An Ode to John Green, Part 2: The Videos

It's been a while!

This semester's been a little bit crazy.  I just got finished with my first ever unit plan (that is, 25 lesson plans complete with final assessments, a syllabus, a calendar, etc. etc. etc.), as well as a 20 page scholarly paper that I'm actually looking to get published in a journal . . . so, that's excited.

Anyway, I hope you can understand why my little blog has gotten a little less love than it might deserve.

But I am back with a vengeance, and by a vengeance, I mean more teaching ideas that really excite me.  I've already posted one part about John Green--now on to part two, his lovely, wonderful videos.

Read about 'em after the break.

An Ode to John Green, Part 1: The Novels

I would have to argue that John Green is one of the most inspirational and motivational people who are currently alive.  Other than my friends, my family, and my wonderful, loving boyfriend, I have never encountered someone who has so quickly and thoroughly inspired me to 1.) be happy, 2.) dedicate a good amount of my life to making other people happy, and 3.) see that the world is an incredible place, filled with amazing people and amazing possibilities.  However, what I really want to discuss on this blog is something I hope so much to be able to use one day in my classroom: I hope to use his amazing, beautiful novels, and I'd like to tell you why you should, too.

More after the break.

Lesson Plan 2: Gatsby Socratic Seminar

I love Socratic seminars.
When I was in my Junior AP English class, Socratic seminars were unanimously the best days of the class--and we had an awesome "Gatsby Party" at the end of our The Great Gatsby unit, complete with food and music.  We loved Socratic seminars, and I am so excited to use them in my classes.
If you don't know what a Socratic seminar is, I really, really suggest looking into them.  One way you could is by checking out my newest lesson plan, which is designed as a pre-assignment to a final paper on the escapism of characters from The Great Gatsby.  I included all of the handouts needed for the lesson plan, as well as detailed instructions, so hopefully it will help if you've never done a Socratic seminar in your classroom.
If you have heard of Socratic seminars, and maybe even used them . . . well, maybe give mine a shot, too?  If anyone does, please, please discuss the results in the comments for this post!

Lesson Plan #1: Extra Credit Gaming

I'm currently in a class largely focused on creating lesson plans, which is something I've only done in a casual, untrained way.  Well, not anymore.  Using TaskStream, we had an assignment to create our first lesson plan, and let me just say, I'm kind of proud.

Details and a link to the lesson plan after the break.

Sans Comic Sans 1: Shakespeare

One of the things I do hope to accomplish with this blog is to show how you can teach with fun, creative fonts that aren't the worst things ever.  Let me lay down some ground rules about how I always pick out fonts.

1. Your font should be easy to read.  No font should be so ornate that it takes you more than a second to realize what is even being said.
2. Do not ever, ever use kitsch fonts with flowers or snowmen or anything, unless maybe you're teaching elementary.  These fonts are terrible.  Please never use them.
3. Do not use Comic Sans, clearly.  It's immature, and silly, and awful.
4. Do not use Papyrus.  Not only is it just a really terrible font, students can now make Avatar jokes about it.
5. Try to avoid Arial.  There are so many other sans serif fonts out there that look so much nicer.  I'm actually a pretty big fan of Calibri.  Arial is not only instantly recognizable, it's also sort of garishly stark.
6. Also try to avoid Times New Roman.  The font is used so often for essays that it's hard to see it as an actual typeface.  Try Garamond instead; it's classic for good reason.
7. Don't use Trajan.  The entire time, students will just be wondering what movie poster they've seen it on.
8. Don't be afraid to try fonts that are fun and different.  Just, you know, be classy about it.

That being said, I really enjoy putting certain fonts to certain types of literature.  For my final project in an undergrad Shakespeare class, I actually did a font book for main characters from all of the plays we read that semester.  It was incredibly fun.  I'll definitely be using some of them here.  I'm going to run through the plays I think are most commonly taught, and only ones I've read.  I also won't be doing Romeo and Juliet; there are just too many takes on it, and I can't decide.  Hopefully, you can get some ideas for how to make handouts look nicer without having to resort to anything awful.
Examples after the break.

On the subject of my nose piercing

Most of the women in my family have their noses pierced.  My oldest sister, Kathleen, got hers as a "surprise" for her then-fiancee-now-husband, meaning that he had asked her time and again not to get it, but she decided to anyway.  My middle sister, Kelly, got hers in one of her multitudinous fits of rebellion that would later result in a small, small career as a tattoo and piercing model for Club Tattoo--a poster of her hung on the wall when I got pierced.  My aunt has her nose pierced; my extremely close family friends Keera and Amber have their noses pierced; and the only reason my very, very close friend Karilyn doesn't have one is that her nose is the most adorable cartoon button of a thing, and even putting the smallest jewel on it would wind up looking silly.  My mom doesn't have a nose piercing, but she does really, really want a tattoo.  Tattoos are never anything I'd be interested in, but like my sisters, I resigned myself to getting pierced in a fit of rebellion, as the only thing I could think of to feel better.

A note on "sans Comic Sans"

I have never been a fan of Comic Sans.

I think Comic Sans is essentially the cheesiest font out there.  The worst thing about it is its proliferation; Comic Sans is everywhere, especially in schools.  Teachers seem to love Comic Sans.  They slap it on everything from syllabuses to homework assignments.  Let me just tell you, dear reader, I am not going to teach with Comic Sans.
But the title of this blog isn't just about the font itself.  The title also means that when I teach, I would love to teach in a way that is innovative and new in small ways.  This isn't a blog about the most groundbreaking debates on how the public schools system is broken/dying/sickly/horrible/etc., but a blog about semi-quirky assignments and lesson plans.  I want to teach my students like I wanted to be taught.  I don't know if I'll ever be able to use the ideas I post here, and that's fine, but I hope they at least get me thinking more creatively about my future classrooms--and maybe they'll do the same for you, too, dear reader.