Definition of Engagement

Before looking at how to engage students digitally, I first need to define engagement.  Too often, I hear people use engagement and fun interchangeably; however, they are not synonyms.  Yes, fun can be engaging, but engaging does not have to be fun.

In “Why Engagement in Online Learning Matters,” engagement is defined as, “our emotional involvement or commitment to something.”  Some students find emotional connections to certain content areas like stories in social stories or in novels read in class.  However, I think most teachers see engagement tied more directly to commitment.  Commitment is a result of engagement.  Those who are engaged are more committed to tasks and learning.

In “(Re)Defining Student Engagement,” Mark Renwick’s definition extends engagement beyond “students doing more talking than the teacher.”  Renwick connects engagement to passion about something.  Because of the passion, students are willing to put in time and effort to develop skills and understanding. 

The authors of “Six Ways to Boost Student Engagement in Online/Virtual Classrooms” point out that there are outward visuals of engagement including raised hands and asking questions. Like the other authors of the other articles, they refer to other student behaviors that demonstrate engagement.  This article looks at “self-directed learning behaviors and proactive preparation for a class” as other signs of engagement.

So, knowing that engagement is more complex that student participation in class, how do I design lessons that lead to increase in student engagement?  Here are ideas centered around things that I can control as a teacher.   I will weave these through future blog posts.

1. Set students up for success  
2. Organize lectures and learning materials
3. Create a sense of belonging in a learning community
4. Provide regular feedback
5. Create game-based learning opportunities

Why Engagement in Online Learning Matters

(Re)Defining Student Engagement

https://www.edtechupdate.com/digital-learning/student-engagement/?open-article-id=13506183&article-title=6-ways-to-boost-student-engagement-in-online-virtual-classrooms-&blog-domain=linways.com&blog-title=linways-technologies

Building Community (with Padlet)

“A classroom community helps students feel valued and connected with the teacher and other students in class. Taking the time to create this type of environment can help students feel included, can help them learn important social skills, and can teach them about responsibility.” “Building Community in the Classroom: Strategies and Activities”

“Some strategies used in a regular classroom work in a virtual one.” “Fostering a Strong Community in a Virtual Classroom”

While totally digital, I read a tweet that made me want to try something. My homeroom class is AWESOME, and I felt closer to them than other classes probably because we saw each other every day for homeroom, had class together twice a week, and had advisement twice a week.  Despite being together more as a class, it was still hard to facilitate the development of peer relationships with a group of 6^th graders that came from 4 elementary schools in our feeder pattern as well as those students who moved into the district. 

I am always looking for inspiration, and one day I found this gem of a Tweet.

I loved it and stole the idea to use as a kickoff to an advisement lesson.  The kids’ responses were great.  Here are few of the kids’ posts. 

After kids posted, we took time to ask each other questions about their responses.   I ask the first question and the student I called on asks the next question and so on.  I started by asking Mason about liking Harry Styles which is kind of brave of a 6^th grade boy to admit.  Then, he says, “So Luci, tell me about the bananas.”  We all laughed at the way he phrased his question.

Padlet is a powerful digital tool for formative assessment, but this was a time that Padlet allowed us to grow together as a class and to start becoming a stronger learning community during unprecedented and uncertain times.

I also asked my students what they thought about Padlet in general. Here is what they shared.

Ayla: I think it is fun seeing comments and how many hearts by psdlet got.

Ava: Its a really fun way to share my opinion.

Aliza: I love Padlet because it is a fun and easy way to express my ideas, but when other people typing, the boxes start to move around and that makes it hard to type.

Sai: I like padlet becuase it is very simple and user friendly. It’s an easy way to post your ideas and read other’s.

Janya: I like Padlet to see and get inspired by my peers’ work.

Ella: Easy to use and fun to see my classmates’ perspective on the topic we are learning about

Resources:

Building Community in the Classroom: Strategies and Activities

Fostering a Strong Community in a Virtual Classroom

Provide Regular Feedback

“9 Types of Feedback to Boost Student Engagement” by eLearning Industry

https://elearningindustry.com/9-types-of-feedback-boost-student-engagement

9 Effective Types of Feedback

1. Appreciation
2. Sayback
3. Links to Resources
4. Questions
5. Providing Next Steps
6. Providing Guidance
7. Sharing Personal Experiences
8. Facilitators Connecting Learners
9. Providing Encouragement

Three great digital tools that hit on several of these types of feedback are MI Write, Nearpod, and PearDeck.

MI Write:  MI Write is a program that improves student writing by focusing on formative assessment for grades 3-12.   Included in MI Write is the possibility of peer feedback using teach posed questions to guide the feedback.

1. Process of MI Write
   1. Students respond to a prompt.
   2. Responses are automatically scored.
   3. Scores include strengths and weaknesses in 6 areas.
   4. Based on individual weaknesses, students have assigned lessons to address their weaknesses.
   5. After completing the lessons, students apply their new learnings by editing and revising.
   6. Students resubmit and repeat the process.
   7. Although the scoring is done through a computer algorithm, the process provides students with more feedback than teachers with 150+ students can do. 
   8. Note:  I will never take the grade assigned by the computer for a grade in the gradebook.  I will always assign grades based on my use of a rubric.

Last week, I spent several days teaching my students to use the program and gave them time to explore all that it offers.  As students worked through the minilessons and revised their writing, I could see visible signs of engagement.  Kids were cheering for themselves as they saw their scores increase.  They took it as a challenge to get the biggest increase.  It was enjoyable to watch.

As a teacher with more than 150 students, I struggle with how to give quick and meaningful and frequent feedback to all of my students.  MI Write has removed some of that stress.

How my 6^th graders rate MI Write: 3.94/5 stars

Nearpod and Pear Deck:  Both Nearpod and Pear Deck allow students to be actively engaged in lessons through responding digitally to questions of different types.  Nearpod has many lessons already created or teachers may create lessons from scratch.  Pear Deck can be used with Google slides or with Microsoft PowerPoint.  In PowerPoint, add-ons can be added to turn slides into interactive slides. 

I have used both through digital learning and like them both for different reasons.  There are times when it is helpful to find Nearpod lessons that are already created for whole class or student-paced lessons.  I do not like Nearpod if I have specific content I want to include. 

I prefer Pear Deck when I have specific lessons that I want to use.  If I have a PowerPoint already created, I prefer to add Pear Deck add-ons to my slides.  These ad-ons include writing, drawing, temperature checks, etc

Both Nearpod and Pear Deck allow me to provide immediate feedback to students.  For instance, when we studied figurative language earlier this year, I used a write ad-on with a PPT that asked students to type sentences with different types of figurative language.  As students typed their responses, I was able to give hints and offer corrections to each student.

The feedback I gave students through Pear Deck was informal and formative and did not have the “threat” of a grade. 

How my 6^th graders rate Nearpod: 4:24/5 stars

What my students say about Nearpod:

• It is fun and I like the questions.
• Nearpod is really good.  It helps me keep up where we are.
• I like the videos and the fun activities.
• Nearpod is easy to use.
• I really like Nearpod because you can participate with what the slides are.
• It is a great way to learn with fun challenges.  It really helps information stick and stay stuck in my brain.
• I think Nearpod is a great resource because the teacher and the students can either move at the same pace and do it together, or they can do it at their own pace and do it separately. I also like the fact that all students can participate in different ways.
• I do not like that you have to switch back and forth sometimes.
• I think that Nearpod is not very interesting, and it is sort of difficult to use. But it is very interactive so that is a plus.
• I think that it was very great that the Nearpod can be interactable and have hands on activities that the teachers can see and make sure that all of the students are participating and understand the lesson. I also think that it was good that you can go back to the Nearpod in case you missed something.
• Nearpod is also good, and it lets the students interact with the question.

How my students rate Pear Deck: 3.65/5 stars

What my students say about Pear Deck:

• Nice and easy to use.
• I think that it is a 5 because it is very interactive.
• I like how I can flip through the slides.
• It’s a good learning tool.
• I like the writing comments.
• Pear Deck is another great way to share ideas and learn, but unless the teacher shares his/her screen, I can’t see the ideas of others, and I wish I could.  (I probably could set it up for them see responses.)
• It’s an easy way for the teacher to see your answers and notes.
• Pear Deck is a fairly good tool because all of the students can participate in different ways, but it can be a bit challenging because it doesn’t always work very well. (I think this may be teacher error.)
• It is interactive and very fun to learn and make sentences in.
• Pear Deck is kind of like Nearpod, but with more questions and interactive things.
• Pear Deck is fun and lets the students interact with the question. I like it more than Nearpod.

Organize Lecture and Materials: Bitmoji Classrooms

Bitmoji classrooms allow teachers to organize resources and lessons in visual pleasing and engaging ways.  Well designed bitmoji classrooms can contain valuable resources and information for students while being visually stimulating and fun.

Bitmoji classrooms can help teachers organize the online classroom in several ways.

1. Daily Agenda:  Here are some of the bitmoji classrooms I have used as an agenda and post to my class landing page.

• Virtual Library:  Remember copyright rules!
• Class Resource Hub: This is one example I created that provides a one-stop shop for parents and students.  The “buttons” are linked to documents or websites that are helpful throughout the school year.

• Important Announcements
• Build Community by Sharing About Yourself: In this classroom, students clicked on the tv, the posters above the board, the map, and the white board to learn more about me.  When they clicked on my bitmoji, they got a welcome.  The clipboard gave directions for a writing assignment students needed to complete.  This was completed the first couple of school as a preassessment and get to know you assignment.

Notes from My Experience:  I created my bitmoji classrooms in PPTs because we are a Microsoft district and do not use Google Classroom. 

1. Save the bitmoji classroom as a PDF if you want students to access hyperlinks.
2. Keep it simple.  After using a few agendas, I realized I was making them too complex and might benefit from not using them at times depending on the amount of words I needed on the slide.
3. You can find tons of resources online including a FaceBook page, Bitmoji Craze for Educators.  On this page, teachers share many of their completed rooms as well as their blank rooms that you can personalize.
4. With PowerPoint, it is easy to add recorded messages to the bitmoji classroom to give directions, share ideas, or just to connect with students.
5. After learning about student interests, create classrooms that include their interests as part of the décor.

Sources:

https://www.edutopia.org/article/educators-turn-bitmoji-build-community-and-engagement

https://www.helloteacherlady.com/blog/2020/8/virtual-bitmoji-classroom-faq-all-your-questions-answered

https://www.boredteachers.com/classroom-ideas/virtual-bitmoji-classrooms

Set Students Up for Success

The students in our classrooms are technically digital natives; however, this does not mean they have the necessary skills to be successful in digital learning.  It became clear to me last year as we moved over night to online learning that my students did not have the “academic” technical skills needed to be successful.  I had both 6^th and 7^th grade classes, and I was amazed at what students didn’t know how to do. Not only did they not know how to navigate our LMS, they didn’t have the basic skills of downloading documents, using a split screen, or uploading documents. 

Knowing this, I made the decision to spend several class periods at the start of this school year on basic “academic” technical skills.  I created practice lessons for students to explore our district’s new LMS.  These lessons included videos and documents that students could refer to when they needed help.  It’s still frustrating to get blank documents submitted after 8 weeks of school; however, I can’t imagine how much worse this would be if we hadn’t spent time on the basics.

A Note:  It was a struggle to teach these skills to students when each student had a different kind or brand of device.  Some were on laptops, desktops, phones, or iPads.  Some were on Apple products, Dell products, or Chromebooks.  Not having each of these types and brands of devices made it a challenge to trouble shoot.  A positive of this was that students took on the tech support role and volunteered to help each other.  They were a great support for each other and helped their peers in ways that I couldn’t do.

Sources: 

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_ahead/2018/10/even_digital_natives_need_to_learn_common-sense_tech_skills.html

Game-Based Learning: Kahoot! vs Quizizz vs Quizlet

One of the ways to increase student engagement is using game-based learning activities. There are three great options for this.

Comparison of the Three

Source:  Ditch that Textbook: Game Show Classroom (https://ditchthattextbook.com/game-show-classroom-comparing-kahoot-quizizz-quizlet-live-and-quizalize/)

My reflections are in purple.

1. Kahoot! (kahoot.com)

Summary

Kahoot! is the granddaddy of the game show review games, launched in August of 2013. In a standard Kahoot! game, questions are displayed to students on a projector or display. Students respond on their own devices.

Pros

• It’s a shared experience. Everyone responds at the same time. That also means we can provide feedback to everyone at the same time.
• There are millions of publicly created Kahoot! games you can use (or duplicate for yourself and change).
• Students are likely very familiar with it, meaning it can be plugged into a lesson with little time to learn a new app.

Cons

• The speed of a traditional Kahoot! game can make some students feel like they’re left in the dust.
• It’s easy for students to see each other’s responses and copy. (Just look at all of the screens the student in the foreground of the photo can see from his desk.)

Unique features

• Ghost mode. Kahoot! remembers how each student scored on each question. When you play the game again in ghost mode, it displays former attempts as “ghosts”. Students can compare their current attempt to previous attempts to see how they’ve progressed. (If your students have played Mario Kart or another racing video game and have raced against their personal best, they’re familiar with racing against a ghost.)
• The mobile app. This versatile app lets you create Kahoot! games on the fly, add pictures from your camera roll, and even host a Kahoot! game from your mobile device. Students can participate in Kahoot! challenges against classmates on their own devices.
• The friendly nickname generator. Have you ever battled naughty nicknames in a Kahoot! game? The generator will let students spin to choose from three appropriate nickname options.

Alternative ways to play

• The Blind Kahoot! game. It’s a way to teach with Kahoot! instead of just reviewing. Throw students a tricky question at the beginning. Then use images, videos, class discussion and questions to teach it. It’s scaffolding — teach a little, ask a question, repeat, repeat, repeat. 

My Reflections: 

• Students LOVE Kahoot! Live.  During our ILT (independent learning time), we would play when we didn’t have something specific to work on.  The kids would cheer for each other as they go answer right…and would cheer for themselves as well. 
• The music drives me crazy, so I tend to turn it down or silence it. 
• There are many created Kahoots! that teachers can copy and use.  I would always suggest that you proofread the questions and responses because there may be errors or out of date information.  **We use some existing Kahoots! for our trivia club.
• It is possible to assign Kahoot! for students to complete individually; however, my students much prefer playing against each other live.  This was an important part of community building during the time we were full-remote learning.

I surveyed students to see what they thought about different digital tools.  Here is what they said about Kahoot!.

• I like how Kahoot tells you where you are on the leaderboard, tells you the question before you answer, and does not have all of the stuff between the questions.  (In Quizizz Live, memes are often posted between questions.)
• Kahoot is fun in so many ways.  It gives you suspense with the music and gets you to challenge other students with your knowledge.
• Kahoot is a lot more fun because you stop at the end of each question, an if you get one wrong, you can still bounce back, but on Quizizz, you go all the way back to the start.
• You have to have a second device or split screen.
• I feel like Kahoot Live is more organized and polished whereas Quizizz live was kind of all over the place with ads and powerups.
• Kahoot Live is great!

2. Quizizz (quizizz.com)

Summary

Quizizz takes the excitement of a gameshow-style review game and puts the whole experience in the students’ hands. With a traditional Kahoot! game, everyone sees the question and possible answers on the projector and answer simultaneously. Quizizz is different because the questions and possible answers are displayed individually on student devices.

Pros

• It’s student-paced. No one gets upset because their device didn’t load the game fast enough to compete.
• Teachers can display a student progress dashboard on the projector to see progress of each student and instantly see how many questions the class answered right/wrong.

Cons

• When everyone is answering different questions at different times, you lose a bit of the excitement.
• With Kahoot!, when my class answers one question all together, it isolates that piece of content so we can all talk about it. When a Quizizz game is over, you can review all the questions all at once, and you lose that isolation.

Unique features

• Memes. These pictures with fun/funny messages are a treat. They’re displayed after a question is answered to show whether it’s right or wrong. Quizizz even lets you create your own (see image at right). You can use their pre-loaded images or upload your own.
• Homework mode. Students don’t have to complete a game live in-person. You can use homework mode to assign it to be completed by a deadline. As someone who believes in ditching homework, I prefer homework mode to be used in rotation stations, centers and as part of choice boards instead.
• Add audio, images and math equations. When creating a new question, use the icons next to the question you’re writing. The “math” button loads a keyboard of math symbols. The “media” button lets you upload audio or image.
• Power ups. Correct questions get students these powers, like immunity (second chance after incorrect answer), power play (everyone gets 50% more points for 20 seconds), and x2 (double points for one question).

Alternative ways to play

• The Fast and the Curious eduprotocol. By using Quizizz in this way, you reduce (or eliminate) your need for worksheet-based homework. Play a quick Quizizz game and look at the results. Do a quick re-teach or mini-lesson about students’ struggles. Replay the game immediately. Repeat this on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. On Thursday, if students average a 90 percent or higher, give everyone an A and move on. Jon Corippo, co-author of The EduProtocol Field Guide, describes The Fast and the Curious eduprotocol on this episode of The 10 Minute Teacher podcast.
• Student-created Quizizz games. Students can submit questions to be asked in a Quizizz game using Google Forms survey. Import the data from the spreadsheet connected to the survey into a Quizizz game instantly and play the game. It’s low-prep, student-driven review fun! See how in this tutorial video by California educator Joe Marquez. And, hear Quizizz founder Deepak Joy Cheenath describe it in this episode of the Ditch That Textbook podcast. (Note: Spreadsheet import is now an option for Kahoot! too.)

My Reflections: 

• Unlike my students, I have preferred using Quizizz in the past.  Both are very easy to use, but I like the teacher “dashboard” for Quizizz better.  I also hadn’t used Kahoot! enough to know that I could turn off the music.  My students this year has convinced me to use both.
• I do find that it is easier to modify existing Quizizz questions than it is to modify existing Kahoot! questions.
• In Quizizz, teachers can assign games as homework; however, they must set an expiration date.  This means that codes must be recreated each year.

I surveyed students to see what they thought about different digital tools.  Here is what they said about Quizizz.

• You can see the question on the page itself.  You can also see answers on the Quizizz.
• You don’t have to look all over the screen to answer the question.
• You don’t have to have a second device or split screen.
• Quizizz is not as competitive as Kahoot but is a great studying tool.

3. Quizlet Live (quizlet.com/live)

Summary

Quizlet’s foray into the game show-style review is the best collaborative game. Instead of students answering individual questions on their individual devices, Quizlet puts students in groups. All possible answers are divided amongst the devices of all students participating. Think of three students with 12 possible answers … they’re divided up with four on each devices, so the answer may or may not be on your device. Teams race to get all answers correct in a row to win.

Need to know how to set up and run a Quizlet Live game? How to start a Quizlet Live game in 60 seconds + tips and tricks

Pros

• Teamwork and communication. With traditional flashcards, students may study them in isolation quietly. This brings students together in a game where they must depend on each other.
• Play games with Quizlet flashcard sets. Quizlet Live runs from Quizlet flashcard sets. That means you don’t have to create anything new if you use Quizlet and already have flashcards OR if you can find a Quizlet flashcard set you like.
• A new game every time. Each new Quizlet Live game is different. When a game pulls a dozen cards from a Quizlet flashcard set, there are tons of combinations — especially when there are LOTS of flashcards. Start a new game and Quizlet mixes up the cards for a new combination.

Cons

• You need at least six students to play a game (at least two teams of three students) and at least six cards in a flashcard set.
• If you’re looking for something more individual to play as a group, Quizlet Live may not be your game.

Unique features

• True team play. This is the best collaborative experience of the “gameshow classroom” options. One student can dominate in a team game on Kahoot! or Quizizz. When each student has only a handful of correct responses, everyone has more opportunity to participate.
• Built-in movement. Students are put into small groups and are encouraged to move next to their partners. This mixes up their environment and encourages physical movement, which boosts cognitive function.

Alternative ways to play

• Quizlet Quarterback. This game further ensures that one dominant student doesn’t hijack the game. In a group of three, set all three student devices next to each other on desks. Two students sit and one student stands behind them. When a question appears, the standing student reads it and finds the answer. He/she taps the shoulder of the student closest to the question and that student answers the question on the screen. This is one of several alternative Quizlet Live games suggested by New York educator Patrick McMillan in this post.

Relay. In this game, line up all student devices in a row. Students take turns answering questions. This is another alternative Quizlet Live game suggested by New York educator Patrick McMillan in this post.

My Reflections: 

• I haven’t used Quizlet with students this year.  It is a great tool for studying vocabulary or questions that have one-word answers.  Teachers can create flashcards for students by uploading lists of words and their definitions; however, students can also create their own flashcards. 
• In my experience, students do not like Quizlet as much as the others because they often use it to study individually, and it doesn’t have the music and visual interest of the other tools.  I still believe it is the strongest study tool of the three for vocabulary because it doesn’t have the visual distractions of the other tools.

*No student feedback on Quizlet because I haven’t used it with students this year.

Pandemic Digital Scrapbook Project

I saw a version of this on Edutopia and thought it was a great idea.  I worked to tweak it and am now watching kids creating their digital scrapbooks.  I was a little worried because I didn’t want to cause students to focus on the negative of the time, so I intentionally focused on students’ personal experiences, interviews of friends and family, and things like memes.  It is important that students are aware the news, so there is a news component.  However, the news component is not the major focus for the grade levels I teach.  I did have one parent reach out because they are minimizing the exposure his child has to the news about the virus.   I happily gave his child the option of exploring a different topic as long as the work his child did covered the standards that the project covers-all genres of writing, research, technology, speaking (interviews), and reading. The topic of the digital scrapbook is not the most important part of the assignment.

My plan is to allow students to get comfortable with the technology they select and with adding content for two weeks.  If schools remain closed, we will divide weeks up and will have days to work on the digital scrapbook and days to review skills.  If we return to school, we can continue or end the project.  When we end the project, we will schedule a gallery walk that will allow students to view everyone’s project. It is very flexible!

Digital Scrapbook Assignment during the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020 (1)

directions for creating digital scrapbook in OneDrive

Hair Love”

1.  1. View this 6:47 Oscar-Winning Short Film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNw8V_Fkw28
2. Choice of writing:
   1. Write two stories from the perspective of two different characters.
   2. Write a personal narrative, which means it is true, when a parent, grandparent or someone like a grandparent helped you with something difficult. 
   3. If this story was being written, practice writing an introduction to the narrative using one of the SAD introduction techniques-setting, action, dialogue. 

 

Could post to PeerGrade.io to get feedback.

Questions for the PeerGrade rubric: What is a glow?  What is a grow?  What was your favorite line?

Writing Prompt Using 15 Incredible Finalists of the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

15 Incredible Finalists of the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest: Narrative Writing and Explanation Writing

1. Go to the following website and view the 15 pictures.  Select either one or two of your favorites.

https://mymodernmet.com/smithsonian-mag-finalists-2019/?fbclid=IwAR1Xkh2glwrc_VdzZPkrNatu_fGUZPaiHWcdBUx_w1bYOMkJpfhmoFqiRt0

1. You have two writing assignments for this task.

1. Using one of the photographs, write a narrative using the photograph as inspiration.

1. Pick One of the Following and Answer:

1. Dario Endara, an American photographer, says, “The most important element of a good photo is the ability of the photograph to communicate with the viewer.  It should be able to tell a story through its composition, lighting, and most importantly its subject matter.”    Write a paragraph explaining how your favorite image represents Endara’s statement.  How does Endara’s statement apply to your favorite photo?

1. Larissa Olenicoff, a photographer, says, “Good photographs put you in a particular moment in time, they tell a story, or they speak to your emotions. The most important element of a great photograph is that it does all of the above. That’s what makes great pictures, great pictures.”  Write a paragraph explaining how your favorite image represents Olenicoff’s statement.  How does Olenicoff’s statement apply to your favorite photo?

(quote source https://www.goseewrite.com/2013/07/top-photographers-answer-what-makes-a-good-photograph/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20most%20important%20element%20of,most%20importantly%20its%20subject%20matter.%E2%80%9D)

Crazy Times Call for Sharing

I haven’t been posting, but I figured now is the time to start again.  I’ll keep adding ideas for digital learning activities for middle school language arts.

**My students have access to Microsoft 365, so you may have to tweak parts of the directions.

**At this time, I believe all of the resources linked below are free.

“A Noiseless Patient Spider” by Walt Whitman

1. Watch this 3:29 TED Ed video.

https://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-poetic-experiment-walt-whitman-interpreted-by-three-animators-justin-moore

2. Answer the following questions about Walt Whitman’s use of alliteration and word choice in his poem. (Forms)

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45473/a-noiseless-patient-spider

A noiseless patient spider,

I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated,

Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,

It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,

Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,

Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,

Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,

Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold,

Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

• Questions
• Whitman uses alliteration (the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of closely connected or adjacent words) in this poem. Read the poem and list the phrases that contain alliteration below.List the words that describe both the spider and the soul in similar ways.
• What specific words or phrases does Walt Whitman use to personify the spider and thus create a metaphor between the spider and the soul? List them.

“Robot Dog vs Real Dog”

1. Read this article. https://math.scholastic.com/issues/2019-20/090219/robot-dog.html#970L
2. Write a constructed response paragraph comparing and contrasting the two.

If you need help organizing your thinking, use this graphic organizer.  You may print it or sketch it out on a piece of paper.  http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson275/compcon_chart.pdf

“If I Were a Super Hero”

1. Read https://scope.scholastic.com/issues/2019-20/120119/if-i-were-a-superhero.html
2. In Forms, answer the following questions in complete sentences. Make sure to use vocabulary of the question in your response.

An internal conflict is a conflict that takes place within a character’s mind.  An external conflict is a struggle between a character and someone or something else.

1. What is the narrator’s internal conflict? How about her external conflict?
2. Find two lines that reveal the internal conflict.
3. Find two lines that reveal the external conflict.
4. If you were a superhero, what would your story be? If you need some inspiration, use the superhero generator linked below.  Once you have your superhero character in mind, write down the internal conflict and an external conflict your invented character would face.  Then, write a short story about your character stopping a bank robbery that introduces both conflicts.

https://www.kzone.com.au/article/super-hero-name-generator-521181

“For Every One”

“Your dream is the mole
behind your ear,
that chip in your
front tooth,
your freckles.
It’s the thing that makes
you special,
but not the thing that makes
you great.
The courage in trying,
the passion in living,
and the acknowledgement
and appreciation of
the beauty happening around
you does that.”
― Jason Reynolds 

1. Read the poem.
2. Write your own version of the poem and post to forms.
3. If needed, use this template. You will need to delete the lines as you go.

Your dream is the ___________

___________,

that ___________,

your __________.

It’s the thing that makes you special but not the thing that makes you great.

The ___________ in ­___________,

the ___________ in ___________,

and the ___________

and ___________ of

the beauty happening around

you does that.

Link to text online https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9042217-your-dream-is-the-mole-behind-your-ear-that-chip

“Pandora’s Box”

1. Watch this TED Ed video https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-myth-of-pandora-s-box-iseult-gillespie#watch
2. Answer questions in Forms
   1. Can you think of any historical or contemporary examples that pose their own “Pandora’s Box dilemma? What are they?
   2. Why is it important that HOPE was also in the box? How does this change the meaning of the myth?
   3. Rewrite the story with Pandora as the narrator. It should be from her point of view, so it should be in first person.

Meme Explanation

1. You may either pick a meme of your choice, school appropriate of course, or pick one from below.
2. Write a constructed response paragraph explaining what it means.
3. You will need to refer to the meme for evidence; however, you will not use MLA in your citations.

World War II Museum Virtual Field Trips

One of the hardest skills for students to develop is the ability to take notes while reading or listening.  To practice this, select one of the free virtual field trips on this page, and practice taking notes while watching at least 15 minutes.  You may take note either on paper or by typing.  Enter which field trip you viewed in Forms.

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/distance-learning/k-12-distance-learning/electronic-field-trips

More Ideas

TED Ed

How to use rhetoric to get what you want  https://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-to-use-rhetoric-to-get-what-you-want-camille-a-langston#watch