New term already in view

The best part of the holidays in many ways - more relaxed but beginning to think about what is in store. Each year, I swear that I am going to focus on working more effectively rather than harder - revamping rather than starting from scratch. Easier said than done but teacher forums are a great place to get ideas and share resources.

The two webtools for English teachers today are:

Flocabulary: Educational Hip Hop: http://www.flocabulary.com/macbeth.html

A rap video telling the story of Macbeth. While I am not into rap, the students could like it.

Shakespearean Insults: http://www.petelevin.com/shakespeare.htm

Afun way to introduce Shakespeare.

Visual Literacy Teaching Unit: http://wwwfp.education.tas.gov.au/english/vislit.htm
Visual Literacy Unit for Years 7 & 8.

While I teach plays other than 'Macbeth', there are also many excellent app downloads available that summarise the plot and highlight aspects of characterisation, language and so on. I found the last time that I taught it, that the students themselves found ones that I had missed and since they are so cheap, didn't mind downloading their own to help them understand the play.

Image manipulation apps are also out there in abundance so visual literacy can be exciting for students because they can compose really professional looking picture books and so on.

At the moment I am still working on 'Satire' which seems to be taking years to get finished. It is such a broad field but classic satire is so different to contemporary styles because the heavy moral message is less evident. Condemnation aplenty but little real suggestion of how social flaws and vices can be remedied or reformed. Visual satire and satiric poetry remain readily accessible. Texts like 'The Loved Ones' however would not work easily with many students now as the context and language would take a lot of time. Shepard Fairey has some wonderful posters that students enjoy discussing.

Am also working on upcoming TTA workshops for Term II which include, Advanced Module B Speeches, 'Witness', Wilfred Owen, 'Hamlet' and Extension 1 Science Fiction.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your holidays.