Throw away standards

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  Symbol/Picture Representation cards
  
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  Symbol/Picture Representation Response Sheet
  
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  Symbol/Picture Questions
  

The purpose of this activity is to select visual images that best reinforce a viewpoint or enhance a presentation. Students will be asked to choose statements that best summarize the message presented by the medium or graphic image, draw inferences, and write a variety of products which reflect feeling and responses.

1. 
   Divide students into groups of three-five participants.
   
2. 
   Give each group an envelope containing symbols which have been laminated and cut apart.
   
3. 
   Tell the students to listen carefully to your directions. You will read a statement and they are to choose the most appropriate symbol cars to express their feeling, emotions, or opinions about the statement. They will incorporate the card into a written opinion statement.
   
4. 
   Give students the Symbol/Picture Response Sheet.
   
5. 
   Read the first question on the Symbol/Picture Questions.
   
6. 
   Guide students in their choice of a symbol For example: you could choose the hour glass, because the reader realizes that the time is running out for the narrator, and he can’t convince the reader he is indeed sane. You might choose a spider, because you see his mind is poisoned and he is not reliable as a sane voice.
   
7. 
   Fill out the first symbol/picture response and write your statement.
   
8. 
   Have students share these responses with the group.
   
9. 
   Look at the other two questions and discuss symbols and answers at your table.
   
10. 
    Point out the different assignments for each written product which follows the question.
    
11. 
    Ask for other ideas of questions or ways this can be used in the classroom.
    

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  GLE 0601.7.2 Examine the relationship between the visual (e.g. media images, painting, film, graphic arts) and the verbal in media.
  

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  SPI 0601.7.2 Select the visual image that best reinforces a viewpoint or enhances a presentation.
  
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  SPI 0604.7.5 Choose the statement that best summarizes/communicates the message presented by a medium.
  
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  SPI 0701.7.4 Draw an inference from a non-print medium.
  

1. 
   The picture/symbol card I chose is a ____________________________
   

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. 
   The picture/symbol card I chose is a ____________________________
   

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. 
   The picture/symbol card I chose is a ____________________________
   

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  In Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator insists he is sane. Should the reader believe the narrator as a reliable voice? Write out your thoughts in a persuasive paragraph using the card as a basis for your arguments.
  
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  Should the United States establish English ONLY as the official language for schools, government, and businesses? Outline your thoughts for an upcoming classroom debate.
  
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  Is the United Nations a viable international organization in today’s world as we deal with global issues? Develop your ideas in a short editorial.
  

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  ABC Boxes Graphic organizers are available at these websites:
  

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  Poem- “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus
  

This activity will make use of a graphic organizer called ABC Boxes. (also called Alphabet Chart) This organizer can be used to access prior knowledge, compare and contrast characters, organize a vocabulary study or brainstorm ideas. We will use this to brainstorm ideas, thoughts and feelings that an immigrant might have upon coming to America for the first time and seeing Lady Liberty. This is an excellent way to focus and generate ideas and discussions.

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  Give students a copy of the graphic organizer called ABC Boxes or Alphabet Chart
  
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  Inquire how many participants have actually seen the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor. Ask them to share some of their experiences or feelings when seeing this magnificent statue. You might even ask them to close their eyes and imagine themselves on a steam ship, coming into the harbor from Ireland. They have spent many days at sea, perhaps going through storms, being sick, or lonely. What would that first sight of Lady Liberty look like? What feelings, emotions, or thoughts would be in their hearts and their minds?
  
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  Use the ABC Boxes to record words or phrases which describe these strong feelings or emotions. Demonstrate with the A box by saying “what word might we use that starts with A that helps with our descriptions?” Anticipatory, Anticipate, Anxious. How about B? Brave, bothered, brokenhearted.”
  
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  Allow class to record on graphic organizer for several minutes. This should be done individually.
  
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  Instruct them to Pair/Share their thoughts and recorded ideas with a partner; they may record any words or phrases that they hear and feel a connection to.
  
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  Put up Transparency of “The New Colossus.”
  
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  Read to class or choose someone to read it.
  
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  Have participants continue to record any thoughts or feelings the selection evokes or phrases or words from the poem which speak to them.
  
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  Tell class that this activity can be used to formulate the basis for a written product such as a story, letter, song lyrics or a newspaper article that focuses on a new immigrants’ reflections upon seeing Lady Liberty for the first time.
  

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  GLE 0601.8.1Read and comprehend a variety of works from various forms of literature.
  
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  GLE 0701.8.5 Identify and analyze common literary terms (e.g. personification, conflict, theme)
  

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  SPI 0601.8.1 Distinguish among various literary genres (e.g., fiction, literary drama, nonfiction, poetry)
  
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  SPI 0601.8.8 Identify examples of sound devices (i.e. accent, alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhyme, and repetition)
  
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  SPI 0801.8.12 Recognize and identify words within a context that reveal particular time periods and cultures.
  

ABC Boxes for graphic organizer; “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus

Alphabet Chart