ENGL 235 Blog Posts

 This unit had a heavy emphasis on technology and how important/large of a role it plays in society, especially for our youths. The first article we covered is called Unearthing the Problem: Social Emotional Learning in the High School Classroom. This was a very interesting article as it addressed the use of cellphones (or technology in general) and how much our use of them impacts our lives and gets in the way of our goals. The author talks about a time they worked with their students to analyze their cellphone use, and had the students come up with personal goals that they wanted to accomplish in relation to using the technology less or getting rid of certain apps, in order to focus on certain goals that they had and were struggling to achieve (less time spent on the phone, read more books, get grades up/study more, etc.). The teacher also joined the students in this activity, making sure not to keep themselves out of it and seeming like they themselves were not struggling with s...

 For this unit, we addressed using process drama within the classroom to help students comprehend literature and lessons, and to help them make it their own. We covered several different articles, all of which I will break down and talk about how I can use them in my future classes. The first article is called Using Drama Strategies to Foster Interpretation. This article addresses numerous ways in which teachers can utilize drama within their classroom, providing both specific types of drama and the activities that can be done with them. This includes hot-seating, role-playing, discussion dramas, and tableaux vivant to name just a few. Each type is defined in detail, noting exactly how the individual activity type benefits the students differently than the others. The article talks about the benefits of drama towards cultural understanding, students utilizing information from their text more personally, and how the involved process of having students act out as characters helps bui...