Omar Clarkson: Sophomore - Blackboard Learn Clarkson: Sophomore ... is the use of literature circles or discussion groups. ... Teaching Language Arts in the Secondary Schools

LIST 5326 – Teaching Language Arts in the Secondary Schools Lesson 5: Teaching with Literature: Engaging Students with Literature

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Omar Clarkson: Sophomore

Things teachers say to me all the time: "Why are you late?" "Take out paper for a pop quiz." "You get a zero." "Where's your homework?" "Open your book to page . . . " "Where's your textbook?" "The homework for tomorrow is . . ." "There will be a test on Friday." "May I have your attention, please?" I swear, Teachers must get together To rehearse these things. It's about time they got some new lines To play back as their recorded messages.

by Mel Glenn

From Who Killed Mr. Chippendale? A Mystery in Poems. From Who Killed Mr. Chippendale? A Mystery in Poems. This book is a real attention getter among high school students. Here is a website with more information on the book http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140385134/qid%3D1018392043/sr%3D1-1/ref%3Dsr%5F1%5F1/102-7260231-5484139

Engaging Students with Poetry

Poetry is an oral art form. It is meant to be read aloud. Therefore, the first step in the classroom is to read the poem. But, there are many creative ways to read a poem (Swartz, 1993). One method discussed in Module 2 was Choral Reading and Poetry Performance. The teacher begins by reading the poem aloud and then giving the same poem to different groups. They can choose one of the following techniques to share the poem considering: characters, mood, setting as well as spatial arrangement of the presenters, language tempo, modulation, emphasis, and the number of single or choral voices. Thus, the class will hear various presentations that may evoke differing moods. This can help students in the response phase that follows. Here are some possible formats to try out in the classroom.

• reading in unison

Copyright © 2003-2009 Nancy L. Hadaway and the Center for

Distance Education at The University of Texas at Arlington.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140385134/qid%3D1018392043/sr%3D1-1/ref%3Dsr%5F1%5F1/102-7260231-5484139

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140385134/qid%3D1018392043/sr%3D1-1/ref%3Dsr%5F1%5F1/102-7260231-5484139


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• repeating lines in response to the leader’s call--echo

• reading one line each

• reading lines alternately (in two groups)

• reading cumulatively, beginning with a few voices and gradually increasing the number

• reading from loud to soft, from soft to loud

• reading from slow to fast, from fast to slow

• having group 1 shout the first line/group 2 whisper the second line (and reverse)

• reading as a round with groups starting at different times

• individually reading the lines, with the class joining in on the refrain

• working in groups on different sections of the poem

• for list poems, assigning each word to different people--solos

• for list poetry, having group 1 read from top to bottom/group 2 from bottom to top

Poetry Response Alternatives

What can you do once students have read a poem? Well, there are many response alternatives. Here are just a few (Tchudi & Mitchell, 1989). Some of these will be developed further in this lesson.

1. Present the poem in a dramatic presentation, with musical accompaniment, or have students develop an arranged presentation (poetry performance).

2. Respond to the poem or a part of the poem in a journal entry.

3. Dramatize the poem; this can be a role-play or a series of "frozen" moments from the poem presented nonverbally.

4. Create a picture of an image or mood evoked by the poem. Write the poem or specific, powerful lines on the drawing.




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5. Videotape images or collect video clips that illustrate the poem to an accompanying audio.

6. Make a picture book with lines or a stanza on each illustrated page. There are many examples of this technique via recent picture book versions of classic poems such as Robert Frost’s Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening (check out this book and a lesson plan for it at http://www.teachervision.com/lesson-plans/lesson-2082.html).

Robert Frost’s "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening" in illustrated format is an enchanting new look at this traditional favorite.



http://www.teachervision.com/lesson-plans/lesson-2082.html


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7. Create an author study by investigating the poet, sharing information with the class such as other poems written by the author.

8. Make a mobile with stanzas cut apart and hung together with illustrations.

9. "Can" or "box" a poem by decorating a container and inserting a copy of

the poem and two items related to the poem.

10. Read the poem to musical accompaniment.

Literature Circles/Discussion Groups

One response technique to literature, including poetry, is the use of literature circles or discussion groups. However, discussion is a skill that does not come naturally to students. Often some structured discussion techniques can be helpful to use to assist students with their initial responses to literature. After using these techniques, students may become proficient enough to discuss the poems without the use of this structure. Following are some discussion techniques that might be applied to talking about literature. For more helpful information on literature circles, check out the link at http://www.literaturecircles.com/article1.htm.

• Yes, Because . . . No, Because . . . (Rothstein & Goldberg, 1993)/ Both Sides (Alvermann, 1991): If you encounter poems that lend themselves looking at two sides of an issue, this technique may work. For instance, I have a whole series of poems about journeys, roads, or choices that one can make or not make (e.g., Robert Frost’s, "The Road Not Taken"). The teacher's role is to develop a question that can be viewed from a yes/no perspective and put the question between two columns (Yes/No) (e.g., Should the narrator of the poem take the road less traveled?). Prereading Activity: Divide students into pairs and give each pair a Yes, Because. . ., No Because. . . activity sheet. Tell them the title of the selection the teacher will be reading and the question they'll be discussing. Explain that the teacher will stop several times throughout the poem and each time students will talk about the reasons from the poem that would support both a yes response and a no response to the question. Then, they'll write their reasons on the Yes, Because . . . No, Because . . . activity sheet using key words or phrases from the story. Reading Activity: The teacher reads the selection aloud reminding students to listen for evidence supporting a yes answer and evidence that supports a no answer to the question. Stop two to four times for students to talk about and record the evidence they hear. Remind them that for every reason on the Yes, Because side, there



http://www.literaturecircles.com/article1.htm


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should be a reason on the No, Because side. Postreading Activity: When the teacher finishes the selection, have students complete their discussions and finish listing reasons on their activity sheets. This is a favorite technique of mine. For more information on this strategy, go to http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson032.shtml.

• Save the Last Word for Me (Buehl, 1995): In this technique, students choose five lines from the poem they agree with, disagree with, or wish to respond to. Or, another adaptation, can be to find "golden lines" in the poem—lines that are powerful and speak to the reader. On index cards, they write these lines and then on the back, make a personal response. Then, in groups, each person reads his/her cards. The reader may not share his/her personal response on the back of the card until every group member has had a chance to respond to the line of poetry on the front, hence, "save the last word for me." For more information about this discussion technique, check out the information at: http://www.allamericareads.org/lessonplan/wyw/during/savelastword.htm.

To illustrate how poetry can be developed into a lesson that involves all the language arts -- reading, writing, speaking, and listening -- see the lesson plan that follows on the next page.

School Stories: A Poetry Lesson

If poetry is an area of the curriculum where teachers feel very insecure (Tchudi & Mitchell, 1989), students fall in step close behind. Poetry makes students and teachers nervous.

Proceeding with that thought in mind, I recently planned and taught a poetry lesson for a high school ESL class.

When planning the lesson, I began with what the research tells us about student preferences and I chose a theme that was both contemporary and familiar to students--school. Locating poetry about school for classes at any level is easy. There are a host of poems and poetry anthologies about school. (See References Module for an extensive list of poetry collections about school.) Examples of poetry about school range from the humorous and absurd, as in Kalli Dakos’ If You're Not Here, Please Raise Your Hand: Poems About School (1990) to more serious fare, "After English Class" in Hey World, Here I Am! (Little, 1986). Poems also quickly introduce characters, scenes, and plots (Vogel & Tilley, 1993). Mel Glenn’s (1982) Class dismissed!: High school poems and Betty Paraskevas’ (1995) Gracie Graves and the kids from Room 402 offer wonderful character sketches of K-12 and serve as models for poetry writing experiences.



http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson032.shtml

http://www.allamericareads.org/lessonplan/wyw/during/savelastword.htm


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Since poetry is "an oral art form," I began by reading several school poems aloud (Cullinan, Scala, & Schroder, 1995). I drew most of the examples I shared with the class from a familiar and simple poetry format, the list poem (Fagin, 1991). After reading several poems aloud to the class, we discussed the common thread among the poems. We eventually arrived at the theme for the lesson -- school.

After the read aloud, I worked with the class to brainstorm positive and negative associations with school. After listing associations on the board, we talked about the reasons they had contributed each association, either positive or negative, for school. Then, students worked in groups with chart paper and markers to come up with at least five positive and five negative examples of completion items for the statement, "School is . . . ."

Once we had begun to clarify our theme and their initial associations, we returned to more poetry examples. The first one I shared was "If Kids Were Put in Charge of Schools" from Kalli Dakos’ Don’t Read This Book Whatever You Do!: More Poems About School (1993). After reading the poem through one time, we moved to a choral reading activity. This poem lends itself to choral reading because of the format. The first and last stanza form a chorus and the six stanzas in between are designated for "students"-- Jim, Katie, Peter, Alicia, Nick, and Stanley. The class was divided into six groups, and each group was assigned a student’s name (i.e., Jim) with that stanza to read. The whole class joined in the chorus.

Continuing with the read aloud of poems, I shared several more poems reflecting a list format, such as "Cures for a Boring School Day" (Dakos, 1993) and "Monday" (Harrison, 1993). We discussed what these poems had in common beyond the theme of school, namely, a list type of format. Then, using the initial brainstorming activity, the class crafted a collaborative list poem, and students worked in groups to create their own list poems about school. A good progression to consider when working with students on writing poetry is to model numerous examples of the poem format and then to work collaboratively to construct a class example moving to group constructed poems and only later to individual efforts.

Our final poetry activity was inspired by Kalli Dakos’ poem, "They Don’t Do Math in Texas." In this poem a young girl laments her move to a new place and constantly offers Texas (where she used to live) as an example of all things wonderful, and at times, unbelievable. This poem serves as a great lead in to a comparison/contrast of where you live now with where you used to live. So with the poem as a focus, we generated a comparison/contrast map (H-map) on the board, comparing and contrasting what school was like in their country and what school is like in the U.S. Once we had mapped the similarities and differences,




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students wrote a letter to a friend or family member back home describing the schools here in the U.S. and noting any differences or similarities to the schools in their home country.

Following on the next page is the actual lesson plan that I used.

Lesson Plan: School Poems

Introduction

• Read several poems about school aloud. • Ask students what poems have in common. • Introduce topic of "school."

Brainstorming

• Brainstorm positive and negative associations with school giving some examples on the board. Then have students use chart paper and markers in groups and each group will come up with at least 5 + and 5 - examples of completions items for the statement, "School is. . . .

Choral Reading

• Perform poem, "If Kids Were Put in Charge of Schools." • Then divide students into 6 groups and assign parts for Jim, Katie, Peter,

Alicia, Nick, and Stanley from the above poem. • Have whole class read first and last stanza and then groups perform their

assigned stanzas.

Writing List Poetry

• Share examples of poems that are modeled after the idea of list poems (see list that follows).

• Have groups of students use brainstorming list of + and - associations with school and write their own list poem about school on chart paper.

• Have students share their list poem with class.

Personal Experience Writing -- School, Grades, and Writing

• Read poems about writing including "I'd Rather Not." • Brainstorm reasons that students might be afraid to write.




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• Write a paragraph about your worst writing experience in school, draw a line and then write a paragraph about your best writing experience.

Comparison/Contrast Writing

• Read "They Don't Do Math in Texas." • Discuss with students that while this is a humorous poem it also compares

or contrasts the way school is where the student is now with an idealized version of what school was like back home in Texas.

• Using a Venn diagram or H-map on the board or overhead, have students compare and contrast what school was like in their country with the schools here in the U.S., note similarities and differences.

• Write a letter to a friend or family member back home in your country and describe the schools here in the U.S. noting how they are similar to and different from the schools in your country.

Models of List Poems

From: Dakos, Kalli. (1993). Don't Read This Book Whatever You Do!: More Poems About School. New York: Trumpet Club.

• "Cures for a Boring School Day" • "If My Hand Didn't Get So Tired" • "If Kids Were Put in Charge of Schools"

From: Harrison, David L. (1993). Somebody Catch My Homework. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press.

• "Monday!" • "The Test"

Models of Poems About School, Grades, and Writing

From: Harrison, David L. (1993). Somebody Catch My Homework. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press.

• "I'd Rather Not"

From: Dakos, Kalli. (I 993). Don't Read This Book Whatever You Do!: More Poems About School. New York: Trumpet Club.

• "I'd Mark with the Sunshine" • "Why Must It Be Minus Three?"




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• "I Never Had an A Before"

From: Dakos, Kalli. (1990). If You're Not Here, Please Raise Your Hand: Poems About School. New York: Trumpet Club.

• "Call the Periods Call the Commas"

From: Hopkins, Lee Bennett. (1996). School Supplies: A Book of Poems. New York: Simon & Schuster.

• "Pencils" • "Ballpoint Pen" • "My Writer's Notebook"

Model of Poem for Comparison/Contrast Writing Assignment

From: Dakos, Kalli. (1990). If You're Not Here, Please Raise Your Hand: Poems About School. New York: Trumpet Club.

• "They Don't Do Math in Texas"




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Who killed Mr. Chippendale? A mystery in poems: This book of poems from Mel Glenn is a creative look at the murder of a popular (or not so popular) teacher at a high school. Through the progression of poems find out why killed Mr. Chippendale.




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Skin deep and other teenage reflections: Angela Shelf Medearis exposes the angst of the teen years with her collection of poems that address eating disorders, teen violence, and many other serious issues.

Engaging Students with Folklore

As stated in the last lesson, folklore includes the knowledge and stories of a people. Classroom teachers can use this same idea by shaping class activities around several folklore themes including: how to make or do something, how to teach something, how to communicate without words, and how to entertain.

How to Make or Do Something. Students can talk to their families to collect:

• Cures for common maladies such as hiccups or folk maladies such as mal de ojo.

• Traditions and preparations for family celebrations (e.g., birthdays) or traditional holidays (such as Passover).




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• Ways to predict the weather or fortune.

• Recipes for traditional dishes (e.g., menudo, latkes, etc.).

• Ways to predict specific phenomena such as the weather, good and bad luck, the future.

• Ways of performing certain tasks such as branding a steer, setting a table correctly, choosing fruit at a market, etc.

How to Educate. One of the functions of folklore is to educate, to teach manners and social behaviors (e.g., how to treat your elders, how to react toward strangers, etc.) (Simmons, 1990). For instance, eating customs make an interesting study as these vary across cultures. We don’t all eat the same things, use the same types of utensils, or even eat at the same time. How do we learn the correct way to eat in our cultures and how easy is it to adapt to a different eating style?

Proverbs and folk sayings ("Pretty is as pretty does.") have been used throughout time for the purpose of indoctrinating individuals with certain cultural messages and taboos. One of the most fascinating aspects of proverbs is their similarity across cultures and languages. The translations may vary somewhat, but the meaning -- the values being stressed -- is the same. There are many books that provide a foundation of basic proverbs and folk sayings to begin a class discussion on this topic including: Dichos: Proverbs And Sayings From The Spanish (Aranda, 1977), And The Green Grass Grew All Around: Folk Poetry From Everyone (Schwartz, 1992).

Folklore has also served to educate the listener/reader about the creation of the world, the history of its people, and the moral values the culture holds dear (Hadaway, Vardell, & Young, 2001). Myths, legends, and fables evolved as distinct literary vehicles with these specific purposes. Myths explain, among others things, the creation of the world, how light was separated from darkness, and the beginning of seasons. Students can also find that different cultures have explained these phenomena in different ways throughout the ages. For example, creation stories from around the world can be shared in Virginia Hamilton’s In the Beginning (1988) and Ann Pilling’s Creation (1997).

Greek, Norse, and Roman mythology also continue to fascinate young people today. These myths are often hero myths that do not seek to explain anything, but instead are the grand adventures of the gods. Many high school teachers find the small collections and picture books versions of myths more readable for struggling readers. They are also intrigued at the parallels between the supernatural powers of the gods of mythology with the superhuman abilities of




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the cartoon and television heroes of popular culture, such as Superman, Batman, the X-men, etc.

How to Entertain. Beyond teaching people the do’s and don’ts of a culture, one of the main functions of folklore is to entertain. Jokes, riddles, games, songs, and storytelling all fit into this purpose for folklore. Mexican American students may be familiar with the corridos or ballads often sung to report actual events. Americo Paredes (1958) researched the history behind a popular ballad from the Mexican American community concerning a border hero. This ballad was the impetus for the 1980’s movie, The Corrido of Gregorio Cortez.

Certainly, young people are familiar with the endless storytelling sessions as family members gather for the holidays, or they may have experienced parties or gatherings where ghost stories were the expected fare. Many of the ghost or horror stories shared in these settings are actually urban legends (e.g., the Kentucky Fried rat or the vanishing hitchhiker). Indeed, these tales are often offered as true stories! Jan Harold Brunvand, cited earlier, has a series of books that provide different versions of the most popular urban legends, and these would be excellent resources to use when planning a unit with secondary age learners. Check out the latest on this Internet site: Tales of the Wooden Spoon. It is full of information about and examples of urban legends: http://www.snopes.com

Many pourquoi (literally ‘why’ in French) folk tales intrigue students with their odd explanations of how things came about. It may be animal appearance or behavior. Others shed light on human behavior and customs. For ideas about teaching with pourquoi tales, go to http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/pourquoitales.htm.

Tall tales, often set in specific regions, are exaggerated narratives containing oversized boisterous characters, humorous actions, and picturesque language. Students sit spellbound as they listen to stories of Paul Bunyan, Mike Fink, John Henry, Febold Feboldson, and Pecos Bill. Their stories are available in many excellent tall tale collections (see Osborne, 1991; San Souci, 1991; Walker, 1993). For an overview of tall tales and some tall tale characters, check out http://www.americanfolklore.net/tt.html.

A very popular international folk story motif is the trickster tale which humorously portrays protagonists who use wit, pranks, lies and deceit, and mischief to triumph over their often more powerful foes. Yet, tricksters do not always prevail, for they are often victims of another’s trickery.

Finally, older students really enjoy the "fractured" fairy tale where authors have altered or mixed up the characters, setting, or plots of more traditional well-



http://www.snopes.com/

http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/pourquoitales.htm

http://www.americanfolklore.net/tt.html


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known tales. Jon Scieszka’s The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (1989) remains one of the most popular examples of this "subgenre."

Folklore across the Curriculum

As noted in Lesson 1, folklore has many interdisciplinary possibilities. Working with teachers in other content areas, language arts teachers can help students to collect folklore in the form of personal experience narratives linked to the following areas of study.

Historical Events--Social Studies

• War • Economic Depression

Historical Events--Science

• Flood • Hurricane • Tornado

Food/Food Preparation--Social Studies

• Recipes and the story behind them

Immigration and Settlement--Social Studies

• Journeys to and across America

Birth/Marriage/Death--Social Studies

• Customs related to these rites of passage

Medicine--Science/Health

• Folk Remedies • Herbal Medicine




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Social Studies/Language Arts

• Jokes, riddles, sayings

Family Histories

To get to know students and to engage students with familiar topics, teachers often include a unit on the family. Beginning with family history projects can develop oral language development, the study of autobiography, and research skills. Using an oral history approach, students: interview and take notes; read, define, and organize topics; compose and edit; present orally and listen; learn about the relationships between oral and written literature; work with primary source material; and gain an understanding of how folklore develops, is gathered and recorded (Lutz 1986; Renner and Carter 1991; Wigginton 1991/1992).

A study of family history can draw the parents into the child’s literacy experience and help validate the home culture. As part of the Maryland Arts Council Folklife Program, Kotkin and Baker (1977) produced a brief guide for collecting a family history. The final section of this publication is a questionnaire with questions or prompts that can be used as listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities in the classroom as well as serving as a structured interview guide for collecting family lore. A thematic unit could easily evolve from any section of the questionnaire. Kotkin and Baker suggested the following areas of emphasis.

• Family names • Traditions and customs • Stories of childhood, adolescence, school, marriage, work, religion, politics • Recreation and games • Tales of the black sheep of the family • Courtship, betrothal, weddings, and marriage • Historical events associated with weather or nature phenomena • War or immigration experiences • Financial sagas ("rags to riches") • Family expressions and phrases • Holidays and celebrations • Reunions and family gatherings • Recipes, cooking, and food taboos • Extended family • Funeral and burial customs • Stories behind family heirlooms, photos, or memorabilia

I used the Kotkin and Baker guide as the impetus for my work with a high school ESL teacher (Hadaway & Mundy, 1992). A colleague and I planned a family




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folklore unit beginning with an emphasis on oral folklore and personal experience stories with a move to trade books later. First, students engaged in a study of names and naming practices. To introduce this segment of the unit, we read aloud the excerpt, "My Name" from Sandra Cisneros’ House on Mango Street. This is a touching passage where Esperanza relates how she received her name and how she feels about it. Afterward, students created illustrations using the letters of their names, then shared these with a partner, discussed whether they liked their name, and noted any stories behind their names. Especially for English language learners who may have names quite different than their native English-speaking peers, the discussion of names can be a rich cultural experience. Simons (1990) devotes a chapter to "The Folklore of Naming" in her book, Student Worlds, Student Words: Teaching Writing Through Folklore, which is an excellent professional resource for a teacher embarking on a project such as this. Other resources that address naming practices across cultures are: Do people grow on family trees: Genealogy for kids and other beginners (Wolfman, 1991) and Multicultural Teaching: A Handbook of Activities, Information, and Resources (Tiedt & Tiedt, 1995). Even baby naming books can be useful as students explore the etymology of various names. Continuing with the theme of family stories, the trade books They Were Strong And Good (Lawson, 1968) and How Many Days to America (Bunting, 1992) were shared to assist students with writing their personal experience narratives on the topics of how their parents met and about their journey to America. The students enjoyed this unit, and their stories about family experiences came more easily than previously assigned topics. Folklore Unit

What's In a Name?

Artwork (mirror image) names with group discussion of artwork names

• "My Name," House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (1984) with group discussion of feelings about names

• Family crest activity with group discussion of similarities/differences in family crests

The Many Faces of Family

• Families: A Celebration of Diversity, Commitment, and Love by Aylette Jenness (1990)




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• Whole class discussion of the definition of family (What is a family?, What do families do?, What are families supposed to do?)

• Whole class reading of "Brian" • Small group reading: "Jaime," "Nhor," "Adam," or "Eve" • T-Chart comparison/contrast of whole class and small group reading

selections • Writing assignment about "My Family" modeled after the reading

selections • In-class questionnaire about traditions drawn from A Celebration of

American Family Folklore: Tales and Traditions from the Smithsonian Collection by Steven Zeitlin, Amy Kotkin, Holly Cutting Baker (1982)

• Interview of family member(s) on family traditions

Coming to America

• Reading of How Many Days to America by Eve Bunting (1992) and/or They Were Strong and Good by Robert Lawson (1968)

• Drew family trees (the author's and their own) • Discussion of the immigrant experience • Writing assignment to trace their own journey to America/family history

Folklore as Literature

• Read various folktales/examples of folklore (e.g., The Legend of the Bluebonnet)

• Select tradition, custom, phenomena and write original folktale/explanation

Let’s move on to our final genre, nonfiction literature, and examine some ways to incorporate it into the classroom. Engaging Students with Nonfiction Literature

Again, nonfiction literature needs to be more emphasized in the language arts. The emphasis continues to be on works of fiction, but such a focus on fiction may work to the disservice of students who more often choose nonfiction after completing school.

Fact Finding Odyssey. One of my favorite techniques is the Fact Finding Odyssey. Using a set of nonfiction tradebooks that are linked by a common topic or theme (e.g., space), I pair students and have them use the K-W-L chart to brainstorm what they know about this topic, what they want to find out, and what they learned. In the final column, beyond taking note of what was learned, students must also highlight one fascinating or startling fact they discovered. Then, we share those facts and highlight the book. This technique serves to




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demonstrate many books related to a single topic that might be interesting browsing. Remember, that nonfiction doesn’t have to be a linear, page-by-page read. Students can skim and scan -- browse.

K-W-L (Ogle, 1986)

What Do You Know?

What Do You Want To Know?

What Did You Learn?

Linking Nonfiction Literature To Environmental Print Sources. As a next step from the Fact Finding Odyssey, teachers may want to link environmental print such as magazines and newspapers to the nonfiction literature examples. The Internet may also be a powerful informational link. Basically, students can read more about a topic and delve more deeply into areas of interest. In the nonfiction units that follow on immigration and weather/natural disasters, environmental print sources are a natural extension to the nonfiction literature in order to provide current information. In addition, reading graphic aids such as charts or tables on immigration statistics in the news or weather maps provides practice with skills that students will need for real life reading as well as on standardized tests.

Research Techniques: Reference materials are not the only sources of information to be used for research. Students can utilize nonfiction trade books to find out more about a research topic. Structured note-taking techniques such as the K-W-L chart or the jot chart can help students keep track of information that has been located. Using nonfiction trade books demonstrates just one more source of information that can be used in a quest for data. In addition, there are various ways of reporting out information from a research study.. Students can make a poster display of their findings. Such alternatives to the research paper provide needed variety in the classroom.

•




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Check out these recent books on immigration. There are both historical fiction and contemporary realistic fictions options to choose from.




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Omar Clarkson: Sophomore - Blackboard Learn Clarkson: Sophomore ... is the use of literature circles or discussion groups. ... Teaching Language Arts in the Secondary Schools