Anna Gay
About me: I graduated from Appalachian State University with a degree in English, Secondary Education and a minor in Spanish. For the last year, I've been pursuing my M.Ed full time in the New Literacies and Global Learning program at NC State with a focus in English, Secondary Education. I hope to finish up in December 2011. This fall, I began teaching English in WCPSS. I teach mostly freshmen, and I'll have juniors next semester. The great part about my job is that I got it as a result of our trip (thanks Leigh Ann!). In addition to Secondary English, I also have my Middle School Language Arts and ESL licenses.
My educational passions lie in creating lifelong learners in my students, especially in the areas of reading and writing. At my previous school, there were a great deal of programs to help students learn skills to help them advance into the academic world, as well as the workforce, with the ultimate goal of creating productive members of society. Students need to be equipped with the skills to be 21st century learners, no matter where they are in society. I am also interested in learning how to further incorporate new pedagogical strategies and technologies in order to better engage students in my classroom.
Website: annagaynlgl.weebly.com
"It's our choices... that show who we truly are, far more than our abilities" - Albus Dumbledore
My educational passions lie in creating lifelong learners in my students, especially in the areas of reading and writing. At my previous school, there were a great deal of programs to help students learn skills to help them advance into the academic world, as well as the workforce, with the ultimate goal of creating productive members of society. Students need to be equipped with the skills to be 21st century learners, no matter where they are in society. I am also interested in learning how to further incorporate new pedagogical strategies and technologies in order to better engage students in my classroom.
Website: annagaynlgl.weebly.com
"It's our choices... that show who we truly are, far more than our abilities" - Albus Dumbledore
My Goals for the Trip to England
- Take time to get lost in writing.
- Explore new digital tools that will help me create lessons that pair digital technology with writing.
- Allow my inner English nerd to come out of hiding for a brief time.
- Make new friends and have a great time!
What to expect here:
“Everyone and everything that shows up in our life is a reflection of something that is happening inside of us."
Alan Cohen
Final Reflections
My Journey (Multi-Modal Expository Piece)
Throughout our trip, we documented our travels using digital cameras, flip cameras, and the tool GoogleMaps. This is a great tool to use with students in the English Language Arts classroom and could be used to plot personal journeys, journeys of literature characters that are studied throughout the year, as well as to plot the journeys of various authors and how those journeys are reflected in their writings.
View Anna's UK Journey in a larger map
Postcards Home (Expressive)
We wrote these postcards during class one day to describe our experiences so far. There are many different forms which include anagrams (a type of word play in which you rearrange the letters of a word to create something else), Before this...after this.., a day in the life of.. (chronological), and long descriptive sentences in which you start large and zoom into the smaller picture. Each of these provides a neat way of showing the reader your experiences. I could see myself incorporating these into my classroom to have students tell me about their own personal experiences, as well as to talk about literary characters, literary devices, or authors. They are wonderful for evoking description in a concise way.
My four postcards are all anagrams and they describe places I've been and things that I've experienced over this trip.
My four postcards are all anagrams and they describe places I've been and things that I've experienced over this trip.
St. Paul's Cathedral
Amazing view
Nearly 1100 stairs to climb
Never ending leg spasms
All worth it for the friendships made on the journey to see the great city
A Day in London
Aboard the train to London we go,
Near Russell Square lies the house of Charles Dickens.
Next stop, the British Museum.
Ancient Greece, ancient Rome, mummies from Egypt...whoa!
Gilded rotunda, whispering gallery,
Racing hearts and repeated moans, 1,056 stairs for a beautiful view.
Anne Boleyn at Shakespeare’s Globe.
Millennium Bridge from bank side, sunset view back to Waterloo.
Near Russell Square lies the house of Charles Dickens.
Next stop, the British Museum.
Ancient Greece, ancient Rome, mummies from Egypt...whoa!
Gilded rotunda, whispering gallery,
Racing hearts and repeated moans, 1,056 stairs for a beautiful view.
Anne Boleyn at Shakespeare’s Globe.
Millennium Bridge from bank side, sunset view back to Waterloo.
King's Cross Station
Anne Boleyn Review (Expository)
During our time in London, we had the opportunity to see Anne Boleyn at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Below is a Prezi I did on the play, as well as a link to a critical review for the performance.
Both of these activities are fantastic to use in the classroom, because they allow the opportunity for students to think critically, analyze, and compose. They then can couple that with technology, like a prezi or another Web 2.0 tool.
Link to print review: Anne Boleyn Review
Both of these activities are fantastic to use in the classroom, because they allow the opportunity for students to think critically, analyze, and compose. They then can couple that with technology, like a prezi or another Web 2.0 tool.
Link to print review: Anne Boleyn Review
A Pub Day in Guildford (Expressive)
During our first week of class in England, Dr. Gareth Corderey educated us about pub life and other elements of British culture. We were encouraged to go throughout Guildford, visit local pubs, and document our time in the community. See our venture into the community here:
Our group wanted to see the castle in Guildford, so on Tuesday, we ventured off in that direction. We were following wrong directions, so we went a little out of the way, but by doing so, we were able to take in some of the sights on High Street (the main street in town before we ate lunch. We got some great pictures of the castle, and then ventured into The Keep for lunch! I was really excited to eat there, because it looked so quaint and cute from the outside. Beautiful flowers, appealing signs, and really nice people . ... See my Tabblo>