Studying Poetry in the Classroom

 Teaching  No Responses »
Jan 012012
 

Teaching the Form

One of the most important things to teach when you are teaching poetry is about the form of the poem you are reading. Even free verse poems that seemingly lack a form have an art to them. Poetry is different from prose in that there are lines, and when the poet writes a poem, he or she pays careful attention to those lines. Very often, important phrases end at the line, or poets include important words at the end of the line. This can help draw attention to the words and phrases that are used in the poem, and can help illuminate the meaning of the poem.

Most Important Word

By asking students what they think the most important word in the poem is, you are asking them to think about the poet’s word choice. This is actually a very difficult question for students to answer because usually they want to choose a whole phrase. By asking them to pick one word, you are forcing them to look at the whole poem through a critical eye. If they are stuck and need help, you can always give them hints. Important words can be repeated over and over within the poem. Repetition is always a signal of an important word. Other important words can embody the entire theme or message of the poem, or can be a word that the students like the sound or meaning of. Most importantly, remind the students that, as long as they can explain their choice, there are no wrong answers.

Coffeehouse Readings

Always read poetry aloud in class. This can help students understand the poem better. Poetry was also meant to be read aloud. You can make this fun, too, by setting up your classroom like a coffeehouse poetry reading. Have the students snap their fingers after each reading, instead of clapping their hands. Add some lamps to create a coffeehouse feel when the lights are turned off, and put a fake microphone at the front of the room for students to stand up and read into. This will get the students listening and enjoying poetry just for the sound of it, which can lead to really great discussions about the content and how the poem was read.

Found Poems

Found poems are a great way to have students dive into writing their own poetry. For some students, writing a poem can be daunting if anything goes. With found poems, have the students “find” words and phrases in magazines and newspapers. Have them cut out what they find and glue it on a piece of paper in the form of a poem. By giving students something to start with – in this case, words already printed in a magazine – you’ve taken away the fear of creating and sharing something new and personal.

 Posted by at 5:12 am  Tagged with:

Teaching Children with Disabilities

 Special Education  No Responses »
Dec 202011
 

Teaching Children with Learning Disabilities

It is observed that teaching children with disabilities in learning is often more difficult than teaching handicapped children. In this concept, the teacher has to use different teaching techniques altogether. She has to first understand the mental condition of the student, assess his learning capacities and the rate at which he can learn, and then make use of appropriate teaching techniques. Teachers have to give additional attention to students who have learning disabilities. They need to make the students understand in methods which they would consider comfortable.

Read more on:

  • Learning Disability: Types of Learning Disabilities
  • List of Learning Disabilities

Teaching Children with Physical Disabilities

On the other hand, teaching children with physical disabilities or handicaps is just a matter of providing motivation. Handicapped children should in no way be made to feel that they are someone different. Their teaching should be included in that of other children. They should be made to realize that they are also like other students and not those who cannot do certain tasks. The instructors do not find it that difficult to teach children with physical disabilities as their knowledge grasping strength is good.

Teaching Strategies for Children with Disabilities

There are some good and effective strategies for teaching children with disabilities. During teaching, the instructors should present the questions in the simplest and clearest manner, so that children with any kind of disabilities should properly understand. Encourage the students to participate in the answering process and guide them to the appropriate answer. For underprivileged children, the pace of the curriculum should be decreased and the portion should also be lessened.

It would be most beneficial if disabled children are taught using figures, slide-shows, and overhead projectors. This would help them better understand the fundamental concepts while teaching. When it comes to teaching children with disabilities, the instructors should focus on the outlines and basics, instead of going deep in the lessons. Moreover, they should use hand techniques, facial expressions, and body language to get the message across to disabled students.

With motivation, this strategy certainly is very effective. Instructors should consult with school psychologists to come up with more useful methods for letting disabled children understand what is being taught. In order to teach students with physical incapabilities, assistive methods and devices can be used to improve the learning.

Read more on:

  • Teaching Children with Special Needs
  • Autism Teaching Strategies
  • Teaching Children with Cerebral Palsy
  • Teaching Children with Autism
  • Teaching Children with Down Syndrome
  • Teaching Autistic Children

This was some information on teaching children with disabilities. The best strategy to teach is to have the students motivated before imparting the lessons. For self motivation in learning, remember that you should not treat the child as if he is different from the rest.

 Posted by at 4:38 am  Tagged with:

Special Schooling

 Special Education  No Responses »
Dec 202011
 

The contrary is what happens today. Almost everyone willing can go to school and moreover, there are also special schools, such as schools for blind people, schools for minorities, schools for girls or schools for boys. Is this way of specializing schools efficient? It may be for some categories, but it surely isn’t for other.

In the first place, schools for moderate special needs children have proven their inefficiency. They seem not to stimulate enough the cognitive resources of the children and in addition they don’t contribute to the socio-emotional development of these children. Being in a special school puts a permanent stigma on them and they also fail to integrate those children in the community later on. Of course, special schools are needed for severely affected children who represent a menace to other children or who are too impaired to be solely under the supervision of non-psychiatric or physical specialists. But in these schools one can find also children which have less serious impairments or problems. These are those who have physical disabilities, learning disabilities, ADHD, the Asperger syndrome or other mental impairments which the psychologists consider to be light and under control.

Nowadays, some countries work on integrating these children in normal schools. They do it because in normal schools these children have the opportunity to have a healthy emotional and social development, and also they are stimulated to develop they intellectual potential. Specialized persons, such as psychologists, are focused on informing the parents, the teachers and also the “normal” students about these mental issues, about their characteristics, trying in the same time to demolish the stigma laid upon these children. There are courses meant to prepare and train the teachers to deal with such children in order to offer them the biggest chance for cognitive, emotional and social development. In some schools, the governments hired specialized people to work together with the teachers for the optimization of their activity. Research has shown this is a more effective procedure than the one offered by the special schools.

Secondly, schools which gather only the genius have also proven to be less efficient than schools who maintain a balance. The first category may lead to the development of a more than sufficient competitive spirit, but also the lack of diversity of friends, the lack of choices. The solution, of course, is not treating the prodigious children as “normal” children, because by doing that they may not come to develop their full intellectual potential, and they may quit school because they can become bored of the simplicity of the things they are taught. The solution is to socially integrate them in the classroom and then offer them harder and more complex exercises that the others are offered, and double the speed by which they are supposed to finish their tasks. By this, they will remain interested; they will develop their cognitive resources and also will have the social variety encountered in everyday life.

The distinction will eventually come, when they will choose their high schools and later on, when they will apply for university. By that time they would have had time to make their own decisions regarding both their professional and social life.

Thirdly, special schools are not efficient for minorities. Separating minorities from the citizens of the country they live in, only deepens the stereotypical way of thinking and the conflicts. By integrating minorities in a normal school, the conflicts may be resolved and the stereotyped demolished. Living with them, the children learn that they are not different, or abnormal, that they could be friends and they could help each other. They teachers and the parents are the key. They have to be taught to guide their children into understanding and accepting ethnic differences. The parents and the teachers themselves have to learn to accept and understand these differences in the first place.

In conclusion, special schooling may be efficient in some cases but seriously damaging in others.

 Posted by at 4:32 am  Tagged with:
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