Have Postcards Will Teach

CLASSROOM NOTES
OCTOBER 2005

A QUARTERLY OF TEACHING IDEAS
CLASSROOM NOTES PLUS

OCTOBER 2005
1

IN THIS ISSUE FOCUS ON WRITING
Ideas from the Classroom Have Postcards, Will Teach
Of all the teaching materials I’ve accumulated over the
FOCUS ON WRITING years, the most versatile, engaging, and effective resource
Have Postcards, Will Teach 1 I’ve developed is a collection of postcards. I’ve collected
Using “Found Poetry” to Pinpoint hundreds of them: fine art prints from museums, black and
Comprehension 3 white photographs from cafe counters, and colorful land-
scapes from places my family and friends and I have vis-
A Nursery Rhyme Lends Itself to
ited. I save the covers from greeting cards with artwork or
Point of View 7 photographs on them, and I buy inexpensive postcard books
Videos as Educational Tools 8 at the used book store.
I collect larger photographs and art prints, too. I buy cal-
FOCUS ON LITERATURE endars in late January and early February when they are on
Art Imitating Life: The 1950s and sale, cut them apart, and laminate the images. But there is
Arthur Miller’s THE CRUCIBLE 9 something magical about the small size of a postcard that
invites both “close reading” and use of the imagination. I
Notes 14 can see the magic of postcards at work when I look around
my classroom and see that every student is holding one,
studying its image, and writing with inspired enthusiasm.
Postcard images provide great stimuli for writing and
IDEAS FROM THE CLASSROOM lend themselves to a wide spectrum of lessons, from gram-
mar to literary analysis.
In this issue of CLASSROOM NOTES PLUS, we treat you to a After a mini-lesson on verb tense, I ask students to write
variety of creative ways to enrich students’ writing and read- three different descriptions of the activities depicted on their
ing. Students play off postcards to make connections with postcards: one in past tense, another in present tense, and
literature, model writing for different audiences after a nurs- a third in future tense.
ery rhyme, use found poetry in new ways, and more. In Likewise, after a review of prepositional phrases, stu-
addition, an in-depth feature on Arthur Miller’s THE CRUCIBLE dents can describe what is on their postcards using various
will deepen study with an entire range of literacy activities, prepositions. Of course, students also practice using vivid
from Internet research and art to film reviews and other details and imagery in their writing when they describe
writings. their visual images.
The rise of Internet use by teachers and students has When we’re working on character analysis, my students
brought with it issues of electronic plagiarism and copy- use the postcards as a creative way to approach writing
right awareness—issues we’ll all need to educate our stu- about a character. They can 1) choose a postcard that
dents (and ourselves) on. References to this new terrain are would appeal to their character and explain why, 2) imag-
woven into several of the teaching strategies in this issue, ine inserting their character into the scene on the postcard
and future CLASSROOM NOTES PLUS articles are likely to show and describe what would happen, 3) compare and con-
a growing awareness of the most effective and appropri- trast their character with a person depicted in a portrait, or
ate ways for students and teachers to use the Internet. For 4) write a dialogue between the character in the portrait
tips on reading and writing on the Web, visit the free NCTE and the character from the text. For example, one of my
Teaching Resource Collection at http://www.ncte.org/ students wrote about how STARRY NIGHT would appeal to
collections/weblit. Victor Frankenstein because, being a passionate creator
Enjoy the ideas in this issue, and remember to send your himself, Frankenstein would appreciate Van Gogh’s inten-
own favorite teaching ideas to notesplus@ncte.org. sity and admire the courage of his furious brush strokes.

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Copyright © 2005 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved.

2 CLASSROOM NOTES PLUS OCTOBER 2005

Another student wrote an insightful comparison of Ophelia As a mini-lesson on the importance of titles, I post im-
and one of Degas’s dancers, explaining that both women ages around the room with their titles covered and the im-
were trained and directed to perform for an audience. ages numbered. When my students arrive, I invite them to
After we review the basic modes of development—de- go on a “gallery walk” with a numbered sheet of paper.
scription, narration, exposition, and persuasion—I have my They are to think of a title for each image and list it by the
students practice weaving them together by writing about corresponding number. A class discussion comparing the
a visual image using all four modes. students’ titles and the titles given by the artists reveals how
When we’re working on figurative language, I chal- much effect a title has on our interpretation of a piece and
lenge my students’ critical thinking by asking them to cre- how titles have power to enhance or influence meaning.
ate metaphors and similes comparing personally relevant When I introduce the literary term genre to my students, I
concepts, such as school, parents, or friendship, to the begin by giving each small group of students a stack of post-
images on their postcards. cards and asking them to organize their cards into several
As an exercise in developing voice, I ask my students to categories. If I have time, I ask the students to regroup their
choose from among the portraits in my collection. For the cards once or twice more, finding new ways to organize the
first part of the assignment, they write a description of the cards each time. Then we debrief the process in a whole class
person in the portrait using their own voice, then write a discussion of the various characteristics that could be used for
description of themselves in the voice of the portrait sitter classifying the postcards—medium, subject, time period, and
as if he or she is looking back at them. The second part of so on. This gives the students a concrete experience with the
the assignment requires each student to write a dialogue concept of genre before learning the terminology.
between himself or herself and the person in the portrait. It is often easier for students to learn to identify elements
Similarly, students can apply the concept of point of view of style by first analyzing a work of visual art and then
by writing about what they see in the postcard, first as the transferring this skill to literature. They can describe the
viewer (third person), then as if they were the portrait sitter concrete features of a painting such as its medium, color,
(first person). light, shape, and line, and then identify the corollary liter-
ary elements of genre, tone, mood, syntax, and word
choice, respectively.
Similarly, when teaching students to identify themes in
CLASSROOM NOTES literature, I have each student select a postcard that fits
with one of the text’s themes. In explaining how and why
the image complements the text, the student is better able
to explore and describe his or her chosen theme.
Project Coordinator CLASSROOM NOTES PLUS (ISSN
Felice Kaufmann 1526-5641) is published four Art images can also be helpful when students are learn-
Editorial Assistant times a year, in January, April, ing about the characteristics of a literary period. Since liter-
Marcia Loeschen August, and October, by the ary and artistic movements evolve in tandem with one
Design National Council of Teachers another, I give my students a visual window into the defin-
Joellen Bryant of English. Annual membership
ing features of a period by inviting them to study works of
in NCTE is $40 for individuals
Layout art from the same era. By identifying the qualities common
Jody Boles and a member subscription to
CLASSROOM NOTES PLUS is $60. to both the art and the literature, they gain greater insight
Copyright © 2005 by the Nonmembers and institutions into the cultural-historical context of the text we are studying.
National Council of Teachers may subscribe for $60. Com-
of English. Volume 23, Num-
My students enjoy these postcards activities so much
munications regarding orders,
ber 2 (October 2005) they often bring in new images to add to our collection. I’m
subscriptions, single copies,
It is the policy of NCTE in its
change of address, and per- sure once you share the magic of picture postcards with
journals and other publications your students, your collection of images, as well as your
mission to reprint should be ad-
to provide a forum for the open
discussion of ideas concerning
dressed to CLASSROOM NOTES collection of ideas for integrating art into your teaching,
the content and the teaching of PLUS, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, will grow as well.
Urbana, IL 61801-1096.
English and the language arts. Final Note: If you want to use some of these strategies
Publicity accorded to any par- POSTMASTER: Send address
changes to CLASSROOM NOTES right away and you don’t have postcards, you can display
ticular point of view does not
imply endorsement by the Ex- PLUS, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, art images from library books, or find images on the Internet.
ecutive Committee, the Board Urbana, IL 61801-1096. Peri- A Web search for free images will bring up a variety of
of Directors, or the membership odical postage paid at copyright-free possibilities, including photos, historical im-
at large, except in announce- Urbana, Illinois, and at addi-
ages, and artwork. If you print out images from a copy-
ments of policy, where such en- tional mailing offices.
dorsement is clearly specified.
righted source, be aware of copyright guidelines. Fair use
guidelines usually suggest that educational use of text or

OCTOBER 2005 CLASSROOM NOTES PLUS 3

images be limited to single copies, involve one-time use “Search and Create” poems allow for more choice and
with a single class, and include a citation of the artist and demonstration of reader comprehension, and the “Recall
source. Among the many online sources of copyright ad- Poem” helps student and teacher assess what the student
vice for teachers are the following Web sites: knows on a topic.
A Teacher’s Guide to Fair Use and Copyright
General Instructions
http://home.earthlink.net/~cnew/research.htm#Introduction
Copyright and Fair Use in the Classroom, on the Internet, and Free verse is the format I advocate for hesitant writers,
the World Wide Web and—almost more importantly—for hesitant teachers. I use
http://www.umuc.edu/library/copy.html these free verse guidelines for each of the exercises:
Honor Moorman, North East Independent School District, G There should be one theme or topic and a purpose
San Antonio, Texas for communicating about that topic.
G There should be no consistent rhymes. This saves time
and ensures that rhymes don’t become more impor-
Using “Found Poetry” to Pinpoint tant than content.
Comprehension G Lines of poetry are generally not complete sentences,
but are broken at important words such as adjectives
Tired of general summaries and end-of-text questions to and verbs, compelling the reader to continue on to
quickly demonstrate reading and how much (or how little) the next line. Also, one important word may count as
students actually comprehend? Looking for something a little one line by itself.
more creative, yet which still helps students individually dis- G Finally, everything else is free, allowing the individual
cern details and consider relationships of system parts? With writer to show how he or she groups phrases and
the heightened concern about national literacy goals and content (which often clearly indicates which concepts
the need for more conscious efforts in aiding student reading are not understood at all.)
comprehension, I recently reviewed what I was teaching in G Other poetry techniques may be applied depending
cross-curriculum workshops and remembered an older strat- upon each student’s writing voice and comfort level.
egy which still holds great promise today—found poetry. G I also assign students to include a relevant and unique
I first heard of found poetry in an article in WRITER’S DI- title which piques the reader’s interest and sums up
GEST magazine back in the early 1990s. Today, online the writer’s perspective.
Wikipedia defines it as “. . . the rearrangment of words or
phrases taken randomly from other sources (example: The Pre-Cut Puzzle
clipped newspaper headlines, bits of advertising copy, This exercise helps students make sense of vital information
handwritten cards pulled from a hat) in a manner that gives and is especially useful for students with low reading compre-
the rearranged words a completely new meaning.” hension. It could be used with a variety of reading materials.
In this case, the “finding” of “poetry” is in essence the One of my classes included a large core of students
finding of a topic and the details which help to inform, who had low reading comprehension and retention. I used
describe, compare, contrast, evaluate about that topic, mak- the Pre-Cut Puzzle format as a pre-reading to THE PEARL by
ing it worthy of time and contemplation. (Note: the pur- John Steinbeck to help these students relate to the story and
poses, or rhetorical modes, for communicating fit neatly focus on the content. I assigned a READER’S DIGEST article
into Bloom’s Taxonomy of higher level thinking skills.) This (“Encounter with a Desert Killer,” by Lynette Baughman.
provides for an excellent writing-to-learn and writing-to-show READER’S DIGEST, October 1995. pp.170–176) about a real
learning exercise. child stung by a scorpion in the U.S. Southwest to my fresh-
Clearly this exercise uses the poetry format for a special men. Ahead of time, I had picked out relevant phrases and
purpose; where students might ordinarily write a poem to words from the article, cut the phrases apart, and put the
capture an experience, express a feeling, share an image, spaghetti strand pieces of information into clear baggies.
in this exercise they’ll be creating poems to help them gather, There was one puzzle bag per pair of students.
organize, and understand facts and concepts. The results After reading the story, I asked the students to follow
will reflect that focus, and might most accurately be called these steps:
“information poems,” to distinguish them from poems writ-
ten for less academic reasons. 1. Find a partner and pick up a “puzzle bag.” Each pair of
Found poetry can be used in a number of different ways; students will have scissors, glue, and construction paper.
I describe three below. For writing-to-learn activities, the 2. You have 20 to 30 minutes to create a free-verse poem.
“Pre-cut Puzzle” poem format aids struggling readers by The purpose of this poem is to describe and inform the
allowing them to focus only on the necessary information. The
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reader about scorpions. Review the phrases and words Search and Create
in your baggie and choose which ones to use and how
“Search and Create” is similar to the previous exercise,
to arrange them in order to create a meaningful poem.
but is used with students with slightly higher reading com-
3. You are not required to use all the pieces. You may cut prehension, and gives students the responsibility for look-
phrases apart to select words or phrases, as long as ing for suitable information on a topic and selecting words
you stay true to the meaning. and phrases to use.
4. You may add one or two words of your own, but the rest I didn’t pre-identify any word or phrases for students
must come from your baggie. when I used this exercise. The student pairs were given 40
5. Your poem should be at least ten lines long, and should minutes to identify information from the story that they thought
include a minimum of five characteristics about the scor- was relevant and useful to describe and inform about scor-
pion. pions. Then they arranged the information to create found
6. Try to create an interesting and decorative effect through poems. As with the previous exercise, students shared re-
your arrangement. sults, and I used discussion to draw out comparisons and
opinions about the various poems.
In their pairs, the readers manipulated the bits of infor- Allowing for a little more time, students may also be
mation, weighing the impact and value of words and given the option to structure their free-verse found poem
phrases, and created their poems. Students with different into a concrete poem. I describe a concrete poem for stu-
learning styles were all able to become involved. dents as a poem in which words and phrases are arranged
When the gluing was done, we cleaned up and then to create a visual picture on the page—one which resembles
shared the results. (See sample on page 5.) or relates to the subject of the poem.
I asked students to listen for recurring information across John Hollander’s “Swan and Shadow” from 1969 is a
the poems, since that demonstrated what most students in- good example of how concrete poems can underscore a
terpreted as important or interesting. Questions like these poem’s topic. (This poem is available on several Web sites.
helped draw out students’ thoughts: One such is http://www.ras.ucalgary.ca/~gibson/poems/
hollander1.html)
G “What was the most surprising fact you learned about My one suggestion with the concrete poems is to re-
this topic?” quire students to write or type the poem lines so they are
G “If you were watching a television special about this readable by holding the paper from only one angle. The
topic, what three facts would you expect it to focus model I’ve provided of the scorpion poem (see page 6)
on?” did not follow that rule and demonstrates that, though inter-
G “What one aspect of this topic made you want to esting, the reading becomes more difficult to enjoy.
find out more about it?”
The Recall Poem
We also reviewed how the information was presented,
Finally, found poetry can be also used as a method for
and I asked students from different pairs to explain why
helping the student and teacher assess what the student
they chunked or organized information differently. Did they
knows and has learned about a topic. I call this method
think it was important to put the most important fact first?
the “Recall” poem.
What made them decide to group certain facts together?
In this form a student must draft quickly all the informa-
I also asked students to comment on what additional
tion he or she knows about the concept in question. This
words they added and why. In some cases students added
draft may be done as a freewrite, or, to place more focus
words to make the information seem more exciting; in oth-
on clear purpose and audience, as a letter to a friend,
ers, they added words to show a piece of information that
parent, or guardian.
they already knew, or they wanted to add a descriptive
Then the student chooses words and phrases to create a
word for interest.
final “found poem” from within his or her draft. Students
Questions about how and where to place punctuation
can also be encouraged to incorporate questions in the
were decided later by students who desired to put the poem
freewriting or the letter, if they realize there’s something
in their writing portfolios. Overall, the students began their
about the topic that they don’t understand or would like to
study of THE PEARL with a greater appreciation for the power
know more about.
of a scorpion and of the pain inflicted upon Coyotito. This
First I give these directions:
exercise also made students more sensitive to the conflicts
faced by the family, including conflicts with nature, with As homework, read the article, “Encounter With a Desert
each other, and with society. Killer” by Lynnette Baughman. Read specifically for


Sample Poem Based on Reader’s Digest Article

Note: In case you’re wondering, the detail about scorpion length in the poem above is not a misprint! To quote Baughman’s
article, “In England, four- to ten-foot long fossils have been found of scorpions with gills that lived in intertidal areas at that time.”

effects of a scorpion bite and how it is treated. Know at G Its sting is invisible—no mark to give doctors a clue to
least 6 of the 10 effects of the scorpion venom. the culprit.
When students have completed the first step, I follow up G Crying, screaming, drooling, convulsions, vomiting,
with directions for the “jot list” and the poem: glassy eyes, rapid heart beat, high blood pressure,
cutting off airways
Recall the information given in the article. Construct a G Garbled nerve messages
poem in which you use that information to inform and G It can kill a young child or the elderly but would only
describe the effects of a scorpion bite and how it may sicken a normal healthy adult.
be treated. Include at least 6 of the 10 effects of the G The antidote? Is dependent upon a scorpion-milker,
sting. Jot the list first and then format the information into an Arizona scientist, and four goats who produce
a poem in a style and structure of your choice. the antidote. The goats are injected with a small dose
Here’s a sample jot list, followed by the poem that resulted: of the scorpion venum. The shot (if you are not aller-
gic) works immediately.
Sample Jot List Prewriting G Peace and rest after the exhausting hours
G The scientist buys the venom but then donates the an-
G Straw-colored bark scorpion
tidote.
G The only deadly kind in the United States
G Majority of antidote is donated free to hospitals.
G Isn’t aggressive toward humans unless antagonized
Southwestern areas like Arizona and Mexico
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G


With just one shot of the antidote
Sample Concrete Poem The victim will now love a goat.
Skin color returns, the heart is stable,
One no longer needs to lay on a table.
Back to normal living, just in time
And it won’t cost the hospitals a dime.
From scorpion to goat to scientist,
The venom’s impact took a twist—
First it’s an ill now it’s a cure.
But watch out, the glowing tail’s the lure!

After students share their poems, class dis-
cussion can help tie the content to the unit. In
this case, we talked about issues such as the
following:
Was it an abuse of power for humans to use
goats to create the antidote?
Should the scientist donate the serum or
should she charge money for it?
Should there be a medical facility at each
border stop in case of emergencies like this?
We also compared what we’d learned to
events in THE PEARL, and to the experiences of
Coyotito, through questions like this:
What would a poor mother do if she knew
her son had just been bitten by a scorpion?
What could she do legally?
What would she do because of her morals
or because of her love?
This type of assignment is useful to the teacher
in making an assessment of what knowledge
has been retained. Has the student presented
the important points? Has he or she omitted or
confused facts? What statements indicate a gen-
eral understanding of the topic?
The pre-poem draft helps students to con-
Revised Recall Poem cretely see what they know and then to ma-
Straw-colored scorpion, type? Bark. nipulate the information to be more presentable.
Leaves no mark, And if both the draft and the Recall poem are
Yet, leaves the victim in pain required to be completed and turned in during
Without much hope of gain. class time, there can be no doubt whose knowl-
Crying, screaming, drooling too edge it is.
Then vomiting ensues. All of these exercises may also be modified
Next convulsions and glassy-eyed, to focus more on higher-level thinking; instead
The elderly and kids can die! of having students simply gather and share in-
Their heart will race, B.P. will raise, formation, a teacher can build in time for stu-
garbled nerve messages often daze. dent questions, for more evaluation of the facts
Air gets harder and harder to get, they gather, and for additional reflection and
but on a goat let’s make a bet. writing on their findings.
Once at the hospital the docs all know Found poetry is a versatile technique—it can
To the refrigerator one must go, still be used to express individual hopes, dreams,


and fears, but, in today’s world of NCLB and students strug- letter to the Knave’s mother, the Sheriff filing a report, a
gling with reading, it can also be a valuable tool to help neighbor writing a letter to the Department of Social Ser-
strengthen comprehension. With adaptation, these activi- vices, the King thinking better of his behavior and writing
ties can be useful to students at various grade levels. to the Knave and his family, writing the front page report
Michelle McLemore, Onsted High School, Onsted, Michigan for the local newspaper, writing a letter to the editor about
unbecoming public behaviour, and so on.
For more on concrete poems, vist the ReadWriteThink Web site Here are some of the prompts I use:
at www.readwritethink.org and read the lesson "Discovering
Poetic Form and Structure Using Concrete Poems" (http:// G Assume you are the Sheriff who came to investigate
www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=211) the incident. After talking to all the witnesses (Queen, King,
Knave, Guard, etc.), you are ready to write your report.
Write it in such a way that your supervisor knows exactly
A Nursery Rhyme Lends Itself to what happened, when, and why.
Point of View G Assume that you are the reporter from the local news-
paper who came to investigate the incident. After talking to
This point-of-view lesson has been revised so many times
all the witnesses (Queen, King, Knave, Guard, etc.), you
that I can’t remember where I originally discovered it. It’s
are ready to write your article. Write it in such a way that
probably most appropriate for middle school and lower
the readers will know exactly what happened, when, where,
level high school students, but could also be used with
why, who the accused is, who the victim is, and so on.
10th and 11th grade students who need more work with
point of view. In it, students use different points of view to G Assume that you are the neighbor of the King and
write several paragraphs directed to a specific audience, the Queen and that you happened to see the King beating
and then compare and discuss the results. the Knave. You think this is unacceptable—after all, the
First, students spend 5–10 minutes getting into writing poor Knave is only 9 years old! Write a letter to the De-
groups of four or five and choosing a scribe (to record) partment of Social Services explaining what you saw and
and a reporter (to share with the class). what you think should be done about it.
Next, using a transparency of the nursery rhyme “The
Queen of Hearts,” the teacher leads students through a G Assume you are the King. Now that you’ve had time
guided practice, by reading the nursery rhyme aloud and to think about it, you realize that you shouldn’t have re-
asking questions: acted so strongly. Write a letter to the Knave and his family
apologizing and offering him a peace offering.
The Queen of Hearts
G Assume you are the Queen. Write a letter to the
The Queen of Hearts Knave’s mother telling her what he did and how you feel
she made some tarts about it.
all on a summer’s day.
The Knave of Hearts G Assume you are the Knave and you are upset about
he stole those tarts being beaten by the King. Write a letter to Dear Abby
and took them clean away. explaining what happened and asking for advice. You can
The King of Hearts choose to write a modern “Dear Abby” letter, using con-
called for the tarts temporary language and diction, or an old-fashioned ver-
and beat the Knave full sore. sion that matches the style of the nursery rhyme.
The Knave of Hearts brought back the tarts As a model, show students a transparency of a sample
and vowed he’d steal no more. response to a prompt. I show the following example of a
Ask students who are the characters? What is happen- letter from the Knave to Dear Abby, and ask students how
ing? How might the main characters view the situation dif- this letter would be different if it were written by the Queen.
ferently? What other minor characters/witnesses might there Dear Abby:
be in a situation like this one? (King’s guard, neighbor, I was recently walking down the lane past the castle when I
passersby, etc.) smelled a delicious aroma wafting towards me. I’m not a bad
Next pass out a writing prompt to each group, reading youth and usually wouldn’t have been tempted, but you see, I
each aloud as you distribute it, and explain that students was very hungry, since I hadn’t had any supper the night before
will use these to explore different points of view. Situations and now it was way past breakfast time.
I smelled that delicious aroma and couldn’t resist following
addressed in prompts may include the Queen writing a
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my nose. It led me straight to the window sill of the Queen’s IT by Mary Price Lee and LAST, FIRST, MIDDLE, AND NICK: ALL
kitchen where she had set out a whole pan of tarts. Now, there ABOUT NAMES by Barbara Shook Hazen. I invite students to
was a screened cooling room right off the kitchen where she bring baby-naming books and other appropriate references
could have put those tarts and nary a soul would have been able from home. We take the research books to the classroom
to get them. But no! She put them right in temptation’s way! It
to go to work.
almost looked as if she had baked too many and wanted to be
Each group now has the job of finding the names of the
rid of some. And as I already said, I was pretty hungry, so I did
it . . . I stole those tarts and with them did run away! characters and deciding if the name “fits” or not. The stu-
But alas, someone saw me and told the king, and he beat me dents find to their amazement that the names are represen-
full sore. I’m very upset and was wondering if you could advise tative of the personalities of the characters in the film. We
me upon my lawful rights. Does a King have the right to beat then discuss why these names were chosen and what those
someone up simply because he’s the King? And to be fair, choices say about the individuals who made them.
shouldn’t he have offered me the chance to pay a fine instead? Since not all characters in the film have names in the
Thank you for listening to my plea. traditional sense, students have to use standard dictionaries
Your friend, The Knave to find meanings for some. For example, the sea witch’s two
eels are named Jetsam and Flotsam, which are words mean-
Next, ask groups to brainstorm ideas for their prompt ing trash, something to be cast off. The students quickly pick
and write their assignment, using their scribe to record it. up that in so naming them, the sea witch is making a state-
Then for 10 to 15 minutes groups share their responses. ment about their worth, even though she speaks of them in
During and after the sharing, help students see more by very affectionate terms. They are disposable, worthless, as
asking questions such as, How was each group’s point of she demonstrates in the movie. And so we progress through
view different? What kinds of language helped show the the entire cast. Eric is a Norse name meaning strong, hand-
different points of view? Did you find one point of view some. Ariel means light, airy, and was used by Shakespeare
more believable than another? What effect does point of for a spirit. Triton is the mythological god of the sea. Sebastian
view have on a story? is not so easy as the previous examples. The students may
My students have always enjoyed this exercise and I’ve have to be prompted, since the etymology doesn’t fit the
found that it’s an effective way to get students writing and situation. Drawing on the music background of some stu-
sensitize them to point of view. It works well at all class dents, I will ask students if the musician in the movie might be
levels, and as either an individual or a group exercise. It’s the namesake of a famous musician. Students may figure it
particularly useful at the beginning of a term when you are out on their own, or they may need to resort to using a dictio-
trying to get students to feel comfortable collaborating within nary of composers or other music reference. What they even-
a peer writing group. tually figure out is that Sebastian is part of the name Johann
Mikki Burgess, Myers Park High School, Charlotte, North Sebastian Bach. (They speculate that, to avoid confusion, he
Carolina preferred to be addressed by his middle name.)
At this point we make a digression so that students can
research their own names. In my class, Michael and
Videos as Educational Tools Michelle were dismayed to discover that they really had
A video can function as a valuable component of an the same name. And the whole class roared when David
instructional unit. I use the video of THE LITTLE MERMAID as the announced that his name meant “chosen one” and my name
core for a two-week literature unit which encompasses de- meant “barbarian.”
velopment of reading, writing, and research skills in my After some discussion of our own names, we go back to
general and accelerated seventh grade English classes. the library to research Hans Christian Andersen, his back-
We begin our study by viewing the movie from the Walt ground and contributions to our literary history. Student
Disney studios. As we watch the film, I ask students to make groups are assigned specific information to locate. Since
a list of all the characters. we completed a unit on library research skills earlier, stu-
After the lists are complete, I divide the class into groups dents are already familiar with the concept of the best source
of four to five students. Each group has the responsibility of for specific information. I give the groups the name Hans
writing a description for one or two characters. We dis- Christian Andersen and the fact he was from Denmark.
cuss character sketches, emphasizing that the description One group uses an atlas to locate Denmark in the world
includes traits of personality and behavior as well as ap- community. They also list all the facts they can find about
pearance. We then go to the library to find sources of the country from that source. (I don’t allow them to use the
names. The better sources not only list possible names but encyclopedia as a source on this project because I want to
give meanings, origins, examples from history and/or lit- reinforce earlier learning about all the other sources of
erature. We also use such books as YOUR NAME: ALL ABOUT information that are available.) A second group finds out


about Denmark in Andersen’s days by using history books. ending. One or two of the “thinkers” thought the original
The third group uncovers information about modern Den- version was better because it brought up the question of
mark, and the fourth group finds out about Andersen him- choices and long-term consequences of those choices. A
self by using biographical dictionaries and author books. few students were disturbed that, even in literature, a char-
Upon completion of their research, each group compiles a acter would think of sacrificing her immortal soul for love,
report to be shared with the class. adding that no one was worth that sacrifice.
The next step is to study the fairy tale of the little mer- We used a video, primarily intended for entertainment,
maid as found in literature. Many students are amazed to as a beginning point for a unit of study that encompassed
learn that the Walt Disney studios did not create the char- a large number of literary skills, vocabulary development
acter of the little mermaid. With that discovery, we are skills, grammar and writing skills, and higher order thinking
ready to read the story as a class. Since even seventh skills. Both the students and I were pleased with this very
graders like to be read to on occasion, and students learn productive break in routine.
to read better by hearing others, I begin reading the clas- Barbara Brookshire, Bristol, Tennessee School District (retired).
sic aloud. This article was adapted and reprinted with permission from
When I used this activity recently, I developed laryngitis the TENNESSEE ENGLISH JOURNAL, (October 1995), a publication
the second day into the reading. Several students, even of the Tennessee Council of Teachers of English, an affiliate
reluctant readers, volunteered to read since no one wanted of NCTE. Visit http://www.tncte.org/professional.html.
to stop. One student, a noted clown, actually became the
best reader as he performed for the class. Soon they begged
me not to pass the book to someone else. This young man FOCUS ON LITERATURE
had found an outlet for his creative energies.
As we read we noted vocabulary words on the board. Art Imitating Life: The 1950s and
Later we would discuss meaning and usage and add the
words to the students’ notebooks. After we finished the story
Arthur Miller’s THE CRUCIBLE
we discussed the differences between the printed version Arthur Miller’s THE CRUCIBLE is a drama that students find
and the movie version. We talked about the different require- fascinating for its historical reflection of the time period.
ments of the different media and why some of these differ- What high school junior would not be riveted to the Salem
ences were necessary to convey the story and why others Witchcraft trials brought to life in the moral dilemma of
came about because of the taste of the movie-going public. John Proctor? Reading the play daily with students assigned
One student had brought a copy of the story from home the various roles makes for dynamic classroom sessions.
intending to read along as we read in class. She soon The 1996 film version (starring Daniel Day-Lewis and
announced that my version wasn’t the real one since it was Winona Rider) interfaced with or following the reading
different from hers. We discovered that the two versions always dramatically fleshes out the intricate plot. The play
had different translators and this led to story changes pro- provides for pivotal multidisciplinary or even interdiscipli-
duced by translation. It had not occurred to the students nary opportunities when the English and History Depart-
that Andersen did not write in English. ments collaborate. This year I created a unit on the play
A word of caution. As we made our comparison, stu- with four component parts that tapped into a variety of
dents brought up the implied message of an eternal life in intelligences. The content of the unit follows.
the original version and that the little mermaid could choose
that life if she wished or she could satisfy her immediate Research
desires and have a greatly limited life span. My class was Students first visited the computer lab for the express
able to discuss this as a theme in literature without offend- purpose of researching online any historical happenings in
ing anyone’s personal convictions. However, depending the 1950’s that connected to THE CRUCIBLE’S plot and theme.
on your own situation and community climate, you might Arthur Miller published his play in 1953. The question posed
want to avoid this discussion. was: What was occurring at this time that might have influ-
For an evaluation of the unit I asked the students to choose enced Miller to write his play? Is his play purely historical
three additional characters and write a character sketch of drama, or is it a critical reflection of contemporary issues
them. Then I asked them to compare and contrast the two occurring during his time? The Hollywood Ten, the House
presentations of the story—the written version and the film on Un-American Activities, the trial and execution of the
version. Finally they were to tell which version they liked Rosenbergs, the Cold War and the fear of communism
better and why they preferred it. were among the many “hits” found connecting the plot of
Predictably, most of the students chose the film version Miller’s play to the time period within which he was writing
as their favorite, mainly because of the “happy-ever-after”
M


it. As students began their research, I introduced them to the The resulting posters (see illustration on page 11) showed
pitfalls of plagiarism and conducted an exercise about para- a variety of resourceful and ingenious efforts. Some stu-
phrasing. I explained that we would discuss the format for dents used their drawing talents; others cut pictures from
citations in more detail on a later visit to the computer lab. magazines; others printed graphics or pictures from the
Internet, which they pasted to poster board. The film ver-
Creating and Judging Posters sion of THE CRUCIBLE was a source of graphics for the Salem
After having secured all of this information, students were Witchcraft Trials. Here then was Daniel Day-Lewis stand-
asked to create a poster that interfaced the 1950’s with ing on the gallows, or Winona Ryder pointing to the ceil-
scenes and words from THE CRUCIBLE. The poster could be ing at an imaginary invisible bird. Here also were the young
their own artistic rendering and/or a collage of words and girls in the courtroom accusing everyone of witchcraft. The
pictures taken from various sources. Each student was as- Internet also provided images from historical sites about
signed a number to place in the corner on the front of the the trials of 1692. In addition, students found photos of
poster—no names were to appear on the face of the project. Joseph McCarthy or the Hollywood Ten or headlines about
In this way anonymity would exist in the judging of the the Rosenbergs’ execution to help depict the Red scare.
posters by students in another English class. The students’ Other creative elements included:
names were only to appear on the rear of the poster on a G photos on opposing sides of the poster with a light-
rubric distributed to them in advance. (See sample below.) ning bolt or a noose separating the two.


G an actual rope made into a noose, with the poster cut The ballots were counted and the individual with the
to fit its formation. highest number of votes was deemed to be the first place
G color-coding, with one color denoting the 1950s winner; the second highest the second place winner, and
and another, 1692 and the witchcraft trials. so on. These posters were displayed above the chalkboard
G a series of fingers pointing from one person to an- in the front of the room for about a month, and the students
other to depict frenzy. were ceremoniously rewarded the extra points.
Although the artistically inclined students were able to Writing in Response to THE CRUCIBLE
depict these images through skillful renderings, it was the As a third aspect of the unit, students were asked to
design, layout, and interconnectedness shown across the write a short essay entitled, “Art Imitating Life: The 1950s
board that was most impressive. and Arthur Miller’s THE CRUCIBLE.” Now they were to craft a
written work that focused on the Communist “witch hunt” of
the 1950s that was the backdrop for Miller’s dramatic and
historical counterpart.
In order to accomplish this assignment, I arranged a
second visit to the computer lab. Students visited many of
the same sites that connected the Salem witchcraft trials
with the Communist witch hunt. In addition, I introduced
students to the Galenet Student Resource Center, a data-
base available through the school to all visitors both on
and off campus. Here were hundreds of published articles
available to be read and either printed or downloaded to
their home e-mail.
At this point, since students were required with this assign-
ment to have a Works Cited page and use parenthetical
references in the body of the paper, I also introduced them to
On the targeted date that posters were due, each student the Landmarks Citation Machine (http://citationmachine.net),
was to informally present an oral report to the class on the a free online site that allows students to plug in information
poster and what it reflected. Reporting to the class was a in blocks for MLA citation formatting. This is a stress-free
five-point grade based on preparation and fulfillment of the and technologically advanced manner to present the guide-
task—this was not a formal speech with specific guidelines. lines for MLA citations. It also would prove invaluable in
All of the posters were collected onto one table in front of preparation for the research paper that would be required
the room. The following day the posters were displayed on later in the school year.
desks around the classroom. Now each class was to review Since the manual for using parenthetical references and
the posters of their peers in another class and vote for the top citing a Web page are both included in the English
three—the winners would receive predetermined extra credit Department’s folder located at the school’s Web page, here
points. I handed out the assessment worksheet on page 12. was also an active way of introducing them to that site. As an
Students were very intent and conscientious in judging aside, even if one’s school does not have a Web page contain-
the posters of their classmates. A lively discussion followed ing this information, students could be directed to Landmarks
their balloting. One student commented, “I’m amazed that Citations Machine or the MLA site to model the proper format.
the person who created poster #6 came up with the idea For assessment of the essay, I used a traditional rubric
of having the silhouette of people attending a performance that provided space for evaluating pertinent aspects (Con-
and viewing both the witchcraft trials and those testifying tent, Documentation, MLA Format, Introduction, Body Para-
before Senator McCarthy on a screen. That’s why I voted graphs, Transitions, Conclusion, and Grammatical Errors)
for that one.” Another student reacted, “But don’t you think as to whether each was Striking, Satisfactory, or Weak, or,
there should have been more images connecting the two? in some cases, for indicating Yes or No (as when indicat-
I think #5 with fingers pointing in all directions at each ing whether MLA format was followed).
other more clearly shows that once mob mentality sets in, it Viewing and Evaluating the Film
is tough to stop it.” “I agree—the finger pointing really gets
Although we had orally read and analyzed the play in
to me and clearly reflects whether called a witch or a Com-
class, drama was specifically written for performance. The
munist, people are often afraid to be different and are
next best thing to a live presentation of THE CRUCIBLE is a film
more than willing to pass the buck and turn the spotlight on
someone else,” affirmed yet another.
M


adaptation that does the work justice. I show the class the Writing in response to the film produced thoughtful and
1996 Nicholas Hytner version of Miller’s play. (Also avail- insightful observations from students. Some sample journal
able is a 1957 French film adaptation with Simone Signoret entries follow:
and Yves Montand, for which Jean-Paul Sartre wrote the Journal Entry: The Actors
screenplay.)
Daniel-Day Lewis was the perfect John Proctor, but
We spent three consecutive days in class viewing this
Winona Ryder was too squeaky and there was no chem-
124-minute feature, in order to bring to life visually the
istry between them. I thought Paul Scofield was good as
unfolding of the dramatic piece. I asked students to collect
well as Joan Allen as Elizabeth, but the most trouble-
data each day during and/or subsequent to the screening
some actor to me was Bruce Davison. He did not seem
in the form of journal entries. This was to prepare them for
to match my mental image of the Reverend Parris, nei-
the final aspect of THE CRUCIBLE project, which was to write
ther in appearance nor in action. He was overly dra-
a film review. I presented directions in advance and to-
matic. The same can be said for Karron Graves who
gether we examined photocopies of recent film reviews
played the role of Mary Warren.
from local newspapers to see how critical film reviews are
written. Journal Entry: The Conclusion
For this step, I provided a handout page of directions I was moved to tears with the rope dangling in the breeze
for viewing and responding to the film (see page 13).


SAMPLE HANDOUT PAGE


in silence with the voices of those hung recit- Often subject to extreme critical analysis, the task is often over-
ing a prayer and then no longer heard. It was whelming. Far too frequently, the results leave one less than satis-
powerful. I think I did not realize that real fied. How much more difficult is it to transfer what is regarded as
people lost their lives to such stupidity until I a classic to film? Yet recently, Nicholas Hytner has seemingly ac-
saw this scene. What a great way for the di- complished the impossible. He took an historical drama with so-
rector to communicate the foolish loss of life cial implications written by Arthur Miller in 1953 and created a
or reputation for a “just” cause. film—although weak in some respects—but certainly deserving of
a positive nod from this critic.
Journal: Rating the Film
On a scale of 1–5 (worst to best) I would rate Conclusion
this film a 4. It was mostly true to Miller’s play This then was a powerful multidisciplinary unit that sparked the
that we read in class—only a few scenes interest of the students through the examination of two provocative
changed or added. The casting was okay in eras in American History; here also was a unit that challenged the
most cases, but I felt that the courtroom scenes student’s Web searching ability while assessing their reading, artis-
were too fast paced and the ending came tic, oral, and written communication skills as well as their ability to
too quickly without realizing the agony that critically judge both the work of their peers and a professional show-
John Proctor went through in making his deci- case. The students loved it—I highly recommended it to the reader.
sion (something that we discussed at length in Ronald T. Sion, Cranston High School East, Cranston, Rhode Island
class).

Students’ film reviews also showed a depth of
thought and a careful attention to the film review
models they’d examined. Here’s a sample first
paragraph from a review which gave the 1996
film version of THE CRUCIBLE a “Thumbs Up”:
For quite some time film makers have tried to
successfully transfer a work of literature to film.

NOTES
2006 Student Awards
January 27, 2006, is the entry deadline to nomi-
nate your high school juniors for NCTE’s Achieve-
ment Awards in Writing Program. January 20,
2006, is the deadline for entries and papers for
the Promising Young Writers Program for eighth-
grade students. Visit http://www.ncte.org/
about/awards/students for details.
African American Read-In
On Sunday and Monday, February 5 and 6,
2006, NCTE will join the NCTE Black Caucus
in sponsoring the seventeenth national African
American Read-In Chain. This year's goal is to
have at least one million Americans across the
nation reading works by African American writ-
ers on Sunday, February 5. Monday, February
6, is the date designated for read-ins in schools.
Visit http://www.ncte.org/prog/readin/
107901.htm for details.

October Calendar Entry on Teen Read Week
http://www.readwritethink.org/calendar/calendar_day.asp?id=121

The ReadWriteThink Calendar provides links to classroom activities and
online resources associated with events in literacy and literature. Each entry
includes background information, a classroom activity, lesson plans, Web
resources, and related texts. This calendar entry celebrates the 2005 Teen
Read Week, with the focus on nonfiction. For more nonfiction lesson plans
to help celebrate Teen Read Week, visit the ReadWriteThink site
http://www.readwritethink.org

Explore Horror & Suspense Fiction
October is also a great month to explore horror and suspense fiction. Stu-
dents can investigate connections between the life and writings of Edgar
Allan Poe in the ReadWriteThink lesson “Modeling Reading and Analysis
Processes with the Works of Edgar Allan Poe.” The ReadWriteThink lesson
“Ghosts and Fear in Language Arts: Exploring the Ways Writers Scare
Readers” focuses on the craft of writing and reading frightening stories.

CLASSROOM NOTES
National Council of Teachers of English
1111 W. Kenyon Road
Urbana, IL 61801-1096

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