Patsy Hamby

After students have been provided teacher-generated background information on Romanticism, Dark Romanticism, and Transcendentalism, in collaborative groups they will read excerpts of text from Thoreau's Walden, create Bloom balls based on their chosen passages, and present information about their assignments to the entire class. The Common Core Standards addressed in this activity are provided, along with directions for creating the Bloom ball, an assessment rubric, and a Bloom ball template.

Overview: Appropriate for any curriculum area that requires definition of terms Included: Template for logographics (word drawings) assignment Vocab relay activity instructions These vocabulary activities promote student engagement as the logographics assignment appeals to the visual learner and the relay activity affects all learning domains.

This characterization activity combines character analysis with today's social networking capabilities as students create a profile page for a literary character. They first fill in the 16 domains of the profile template based on descriptions and events in the text. The second page of the standards-based assignment requres them to cite textual evidence to support two of the domains of their profile. I recently used this activity with the poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," and students

This vocabulary enrichment activity gives students four ways of examining a new term. Included: Matrix template/2 per page Directions: Print the number of handouts needed, cut in half, and after assigning students one vocabulary term for each matrix, distribute to each student the number of matrices he or she needs.

I began using this vocabulary assessment strategy after I found a student had been cheating on a traditional match-defintion-with-term vocabulary quiz. Rather than having students memorize terms they will forget when they walk out the classroom door, it challenges them to think creatively and generate an original piece of writing that demonstrates comprehension. Contents: Assignment Suggested Topics Assessment Strategy

This inquiry-based assignment is prepared for an area of the United States with a rich Civil War history connection. It combines the traditional MLA research format with a modified I-Search report as students locate, research, and describe their findings of a product that reflects a regional connection with the Civil War. Resources provided include: A description of the assignment to be printed and distributed to students An assessment rubric