Before my return to the regularly scheduled posts about my favorite blended learning tools (seeBlending Discussion: Using Technology to Enhance Student Voice and Audience), I wanted to share my Halloween plans and plug Kasey Bell’s awesome Halloween Magnetic Poetry activity.
As an English teacher, I usually love the opportunity to bring in some scary stories for Halloween week, with a focus on Poe, Lovecraft, and other favorites. Last year, though, I came across Kasey’s activity at the last minute and fell in love. I gave my students the choice between the Magnetic Poetry and a story, and they chose the poetry, too.
Sometimes I feel that my students don’t have enough opportunity to be creative and artistic in my class, and while no one day activity will solve that problem, this was a great start. Using the Google Drawings template, we created found poems, learned how to edit and filter our search for images, and shared our poems on Twitter and our Community.
This year, I’m building on Kasey’s template to ask students to tell stories of conflict or with figurative language to stretch their creative and poetic muscles that aren’t enough of a focus in English 10.
Here’s my Slide Deck for the lesson:
After they post their poems, I’ll ask students to vote on the most creative and scariest use of images and literary elements. And maybe there will be some candy involved. I’m looking forward to another fun Halloween lesson and am thankful to Kasey for sharing her work.
Find Kasey’s post with the template here: Halloween Magnetic Poetry with Google Drawings!
cross posted at www.aschoenbart.com
Adam Schoenbart is a high school English teacher, Google Education Trainer, and EdD candidate in Educational Leadership. He teaches grades 10-12 in a 1:1 Chromebook classroom at Ossining High School in Westchester County, NY and received the 2014 LHRIC Teacher Pioneer Award for innovative uses of technology that change teaching and learning. Read more at The SchoenBlog and connect on Twitter @MrSchoenbart.
