Poetry Reading

We were asked to bring our favorite poems into class to share with our fellow students. When I first hear this, I had no idea what poem to bring in because I am not much of a poetry person. I have always had a hard time understanding what a poem is trying to tell me. I ended up choosing the poem "A Light In The Attic" by Shel Silverstein. I decided to choose this poem because it is the title of one of Shel Silverstein's books of poems. Last semester when I finished field, my cooperating teacher gave me this book of poems. She was the most influential cooperating teacher that I have ever had, so to receive this as a gift was truly inspiring. I chose to use this poem since it is the title of the poetry book. There are a lot of good poems in this book. My field teacher used poetry books by Shel Silverstein almost daily. She would tell the students to give her a page number and she would read the poem that was on that page. 

When we came into class on the day of our poetry cafe, we realized that our classroom looked a little different than normal. There were four tables set up with four chairs around each of the tables. The tables were covered with black table cloths and had a different floral arrangement. As we were sharing our poems in our groups, soft music was playing in the background. It was really a neat experience. After we read all of our poems in our table, we swapped tables so we would hear other classmates' poems.

I would definitely consider doing something like this in my own classroom. I think that poetry is a hard topic for some students because I was one of those students. However, I think that this was a fun way to teach poetry. I prefer something like this instead of having students just read poems aloud to the entire class. There are some students who are shy and have a hard time memorizing poetry, so instead of having them just memorize a poem, this is more beneficial. It teaches them how to read poetry and how to listen to others read poetry. I think that this also helps students see that there are many different types of poems. I also liked that we got to choose our own poems instead of having Syd just choose poems for us. This allowed us to come up with a poem that was important to us.

Want to know more about using poetry in your classroom? Click here!



Art Blog Post #6

Favorite Music

"Where words fail, music speaks."

-Hans Christian Andersen

Music has always been an important part of my life. While I have never played an instrument, I have always enjoyed listening to music. Music is something that I can connect to many memories. I love when I listen to a song and it reminds me of a specific memory. I have always had a hard time choosing just one song that I love. Instead, my favorite song seems to change all of the time.

           "Country Girl Shake it For Me" by Luke Bryan

Country music is my favorite genre of music. There is such a range of what country artists sing about, so I feel like there is always a song for whatever mood I am in.

My very first country concert I went to was to see Luke Bryan. I went to this concert at a fair in the summer of 2012 with some of my friends. Before this concert, I was not huge into country; however, now I am. Luke Bryan is my absolute favorite country artist because I feel like his music is fun and exciting. 

"Bye Bye Bye" by 'N Sync     

My first ever concert of all time was to see 

'N Sync when I was much younger. Of course I was really big into boy bands as a child, as was every other girl in the 90s. I remember going to the concert and screaming my head off and basically losing my voice. I still enjoy listening to 'N Sync whenever it comes on the Pandora Boy Band station. 

               "Die a Happy Man" by Thomas Rhett

Currently, my favorite song is "Die a Happy Man" by Thomas Rhett. I just think that this song is very sweet and enjoyable to listen to. Whenever I hear this song, I am instantly happy. When this song comes on the radio, I instantly start singing and just want to dance. 

"Love Shack" by B-52s

                            

"Love Shack" by B-52 has so many memories associated with it. I remember dancing around the house with my cousins to this song. We thought it was such a funny song that we would be entertained for hours. I remember when my oldest cousin first got her license we would drive around screaming this song at the top of our lungs. 

I think that music is something that is very important in everyone's lives. It is something that can easily be incorporated in the classroom. I remember in high school, I had a teacher who would play music while we worked on our worksheets. In field, I have seen teachers who use music as a brain break. They play a song and let the students get up and dance, just so they can get up and move around. 

I cannot imagine life without music. Music is all around us in our daily lives. I think that music should be incorporated all throughout the classroom.

Want to learn more about how to incorporate music into the classroom? Click here!




Art Blog Post #5

Shoebox Activity

In Social Studies class, we were talking about how during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, people had to sometimes grab what they could fit in a box and move West. In order for us to fully understand how it felt to experience this, Syd asked us to do this. We had to grab a shoebox (or a reasonable sized box) and in just a few minutes put whatever stuff you would want to take you with you on your travels. She informed us that clothes and food were already going to be on the wagon, so those items were not something that we did not have to worry about. I immediately started wondering what I would put in my shoebox, but decided that it would be best to wait until I was actually home in order to get the full experience.

When I got home that night, I grabbed my shoebox and looked around at what to put in my box. The first things I grabbed were photographs. The pictures were of my family because I would want to have those memories with me wherever I went. I also grabbed a journal with a pen, so I could document my travels. I grabbed a book to read just in case to keep me occupied. I also decided I would take lotion and chapstick, since to me these are necessary. I grabbed my box of Minions Bandaids as well. Bandaids seemed kind of random, but I feel like I always need bandaids. The final things I tossed in my box were my phone and charger. Overall, I think I spent about 5 minutes grabbing the items I wanted and putting them in my box.

The next class we got into groups of four to share our shoeboxes. We took turns sharing the contents of our shoeboxes. Once we were done, we changed groups and once again shared the contents of our shoeboxes. What I noticed was that everyone has items in their shoeboxes that were important to them. Most people had pictures of family members and cellphones. I noticed a lot of religious items as well. There were also a number of people who brought items to keep the busy on the trip, like coloring books and colored pencils.

I think that this activity was a great way for us to fully understand what these people had to go through. We can talk about what life was like during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression; however, we do not gain a deep understanding of how these people felt. This activity allowed us to feel the way that these people felt during these hard times. I think that this a great, simple activity that can be used in the classroom. I think that this also will let us into our students lives because they will be bringing in items that are important to them.

 "The Dust Bowl and The Great Depression" by RuneHQVideos

Social Studies Blog Post #4