Using Holiday Ads in the Classroom

During the holidays, advertisers ramp up their advertising, luring buyers to their stores. They'll use colorful, vivid words to snag new customers, which actually works in YOUR favor, English teachers! You can use their ads to teach a number of lessons.

1. CHANCE (or DADA) POEMS: Cut up the words and use them for an impromptu poetry writing session. I like to store the words in little plastic baggies and use them when we have time left at the end of the period. I'll have students work in groups and prompt them to create a poem based on the lesson we just practiced (or the book/story/character we are reading). Or if there is a fun event coming up (a holiday, a dance, etc.), have them create a poem related to the event. Give them a limited time to create a poem, then have each group share with the class.

2. PARTS OF SPEECH REVIEW: Have students cut out the words themselves*, only with a twist--require students to find an example of each part of speech (noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection). You can make it a contest and see who can come up with the most (and the most interesting). *If the words are already cut out, they can just each take a baggie full and sort them by part of speech.

3. REVIEW IDIOMS AND CLICHÉS: Ads are perfect for containing overused idioms and clichés. Introduce and/or review the figurative phrases with your students. Have them find their own in the ads, old magazines, or in newspaper headlines.

4. ANALYZE THE MERIT OF MARKETING: Have students look over the ads, analyzing the marketing techniques used, including the word choices and design/aesthetics (colors, font, and placement of words and products on the page). Which phrases stood out to them? Which did they pay little attention to? Were others more effective? Why?

5. ANALYZE TARGET AUDIENCES: As students look over the ads, ask them to evaluate who might the target audience be for the ad. How did they come to that conclusion? Which words and/or phrases did they use as clues? Do the ads stereotype?

I've been using ads and newspapers in my classroom for years. If you do not have access to a newspaper or magazines, check with your media specialist to see if she/he has older copies that can be saved for you. Also, your school may be eligible for Newspapers in Education. It's a wonderful program that supplies classrooms with copies of newspapers, which are paid for by donations from local businesses.

My Magnetic Poetry Kit is also an option for activities #1 and #2 if you don't have access to newspapers or magazines.

You can keep collecting the ads through the spring: Valentine's Day ads are perfect for love-inspired poems; there's also President's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, and so on... Each holiday will offer different flavors of language to suit the occasion.

COMING SOON: Handouts for each of these activities, which will be included in my POETRY BUNDLE (a bundle of ALL of my poetry-related resources...past, present, and future!)

Solar Eclipse Activities for English Language Arts

Solar Eclipse Activities for English Language Arts

If you're looking for some great ready-to-go (no prep needed) English language arts activities for tomorrow's solar eclipse, you can download them here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Solar-Eclipse-2017-Activities-3339317

The activities include a lesson on idioms, with students brainstorming various idioms related to the sun, moon, and/or eclipse and researching their origins. It is aligned to the Common Core standards for language and writing.

Another activity is a great back-to-school get-to-know-you activity for learning more about your students; students will share various details about themselves and predict what they will be doing when the next total solar eclipse happens in America in 2024.

A third activity is a fun playlist your students can create to commemorate the eclipse.

One of the best things about these activities is if viewing the eclipse is a bust (it's cloudy, or raining, or the students aren't allowed to view it), students can still do all the activities! Actually, the responses may even be more comical if it is a bust. 😂

The handouts can be printed from a PDF file or you can share them digitally with your students through a secure online classroom like Google Classroom™ or Edmodo™. These are perfect for schools that are 1:1 or have access to computers or tablets.



And because I want you to make sure you get your money's worth, I will update the activities after Monday to make them usable for ANY eclipse in the future. :)

Shakespeare Giveaway for Teachers

Please join my fellow TpT English teachers in this great giveaway hosted by David Rickert! ALL of the resources can be used with ANY Shakespeare play. And please share why YOU love teaching Shakespeare in the comments below.

Six English teachers with a love for Shakespeare are hosting a giveaway in honor of Shakespeare's birthday. (It's also the 400th anniversary of his death.) One lucky winner will get six great lessons that can be used with ANY Shakespeare play. So what can you win? Click on the links to get a preview and find out how to enter.

Presto Plans has a lesson on Shakespeare's Language called "What Would Shakespeare Say?"

Need some room decor? Room 213 is offering a Shakespeare Word Wall and Posters.

Tracee Orman has a great way to introduce Shakespeare with a Life and Times Power Point.

The Classroom Sparrow has a handy reference guide with her Shakespeare Mini Book.

Reach for the stars with Brynn Allison's Astrology Based Characterization Activity.

David Rickert's Comic Lesson on Iambic Pentameter will introduce students to the way Shakespeare writes.

The raffle will run from Sunday, April 24th to Sunday, May 1st. How do you enter? Simply click the link below and enter your favorite Shakespeare quote. It's that easy.

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So why do these teachers love Shakespeare?

Presto Plans:

"Since students often feel that Shakespeare isn’t relevant today, my goal when I teach his work is to find ways to relate the plot, characters, and themes to their lives. What I enjoy most about teaching Shakespeare is seeing my students make a personal connection to universal themes (loyalty, ambition, jealousy, betrayal) that emerge in his work. When students can make those connections, the class discussion always becomes far more interesting and engaging, and I know Shakespeare still has a place in today’s classroom."

Room 213:

"I love teaching Shakespeare because not only is he a brilliant writer, but he understood what makes we humans tick. What I enjoy most of all, though, is finding ways to draw students into his plays. Most have preconceived notions and dread when it comes to Shakespeare, but I design my lessons and activities in a way that helps connect the plays to their lives and, that way, it's more interesting and enjoyable for them."

Tracee Orman:

"I love the moment when students hear famous lines spoken that they never realized were penned by Shakespeare. Today in class we covered Marc Antony’s “Cry Havoc! and let slip the dogs of war” quote in Act III of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. After that scene, I showed them the beginning of an episode of Big Bang Theory where Sheldon quotes the phrase after he seeks revenge on the person who hacked his World of Warcraft account and stole his weapons. There are so many great allusions, quotes, parodies, and references to Shakespeare; I love opening their eyes to them. When former students email or post/tag examples or references they come across on my social media pages, it warms my heart to know they not only still remember this play from sophomore year, but they actually understand the reference or allusion."

The Classroom Sparrow:

The best part about teaching Shakespeare is the level of engagement the plays can bring to a classroom. Most students are not excited about Shakespeare because they have a hard time understanding the language, but once they start reading the first few acts, the students are eager to find out what will happen next. By the end of the unit, students have a better appreciation for Shakespeare in that many of his themes are timeless.

Brynn Allison:

"Reading any of Shakespeare's works is difficult for my students, many of whom read several levels below grade level, but this challenge is what makes teaching Shakespeare so rewarding. My students are incredibly proud of themselves when they begin to read and understand his plays. Acting out key scenes and making connections between the timeless themes in Shakespeare's dramas and real world issues helps to increase students' comprehension. Have students practice insulting each other using Shakespeare's language before reading the first scene in Romeo and Juliet or by conducting a People magazine-like interview of Portia and Calpurnia from Julius Caesar. Activities like these help students to see that world in Shakespeare's plays is not so different from their own."

David Rickert:

"I love the challenge of teaching Shakespeare to students who are reading it for the first time. I love his plays. They have comedy, tragedy, thrills, chills, and just all around great writing. There are some wonderful metaphors in the plays, and I find myself using them in everyday language without thinking about it."

Good luck!

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Laptop or Tablet? Transitioning from MacBookPros to iPads (and the frustrations of using Google Classroom)

Laptop or Tablet? Transitioning from MacBookPros to iPads and the Frustrations of Using Google Classroom

For almost seven years my school was a 1:1 MacBookPro school. We loved the laptops, but the expense for repairs and replacing new ones for all students in grades 6-12 was becoming too costly.

Students writing poems on MacBookPros.
Photo: ©Tracee Orman, 2011

Normally schools would upgrade from tablets to laptops. And here we were last spring being told we were going to downgrade from our MacBookPros to new iPads. Teachers would keep their laptops and have a new iPad; students would only have iPads (with the exception of our computer instructor, who has a lab of laptops for his classes).

Questions We Asked
Of course, we had a lot of questions, such as:

• How will our students type essays on an iPad?

• How will our students use websites that use Adobe Flash Player?

• Will our students be able to make movies using iMovie?

• Where will students store all of their Pages files, Keynote presentations, and other documents?

• Will they be able to back up files onto a flash drive?

• Will all of our online lessons, quizzes, and tests open on their iPads?

• How will we monitor their use?

• Will students be able to print?

• How many apps can we get? How will the students get those apps on their devices?

and so on...

Google Classroom Launch & {FAIL}
We had already been using Google for Educators for several years. Our students all have Gmail accounts, which comes with a Google Docs/Drive account and unlimited storage. So one of the deciding factors for our administration was the launch of Google Apps for Education (GAFE), which includes Google Classroom. They *hoped* it would make it easier for students and teachers to exchange digital files, collaborate, and communicate. We were assured that Google Classroom would work seamlessly with the iPads. And last Spring, it seemed to be working just fine.

Sample Google Classroom stream of announcements
and assignments from www.traceeorman.com.

Well, it hasn't been as easy as promised. Hardly any of my students could watch an introduction video I linked from YouTube, nor could they open documents I attached and assigned. Google Classroom is still working out kinks, but it's getting a little better. At the beginning of the school year at least half of my students could not access anything from Google Classroom. Now, I have about five or six students who continue to have the problem. It's better, but still frustrating. This means I have to share content with them in alternative ways, including having a print source.

Error message when students try to access files in Google Apps.

Docs is Back...But Drive Is Still Here?
In addition to the Classroom problems, Google's relaunch of "Docs" while maintaining "Drive" is causing much confusion with students. One feature Docs now offers is the ability to work on items offline. We are not sure if this feature is the root of the problem or not for our students, but we know there are several who will try to locate their documents and they will not show up. Sometimes they appear when they click out of the app and go back on, but when they try to share it via Classroom, *poof* all their documents disappear again. Again, we were told Google is working on fixing the kinks.

Students use iPads for a video parody project.
Photo: ©Tracee Orman, 2015

One of the biggest frustrations as an English teacher is the lack of features in Google Docs. Students are unable to add a header or footer in the iPad app (either I have to provide them with a template--which defeats the purpose of them learning how to format a paper themselves--or they have to find a laptop to create the document on first). So much for assessing them on how to create an MLA-formatted document!

The Pages app is much better for typing papers, but it is glitchy and does not work well with Google Docs and Classroom on the iPads.

So Which Is Better: Laptops or Tablets?
Having laptops also had its fair share of frustrations. Those problems have not gone away with the introduction of iPads. For example, these continue to be a challenge:

• Students play games instead of staying on task.

• Students communicate answers from tests via screenshots, messaging, or logging into a friend's account and taking the test/quiz for him/her.

• Students are easily distracted with social media and constant notifications.

• The internet is never fast enough.

• Printing from the device is not always reliable.

• Students are impatient with the devices and easily frustrated when they do not work properly.

We have only had the iPads since August and we had our laptops for almost seven years, so it's hard for me to recommend one over the other at this point. I see a lot of potential with the iPads and have really been impressed with some of the apps our district has purchased. 


Favorite Apps, Coming Soon
I plan to post a series of articles featuring some of these apps and what they can do. (Surprise: one is even about GAFE and Google Classroom.) Check back for my posts, which will be tagged with this image:

Is It Worth It?
Is technology even worth it? The Wall Street Journal reported on this topic recently, citing a study that disproves using technology increases scores in math and reading.

That said, we still need to prepare our students for an ever-changing world in technology, so, YES, I think it's worth it. But it's important to use technology in moderation; going 100% paperless isn't realistic.

There are times when students need to write with paper and pencil.

There are times students should read from a book.

There are times when your students need face-to-face interaction with one another.

And there are times when your device will fail for one or more students in your class and you better have a paper back-up ready!

Free Back-to-School Resources for Teachers

It's back-to-school time! Which means it's time to bring you a collection of resources from teachers to help you get back into the swing of things at school.

Each page in these eight Back-to-School resources sampler includes a back-to-school tip, a link to a free downloadable resource, and another resource (priced) that you can check out if you like that teacher's style.

We wish you the best school year and hope you find many great ideas, tips, and freebies to help you get through this school year!

You can download all of the books here:

Grades 7-12 Back to School Science Sampler 

Grades 7-12 Back to School Math Sampler 

Grades 7-12 Back to School Social Studies and Foreign Language Sampler

Grades 7-12 Back to School English Language Arts Sampler

Grades 5-6 Back to School Sampler

Grades 3-4 Back to School Sampler

Grades 1-2 Back to School Sampler

Grades PreK-K Back to School Sampler

TeachersPayTeachers Site-Wide Sale for Teacher Appreciation Week

Super Secondary Appreciates Teachers!

Super Secondary collaborators are eager to "thank you...thank you very much..." for ALL that you do to make the world a better place! So shake, rattle, and roll on over to these TpT stores on May 5th and 6th to get up to 28% off on fantastic resources! Don’t forget to use the promo code: THANKYOU. 

My resources will be marked 20% off. You can see all my latest uploads clicking here: Tracee Orman's Most Recent TeachersPayTeachers Resources

The following sellers will have their stores marked down, as well:

The Classroom Sparrow

Room 213

Darlene Anne’s ELA Buffet

Danielle Knight (Study All Knight)

Michele Luck's Social Studies

Teaching FSL

Juggling ELA

The SuperHERO Teacher

James Whitaker's SophistThoughts

Created by MrHughes

Lessons With Coffee

Leah Cleary

Addie Williams

Linda Jennifer

MissMathDork

Kristin Lee

Lindsay Perro

All Things Algebra

Mrs. Brosseau's Binder

Tracee Orman

4mulafun

Teaching High School Math

Pamela Kranz

FisherReyna Education

Getting Nerdy with Mel and Gerdy

Lovin Lit

ELA Everyday

Teaching Math by Hart

The Creative Classroom

For the Love of Teaching Math

Kesler Science

Live Love Math

To the Square Inch- Kate Bing Coners

A Space to Create

Science and Math with Mrs Lau

Brain Waves Instruction

Literary Sherri

Created for Learning

2 Peas and a Dog

Making Meaning with Melissa

Blogging PLN Challenge Accepted

Happy New Year, Friends! I can't believe it's been a month since I've blogged here, but that changes today. I was tagged by Mike Nitzel (@MikeNitzel) on Twitter and have accepted his blogging challenge. You can read Mike's answers and random facts HERE (they won't put you to sleep, contrary to what he thinks!). I could relate to many things Mike wrote because we live in the same area. Pretty cool, huh!? Anyway, hopefully I won't bore you to death with my answers...

Here are the rules of the challenge:

1) Acknowledge the nominating blogger (check!)

2) Share 11 random facts about yourself.

3) Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.

4) List 11 bloggers. They should be bloggers you believe deserve some recognition and a little blogging love!

5) Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer and let all the bloggers know they have been nominated (You cannot nominate the blogger who nominated you).

Eleven random facts about me...

1. I'm from Iowa. (Insert your favorite Iowa joke here; I'm used to it.) 

2. Though I lived in Iowa for 22 years, I was born in Michigan. My dad was doing the sheet metal construction on the Pontiac Super Dome at the time, so that's where my parents lived temporarily for a year or so. They moved back to Iowa when I was seven months old.

3. I currently live on the other side of the river. (We Quad-Citians refer to the Mississippi River as just "the river," even though the Rock River is here, too. We call that "the Rock." Kind of confusing to visitors, I'm sure.) My husband and I have lived in a small town outside of the Quad Cities since 2001, where we both teach.

4. We have a 15-year-old son who is involved in sports and likes to drum. And is learning to drive. Which scares me to death. On the other hand, I do look forward to next fall when I can say, "Honey, could you run to the store and get..."

5. My favorite sport is baseball. I grew up going to all of my brother's games and was raised in an area that breeds baseball players (if you've seen the movie "The Final Season," then you've seen where I grew up).

6. I did many different things before I started teaching, including car sales. There's only so much you can do with a degree in English and Mass Communications/Journalism. Especially when the only newspaper hiring was for pro bono work. So back to school I went...

7. We have a nine-year-old Italian Greyhound named Sparky. He's our baby and is spoiled rotten. But he's pretty high maintenance, too. With our son being in high school sports, we feel pretty guilty leaving Sparky at home. Which is why he usually comes with us for football and baseball games. I did mention he's spoiled, right?

8. Wow...eleven random facts is harder than I thought. I can count this one, right?

9. I teach high school English. Lately I wonder why I wanted to torture myself with a career that guarantees I will always have an endless stack of papers to grade, pages to read, tests to write, lessons to plan. Then I remember the perks: sharing my love for reading and writing with dozens of teens each year. (It's too bad my love for reading doesn't include poorly-written essays. Then my job really would be a dream-come true!) 

10. You may have noticed that I have a second job besides high school English teacher. (I'm saying this sarcastically...) I started selling my teaching resources on TeachersPayTeachers in 2009. I never dreamed that teachers would even care about the activities I create for my students, let alone want them. I'm very humbled by the amount of teachers who have used my resources. Their comments and notes mean the world to me, even though I can't respond to all of them. 

11. Lately I've been considering writing full-time... More on that below.

Whew...that was hard! Now on to the specific questions from Mike...

1) Coke or Pepsi? Pepsi products, for sure. (Diet Mountain Dew is my choice. I know it's terrible for me. But I love it.)

2) List the items you would have on the menu for your "last meal". My favorite meal would have to include portobello mushrooms, caramelized onions, steak, my mom's green beans (she cooks them in butter and garlic and I can never replicate them no matter what I do), and cheese cake. And a scoop of Whitey's ice cream. OK...now I am hungry...

3) If you were not an educator, what profession would you have liked to pursue and why? For my random facts I said I was considering writing full-time. That was always what I wanted to "be" when I was a kid, though finding a career as a "writer" is pretty tough, as I learned. I love journalism, but I really didn't want to be a reporter forever. Then I started to get into design and layout when I was a newspaper/yearbook advisor. (When I was in college we still did the "cut and paste" layout. And I mean literally cut and paste.) I loved it. It spilled over into my lessons and I could seriously see myself writing novel units and educational resources full-time.

4) What is the best leadership book you have ever read and why? Would it be awful for me to say I haven't read any "leadership" books? Does Donalyn Miller's The Book Whisperer count? ;)

5) What is your favorite movie and what about it makes it meaningful to you in some way? The English teacher in me absolutely loves "Dead Poets Society" and "The Freedom Writers." And the Stephen King fan in me loves "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Stand By Me." And then there's so many baseball movies... 

6) What is the one place you would like to visit in the world that you haven't been to? Italy. My mom is Italian and has family there none of us have ever met. It would be amazing to meet them and see the country.

7) Who has had the biggest influence on your professional life? My husband, for sure. He is an amazing teacher (social studies) and coach (baseball, of course). He inspires me to be a better teacher.

8) Share your favorite joke. This is one of my favorite "jokes" of all time. I've had this picture taped to the window next to my classroom door for years. I put it up one year for some spring break/Easter humor, and it has stayed there. It makes me laugh every time I see it.

 
9) Who is a hero of yours and why? (Caveat--You cannot say your parents. spouse, partner, or kids.  That's just a cheap way to win brownie points!) Perhaps it is because we just completed To Kill a Mockingbird and have been talking about the Civil Rights Movement in class, but I think Mamie Till is an unsung hero. She had the strength to allow the world to see what happened to her son—to show the world what racism looks like. She had nothing to gain herself; what she did was for all humanity. The amount of people she affected is countless.  

10) What is one thing about yourself that most people would be surprised to learn? Most people are surprised to learn I was a sprinter in high school and went to state my junior and senior years. Let's just say I'm not much of a runner these days... 

11) Smooth or crunchy? Hmmm...I'm going to be difficult and say it depends. Or perhaps, both. 

If you made it this far, hallelujah! Now it's your turn!

I have to tag 11 fellow educators, so I've chosen:

1. Amy (@ScienceStuffAmy) Science Stuff 

2. Kristin (@sec_solutions) Secondary Solutions

3. Addie @ Teacher Talk

4. Tammy @ Juggling ELA

5. Britt @ The SuperHero Teacher

6. Ruth @ The Teacher Park

and anyone else who wants to participate! (I have to cut it short because my ride is waiting for me! I'll add to it soon.)

Here are my 11 questions (and I'm doing the same...borrowing from Mike's!):

1. Coke or Pepsi?

2. Favorite teaching tool?

3. What is the biggest change in education since you started teaching?

4. In ten years, I'll be...

5. Funniest thing said in your classroom?

6. If you were not an educator, what profession would you have liked to pursue and why?

7. What is the one place you would like to visit in the world that you haven't been to?

8. Who has had the biggest influence on your professional life?

9. Favorite book?

10. What is one thing about yourself that most people would be surprised to learn?

11. If you won the lottery, what would you do with your winnings?

And thanks, again, Mike, for tagging me. I needed a little push to get back into blogging. ;)

Tomorrow is Friday.

Tomorrow is Friday.
This summarizes the week for me. How about you?

Two Holiday Freebies for Download

I just posted two holiday freebies you can download in my teacher store right now!

"The Day After Halloween Creative Writing Activity" 
(or it can be done anytime!)

"Thanksgiving Creative Writing Activity"

Both can be quick bell-ringers or exit slips, or used as journal prompts. They allow your students to be creative, which is always a good thing. And I like that you can use these for upper elementary students through seniors in high school. I know my older students had fun coming up with their responses. :)

Enjoy!

Oh, and they ARE aligned with the Common Core Standards.  Bonus!

Is it Hot? Or Not? Great Free Download

If you need a simple and fast bell ringer or exit slip activity, try my "What's Hot? What's Not?" free download. It is such a versatile activity that can be used in any content area and for virtually any level. I also aligned it with the Common Core standards. Also featured on the new Classroom Freebies website! :)

Back to School Sale!

Are you ready for back to school? Stock up on resources from August 1st through the 6th and save 20% off everything in my teacher store! This includes all my novel units, presentations, and even my shipped CDs! Make sure you use the TeachersPayTeachers sale code at checkout: B1T1S

What do you think of the new TeachersPayTeachers website? It's a new look for a new year! Enjoy!