Out of the Box Teaching:
Innovative Strategies for the
Language Arts Classroom
Lindsay Bowley, M. Ed.
lindsay.bowley@cherokee.k12.ga.us
Lindsay Bowley, M. Ed.
• 8th Grade Language Arts
Teacher at Creekland Middle
School in Canton, Georgia
• Involved with the Kennesaw
Mountain Writing Project, an
affiliate of the National Writing
Project
• 2013-2014 Cherokee County
Teacher of the Year
• One of seven winners of the
Governor’s Office of Student
Achievement's Innovation in
Teaching Competition
Transform Your Learning Environment
Language. Is. Music.
Transform Your Learning Environment
Language. Is. Music.
Transform Your Learning Environment
CSI Lesson
Transform Your Learning Environment
CSI Lesson
Transform Your Learning Environment
Masquerade Lesson
Transform Your Learning Environment
Masquerade Lesson
Transform Your Learning Environment
Emergency Room Lesson
Dear Parents,
I am hatching a plan for a fun activity in language
arts class, and I would LOVE to have your help!
Next Friday, I want to transform my classroom into
a hospital operating room! My plan is to bring in
"broken" sentences that need commas or have
comma mistakes and ask students to "operate" on
them in order to bring them back to grammatical
health! My vision for the room is in the attached
picture. In order to do this, I was wondering if any
of you who work in the medical field have the
following that you wouldn't mind sending in:
1. Non-latex gloves
2. Masks (the kind that cover the nose and mouth)
3. Scrubs (cloth or paper)
4. Lab coats
5. Disposable aluminum tin foil pans
6. White sheets***
7. Blue paper material to cover the operating tables
8. Bath caps to cover hair
If you can think of any more items that might make
my lesson realistic, please let me know! Thank you
in advance for your help and support. I would love
to have items in by Tuesday of next week.
Transform Your Learning Environment
Emergency Room Lesson
Transform Your Task’s Purpose
Do Something Now! Project
Authentic Situation:
Bonus Opportunities:
You have been selected as the
representative from your nonprofit organization to give a five
minute presentation to a charity
guild. This guild will hear from
several organizations, with each
one being given only five
minutes to speak. The members
of the guild will then donate a
pool of money to the most
persuasive non-profit
representative.
• Include tangible props.
• Include a video clip.
• Give out hand-outs.
• Actually volunteer or mobilize
the class to raise money.
Transform Your Task’s Purpose
Business Plan Project
Authentic Situation:
•
Students work in teams or
individually to design a small
business.
• The team creates:
▫
an advertisement using persuasive
strategies
▫ a detailed business plan containing
financial projections and a budget
▫ a two-minute pitch.
• A panel of business men and women
will award $50.00 “seed money” to
the group with the most impressive
pitch.
Transform Your Task’s Purpose
Business Plan Project
Transform Your Task’s Purpose
Business Plan Project
The Great Shake:
• Eye contact
• Body posture
• Ability to communicate in a
way that makes sense (no
pauses, “ummms”, etc..)
• Confidence
• Firm Handshake
Transform Your Task’s Purpose
Business Plan Project
Transform Your Go-To Resources
Movie Trailers: Scary Mary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T5_0AGdFic
Transform Your Go-To Resources
Movie Trailers: Sleepless in Seattle and Shining
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frUPnZMxr08
•
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfout_rgPSA
Transform Your Go-To Resources
Comparing Song Covers
“Heartless” by Kanye West
vs.
“Heartless” by Kris Allen
Questions to Consider:
• What is the story behind
Kanye’s breakup?
• How does he communicate that
story through music?
“Hey Ya” by Obadiah Parker
vs.
“Hey Ya” by Outkast
• How does Kanye currently feel?
• What is the story behind Kris’
breakup?
• How does Kris feel now?
• How does he communicate his
feelings through music?
Transform Your Go-To Resources
Song Lyrics
“Love Story” by Taylor Swift
“Baby” by Justin Bieber
We were both young when I first saw you.
I close my eyes, and the flashback starts,
I'm standing there,
On the balcony in summer air.
Ohh wooaah (3x)
I see the lights, see the party, the ball gowns.
See you make your way through the crowd,
And say, "Hello",
Little did I know,
That you were Romeo,
You were throwing pebbles,
And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet."
And I was crying on the staircase,
Begging you, "Please don't go".
And I said,
"Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone.
I'll be waiting, all that's left to do is run.
You be the prince, and I'll be the princess,
It's a love story, baby, just say, 'yes'."
You know you love me. I know you care
Just shout whenever, and I'll be there.
You want my love, You want my heart
And we will never ever ever be apart
Are we an item? Girl quit playing.
We’re just friends. What are you saying?
Said there’s another. Look right in my eyes.
My first love broke my heart for the first time,
And I was like
Baby, baby, baby ohhh
Transform Your Go-To Resources
Monster Poem
“Monster” by Skillet
The secret side of me, I never let you see
I keep it caged but I can't control it
So stay away from me, the beast is ugly
I feel the rage and I just can't hold it
It's scratching on the walls, in the closet, in the
halls
It comes awake and I can't control it
Hiding under the bed, in my body, in my head
Why won't somebody come and save me from
this, make it end?
I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin
I must confess that I feel like a monster
I hate what I've become, the nightmare's just
begun
I must confess that I feel like a monster
Student Example 1
The monster inside me was slowly
destroying me.
He was never my friend, always out to hurt
me.
He would look at me with those glossy eyes
and act as if I was his own,
He was like the devil, always hurting me.
He is as cold as ice.
He looked at me as if I was a punching bag,
his own personal hitting toy.
His words sank into my heart and it was in
pieces like broken glass.
His words were death to me.
The abuse was over but the pain was still
there.
The monster left when I was 6 but the pain
he has caused will never be forgotten.
My monster was my mother’s old boyfriend
Jordan.
Transform Your Go-To Resources
“WING$” Music Video
“WING$” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis
We want what we can't have, commodity makes us want it
A hundred dollars for a pair of shoes I would never hoop in
Look at me, look at me, I'm a cool kid
I'm an individual, yeah, but I'm part of a movement
My movement told me be a consumer and I consumed it
They told me to just do it, I listened to what that swoosh said
Look at what that swoosh did
See it consumed my thoughts
Are you stupid, don't crease 'em, just leave 'em in that box
Strangled by these laces, laces I can barely talk
That's my air bubble and I'm lost if it pops
We are what we wear, we wear what we are
But see I look inside the mirror and think Phil Knight tricked us all
Will I stand for change or stay in my box
These Nikes help me define me, but I'm trying to take mine, off
Support one of the following using
personal experience, “WING$”, or
the video on Antoine Walker.
STATEMENTS:
• Image isn’t everything.
• Money doesn’t buy happiness.
• Brands don’t define a person.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAg
3uMlNyHA
Transform Your Go-To Resources
Karaoke “Royals” Character Study
I've never seen ______________ in the flesh
I (PERSONAL EXPERIENCE) (PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE with LOCATION)
And I'm not proud of ___________________________
In a (AJD, LOCATION), no (NOUN ) envy
But every (noun) is like (ADJ, NOUN),(NOUN), (VERB) in the (LOCATION)
(ADJ, NOUN),(NOUN), (VERB) in the (LOCATION)
We don't care, we're (VERB, DIRECT OBJECT) in our dreams.
But everybody's like (NOUN),(NOUN), (NOUN, ADV PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE)
We don't care, we aren't caught up in your _______________________.
And we'll never be ________________.
It don't run in our blood,
That kind of ____________ just ain't for us.
We ______________________(phrase that rhymes with “us”).
Let me be your ________________
You can call me _________________
And (person) I'll __________.
Let me live that fantasy.
Transform Your Go-To Resources
Rapping “The Raven”
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore -
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door Only this and nothing more."
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; -vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow -sorrow for the lost Lenore For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore Nameless here for evermore.
Transform Your Go-To Resources
“Strange Fruit”
Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop
Transform Your Classroom Culture
Add Volume
• Applause
after the game ended we
went home exhausted
• Drumming
• Musical Instruments
I wanted to purchase tickets
for you but you already
bought them.
The theme park is in olando
florida.
Transform Your Classroom Culture
Build Community
• Foster classroom unity and
team spirit.
• Model and participate in
activities alongside your
students.
• Create classroom writing and
sharing rituals.
• Teach students how to
positively respond to one
another.