Choose your own Adventure
Students write stories and then they analyze them for content. They then take their stories and divide them into parts for html coding. Using html coding students use hyperlinking to clarify their stories as well as give them multiple endings and story paths. This activity allows students work on their use of detail and take a closer look at how different events effect their lives.
http://www.cgocable.net/~rayser/hyperfict.htmlCreating a Monster
Students read books that discuss the impacts of science moving faster than we can asses it's responsible use and then move from this concept to write papers about subjects that are currently coming to bear. This teacher has listed a number of topics that are of some environmental concern in the world today and students use these novels to talk about how people need to realize the impact that they're having on the planet.
http://www.cgocable.net/~rayser/monster3.txtLanguage Change
This assignment has a preface that talks bout the wordiness of Shakespeare and other authors of his time. It offers some early translations of the lords prayer and then has an activity for students to do where they have to identify different phrases from different time periods. The effect is sure to be hilarious, especially to the teacher, but also insightful to the students.
http://www.cgocable.net/~rayser/langchan2.txtLiterature and Science
This article from the English journal has a number of suggestions of books that can be read in high school classrooms to help bridge the gap between science and literature. Science can sometimes be boring and dry, but with the help of reality-based fiction it can become a great deal more interesting. Suggested themes from the text include: Shelley's Frankenstein (the misuse of scientific knowledge), Verne's 20,000 Leagues (the potential for advancement through technology lost because of personal vendetta), Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness (the ability of scientific knowledge to bring about profound social change), and Sagan's own Contact (the conflict between religion and science). In addition, the students read Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End, a rather strange little book that tackles many of the themes above (especially the blindness caused by superstition).
With my background in biology I have the expertise to be able to teach a number of these different books and discuss the scientific aspects as well as the social ones. I think though that this is something that needs to be addressed by more than one teacher and I hope to someday have the chance to work collaboratively with another teacher to develop units that are based on the interactions of science and literature.
English Journal 70-76 89, no. 2 (Nov. 1999): p. 70-76Laughter as a Tool
This article discusses various uses of laughter, satire and puns in the classroom. Most memorable is the unit on Milton’s Paradise Lost, where the teacher posts a sign outside the door on the first day of class that says welcome to hell. The teacher has his students act out the battles and take the role of the different characters as they try to fight their way out of hell. Later the material is used in a research paper comparing Milton’s view of hell with Jonathan Edward’s sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.�
English Journal v88n4 (Mar 1999): 70-72Young Adult Literature
This article gave me a lot of insight into a topic I've never thought about before. I remember in junior high there was� young adult section, but nothing in it ever looked too good to read. There were books like The Outsiders, and the Westing game (which I originally read because I thought the title was the wrestling game (but that's another story). I looked at Fahrenheit 451 for three years before I got to the high school and read it, but none of these books seemed too right for me then. I think it's wonderful that people are trying to classify books that they think are good for young adults. I feel sometimes like students are pushed too hard too soon to acquire knowledge and would really appreciate some books more if they waited to read them. Anyway there is� listing of 20 books here that are supposed to be good ones fro young adults, something to give them a break from Thoreau.
English Journal v88n1 (Sep 1998): 120-122
