When I want to get my children to do something I ask them to pretend they are some kind of animal, or do a silly move, or sing a song, or be the parent. Each time they become so engulfed in the playing that they don't mind doing what I ask. My favorite is when they pretend to be the parent. Through their acting I can see what they truly understand and have learned from my husband and I. They are comprehending more that we know and it is through acting it out that I can see this the most. My children are only 2 and 4 years old. I didn't read a book to learn how to do this, but I simply thought I was being a creative parent. None the less, according to Wilhelm, enactments are simply this: "imagining to learn". The same thing that I do with my own children can be done in the classroom to get kids involved in reading a text. It is so engaging that they don't even realize they are learning. In his book, Wilhelm quotes a fellow colleague who says, "It was as if the drama helped enact a rite of passage and transformation in how they read and how they were affected by their reading." (p.58). With enactments, students begin to see how they are apart of the story. In the article we read on transactional literature, the author states that reading does not occur until the reader reads it. It is only words and it becomes a story with meaning after the interaction with the reader. Enactments help to do this; bring the story to life to create meaning.
This chapter outlines specific strategies to be used in the classroom. It is a book that you would refer to daily throughout your teaching career. Each strategy has many different parts and forces students to use higher level thinking skills to understand the text. They are not simply recalling facts at a knowledge level, but tapping into prior knowledge to build comprehension. Through the strategies they: enter a role, respond to situations through a perspective, enliven the story and facts, infer, elaborate, and reflect (Wilhelm, p.61). By doing this through acting students get deeper then they would alone on a piece of paper.
I love how these activities make learning more social than the average classroom. It brings the real world into class and encourages collaboration. Many of the enactments ask students to play the role of someone in real life (a writer, photographer, reporter, police officer, etc.) By doing this, students are expected to research and learn what these people do actually know. The role playing piece gives a whole new sense of motivation to research and learning.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Making the Connection: Enactments to Use Before Reading
Enactments can be used like any teaching method to tap into prior knowledge in order to help students make connections between new material and things they already know. To be literate for content area reading, students need background knowledge in the subject or a teacher willing to help them make the connections to any other prior knowledge they do have. With a newly developed secondary discourse in that content area or topic they can move towards fluency or mushfake to learn and understand.
According to Wilhelm's research, "the most important and powerful time to teach is before students read" (p. 33). I think that too often many teachers jump into an assignment just hoping that everyone will understand and do it perfectly, to only find a lot of confusion. The teacher then tries to teach in the midst of the reading. Therefore, when using enactments it is important for the teacher to clearly understand what they are trying to teach and what they want their students to learn. This is called framing. As Wilhelm writes, "framing simply means that the students understand how the work will proceed and what is expected of them" (p. 33). In the framing time, the teacher would make the situation and the roles clear, as well as, explain that the students will be required to find out, establish, or make something during the enactment. Thus, giving the whole process a purpose for learning.
While working with enactments, Wilhelm uses frontloading activities to build the prior knowledge. His book lists many unique ways for kids to interact with a story through frontloading. The ones I found most interesting were:
According to Wilhelm's research, "the most important and powerful time to teach is before students read" (p. 33). I think that too often many teachers jump into an assignment just hoping that everyone will understand and do it perfectly, to only find a lot of confusion. The teacher then tries to teach in the midst of the reading. Therefore, when using enactments it is important for the teacher to clearly understand what they are trying to teach and what they want their students to learn. This is called framing. As Wilhelm writes, "framing simply means that the students understand how the work will proceed and what is expected of them" (p. 33). In the framing time, the teacher would make the situation and the roles clear, as well as, explain that the students will be required to find out, establish, or make something during the enactment. Thus, giving the whole process a purpose for learning.
While working with enactments, Wilhelm uses frontloading activities to build the prior knowledge. His book lists many unique ways for kids to interact with a story through frontloading. The ones I found most interesting were:
- Trigger Letters
- Mantle-of-Expert Writing
- Trigger Letter and Role Play
- Tableaux
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Learning With My Students: Show Me, Help Me, Let Me
When I entered my first classroom at Lincoln Middle School
Over the four years, I attended seminars and took classes toward a Master’s degree in Special Education to learn how to better serve my students. I develop and two year series of curriculum units that were individualized for each student. Most importantly, I included what Wilhelm calls enactment strategies. While simultaneously teaching a drama class, my first year, I learned to use many of the same activities with my gifted students. In the gifted curriculum, the highlight of the 2 year series was mock trials. These real life reenactments of a court room, taught me and the students so much as the court system. Because I entered the gifted education world as a novice I was more apt to learn from the students. I honestly felt like I had nothing to teach them. In fact, I constantly asked them to show my how things worked. These students had been in the gifted education program for much of their lives. I saw my job as an opportunity to guide them to be the best people they could be with the gifts that they had.
Enactments are used in teaching to get kids involved in the learning. Teachers even learn better this way. When a teacher is taught how to do something they will understand it, but it makes so much more sense when it is "discovered in concert with teacher practice" (Wilhelm, 2002). This idea of learning while doing is very similar to Gee's theory of Discourse and the process of enculturation when learning a secondary Discourse. In all things, I believe one can learn in a classroom, but it is always more fun and easier to learn by doing. That is the idea behind using enactment strategies in the classroom. Enactments help the teacher to "explicitly guide [students] to do new things" (Wilhelm, p.20) instead of simply delivering information at them. Wilhelm continues to explain how good teachers learn along with their students; to "teach them in an area in which teacher and students can play, and build, and learn together" (p.20). Wilhelm uses Lev Vygotsky to base much of his theory for using enactments. Vygotsky bases his theory on the idea of a zone of proximal development in which students can do something with the proper assistance. The ZPD is very similar to a dominant Discourse that Gee explains in his Discourse theory.
Over the four years, I attended seminars and took classes toward a Master’s degree in Special Education to learn how to better serve my students. I develop and two year series of curriculum units that were individualized for each student. Most importantly, I included what Wilhelm calls enactment strategies. While simultaneously teaching a drama class, my first year, I learned to use many of the same activities with my gifted students. In the gifted curriculum, the highlight of the 2 year series was mock trials. These real life reenactments of a court room, taught me and the students so much as the court system. Because I entered the gifted education world as a novice I was more apt to learn from the students. I honestly felt like I had nothing to teach them. In fact, I constantly asked them to show my how things worked. These students had been in the gifted education program for much of their lives. I saw my job as an opportunity to guide them to be the best people they could be with the gifts that they had.
Enactments are used in teaching to get kids involved in the learning. Teachers even learn better this way. When a teacher is taught how to do something they will understand it, but it makes so much more sense when it is "discovered in concert with teacher practice" (Wilhelm, 2002). This idea of learning while doing is very similar to Gee's theory of Discourse and the process of enculturation when learning a secondary Discourse. In all things, I believe one can learn in a classroom, but it is always more fun and easier to learn by doing. That is the idea behind using enactment strategies in the classroom. Enactments help the teacher to "explicitly guide [students] to do new things" (Wilhelm, p.20) instead of simply delivering information at them. Wilhelm continues to explain how good teachers learn along with their students; to "teach them in an area in which teacher and students can play, and build, and learn together" (p.20). Wilhelm uses Lev Vygotsky to base much of his theory for using enactments. Vygotsky bases his theory on the idea of a zone of proximal development in which students can do something with the proper assistance. The ZPD is very similar to a dominant Discourse that Gee explains in his Discourse theory.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Action Strategies for Deepening Comprehension
Action Strategies for Deepening Comprehension: Role Plays, Text-Structure, Tableaux, Talking Statues, and Other Enactment Techniques That Engage Students With Text
By Jeffery D. Wilhelm Ph.D.
After reading only the introduction to this book, I am excited. The strategies used by the teachers in this book remind me so much of my classroom. It has been two years since I last taught in a classroom and I forgot how much I loved it. I am very glad that I chose to read this book, because the information in it will be useful for my career in the future. I can also see myself using it with the youth group I work with, and in teaching my own children.
The introduction discusses the issue of motivating readers by using enactment strategies. While teaching gifted students at the middle school level, I found myself using many of these strategies. While in my undergrad, I tried to use every creative technique that I heard of to motivate my at-risk students. Gifted kids don't seem to fit the mold of at-risk students, but research (and my own experience) shows that indeed they are.
Enactments help students, especially those at-risk, to "imagine to learn". Here are the benefits of using enactments strategies:
-make reading a transformative experience
-can be used flexibly
-assist students before, during and after reading
-harness the power of the social nature of learning
-invite students to think and imagine
-are motivating
-help students achieve a state of "flow"
The best part of enactments is that they are active and fun, therefore, students don't even realize they are learning. According to the classroom instruction of Keene & Zimmerman, literacy means not just reading at the surface level, but true comprehension and the ability to determine importance. Therefore, Wilhelm's book on enactments is written to help teachers guide students to comprehension. It is a very hands on approach to learning. James Gee, in his Discourse theory, also agrees that literacy can not be learned explicitly, but only acquired from apprentice situations. Wilhelm strives to give students real life situations to work with in his classroom through his various enactment strategies.
By Jeffery D. Wilhelm Ph.D.
After reading only the introduction to this book, I am excited. The strategies used by the teachers in this book remind me so much of my classroom. It has been two years since I last taught in a classroom and I forgot how much I loved it. I am very glad that I chose to read this book, because the information in it will be useful for my career in the future. I can also see myself using it with the youth group I work with, and in teaching my own children.
The introduction discusses the issue of motivating readers by using enactment strategies. While teaching gifted students at the middle school level, I found myself using many of these strategies. While in my undergrad, I tried to use every creative technique that I heard of to motivate my at-risk students. Gifted kids don't seem to fit the mold of at-risk students, but research (and my own experience) shows that indeed they are.
Enactments help students, especially those at-risk, to "imagine to learn". Here are the benefits of using enactments strategies:
-make reading a transformative experience
-can be used flexibly
-assist students before, during and after reading
-harness the power of the social nature of learning
-invite students to think and imagine
-are motivating
-help students achieve a state of "flow"
The best part of enactments is that they are active and fun, therefore, students don't even realize they are learning. According to the classroom instruction of Keene & Zimmerman, literacy means not just reading at the surface level, but true comprehension and the ability to determine importance. Therefore, Wilhelm's book on enactments is written to help teachers guide students to comprehension. It is a very hands on approach to learning. James Gee, in his Discourse theory, also agrees that literacy can not be learned explicitly, but only acquired from apprentice situations. Wilhelm strives to give students real life situations to work with in his classroom through his various enactment strategies.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Writing a Blog
I have always loved to write.
Since I was a young girl, I have enjoyed writing for myself. At times when writing was required and the topic was chosen by others, I strongly disliked writing. Therefore, when I discovered the blog world, I was immediately excited about the opportunity to write about my life in a way that will preserve the memories forever. There were no rules, no guidelines, just the blank text box with limitless possibilities for filling it. It is amazing how typing into a blog text box is so much less intimidating than typing in a Word document. I am freed by the blog itself and, therefore, my words flow more freely. Over the past two years, I have kept myself (and at times, others) up to date with my little family of four through my pictures and words. I have created two blog books for sake of memories beyond the Internet world.
Again, I love to write, and I write best after a lot of reading. This is good, because I love to read. But the problem is, the more I read the good writing that is suppose to inspire me to write, the less I feel prepared to write. I tend to get into times of not writing and it is difficult for me to start again.
I have recently become obsessed with reading through the blogging world. But all these other blogging moms can write about the details of their lives in such interesting ways. I don't feel like I can live up to their standard. So, I am tried of being intimated by the blogging moms that I admire. Instead, I want to write more. I want to continue to read good books that challenge me in my life. And I want to write about the things I experience and learn.
My two favorite blogs are Flower Patch Farm Girl and A Holy Experience. Both of these women are the most amazing writers. I am always inspired after reading their posts. They write about their own lives in such a vivid and poetic way. They are moms like myself and, therefore, the topics they choose to write about interest me as well. These blog entries are not short and sweet, but full of the most important information on the topic, written in such an interesting way. I can sense the freedom that they feel when blogging. Both of these women have created a following and therefore advanced their blogs to include relationships with other mom’s in the blogosphere. They are creating a name for themselves in a way that without the internet would be much more difficult.
Since I was a young girl, I have enjoyed writing for myself. At times when writing was required and the topic was chosen by others, I strongly disliked writing. Therefore, when I discovered the blog world, I was immediately excited about the opportunity to write about my life in a way that will preserve the memories forever. There were no rules, no guidelines, just the blank text box with limitless possibilities for filling it. It is amazing how typing into a blog text box is so much less intimidating than typing in a Word document. I am freed by the blog itself and, therefore, my words flow more freely. Over the past two years, I have kept myself (and at times, others) up to date with my little family of four through my pictures and words. I have created two blog books for sake of memories beyond the Internet world.
Again, I love to write, and I write best after a lot of reading. This is good, because I love to read. But the problem is, the more I read the good writing that is suppose to inspire me to write, the less I feel prepared to write. I tend to get into times of not writing and it is difficult for me to start again.
I have recently become obsessed with reading through the blogging world. But all these other blogging moms can write about the details of their lives in such interesting ways. I don't feel like I can live up to their standard. So, I am tried of being intimated by the blogging moms that I admire. Instead, I want to write more. I want to continue to read good books that challenge me in my life. And I want to write about the things I experience and learn.
My two favorite blogs are Flower Patch Farm Girl and A Holy Experience. Both of these women are the most amazing writers. I am always inspired after reading their posts. They write about their own lives in such a vivid and poetic way. They are moms like myself and, therefore, the topics they choose to write about interest me as well. These blog entries are not short and sweet, but full of the most important information on the topic, written in such an interesting way. I can sense the freedom that they feel when blogging. Both of these women have created a following and therefore advanced their blogs to include relationships with other mom’s in the blogosphere. They are creating a name for themselves in a way that without the internet would be much more difficult.
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