In the spring of 2013, I led a PD session focused on using iPads for instruction. In this session, I shared how my students used iPads to conduct interviews as part of an inquiry project. I drew connections between the Common Core Learning Standards, inquiry, and technology. Download my presentation here: Inquiry and Interviews
In one unit for the NGE English class I taught in 2011-2012, we focused on how some writers use images to evoke meaning, and some artists use words to do the same. We read a poem called “Left,” by Nikky Finney, and watched a video of herself reading the poem while images were displayed. Then, we went on an in-house field trip to the student art gallery and looked at Deena Qadir’s senior art project, much of which incorporated words and language. Deena shared her thoughts and experiences with the 9th grade students. Download here: Words and images
From 2010-2012, I taught an innovative, interdisciplinary course that served as the “home base” for the Ninth Grade Experience. This course was loosely based on the Theory of Knowledge Course that is at the heart of the International Baccalaureate Program. In order to teach this course, I visited the classrooms of each content-area teacher on our team to learn more about the themes and ideas that might help us to draw connections across the curriculum. Then, I designed lessons, activities, and units that engaged the students in these “big ideas.”
Centering course: (contract, lesson plans, units, and student work)
Description of the Ninth Grade Experience (NGE):
Description of the Ninth Grade Film Festival:
While teaching at Queens High School for the Sciences, my students all kept online blogs. You will find a few examples below. Students were given some suggestions for the kinds of posts they could write, they were free to be creative and make connections. They were also required to leave comments on each other’s sites, as the aim was to have students interact outside of the classroom about topics relevant to literature.
10th Grade Honors English
World Literature: Local Concerns and Global Questions
Website: www.mrsdavison.typepad.com/grade10
Twitter: https://twitter.com/english10h
What can literature teach us about the world and ourselves?
My goal as your teacher is to create a communal environment for reading, writing, thinking and learning. We will explore a body of literature that spans various time periods and cultures, while honing the technical skills required of an advanced secondary education. Throughout the year we will always return to our essential questions in order to explore literature as the craft of storytelling and wordplay, but also as primary sources that have the ability to teach us about culture, politics, and history.
Research:
In addition to our whole-class study of the concepts and texts listed below, each student will also be required to submit an original work of literary criticism based on the writing of one author. The students will choose an author, independently read 2-3 full-length texts by that author, research literary criticism published about the author, and develop their own scholarly response.
Texts:
Each unit of study for the year will focus on the literary concept of the hero in different times and places. Here are some of the texts we will be studying this fall:
In Classical Times: Ancient Greece
In Medieval Times: England, Persia, Japan
In Romantic Times: America, England, Russia
In “Magical” Times: Russia, South America, Cross-Cultural
Deirdre Faughey 