"Begin your class study of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels by reading Dr. Seuss’s The Butter Battle Book to illustrate the use of satire in a very accessible way. After reading the picture book, students discuss the historical allusions as a class. They are introduced to the concept of satire and identify the main satirical theme of the book. Students then work in small groups to find additional background information and present this information to the class. They chart details from the book and link each one to the historical information they have discovered. Students then use apply this process to a passage from Gulliver’s Travels. Finally, students research and report on relevant historical information as the class reads the novel. Once the reading is complete, students draw on the historical allusions that they have discovered to determine the overall message that the text communicates about society."
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Seuss and Silverstein: Posing Questions, Presenting Points
"In this lesson, classic stories from children's authors Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein provide the ideal springboard for struggling readers to discuss relevant social issues. Working in small groups, students select and read books or short stories from the provided list of relevant texts. Students may use the interactive Literary Elements Map to explore the conflict in their selected texts. The group then prepares critical thinking questions and leads a class discussion about the issues raised in the story. As a class, students can discuss how these issues relate to the conflicts and social issues in their own lives."
Celebrate Seuss With a Poetry Slam
"A poetry slam is a great way to engage teens in writing, reading, and reacting. Once you've got your poets…
- Set your rules for the slam. Set a time limit, typically three minutes, and announce the judging process. In poetry slams, audience applause, and feedback, have been used.
- Find a supportive venue. A comfortable coffee house or nonintimidating venue such as a café, deli, or bookstore makes a great environment for a slam. It needs to be a place where teens feel comfortable hanging out.
- Find a supportive crowd. Most cities and towns have a community of artists and writers. Make contact, perhaps through a bookstore, university, or coffee shop, with writers interested in encouraging young people.
- Educate the educators. Build a relationship with other teachers — in person, by phones and/or through distribution of registration packets. Send out documents describing the program, including schedules, judging criteria, rules, and fees.
- Follow up initial info. Two or three months before an event, send a follow-up fax to schools reminding them to register for your slam. Two weeks before the fest, contact those who haven't responded to see if they have questions. Assist them with last-minute registration.
- Set up a support network. Ask school staff if they'd like veteran performance poets to come to the school to demonstrate slam techniques. Solicit writers to participate. Assist in scheduling the visiting poets for interested schools.
- Check out the web. Peruse websites devoted to poetry slamming, including www.poetryslam.com and www.anthology.org."
Pre-Writing With Dr. Seuss
"Getting students to share their ideas can often be a struggle. Students may feel they have nothing to say. Try this Seuss-inspired pre-writing activity to get the juices flowing:
Some of the best ideas may be lurking on the back of notebooks or in the margins. Geisel was a great doodler and saved his many doodles. Horton Hatches the Egg was born from a doodle — a gust from an open window near his desk blew a picture of an elephant drawn on tracing paper on top of a tree that Geisel was doodling. This started him thinking about why an elephant would be in a tree and he had to write Horton's story to find out the answer.
Share this anecdote with students and ask them to save their doodles for a week. At the end of the week, pair up students and their doodles and have them come up with their own combinations to write about. Students can produce a joint work or each write their own ideas about the doodle combo. As some doodles will be more inspired than other, don't limit them as to what they should write — it can be a simple description, a poem, or a story."
Seuss Essay Topics for High School
"Social and Political Activities: Many Seuss books examine social and political issues affecting people of all ages. Greed, jealousy, discrimination and ecology are a few of the topics Dr. Seuss addresses. Read 'The Butter Battle Book' to prompt discussion about nuclear arms. Incorporate 'The Lorax' into ecology discussions and Earth Day activities. Use 'The Sneetches' as an opportunity to demonstrate the detrimental effects of discrimination and bullying.
The teacher randomly divides the class into two sections. One group is required to wear a colored ribbon or some other identifier. On the first day of the exercise, the teacher gives the group wearing ribbons preferential treatment. For example, members of that group are not given homework, do not have to take a test or are allowed to leave class early. The second day, the teacher announces a mistake was made. The students without ribbons are entitled to special treatment and the roles are reversed. The exercise concludes with a class discussion or by writing an essay about the experience describing how it feels to be entitled and discriminated against."
Infographic! 10 Facts about Dr. Seuss Books
What else will you discover? Infographics are beautiful, graphical means by which get interesting information across quickly. Many of them are printable to create small posters for classrooms.