust education. I found all of these images online and take no credit for them.
I'm about to start teaching one of the novels that had a big impact on me when I first read it in high school. Night, a holocaust survivor's story, is a book that I think is a must read for all high school students. I want this book to mean something to my students. One way to get them to connect with it is to ease some of the confusion that will come with figuring out where it is set, where the narrator travels, and where he ends up. I found this AMAZING interactive map that gives readers a great visual of the forced journey the author makes, and just how far from home he ends up. You can find it here. More posts to come on teaching this novel! |
AuthorSecond year teacher who is always looking for ways to make learning interesting. Archives
May 2013
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