tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88511707144634851772023-11-16T09:25:27.858-08:00Teach the FantasticA blog for teaching science fiction, fantasy, and weird literature.Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-89952437606385499272014-09-20T03:22:00.004-07:002014-09-20T03:22:34.134-07:00What I've Been Thinking<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is an <a href="http://danielskatz.net/2014/09/19/dear-common-core-english-standards-can-we-talk/">amazing criticism of the Common Core ELA Standards</a>. Pretty much what I've been thinking, but in more depth.</span>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-63135429933968990372014-09-13T04:43:00.001-07:002014-09-13T04:43:38.669-07:00EngageNY 6th Grade, Module 1, Unit 2, Lesson 7<p><br></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">I have to pick up my pace here. So I'm going to skip ahead to lesson 7. I actually had to jump up from the table is disgust after I read this:</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><p><p><p><p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">The story of Cronus is a classic myth that shows the theme of a mother’s love.
</font></span></p></p></p></p></p><p><p><p><p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">All myths contain significant elements of mythology. In the myth of Cronus, the text says, “This filled
his wife Rhea with sorrow and anger. When it came to Zeus, her sixth and last child, Rhea was
determined to save this one child at least, to love and cherish.” One significant element of mythology
is that the characters are often non-human, but they have human emotions and qualities. Rhea is a
non-human Titan, but she has human emotions such as sadness and loneliness. In the Cronus text it
also says, “She asked her parents, Uranus and Gaea, for advice and assistance. They told her to wrap a
stone in baby-clothes and give it to Cronus. She did, and he swallowed the stone without noticing the
deception.” Many myths contain a struggle for power. This struggle can be between members of the
same family. This shows a wife tricking her husband in order to save her child. These elements of
mythology help define this story as a classic myth. </font></span></p></p></p></p></p></blockquote><p><font face="Georgia, serif">So let's give the story credit (and yes, we are still on that same myth of Cronus) that there are some elements of this theme in the story. However, to reduce this complicated myth to this one theme is pretty ignorant. It's really much more about the rivalry of fathers and sons, especially when put in the context of Cronus and his son Zeus.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">You really should have scholars and experts in mythology create these things, so you don't have these egregious mistakes that an amateur like myself can tear apart.</font></p>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-14256640557165394972014-09-01T05:56:00.001-07:002014-09-01T05:56:34.464-07:00The First Day of SchoolIan Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-86423873523319042752014-09-01T05:21:00.001-07:002014-09-01T05:21:05.534-07:00EngageNY 6th Grade, Module 1, Unit 2, Lesson 4: Here There Be Pain To The Child's Soul<font face="Georgia, serif">So what do we have here in Lesson 4? A new myth, perhaps? Interesting content? A discussion of the various mythological creatures and characters sexy, Annabel, and Grover encounter?</font><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">No, we are going to now compare the Cronus myth we've been reviewing for the past two lessons with the “Shrouded In Mystery” handout from the last unit.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Because that's what keeps kids engaged, mind-numbing repetition.</font></p>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-39764601899020942014-08-30T07:37:00.001-07:002014-08-30T08:10:20.691-07:00EngageNY 6th Grade, Module 1, Unit 2, Lesson 3: in Which Students Use an Age-inappropriate Concept to Discuss an Age-inappropriate Theme<font face="Georgia, serif">The work for Lesson 3 of Unit 2 of <i>The Lightning Thief</i> unit can be summed up with this quote of directions:</font><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p>
</p><p>
</p><p>
</p><p>
</p><p>
</p><ul>
<li>
<p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">Add that a thematic statement is expressed in a complete sentence and conveys a complete idea about the topic. It is a
statement or claim about the topic: the writer’s thinking. A hint that often helps students to arrive at theme is to ask: “What
idea or lesson does this story <em>convey </em>or communicate about the topic?” In this case, the theme answers the question: “What
ideas does the Cronus myth convey about parent-child relationships?” </font></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p><p></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">So firsthand, the idea of theme as a testable concept s too mature for sixth-graders on the whole. I've discussed that already. Now we're going to use that concept and discuss in depth about a father Titan devouring his own children? Seriously? Cannibalism and murder of children?</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">I won't lie and say I don't address this issue too, but I treat for the horror it is. To spice things up, I even show a bit of Goya.</font></p><p><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUzN2RZfZ3YBeGeenTHS7o6M_V7Katq9z5xQt_zVL7MRu702ygk5RmPLv9ZNKJ4V826VhS16_0BaOKWlbPjRMEMZxRdpZCjks1VTr1_pRZFUPnaYTycZP5FO4x4gooRNy5Iw_4AVfLPs9d//" width="650" height="1191.6666666666667"><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Yes it's horrible, but that's the point. Treat it as such. By analyzing this text, it's like using <i>The Texas Chainsaw Massacre</i> to teach film technique.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Not only that, this is a second day with the same text! Now that's a horror.</font></p>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-23879342802288173952014-08-27T11:46:00.001-07:002014-08-27T11:46:37.409-07:00EngageNY Grade 6, Module 1, Unit 2, Lessons 1–2: Mythology At Last?<font face="Georgia, serif">Unit 2 of <i>The Lightning Thief</i> module begins auspiciously:</font><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p>
</p><p>
</p><p>
</p><p>
</p><p><span style="font-size: 30.000000pt; font-family: 'Arial'; font-weight: 700; color: rgb(82.000000%, 7.100000%, 25.900000%)">Grade 6: Module 1: Unit 2: Lesson 1
</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 30.000000pt; font-family: 'Arial'; font-weight: 700; color: rgb(44.300003%, 43.900002%, 45.100002%)">Reading Closely to Build Background
Knowledge: “</span><span style="font-size: 30.000000pt; font-family: 'ArialMT'; color: rgb(44.300003%, 43.900002%, 45.100002%)">Myths and Legends” </span></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p><p></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Really? I'm actually looking forwards to that. Unfortunately, after doing the requisite inferencing from the novel itself, we are presented with the first myth, entitled:</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">In appearance, the gods were supposed to resemble mortals, but they were more beautiful, strong,
and tall. They resembled human beings in their feelings and habits, marrying one another and having
children, and needing daily nourishment and refreshing sleep.
</font></span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Greeks believed that their gods were much smarter than men, but that the gods still had human
feelings and passions. We often see the gods motivated by revenge, </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700;">deceit</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, and jealousy. But they
always punish the evildoer, especially any mortal who neglects their worship.
</span></font></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We often hear of the gods descending to earth to visit mankind. Often, both gods and goddesses
become attached to mortals and have children with them. These children are called heroes or
demigods, and were usually known for their great strength and courage. But although there were so
many points of resemblance between gods and men, only the gods were </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700;">immortal</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.
</span></font></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">They possessed the power to make themselves invisible and could disguise themselves as men or
animals. They could also transform human beings into trees, stones, or animals, either as a
punishment for their misdeeds or to protect the individual from danger.
</font></span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Most of these </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700;">divinities </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">lived on the summit of Mount Olympus, each possessing his or her
individual home, and all meeting together on festive occasions in the council-chamber of the gods.
Men built magnificent temples to their honor and worshipped the gods with the greatest </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700;">solemnity</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">. </span></font></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p></blockquote><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Not terribly encouraging, and this isn't because the information here is wrong, or even inappropriate for the book, but <i>it's inappropriate considering we're nine chapters into the book!</i> We've been talking about gods sine the first chapter! This would have been a fine introduction to gods before chapter 1, but now?</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Speaking of which, who are those gods? There's mention of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hermes, Ares, Athena (my favorite), and Dionysus, so where is the background knowledge? Who are these gods? That's what makes this unit so frustrating. It's either assuming sixth-graders know this (and most of them don't) or that it's unimportant, which is also wrong.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Of course, a handout can never just be informational. We now need to parse it for as much as much vocabulary and paragraph structure as we can get. But once that tedious review of test-taking skills is dne, we're on to lesson 2, the myth of Cronus!</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><p>
</p><p>
<p>
<p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">Cronus was the son of Uranus and Gaea (Mother Earth), and was the youngest of the Titans. When
Gaea gave birth to other children, such as Cyclops, who looked monstrous, Uranus was not proud
of them and put them in a pit under the earth. This made Gaea very angry, and she asked Cronus
and his Titan brothers to rise up against their father and save their other brothers. Cronus did
overthrow his father, but he did not save his monstrous brothers. Gaea, who loved all of her
children, was so angered that Cronus did not help his brothers that she began to plan Cronus’ ruin.
</font></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">Cronus was the god of time. He married his sister Rhea, and together they had three sons and three
daughters. Cronus was afraid that his children might one day rise up against his authority, as he
had against his own father, Uranus. His father had predicted that this would happen. In order to be
sure that he kept power and the prophecy did not come true, Cronus attempted to escape fate by
swallowing each child as soon as it was born.
</font></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">This filled his wife Rhea with sorrow and anger. When it came to Zeus, her sixth and last child,
Rhea was determined to save this one child at least, to love and cherish. She asked her parents,
Uranus and Gaea, for advice and assistance. They told her to wrap a stone in baby-clothes and give
it to Cronus. She did, and he swallowed the stone without noticing the deception.
</font></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">Anxious to keep the secret of his existence from Cronus, Rhea sent the infant Zeus secretly to Crete,
where he was fed, protected, and educated. Priests of Rhea beat their shields together and kept up a
constant noise at the entrance, which drowned the cries of the child and frightened away all
intruders.
</font></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">Grown to manhood, Zeus determined to make his father restore his brothers and sisters to the light
of day. The goddess Metis helped him, convincing Cronus to drink a potion, which caused him to
give back the children he had swallowed. Cronus was so enraged that war between the father and
son became inevitable. Zeus eventually dethroned his father Cronus, who was banished from his
kingdom and deprived forever of the supreme power. Cronus’ son now became supreme god. </font></span></p>
</p>
</p>
</p></blockquote><p><font face="Georgia, serif">And there are a lot of problems here. Oookay, where do I begin? The first this is that it contains a factual error. This sheet gives the impression that Cronus was the only surviving male Titan when in fact there were many. Some, like Atlas and Prometheus, figure prominently in later myths.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">When retelling this myth you have to do a certain amount of editing. Cronus defeats his father Uranus by castrating him, a detail certainly not appropriate for sixth grade. (The severed genitals fall into the sea and give rise to Aphrodite, hence the many depictions of the goddess rising out of the "foam".) Moira Kerr and John Bennett retell that detail in this manner:</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">“As soon as Uranus grew dark upon the earth, Cronus leaped upon him and and dealt a terrible wound that maimed him forever. From the drops of the crimson blood that seeped into the earth sprang the Erinyes or Furies, those relentless beings who persue and torment the guilty. And as the multilateral parts of the body of Uranus floated on the waves of the summer sea, they broke into a white foam from which was born a young goddess, Aphrodite." </font><font face="Georgia, serif">("The Beginning" excerpted from <i>Literature, Green Level, revised edition</i>, McDougal, Littell & Co., 1987)</font></p></blockquote><font face="Georgia, serif">There's really no question as to which is a superior selection. This short piece is evocative with powerful language. Why discuss this specific detail? It's a gory one, but these are the kinds of details that get kids interested. When I'm telling my students the (very much abridged) story of <i>The Illiad</i>, I make sure to read some of the gorier killings that are in the poem. Yes, it's gross, but it also works. It also makes theoi t that Greek mythology is earthy and relatable. These stories are about vulnerable people, just like the kids.</font><p><br></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Will discussing how we use context clues within a sentence to understand vocabulary words do this?</font></p>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-78527983091758821622014-08-27T08:10:00.001-07:002014-08-27T08:10:30.281-07:00Pause: Where I reflect on what I Can Learn<font face="Georgia, serif">Many EngageNY lesson begins with an opening where you are engaging the students. I have tended to breeze over those because the content within them is so boring. They're rehashes of the same point that is being driven into students' heads over and over again. However, there are some good ideas.</font><p><font face="Georgia, serif">The one I'd like to discuss are the different ways kids can sharing their answers with each other. When I was in grad school, I had a teacher who was very much into this. She'd make us get in a group and each group would discuss a different topic, then we'd all get up and explain what we'd discussed with people. That was a quick and dirty way to bring information to an entire class.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">The problem was that I always thought those processes were kind of stupid. I did not learn like that, and I kind of resented getting information as a sound bite instead of the deep learning from a teacher who knew more than me. Unfortunately, what's true for me may not be so for my students.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">The EngageNY curriculum has lots of these types of processes: pairing kids up back-to-back, moving around the classroom looking for partners. Not that these activities make up for a dreadful curriculum, but they are worth a try.</font></p>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-71263983963010676412014-08-27T07:17:00.001-07:002014-08-27T10:52:15.197-07:00EnageNY, Grade 6, Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 12: In Which We Keep Discussing the Hero's Journey and Compare It to the Original Text<font face="Georgia, serif">It's like we're doing the same thing! Before we were competing the stages of the hero's journey to <i>The Lightning Thief</i> and writing that on a worksheet. Now we're turning that into an essay.</font><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">The one thing I like about this assignment is the checklist. We've seen them earlier, but this is a good idea for writing. Sometimes kids get too focused on one aspect of writing a piece they can neglect other critical parts.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Read the criteria below. Read your partner’s paragraph, keeping this checklist in mind. If your partner
meets the criteria, place a </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">√</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">. If your partner needs to revise this because they did not meet the criteria, place a X.
</span></font></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">Criteria Checklist:</font></span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">
Did your writing partner ...</font></span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">
_____ begin your paragraph with a topic sentence that makes a claim?</font></span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">_____ use evidence from </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><em>The Lightning Thief </em></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">that supports their claim?</span></font></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">_____ use evidence from “The Hero’s Journey” that supports their claim?</font></span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">_____ make it clear how the quotes are connected?</font></span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">
_____ close the paragraph with a clear concluding statement? </font></span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p></blockquote><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Not the worst thing in the world. Of course, the whole thing is designed to help kids write good responses for state tests. This isn't about creating good writers at all but good test takers. However, this is something I can steal for my own lessons on essay writing.</font></p>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-66967456914335797112014-08-27T07:05:00.001-07:002014-08-27T10:51:55.997-07:00Engage NY, Grade 6, Module 1, Unit 1, Lessons 10–11: A Place Where Nothing Changes<font face="Georgia, serif">And here we are, two more lessons in, still obsessing about the same list of the hero's journey. This time we are now comparing the journey directly to the text of the book as opposed to quotes from the book on a handout. (Note: I'm going to have to go faster now. Time is a wasting.)</font><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Chapter 11 has a strange addition to the vocabulary list: <b>caduceus</b>. Okay, that's the staff of Hermes, also a symbol of the medical profession. It's not the worst word in the world <i>except that the students have not been taught who Hermes is</i>. Okay, I know that he's mentioned in <i>The Lightning Thief</i>, but there should be a lot more. There are some great myths about Hermes, like his one, <a href="http://">when he was born</a>.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">I keep hoping that there will be some deep content here, and this unit never ceases to disappoint me.</font></p>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-53140585178244832772014-08-25T14:41:00.001-07:002014-08-27T10:52:45.804-07:00EngageNY, Grade 6, Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 9: Where We Find A Strange Obsession<font face="Georgia, serif">Lesson 9 is a bit of a recap of Lesson 8. Now that kids have been familiarized with the steps of the hero's journey, we're now going to be applying it to specific moments in <i>The Lightning Thief</i>. Plus, we're going to learn some new vocabulary words, hero, hero's journey, archetype, uneventful, embark, supernatural, bestow, trials, and ordeal.</font><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Besides the repetition of the term "hero"' I don't have a problem with these except for <b>archetype</b>. It's a very abstract term, and in terms of child development, most children only <i>begin</i> to comprehend things abstractly at about age twelve. This is an example of age-inappropriateness. This is a high school-level term (at least) being brought down into the sixth grade.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Now let's get to one of the most egregious issues with this unit. The homework assignment for this day's lesson is so:</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">Percy has just survived a traumatic night and is now in a completely unfamiliar and strange setting.
This presents a unique challenge. How does Percy respond to this challenge? What inferences can you
make based on his response? Consider his interactions with other characters as well as his inner
thoughts.
</font></span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Use your </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700;">evidence flags </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">to mark places in the text that show your thinking. </span></font></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p></blockquote><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">You have a repetition of the concept of challenges. Even though I'm not a huge fan of the book, there are so many things to be discussed at this point in the book, yet we are hung up on the idea of “the hero facing challenges”. Why? Because this is <i>exactly the kind of question that shows up on a test</i>. Trust me. I've seen it over and over again. So rather than discuss mythology, the thing this unit was ostensibly about, it's lasering in on test prep.</font></p>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-56594752706169629672014-08-21T19:21:00.001-07:002014-08-21T19:21:25.156-07:00EngageNY 6th Grade Module 1, Unit 1, Lessons 7–8: In Which I Find Some (Inappropriate) Content At Last<font face="Georgia, serif">Unit 1 Lesson 7 is a mid-unit assessment. If anybody had any doubts about the poverty of the content here, the questions are 1–2 sentence chapter "gists" (Can we just use the word summary, please?), review of the challenges Percy faces and the review of the character stuff from earlier. No explicit instruction in mythology.</font><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Lesson 8 actually gets to an interesting point, although a strange one. After discussing what is a hero, which is a fine discussion — I do that too, we go over a shortened list of Jospeh Campbell's “The Hero's Journey” and the process a person becomes a hero? I have to say that this subject appeals to my nerdy little heart, but I have some reservations about the appropriateness of this for early middle school. Joseph Campbell is pretty heady stuff. It's some of the most interesting analysis out there in terms of myths and their structure.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Here's the rub: what good is it learning the steps of a hero's journey when you don't have the content knowledge? The handout wisely uses some movie and book examples the kids might recognize, but I'm still uneasy at pushing this advanced material. What good is it now? Seeing these steps in <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> or <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> is fine, but this is not what sixth-graders need right now.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">You want to give them advanced material? Let them read about the Trojan War. There you have the greatest war poem ever telling how difficult and terrible and glorious war really is. Not only will kids learn about Hector, Agamemnon, Paris, Helen, Ajax, and Menelaus, they'll get a sense of war itself. Here's something with deep content that is directly relatable to modern life. I'm not suggesting kids read The Illiad, but they can hear some of the stories. Olivia Coolidge wrote an excellent book on the Trojan War, suitable for this level. Why not that?</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">And when the kids get this content knowledge, the hero's journey will make sense. The steps will seem familiar and not something tacked onto a story.</font></p>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-65598043039892538242014-08-18T17:15:00.001-07:002014-08-18T17:15:44.320-07:00EngageNY G6, Module 1, Lessons 4–5: In Which I Debate Myself About A Word<font face="Georgia, serif">I'm going through an interesting thought process. I'm finding myself being highly critical of this curriculum, then I question myself when it shows nuggets of improvement. Surely it can't be all bad? After all, New York State spent millions of dollars on this. It's professionally developed! You're being too critical!</font><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Let me describe one thing that is making me uneasy. One of the initial vocabulary vocabulary words for this unit is the word <i>gist</i>, as in to get the gist of. We all know what that means, and I always used it in a slightly informal way. In no way is it a word or term that I would incorporate into a lesson except in a casual way. However, this EngageNY curriculum codifies the word <i>gist</i> into the learning process. For example, in Lesson 4 it asks the students to discuss in their triads, “What is the gist of this action of text?" Now this isn't a bad word to know, but my gut tells me it's way too informal a word to use in this context. This is repeated in Lessn 5 too, describing a certain type of non-analytical reading that students are expected to do (which I think is traditionally called "reading"). We have to get the gist of the chapter or section.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">What this is doing is dividing the two types of reading too. There's reading for "gist" and there's the analytic reading which the Common Core Curriculum values more.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Lesson 5 addresses making inferences. Inferences are one of these ideas that I see in every standardized test. There are always questions about inferencing. The gist of the lesson (Ha! I make funny!) is to look at a range of pages and discuss what Percy is thinking at a specific moment and then write down what you learn about Percy as a result of it. Okay, this isn't the worst idea, teaching character and inferencing at the same time. The problem is that we did this last lesson. No matter whether you use evidence flags for the text you want to highlight or not, this is very repetitive.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">I'm still not seeing any better engagement with story or the mythological underpinnings of <i>The Lightning Thief</i>. Lesson 6 is preoccupied with teaching prefixes, which is a poor fit for a one-day lesson that has to do with a novel. If you're going to teach this subject, and that's a perfectly valid topic for this age (I teach them myself) do it methodically. End a week or so and work through the major prefixes and suffixes, examining how they change the meaning of a word. You can't skim the topic and convince yourself that you've taught it. It's too deep.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">We do some reading comprehension in Lesson 6 where the students, still in their triads, get to pick questions for a question basket which I will distribute to each triad. They take turns drawing questions and reading them, then the entire group searches for text to answer the question. I can see this as kind of fun, and this may be a better way to do reading comprehension from time to time.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">As a closing, students will stand back-to-back with a neighbor then turn around and share their ideas about three questions:</font></p><p>
</p><p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<ol start="0" style="list-style-type: none">
<li>
<p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">1. What is an example of a word that begins with a prefix?
</font></p>
<p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">2. What is an important challenge Percy has faced so far in <em>The Lightning Thief</em>?
</font></p>
<p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">3. What is the most important thing you have learned about Percy so far in this novel? Support your thinking with a specific
example from the book. </font></p>
</li>
</ol></p>
</p>
</p>
</p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Getting back to engaging with the text, do you see how the actual text questions are very general? They don't question a student's understanding very well. So far it seems that there are bigger questions than this at this point in the novel, yet the lesson barely touches them.</font></p>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-6467803941508053962014-08-18T14:00:00.001-07:002014-08-18T14:00:30.439-07:00Where We Link To Articles About The Common Core<font face="Georgia, serif">These are worth reading to learn about the genesis and effect of the Common Core:</font><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/08/17/a-painful-analysis-of-new-common-core-tests-and-the-n-y-results/">http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/08/17/a-painful-analysis-of-new-common-core-tests-and-the-n-y-results/</a><br></font></p><p><br></p><p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/11/24/following-the-common-core-money-where-are-millions-of-dollars-going/">http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/11/24/following-the-common-core-money-where-are-millions-of-dollars-going/</a><br></p><p><br></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">The second article especially describes where the money for the Common Core comes from.</font></p>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-30357857752913972182014-08-15T19:03:00.001-07:002014-08-15T19:03:51.133-07:00Bad Way To Do Group Work<font face="Georgia, serif">In the beginning of the teaching noted for Lesson 3 of <i>The Lightning Thief</i> unit, we get a teacher's note:</font><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p>
</p><p>
</p><p>
</p><p>
</p><p>
</p><ul>
<li style="font-size: 9.000000pt; font-family: 'Georgia'">
<p><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Ideally, students would routinely sit in their triads at the beginning of class. Many discussion, reading,
and writing routines rely on this structure. If the class has another seating chart or routine, preview
each lesson to determine the best time for students to transition to triads (typically at the start of Work
Time). </span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p><p></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">What this means is that the unit should be taught with the expectation that students sit in their same groups of three for the entire unit. I can see the advantages and disadvantages of the, but in the long term it's a problem. First off, let's remember these are sixth graders, not high school or college students. They have a great variety of maturity levels as well as very different motivation. In any class you're bound to have kids who don't work hard academically. I question the wisdom of having such small, inflexible groups for such a long period of time. </font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">In the opening you are elected to do this:</font></p><p>
</p><p>
</p><p>
</p><p>
</p><p>
</p><ul>
<li>
<p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">Read the learning targets:<br>
* “I can make inferences about Percy in order to understand him as the narrator of this story.”<br>
* “I can cite evidence from the text when answering questions and discussing Percy’s character in<em>The Lightning Thief</em>.”</font></p><p><span style="font-family: '‘Trebuchet MS’', Helvetica, sans-serif;">* </span><span style="font-family: '‘Trebuchet MS’', Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I can follow our Triad Talk Expectations when I participate in a discussion.” </span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p><font face="Georgia, serif"></font><p></p><font face="Georgia, serif">(Pardon that odd line break in the reading targets above. I'm not good enough anymore with HTML code to figure out the formatting.) I'm struck by how <b>none</b> of these standards are content related. In other words, the goal is to be able to find details and relate them to some general ideas (i.e. Understanding Percy as the narrator) </font><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">but not to knowing or understanding specific things about the story itself.</span><p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Lesson 3 has students go over the first four pages of <i>The Lightning Thief</i> twice: the first time for general understanding, the second to parse specific details in order to make inferences about Percy. Again, we have this repetition of text. It makes a certain sense in order to teach inferencing, but holy cow, this will get boring.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I'm still wondering when we're going to be talking about Greek mythology. Seriously. Not on a worksheet which students are analyzing somehow, but a deep and meaningful discussion of meaning.</span></p>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-82651446543508167322014-08-15T07:47:00.001-07:002014-08-15T07:47:23.610-07:00Space Sounds<font face="Georgia, serif">Although there's no sound in space, bodies in our solar system emit electromagnetic signals. Some very cooleople at NASA took the signals that were in the audible sound range and turned them into music. The result sounds like, well, space music!</font><p><a href="http://youtu.be/-MmWeZHsQzs">http://youtu.be/-MmWeZHsQzs</a><br></p>
Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-33398707614960619432014-08-13T17:50:00.001-07:002014-08-13T17:50:33.836-07:00Lightning Unit Observations 1<font face="Georgia, serif">A couple of things I'm noticing with the first lesson or so in the EngageNY unit.</font><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">The first lesson lasts two days and it deals in those two days with various comprehension strategies as well as one worksheet composed of six paragraphs of text, plus picture:</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;">
<p>
<img src="file:///page48image7812" alt="page48image7812" width="449.999878" height="258.698883">
</p></blockquote><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></blockquote><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">A long, long, long time ago, even before Perseus was born, his grandfather, Acrisios, the king of Argos,
was given a prophecy that he would someday be killed by his grandson. To protect himself from this
fate, the terrified king imprisoned his only daughter, Danae, in an underground dungeon so that she
could never marry or have children. Certain that he would never be a grandfather, Acrisios relaxed.
But Zeus, the great father of the gods, had other plans.</font></span><p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">Zeus had been watching Danae and thought she was stunning—too beautiful to resist. He turned
himself into golden rain and poured through the bronze bars in the roof of her elaborate dungeon. As
the rain fell upon Danae, its magical powers caused a child to begin growing within her. Nine months
later, she gave birth to a son and named him Perseus.</font></span></p><p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">Outraged as well as frightened when he learned of a grandson's birth, Acrisios enclosed mother and
son in a chest, which he flung into the sea. After drifting about for a long time, the chest finally
washed up on a distant island. A fisherman found it and brought it to his brother, King Polydectes,
who took Perseus and his mother into his palace.</font></span></p><p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">When Perseus grew up, Polydectes gave him a series of challenging tasks to complete. Armed with a
sword made by the god Hermes, winged sandals, and a shiny bronze shield given to him by the
goddess Athena, Perseus slew the dreaded monster Medusa. This hideous creature had writhing
snakes for hair, elephant-like tusks for teeth, and blood-red eyes. Whoever looked at her was instantly
turned to stone.</font></span></p><p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">As success followed success, Perseus began to think about the stories he had heard about his
grandfather, Acrisios. So, after a brief visit to his mother, the young hero set sail for Argos. Before he
reached it, however, Acrisios got word that his long-lost grandson was coming and fled the city, for he
still feared the prophecy.</font></span></p><p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">While waiting for Acrisios to return, Perseus attended festival games being held in a neighboring town.
A skilled athlete, Perseus entered the discus contest. As he prepared to throw it, he lost control and </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">the heavy disk went hurtling into the crowd, striking a man and killing him. Alas, the tragic prophecy
had proved true—the dead spectator was Acrisios. Perseus was so troubled about the accident that he
chose to leave Argos and build his own city—the legendary Mycenae. </span></font></p><p><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></p></blockquote><p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">This is a part of the legend of Perseus. The writing style isn't bad and neither is the content; however, this is the only content students will be dealing with for two days. Most of the time they'll be analyzing this text using reading strategies such as context clues for new vocabulary, summarizing paragraphs, and annotating. This may be appropriate for some levels of readers, but two days on one short selection of text. My strong readers will be ready to claw their eyes out after this. This is incredibly boring and tedious.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">This unit also wants students to be working in triads for much of the unit. As a student I found a lot of group work pretty tedious, so I don't know if this strategy will be successful. I don't know if this heavy emphasis on learning strategies and group work, forcing kids to talk about <i>how they are learning</i> will be a successful one. It may be that coming from my own ease with text (I taught myself to read when I was three) I find having to describe how I do something unnecessary, but this may just be me. I'm going to give this a fair shot. Student feedback will be important here. Still, heavier emphasis on the <b>how</b> rather than the <b>content</b> will turn off almost any reader.</font></p></p>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-51951900112902954782014-08-13T11:13:00.001-07:002014-08-13T11:13:01.769-07:00The Lightning Thief Unit Assessments<font face="Georgia, serif">The module for <i>The Lightning Thief</i> is broken into three different units, each with a mid unit and end unit assessment. Here they are:</font><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Mid Unit 1: </font><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 9pt; font-family: Georgia; font-weight: 700;">Inferring about the Main Character in </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 9pt; font-family: Georgia; font-weight: 700;"><em>The Lightning Thief</em></span></p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p><span style="font-size: 9.000000pt; font-family: 'Georgia'">This assessment centers on standards NYSP12 ELA CCLS RL.6.1 and RL.6.3. Students will read an excerpt from Chapter 4 in
</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Georgia;"><em>The Lightning Thief</em></span><span style="font-size: 9.000000pt; font-family: 'Georgia'">. Through a graphic organizer and a series of short responses, students will describe how Percy responds
to a challenge he faces in this excerpt, and then what they, as readers, can infer about him based on his response. This is a
reading assessment and is not intended to formally assess students’ writing. Most students will write their responses, in which
case it may also be appropriate to assess W.6.9. However, if necessary, students may dictate their answers to an adult. </span></p>
</p>
</p>
</p>
</p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">End of Unit 1 Assessment: </font><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: 700; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Drawing Evidence from Text: Written Analysis of How Percy’s Experiences Align with “The Hero’s Journey”</span></p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p><span style="font-size: 9.000000pt; font-family: 'Georgia'">This assessment centers on standards NYS ELA CCLS RL.6.1, RL.6.3, R.I. 6.1, and W.6.9. How do Percy’s experiences in
Chapter 8 align with the hero’s journey? After reading Chapter 8 of </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Georgia;"><em>The Lightning Thief</em></span><span style="font-size: 9.000000pt; font-family: 'Georgia'">, students will complete a graphic
organizer and write a short analytical response that answers the question and supports their position with evidence from the
novel and from the informational text “The Hero’s Journey.” </span></p>
</p>
</p>
</p>
</p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Mid Unit 2 Assessment: </font><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: 700; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Analytical Mini-Essay about Elements and Theme of the Myth of Prometheus</span></p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p><span style="font-size: 9.000000pt; font-family: 'Georgia'">This assessment centers on NYSP12 ELA CCLS RL.6.1, RL.6.2, RI.6.1, W.6.2, and W.6.9. For this assessment, students will
write an analytical “mini-essay” responding to the following prompts: “What are significant elements of mythology in the story
of ‘Prometheus’? Explain how elements of mythology contained in the plot make ‘Prometheus’ a classic myth.” “What is an
important theme in the myth of ‘Prometheus? What key details from the myth contribute to this theme?”<br>
Students will have read and discussed the myth “Prometheus” in class as well as an informational text about the “Key
Elements of Mythology.” They will use recording forms to collect important details. Their “mini-essay” will contain two body
paragraphs (one about the elements of myth that they see in “Prometheus” and one a theme of the myth) plus a one- sentence
introduction and a brief conclusion to explain how an element of mythology connects to a theme of the myth. The reading
standards assessed center around citing textual evidence from both the literary text “Prometheus” and the informational text
“Key Elements of Mythology.” Students also are assessed on their ability to determining of a theme of a literary text. The
reading standards could be assessed through the graphic organizer alone, or verbally, if necessary. This is both a reading and
writing assessment. </span></p>
</p>
</p>
</p>
</p><p><p><p><p>
</p>
</p>
</p>
</p><p><p><p><p>
</p>
</p>
</p>
</p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">End of Unit 2 Assessment: </font><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Georgia; font-weight: 700;">Literary Analysis—Connecting Themes in Cronus and </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Georgia; font-weight: 700;"><em>The Lightning Thief</em></span></p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p><span style="font-size: 9.000000pt; font-family: 'Georgia'">This assessment addresses RL.6.1, RL.6.2, W.6.2, W.6.5, W.6.9, and L.6.1a, b, c, d. Students will write a literary analysis
</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 9.000000pt; font-family: 'Georgia'">responding to the following prompts: “What is a theme that connects the myth of “Cronus” and </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Georgia;"><em>The Lightning Thief</em></span><span style="font-size: 9.000000pt; font-family: 'Georgia'">? After
reading the myth of “Cronus” and the novel </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Georgia;"><em>The Lightning Thief</em></span><span style="font-size: 9.000000pt; font-family: 'Georgia'">, write a literary analysis in which you do the following:
Summarize the myth and present a theme that connects the myth and the novel; Describe how the theme is communicated in
the myth; Describe how the theme is communicated in </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Georgia;"><em>The Lightning Thief</em></span><span style="font-size: 9.000000pt; font-family: 'Georgia'">; Explain why myths still matter and why the
author may have chosen to include this myth in the novel. You will have the opportunity to discuss the reading and your
thinking with your partner before writing independently.” This is primarily a writing assessment. It is not intended to assess
students’ reading of a myth; discussion is intentionally built in as a scaffold toward writing. In Lesson 18 students launch this
assessment, writing their best on-demand draft. This draft is not formally assessed. The actual assessment occurs in Lesson
20, after peer feedback. </span></p>
</p>
</p>
</p>
</p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Mid Unit 3 Assessment: </font><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: 700; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Crosswalk between My Hero’s Journey Narrative and “The Hero’s Journey” Informational Text</span></p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p><span style="font-size: 9.000000pt; font-family: 'Georgia'">This assessment centers on NYSP12 ELA CCLS W6.2, W.6.3a, and W.6.9. Students will write a paragraph explaining the ways
in which their own “My Hero’s Journey” narrative follows the archetypal hero’s journey. The explanation itself addresses
students’ ability to write an expository paragraph; students’ plan for their narrative addresses their ability to organize a
sequence of events for a narrative. </span></p>
</p>
</p>
</p>
</p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">End of Unit 3 Assessment: </font><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: 700;">Final Draft of Hero’s Journey Narrative</span></p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p><span style="font-size: 9.000000pt; font-family: 'Georgia'">This assessment centers on NYSP12 ELA CCLS W.6.3, W.6.4, and W.6.11c. Students engage in a series of writer’s craft lessons
for narrative writing: They draft, revise, and submit their best independent draft of their “My Hero’s Journey” narrative. </span></p>
</p>
</p>
</p>
</p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Okay, a few comments:</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">I wonder why there seem to be so few assessments, especially reading assessments. In my units, would be making quick assessments two to three times a week. Sometimes these are informal, but once a week there would be some sort of formal one. These are a little time-consuming but are necessary to keep kids on track. My enthusiastic readers will read every day, but there are somewho will not. Does this unit take this into account?</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">The Unit 2 assessments focus more on the myths themselves. That is a good thing, but with a fair amount of book being read already, it seems like we're missing out here. I don't know though. Maybe I'm wrong. I'll just have to see. I may still be a little biased because I don't think this is a good way of teaching Greek mythology.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Another bigger issue is the teaching of theme itself. That is a really tough thing to teach to younger kids. I spend an entire eighth grade year dealing with theme, and by the end about 1/2–2/3 of them get it. Fewer of them can read a piece and come up with the theme on their own. This is not a comment on my students but on the complexity of the idea and how developmentally ready kids are to understand it. Since there are major issues dealing with this on an eighth-grade level, I have serious reservations about teaching theme to sixth graders. Many will understand a theme if you present it to them, and will even be able to get details from a text that supports the theme, but this requires major scaffolding. Why teach this topic when there are more basic ones to deal with like reading comprehension?</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">The final assessment gets back to the independent writing that the students were to do in the Performance Task. I have serious reservations about how valuable this is, which I've already discussed. Independent narratives can have a lot of value, but this one seems to neglect the whole aspect of studying mythology itself in favor of a Joseph Campbellesque hero's journey. Not that I don't love that stuff, but we're talking apples and organizes here, or maybe oranges and grapefruits. I feel strongly that the cultural literacy aspect of mythology is of greater importance than this, especially when most students won't have a strong background of Greek mythology. Since a great deal of American culture rests on the back of these myths and Greek civilization, why is this the focus?</font></p>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-25038418935342949042014-08-12T06:13:00.001-07:002014-08-12T06:13:00.127-07:00Lightning Thief Performance Assessment<font face="Georgia, serif">One of the assessments for the first part of <i>The Lightning Thief </i>unit is this:</font><p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 9.000000pt; font-family: 'Georgia'; font-weight: 700">My Hero’s Journey Narrative
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<p><span style="font-size: 9.000000pt; font-family: 'Georgia'">In this performance task, students will have a chance to apply their knowledge of the elements and purpose of myth as well as
their deep understanding of the hero’s journey. Through a series of narrative writing lessons, students will create their own
hero’s journey story that includes key elements of myth. Students will create a hero set in the ordinary world. They will then
create a problem and a series of events that align with the stages of the hero’s journey. They will use descriptive details,
sensory language, and transitional phrases to create an engaging reading experience. They will write a conclusion that
naturally unfolds from the series of events. </span><span style="font-size: 9.000000pt; font-family: 'Georgia'; font-weight: 700">This performance task centers on NYSP12 ELA Standards RL.6.3,
W.6.3, W.6.4, W.6.5, W.6.6, W.6.11c, L.6.2 and L.6.3. </span></p>
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</p></p><p>What this means is that students will create a personal narrative based in the real world that goes on the hero's journey. It's essentially a creative writing piece, but there's something about this which troubles me. This unit is being taught to sixth graders, meaning they're about eleven years old. Most kids this age have a pretty naive idea of how the world works — one of my problems with <i>The Lightning Thief</i> as well — and create tasks like this tend to bring this out.</p><p><br></p><p>This is not meant as a criticism for sixth graders. I was the same way at that age. Yet if we're going to set this story in the real world, why not do something a little more grounded, say, and find the biography of somebody real and heroic, like Gandhi or George Washington or Jacques Cousteau. That way the comparison could be more meaningful within the real-world context of the assignment.</p><p><br></p><p>Assignments like this are a lot of fun, but creative assignments are a lot more difficult than initially laid out in the assignment. There are issues of craft — voice, point of view, narrative consistency, theme — which are essential but hard to address in an assignment like this. I worry that this will be a check box type of work, the character did this, then that, then faced this, all part of the hero's journey but is this a deep understanding of what the journey is?</p>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-27940964180580400272014-08-11T15:26:00.001-07:002014-08-11T15:26:34.492-07:00Lightning Thief Unit Supplimentary TextsThe unit of <i>The Lightning Thief</i> pushes a fair amount of supplementary texts, all either gathered from Gutenberg, various websites, or some included with the EngageNY unit itself. Oddly, some of the materials from the Gutenberg website are available on iBooks, but one of the texts, <i>Half a Hundred Hero Tales of Ulysses and the Men of Old</i>, is only available on Kindle for free. You can get this text on iBooks for $3.99, but it's in the public domain, so why bother? Of course you can also save the HTML file from a web page as a PDF and import that PDF into iBooks, but most teachers probably won't go through that step.<p><br></p><p>The two books from iBooks are <i>Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome</i> by E.M. Berens and <i>A Book of Myths</i> by Jean Lang. Both are somewhat old-fashioned texts that are compendiums of Greek mythology. The Lang book has the advantage of also including myths from Norse mythology and Beowulf. Neither of them do the annoying practice of referring to the Greek gods by their Roman names, a habit of writers of this period. While this means kids will have to get used to Heracles as opposed to Hercules, and Odysseus as opposed to Ulysses, I much prefer this. The Lang book does use the Roman names, which is annoying.</p><p><br></p><p>One of the Supplimentary texts, “The Hero's Journey”, is found on a website www.mythologyteacher.com, which is a great resource to discover. (I wish I had created something of the sort.) The document is a little hard to find, but I found it under the Teaching Materials menu. There are a lot of good materials here, and I especially liked the use of <i>Star Wars</i> as essentially a mythological tale, which it is. Too bad I won't be using it.</p><p><br></p><p>I'm also expected to have a copy of <i>D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths</i>, which I have. I also want the kids to have this.</p><p><br></p><p>So these are the basic texts. It's not a terrible idea to use the Gutenberg texts, and frankly I think they might be a better education of the myths than <i>The Lightnng Thief</i>.</p>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-10628395688603257782014-08-10T14:17:00.001-07:002014-08-10T14:17:20.142-07:00Another Thing Nagging MeIf so many young people are reading <i>The Lightning Thief</i>, why am I supposed to be teaching it? Isn't the point of teaching novels to expose kids to stories they might not ordinarily be exposed to?Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-77495740083312569002014-08-09T09:58:00.001-07:002014-08-09T10:11:17.454-07:00Seventh Grade Common Core Novel: A Long Walk To Water<font face="Georgia, serif">I was dreading reading Linda Sue Park's <i>A Long Walk To Water</i> for a couple of reasons. Part of it is that it was presented as a book dealing with refugee issues. I was dreading reading what I was anticipating as a NPR-style presentation of refugee problems from the eyes of an American middle-class perspective. Something akin to, "These refugee problems are terrible. And I could barely get cell service at the camp!" Describing the issue without living the issue. I was happily surprised by this book, but unfortunately also very disappointed.</font><p><font face="Georgia, serif">The good aspect of the book is the perspective of the character of one of the two narrative strains, Salvation. His journey after his school is attacked by rebels is harrowing and terrifying. You get a genuine sense of how dangerous his life </font><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">was,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> wandering throughout war-torn Northern Africa. That part I appreciated greatly. No citizen of America can read something like that without saying, “There but for the grace of God goes me."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The problems with the book though are many, and this is what makes me question this novel as an addition to the Common Core. The first is that it's a very thin book, only 120 pages of text. That is an appropriate length for a slower to average reader, but any seventh grader who is skilled in reading would blast through this book in a couple of hours. I don't think length means better, but if I'm going to be spending an entire unit on a book, I expected something meatier.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I have an issue as well with the narrative voice. I'm going to quote the book some to give an example:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br></span></p><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">Salva wipes his eyes with the back of his hand. He could see the bushes; they did not look too far away.</font></p><p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">Uncle reached into his bag. He took out a tamarind and handed it to Salva.</font></p><p><font face="‘Trebuchet MS’, Helvetica, sans-serif">Chewing on the sour juicy fruit made Salva feel better.</font></p><p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br></span></p></blockquote><font face="Georgia, serif">I think the scene itself is fine, but the voice is filled with quick, choppy sentences. Some of that is okay, but after a while (I wondered why the beaks were even there considering that we were still on the same action.) that seems intrusive. It creates a odd narrative flow, especially with the very short paragraphs. That combined with the odd lack of contractions make the text stilted.</font><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Plus, Salva is traveling through what for kids in America would seem like an alien landscape. Unfortunately the details are relatively few. When we read about Salva's thinking about his family on the same page to make himself feel better, we don't get any scenes with his family to enlighten the reader about what that might look like. This would fill in details about Salva's life that are missing but also make that moment more powerful. The missing details get even worse later in the book where the story makes leaps of several years. I understand it doesn't want to spend much time with Salva's life in refugee camps and focus more on his transitions between places, but those gaps were abrupt. I needed to hear more about the poor conditions in the camps to make the transitions more meaningful.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">There's a second narrative in this novel which takes place many years after the first. It's the story of Nya, a girl who much spend much of her day fetching water for her family, which is where the book gets its title. Again, the story is self is a compelling and interesting one, but the storytelling spends so much time with that twice-daily journey Nya must make that it neglects giving the reader a better sense of what her life is when not making that journey. I understand that it by necessity must address this one aspect, but the story doesn't give much of a payoff in terms of what that water means. Yes, it's water, but how does Nya's family use it? Tell me more and give that journey a greater value.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Overall I think this book is a good book to read but with caveats. With the Common Core Curriculum so focused on close text reading, I wonder why EngageNY is spending time with a book whose close text leaves much to be desired? I don't know a better book that deals with the same idea, but this one makes me wonder. I'll have more to say on it as time goes on.</font></p>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-72224823510349053472014-08-06T19:30:00.002-07:002014-08-06T19:30:45.972-07:00Best Space Music Video Ever<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-8183308928473830182014-08-06T19:11:00.001-07:002014-08-06T19:11:27.234-07:00Blogging Software for IOS<font face="Georgia, serif">Just a quick note. I've been fumbling around for good blogging software for my iPad and iPhone. I started with Blogger because my original blogs were all done there, not with Wordpress. (I kind of regret that now.) Blogger had so few features that I looked for anything better. I discovered BlogGo, but that app had a lot of issues too, the biggest one was that if I quit out of the program while I was writing, it would lose my draft.</font><p><font face="Georgia, serif"><br></font></p><p><font face="Georgia, serif">Now I'm working on a new app called Posts. I already like it better than the unresponsive and unpredictable BlogGo. Plus, it's free!</font></p>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-16456322686389301372014-08-06T18:57:00.001-07:002014-08-06T19:13:43.542-07:00The Lightning Thief as a Derivative Work<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihbhfsklVvqaJIrO3NyONj2dzs8BEAQdMwRjh1lYPiVKArTQ0nSlh-r9ZJ5vKmiqCRv1ikgp6fc1ltf2jWnWoyapmibr0ecTLd8mYKi-ZEAAZjkNLHIZ_F9lDK1HJwvvt4NdS-JOpFuZTi//" /><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I read <i>The Lightning Thief</i> by Rock Riordan with a bit of trepidation. My son, who is now ten, raced through the series and loved it, and now I am charged with teaching this novel instead of my typical sixth grade mythology unit. After having finished the novel, I have to say my concerns were justified and I'm honestly concerned that this novel is an inferior replacement for my self-designed unit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My first issue is with the tone of the novel, which is comic and heroic. Things happen in often a silly way. Percy Jackson, the protagonist, is issued a sword in the novel for him to take on his heroic quest. Since twentieth-century characters can't be seen lugging swords about, this sword magically turns into a pen which our hero can safely put into his pocket. This works for the somewhat goofy tone of the book, but seems out of place in the myths themselves. They can be funny, exciting, terribly tragic, or empowering, but the silliness of the device as well as the convenience of it feels out of place. This is one of the great strengths of the myths, yet when the protagonist can whip a sword out of his pants pocket and duel a terrible monster, something seems wrong.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is fine for the intended audience, but as a teacher I don't see my purpose as offering that sort of wish-fulfillment. Children certainly desire to slay monsters, especially late at night when those creature of the imagination seem real, but I think the myths serve a greater function in our culture. They teach us about the wide range of experience, and at times when this monsters under the bed are real. Yet these monsters are never easy things to kill, but I fear that's what this book teaches. As long as you're half god, of course.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When assigning a book as a unit, one needs to look at the goals of the unit. If the goal is to teach Freek mythology, I wonder why don't we have a unit that does just that? I suspect one of the reasons is that there is no good middle school text for Greek mythology. I've looked, and there is none. (Which may be a project of mine in the future.) The EngageNY folks clearly don't have the expertise to write one themselves, so they're looking to this novel as a gateway.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After teaching Greek mythology for the last nine years to sixth graders, I have never seen a problem with the source material being boring. Quite the contrary, these are some of the best stories of Western culture. That's why I think <i>The Lightning Thief</i> is a poor choice to teach these myths: it substitutes an inferior work for simply teaching some absolutely fabulous tales.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'll have more to say about this novel as I teach it, of course.</span>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851170714463485177.post-1069018382780441542014-07-31T12:10:00.001-07:002014-07-31T12:10:32.474-07:00The Common Core: Sixth Grade Engage NYI stay away from controversial topics when I blog. I'm not afraid of them, but that's not really the reason why I do this. However, this year I'm going to have to formally teach he dreaded Common Core as a part of my curriculum. This means I'll be doing EngageNY curriculum for the first time, actually teaching a curriculum so done else wrote and implementing that.<div><br></div><div>Yeah, I'm bristling against that for a lot of reasons. The first being that I don't have a lot of respect for the Common Core as a curriculum. It feels like a curriculum designed to be tested instead of a curriculum made to foster deep and meaningful learning. Well, this year I'm going to see.</div><div><br></div><div>For my sixth grade unit, I'm doing <i>The Lightning Thief</i> by Rick Riordan, which isn't a bad book by itself. In no way do ai feel it reaches the level of high-quality YA literature, but if done well it might be fun. This will be replacing my long established Greek Mythology unit. I've always focused when teaching Greek mythology on cultural literacy and the deep meaning of the myths themselves. The EngageNY unit will focus on the hero's journey, which makes me think it will be going all Joseph Campbell. That's not such a bad angle, but I still think the issue of cultural literacy and how the myths inform our daily lives is a more valid position to teach from.</div><div><br></div><div>Link: https://www.engageny.org/file/13746/download/ela_map_grade_6.pdf?token=xIS-WKA7ejRSD3OVCiAkk3Y1l1TGChqKx5w2ctnmbYE</div><div><br></div><div>I think the idea of the hero's journey is a valid one, and kids this age certainly loves heroes, but I wonder if this is the right age to discuss the concept. It's a heady one, and it doesn't lend itself to hard and fast conclusions. I also think the kids need a firm grounding in the classics before your start getting involved with comparative topics like this one. Well, I'll see.</div>Ian Bergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02411010411008594212noreply@blogger.com0