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This is the best part about performing Booktalks at schools: having the kids race up afterward to grab up the books they've heard about.
Technology in Education (and some extra stuff I like)
Great Novels for Middle Schoolers
- Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. (Classic Romance/Historical Fiction)
- Boyne, John. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. (Fable about the Holocaust)
- Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. (Classic Fantasy)
- Colfer, Eoin. The Supernaturalist. (Fantasy)
- Cottrell Boyce, Frank. Millions. (Realistic Fiction)
- Curtis, Christopher Paul. Bud Not Buddy. (Historical Fiction)
- Haddix, Margaret. Among the Hidden. (Realistic Fantasy)
- Hesse, Karen. Out of the Dust. (Historical Fiction)
- Hiassen, Carl. Flush. (Realistic Fiction, Environmental theme)
- Nix, Garth. Sabriel. (Dark Fantasy)
- Stroud, Jonathan. The Amulet of Samarkand. (Fantasy)
- Wolff, Virginia Euwer. Make Lemonade. (Realistic Fiction)
Kids excited about books
This is the best part about performing Booktalks at schools: having the kids race up afterward to grab up the books they've heard about.
THE SIDEBAR -- A Reflection on: Exploring the Edge
Teachers want to reach their students in new and engaging ways, and this is certainly a noble goal. Lecture? It's out. Class discussion? Better, but we can improve upon it. How about a classroom in which all works in progress are completely public and open to critique by classmates or even by the public?
In "Exploring the Edge," an architecture studio is set up in this way: fellow students and even professionals can see and comment on the work and watch it go through its various stages toward completion. Students hear the critiques of others, both positive and negative, both worthwhile and worthless, and adjust their thinking about their project based on the strength of their own self-confidence and belief in (or fear of) the person providing the criticism. Easier on the professor, useful as long as the criticism is well-thought-out and beneficial to the project. Students may pick up skills from each other, or may follow each other down faulty paths. This strategy had better be combined with traditional learning techniques, like “studying the masters,” for instance, or students will be reinventing the wheel, and it may not be round this time, depending on the advice they take from those around them.
Another technique this article suggested was focussing on learning "to be" instead of learning "about" a subject. We've all heard it: students aren’t vessels to be filled, blah, blah, blah. Yes, learning about something that you might possibly use in a distant future is not the most useful form of teaching. Students who don’t use what they’ve learned quickly forget it. You don’t need to know it all—you need to know some things really well, so well that you have them as part of yourself. Heck—this is unschooling with a new term. Einstein was an unschooler after being unsuccessful and labeled “addled” in traditional schools in 2nd grade. His parents let him set up a lab in his basement and experiment, handing him books and supplies to nurture his interests. An unquenchable curiosity kept him at it despite near constant failure. It may be a new fangled educational phenomenon in the public school realm, but homeschoolers have been doing it for many years.
With the technology savvy students of today, we need to be creative. What teachers using technology are focusing on now is not how to use something (like which buttons to press) but how to make the best use of the technology to express feeling, communicate meaning and command attention. It’s harder to do today—command attention—and so you need to use every tool available to its best advantage.
In "Exploring the Edge," an architecture studio is set up in this way: fellow students and even professionals can see and comment on the work and watch it go through its various stages toward completion. Students hear the critiques of others, both positive and negative, both worthwhile and worthless, and adjust their thinking about their project based on the strength of their own self-confidence and belief in (or fear of) the person providing the criticism. Easier on the professor, useful as long as the criticism is well-thought-out and beneficial to the project. Students may pick up skills from each other, or may follow each other down faulty paths. This strategy had better be combined with traditional learning techniques, like “studying the masters,” for instance, or students will be reinventing the wheel, and it may not be round this time, depending on the advice they take from those around them.
Another technique this article suggested was focussing on learning "to be" instead of learning "about" a subject. We've all heard it: students aren’t vessels to be filled, blah, blah, blah. Yes, learning about something that you might possibly use in a distant future is not the most useful form of teaching. Students who don’t use what they’ve learned quickly forget it. You don’t need to know it all—you need to know some things really well, so well that you have them as part of yourself. Heck—this is unschooling with a new term. Einstein was an unschooler after being unsuccessful and labeled “addled” in traditional schools in 2nd grade. His parents let him set up a lab in his basement and experiment, handing him books and supplies to nurture his interests. An unquenchable curiosity kept him at it despite near constant failure. It may be a new fangled educational phenomenon in the public school realm, but homeschoolers have been doing it for many years.
With the technology savvy students of today, we need to be creative. What teachers using technology are focusing on now is not how to use something (like which buttons to press) but how to make the best use of the technology to express feeling, communicate meaning and command attention. It’s harder to do today—command attention—and so you need to use every tool available to its best advantage.