“Mysteries of Harris Burdick” The Mysteries of Harris Burdick is a great choice for a lesson plan. After browsing through the beautifully illustrated pages, I could imagine how a book like this could be used for almost any grade level. The pictures can cater to a young child’s imagination and the mystery can promote creativity in a high school student. The group first began with a detailed introduction describing story structure and prediction as main themes of their lesson. They began the first part of their lesson with a hook asking the students “What do you think of this picture?” I think this was an effective strategy. It gets the students thinking and imagining. To create an inclusive classroom, the teacher would have the students participate in Think-Pair-Share. In this way, students can learn the thoughts of their peers. Since this is also a visually based lesson, it benefits struggling learners as well as ESL learners. In the second part of the lesson, the group discussed making predictions. I thought the Paper pass activity was a good strategy to use in the classroom. It was also good that the facilitator mentioned the rules for this assignment. Before an assignment such as this one, students need to be told that offensive language or pictures are not acceptable. The third part of the lesson used a graphic organizer to develop stories and scripts. This portion of the lesson is also very engaging as students can get bored easily. Overall, the group did a great job organizing and describing their lesson.
Rachel wrote: I think that Group 4 did a fantastic job on demonstrating the class activities clearly and organizing important key aspects they were covering in their unit. As this unit was aimed to teach grade 5 students, I realized that forming a mind map with the whole class would be a perfect activity for this age. When they were demonstrating how they would organize the mind map by using the 5W1H points based on the picture and a short commentary from the book, I thought this strategy would engage students to ask themselves deeper questions and connect each idea with another as well. One of the most interesting activities that I liked from this presentation was the “Paper Pass” activity where students were told to make groups of 5 people and by using a paper that is folded into 5 sections they were asked to rotate the paper within the group so that they create a unique story with a beginning, middle, and the end. I thought that this activity was a great idea to use as an introduction to creative writing and to ‘predicting’ before and after of a story. As a value of this lesson, I realized that they touched well on how to make the whole unit a creative unit, allowing students enough freedom to express their thoughts and images in any way, either in writing or in drawing. I think this activity can be done in earlier grades and also in older grades; hence, it also seems to allow flexibility within its complexity level.
The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg. This is an awesome book… I didn’t actually know it was a book until recently. In one class that I volunteered in the teacher had the posters, which were basically just the pictures enlarged, with the caption underneath; she used these for creative writing in a grade 2 class. I really like how the book works for basically any age group. Your group showed us quite a few activities that we could use with this book or even adapt to fit another book. One of my favourite activities that you brought up was the paper pass… how fun is that! It’s hilarious to read those afterward, everyone gets a kick out of it! I also really liked the idea of showing the kids a picture that doesn’t have any people in it and get them to come up with a skit or story, this lets them be really creative with how they represent the picture. You guys did an awesome job at providing us with info on how to make adaptions for ESL students and had a lot of variety in your lesson.
I thought that your lesson was fantastic. You used prediction in a very powerful and creative way, and your lesson progressed to an increasingly higher level of thinking, which was very effective. Your choice of book worked very well, and you set your lesson up so well that I could easily see substituting in other books or photographs without skipping a beat (that said, I am definitely buying that book). The “paper pass” was also an intriguing activity, and made me curious if the final statement is generally related at all to the first statement after going through two illustrations? Your placemat activity was also very engaging, and the decision to order this middle, end and then beginning definitely would take the students’ thinking up a notch. I also liked how you linked the skill of prediction to the “real world”. You have put so much into your three lessons (I haven’t even commented on the drama activity) that I think of this as more of a unit. I could definitely see using this entire plan, or simply borrowing individual components for smaller lessons. Thanks for all your hard work. This was definitely a “Cadillac lesson.”
ark T, Jackie, Veronica, Tina and Amy: Awesome! I think predicting is an incredibly useful skill that can eventually help students pick out the author's intent in writing a certain text. The book you selected was wonderful... I can see students having a great time creating stories from one image. Since they have so much freedom in this way, this would be a very empowering activity. The paper pass would certainly encourage collaboration and teamwork as well- always a good thing. I wonder what boundaries, if any, you would set for students when it comes time to create their own story. Would BADS+ be mentioned at all? Great work team! :) I am seriously considering stealing this for 405.
I loved the organization of the presentation and all the lessons which could be a strong start of a unit. I think that the lessons were very strong and I think it is great that they touched on all areas of the PLOs (A, B, and C). I had never heard of the paper-pass and think it would be a very fun activity. The placemat activity is also a wonderful idea, but I know from experience that there needs to be clear expectations for students. The students would need prior experience with cooperative activities and know how to do a placemat. I really liked that there were adaptations for struggling students and the option to draw instead of write. My favourite part was the self assessment and ticket out the door. I am a huge fan of having students self assess and reflect on their work. The book choice was excellent and I will definitely buy a copy for my TOC bag.
Since my focus is teaching primary, I tend to become less interested when I see presentations for intermediate and secondary teachers, however you guys were really passionate about the subject and your knowledge background was very obvious, and because of that, you held my attention the entire presentation. I liked that you guys chose to teach a few lessons, instead of just one, because it gave us a better idea of how you would teach critical thinking skills to intermediate students and how to incorporate Mysteries of Harris Burdick into a unit. The ticket out the door piece for your closure was great, I have never heard of that strategy before and think that it is a good idea to help connect the lesson to meaningful real-world experiences.
I found the presentation to be very thoughtful and there were many good ideas/ strategies and activities as well. What I found to be very powerful was using a picture (visual) to have students draw predictions and ideas as to what was happening. Pictures are a universal learning aid and they foster imagination/creativity in students as well. Like the saying goes, “a picture speaks a thousand words”. Using this as a learning tool to teach students how to write a beginning, middle and end is something I would very much like to try during my long practicum in September. Furthermore, having students write and for those struggling writers, having the option to draw/ illustrate encourages students know that their creative ideas are validated in the classroom as well. Apart from the many creative ideas such as the paper pass (I really liked this strategy). I also liked the reflection aspect of the presentation of having students think and make connections to the real world, their daily lives is a vital aspect of learning as well. This will enable students to become more observant to their surroundings and more sensitive to what is happening around them i.e. if someone needs help. I think the group members have put in a lot of thought into this presentation. I learnt many valuable lessons and ideas in this presentation and would love to use some of these ideas in September. Thanks for sharing your awesome ideas to the class!
I really appreciate the group’s efforts to engage students in interpreting pictures and switching between viewing images and creating with words. There’s obviously more in an image than first meets the eye and this lesson allows students to dwell longer on the viewing to get a thorough comprehension of what is going on. The process also reveals some of the viewer’s assumptions or predispositions about how they ‘see’ the world - a metacognitive activity that the lesson will effectively bring to the surface for students. I also thought the lesson was well sequence. For instance, the Paper Pass provided scaffolding to equip the students for the following more difficult Placemat activity. The Pass activity appears well suited for this due to its’ features of: low risk, easy to understand structure, and fun. With the mystery provided by the previous students’ hidden entries - which are folded under - the learner’s curiosity will also engender motivation to participate actively. My only question about the presentation concerns the possibility of confusion within the predicting activity wherein the student is asked to first create a middle for a plot, then go back to develop a beginning, followed by a jump ahead to produce an ending. Maybe if the students have some experience beforehand of predicting or analyzing stories out of order they may find the process easier to roll with. On balance, the presentation was strong and the lesson goals of enhancing students’ reading and visual comprehension as well as establishing their identities as readers and writers are sure to be accomplished. VG!
I really loved the Mysteries of Harris Burdick. First of all, I believe students will be absolutely captivated by listening to the history of the book, how Harris Burdick`s works surfaced with little to no prior knowledge about his works. From this point, as the presenting group illustrated, the book can be used to branch into several differentiated activities that target the many different aspects of language arts (Drama, creative writing, visual arts, etc), for any age group as well. Students could write a story that builds off of certain pictures, create a drama scene about one of the pictures, create new captions, the possibilities are enormous. When Jaclyn said this book would be great to put in your “TOC Handbag” I can definitely see the benefits of doing so, the activities are creative, engaging and definitely target a high level of critical thinking which is simply excellent.
I like that the paper pass activity is useful for showing students (in an entertaining and engaging way) how we all perceive the same things (words, visuals, situations etc.) differently. This type of activity could lead into some deep conversations about the challenges of communicating and the importance of communicating clearly. This should allow students to improve and clarify their written, verbal, and visual expression. I wonder if students need a strong background in hearing/reading/watching fantasy or mystery type stories in order to be able to create their own stories from the pictures in the book. I know I didn’t have much exposure to fantasy or mystery as a kid and struggled with this type of assignment, and probably would have found the pictures “weird”. However, the plan of breaking the writing into middle, beginning and ending should help students who have difficulty imagining the entire plot. Another way teachers wanting to use this idea can scaffold is to build students background knowledge by choosing mystery/fantasy stories for class read alouds, novel studies, etc., in the weeks before the described lessons.
I am so excited to use this book and the activities that you presented to us! I am doing my 405 in a Grade 4 class, although I will have to change them for the younger grade I still found them very relevant. I loved how your group gave so many different ideas for using the book to teach language arts and creative writing. The paper pass game is a great icebreaker/community builder. Making sure that students feel comfortable to share their creativity with the class or even just expressing their creativity in their own writes is so important to the success of the activity. Your presentation was well organized and covered more than just one lesson, but rather followed what seemed like a unit plan. It was great to see how it could become a continuation and extension to teach so many different goals of language arts. Thank you for a great presentation!
Group 4 I really enjoyed your presentation as it used so many different elements that you could base a unit on. Your presentation also showed that one book can become the centrepiece for a whole array of activities and learning objectives. The Mysteries of Harris Burdick is a very interesting book that I was not familiar with before your presentation (I always like to see new books!). I think the history of how the book came to be maybe of interest to the students. Also, having them come up with the story behind the picture lends to teaching students about critically viewing pictures to gain greater understanding. I thought all of the activities you introduced were useful, and I think this presentation could easily be picked up and used as a language arts unit in any intermediate classroom. Great Job group four!!!
I loved your presentation. It was very thorough, engaging and included lots of different strategies. I really liked the book you chose for your lesson and feel that it is not only effective for upper intermediate students but equally productive for primary level students. I agree with Brandi that the paper pass activity is a good ice/breaker. I did this activity in my Curriculum Development class and the purpose of the activity was to build and feel the sense of community. Your placemat activity was very interesting and the idea of ordering the story starting from the middle to the end and then the beginning was great as it would give a totally different perspective to the story and also, a great learning experience for students that there are many different ways to look at things. It was definitely a great multi level lesson incorporating multiple intelligences (illustrations, creative writing, etc.). Thanks for sharing a variety of ideas. Wonderful!
At one point in your lesson one of your teammates mentioned that you may or may not also include the quote along with the picture. I really appreciated that comment not because of the suggestion it gave but because it exemplified how there is no correct or incorrect way of teaching a lesson; every individual educator is going to have their own preference and every class is going to have their own needs that adapt those preferences. It is so important for us as beginning teachers to not go into the schools believing we have figured out the perfect way to teach ‘X’, because it will be a very humbling experience when we realise how flexible we need to be. So thanks group 4 for reminding us that different approaches will be successful in different situations.
I would also like to commend group 4 for their consistent and clear connections between lessons. I assume it would be made equally clear to the students and this is of extreme importance if we want our students to draw from their previous learning in order to build on it today. Lastly, just a note: great point on avoiding photographs with potential stereotypes for students to interpret.
Group 4: I could see myself using this lesson in my Grade 6/7 practicum class. I really liked the paper pass idea because I found that when we did the activity in class where we wrote beginning, middle, and ends to stories written by our peers I was motivated to write because I wanted to create an exciting story that my classmates and I could be engaged in and I was motivated to read because I wanted to know what happened in the story that I was invested in. The paper pass seems like a similar idea except for the fact that the story could turn out to be very surprising as writers and illustrators are only expanding from the idea that comes immediately before theirs. I like this element of the paper pass and also like that illustration is involved in writing the story. This will engage students who are visual learners.
Group 4: I thought that your group chose an excellent book for this lesson, especially in making predictions. I guess I am somewhat biased because Chris Van Allsburg is one of my favorite picture book authors. But all his books are so thought-provoking and this was no exception. I like that it's able to engage children of all levels because his pictures can be interpreted in so many ways and on so many levels. The paper pass activity was a great idea! It's concept is almost like the game “Telephone”. This is a great way to get all the students involved and it is fun for the class to see what the final product will be at the end. I also liked how you guys provided an assessment piece with having “ticket-out-the-door” with the students thinking of predictions in everyday life. It reinforces their understanding of the importance of making predictions and is authentic in thinking about how it is applicable to their lives. Great job on the presentation!
Group 4: Jaclyn, Tina, Amy, Veronica, Mark I really liked the book that you used in your lesson, and it is definitely something that I would use for TOCing in the future. I really appreciated your PowerPoint because I am a visual learner, and do not always pay attention to things that are only verbal. I thought that it was very straight-forward and easy to follow. I also appreciated that you provided the class with plenty of visual examples for portions of your lesson, such as pictures from the book that you used, examples of possible placemat layouts, and pictures for the drama portion of the lesson. I thought that Jaclyn’s list of things to look for throughout the presentation was a nice touch, and it gave me a focus for the remainder of the lesson. I also liked your group’s choice to explain the rationale and value after each portion of the lesson, rather than after all the lessons because it was easier to relate back to a lesson that we had just heard. I really liked the first activity in which students would select the who, what, where, when, why, and how, for a quote from the book. However, instead of having each student come up to the board to write out their group’s response, what if there were multiple sheets around the room with the “W’s”. The students could work in groups, and each write down their ideas on the sheet of paper, then rotate to the next sheet after a couple minutes. In this sense, every student is involved in the brainstorming and recording process, and they also get to move around the classroom. Activity number two was a great way to teach students about the beginning, middle and the end of a story. However, I was wondering what the teacher would do if the students middle portion of the story did not relate to their predictions. The third activity would be a great summative assessment for the mini unit, now that the students can recognize what has happened in the present, they can try to establish the past and the future of a particular event. Once they can determine the past, present and future of a given situation from a picture, they are ready to create their own stories in their journals. Thanks for a very informative presentation, Well Done!
I am extremely thankful for being introduced to this book. I had never seen it before this group presented their mini unit. I would have really appreciated a lesson based on this book at any age; which is why I think it can be used with any age group. I am a big fan of incorporating picture books in visual literacy lessons. This is mainly because a picture provides room for individual interpretations; therefore there is never a right or wrong answer. Children can use their personal experiences and imagination to come up their own narrative to accompany the illustrations. Exploring visual literacy through picture books will more often than not engage students to actively participate.
From my perception it appeared group four was very enthusiastic about their 3 lessons they presented. They stepped it up a notch by incorporating a very thorough and well organized power point presentation. Including the visual aid definitely helped me follow along and also demonstrated an element of professionalism. What I liked most was the unique idea of a “Paper Pass!” I thought it was exceptionally creative of the group to come up with this strategy, and the example they had was quite hilarious. Thank you group four for a very engaging and insightful presentation!
Sonja wrote: Group four- “The mysteries of Harris Burdick”-I was happy to see that this group used this book for their presentation. We are also using a book by the same author for our presentation and considered using this one, but luckily did not in the end. It is an incredible book to use for provoking thought and encouraging prediction. I really like the hook that they used at the beginning: “What do you think of this picture?” The book contains pictures that anyone from kindergarten age to adult aged would be by. I enjoy the idea of co-writing a story and the concept reminds me of that activity that we did several weeks ago. Good job group four!
“Mysteries of Harris Burdick”
ReplyDeleteThe Mysteries of Harris Burdick is a great choice for a lesson plan. After browsing through the beautifully illustrated pages, I could imagine how a book like this could be used for almost any grade level. The pictures can cater to a young child’s imagination and the mystery can promote creativity in a high school student. The group first began with a detailed introduction describing story structure and prediction as main themes of their lesson. They began the first part of their lesson with a hook asking the students “What do you think of this picture?” I think this was an effective strategy. It gets the students thinking and imagining. To create an inclusive classroom, the teacher would have the students participate in Think-Pair-Share. In this way, students can learn the thoughts of their peers. Since this is also a visually based lesson, it benefits struggling learners as well as ESL learners. In the second part of the lesson, the group discussed making predictions. I thought the Paper pass activity was a good strategy to use in the classroom. It was also good that the facilitator mentioned the rules for this assignment. Before an assignment such as this one, students need to be told that offensive language or pictures are not acceptable. The third part of the lesson used a graphic organizer to develop stories and scripts. This portion of the lesson is also very engaging as students can get bored easily. Overall, the group did a great job organizing and describing their lesson.
Rachel wrote:
ReplyDeleteI think that Group 4 did a fantastic job on demonstrating the class activities clearly and organizing important key aspects they were covering in their unit. As this unit was aimed to teach grade 5 students, I realized that forming a mind map with the whole class would be a perfect activity for this age. When they were demonstrating how they would organize the mind map by using the 5W1H points based on the picture and a short commentary from the book, I thought this strategy would engage students to ask themselves deeper questions and connect each idea with another as well. One of the most interesting activities that I liked from this presentation was the “Paper Pass” activity where students were told to make groups of 5 people and by using a paper that is folded into 5 sections they were asked to rotate the paper within the group so that they create a unique story with a beginning, middle, and the end. I thought that this activity was a great idea to use as an introduction to creative writing and to ‘predicting’ before and after of a story. As a value of this lesson, I realized that they touched well on how to make the whole unit a creative unit, allowing students enough freedom to express their thoughts and images in any way, either in writing or in drawing. I think this activity can be done in earlier grades and also in older grades; hence, it also seems to allow flexibility within its complexity level.
The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg. This is an awesome book… I didn’t actually know it was a book until recently. In one class that I volunteered in the teacher had the posters, which were basically just the pictures enlarged, with the caption underneath; she used these for creative writing in a grade 2 class. I really like how the book works for basically any age group. Your group showed us quite a few activities that we could use with this book or even adapt to fit another book. One of my favourite activities that you brought up was the paper pass… how fun is that! It’s hilarious to read those afterward, everyone gets a kick out of it! I also really liked the idea of showing the kids a picture that doesn’t have any people in it and get them to come up with a skit or story, this lets them be really creative with how they represent the picture. You guys did an awesome job at providing us with info on how to make adaptions for ESL students and had a lot of variety in your lesson.
ReplyDeleteGroup # 2
ReplyDeleteJaclyn, Tina, Amy, Veronica, and Mark,
I thought that your lesson was fantastic. You used prediction in a very powerful and creative way, and your lesson progressed to an increasingly higher level of thinking, which was very effective. Your choice of book worked very well, and you set your lesson up so well that I could easily see substituting in other books or photographs without skipping a beat (that said, I am definitely buying that book). The “paper pass” was also an intriguing activity, and made me curious if the final statement is generally related at all to the first statement after going through two illustrations? Your placemat activity was also very engaging, and the decision to order this middle, end and then beginning definitely would take the students’ thinking up a notch. I also liked how you linked the skill of prediction to the “real world”. You have put so much into your three lessons (I haven’t even commented on the drama activity) that I think of this as more of a unit. I could definitely see using this entire plan, or simply borrowing individual components for smaller lessons. Thanks for all your hard work. This was definitely a “Cadillac lesson.”
ark T, Jackie, Veronica, Tina and Amy: Awesome! I think predicting is an incredibly useful skill that can eventually help students pick out the author's intent in writing a certain text. The book you selected was wonderful... I can see students having a great time creating stories from one image. Since they have so much freedom in this way, this would be a very empowering activity. The paper pass would certainly encourage collaboration and teamwork as well- always a good thing. I wonder what boundaries, if any, you would set for students when it comes time to create their own story. Would BADS+ be mentioned at all? Great work team! :) I am seriously considering stealing this for 405.
ReplyDeleteark T= Mark T. Oops.
ReplyDeleteMysteries of Harris Burdick Group:
ReplyDeleteI loved the organization of the presentation and all the lessons which could be a strong start of a unit. I think that the lessons were very strong and I think it is great that they touched on all areas of the PLOs (A, B, and C). I had never heard of the paper-pass and think it would be a very fun activity. The placemat activity is also a wonderful idea, but I know from experience that there needs to be clear expectations for students. The students would need prior experience with cooperative activities and know how to do a placemat. I really liked that there were adaptations for struggling students and the option to draw instead of write. My favourite part was the self assessment and ticket out the door. I am a huge fan of having students self assess and reflect on their work. The book choice was excellent and I will definitely buy a copy for my TOC bag.
Since my focus is teaching primary, I tend to become less interested when I see presentations for intermediate and secondary teachers, however you guys were really passionate about the subject and your knowledge background was very obvious, and because of that, you held my attention the entire presentation. I liked that you guys chose to teach a few lessons, instead of just one, because it gave us a better idea of how you would teach critical thinking skills to intermediate students and how to incorporate Mysteries of Harris Burdick into a unit. The ticket out the door piece for your closure was great, I have never heard of that strategy before and think that it is a good idea to help connect the lesson to meaningful real-world experiences.
ReplyDeleteI found the presentation to be very thoughtful and there were many good ideas/ strategies and activities as well. What I found to be very powerful was using a picture (visual) to have students draw predictions and ideas as to what was happening. Pictures are a universal learning aid and they foster imagination/creativity in students as well. Like the saying goes, “a picture speaks a thousand words”. Using this as a learning tool to teach students how to write a beginning, middle and end is something I would very much like to try during my long practicum in September. Furthermore, having students write and for those struggling writers, having the option to draw/ illustrate encourages students know that their creative ideas are validated in the classroom as well. Apart from the many creative ideas such as the paper pass (I really liked this strategy). I also liked the reflection aspect of the presentation of having students think and make connections to the real world, their daily lives is a vital aspect of learning as well. This will enable students to become more observant to their surroundings and more sensitive to what is happening around them i.e. if someone needs help. I think the group members have put in a lot of thought into this presentation. I learnt many valuable lessons and ideas in this presentation and would love to use some of these ideas in September. Thanks for sharing your awesome ideas to the class!
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate the group’s efforts to engage students in interpreting pictures and switching between viewing images and creating with words. There’s obviously more in an image than first meets the eye and this lesson allows students to dwell longer on the viewing to get a thorough comprehension of what is going on. The process also reveals some of the viewer’s assumptions or predispositions about how they ‘see’ the world - a metacognitive activity that the lesson will effectively bring to the surface for students. I also thought the lesson was well sequence. For instance, the Paper Pass provided scaffolding to equip the students for the following more difficult Placemat activity. The Pass activity appears well suited for this due to its’ features of: low risk, easy to understand structure, and fun. With the mystery provided by the previous students’ hidden entries - which are folded under - the learner’s curiosity will also engender motivation to participate actively. My only question about the presentation concerns the possibility of confusion within the predicting activity wherein the student is asked to first create a middle for a plot, then go back to develop a beginning, followed by a jump ahead to produce an ending. Maybe if the students have some experience beforehand of predicting or analyzing stories out of order they may find the process easier to roll with. On balance, the presentation was strong and the lesson goals of enhancing students’ reading and visual comprehension as well as establishing their identities as readers and writers are sure to be accomplished. VG!
ReplyDeleteI really loved the Mysteries of Harris Burdick. First of all, I believe students will be absolutely captivated by listening to the history of the book, how Harris Burdick`s works surfaced with little to no prior knowledge about his works. From this point, as the presenting group illustrated, the book can be used to branch into several differentiated activities that target the many different aspects of language arts (Drama, creative writing, visual arts, etc), for any age group as well. Students could write a story that builds off of certain pictures, create a drama scene about one of the pictures, create new captions, the possibilities are enormous. When Jaclyn said this book would be great to put in your “TOC Handbag” I can definitely see the benefits of doing so, the activities are creative, engaging and definitely target a high level of critical thinking which is simply excellent.
ReplyDeleteI like that the paper pass activity is useful for showing students (in an entertaining and engaging way) how we all perceive the same things (words, visuals, situations etc.) differently. This type of activity could lead into some deep conversations about the challenges of communicating and the importance of communicating clearly. This should allow students to improve and clarify their written, verbal, and visual expression.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if students need a strong background in hearing/reading/watching fantasy or mystery type stories in order to be able to create their own stories from the pictures in the book. I know I didn’t have much exposure to fantasy or mystery as a kid and struggled with this type of assignment, and probably would have found the pictures “weird”. However, the plan of breaking the writing into middle, beginning and ending should help students who have difficulty imagining the entire plot. Another way teachers wanting to use this idea can scaffold is to build students background knowledge by choosing mystery/fantasy stories for class read alouds, novel studies, etc., in the weeks before the described lessons.
I am so excited to use this book and the activities that you presented to us! I am doing my 405 in a Grade 4 class, although I will have to change them for the younger grade I still found them very relevant. I loved how your group gave so many different ideas for using the book to teach language arts and creative writing. The paper pass game is a great icebreaker/community builder. Making sure that students feel comfortable to share their creativity with the class or even just expressing their creativity in their own writes is so important to the success of the activity. Your presentation was well organized and covered more than just one lesson, but rather followed what seemed like a unit plan. It was great to see how it could become a continuation and extension to teach so many different goals of language arts. Thank you for a great presentation!
ReplyDeleteGroup 4
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your presentation as it used so many different elements that you could base a unit on. Your presentation also showed that one book can become the centrepiece for a whole array of activities and learning objectives. The Mysteries of Harris Burdick is a very interesting book that I was not familiar with before your presentation (I always like to see new books!). I think the history of how the book came to be maybe of interest to the students. Also, having them come up with the story behind the picture lends to teaching students about critically viewing pictures to gain greater understanding. I thought all of the activities you introduced were useful, and I think this presentation could easily be picked up and used as a language arts unit in any intermediate classroom. Great Job group four!!!
I loved your presentation. It was very thorough, engaging and included lots of different strategies. I really liked the book you chose for your lesson and feel that it is not only effective for upper intermediate students but equally productive for primary level students. I agree with Brandi that the paper pass activity is a good ice/breaker. I did this activity in my Curriculum Development class and the purpose of the activity was to build and feel the sense of community. Your placemat activity was very interesting and the idea of ordering the story starting from the middle to the end and then the beginning was great as it would give a totally different perspective to the story and also, a great learning experience for students that there are many different ways to look at things. It was definitely a great multi level lesson incorporating multiple intelligences (illustrations, creative writing, etc.). Thanks for sharing a variety of ideas. Wonderful!
ReplyDeleteAt one point in your lesson one of your teammates mentioned that you may or may not also include the quote along with the picture. I really appreciated that comment not because of the suggestion it gave but because it exemplified how there is no correct or incorrect way of teaching a lesson; every individual educator is going to have their own preference and every class is going to have their own needs that adapt those preferences. It is so important for us as beginning teachers to not go into the schools believing we have figured out the perfect way to teach ‘X’, because it will be a very humbling experience when we realise how flexible we need to be. So thanks group 4 for reminding us that different approaches will be successful in different situations.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to commend group 4 for their consistent and clear connections between lessons. I assume it would be made equally clear to the students and this is of extreme importance if we want our students to draw from their previous learning in order to build on it today. Lastly, just a note: great point on avoiding photographs with potential stereotypes for students to interpret.
Group 4:
ReplyDeleteI could see myself using this lesson in my Grade 6/7 practicum class. I really liked the paper pass idea because I found that when we did the activity in class where we wrote beginning, middle, and ends to stories written by our peers I was motivated to write because I wanted to create an exciting story that my classmates and I could be engaged in and I was motivated to read because I wanted to know what happened in the story that I was invested in. The paper pass seems like a similar idea except for the fact that the story could turn out to be very surprising as writers and illustrators are only expanding from the idea that comes immediately before theirs. I like this element of the paper pass and also like that illustration is involved in writing the story. This will engage students who are visual learners.
Group 4: I thought that your group chose an excellent book for this lesson, especially in making predictions. I guess I am somewhat biased because Chris Van Allsburg is one of my favorite picture book authors. But all his books are so thought-provoking and this was no exception. I like that it's able to engage children of all levels because his pictures can be interpreted in so many ways and on so many levels. The paper pass activity was a great idea! It's concept is almost like the game “Telephone”. This is a great way to get all the students involved and it is fun for the class to see what the final product will be at the end. I also liked how you guys provided an assessment piece with having “ticket-out-the-door” with the students thinking of predictions in everyday life. It reinforces their understanding of the importance of making predictions and is authentic in thinking about how it is applicable to their lives. Great job on the presentation!
ReplyDeleteGroup 4: Jaclyn, Tina, Amy, Veronica, Mark
ReplyDeleteI really liked the book that you used in your lesson, and it is definitely something that I would use for TOCing in the future. I really appreciated your PowerPoint because I am a visual learner, and do not always pay attention to things that are only verbal. I thought that it was very straight-forward and easy to follow. I also appreciated that you provided the class with plenty of visual examples for portions of your lesson, such as pictures from the book that you used, examples of possible placemat layouts, and pictures for the drama portion of the lesson. I thought that Jaclyn’s list of things to look for throughout the presentation was a nice touch, and it gave me a focus for the remainder of the lesson. I also liked your group’s choice to explain the rationale and value after each portion of the lesson, rather than after all the lessons because it was easier to relate back to a lesson that we had just heard. I really liked the first activity in which students would select the who, what, where, when, why, and how, for a quote from the book. However, instead of having each student come up to the board to write out their group’s response, what if there were multiple sheets around the room with the “W’s”. The students could work in groups, and each write down their ideas on the sheet of paper, then rotate to the next sheet after a couple minutes. In this sense, every student is involved in the brainstorming and recording process, and they also get to move around the classroom. Activity number two was a great way to teach students about the beginning, middle and the end of a story. However, I was wondering what the teacher would do if the students middle portion of the story did not relate to their predictions. The third activity would be a great summative assessment for the mini unit, now that the students can recognize what has happened in the present, they can try to establish the past and the future of a particular event. Once they can determine the past, present and future of a given situation from a picture, they are ready to create their own stories in their journals.
Thanks for a very informative presentation,
Well Done!
Group Four – The Mysteries of Harris Burdick
ReplyDeleteI am extremely thankful for being introduced to this book. I had never seen it before this group presented their mini unit. I would have really appreciated a lesson based on this book at any age; which is why I think it can be used with any age group. I am a big fan of incorporating picture books in visual literacy lessons. This is mainly because a picture provides room for individual interpretations; therefore there is never a right or wrong answer. Children can use their personal experiences and imagination to come up their own narrative to accompany the illustrations. Exploring visual literacy through picture books will more often than not engage students to actively participate.
From my perception it appeared group four was very enthusiastic about their 3 lessons they presented. They stepped it up a notch by incorporating a very thorough and well organized power point presentation. Including the visual aid definitely helped me follow along and also demonstrated an element of professionalism. What I liked most was the unique idea of a “Paper Pass!” I thought it was exceptionally creative of the group to come up with this strategy, and the example they had was quite hilarious. Thank you group four for a very engaging and insightful presentation!
Sonja wrote:
ReplyDeleteGroup four-
“The mysteries of Harris Burdick”-I was happy to see that this group used this book for their presentation. We are also using a book by the same author for our presentation and considered using this one, but luckily did not in the end. It is an incredible book to use for provoking thought and encouraging prediction. I really like the hook that they used at the beginning: “What do you think of this picture?” The book contains pictures that anyone from kindergarten age to adult aged would be by. I enjoy the idea of co-writing a story and the concept reminds me of that activity that we did several weeks ago. Good job group four!