Teach Inspire Lead

This blog post was written by Karen Dopico, a current undergraduate student at Saint Vincent College enrolled in my course, Reading, Writing, and Differentiation in the Content Area. Read more about Karen at the end of the blog.

Our sight helps us make perceptions about the world around us; whether it’s by reading someone’s body language or looking outside to check the weather, our sight informs us of our surroundings. Students do not need to master one concept in order to look at an image. Those who are able to see can look at an image and engage with it through active looking. Front loading with images involves having students closely analyze an image as an anticipatory set in order to activate prior knowledge

Rather than having a lecture, we can engage our students with a topic through front loading with images. Teachers can introduce a topic to students by having them closely studying images related to that topic. What is beneficial about this strategy is that almost any student can participate, as this strategy can reach struggling readers and students who are not fluent in English. This strategy can touch each student and challenge them to actively look at an image in depth by analyzing its details and trying to get at “the big picture” (no pun intended).

Research has told us that “Instructors have reported that their use of images in the classroom has led to increased student interactivity and discussion. Teaching with images can also help develop students’ visual literacy skills, which contributes to their overall critical thinking skills and lifelong learning” (Hall, 2013). Giving students prior knowledge on a topic through a visual will give them the chance to use their critical thinking skills. Regardless of their literacy, students can use their critical thinking skills when front loading with images and not have to worry about their reading skills. 

Preparation

Before implementing this strategy, you will need the following

• One image relating to your topic
• The image cropped into four quadrants
• PowerPoint
• Paper copies of the image
• Note paper
• A cut out of a square shaped like an “L”

The goal of this strategy is for students to engage in active looking at an image related to your topic. For this to be successful, you must first introduce the topics to your students and give them some background knowledge. Next, have your students look at a PowerPoint Presentation of your image. This PowerPoint should have six slides total, the first being the image you chose for class. The next four slides are the four quadrants you cropped of the image. The final slide is the original image. When students see the picture in its entirety after studying parts of it so closely, they will look at it with a new perspective.

Paper and note taking can also be used with this strategy. Students will need copies of your picture, paper to take notes on, and cut outs of squares that are shaped like an “L,” exposing one quadrant of the picture. Here is an example of what the cutout would look like:

Implementing the Strategy

Depending on your classroom, there are many different modifications on how this strategy can be implemented. If you have students who struggle with writing down their ideas, the best strategy would be to have a class discussion with the front loading with images activity. Have students look at the first slide to see the whole image for about thirty seconds. Then, have them look at each quadrant for 1-2 minutes and ask them the following questions: What do you see? What is the significance behind this? How you think this relates to our topic? After looking at each section, show the students the full image on the last slide and allow them to look at it in silence for thirty seconds or less. Once they are done studying the entire image, ask them more questions: What is the main idea behind this painting? What are some small details that support this main idea? What would you name this painting?

If you have students who you believe would benefit from working with partners or from note taking, this can be a modification to the strategy. While using the PowerPoint presentations, give students a copy of the image, paper to take notes, and a cutout of the “L.” Students should fold their note paper into four quadrants (hamburger then hotdog). While you change the slides from one quadrant to another, have students cover the same quadrants with their cutouts to study that part of the picture. In groups of two or three, have students actively look at the quadrant together and take notes on their paper in the quadrant that corresponds to the one they are studying. Students should look at each quadrant for at least two minutes. Once they are done taking notes on the quadrant, ask a student from each group to share what they noted. Do this procedure with each of the slides until the whole image is displayed and complete the lesson like you would in the previous paragraph with asking questions about “the big picture.”

Going Forward

Front loading with images is an excellent strategy, as it makes students search for the visual meaning behind an image. For more on this strategy, click the link below and see point two on “Front Loading with Images.”

About Karen:

Karen Dopico is a junior at Saint Vincent College pursuing a B.A. in History with a minor in Secondary Education and a minor in Theology. Her goal is to create an inclusive environment in her future classroom along with giving students the opportunities to hone the skills of a historian. She believes that studying the human story allows us to understand one another in our present state and hopes to bring this message to her future classroom.  

Citations

Dean, M. (2020, November 19). 10 effective teaching strategies for every classroom – Classcraft Blog. Classcraft. https://www.classcraft.com/blog/effective-teaching-strategies-for-every-classroom/.

Hall, M. (2013, April 19). Teaching with Images | The Innovative Instructor. The Innovative Instructor Blog. https://ii.library.jhu.edu/2013/04/19/teaching-with-images/#:%7E:text=Instructors%20have%20reported%20that%20their,thinking%20skills%20and%20lifelong%20learning.

Lavery, C. Getting Teenagers to Talk. Teaching  English. https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/getting-teenagers-talk

 

 

I know what you’re thinking. It’s December and not even close to National Poetry Month, so  why should we be thinking about poetry? Well, we’ve got less than two weeks until holiday break and honesty, I think we are all just a bit tired of the mundaneness of virtual learning that this pandemic has forced upon us. December hearkens us to lift our spirits and what a better way to do so than to think about how to have some fun with poetry in our classrooms.

Check out some of these great poetry ideas to add into your December classroom calendar.

Blackout Poetry

Blackout Poetry, sometimes referred to as Found Poetry, is essentially when you take a piece of text (i.e.: newspaper article, story, essay) and use a marker or dark pen to redact (blackout) certain words leaving visible only words that create a poem. What you are left with is an inky visual that encapsulates your new poem.

According to artist Austin Kleon, Blackout Poetry has been around for centuries. In his TED Talk, he shares the history of Blackout Poetry and encourages all artists and poets to take little nuggets about what they learn and transform those nuggets into something new, just like he does through his Blackout Newspaper Poetry. To see more of Austin Kleon’s work, check out his website where you can find links to original Blackout Poems, his books, and a video of him showing how he creates newspaper poetry.

Blackout Poetry has become so popular that the New York Times digital edition has developed a space where uses can create their own Blackout Poetry. Here, readers can select an article and click on up to 15 words to compose their new poem. For teachers and students who are working virtually this semester, this might be a great option and a good way to test the waters.

E. Ce Miller has these tips for getting started with Blackout Poetry:

• Once you have your text, consider a theme you want to explore within your poem. Look for words that emphasize this theme.
• You don’t have to begin reading the article at the beginning; you can start in the middle or the end. Remember, you are looking for words that evoke meaning and lend themselves to ideas you wish to convey.
• When blacking out, outline the words you want to keep before blacking out the text around those words.
• What you eliminate might be as important as what you keep. Some Blackout poets use the text as a canvas to create visual art. Blackout the text with colored pens or markers if you wish. Check out this article on how to create Blackout Poetry art.

Poetry Mashup 

What do you get when you mix two similarly different (yep, it’s an oxymoron alright) things together? Think ice cream and root beer, mashed potatoes and corn, or song lyrics and poetry. Well, you get a mashup that blends these two things into something yummy and new. Poetry Mashup is where students combine song lyrics and poetry together to form a unique poem. This works best if the song and poem have similar themes or ideas. For example, one might pair the poem “Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson with the song “Elenor Rigby” by The Beatles, since both pieces are about characters that wear invisible masks and both have themes of loneliness.

What I love best about the Poetry Mashup is that it requires lots of analysis by students. And, when you tell them they will be searching for music to match a poem, they will be too focused on their iTunes library to know they’re using their noggin.

So, how might this work? You present students with a poem and have students do some analysis of the poem; I love using the SALTY-P questions that help students think about the structure, audience, language, tone, year, and purpose of poems. The folks at Mud and Ink Teaching also have some great ideas on how to analyze poems and use Poetry Mashups in the ELA classroom. Then, students find a song that pairs well with the poem. Of course, you can have students justify their selections. OR you could pair songs and poems yourself. The Literary Maven provides fifteen great pairings to make your job easy.

Once students have a paired poem and song, it’s time to let them release their inner poet by combing the poem and the song into a new original work.

Pop Sonnets

Channel your inner Shakespeare by pairing pop sonnets, created by Erik Didrickson, alongside well known sonnets or have your students turn modern day music into their own pop sonnets. Check out Didrickson’s take on a popular Taylor Swift song below (https://popsonnet.tumblr.com) or find more of these modern day songs transformed into sonnets here.

Finding Poetry and Poetry Lessons

Want more ideas on how to bring poetry into your classroom. The Academy of American Poets offers some great resources for teachers. I especially like their lesson plans, which can be searched by theme and topic and their “Teach this Poem” that can be adapted for virtual learning.

The Poetry Foundation also offers an educator site where teachers can find a myriad of resources:  glossary of terms, poem guides, poetry theory, teaching with poetry, poetry videos, and much more.