Hungry Minds

I just read the Hungry Minds article by Ian Frazier. I did not really understand why the article was so 'special' or 'important.' I thought it was a cute story, but I personally didn't see where the author was going with this. It was nice to see how the author tried to get people interested in writing. I thought he could have written more about that, than the actual history of the church. There were many times where I questioned: What does this have to do with anything? Where is this going?

I honestly have no idea what the author was trying to tell me. Was he telling me about the soup kitchen? Did he want to talk about his writing workshop? Was he trying to use the analogy of the hungry people for the soup kitchen vs. the hungry minds for writing? If he meant the last one, I didn't get that. The author made one reference to it, but never really elaborated on it again.

Chapter 1 Image Grammar

What a great resource! I am only on Chapter 1 of Image Grammar and I already have a bunch of strategies I can try in my current and future classroom. In Chapter 1, Harry Noden talks about the writer as an artist. There are two categories of seeing for writers: showing and telling. Harry Noden, author of Image Grammar, wants to focus on the showing aspect. Like Noden says “Showing engages the reader’s mind as a catalyst for visualization. Telling lulls the reader to sleep” (3).

What I like best about Noden’s first chapter is that he explains the 5 basic brush strokes in a very simple way, so simple that you can use that same description on students. Noden also gives strategies to supplement his concepts. I actually liked most of the strategies. There was one that I think won’t work at my current student teaching location. Strategy 5: Tour a Writer’s Gallery is a good strategy, but I can’t see it working in my classroom at Brunswick. The students, I think, will just not pay attention during the strategy. They will just BS their way through it and not learn anything.

The Professor and the Madman

I just started reading the book The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. I didn’t really know what to think about this book before I started reading it. To be honest, it sounded like it would just be a boring book about the history of the Oxford English Dictionary. Well, the preface and the first chapter totally changed my mind. I really liked how the Winchester grabbed my attention by with the intriguing preface. I wanted to know more about this Mr. Minor and how he got to be in an asylum for the criminally insane. The preface and the first chapter reminded me of the mystery novels that I love.

Even though, I only finished the first two chapters so far, I can tell that the author, Simon Winchester, will never lose sight of the true purpose of his book, the Oxford English Dictionary. Now, I know that may seem like a silly statement because the book is about the protagonists who help to create the OED, but it is true. Winchester cleverly places the most important word for each chapter at the beginning of the chapter under the OED definition. It really gets the reader in the mindset for the Oxford English Dictionary. I am excited to read more about the professor and the madman, especially the madman. Who knew reading about a dictionary could be so criminally intriguing?

Chapter 4 of The Modern Library Writer's Workshop

Chapter 4 Making Characters Live from Stephen Koch’s book The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop is all about making your characters come to life on the pages of a book. The chapter covers the typical character vs. situation/story battle. Some authors find that characters are created and then the story enfolds around the characters, while some authors use a story and fill the stories with characters. I really don’t know which the right answer is, but I will say I like books where the characters are created first. I really enjoy book series because I like to continue reading something that I enjoy. It is always difficult for me to find a new book to read. I would rather depend on a book series and continue reading about different adventures/situations that my favorite characters go through. I am almost positive that most book series are character based rather than story based.

Another topic that was brought up in Chapter 4 was flat and round characters. I never really noticed round and flat characters before this chapter, but now I do. Round characters have a history, a story, a motive, passions, they want to succeed, and they are “equipped with purpose.” Flat characters usually only have one things that truly defines them. When I read a book, I want round characters. I want characters who develop throughout the story. An example of a round character I enjoy is Katniss from the popular book series Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I feel that most books should have round characters where audiences can see a transition in the characters behavior, attitude, or lifestyle. However, when I am watching TV shows I enjoy flat characters mainly because like The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop suggests “flat characters can go on and on and on, having an endless sequence of adventures.” I believe I like the ‘flat’ characters on TV shows for the same reason I like book series. I come to love the characters and I want continue to watch/read about their lives/adventures.

** Side note: I have never really been drawn to write my own novel or short stories. I agree it would be fun to be an author, but I have it has never really appealed to me. I do, however, enjoy writing journal entries, notes/reactions to novels, lists, and reflections from Bible passages. In my writings, I do not ever develop characters or plots. I may jot down an idea or two in my journal, but rarely do I go back to the ideas. After reading Chapter 4 Making Characters Live, I realized why I am not a big character developer/writer. I am not a character developer because I do not have the creative imagination and experiences needed to create characters that are full of life.

The Jersey Shore

The Jersey Shore: Miami’s season finale aired last Thursday. The Jersey Shore is, I believe, a current pop culture phenomenon. One cannot escape the Jersey Shore, Hollywood is even jumping on the bandwagon by inviting them to guest star on sitcoms, wresting and award shows. Hollywood is also putting on spoofs about the show such as South Park and the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. (Here is a video clip of Craig Ferguson’s Jersey Shore spoof.)

The Jersey Shore stars 8 guidos and guidettes from the Jersey area. MTV had the ‘brilliant’ idea to put them all under one roof and film the chaos that ensued. The show deals with situations (no pun intended to Mike ‘the situation) involving alcohol, stereotypes, womanizing, dating, cheating, etc. The actions on this show are questionable. Yes, that cast is hilarious and fun to watch, but their actions are not exactly moral.

Jersey Shore demonstrates to its audience the value of going out and partying every opportunity they can while chasing down the opposite sex. The men on the show constantly say they want to find chicks who are DTF (down to f*&%). What kind of example is that? I don’t want high school boys to get the idea that they are allowed to scope out lose women. Besides the casts’ lack of morals, the show is a hit none the less and I think we, as future educators, need to get on board. Whether I like it or not, almost every student either watches or knows of the Jersey Shore and some of its crazy antics.

During my 10 day unit, I tried to generate examples from modern media into the classroom. Like for connotative language I used the Jersey Shore. (Denotation: situation - manner of being situated; location or position with reference to environment; condition; case; plight; the state of affairs; combination of circumstances; a position or post of employment and the connotation: ‘the situation’ – Mike Sorrentino from the Jersey Shore; another example is denotation: grenade - a small shell containing an explosive and thrown by hand or fired from a rifle or launching device and the connotation: grenade - a not so attractive female/male). I used those examples in 4 of my 11th grades classes to help explain connotative language. I could tell that some of the students really enjoyed the fact that I had used examples that they could relate to.

The Social Network

This weekend I saw the film The Social Network. I knew a little bit about the origin of Facebook before watching the film, all I knew was that a college student named Mark Zuckerberg started the site. I felt like I learned a lot more about the origin of Facebook, but I have to remember that not all of it might be entirely true. It was interesting to see what really started the idea of facebook. I don’t really want to talk much more about the actually plot of the film because I really feel people should see this film. Check out this The Social Network trailer, it’s my favorite.

I thought the performances were awesome. Surprisingly, Justin Timberlake did a fantastic job as Napster creator Sean Parker. Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of Mark Zuckerber made audiences hate him, yet feel a certain compassion for him. Andrew Garfield played the scorned best friend Eduardo Saverin very well. The entire time my heart when out to Eduardo. My favorite performance by far was by Armie Hammer. Hammer played both twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. Hammer was able to differentiate the two characters even though he played them both. I also found it amazing how they were able to use the same guy to play the twins because you honestly cannot tell. Technology will never cease to amaze me.

Myers article

After reading the chapter Recitation and Report Literacy by Miles Myers, I am so thankful for the current Language Arts curriculum. I cannot believe students were “expected simply to answer the questions which are put to him, but not to ask any of his instructor, or dispute his assertions.” I mean what if the students have questions? What if they need help understand the material? Oh well! The recitation literary period was not all that fantastic either. I mean someone’s intelligence was determined by the amount of written materials that they could recite.

I am just really glad that the curriculum has changed over the years. I am glad that my cooperating school, Brunswick High School, utilizes a variety of language arts standards. Students are required to know about oral communication, understanding and analyzing literary texts, and being able to write and utilize a variety of types of writing. I believe that the curriculum requirements set forth by the Ohio Department of Education are a great reflection on what our society/culture needs right now.

Student Teaching

I have been having a great time with my student teaching at Brunswick High School. My cooperating teaching is just so nice and helpful. The kids are all really good kids. The other teachers are really welcoming and always willing to give advice. So far I have just been observing in the classroom and working with my cooperating teacher to create the 10-day unit.

The thing I have noticed the most about Brunswick High School is that they have A LOT of school spirit. Every Friday is school spirit day. I have seen so much blue and white (the school colors) it almost makes my head spin. My cooperating teacher told me a story about this one experiment a scientist did in the school. The guy put this tape thing up in the halls to collect germs and what not. Once it was taken down they found this blue stuff all over and they had no idea what it was. Well, they came to find out that the blue stuff was from all the blue clothing that was in the school. Go Blue Devils!!

Chapter 7 - Atwell

Nancie Atwell’s In the Middle Chapter 7: Responding to Writers and Writing was extremely helpful to myself as a future teacher. I have always been nervous to grade students’ writing because I do not want to offend them or crush their creative ideas. Writing is a personal thing, much like Atwell addressed in the beginning of the chapter. I want students to feel comfortable writing about whatever they want, how they want to, without feeling like I (as the teacher) am there to tear apart their writing.

Atwell gave a lot of different ideas on how to respond to writing. Her quote on page 224 reads, “I invite a writer to talk; she talks; I listen, paraphrase, ask clarifying questions, nudge toward or suggest options if the writer needs them, and ask the writer to articulate what he or she plans to do next.” This quote reminds me of what I learned in our Teaching High School Journalism course here at KSU. My professor was adamant about using the coaching method when we go over students’ articles. Using conferences like Atwell has suggested, is very similar to coaching. It allows the student to question their own work rather than relying on the teacher for all the information. The teacher acts as a guide, rather than a critic. I found Chapter 7 a great resource to myself on how to use conferences with students to help them with their writing.

2010 VMAs

Last night was the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs). Every year there is a lot of hype about the VMAs because they not only give out awards, but they also have artists perform their popular songs. Last years VMAs made history because Kanye West ran up on stage and interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech. This year no one interrupted anyone, but, as always, Lady Gaga's outfits were the talk of the night.

Lady Gaga has always had some interesting outfits. (She calls them fashion, but many people like to think costumes.) Many people being interviewed were excited to see what Gaga was going to wear because "she doesn't disappoint." Well I don't think she disappointed anyone when she wore a dress made out of meat. I think that was probably a first for VMA history, or even any award show history in general. Here is a clip of Lady Gage accepting the award for video of the year in her meat dress. Gaga's meat dress.

VMAs is an awards show that every teenager, even college students, will want to watch because it involves a huge part of teenage life, music. I know I enjoy it every year

Ch3 of Atwell

I just finished reading Chapter 3 of Nancie Atwell's In the Middle. I really enjoyed this chapter, not only because of Atwell's fantastic writing ability, but the content itself. Atwell pointed out all the reasons why some people are afraid or just don't want to teach middle school students. (I know many of the reasons are my own.) It really resonated with me that instead of fearing middle school students' changing behaviors, we should embrace them.

Atwell pointed out that middle school students' changing attitudes and behaviors give them different topics/ideas/experiences/opinions to write about. Atwell has really made me realize the importance of workshops in the classroom. Workshops give students the opportunity to improve their skills, but they are able to express themselves at the same time. Atwell said that workshops get students involved "and once they're involved, middle school student can become genuinely excited about finding out things they didn't know before, thinking about new ideas in new ways" (Atwell 76). So far I am learning a lot about how effective workshops, whether it be reading or writing, are in a classroom.

Atwell - Chapter 1

Before I began Nancie Atwell's In the Middle, I prepared myself to get through a long and (dare I say it) boring textbook read. Not even a page into the text, I found myself fascinated and enthralled by Atwell and her 'stories.' Atwell is not only an excellet writer, but I liked how she shows readers the evolution of her theory of teaching writing. She showed her beginnings of when she just had writing exercises to her actual writing workshop.

I can definetly see myself adapting Atwell's writing workshop theory into my future classroom. (I might be able to test it out during student teaching, who knows.) I think Atwell said it best "My goal in writing workshop is to act as a good parent, with all the complexities that role entails. I want to be a grown-up writer who listens to kids and shows kids how it's done, gives sound advice, and convinces them she knows what she's talking about" (Atwell 21). I like that she allows her students freedom with writing, but she is also serves as a mentor to her students. At times, she does have to assign required writings, but she explains to her students the purpose of the writings and how it will benefit them.

Final Reflection for Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools

This class has been so helpful!!! I have learned so much. I learned so much on creating lesson plans and overall how to teach reading in my classroom.

I liked that were worked on writing lesson plans. I never wrote a lesson plan before, so it was a different experience. I liked being able to try out different ideas and see if they worked or not. I was taught what makes a good and bad lesson plan. I hope to use this knowledge to better myself in the art of lesson plan creation.

I really enjoyed the drama portion of our learning. I have always wondered about how to teach Shakespeare and now I have so many ideas and resources to use. I really want to use the silent scene. I loved that, I think students would have a lot of fun with that.

Final Reflection for Multi-Modal

I feel that I have learned so many helpful way on how to incorporate technology into my English classroom. Dr. Kist has showed me that literature is not only just classic novels. Literature can be movies, graphic novels, video games etc. Literature is all around us and that I believe is the point that Dr. Kist wanted to make to us.

My really liked the wiki assignment it made me be more aware of how the Internet can be helpful for creating lesson plans and what not. I also had never learned how to do a wiki before and it wasn't too bad. I want to someday incorporate a wiki into my classroom. I think that students would really like it.

Halo (not the Beyonce song)

So I was talking to my ARHD, Kyle, about gaming and how we have been talking about it in Multi-Modal. Kyle was very gracious and let me attempt to play Halo with him (**the key word in that sentence is attempt). So I played Halo for the first time this weekend. Let me just say, I did not like it. I kept getting killed and I couldn't aim. I like to take my time when I shoot and apparently for Halo you just shoot and run. I think I would have liked the game much more if I actually knew what I was doing and had practiced. Oh well.

I have to say that I feel I will never be able to relate to my future students who game. I don't like playing shooting games because I don't like getting killed. I don't like playing those story type games because again, I'm afraid I might do sometihng wrong. I just feel that gaming and I won't get along in life. Heck, I'm the girl that would scream and cry out of fear while playing a harmless Nancy Drew computer game.

I really want to play more video games, besides Guitar Hero, Wii Sports, and DDR, but I feel like I am going to have to put a lot of effort into it because it is something I don't get.

Graphic Novels

It was a great experience reading the two graphic novels American Born Chinese and Naruto: The Tests of the Ninja. Even though both these books were similar because they were graphic novels, these novels also had some differeneces. When it came to text and dialouge both novels were pretty similar, they were easy to read and easy to understand who was saying what. They also had a pretty similar way of using rhetorical techniques because it was very obvious using differen angles and frames how they portrayed the different characters and action.

American Born Chinese has colorful and extremely easy to follow when it came to visual features and the general layout and design. I could easily tell who was what character and what was going on. Naruto, however, was extremely difficult for me to understand. I did not like the reading backwards becaues I kept getting messed up and confused, so the general layout and design did not help me while I was reading. Naruto also was difficult to see because of all the drawing in each of the frames. There was so much drawing that I had difficulty identifying who was what character and where they were.

Overall, I really did enjoy reading the two books. American Born Chinese was a really cute story. I liked the way the author had 3 stories going on and then they all ended into one story. Naruto was difficult to understand at first, but when I finally figured it out it was pretty cool. I almost wanted to get the second book to see what happened next. Who knows maybe I will check it out once I go home for summer.

Ch 7 of Classics in the Classroom

"In order for students to meet such a benchmark by the end of twelfth grade, they need to practice with literary analysis throughout middle and high school" (Jago 150). This was my favorite quote in Ch 7 of Carol Jago's Classics in the Classroom. I liked how she mades the point that every single year of middle and high school you are building up towards something. Students are taking the necessary steps to understanding and working towards a goal.

I really did not learn too much from this Chapter. However, I did really like all the Julius Caesar examples in the chapter. I never really thought about comparing the two speeches. I also really liked how Jago tied the two characters of Antony, Brutus, Caesar, and Cassius into mondern day by asking students who they would want out of those 4 to be President. It really gets the students thinking about the characters.

Gaming.... wait we forgot one

I agree that gaming is a huge part of today's society, whether it be racing games, games like Guitar Hero, and shooter games. Our guest speaker in Prof. Kist's class, Evan Schwaab, was great. He enlightened me on all the different genres and games out there, but he failed to mention the best selling PC game series of all time... the Sims.

I was a little taken aback that Mr. Schwaab did not mention the Sims because the Sims, like I said above, is the number one selling PC game. It also is not just a PC game, it is also avaliable for Playstation, Xbox, and Wii. According to Eurogamer.net, "the original Sims sold over fifty million copies during its lifespan. You can slap at least another twenty million on that figure once you throw in the expansion packs. The Sims 2 and its add-ons sailed over the hundred million sales threshold in three years." That article was written before the release of the ever popular Sims 3.


I am an avid Sims player and I like to consider myself a gamer just as much as the next guy. Just because I don't like shooter games, doesn't mean I'm not a gamer. Sims 3 is a different type of game. You can build, design, and furnish houses. After building a house, you can either create a happy life for your sim or create choas for them. The game is just as addictive as any other game (ask my boyfriend, I'm addicted.)

I just wanted to make this blog to say that we missed a cruicial game when talking about gaming the other day in Prof. Kist's class. Check out the Sims 3 website link I have listed above. You might just discover it is a pretty cool game and there is a strong, thriving Sims online community.

Ch 5 of Jago - How Poems Work

Like many of my INLA friends I, too, am not the biggest poetry fan. When I was in high school, we rushed through the poetry section in all my grades. I never really understood what was going on because by the time I started to wrap my head around it, we moved on to something else.

Even thought I do dislike poetry, I do agree with Jago that "students need poetry" (75). There are so many literary devices that student need to learn and understand that are found withing poetry such as rhyme, metaphor, simile etc. Jago really beat it into my head that is is very important for students to think and come up with their own conclusions about the poem, rather than me, the teacher, just tell them what the poem means.

I found Jago's break down on how to do difficult poems extremely helpful. I like her example for "Meeting at Night" by Robert Browning. I like how she used figure 5.1 to help break down the poem. She had the students identify the imagery in the poem, then collectively point out the imagery together. She allowed them to break down the poem using a literary device.

I am hoping that even though I am inexperienced with poetry, I hope to be an effective teacher when it comes to poetry.

Paper Man - A Contemporary Film Review

Richard, the lead protaganist of the film Paper Man, is an author suffering from writer's block and just wanting to feel a part of something much bigger than himself. Paper Man starts off with Richard (Jeff Daniels) and his wife (Lisa Kudrow) driving to a house for Richard to stay at while he works on writing his book. While Richards struggles to stay on task, he gets distracted by the first sentence of his book, the furniture in the living room, and a troubled teen. Richard tries to befriend the troubled Abby (Emma Stone), which Richard is advised against by his imaginary friend Captain Excellent (Ryan Reynolds).

The plot of Paper Man is original because it is not a typical happy-ending film. The plot was interesting because it drew the audience in. The audience kept wanting to know more about Richard and his story. The main theme of Paper Man is finding a purpose in life. For Richard, he just wanted to to do something with his hands.

Paper Man is a member of the dark comedy genre. To get a film for the type of comedy that is found in the film, watch these two clips from the film: clip #1 and clip #2 and clip #3 . I believe that dark comedy's are popular today because it allows a more intellectual comedy rather than just slap stick. Dark comedy's make people think about the content/material, rather than going for cheap laughs.

The introduction of the film needed some help in the technical department. The camera shots were shaky and it made audiences dizzy watching the camera jiggle about. The credits at the beginning were also displayed in a very cheesy cartoonish manner. I felt it could have done a little bit better.

The acting in by Jeff Daniels (Richard) was outstanding. He really made the audience fall in love with the failing author that Daniels portrayed. Emma Stone and Lisa Kudrow also did a good job as well. It was nice to see both of these actresses step out into more serious roles. I felt, however, that Ryan Reynolds' acting was not the best in the film. Reynolds was compelling, but compared to his co-star Daniels, Reynolds' performance seemed flat. But I will give Reynolds credit on how amazing he looked in the skin-tight superhero costume her wore.

Jago Ch 4 - How Stories Work

Ch 4: How Stories Work of Jago's text really gave me further insight into what kind of books to choose for my classroom. Jago gave me how to teach story structure and use literary devices. Jago not only does this, but she showed me how to let my students come up with the story's meaning by themselves, rather than me showing them.

I like how Jago wants her students to learn how to disect stories, rather than the teacher doing all the work for them. Her quote "I want students to see that identifying literary elemnets can serve as guidposts to understanding" (Jago 61). Another quote I liked was "They [students] may not be able to read this book [The Call of the Wild by Jack London] without your help, but with critical attention to the elements of literature, students can enter London's fictional world" (Jago 65). I learned from these quotes the importance of the elements of literature. I need to make sure that I impart to my students the elements of literature and how to use the elements to understand literature.

"The language of literature helps readers express what we see in what we read" (Jago 68) is, what I believe, a great quote. Knowing terms, such as simile, alliteration, and irony help students delve into a stories meaning. I want to make sure that my students understand all the literary terms found on pages 69 - 71 of Jago's text so they can start to understand more complex literature.

Film Festival Experience

I went to the Cleveland Film Festival with my boyfriend on Friday, March 26th to go see the film Paper Man. I did not really know what to expect when I went to the film festival, but I really did enjoy myself in the end. Everyone was really nice and they were really into what was happening. It seemed like one big family of movie goers. Probably my favorite part was that everyone was extremely respectful during the movie. Normally I always sit annoyed that someone is talking, playing with their cell phone, etc., but not this time. I heard or saw nothing distracting. It was a great experience.

Because of a time constrant I had to leave quickly from the film festival because I had to be back to close the building I work in. I did not really stop to look at merchandise, but it all looked really cool. Overall, I thought it was a great experience, I wish I had more time and money so I could check out other movies. Oh well, there is always next year.

Jago Ch 2

Classics in the Classroom Chapter 2: All About Words is about exactly what it says it is about. In this chapter Jago helped me to see how to use vocabulary from literature. I thought Jago's idea about giving students bookmarks to write down words they do not know was a great idea (see page 24 for an example of the bookmark.) Jago continued to talk about how she breaks down the words, such as prefixes and suffixes to show students the meaning of a word. I had never really thought about taking apart long words to help students understand vocab. It was a great idea.

I have always been nervous about vocabulary because I never knew exactly what to do with vocabulary in my future classroom. So the do's and don't Jago listed on page 32 was extremely helpful and it will be helpful. I learned that handing out crossword puzzles for vocab because it takes away valuable instruction time. She also said vocab quizzes that are not helping the student, but giving them a D or F is a BIG don't.

I 'Heart' Novels

"I 'Heart' Novels" by Dana Goodyear and I was quite impressed by the information. Before I go on with anything, I could never write a novel via my phone, I get annoyed when I have to text for long periods of time. It would never work out for me. This article showed me how the world is advancing with technology. I mean people are writing novels are their cell phones! Pretty soon we won't even need laptops anymore, just cell phone.

I found two things very interesting while reading this article. The first of which was that the keitai showetsu is an outlet for Japanese women. It gives the women of Japan a voice when they are normally not allowed to speak for themselves." Like professor Satoko Kan said, 'it is a feminist perspective in a male-dominated culture.'

The second thing I found interesting was that the Japanese are extremely private when it comes to their Internet activity. "The Japanese Internet is dominated by false names and forged identies," and almost all of the authors keep their identities hidden. I feel like Americans can learn from this because according to the article "You're Leaving a Digital Trail" our privacy is changing and on its way to becoming non-existent.

Great Films by Constanzo

Great Films and How to Teach Them by William V. Constanzo has really opened by eyes to film. I remember in high school we would watch a movie after we read the book (To Kill a Mockingbird, A Separate Piece, The Great Gatsby, and Of Mice and Men). I honestly thought that was the only time you could show a film in class. But Costanzo has taught me otherwise.

In my Multi-Modal class, Dr. Kist has us watch a clip from the film North by Northwest and watch the different shots, notice the lighting, the sounds etc. I viewed the film in a totally different way. This is how Costanzo shows how to teach film in his book. My favorite part of Costanzo's text was The Technology of Film chapter. It amazes me how lighting can truely effect the mood of a movie. For example, most comedies use high-key lighting to brighten the mood of the film, while horror films use low-key lighting to create an omnimous atmosphere.

3-D movies... really?

It seems like movies are beginning to be generated towards 3-D. So far I have seen 4 movies in 3-D at the theatre: Disney's A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey, Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, and even Spy Kids 3 back in the day. I will admit it was different to experience a movie in 3-D, but after the first 5 minutes or so I hardly noticed it was in 3-D. I always come out wondering why I have those ugly glasses on my face, thats how much I would forget the movie was 3-D.

Now you may be wondering where I am going with this... but it seems to me that the directors created shots in the first few minutes of the film specifically to entertain the 3-D hungry audiences. Then after those few minutes... whoever was in charge of special effects got lazy. I mean the 3-D is not so obvious or fun for the rest of the movie, only during specific climaxes. So it makes me ask myself... is it really worth the extra $3 to see 3 minutes of really cool 3-D and then 2 hours of crappy 3-D? Being an extremely poor college student... not really.

I guess when I think of 3-D, I expect the amusement park type 3-D. I know when I would see the 3-D shows at SeaWorld, Disney World, etc. the 3-D was always exciting because a cannon ball seemed to be like an inch from your face. Am I crazy for wanting movie theatre 3-D to be more exciting? I guess I was just expecting so much more from these 'amazing' 3-D pictures.

Ch 6 of Jago's Text

Even though this Chapter was quite long, I got a lot out of it. I learned how to use comprehension tools to better understand texts and I felt it was really important for me to see a lesson plan laid out for me. I also liked the idea of giving a quiz after homework reading. Like Jago, I would make sure that the quizzes do not hurt any grades, but allow the students to 'worry' their way into reading. There were 3 topics/points made that I found to be most interesting and important to me.

1. I have been extremely nervous about my lesson plans and planning weeks ahead. I know that things change like students learn the material faster or it may take the students longer. It made me feel better that Jago said on pg. 103, "Even after 29 years in the classroom I still can't write lesson plans more than a week in advance. Teaching is an organic process, deeply dependent upon relationships between students and their teacher, students and the content, students and one another. Not to be responsive to the ever-changing demands of the young minds in my care is to abrogate my responsibility as a professional." This quote made me realize that it is ok if I need to change my lesson plans each week than what I had originally planned. I need to make sure my lesson plans cater to the needs of my students rather than just trying to push them along whether or not they are ready to.

2. On pg. 127 Jago says, "I have found that giving students less time than they actually need to complete the task (and then giving in when they beg for 5 more minutes) is a better plan than allotting too much time for group work." Jago has answered the question that has always been on my mind, how long do I allow students to work or discuss? I think that giving a shorter time period will force the students to work on the task or discussion and not be distracted from their work.

3. I have to say I have a love-hate relationship with students taking over the teaching. I love it because it allows students to "move their Zone of Proximal Development one stage further along" (Jago 138). I hate it because I know I have had to do this in the past and I did not read anything that I was not assigned to teaching. I do not want my students to take the easy way out and read just their assigned reading. That is my only problem with that idea because I would have no way of knowing if all the students' read or not.

I Don't Want to Leave a Digital Trail

After reading the article "You're Leaving a Digital Trail" by John Markoff, all I could think about was the book Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. The technoloical advancments in Little Brother worried me about American's future, but then this article by Markoff showed me that apparently it is a possibility. I do not know how I feel about the goverment or just other people in general being able to watch my every move. I would never be able to allow researched read my ever text, know what music I listen, just to get a smartphone. Call me crazy, but my privacy is much more valuable than any piece of technology.

Markoff's article really scared me. I worry about my Facebook privacy all the time, but according to the article the definition of privacy is changing. This article really made me sad because I feel like when I go into student teaching, try getting a job, or working at a school either my future students, my future principal, fellow teachers, and even parents are going to be watching my every move via technology. I mean we can just take a look at the quote from Dr. Malone, "Privacy may turn out to have become an anomoly." I know I do not want this. Does anyone really? Then why are we allowing techonology to go that far as to stalk people? I guess that is the question I really want to be answered.

Jago - Ch 3.... oh the mixed feelings

I must say, after reading this chapter, I did not really agree with all of Jago's opinions. Now do not get me wrong, she has some great ideas when it came to "Choosing Which Books to Teach," but some of her concepts are not my style.

I will be nice and start with the postive. I agree with Jago that we, as teachers, need to look for books with literary merit. I also found her list of text critera on page 47 to be very helpful. I also agreed 100% with her quote, "Great literature deepens our experience, heightens our sensibilities, and matures our judgement." Reading good literature can do wonders for students, I know it has done wonders for me and for many others.

Sadly, besides taking apart Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to prove it is a great piece of literature to use in the classroom, I did not find much else helpful. There were several instances in the chapter where Jago talks about the students reading more. At the very beginning of the chapter, Jago says "I argue that students should be twice as many books as they currently do." She did bring up good points, but she came off as almost crazy. She said that she has her 10th grade student read 20 books a year. If I had to read 20 books for just 10th grade when I was in high school, I probably would have cried myself to sleep every night. (This is coming from someone who LOVES to read.)

At one point, Jago says "I am forthright with my students about the fact that they are going to have to give up some of their TV and telephone time in order to complete their reading." I might sound rude, but I wanted to slap Jago for saying this. I, personally, would NEVER tell my students that. I would never want to intentionally try to ruin their free time and then tell them about it. If I were a student, I would lose all respect for my teacher and would block out whatever she tries to tell me. I just think that teachers need to respect students in order to receive respect back. I might be totally wrong, but it is how I feel.

I think what really upset me most of all is that last semester in my Principles of Teaching class, I was told to not give homework, unless I absolutely have to. Wouldn't making the students read 20 books a year give them unnecessary homework? I guess I feel confused. Am I supposed to be obnoxious about the students reading more or should I try to be fair and give students a reasonable amount?

Oscars 2010

The Oscars last night was quite a memorable night. I was really excited because one of my favorite actors Jeff Bridges won Best Actor for his role in Crazy Heart. (Here is a video of him winning the award.) Another memorable moment happened, as well, Kathryn Bigelow won Best Director, she is the first female director to win this award. It was great to watch this because I am proud of my females getting out there and showing that women are just as awesome as men. (I thought it was super funny that Kathryn used to be romantically involved with James Cameron, the director of Avatar, and she totally kicked his butt with her film The Hurt Locker.)

Even though I do love Christoph Waltz's performance in The Inglorious Basterds, I feel that Tobey Maguire should have nominated for his role in Brothers. He did a wonderful job and he should have been recognized. Just watch him in this clip from the flim. After watching just this short clip, it is very obvious he should have been nominated.

Being Digitally Close

I read the article "I'm So Totally, Digitally Close to You" by Clive Thompson of the New York Times with my mouth dropped open. This article was like a reality check for me. It made me realize how much of my facebook information and tweets are being viewed by so many other people. It really makes me feel nervous and want to constantly check myself so I do not write post anything that I would not want others to read. The Internet makes it so easy to post anything that you want, and feel that it makes it just as easy to forget that everyone is watching.

I do agree with the article that Facebook and Twitter are great resources to keep in touch with long lost classmates and friends. I like being able to keep in touch with my friends back home or at other schools. Its fun to also learn about old friends getting married or having babies. This is all good fun, but the article also talks about how your information is much more accessable to others, which can be a bit scary.

I know after this article, I immediatly made a second facebook account. I wanted a more professional account where I can put people who I know on a more professional level. Even though I check my facebook daily to make sure it is appropriate. I still want to separate my future students, current and future bosses, etc. from my friends.

Ch 1 of Classics in the Classroom

I did enjoy reading the first Chapter of Carol Jago's Classics in the Classroom. The first chapter talked about the seven guiding principles for literature teachers. The first principle was that Students Must Read. Before I read on to the next principle, I had to agree with the principle of Students Must Read, because reading helps students with vocabulary, writing, critical thinking, and even just the study of language itself. I do believe it is important to encourage students to read, whether it be a sports magazine or a trashy teenage novel to classics like Pride and Prejudice or The Great Gatsby.

However, Jago presented me with a new idea in her second principle, Don't Confuse Reading for Pleasure with the Study of Literature. Jago claims that "classical literature possesses qualities that popular fiction does not" (Jago 5). The more I thought about it. I had to agree with Jago, classic literature allows a student to explore different dimensions of character, plot, theme etc., while some non-classical literature does not.

I did take into consideration Jago's theory that there are two different kind of books students shoudl be reading. "One kind of acts as a mirror - reflecting students' own experiences with peers, parents, sex, drugs, and school..... Students also need books that act as windows. These stories offer readers access to other worlds, other times, other cultures" (5). This perspective gave me a better idea of what to look for in novels when I chose them for a classroom text. Books need to reflect the student experience because they need books they can relate to. Students also need books that will expand their horizons.

Socially Networked Classroom reflection

The Socially Networked Classroom: Teaching in the New Media Age by William Kist is a great resource when it comes to finding classroom activites and assingments for multi-modal literacies. What I really enjoyed best about Kist's writing style was that he is completely aware that some classrooms may be more technologically advanced. Kist separates his book into chapters based on how much technology is avaliable at a certain school. I enjoyed being able to see what type of activites I can use in a low tech environment compared to an unlimted tech environment. This is really useful because depending on the school I eventually teach at because I can refer back to the chapter to which my school falls under.

What I really think has been great that Professor Kist has been having our Multi-Modal Literature in Secondary Classrooms class actually practice and experience some of the activities he has mentioned in his book. I think this is great because I can get a feel for what these activities are like from a student viewpoint. I also enjoy being able to discuss with my classmates what they think of the activities Kist has presented us with. I am able to get different viewpoints from the differnt type of learners in my class. I feel that reading and experiencing these activities will only help me grow as a teacher. I cannot wait to practice some of the other activities that Kist has mentioned in his book.

Post- Autobiography Presentation

I think my Multigenre Literacy Autobiography went well. I defintely would have put more music into my presentation if I were able to download more songs. My favorite part of my autobiography was the early years. I enjoyed looking back on my past and seeing the different literacies that impacted my life. I liked how it turned out, it did not look as cluttered as the later years. I was trying to have as little slides as possible.

Maralee Bradley's Autobiography spoke to me the most because she talked about how all the literacies in her life helped form her to become who she is. I know that we had a few similarities when it came to our different literacies that we enjoyed growing up.

The benefits of this assignment help students have fun learning about themselves and also the different type of literacies that are out there. I know I never really thought about fashion and pieces of art as literacies. I think a drawback to this assignment might be that it can be too time consuming. I believe we only went through like 5 presentation in an hour and a half. I think it would take me 2 weeks to get through a high school classroom's presentations.

I will be honest, I really don't know how I am going to use clips/images in my future students writing or creation of digital literature. I hope to learn more about this topic because I know I need help with it. I feel like my mind is stuck in the traditional English classroom, rather than the mondern, multi-modal English classroom.

**I tried uploading my autobiography into this blog entry, but it did not work on video and picture or hyperlink. When I figure it out, I will for sure post my autobiography for all to see. **

Vanity Fair's Internet article

After reading Vanity Fair's An Oral History of the Internet, I learned some things that I did not really know about the Internet before. I thought it was interesting that instant communication online, such as e-mail and a form of instant messenger, started around 1978, but I had no knowledge of it till the early 2000's. I did feel much better, however, to discover the World Wide Web was not created unitl the late 1900's.

I found some interesting facts while reading this article. The things that interested me were:

1. Since I strongly dislike AT&T's Luke Wilson commercials attacking Verizon Wireless, I laughed whole-heartedly when AT&T kept refusing to take part of early stagings of the Internet. I also wanted to high-five Bob Metcalfe for refusing to use AT&T.

2. I was extremely confused during the Browser Wars section. I sat there reading, trying to understand what a browser was, but my boyfriend was nice enough to explain. After struggling through the Browser Wars, it made me want to be more tech-savvy.

3. One of the sections talked about Obama being the most tech-savvy president. It only made me think about how much that helped him during the election. I mean I kept seeing MadTV and SNL sketches making fun of McCaine for being too old to work tecnology. I really think having Obama having a Facebook and a Twitter account really gives him a good name towards young people.

4. I really enjoyed the quote by Vincod Khosla "Communication changes society." It really has. Just look at how we use language. I caught myself the other day saying "lol" actually saying it, not texting it.

My Multigrenre Autobiography (before presentation)

I am getting nervous about presenting my Multigenre Autobiography. I am not creative and I just hope that the PowerPoint format that I have will be ok. Even though I am nervous about the presentation, I had fun building the autobiography. It was great to look back on my past, to see the different movies, music, books, etc. that inspired me. This experience was really nice because it made me get back into touch with who I am. I was able to remember what encouraged me to become an Integrated Language Arts major to begin with.

I did not really have any issues with multi-modal literacies when I was working on this project. The only thing I could really possibly think of was I was nervous to put up a picture of Cosomo because it has the word 'sex' on it. I never know if that is appropriate or not, but I have to remember I go to one of the most liberal colleges around.

I would love to do this assignment in my future classroom. I think my students would have a lot of fun doing this profject. I know I had fun trying to remember everything that I was into when I was a kid. It is a fun project, it keeps them learing about multi-modal literacies, they use their creativity, and they are able to present something they are interested in.

finished with Little Brother

The other night I finally finished Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. I thought the book was pretty interesting, but not exactly my cup of tea. The lead character, Marcus, drove me out of my mind. I wanted to just yell at him to stop being an idiot. I, personally, fear authority and like to follow the rules, but Marcus did everything he could to cause problems. I could not relate to his character at all. I felt terrible when I related to Van or Jolu when they told Marcus to stop using the Xnet or jamming.

However, I thought this book was very relatable to mult-modal literacies because it jammed packed with technologies that will interest students and almost help them learn more about the technical aspects of technolgoy.

I don't know if I would use this book in my classroom, I feel like parents and the administration would not like the idea because of some of the content. I do feel, however, that I would definitly recommend this book to students for use outside of the classroom.

thanks Ke$ha

My sister, a high school senior, is obsessed with Tik Tok by Ke$ah and my sister turned me on to this single. I won't lie I jam out to it when it is on my Ipod or radio, but lately I have become obsessed with Ke$ah's other songs. During my RA office hours, I blast Ke$ha music for the entire 2 hours. What I have really enjoyed about Ke$ha is that a majority of her songs are fun and upbeat like her hit single Tik Tok. I feel like when I get a CD based on the fact that I like the artist's single, I want the rest of the songs to be similar. (I mean I liked the song for a reason.) So I wanted to give a thanks to Ke$ha for making her album "Animal" that my friends and I can listen to while getting ready or driving in the car. Here are some of her songs that I really enjoy, I hope you enjoy them as well.

Your Love is my Drug

Kiss N Tell

I do also want to add that I do not agree that this artist is not the best role model, but the kids are listening to her, so we might as well know what they are listening to.