Here we are...in the library...again. Party Central!

Heather and my's work for tonight 

So, this is the third consecutive Tuesday night that Heather and I have spent in the library. At this point, it pretty much feels as if we literally live on campus. Pictured above is our usual work station. What's new in this picture is our finally finished, edited, and bindered packet. We just now finished assembling it all. This never would have come to fruition had we not had an amazing group.  Before this project, I pretty much disliked group work in general. There's always that one member (you know the one) who doesn't show up and hardly contributes to the work. For the first time pretty much ever, I was in a group where everyone did their fair share. There were even times when people vocalized that they didn't feel as if they were doing enough. 

This has definitely been one of the most positive group experiences I've had. I think the hardest part for me was the physical assembling of the packet. We all do things slightly differently and when it came to assimilating all of our ideas and lessons and whatnot, it was fairly challenging. But, since we're all so freaking awesome at working together, we pulled it off really well. I'm definitely anxious for teaching tomorrow. I'm confident in what we've prepared but I always get nervous before actually getting up in front of a class and teaching. That and if you haven't already noticed, I'm kind of a perfectionist when it comes to my school work :D I'm not really sure if a blog post was required for this week but as the rest of my group posted, I figured I would as well! I shall leave you all with a picture that obscurely references Portal 2's Co-op mode. Teamwork for the win!

Excitement!

Official Hunger Games Trailer!   <<<------ Click Here!

^ This is the newest trailer for the Hunger Games. I figured ya'll would appreciate seeing it :D

Even a glimpse of Rue:

Group Teach Planning!

Our group is incredibly awesome! Thus far, we've held three group meetings which every person has attended. I believe this is especially commendable as poor Arlen has a very length commute and the rest of us simply have packed schedules. Our first meeting was held on a Friday morning in the English Education meeting room. We were sure to bring breakfasty items such as juice boxes, doughnuts, and candy. We used this meeting to decide on the general topics of our unit [Identity & Perspective] and to brainstorm which texts we might use and what lessons we could teach with them. The room we held this meeting in was very useful as we utilized the available books and materials to spark our creativity. 

Our second meeting was held immediately following class last Wednesday; it lasted until about 11pm. Here, we narrowed down exactly what texts we wished to teach, the lessons we wanted to use, and who would be teaching what. We used the computer to explore various medias we could potentially include. We also typed up a draft of absolutely everything and included some questions we needed to ask Dr. Mortimore-Smith. This meeting was where we really ironed out what texts we would be using and outlined the lessons we intended to teach. We were all quite exhausted by the end of it. Beyond that, four out of five of us had History and Structure the next morning in the same exact room; it was like we never left.

Our third meeting was held in Starbucks with Dr. Mortimore-Smith. In this meeting, we went over our ideas and plans with one another and with Dr. Mortimore-Smith. She helped us to clarify certain things like our over-arching essential questions. She also answered the questions we had from our last group meeting. This meeting was quite helpful as it essentially clarified everything we were uncertain about. After Dr. Mortimore-Smith left, we stayed and divvied up who would be responsible for each section of the assignment and lessons. This worked surprisingly well as we had five people. Everyone took responsibility for a proportional amount of work. Lastly, we set dates and times for when things needed to be done.

Heather's and my laptops.

Our texts and lesson ideas have changed, morphed, and have essentially been in flux up until today. Over the last few days and especially tonight, a mountain of emails have been exchanged within our group. Tonight, I met with Heather in the library for about four hours. Together, we created the syllabus for our group's unit and took a fair few trips up to Starbucks for tea. After that, we focused in our the lesson we will be teaching together. We created a graphic organizer for one of the texts, the homework directions/model, and typed up our formal lesson plan. I stayed for a while after Heather left to complete this blog post and NaNoWriMo for a bit :D

Dystopia and English Class in the Computer Lab

English Class in the Computer Lab


One thing I really liked about Tracy Tarasuik's article, "Moving my English Class to the Computer Lab", was her observations and comments on her students' multitasking in the computer lab. This is something I've both seen and done myself during school. In high school, a teacher would send us off to complete various things on the computer and essentially every student would have other tabs open to things like email which they would flip back to while completing their work. I was happy to read the Tarasuik held back on her scoldings to "stay on task" so that she could observe what the students had the capacity to complete.


The survey she designed was a really concise way of getting statistics about the students in her school and getting to know them and their habits better. From these results Tarasuik was able to tailor her lessons and activities so that they would work for her students most efficiently. Tarasuik discovered that some of her students, Robert included, were avid YouTubers; they both watched, filmed, and produced videos on YouTube. Doing this properly requires a lot of skill and effort. Tarasuik knew she had discovered Robert's prominent form of literacy. Unfortunately, in many of today's public schools, websites such as YouTube are blocked from both the students' and teachers' access. I know in my own school district, any video or music streaming website was prohibited for anyone to access or view. I believe this seriously limits the potential of learning from modern media in the classroom. There were many times in my Sociology class that the teacher wanted to show some really relevant YouTube video and simply could not. In the same class, we ran into issues when we were trying to learn about racial issues and bullying; many of these websites were forbidden due to their "inappropriate content". I know this kind of loops back to the censorship discussion...but I still believe these websites shouldn't be restricted as they are far too useful in the classroom.

Given essentially every teacher I've had restricts the use of Wikipedia in the classroom, I was a little concerned when I saw the section header "Wikis", but after reading the section I thought it was a great idea. Tarasuik first had her class look at the wikis of other classes so that they had a good idea of what the could do with their own. The groups were then able to create their own and add to them as they read through their respective novels. This webpage involved teamwork, vocabulary, summaries, characters, and more. Essentially, it's all the good stuff in a worksheet but made digital. Her students were more motivated to do the page as they knew it could potentially be viewed by others online. I think this was a smart lesson idea for Tarasuik's class.


Dystopian Novels


I've found that I actually enjoy reading dystopian novels; I've specifically enjoyed The Giver, The Hunger Games, and The Uglies. Each of these three books [some morphed into series] gives the history behind how their current society came to be. In The Hunger Games:

"An unspecified time before the current date, the face of the Earth changed and modern civilization was seemingly destroyed. It is unknown precisely what caused the "end of the world", but major landmasses changed shape as the sea level rose to unknown heights around the planet. Some time after the end of the world as we knew it, a nation was established in North America that would soon come to be known as Panem. It is unknown precisely when Panem was established and how long it has existed, though it is certain that Panem has been around for more than seventy-five years, and it's entirely possible for it to be at least a century or two old.

Panem eventually grew large enough that it was segmented into thirteen separate districts, each responsible for producing goods of a particular industry to serve the growing needs of the nation, and all operating under the auspices of Panem's oppressive Capitol. Its exact method of expansion is unknown; it is possible that some of the separate districts may have even once been smaller, separate nations that were eventually annexed by Panem."

                                          (http://thehungergames.wikia.com/wiki/Panem)


In the book The Uglies, the world that you and I are currently living in now has been destroyed since we have used too much metal which has rusted, deteriorated, and collapsed after the creation of an "oil bug". This bug made oil combust immediately upon contact with oxygen. The few members of the population who managed to survive combined into cities which they designed to be self-sufficient and eco-friendly so as to prevent another collapse of the world.


I think what I find most interesting about these books is how plausible they all are...I mean we, as a society, really do use far too much metal and oil for our own (and our planet's) good. Something is bound to go incredibly wrong soon. These books are an interesting way to fathom what will happen to the remaining population after such an occurence. 

Dumbest Generation? I Respectfully Disagree.

I'd like to take advantage of this week's blog to respond to some quotes from the articles regarding the "dumbest generation". Let's not waste any time!

"Adults are so busy imagining the ways that technology can improve classroom learning or improve the public debate that they've blinded themselves to the collective dumbing down that is actually taking place. The kids are using their technological advantage to immerse themselves in a trivial, solipsistic, distracting online world at the expense of more enriching activities – like opening a book or writing complete sentences." (Bauerlein 1)

I suppose my best answer to this is that there is a population of students who do not use technology and the internet to enrich themselves. I would argue that, on the whole, technology is essential for optimum enrichment. My computer enables me to read essentially any news media I choose and I can even supplement it with video footage. No cable bill necessary! 

My Nook allows me to purchase novels and textbooks for my classes [as an English major, this is a lot of books] at a less expensive price AND it's environmentally friendly (less paper!). Beyond all of that, my Nook has WiFi capabilities that, among other things, allow me to look up any word that I do not understand. 

Perhaps this is not what Bauerlein was referring to, though. Maybe he was talking about all of the online gaming that occurs among students. I would venture to say that gaming is incredibly enriching as well. Students learn valuable skills such as teamwork through these games.

"...and like parents appalled that their AP-amassing darling doesn't know Chaucer from Chopin" (Begley and Interlandi)

First of all, my parents don't know Shakespeare from J.K. Rowling...they're definitely not going to know the difference between Chaucer and Chopin. I didn't know either of those two authors in high school either because my high school essentially teaches the same four line ups of books for 9th-12th grades. I doubt they would teach something like The Awakening as it's ending is a little risky. 

Literature, News, and Education!

"If you are perusing this on the Internet, the big block of text below probably seems daunting, maybe even boring. Who has the time? Besides, one of your Facebook friends might have just posted a status update!" (Drutman)

Drutman is absolutely right! What student has the time to read the news or read a book for pleasure? I know that because I work three jobs and take five classes, I don't! It's a good thing my Facebook gives me news blurbs. You can see them in the red boxes below. This enables me to keep up with my friends, family, and the news! He does make a decent point though, Facebook CAN be distracting. It's a good thing I have dual monitors.... Facebook on one and homework on the other! Actually, I'm just kidding....as you can see from the two screen-shots below, I have articles for this class opened in the tabs. Blogger is on one screen and the articles are on the other. This technology thing is kind of nice!

Politics and History!

"...America's youth know virtually nothing about history and politics. And no wonder. They have developed a 'brazen disregard of books and reading'." [not sure which article I pulled this quote from, sorry!] 

I'll just refer this quote back to the Facebook screen-shots. Though, I guess I should add that as the vice president of Shippensburg College Democrats, I'd like to think many students are still knowledgeable about politics. We, as a club, hold events quite frequently. For instance, last year we created a petition protesting PA Governor Corbett and his proposed budget. Specifically, the budget cuts to PHEAA and Education. Beyond that, I spoke at an APSCUF event which was attended by students, professors, and community members. I suppose what I'm trying to get at here is that students do know things regarding history and politics....some of them are even active! [Here's where I push Dems --> Come out to Grove Forum next Thursday [11/3/11] for Sex, Drugs, and Politics. It starts at 6:30pm, it is hosted by SHIP College Dems, and 5 professors will be speaking on the aforementioned three topics!] I also cannot resist commenting on the 'brazen disregard of books and reading'  part.... I would agree with this. I too have a 'brazen disregard of books a reading'. I mean, have you seen the choices in history and politics? No?  Check out Lady Palin up there ^. 

Maus I: Massively Lacking Apathy

"A Lesson from the Holocaust: From Bystander to Advocate in the Classroom"
With this article, Karen Wink addresses apathy in the classroom (specifically, her Coast Guard Academy class). She gave examples of students who attempted to single-handedly elicit responses from their fellow classmates, most of these failed entirely. None of the students were willing to step up and participate, making connections. So how do we, as teachers, encourage our students to break away from conformity in the classroom? Wink defines apathy as "a lack of emotion; lack of interest; unconcern; indifference" (Wink 84). I'm not entirely sure how anyone can read something concerning the Holocaust and remain apathetic about the content. None the less, I liked the teacher's use of her personal experiences. Reading from her journal was an awesome way to get her students engaged.

"Beyond Tolerance: Teaching English in a Post - 9/11 Classroom"
My first thought reading this article: Who is the patron saint of English teachers? :D

Beyond that, I loved that she designed her World Literature class as a trip! This is exactly how I would like to do it when I am a teacher. She used literature that was not even close to the pieces I typically see in a world lit class. Furthermore, she used pictures and the commentary of two different countries to initiate deeper thinking and better conversation/open thinking in her class. When I teach a class like this, I think I'll have a poster-sized map of the world displayed somewhere in the classroom to show where we are, where we have been, and where we may go next. And maybe even give the students an opportunity to show where they would like to go in their own literature.

Maus I
Maus is one of my all-time favorite graphic novels/stories about the Holocaust. I think what I like best about it is how Art Spiegelman chose to represent the different nationalities.

Jews = Mice
Germans = Cats
Poles = Pigs

It enables the reader to experience the book from a different perspective. The reader isn't viewing the characters as human beings, but as animals. We actually just talked a bit about this in my Rise of the Novel class with Dr. Harrow.  Plus, it's a graphic novel; the reader is experiencing both the written text and what they individually interpret from the pictures.

Literature Circles

After reading the first two chapters of Harvey Daniels' book, Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in Book Clubs & Reading Groups, I knew I was going to enjoy the rest of the chapters. A book about literature clubs? Yes, please. As a junior in my high school, I began a literature club with one of my English teachers, Mrs. Ashenfelder, as the "adviser". I encase the word in quotes because she never led the club, she was just there to fulfill my school's requirements for a club (adviser has to be present at each meeting). More than anything, she participated like every other student in the club. I was the president of that club up until I graduated and then passed it on to the next person; to my knowledge, the club is still very active. As I read chapter one, I found myself constantly comparing our club to the various sections. In the very beginning of chapter one Daniels states, "In 1990, there were about 50,000 book clubs in the United States; by the turn of the millennium that number had just about doubled." When I read this, I was floored. I had no idea literature and book clubs were so popular! Shortly after this statement Daniels comments on what literature clubs do, "We select and read great books, books that move us, that change us as people..." I'd like to believe that's what our club did as well. As individuals we nominated books that would be later voted on as a club to determine what we would be reading for the next meeting. We had a pretty good mix of classic novels, modern novels, young adult fiction, and more. Some of the books we ended up reading were: 

I had to add this, it's one of my favorite pictures :D

• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
• Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• The Great Gatsby  by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Later in the chapter, Daniels spoke about the negatives and positives of role sheets. Role sheets are something I've been instructed to use in classes but we never used them in Lit Club. I can see how they could be useful for a club that was just starting, but beyond that I kind of feel like they would just be crutches; the participants would never think out beyond that.

In chapter two, Daniels breaks down "Eleven Key Ingredients" for his own literature circles. One of the eleven suggestions is that different groups read different books once the books have been selected. I never thought of what I would do if I had a large group and we couldn't come to a consensus on what to read. Daniels suggests that the large group breaks down into smaller groups. I think this makes a lot of sense as it allows for the students to really filter down what they truly wish to read; it's a happy medium between teacher assigned and individual reading :] 

I had to :D

Bringing Children Together

I'll admit, when I first looked at the assigned reading that was on the syllabus for this blog post, I immediately skipped over everything but Jane Elliott's Brown Eyed, Blue Eyed experiment. This is something we watched and extensively discussed in my high school Sociology class. I also found the experiment both incredibly fascinating and informative.

After re-experiencing Elliott's experiment, I eventually found my way back to the other assignments on the syllabus for this week. The article, "Reading Multiculturally", by Hade seemed like it would be dull compared to Elliott's video. How very wrong I was! The very first thing Hade spoke about was the Lion King and there is not much that I like more than Disney movies. However, this particular article stretched how I normally think when it comes to Disney movies. I cannot say that I've ever considered the semiotics behind the various characters, nor have I ever noticed that the plot is more representative of the lives of people as opposed to wild animals. I found his analysis very eye-opening. Beyond this, though, Hade states something I'd like to remember as I enter the teaching culture:

"I believed, like many of my colleagues in children's literature, that the power of literature could work miracles, that all I had to do was to bring children together with the right book." (Hade 236)

Just like Elliott, Hade was striving to find something that would unite his students and remove some discrimination from their lives through an increase in understanding. This is definitely something I would like to do with my students. I feel as if having a class that would subtly focus on building bridges between the students. Hade later expounds on why he wants to bring this multiculturalism to the forefront of the classroom:

"I was told that children don't "naturally" read for race, class, and gender, and I mustn't impose my agenda upon them. But what I am after isn't imposing meaning, it is exposing injustice. To ignore the injustice implied in children's stories is a far more insidious way of imposing ideas than to challenge these ideas openly. Silence is the oxygen of racism and bigotry. Silence allows the dominant assumptions about the inferiority of the poor, women, and persons of color to remain unchallenged." (Hade 238)

I want my students to feel comfortable and open to express their feelings and opinions without fear of repercussions or judgement. Ideally, I want my classroom to be a safe place for children to learn.

A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Creepy collage from House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

Chapter five of Wilhelm's, You Gotta Be the Book corresponds closely with our assigned reading, American Born Chinese. In this chapter, Wilhelm explains how he came to realize the power that simple pictures have over many students' understanding of a text. After struggling with two students who flat out refused to read, he acknowledged their enjoyment of comic books and sketching and turned them around into a practical application. Wilhelm also goes on to list various art/picture related activities that a teacher can incorporate into their respective classrooms. Two of those activities, I have already experienced in my high school career. I found picture mapping and collage making to be both enjoyable and enlightening. With picture mapping, my mind was able to make more concrete connections to what I was reading/had already read. Collages were more on the enjoyable side rather than the educational. Wilhelm rectifies this when he suggests that students not only create a collage that represents their response to a piece of literature, but then use the collage further as a part of a presentation about their response to the literary selection.

Can't go wrong with The Walking Dead!

On page 164 of You Gotta Be the Book, one of Wilhelm's students (Jeremy) reads Maus and Maus II and then exclaims, "Why don't they write more books like this?" I am in complete concurrence with this student. I absolutely love graphic novels, comic books, and manga. I was thrilled when I looked up the reading list for this class over the summer and discovered both a graphic novel that I've read and loved and one that I had not even heard of. If you know me personally, you know that I naturally went out and bought the one I hadn't experienced yet and read through the entire thing in a day. I do not understand why more graphic novels are not taught in the public school system and English classes. I believe that novels such as Maus, Persepolis, and American Born Chinese hold just as much literary merit as something like the The Grapes of Wrath or A Tale of Two Cities (if not more). A graphic novel has it's reader not only reading the text on the pages, but processing and interpreting what they are seeing in the pictures. As this post is titled, a picture is worth a thousand words. Graphic novels enable their readers to easily visualize characters and identify who is speaking and when. Actions are easier to understand as they are frequently presented in a frame by frame manner. Graphic novels should definitely become a more prominent member of all public high school required reading lists.

You Gotta [get your students to] Be [interested in] The Book :D

Page from Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves

Literature is important for all adolescents, whether they realize it or not. It is something that can be utilized in many fashions; it can be used as a tool for understanding oneself, questioning the world, or as an escape from day-to-day problems and stresses. There are so many benefits to reading literature, the challenge for all English teachers is to figure out how to get their students to recognize and further, to embrace them. In Chapter Two of You Gotta be the Book, Jeffrey Wilhelm details why one should read literature. I found this section to be very concise and well thought out.
The three children profiled throughout this chapter also appear in this section when they are quoted regarding their take on why students ought to read literature. Ron asserts that it is because school is supposed to help you live better. Cora maintains that reading is like "a microscope and a telescope...helps you see things that are invisible -- because they're too small or too far away... It makes you think so much more than a video or TV." Joanne states two things: one, "a story helps you to think. It involves you totally in thinking about things you could never think about except in a story." and two, "I feel like reading a good book makes someone new." I would concur with each of these three students. Reading has always been something that I've used as an easy escape from the world. Unfortunately, the vast majority of literature we were required to read in middle school and high school did not interest me, worse than that, the teachers were also essentially incapable of enticing me into reading any of the pieces. One of my goals as a teacher is to strive to engage my students in reading as it is something that will benefit them. One method I'd like to use, I picked up from Wilhelm's book; it is explained below.


As far as teaching ideas go, I liked the Symbolic Story Representation (SRI) idea presented in Chapter Three: The Dimensions of the Reader's Response. Wilhelm details this technique:

"In this technique, students create cutouts or find objects to dramatize what they have read and how they have read it. During or after their reading, the students, using an adaptation of the SRI, created cutouts symbolizing characters, character qualities, groups, or forces from the book; objects, scenes, or settings of importance; motifs, themes, or ideas that played a role in the story; and a cutout symbolizing oneself as a reader."

 This seems like a fantastic lesson idea. Having the students preform a hands-on activity such as this forces them to make connections within the text that results in them having a better/more complete understanding of what they have read. This activity can be applied to essentially any individual lesson in the English classroom as it can be adapted to focus on any of the aforementioned parts (characters, objects, scenes, motifs, & etc.). After the students create said cutouts they can/will use them as they read further into the novel, "The reader moved the cutouts around to dramatize the story and to show the changing relationships of various characters or forces, and used the reader cutout to show where he was in relation to story events, explaining how and from what perspective he/she was experiencing the story." This lesson quickly morphs into the student becoming more critically aware of both what is happening in the piece of literature and of their individual reading strategy. This is definitely a lesson strategy that I plan to incorporate in my classroom.

Literacy Profile

Would you consider yourself a reader?
I am definitely a reader. Books have been and continue to be my favorite thing! 


What do you enjoy about reading? 

John Green!

I love the escape that reading provides. Mostly though, I love how constant books are. I believe that John Green put it best when he said, "Books are the ultimate dumpees: put them down and they'll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they always love you back."

When did you begin reading? Was it strictly for school or did you read for pleasure? 
I suppose I began reading in grade school. I remember I was required to read each night for school. My mother would set the timer on the oven and when it beeped I was supposed to be done. However, it was never enough time, so I would sneak into the kitchen and add time. Even as a young child I was a nerd :D

What books did you choose to read as an adolescent? List titles if you can remember them. 
 I pretty much read anything I could get my hands on. Some of my favorites:

• Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling
• House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski
• EVERYTHING by John Green
• Looking for Alaska
• Paper Towns
• An Abundance of Katherines



House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski

• Will Grayson, Will Grayson
• Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
• Anything Jane Austen
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower -Stephen Chbosky
• Anything Scott Westerfeld
• The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
• Anything Mercedes Lackey
• Old Magic - Marianne Curley
• The Giver - Lois Lowry

Looking for Alaska - John Green

Which genres/topics were you drawn to? 
I essentially read general fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and classics.

How did you respond to the literature taught in your classrooms? 
Honestly, I disliked many of the novels we were supposed to read in class. The only literature I found myself enjoying were those pieces taught in my advanced/elective classes.

What type of literature were you exposed to in your middle/high schools? Again, list titles if you can remember them. 

Standard Classes:

• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Great Expectations
• The Scarlet Letter
• A Tale of Two Cities
• The Great Gatsby [my favourite of the required readings]
• A Separate Peace
• Of Mice and Men
• Hamlet
• Romeo and Juliet
• Beowulf
• The Canterbury Tales
• Our Town

Elective Classes:

• Ethan Frome
• Death of a Salesman
• The Bell Jar
• War and Peace
• Girl, Interrupted
• The Sun Also Rises

Would you consider yourself a motivated/reluctant reader? 
I would say I am a motivated reader!

In what way do you hope to inspire your own students to value reading/literacy? 
I hope to provide my students with books that they will enjoy and want to read rather than books that they must force themselves to read purely for a grade.

Do you see literacy as something that extends beyond traditional reading practices? 
I suppose my answer to this question is dependent on how one defines "traditional reading practices".