Margaret Peacock, a high school teacher of English and Language Arts, uses the VVWA to preview important vocabulary within Romeo and Juliet.
video length: 8:29
Eight minutes & twenty-nine seconds to teach "vex."
"We do this because not everyone is a verbal learner."
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VVWA template (pdf file)
Are there "visual learner" and "verbal learner" classes? I know it's a snide remark, but I've rarely seen an "innovation" (read "fad") in education which raises the expectations for students.
ReplyDeletecranberry said: " I've rarely seen an "innovation" (read "fad") in education which raises the expectations for students."
ReplyDeleteOh, but it does! Now you can assess whether students can draw "vex" as well as say it! Now, I still think using it in a sentence would be more useful. It would even be more useful for my daughter who who may be a really non verbal learner (she's being tested to check for auditory processing problems. She is a good reader, though.)
Oh, and my nit picking tendencies are coming through: The teacher says that Shakespeare wrote in old english. Old English looks like this:
"Ond for his leoþsongum monigra mona mod oft to worulde forhogdnisse ond to geþeodnisse þæs heofonlice lifes onbærnde wæron." ( a random sentence from Caedmon's Hymn)
It is a completely different language.
Shakespeare spoke modern english. Granted, he wrote before spelling was standardized, but it is not old english.
Oh, and my nit picking tendencies are coming through: The teacher says that Shakespeare wrote in old english.
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU FOR THAT!
When I heard her say "old English," I thought, "What?"
Hey, visual learners, no need to draw, just look at my face for the meaning of the word "vex."
ReplyDeleteSusanS
I agree! I picked up the old English thing too, but I thought to hold back my nit picking. An aside about the roots of the words would have been interesting, and added to the value of the lesson, but of course that would have been most valuable for "verbal learners."
ReplyDeleteI'm a caffeinated northeastern girl, but does the lesson seem oddly slow in pace to you? I can applaud the new visual tools though, because it should make it impossible for a parent to pretend that his child's high school classes are rigorous.
I know this is unfair, but I'm actually feeling a bit of schadenfraude over English classes being gutted to accommodate visual learners the way math classes had been gutted accommodate verbal learners. Now, if we can just get art classes to accomodate quantitative learners, we'll have created the perfect circle of futility.
ReplyDeleteKif, we have a conundrum.
The lesson is bizarrely slow.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher sounds as if she's speaking to English language learners or perhaps to students with significant learning disabilities (?)
Very strange.
I once sent an email around the district saying that if we were going to have ELA and social studies in math we needed to have the same amount of math in ELA and social studies.
ReplyDeleteMy district seems to have virtually no interest in math whatsoever.
It's all "literacy."
[My district seems to have virtually no interest in math whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteIt's all "literacy."]
It's the same everywhere else. Tons of literacy coaches and experts. Nothing for math. Math is a reluctant sideline noticed only because it is a component of NCLB.
A parent recently asked administration why we didn't have a "resident mathematician" considering we have a "resident writer". They don't know. They just do.
ReplyDeleteClearly, math and science are at the bottom of the totem pole.