Engagement Through Videos and Competition

Our students are SO visual and (whether they show it outwardly or not) practical. When I say "practical," I mean that students need to know the real-world purpose of what they are learning in order for them to be 100% engaged.

Yesterday, we read "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros. My initial plan for today was to  teach a mini lesson about similes and metaphors, then go back into the text ("Eleven") to find and analyze them. However, after bouncing ideas around with one of our ambitious corps members at the Cliff (thanks, Stevie!!), I decided that my lesson needed a little more pizazz as well.

Stevie mentioned a video about similes and metaphors in pop songs that can be found on Youtube. (This is the one I used https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1c6zF9aJxs . I skipped through some parts of it for time's sake.) I thought this idea was brilliant and a great way to show students that similes and metaphors are ALL around us! They're in every rap, song, commercial, movie, etc. The video was perfect for getting them excited about the topic, because they saw that similes and metaphors aren't just for boring old English classes. Lil' Wayne and Katy Perry use them too! 

After the video, we played a game that I called "Race to Eight." Instead of going back into the text as a class, I put them into groups of 3-4 and made it a competition for the ultimate prize..... CANDY! (duh) The group to correctly identify 8 of 15 or more similes in "Eleven" won the candy.  

Videos and competitions are great ways to engage students, hook them in to what they're learning, and motivate them to participate!