Audio Listening Response Log

Teaching Level: 
High School

When students miss a class discuss in my class, they are required to listen to that lesson - or the equivalent of that lesson from any year.  This listening log has a place for the student to record the name of the lesson, the specific audio recording that they listened to, and the notes that they took at they listened (within a set time frame).  There is also a place to check off that the students passed a short oral test about the lesson.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.

A note from Joe Scotese and Lisa Danforth

***  Audio on AwayToTeach  ***

Did you know that there are hundreds of recordings of actual class instruction time on the site?  While downloadable lessons and handouts are incredibly helpful, there is so much value in hearing the interaction, rapport and pacing that takes place in a well-conducted and engaging lesson.  You will notice audio recordings here on the front page from time to time, but you can also access many more via the "Audio" menu tab at the top of the page.

Byron's "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" a Cooperative Journey

Teaching Level: 
High School

This is an in class assignment on Byron's autobiographical poem.  It involves a close reading of the last five stanzas (included) - has students look at the first two stanzas by themselves, then find a partner for the next two - and finally find anothr set of partners (to form a group of four) for the last stanza as well as for an overview.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.

Character Change in Macbeth: Poster Assignment

Teaching Level: 
High School

This is a 1-2 day in-class assignment analyzing how the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth change throughout the play. This is a group poster assignment incorporating multiple intelligence options. I find the style of this lesson easily adaptable to other texts and grade levels, but it is designed here for academic level sophomores studying Macbeth.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.

Observations about Student Note Cards - The Research Paper

Teaching Level: 
High School

This handout is the result of 19 years of looking at note cards.  I used to have two check-ins for notecards (40 and 40) - with fewer days we now have one check-in, and this handout is the result of my interactions with students.  There is a lot of information here - much of it going over earlier handouts, but the most important part tries to get students to see how a good research paper is organic - the outline is based on the notecards - the sources should change

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.

Ophelia in Art

Teaching Level: 
High School

Poor Ophelia! The often overlooked character in Hamlet has the honor of being the most famous and popular Shakespearean character for classical and modern artists. I show/go through this PowerPoint with the students after Ophelia's death. With each slide there are questions to go with it. Most of the questions center around how she is portrayed in the painting, often debating about the circumstances surrounding her death (suicide? accidental?

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.

The Truth in Grendel--Grendel's Philosophical Journey

Teaching Level: 
High School

One of my favorite things to do when I teach this novel is to expose students to all of the -isms that John Gardner sprinkles throughout his novel. The students, however, struggle with these philosophical theories, so I find that breaking these theories down using this assignment helps them understand and follow Grendel's philosophical journey as he constantly debates what is "true" in his world.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.

Introduction to Macbeth Infographic Assignment

Teaching Level: 
High School

I've found that students benefit from some prior knowledge on Shakespearean tragedy, witchcraft and familiarity with the characters and setting before diving into Macbeth. As an introduction to the study of Macbeth, groups of students will research one of three topics: Witches in Shakespeare's Time, Shakespearean Tragedy and Tragic Heroes, Characters and Settings of Macbeth.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.

Sinners In The Hands of An Angry God

Teaching Level: 
High School

This is a lesson on the sermon, "Sinners In The Hands of An Angry God," by Jonathan Edwards. I use this sermon to teach a text of Puritan literature as well an example of persuasive writing. I have the students close-read the text and then compare Obama's speech to the sermon studied providing a short essay on which text is most persuasive.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.

Introduction To The Canterbury Tales

Teaching Level: 
High School

I have included a power point presentation that provides an overview of Chaucer and selected tales. I use this lesson to introduce the unit and provide students with necessary background information to assist in comprehension of text. I also have included several guided reading questions that facilitate close-reading of the tales and a final assessment that requires the students to rewrite a studied tale.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.

Word Cloud Assignment

Teaching Level: 
High School

This assignment asks students to create a word cloud for several chapters of HOMS and then analyze the word cloud. Depending on time, we've done as many as five chapters or as few as two; I think this version of the assignment requires three. I'd love to have feedback about how to "beef up" the analysis part of the assignment without being too directive.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.

Words for Everything: An Illuminated Text on The History of Love

While reading The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss, I couldn't help but be stunned by the many connections in the story.  My favorite one was of "Words for Everything".  When Leo and Alma were younger, Alma wrote a letter to Leo stating that there aren't words to describe everything.  I found it immensely bittersweet that Leo had written a book to "tell" the late Alma that there are words for everything. In this illuminated text, I choose parts from Leo's Words for Everything, and connected it with his struggle to pick out the title for his 301-paged book.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.

partner1: 
Lila Chiu
partner2: 
Michael Ayers

Through the Pale Poplars: An Illuminated Text of All Quiet on the Western Front.

poplars line a country roadThis Illuminated Text by Debra Chin and Elizabeth Mucha pushes the limits of what can be done using Power Point.  With a constant backdrop of the poplars (that play such an important part in the imagery of the novel), sad violin music plays as Paul's journey

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.

The Butterfly: An Illuminated Text of All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

a buttfly and its reflectionIn this presentation I've taken the excerpt where Paul describes the beautiful scenery around the front. I went from there to juxtapose the butterflies in the novel with him. My goal was to portray Paul as the butterfly, and show that he too was "trapped inside the glass" like the butterflies he had once collected. [I am not embarassed to admit that this Illuminated Text moved me to tears by the end of it - and it wasn't for overwraught sentiment, but rather a deep understanding and empathy for Paul Baumer that this presentation does such a wonderful job of bringing out.  The butterfly on the mirror - that goes behind glass - that becomes the reflection of Paul.  The ideas, and the expression of those ideas are profound and masterful.  JRS]

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.

partner1: 
Omar Mesina

Men into Robots: An Illuminated Text on Erich Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front

soldiers marchingThis Illuminated Text by Kevin Harris and Chris James shows how to balance a presentation. By not using images, the students were able to use music that had lyrics, thereby balancing the distractions from the actual text. They do a great job of sticking to one theme as well -- what happens to the men when they reach the front and how they become less than human. There is a kind of "meta" lesson here as well

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.

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