Friday Dialogue from Your Two Favorite Educators As Emily and Aubrey look back over the week they use their razor sharp wit to discuss QR Codes revisited and Bring it On! 1. Why is [...]
Too often, I find myself trying to come up with intensively specific projects for students. Massive amounts of two-sided, collated and stapled assignments consisting of multiple steps and checkpoints. This intense need to plan for every single aspect is probably rooted in the very real understanding that students procrastinate. They need guidelines. However, the level of [...]
It’s clear to me that students don’t understand tone. Not one bit. They just don’t hear the inflection. It’s not as if they don’t try; they just misread. Over and over again. And while I’d love to do all the “voices” for them in every single text we read there simply isn’t the time. In [...]
Sometimes I feel at the beginning of class that my act is huge flop. It’s tough to know how to start. Classroom management, attention and engagement rarely occur simultaneously. And no matter the variety of journal prompts or moral/ethical debates outlined students frequently treat this “opening” work like a chore. Within this realm, QR codes [...]
Friday Dialogue from 
Your Two Favorite Educators
As Emily and Aubrey look back over the week they use their razor sharp wit to discuss QR Codes revisited and Bring it On!
1. Why is it so significant to choose tech for the classroom that can be used in a variety of ways?
Emily: Students learn in different ways. Providing flexibility in assignments, materials, texts, and technology is important to help students learn more effectively.
Aubrey: I think “flexible” tech provides teachers the ability to become experts. Part of what scares all of us away from using technology in the classroom is whether or not we can use it again and again. If the answer is no, I’ll never use this medium again why bother? I want applications that can serve in a variety of capacities.
2. Why is it important that we revisit past lessons we’ve share via www.wheretheclassroomends.com ?
Emily: I think it is extremely important. When working on a post I am often overwhelmed with everything I could incorporate. As a result, there are many 
weeks when I say to myself “I’ll just have to do another week of this topic.” I think it is really important to revisit QR codes (and really anything technology based). Technology keeps expanding and our knowledge of how to use it in the classroom keeps expanding. It isn’t like teaching Shakespeare, which never changes. Technology evolves so rapidly that we need to keep presenting ideas and ways to incorporate it into the classroom.
Aubrey: I feel the same way. Revisiting areas of focus proves that culture, technology, current events–all of it plays a huge part in what shapes a humanities class is shaped. I would be worried if we didn’t revisit ideas and lessons.
3. Does the QR code enhance daily life? Or, is it simply a detractor that provides too much extra and unnecessary information for the individual?
Emily: It certainly makes things easier. However, I don’t think they “provide too much extra and unnecessary information.” Instead, my biggest fear with QR codes is just how easy it makes research. QR codes make me curious about the ways in which students’ research abilities could be compromised. Of course, this is years away and achieved through more things than just QR codes, but it is a long-term concern of mine.
Aubrey: Love it. Don’t care if it provides me with too much information. I want to know everything if only for a second. Now, it is clear to me that after I look up this information I will immediately forget it and then be forced to look it up again later on. This matters very little to me. I need to know.
4. Are QR codes just a fad?
Emily: I know I’m not supposed to say this, but I do think they are a fad. They keep popping in and out of trend reports. I feel like they are seen more now but dwindled in use in the winter months. I like the efficiency of them and think they are helpful in navigating directly to a page but just don’t know how lasting they are.
Aubrey: Actually I think they’re a fad too. I’m fairly certain we won’t be talking about them in 10 years. They are a fun little gadget and they’re good for directing students to material but I do find them somewhat ugly.
5. This week I’ve provided several model assignments focusing on student choice and QR codes. Please participate in the model lesson below.
Pop Culture via QR Codes
Please choose one of the QR codes below. Review the material and construct a response that identifies the tone and big picture importance.
Choice #2
Choice #1
Emily: I choose QR code #2: Bring It On the Musical. This play came to Chicago and I begged my friends to go with me. They refused. I am now without the musical interludes of Torrence Shipman. I will never forgive them for this. I can’t focus on the tone because I’m blinded by how perfect the musical is. It highlights the capitalistic nature of our society through the rise of a poor school being able to compete at Nationals. Bring It On is the true American classic. Bottom line.
Aubrey: Hah! I knew you’d choose two. I on the other hand am much more interested in Adam Levine & Christina Aguilera’s feud. Don’t tell anyone but I like to watch The Voice. Usually in secret. It’s shameful but there you have it.
Too often, I find myself trying to come up with intensively specific projects for students. Massive amounts of two-sided, collated and stapled assignments consisting of multiple steps and checkpoints. This intense need to plan for every single aspect is probably rooted in the very real understanding that students procrastinate. They need guidelines. However, the level of intense project creation that then falls upon me is crushing. Constantly tweaking, changing and revising the steps only helps to further sour me on the actual assignment itself.
What I want is a creative assignment to end a novel or a unit of study. One that easily proves students can think critically and problem solve. One that has them implement technology. One that has them actually create something related to my class, that practices skill sets learned in my class and that proves them thoughtful and creative. Did I mention that I would like it to be of their own design?
iStockphoto.com
Sigh.
This is a lot to ask of teens. They need guidance to think outside of the test prep bubble in which they’ve existed since elementary school. So think of this project like an assignment in creativity, problem solving, big picture thinking, writing OR like a James Bond style mission, that is of course if you choose to accept it.
Novel/Unit Project with QR Focus Basic
1. The goal of a project like this is to give students a list of tools and a general overview of rules. Their job then becomes creating the project guidelines and the final product. Think Fed-ex Day but with some determined parameters/tools. Focused on novel or unit but on any aspect the students choose.
2. Set expectations and tools for the assignment. If you’re going for the element of surprise, split students into groups. Hand each group a paper bag filled with the tools they’re allowed to use. Example:
3. Ask that they construct an “official” assignment that could be used in a “real” course. They should pick an idea, issue or part of the book to highlight. Examples might include a QR Map of Holden Caulfield’s adventures in NYC or an assignment that asks students to use QR codes in
4. Ask that they set achievable and challenging goals for each week.
5. Provide class time for achieving these goals.
6. Ask that they present their final project and product.
It’s clear to me that students don’t understand tone. Not one bit. They just don’t hear the inflection. It’s not as if they don’t try; they just misread. Over and over again. And while I’d love to do all the “voices” for them in every single text we read there simply isn’t the time.
iStockphoto.com
In order to combat student “deafness,” QR codes offer the ability for students to listen clearly to text as performance. Consider a unit of study that depended on students listening and reviewing.
While QR codes could be used to direct students to any type of podcast, they are incredibly helpful for teaching poetry and short speeches. In such a context, students have the ability to choose their own “text” and listen, review, take notes, even evaluate.
Imagine an assignment where before being given the text or speech or poem, they’re made to choose based on title alone. To ask them to construct a choice by simply examining a title is a lesson in itself. This type of an assignment allows students choice, teaches listening skills and focuses on the significance of tone. To begin with, consider using resources like The Writer’s Almanac or The Poetry Foundation. They both offer wonderful readings that can easily be turned into QR codes. If you’d rather use speeches, try History.com’s wonderful resource of audio and video speeches including many from presidents. American Rhetoric also offers MP3 audio files for many of its top 100 speeches.
Basic Assignment Overview
While the steps are simple and the idea unoriginal, the purpose ultimately is to get them to listen. Too often they resign themselves as soon as we pass out paper. Instead, ask them to listen first and respond second. Providing them a “second” reading is crucial and listening offers them the ability to truly reflect upon style, purpose and tone. I’ve included a sample poetry based lesson featuring QR codes as an example of how something like this could work.
iStockphoto.com
Sometimes I feel at the beginning of class that my act is huge flop. It’s tough to know how to start. Classroom management, attention and engagement rarely occur simultaneously. And no matter the variety of journal prompts or moral/ethical debates outlined students frequently treat this “opening” work like a chore.
Within this realm, QR codes can become an incredibly practical application. Imagine being able to implement media literacy along with student choice. Imagine a written response or evaluation. Imagine students happy to discuss in small groups or with the class as a whole their own perspective on the podcast or video that they digested after scanning a QR Code.
Opening Activity: Choose Your Own Adventure
Okay so not every student will chortle with delight when you explain that “adventure” in this case means choosing their own QR Code. But you will peak their interest when you explain that these QR cods will take them to a short podcast or video that will require to explore a moral/ethical dilemma or an area of focus your are currently studying. Using the QR code is simply the vehicle via which they begin an opening critical thinking exercise. The goal is not to replace writing. Instead the end result should be a list of student constructed essential questions and a written argument about the material. Below is an example of what this type of lesson demands of students.
While this is simple it will help jump-start your class. Pick videos or podcasts that complement the material you are teaching or that highlight a skill set students are practicing. Here is an QR JOURNALS Example.
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Implementing tech is daunting. It requires that teacher be both troubleshooter and cheerleader. Things go wrong when students and technology mix. Computers are slow. Students are impatient. I’ve answered the same question about text boxes three times. It’s enough to make the best of us say, “Take out your copies of The Things They Carried and read silently.”
People can argue all they want that the digital native now sits in every seat in every classroom, but I don’t buy it. Students are just as frustrated, impatient and incapable as I am. They can’t figure out how to import video or change font size either. This is, of course, why any type of worthwhile classroom technology must have multiple applications. Technology that is multipurpose helps teachers with troubleshooting and students with familiarity.
In an effort to do just that, this week we revisit the QR code. As far as “tech” goes, it’s simple. So simple that in these waning days of the school year you could easily implement a QR code activity with little trouble and impressive results. When we posted about QR in the classroom this past November our goal was to teach students the role of QR codes in society and to revamp classroom learning stations into QR stations. This time we’ll post on how QR can extend classroom learning, provide student choice and teach students to evaluate/review areas of focus.
Our previous posts are listed below to get you started.
Friday Dialogue from
Your Two Favorite Educators
As Emily and Aubrey look back over the week they use their razor sharp wit to break down why “Call Me, Maybe” is the greatest song ever.
1.) What do you like the most about teaching argument and persuasive writing?
Aubrey: If I could teach some version of the AP Language and Composition argument prompt all year I would die happy. I love that the evidence is
always different. I love that you can use the classical argument structure. I love that you don’t have to just know literature. You have to know EVERYTHING. I also think it can be the most complex to teach since it relies on the student to pull evidence from their own knowledge base. Scary. Still, it forces students to contemplate the world as a mosaic. Read more
Sometimes an argument is like a really good sale. You look at it. You feel it.
You are enamored by its flash and pizzazz. In fact, sometimes it looks so good you have a hard time recognizing the snag in the stitching, or the small stain on the lapel, or the poor fit in the bust. Yeah. That’s what happens when we are won over simply by the appearance of it. The flaws are unseen by the common eye. While it pains me to admit it, I am the common eye and always buy the “really good deal, I promise” even if I’ll never wear the dress because color-blocking doesn’t work on my body type. Read more
Writing an argument is a lot like putting together a puzzle. 
The image itself might be beautiful. However, if unable to put the pieces together effectively then the image doesn’t matter. The same is true with writing a persuasive essay. Yesterday I presented ways to help students develop a deeper understanding of an argument. However, it doesn’t matter how solid their argument is if they can’t effectively communicate it. While it is important to teach students how to have a developed argument, it is equally important to teach them how to structure it. One of the most effective ways to do this is to teach students to follow one of the key argument structures:
Regardless of which argument scheme you use, the key is to engage your students in meaningful inquiry about the structure. A lot of teachers introduce the key components of the scheme and then provide students with a sample persuasive essay asking them to recognize and annotate those components in the text. This is absolutely a fine way to introduce the argument structure, but there are a lot of ways to deepen this knowledge and get students to produce better, more authentic versions of their argument.
Students respond well to each of the argument schemes (Classical, Rogerian, and Toulmin). However, the key isn’t which structure you teach them; it is how well you teach them.
Students think they know arguments. However, just like when they read fiction, students have a hard time moving beyond a superficial reading of a text. If 
anything, I sometimes think they are worse at extracting an argument from a persuasive essay because of the personal nature of it. Students think that, since it is their own opinion they don’t need to develop it. Common saying: “This is it. This is my argument. This is all I intended it to be. Don’t read into it.” But that isn’t good enough. To be taken seriously as a rhetorician students need to finely craft their argument and make sure it is multi-layered. This comes through reading and studying arguments extensively, but it is a skill that can be taught through practice. Read more
Here is a syllogism for you:
It’s a fact of life, one that too few English teachers embrace. Instead, we are continually assigning canonical literature and essays in which they analyze the writing of that canonical literature. While I certainly think there is some merit in both areas, we need to start listening more to the needs of the 21st century and less to what we love: Charlotte Bronte and William Shakespeare. The reality is that 97% of our students will not go on and become English majors. They will pursue majors like business, marketing, and engineering; majors that rarely (if ever) require a literary analysis. Students will be required to read and write pieces to persuade others of their idea, aptitude, and ability.
Instead of fighting the system we need to start empowering students to effectively communicate their opinions in a way that better prepares them for their future. We need to be teaching students about how to construct a formal argument, how to read for biases and logical fallacies, and how to reach their audience for effective persuasion.
While I’m not suggesting we completely disregard the significance of teaching fiction and literary devices for non-fiction curriculum, I do think we need to reassess our priorities and find more meaningful, authentic ways to embed persuasion into our existing curriculum. This topic is wide and vast—far larger than a one week post. However, this week I’m going to provide suggestions to lay the groundwork for incorporating persuasion into our classrooms.
