As educators, we need to teach in the affective domain. We need to get our students involved and interested in the literature we are reading. We want to appeal to their feelings and obtain some type of emotional response. When I was in middle school, I had a teacher who motivated our class to read and got us thinking in an affective manner. During history, she had us read Anne Frank's diary. We really felt like we were there during that time period. I remember being angry, sad, and scared just like the character. I was really focused on the literature and the book reinforced what we were learning about the war and Holocaust. The teacher had created many activities to tie the book into what we were learning. She had us think critically and even re-enact parts of the diary to appeal to our creative sides.
Teaching in the affective domain made me think about a movie I recently watched. Has anybody seen The Freedom Writers? The teacher used books that were on her students' reading level and that were relatable to their lives. Then she could use the book to teach grammar, syntax, vocabulary, etc. She was even able to encourage her students to write about their own stories!
Affective teaching is all about the students learning. You want to choose good literature to motivate them. Good teachers determine their students' prior knowledge before assigning reading and either provide good background information to the students to help prepare them or build upon the knowledge they already have. KWL charts are excellent ways to do this. Students can brainstorm and create webs. You could even do it in a less formal way such as a class discussion or debate! I found this to be especially crucial in areas like history. I seem to always be lagging in that area when I was in school! Background information is crucial to helping create the setting and really getting an understanding of the issues facing characters at that time.
Technology can be a good way to prepare students and help appeal to their emotions. You could show an educational film directed at the topic you are about to embark on reading. You could also have students play an educational "game" online to get them in the right mindset. Schooltube and networks like PBS, WHRO, and Discovery are all excellent educational resources. PAR really provides an excellent framework for all we want to accomplish with our reading and lesson plans. Prepare, teach, and then assess the learning. Build your lesson plans around these key areas. When you are teaching, its good to keep the students on topic and engaged. Graphic organizers such as fill in the blank notes really help keep students engaged and "up to par!" What a pun!
Source
Richardson, J. S., Morgan, R. F., & Fleener,
C. 2012. Reading to learn in the content areas. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth
Publishing Co
2 comments:
As I am an aspiring history teacher, I like the insight you offered about the creative ways to reinforce the lesson with critical thinking activities and the re-enactment of the parts of Anne Frank's diary. I also agree with your outlook on technology. In this highly technological age there are many programs that educators can use to make lessons fun, interactive, and an overall more valuable learning experience. A few program URL's that I have used are bitstrips.com (constructing comic strips about the topic) and timetoast.com (creating a timeline of information), you should check them out!
Thanks for these recommendations, Kyle. I'm not familiar with the second one. I’ll take a look. Are you familiar with them, Lindsey?
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