Contact+Zone-Struggling+Learners

//Tips for a Future Teacher//
 * Struggling Learners:**

As future teachers, we are going to be faced with all different kinds of learners. Each student learns differently from one another and as teachers we need to be able to identify our students learning behaviors and supply them with activities and assessments that truly reflect their abilities. Moreover, there will be some students that we will identify as struggling learners and it may seem overwhelming to develop units that keep these struggling learners up to pace and other students interested. The best way to help learners who are struggling and the class as a whole is through __Differentiated Instruction__.
 * How can we help struggling learners?


 * What is Differentiated Instruction?
 * This type of instruction provides students with different avenues of learning, acquiring information, and processing material.
 * Teachers will provide instruction for kinesthetic, auditory, and visual learners.
 * The instruction allows students to learn regardless of ability.
 * The instruction is student-centered.
 * Differentiated Instruction is NOT developing 35 individual lesson plans for each student.


 * Simple Ways to Implement Differentiated Instruction:
 * Get to know your students! Knowing how your students learn best will assist you in developing future lessons.
 * Pre-Assess students understanding before a lesson is introduced. This can be as simple as a KWL chart or brainstorming activity.
 * Provide students with choice in their reading, writing, and activities they complete.
 * Divide the class into stations where each station is completing a different activity.
 * Integrate literature circles or other alternate assignments into the unit.


 * Activities that support Differentiated Instruction:
 * Different writing prompts
 * Multiple class readings- having two classroom novels instead of just one.
 * Character Maps- Students look for different understandings. One student may search for character motives, another student may look at character analysis.
 * Provide roles in group work that support each student’s strengths.
 * Implement different modes of assessment: short answers, essays, multiple choice, and long term projects


 * Resources for Differentiated Instruction: Further Reading
 * // The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners // by [|Carol Ann Tomlinson]
 * // How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms 2 nd Edition // by [|Carol Ann Tomlinson]
 * // [|Differentiated Instruction] : Different Strategies for Different Learners // by Char Forsten, Jim Grant, and Betty Hollas
 * // Differentiated Instruction in the English Classroom // by King-Shaver


 * Here is an example of how to use differentiated instruction in a classroom setting using the play //Macbeth// (this will be enacted in our contact zone lesson)

In honor of Best American Non-Require Reading: Best American Funny Titles to Macbeth Journal Articles. Come up with several Journal Article Titles. Be creative (and funny).
 * __Station One:__

The raven himself is hoarse That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under my battlements. Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood, Stop up th’access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between Th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers, Wherever in your sightless substances You wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, To cry ‘Hold, hold!’
 * __Station Two__: Create a dramatic parody of the following scene ( Act 1, scene 5, lines 36–52) from Macbeth. Your dramatization should be a modern-day, 21st recreation of Lady Macbeth’s lines. A commentary provided by Sparknotes has been provided to aid you in your “translation.”


 * //Commentary//: Lady Macbeth speaks these words as she awaits the arrival of King Duncan at her castle. We have previously seen Macbeth’s uncertainty about whether he should take the crown by killing Duncan. In this speech, there is no such confusion, as Lady Macbeth is clearly willing to do whatever is necessary to seize the throne. Her strength of purpose is contrasted with her husband’s tendency to waver. This speech shows the audience that Lady Macbeth is the real steel behind Macbeth and that her ambition will be strong enough to drive her husband forward. At the same time, the language of this speech touches on the theme of masculinity— “unsex me here /. . . / . . . Come to my woman’s breasts, / And take my milk for gall,” Lady Macbeth says as she prepares herself to commit murder. The language suggests that her womanhood, represented by breasts and milk, usually symbols of nurture, impedes her from performing acts of violence and cruelty, which she associates with manliness. Later, this sense of the relationship between masculinity and violence will be deepened when Macbeth is unwilling to go through with the murders and his wife tells him, in effect, that he needs to “be a man” and get on with it.

In this station you will provide two songs to act as a soundtrack for Macbeth. You may use your computer to search for music on YouTube or another avenue that suits you. Please be prepared to defend your choices.
 * __Station Three:__

Assume the Role of Macbeth. Write a letter from the afterlife to Macduff. You may choose to make this letter vengeful or regretful, it is your choice, but the letter must make reference to specific incidents from the play.
 * __Station Four:__

**Struggling Learners Lesson** Discuss how difficult this task is, and why it’s an inappropriate method for assessing student knowledge. (Find out if this was an easy task for anyone, and why they liked it.) (2 minutes) -to acquire information -to process, construct, or make sense of ideas -to develop teaching materials to ensure that all students can learn efficiently, regardless of ability
 * Hook:** Students use a piece of notebook paper and are given two minutes to draw a visual representation of how to teach “struggling learners.” (2 minutes)
 * Not very easy to DRAW a representation such as this
 * Maybe easier to write a short journal entry or to talk with partners/group about methods for teaching struggling learners
 * Discuss the fact that we all- especially adolescent students- need different channels for learning and explaining information
 * This brings us to our approach for teaching struggling learners: DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION**
 * Differentiated Instruction is providing different avenues
 * Students are placed at the center of teaching and learning
 * Differentiated Instruction is NOT developing 35 different lessons!
 * To provide differentiated instruction to our students, we have to know who they are, how they learn, and what their interests are. The following video shows different learning styles: [] (video 3 minutes - 6 minutes total)

Station One: In honor of __Best American Non-Require Reading__: Best American Funny Titles to Macbeth Journal Articles. Come up with several Journal Article Titles. Be creative (and funny) and make sure you can defend your titles based on specifics from the text.
 * Put methods into practice! Divide room into “stations” that students can choose to work at individually, in pairs, or as a group.** (This is the bulk of the presentation – 15 minutes to be immersed in the **process** of Differentiated Instruction.)

Station Two: Create a dramatic parody of the following scene ( Act 1, scene 5, lines 36–52) from Macbeth. Your dramatization should be a modern-day, 21st recreation of Lady Macbeth’s lines. A commentary provided by Sparknotes has been provided to aid you in your “translation.” The raven himself is hoarse That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under my battlements. Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood, Stop up th’access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between Th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers, Wherever in your sightless substances You wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, To cry ‘Hold, hold!’ Commentary: Lady Macbeth speaks these words as she awaits the arrival of King Duncan at her castle. We have previously seen Macbeth’s uncertainty about whether he should take the crown by killing Duncan. In this speech, there is no such confusion, as Lady Macbeth is clearly willing to do whatever is necessary to seize the throne. Her strength of purpose is contrasted with her husband’s tendency to waver. This speech shows the audience that Lady Macbeth is the real steel behind Macbeth and that her ambition will be strong enough to drive her husband forward. At the same time, the language of this speech touches on the theme of masculinity— “unsex me here /. . . / . . . Come to my woman’s breasts, / And take my milk for gall,” Lady Macbeth says as she prepares herself to commit murder. The language suggests that her womanhood, represented by breasts and milk, usually symbols of nurture, impedes her from performing acts of violence and cruelty, which she associates with manliness. Later, this sense of the relationship between masculinity and violence will be deepened when Macbeth is unwilling to go through with the murders and his wife tells him, in effect, that he needs to “be a man” and get on with it.

Station Three: In this station you will provide two songs to act as a soundtrack for Macbeth. You may use your computer to search for music on YouTube or another avenue that suits you. Please be prepared to defend your choices. Station Four: Assume the Role of Macbeth. Write a letter from the afterlife to Macduff. You may choose to make this letter vengeful or regretful, it is your choice, but the letter must make reference to specific incidents from the play.

Based on allotted time left, we reveal our creations as a group. Presentation is wrapped-up by reiterating the importance of allowing students different avenues for learning and displaying knowledge of material. Exit Ticket: Each student jots down what station they participated in and why it was/was not an effective way of displaying their knowledge of Macbeth.