A Classroom Full of Poets

Poetry is one of those things I rarely use in class, but whenever I have, I’ve got a great reaction from the students. For example, my Korean teachers loved making their own stem poems. This involved them completing sentences to describe their classmates which became a poem. However asking someone to just write a poem could be a very intimidating thing to do, so I always try to limit the activity and place parameters on it so they can create without that pressure.

So I’m always on the lookout for a way of introducing poetry into the class in a way that feels natural and doesn’t place too much of a burden on the student. Hence my interest in a recent article on the ever reliable Brainpickings about ‘book spine poetry’. In this, the ‘poet’ takes a handful of books and using their spines, makes a poem. Here are a few of my own works...

The blind assassin

On the road

Dead man’s footsteps

Farewell my lovely

The monk and the philosopher

Dining with terrorists

Headhunters

All men are mortal

The old man and the sea

Catch 22

Big fish

Breakfast of champions

Birds of Costa Rica

Without feathers

You are nothing

I love the idea of asking the students to create their own book spine poems, but there are some issues to resolve first. Firstly they need to get hold of the books. If they don’t have their own, then they can visit the library or a bookshop (with permission). If that’s not possible they could use the bestsellers list on Amazon and if you’re really desperate, you can always bring your own books, although that would obviously limit the range available.

Secondly, you may have to resolve some language issues. When ‘building’ the poems, the temptation is to try and find titles that give you articles, prepositions and other connecting words in order for it to make sense. You might want to let your students cheat and add a few words if they think it is necessary.

A second idea is Newspaper Blackout poems. Simply, the ‘poet’ finds a newspaper or similar text, finds words on the page that they want to use for their poem and blackouts the rest of the page. So all you need to do is take a handful of markers and newspaper articles to the class and off you go! You can even do them on an iPad if you’re more technologically minded (although I used different apps from those mentioned in this article - Safari for the text and Screenchomp for the colouring in.)

Here are a couple of my own newspaper blackout poems:

The original text for poem 1

Alternative health 

Alternative Health

l read a headline
I flinch with shame

So over the top

Diptheria, tetanus, tuberculosis, pertussis, polio,

But we had a fridge full of organic vegatables.

Alternative health left me paranoid.

The original text for Warhol

Warhol

Warhol

Misunderstood

Shocking
Laconic

A vacant, heartless worshipper of money and fame.

Yet a sensitive, shy man

Hidden away

Lost then found

Away from the sleaze and glamour

with his mask off.

Obviously just creating these poems is not enough, so I would print the poems to share with the other students. They could then discuss what they think the poem is about and why the poet chose to put them in that order. The conversation could then switch to them speaking to the poet, telling them what they thought and finding out whether they were right or not.

But of course there are many other ways the students could use these poems, and if you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments below.

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Professional Development - Not An Option

This post was first written as a comment on the blog of the Secret DoS. To read the interesting article that prompted it and the discussion that followed, including my original comment, click here. I have adapted the comment for this blog post.

Conferences are just one of the many PD options 

I can never understand why some people think professional development (PD) should be optional. If we want to consider ourselves a profession, and I do, then we have to act like one. Why is it that teachers should be allowed the right to do their training, get a job and then coast for the next twenty/thirty/forty years? If I found out that my doctor, or the architect who designed the hospital he works in, or the engineer who constructed it, had the same attitude I'd be deeply worried and hightail it to the hospital on the other side of town.

Professional development means that a teacher is at the very least keeping up to date with developments in their field and updating their teaching accordingly. It can go a lot further than this, encompassing writing, reflective practice, presenting and networking, but it doesn’t have to. What it symbolises is that the teacher takes their job seriously.

This doesn't mean that I think all teachers should be blogging or tweeting, far from it. PD can take many forms and not everyone needs to be doing it in public. A small discussion group is a great way to reflect and improve. Reading methodology books is enough, if that suits you.

So I think an employer is quite justified at looking for their employees to take some responsibility for their jobs and give something back to the students who are investing their time and money in lessons. And I see nothing self-righteous about demanding high standards. This is about giving students value for their effort, having a sense of personal pride and driving up the standards in our profession.

I love having a PLN, but this doesn't make it the right PD option for everyone

But what to do if you are responsible for encouraging staff who have no desire to improve? How do we motivate those who don’t wish to be motivated? I have reservations about forcing them. To have any success, I think it has to come from them. I would also avoid an over-emphasis on tech and web based solutions as I think those who are resistant to change are most likely to reject these methods. You need as wide a range of options as possible, tech and non tech, so they can decide for themselves how they develop.

Ideally, they should lead this. If you plan on running an incentive scheme based on points and prizes, as the Secret DoS was planning to do, I would definitely ask them to create their own list of PD options, and they can even decide how points can be assigned. I think that if they feel like they own this process, they are more likely to engage in it. You can even ask them to choose the prize.

My final suggestion, and this is where I go back to being hardline again, is the true solution to this problem, but it’s not a quick fix and it needs institutional support. It involves a cultural shift I’d like to see not just in individual schools but across our profession. I think that when you employ someone, you make them understand in their interview that PD is an expected part of their job. PD can be tied to bonuses or whatever system your school operates. You have to get the right people in there from the beginning. I think this is the only real way to create that staff room that we all dream of.

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A Letter To An Unnamed Student

Dear Unnamed Student,

I am writing you this letter because I feel the need to apologise. Recently, I was thinking back to our lessons, and I realised I needed to say sorry. I should have given you more when you were a student in my class.

There was clearly a problem from the beginning. As you were all too aware, the other students in your class were at a higher level than you. You struggled to produce even the most basic sentences when asked and it was clear from the beginning that you weren’t going to fit in. I imagine that made you feel vulnerable, embarrassed, maybe even ashamed and lonely. I hate to think of anyone feeling that way in one of my classes.

When I look back on it now, I wish I had been more thoughtful and considerate. Unfortunately amongst us teachers there was an unspoken agreement that you were somehow unteachable. I think we thought that to give you the lessons you needed would have been detrimental to the other students in your class. Now I don’t think that’s true, I think we told ourselves that to make us feel better. We wanted to be reassured into thinking that by neglecting you, we were doing the right thing.

And that’s what I want to apologise for. We were wrong. It wasn’t that I didn’t care, or was incapable of finding a way to help you, but I was lazy of thought and I took the easy way out. You were there in my classroom and you deserved as much of an opportunity to learn as anyone else. So I’m sorry, and I want you to know I’ll never do that to another student for as long as I teach.

Yours,

James

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Teaching Charisma

One thing I particularly enjoy about teaching business presentations is the opportunity to investigate the more unusual aspects of language. My students are typically advanced speakers, so they don’t need much in the way of vocabulary or grammar, but what they do need is to look at what they already know in a new way. To this end, I expose them to interesting speakers and a variety of presentations in order for them to watch the best (and the worst) and learn from them, even copy them.

The charismatic Ken Robinson

We do this by analysing the presentation, breaking it down and looking at how the presenter constructs the way they speak. This could be their rhythm, for example, or a particular linguistic trick they employ. In a recent lesson, we analysed pauses, and how they can be used in a variety of different ways, such as telling jokes, making rhetorical questions, and gathering your thoughts.

One aspect we recently discussed was charisma. The lesson had two objectives, the first was to highlight the vocabulary used to describe exceptional people. This was secondary, however to the main objective of making the students aware of how they can make themselves sound more charismatic when presenting in English.

The lesson proceeded as follows:

1. Ask the students to define charisma.

2. What do they think of these definitions? (click on the definition for the source)

• A rare personal quality attributed to leaders who arouse fervent popular devotion and enthusiasm.
• Personal magnetism or charm

• a strong appeal which enables someone to connect with others and influence them at a deep emotional level.
• anytime someone makes us feel warm and tingly inside on a consistent basis, we call that person “charismatic”.

3. Ask them to describe the most charismatic person they have ever seen, and / or met.

and / or 

Ask them to describe their image of a charismatic person. What gender are they? How tall? How old? How do they dress? What hairstyle do they have? and so on.

You can't inspire people the way Martin Luther King did without charisma

4. Make a note of some of the language they use to describe them. Discuss the words most commonly used to describe charismatic people. Add words as they are mentioned to a mind map which the students can copy into their notebooks.

5. Discuss with sts if they think charisma is a natural quality or if they think it can be learnt.

6. Tell the students they will be asked to give advice to someone who has no charisma and wants to improve. Students make a list of things can a speaker do to appear more charismatic

7. Give the students this article from Psychology Today. After they have read it, ask them “so what do you think now, can charisma be taught?” Discuss.

8. Go back to the sts list. After reading the article, would they add anything to their list?

9. Ask them to pick out any further examples of charisma vocab from the text and add it to the mind map.

10. Look at the list of strategies. Go through them one by one and discuss them. Get sts to give examples for how this could be done. Model and practice the kinds of things that could be said to use this strategy.

Jill Bolte Taylor's enthralling TED talk is the second most watched of all time.

Homework: Send sts a video. Ask sts to write an email to this presenter giving him or her advice on how to become a better presenter, focusing on the techniques suggested by the article as well as their own tips. 

Some videos you could use for this:

http://vimeo.com/32535141
http://youtu.be/nIGf6D0yt1c
http://youtu.be/YivQYeI0vys
http://youtu.be/ck5vVU8qQWA
http://youtu.be/kql-pvnid0s

Finally, make sure that your students practice these techniques. Make it a part of the feedback they receive from now on, even when you have changed focus. With practice, their confidence will increase and they will become more engaging, and yes, charismatic.

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Silent Movies III, A New List

 

Below you’ll find a collection of short films with little or no dialogue, and a few simple ideas for how they could be used. If you decide to use any of these films, why not let me know how you used it so we can share your ideas with other teachers. To read why I love to use shorts in my lessons, take a look at part one or two in the series.  

Words
  
A beautifully filmed illustration of simple words and their many meanings.

Idea: Ask the students to identify as many of the words shown as possible. After they have identified all the words, show the film again and ask them to make a note of all the different ways the words can be used. Some of them are very simple, some are very advanced so there’s something for all levels.  
The Page Turner 

Surely the most pointless invention ever...

 

Idea: Ask the sts “If you could have one invention to make your life better, no matter how small, what would you have?” The students could then design their inventions on paper and share them with each other.  

Idea 2: A simple idea, but the students describing what’s happening in this video, using the present continuous and then after the past simple, is always useful.  

Royalty

Max dreams of being King, but maybe it’s not as good a job as he thinks.
 
 

Idea: Before showing the film, ask students to identify their dream job and why they would love to do it. After showing the film and discussing what happens to Max, ask them to look at the downsides of their chosen job. They can then look at the pros and cons and decide whether they still want to do it or not.  
Train of Thought 

A man looks for love on a railway platform.
 

 
Idea: Ask the students to write a ‘thought script’, a script for the characters thoughts to accompany the film. 

ROBOT!  

A giant robot attacks the city.
 

 
Idea: Stop the video after the robot puts the man's heart in his chest. Ask the students “how do you think his new heart will affect the robot’s behaviour?” After showing the rest of the video ask them “What do you think should happen to the robot now? Should he be punished or could he be rehabilitated?”  

The Boss  

It’s time to face up to the boss from hell. 

http://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk/film/2400/the-boss 

Idea: This video could make a great prelude to a business class about management techniques.  

Pub Dog 

A dog who will do anything to get his hands on some crisps.

 
Idea: Ask the students if they have any more ideas to help Pub Dog get his crisps. What else could he have done?

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