Student work so often dies on the teacher’s desk. A project that took dozens of hours, and led to the creation of a beautiful artefact is handed in, given a mark, and discarded. Every year hundreds of student hours, per teacher, create meaningful projects only to see them recycled or thrown out, never given a … Continue reading Making Projects Meaningful
LITERACY SKILLS are the key, transferable skills required to process, and understand the multitude of TEXTS we encounter every day. From VISUAL to AUDITORY, from video games to novels, we rely on our skills to make meaning and ascertain messages. Like all skills, they must be developed, honed, and practiced. One of the best ways to INTRODUCE or REINFORCE these skills with your students in … Continue reading Literacy Skills: Short Stories
Formal essays, and short writing pieces can often leave students grasping to understand why their assessment doesn't match their expectations. This is because there are a number of common mistakes that students make. In a number of cases, this isn't even their fault as, often, they aren't even taught to look for them. Here are FIVE common … Continue reading Common Essay Problems – Formal Writing
The best way to demonstrate that you understand something is to explain it to someone else. Allow students the opportunity to demonstrate that they understand a concept by flipping expectations and allow them to create assignments rather than complete them. Introduction This lesson focuses on having students READ A SHORT STORY and then break into small groups (I … Continue reading Teaching Literacy Skills through Assignment Creation
Literary / Poetic devices are used throughout both fiction and non-fiction to add depth, understanding, and beauty to otherwise dreary prose. Students need to have an understanding of the devices, as well as how they're used, before they develop the ability to appreciate the author's careful crafting. The Top Ten Devices MetaphorSimileAlliterationHyperboleImagery OnomatopoeiaSymbolRepetitionAllusionPersonification Teaching the … Continue reading Top 10 Key Literary Devices
Students need to be empowered to become agents of change in the world. Digital communication and social media are powerful tools that our students are already familiar with; showing them how to utilize these tools to enact real change allows them to reshape the media landscape that surrounds them. Having already looked at targetted writing … Continue reading Gender Lesson: Reshaping Gender Normative Roles
Advertisers constantly push messages at our students. Our students need to learn how to push back at the advertisers. Having already presented on the importance of creating better advertisements, this lesson will encourage them to take on a Role, select an Audience, choose a Format, and finally select a Topic as they write a piece … Continue reading Gender Lesson: The Gender R.A.F.T. Assignment
It's important that students know how to identify and name problematic messaging in the media they consume. From Facebook to Twitter to Television and Websites, our students view hundreds of advertisements a day. Having already seen how problematic messaging exists in the media we consume, in our past lesson, this lesson will arm our students … Continue reading Gender Lesson: Using the Media Triangle to Annotate Advertisements
Advertisements often have problematic gender messaging; however, advertisements can also be used to combat negative messaging, drawing attention to problematic norms. Building on the negative messaging from The Past is Present - Part 1 students should have a strong notion of the problematic messages that are inherenant in media pieces, and gendered advertisements. This lesson will … Continue reading Gender Lesson: The Past is Present – Part 2
Ads from past generations had problematic messaging. This has not changed. The negative gender normative messages will be addressed in this lesson. Having already familiarized students with the concepts raised from The Gender Box, and enhanced through the study of the short story X: A Fabulous Child's Story it's time to take those concepts and use them … Continue reading Gender Lesson: The Past is Present – Part 1
What Binder Education 