Watch this video:
I think this could be a great teaching tool, when talking about book reports to a class. A teacher can use this video to show his/her students the different aspects of a book report. Lucy discusses the general information: character names, location, and description of events and items. Schroeder shows a relationship between Peter Rabbit and Robin Hood (parallelism). Linus discusses the underlying meaning of the story (the implicit and explicit meanings of the book). Then there's Charlie Brown, the procrastinator, who questions the teacher and why he has to write the book report.
For some reason, I was the student in school who loved to do book reports, but I know many of my friends hated writing book reports with a passion. Teachers can use this video to break the monotonous teaching of book reports. The video shows students that a book report can be creative and is a way for students to express their opinions and interpretation of the book.
None of my teachers used this video in my schooling. Did your teacher use this video? What are your thoughts about using this video in the classroom?
Updates, new dates, more...
-
So, in the last post I noted that i had broken my shoulder. I had surgery
in December (finally) and am now finishing up my physical therapy. I am
back to w...
6 years ago
Posts
4 comments:
I like your thought to incorporate this clip from Charlie Brown to help get kids excited about writing book reports seeing as I was definitely one of those students that couldn't stand them. However, I don't think this video specifically would be the best tool to do so. Though you are right they do mention important aspects that students should be recognizing and talking about in book reports they right, there is no enthusiasm or excitement about the project. You have each character right from the beginning expressing how they would rather be doing something else than writing their report. This is not the best way to start out a video to motivate children. Throughout almost the whole video Lucy is counting words longing for the end and Charlie Brown is talking about how all he needs is some fresh air. If I were a student I think I would be excited to see these characters that I a familiar with and enjoy, but seeing them unexcited would then influence my mood and view on the project as well.
My teachers throughout school never showed this video clip in any of my classes so this was the first time I actually saw it.
I understand where your train of thought is coming from regarding where the characters display different qualities of the book report and how they feel about having to write a book report. However, if I was a teacher I probably wouldn't show this video clip in my classroom because I feel the overall message it's sending to viewers is a negative message about book reports. Lucy is counting words to get to the required length and Charlie Brown procrastinates the whole time wishing he was doing other things. I feel this teaches kids the wrong message about school work.
This was the first time I've ever seen the clip but I understand the idea of using it in the classroom. I was like you where I enjoyed doing book reports because I love to read so much. However I do think that this video is a little bit negative. It portrays writing book reports in a bad light. The students are not excited to write their papers, and are very repetitive in what they say. They count their words and are just trying to finish the book report. While it is a good idea to use it in the classroom, I think as the teacher you need to reiterate, that book reports aren't that hard should be interesting. If you choose a book your interested in, it should be fun to write about. If you use this book in the classroom, you need to clear up a few things.
First of all, I laughed really hard when I watched that Charlie Brown video. I could relate with Lucy and Charlie. It was comical how Lucy was trying to reach the bare minimum for her book report (something I strive for) and how Charlie was procrastinating (something I admit to doing on a regular basis). Especially when he sings, "I work better under pressure," I say that to myself every time I put something off. As you can tell, book reports weren't my forte.
As an adult, I see the importance of book reports. It's not the details of a particular book that matter, its the ability the students have to think critically about something (a book). By doing book reports, students gain skills to recognize significant characters and events as well as reading explicit and implicit messages.
As far as showing this short video to a class goes, I guess my question would be, What would to students gain by watching it? Yes, it's entertaining and possibly a good opener to a book report but what else would the children gain? How not to do a book report (Lucy, Charlie, Schroeder)? The work that goes into doing a good book report (Linus)? I think a teacher should always ask themselves, how will the student benefit if I use this in my lesson? A question I currently struggle with as I create my own lesson plans.
Post a Comment