Visual Bridges 4.25.08
Please post a write-up of your visual bridge (what it was, how you could/can use it) by Friday, April 25.
This space is for your visual bridge. Please post the write-up for your oral bridge in the appropriate space.
posted by Bucky C. @ 11:40 AM
14 comments
14 Comments:
Amy Barnes
April 7, 2008
Dr. Carter
YA Literature
Visual Bridge
For my visual bridge assignment, I chose to bridge a traditionally-woven Mexican blanket to the young adult novel Esperanza Rising. Esperanza is a wealthy and privileged Mexican girl who is forced to immigrate to the United States after the death of her father. She is poor and humbled, but she clings to her family and her traditions. Esperanza’s grandmother taught her how to weave and gave her a piece of a blanket to finish while she is in America. Esperanza weaves the blanket and puts it over her sick mother for comfort until she is well and her grandmother joins them in the United States. Since the skill of blanket-weaving is passed down from generation to generation among Mexican women, Esperanza’s blanket symbolizes family tradition. Though she is no longer in her home, she still carries on the family traditions, and her family remains stable. I would show the blanket to my students and ask them to write and a journal entry about a special family tradition they take part in. It can be something cultural such as Chinese New Year, or something completely unique to the family, like eating Chinese on Christmas Eve, which is my personal family tradition. We would then share these family traditions with each other and discuss what the blanket, as a symbol of family tradition, might have meant to Esperanza.
Amy Dozier
Carter
ENG 418
25 April 2008
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald in a 10th grade class: There are four major locations in the story and the symbolism of each is extremely important. Sometimes the locations and the people who live there and the things that go on are difficult to keep straight. I have created tourists brochures for New York City, where the fight happens and the affair goes on, East Egg, where Daisy lives, West Egg, where Gatsby and Nick live, and the Valley of Ashes, where the poor live. All of the brochures have the same map on the inside to show the proximity from one place to another. Also, ninety percent of all the words on every brochure are quoted from the book since it gives such great descriptions. Each color and “place to watch for” are carefully chosen for each brochure and are helpful hints for the assignment. The assignment is to get into groups and from the brochure, which shows the physical geography, determine the moral geography. The students should brainstorm on the kind of people who live in that particular place, what they think goes on there, and how it is in relation to the other places based on their prior knowledge of New York in the
1920’s.
Vincent Price
Visual Bridge to OLIVE'S OCEAN
I bridged a squishy, stretchy, tentacle-having, light-up ball to Kevin Henkes’ OLIVE'S OCEAN. I explained that the ball’s several tentacles, though extending in all directions, connect at one point; despite their diverse orientations, they share one common core. This explanation will aid in the discussion of Henkes’ novel because the protagonist discovers that she is connected to more people than she originally believes, including the recently deceased Olive. In addition to being used in sharing activities to highlight commonalities among the students, the ball can also be passed around during the novel’s discussion to whoever feels that s/he has something to say.
Amanda Kinnison
Visual Bridge
For my visual bridge assignment, I decided to bridge pictures from Indian culture and way of life and also a poster board containing pictures of main characters from the novel to "The Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling. In the story, Mowlgi is a young man who is adopted by wolves in the Indian jungle and faces many trials as he matures. Later in his adventures, Mowgli visits a man village and learns their ways until he is cast out of the village for being too "beast-like". At the end, Mowgli fights off Shere Khan, the tiger menace of the jungle, and he returns home to his wolf family. Instead of bridging my poster/pictures to the story, i did just the opposite. In my classroom, I would instead present the posterboard with the character's pictures and names on it to the classroom, and ask them to glue leaves with good and bad characteristics on them, on the appropriate character. This would be a pre-reading activity. I would see what the students thought each character would be like in the novel just by them looking at the characters' pictures. I would repeat this activity after the book has been read and let them see how their decisions have changed or even stayed the same. Then I would ask the students to write a journal entry on a certain character of their chocie from the novel, describing how they thought the character would act and how the character actually acted in the novel. They could also include an entry about if they could be one of the characters, what would they change or how would they act: differently or the same.
Nyka Barganier
Green Angel by Alice Hoffman tells the story of a young girl who tragically evolves into a woman. The fairy tale like story is one that will teach students to cope with tragic issues like death. Green is the daughter in a non-traditional but loving family. She is named Green because of her amazing gardening skills and love for nature. When a tragic fire breaks out in town and kills everyone in town, green is the only survivior in her family. Green struggles to find herself and realizes through all her desperation and depression that in the end she is just Green. Nothing she has tried is going to bring her family back so she then attempts to adapt to her situation and make the best of it.
I would ask the students if they have ever experienced a tragic lost whether it is friends or family. I would expose a situation of my own, speaking about how I have lost someone as Green has. My first visual would be my bible, because my faith helps me deal with the painful situation. I would bring pictures of my loved one and encourage my students to bring pictures or other memorabilia that reminds them of the loved one. If comfortable, my students may speak about the situation or keep a journal to help cope or just write down their personal feelings. I would also bring my journal and write with them because it’s a relatable and cathartic experience for us all.
Visual Bridge:
For my visual bridge assignment, i bridged a flower with no petals on it to show how Melinda 9the main character from "Speak") to show the symbolic growth as a person. At first the flower was plain with no petals on it to show how Melinda's life was empty and that she believed that the rape was her fault. As the novel continued I would have the class come up and add the petals to the flower to show the growth in Melinda's life. The changing flower would show the class the ways in which Melinda found herself and learn to express her feelings. When the class would add a petal to the flower, we would talk about each change Melinda made in her life until the flower was fully bloomed.
Tiffany Lane
Visual Bridge to Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
For my visual bridge, I chose to create a tree with removable leaves that had journal topic/discussion questions written on each. The journal topic/discussion questions would be concealed until the student plucked the leaf from the tree. These questions can either be writing activities or group discussion starters. There are many ways to use this in the classroom. I chose the image of the tree because it is a running symbol throughout the novel. It begins as an Art Class assignment, and evolves into a metaphorical symbol for her growth as a young adult. As Melinda matures and learns more about herself, the tree becomes more elaborate and detailed. This tree can be used as a pre-reading strategy and a post-reading strategy. One idea that I had was to use it from the beginning to the end of our study of the novel, and as we got further along into our story, the journal topic/discussion questions would change and become more in depth, just like Melinda and the tree.
Regina Renot
Eng 418: Visual Bridge “The Things They Carried”
Dr. Bucky
April 15, 2008
Learning Objective:
The student will build comprehension of text (The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien) activated through a Tea Party pre-reading strategy created with a visual bridge of objects listed in text found in a rut-sack.
Motivation:
Students will get a feel of personal items that soldiers from the Vietnam War carried.
1. The things they carried were largely determined by necessity.
2. Among the necessities or near-necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wrist watches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, Military Payment Certificates, C rations, and two or three canteens of water.
3. They carried standard fatigue jackets and trousers.
4. Dave Jenson, who practiced field hygiene, carried a toothbrush, dental floss, and several hotel-sized bars of soap he’d stolen on R&R in Sydney, Australia.
5. Almost everyone humped (to carry) photographs.
6. They all carried fragmentation grenades- 14 ounces each.
7. In the first week of April, before Lavender died, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross received a good-luck charm from Martha. It was a simple pebble, an ounce at most.
8. They carried Sterno, safety-pins, trip flares, signal flares, spools of wire, razor blades, chewing tobacco, liberated joss sticks and statuettes of smiling Buddha, candles, grease pencils, The Stars and Stripes, fingernail clippers, Psy Ops leaflets, bush hats, bolos, and much more.
9. Lee Strunk carried tanning lotion.
10. They carried their own lives.
11. They carried the land itself-Vietnam, the place, the soil-a powdery orange-red dust that covered their boots and fatigues and faces.
12. They carried diseases, among them malaria and dysentery.
13. They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die.
14. They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down, it required perfect balance and posture.
15. Often, they carried each other, the wounded or weak.
16. First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey
After student are finished reading their found objects, I will ask student to speculate what the sentences mean and how they tie into each other. I will generate a classroom discussion with my students and then introduce the book, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien.
Trista Haynes
Visual Bridge
I chose to use Driving Miss Daisy for my visual bridge. Miss Daisy was an elderly woman who had wrecked too many new cars, so her son came up the idea of hiring a driver for her. She opposed the idea because she did not want her neighbors to think she was high classed. Her son, Boolie, hired an African American man named Hoke. It took Miss Daisy a while before she became used to the idea of having someone drive her around. She was hard on Hoke in the beginning but eventually they became friends. I would walk into the classroom and ask the students what or who do I remind them of. I would get the students responses and introduce the book to them that we will be reading for the week. I would come to class each day dressed diffently but still be in character. I would play the role of an old Southern woman. After finishing the play, the students would then be asked to break into groups and describe the plot, setting, characters, and themes. After gathering the answers, we would discuss the books and everyone's different opinions. The class would all make a board together, that would be displayed in the classroom. My visual bridge was used for a ninth grade class.
Brittney Penton
25 April 2008
YA Literature
Dr. Carter
Visual Bridge
For my Visual Bridge, I chose a book of Poems by Natasha Trethewey, titled, Native Guard. I took a bright orange piece of poster board, thinking that the bright color would catch students attention easily, and attached historical information. I searched for pictures of actual members of the LA Native Guard. I also found names of members and posted them on the board. I then found information about the author and posted it on the board. I also drew a picture of the states of Louisiana and Mississippi. These states were significant because the author is from Mississippi and the Native Guard that she talks about throughout the book is from Louisiana. I wrote in the states a different comment that was written in the book. One being from Walt Whitman and the other from Nina Simone. This visual bridge was more like a story starter. It was to connect the students attention to the book as well as give them an interest in the history. I did not know what the Native Guard was until this book and researching information and felt that it would be necessary to lead the students into the book with historical references and documents. The only problem that I had was that the poster board was not big enough for all the students to see clearly across the room. In my actual class room, I would either make a bulletin board with the information, or use a projector to project the information in the front of the room.
For my visual bridge assignment, I chose to bridge Shakespeare's "A Midsummers Night Dream" with a poster of the Globe Theater, which is where all the plays were performed and a self made mask which the men used to portray different characters being both male and females. The mask were made using a paper plates, glue, glitter,and markers and color pencils. I think this activity can be used in the classroom to help the students get a fill of the characters in the play.
Mary Gruenberg
Dr. Carter
YA LIT
Visual Bridge
For my visual bridge, I choose to take a pair of black fairy wings and create slips of paper with the character names of all the characters in the play of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I also wrote a small three word or less description of what that character was, and drew a picture in the background to add color and further signify the role this person played in the play.
As for its uses, I have decided that it would be a good tool in introducing the characters of the play, as well as giving the students an idea of who was going to be in the scenes we would be reading that day.
Other uses might include:
-Asking the students to predict what will happen that day based on the characters involved.
-A tool to assign who is going to read what part for the day.
-A reminder of what has gone on thus far.
There are other uses that I am sure I will come up with in the future for this visual bridge, it is quite versatile, and has any number of uses.
(I thought this had sent, but my internet was acting funny. I'm sorry.)
Eric Foster – Visual Bridge
“Esperanza Rising” by Pam Munoz Ryan
I used a paper rose as a visual bridge to Pam Munoz Ryan’s “Esperanza Rising.” Esperanza brings roses from her father’s garden in Aguascalientes, Mexico to remind her of home when she is forced to flee to California with her mother. The rose serves as a recurring symbol of Esperanza’s defeats and triumphs throughout the story. The rose itself is made of a green painted wooden crochet needle and small circular pieces of construction paper, slightly curved to resemble flower petals. However, the flower can really be made with any materials as long as it is functional and looks something like a rose. The rose petals, which have writing topics pertaining to the novel written on them, are only lightly attached to the stem as they are designed to be removed by the students. Esperanza’s feelings are primarily important in understanding her actions, motivations, and development throughout the story. The writing topics, designed from a pre-reading standpoint, would ideally be used to help the student understand Esperanza’s important feelings, but this bridge could be used for a during-reading or after-reading assignment by simply altering the writing topics.
Joseph Tenney
For my visual bridge, I used the poem by Billy Collins entitled "Colorful Boats Upturned on the Banks of the Charles". I made a bunch of different colored paper boats out of construction paper and put little slips of paper in them which had lines of the poem written on them. Then I "upturned" them on the table and I would have my students come up and choose the boats one by one at random. Then the students would attempt to piece together the poem line by line and even come up with some poetry on their own with the lines of poetry that they already have.
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