The Book Report, Version 2.0

I absolutely loved this reading for the ideas it gives a future teacher for the class. I don't have any experience with podcasts besides knowing generally what they are so I had no idea how to bring it into the classroom. I loved the idea of doing a book report, but the musical aspect is what I really like. Kids always love music, no matter what genre, which is an easy way to get students more involved in the work. The podcast work was extremely creative from the setup, theme, music, and commercial interruptions. I can't wait to actually work with them to extend my knowledge so that I can create my own interesting lesson plans.

Some People Might Say

I wanted to blog about the some people might say activity we did in class last night because I absolutely love it! I believe that in class a lot of students are apprehensive to raise their hand and answer or discuss for their fear of being wrong. I believe that this activity takes that away. The student can read and discuss based off what other people say so they no longer have to fear if they are wrong. I think this is a great way to spark discussion and get all of your students participating in class!

Shakespeare

I am taking the Intro to Shakespeare course this semester and thought that it was going to be terribly tedious because its Shakespeare. The class actually is not bad. Pitard analyzes the plays in a way that I never have before which actually makes you understand what Shakespeare is saying. I hope that I can do this for my students if I ever teach high school because when you actually understand what Shakespeare is saying the plays do not seem to confusing and boring anymore!

TPCK

When I was reading through "Extending the conversation: New Technologies, New Literacies, and English Education" by Swenson et al. I was surprised that the topic of TPCK came up because that is something I have learned about before. I like the idea of TPCK. This approach asks that you first focus on the pedagogy and the content for your lesson, then once those parts are worked out look to the technology. After you have the basis of the content and lesson you try to gear some kind of technology into the lesson. And you do not simply add technology just because you can; you want to add technology to improve the lesson. I believe this is an excellent approach to adding technology into your classroom effectively!

Phonetics

I am taking Intro to Linguistics this semester and were working on phonetics this week. Phonetics is such a basic idea that I am surprised that I don't remember ever learning it when I was younger. It's actually a lot of fun to learn once you get over the idea that you look silly always talking out loud. I think it would be fun for the kids to have a unit on it in the upper level classes because it is fun.

Short

I really enjoyed the reading in the Kist book this week! I loved that fact that the "short" chapter was packed full of activity ideas for the classroom. These activities were really interesting too! The one that I liked because it can apply to any classroom, and not just for use of different literacies, was the snapshot or tableaux drama activity. In this activity the students have to portray a scene or poem etc. in front of the class using their body. Kist pointed out that after this activity the students got a lot more comfortable opening up in the classroom environment which is always an important thing to establish!

Introduction

Hey guys, I am Stephanie Landram.

I am a Senior here at Slippery Rock University, but on the five year track. I actually spent my first two years of college as a Biology major! I made the best decision when I changed my major to English Education though because I absolutely love reading and books. I would love to teach middle school and eventually make my way to a professor, I think. I am in a sorority here at Slippery Rock named Alpha Omicron Pi and am also a member of Colleges Against Cancer. If you see the little bright orange, my favorite color, car driving around campus I am guilty of driving it and people normally associate me with my car more than anything. I like meeting new people so if you want to know anything just ask!