Foot: NBA Playoffs 2011

I honestly have not been reading anything other than assigned reading for educational purposes, but the NBA Playoffs has been a major distraction for me right now. The NBA has had an evental season with the major trades that have taken place and for that this year's playoff season has been simple amazing. I am orginally form Detroit, so I have never been a Cavalier's fan, especially when Lebron James was on the team. To say the least, I am not his biggest fan and I would hate to see Miami Heat win any title this year or years to come. In the East, I am rooting for Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls (I absolutely LOVE Derrick Rose)! I am looking forward to my Oklahoma City Thunder to win in the West and bring home a title. They have an amazing young team and they are tremendously humble when it comes to their ability to play. Despite the terrible upsets I experienced tonight with the Grizzlies beating OKC and the Heat winning against Boston tonight, I still have faith in my teams. I have been waiting for over a year to see them advance in the playoffs and I believe this is the year!

Foot: Jane Eyre

I am currently taking Intro to Women's Literature and it has broaden my horizions when it comes to reading canons and other forms of traditional classic literature. The first novel we read for the course was Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. I am ashamed to say I had never read this book before, and furthermore I had never even heard of it. I have grew to love and adore this novel. It is something that I believe all women can relate to. We are brought up in society where we are taught that women should be more passive and submissive. Possessing intellect and being strong minded is seen as a crutch in our society, but Jane defied all odds and we were able to witness her journey to find love while possessing all of these qualities. The major theme of the book to me was Jane's need to be love, while maintaining a sense of self. Too many times in society women are forced to give up pieces of themself in order to acquire love, but not Jane. Jane would not settle until she found a balance between the two. This message speaks volumes to women.

For anyone who has read Jane Eyre or are interested in Jane Eyre, I strongly suggest they also read Jean Rhys sequel of Jane Eyre, Wide Sargrasso Sea. In Jane Eyre, Rochester was married to a woman named Bertha. Rhys decided to tell Bertha's story and it creates a strange, yet interesting twist to what occurred in Jane Eyre.

Foot: Final Reflection

I must say this course has taught me a lot and many of the activities that we engaged in throughout the semester will be included in my future classroom. From the beginning of the semester we have been engaging in ice-breaker and small group activities that ultimately allow students the chance to be active in lessons. I never thought that simply playing a small ice-breaker game could have a profound impact on how students become alert and more committed to the next activity/lesson. Overall, the most important thing I have learned this semester is what defines multiple modalities. Knowing all the different ways I could include different modalities into any given lessons, allows me the chance to truly capture my students' attention. Utilizing blogs, facebook, twitter, wikis, ect. will give students a broad range of activities for lessons. I found that a lot of people believe that multi-modal always has to do with technology, but that is not always true. Multi-modal concerning education is taking different approaches/modes to teach a specified lesson. With that being said, I believe one of the most influential activities we did this semester was creating the Canonical Wiki. One the surface it is important as a Language Arts teacher to know and recognize the Canons. Moreover, it was important to actually research different lesson plans that could surround one book and a canon at that. I learned that there are some many activities that could stem off of one piece of literature and as a teacher I do not have to traditionally teach and assess the book. I learned there are plenty of meaningful activities that can be used that will tap into students' critical thinking and would benefit them more in the long run.

Another thing this course taught me was how social networking could be used in the classroom. I absolutely love the idea of including social networking in my future classroom, especially when it comes to discussing literature. Online literature circles have become one of my favorite activities to discuss literature amongst students, but I never thought about using social networking sites with it. Also, I loved how we discussed concerns with certain lesson plans, especially when the internet is involved. I believe we agreed that incorporating parents and having an open line of communication is the best way to advoid problems when it comes to internet use.

The class as a whole was ultimately complicated and quite a bittersweet experience. I learned information that will help me when I begin to start teaching, but this course also was structured in a way that I did not learn as much as I believe I could have. I loved the activities that we engaged in and completed, but sometimes the activities took away from formal instruction. As a learner, I need a balance of formal instruction, as well as demonstration. I believe the course was just a little taboo when it came to the organization of it and that is what threw off my learning process. I will say the nature of the course is probably a reflection of the organization. I have never taken a course that focused on engaging students in a non-traditional way, so I did not know what to expect. This course was very non-traditional and it reinforced the aspects of multi-modalities that we had been learning.

Foot: Graphic Novels Compare & Contrast

Text and Dialogue

Balloons:

In Naruto, two different types of balloons were used to express different types of dialogue, while there was only one type of speech balloon used. In Naruto when a character was speaking regularly, their speech appeared in a circular balloon, but when a character was expressing any sort of excitement their speech appeared in a more jagged balloon. In Pinocchio, circular balloons were used when characters were speaking. A major difference is the narration for Pinocchio appeared in rectangular boxes.

Captions:

There was little to no captions used in Naruto, but in Pinocchio captions were a very important element. The captions that were used served as narration to the story.

Emanata:

In both of these texts, emanata were used in the same ways. There were lines that were used to indicate actions. Also smoke and clouds were used to create a dream/magical element in the novels.

Labels and Signs:
Labels and signs were not used a lot throughout either of these stories. In Naruto, there were a couple of signs with Japanese lettering and in Pinocchio there were signs that identified landmarks.

Lettering:
The lettering in Naruto reflect the actions and emotions that are taking place in the story. Different lettering and font sizes are used to show anger, fear, etc. In Pinocchio, the lettering stays the same throughout the story and are not of significance.

Sound Effects:
Pinocchio does not have any sound effects, but Naruto uses a lot of sound effects, especially in fighting scenes.

Visual Effects

Characters:
The characters in Pinocchio are not very detailed in illustrations. The characters are simply used to show emotion on their face. In Naruto, the characters are very detailed and they all have their own characteristics.

Objects:
The illustrations in Naruto are very detailed and it is also shown when looking at the objects of the novel. In Pinocchio, objects are rarely even seen and even if they were based on the illustrations, they would not be very detailed.

Icons:
The main icon in Pinocchio is most obvious, his nose. Whenever he lies, his nose grows, but it is used to help him when he fights. In Naruto, the main icon is the headband. The headband is something that he has been working for and once he gets it, it is looked at as an accomplishment of power.

Scenery:
The scenery in Naruto is very detailed and it adds to the story. The scenery is what makes the story realistic when it comes to the layout of the city. In Pinocchio, the scenery is not really illustrated, the illustrations of the story revolve around the actions of the characters.

Depicted Action:
In both of the stories, the actions revolve around fighting. In Pinocchio, most of the actions were fights with the vampires. In Naruto, the actions illustrated fights and also the thoughts of characters.

Borders:
Borders are used beautifully in both of the texts with very little variation.

Gutters:
The gutters in Naruto are always there, but the gutters in Pinocchio are only used sometimes. In both stories the only colors that are used for the gutters are black and white.

Panels:
The panels that were used in both of the texts varied in size depending on the action that was taking place in it.

Open Panels:
Both of the texts utilized open panels and it added to the amazing illustrations of the books. It appealed to the reader in a different way and spoke volumes. In both texts, open panels seemed to be used when a climatic action was taking place.

Splash:
Naruto did not have many splashes like Pinocchio. Pinocchio had a lot of action scenes when fights were occurring,

Angles and Frames

Bleed:
Both of these texts bleed. In Naruto, panels bleed onto other pages a lot. In Pinocchio, the bleeds are typically only onto other panels and not pages.

Close-up:
Close-ups are used a lot throughout Pinocchio and it adds to the drama of the story. Also in Naruto, close-ups of characters added the emotion of the story.

Head shot:
The headshotss of Pinocchio were used to show the emotions that were depicted on the characters faces. In Naruto, this novel utilized thought balloons, so close-ups were used for characters when they were thinking and the story was focused primarily on them.

Head-Shoulder Shot:
Head-Shoulder Shots were used in both texts and for the same reason, to better depict and illustrate the emotions that were taking place.

Full-Figure Shot:
Full-Figure shots were used in both the texts and it was primarily for when there was an action taking place and when there were multiple characters in a frame.

Long shot:
Both of the texts used long shots to show scenery as a background for the plot of the story. In Pinocchio, were he was fighting with vampires, long shots were used to show the actions.

Extreme Long shot:
Extreme Long shots were used primarily in Naruto when characters were conversing and there was a lot of scenery. Pinocchio did not utilize extreme long shots.

Reverse:
Reverse shots were used a lot throughout both of the texts and in the same way. We saw reverse shots used when characters were speaking back and forth to each other.

Rhetorical Techniques applied in Text, Visuals and Design

Exaggeration:
Both of these texts are tremendously exaggerated. Pinocchio was exaggerated when it came to scenery and the illustrations of death of the vampires. Naruto was exaggerated when it came to actions and emotions of the main characters.

Empathy/Identification:
Other than Pinocchio's father being dead, I could not identify with is character or the things he went through; therefore, I did not feel much empathy. The characters in Naruto were easier to identify with because they had emotions and trials that are a bit more relatable.

Mood/Tone:
The mood and tone of both of these books are extremely different. Pinocchio is really dark and contemptuous. Naruto has a lighter tone and is inclusive to comedy.

Simplicity/Complexity:
Pinocchio based on organization was quite simplistic, but the storyline could be complex at times. Naruto was a bit more complex because of its writing format. Unless a person truly knows how to read this type of graphic novel, it will be hard to follow because it goes against the way we know how the read, left to right, front to back.

Irony/Satire:
Naruto's power is very ironic. He is basically hated by the townspeople and no one at school really likes him, yet he is the most powerful person around. In Pinocchio, there is so much irony and satire. The children's story Pinocchio sets the foundation of this story, but his lies are used for the betterment of society.

Realism/Icons/Symbols:
At times I lack an imagination because things seem to not be in the least bit real. Both of these stories lacked realism, but I do not necessarily think this is a bad thing. The nose in Pinocchio definitely was not realistic, but at the same time it was symbolic. It is something that a young adult can identify with and they already have basic knowledge.

Order/Disorder:
There is a major difference between these two novels when it comes to order and disorder. In Naruto, there is not a lot of order and there is a lot going on throughout the novel. Part of this may be the type of graphic novel it is, manga. In Pinocchio, everything was in order. It was really easy to follow along and the text/illustrations were not difficult.

Juxtaposition:
Naruto and Pinocchio seem to share the same juxtaposition throughout both of the graphic novels, which is good vs. evil. This juxtaposition is presented differently in each novel, but it is still prevalent. In Pinocchio, he is fighting vampires. In every fight there is always a good and evil side. In Naruto, his personality and mannerism reflects this idea. He has a good and evil side that is observed throughout the novel.

Relationships:
Naruto does not have that many characters, but all of the characters are interconnected. Naruto seems to be hated and he does not have many good relationships with the other characters his age in the novel, his closest relationship is with a teacher. In Pinocchio, the trend continues. There are not a lot of relationships throughout the novel and the person closest to Pinocchio, his father, is no longer living.

Point of View:
Naruto is not told from one specific point of view, but it is in third person. Pinocchio utilizes a narrator to tell the story and throughout the graphic novel, the reader is able to feel the narrator's emotion through his/her narration.

Pytash: Final Reflection

This semester came and went really fast! One thing that I cannot say is that I did not learn anything. Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools expanded on the foundation that was laid fall semester. This semester I really like the collaborative lesson plans and expert groups that we did in class. Through these two activities we were able to engage, but also bounce ideas off of each other for lesson ideas. I really liked being able to discuss more creative and beneficial lessons for students, instead of depending on the traditional ways of assessing students' comprehension of literature.

Once again the text that we read to go along with course was amazing. I love reading and actually thinking about how I would and how I want to apply the ideas Jago includes in her book into my future classroom. She really made me think about aspects of teaching that I never really considered. I have never thought much about the types of books I would choose to use in my classroom; furthermore, I never contemplated the tremendous amount of decision making that goes into choosing which books to include. One aspect of this chapter that I did disagree with Jago is the emphasis that is put on canons. I would never say that canons are not important and should not be used in classrooms anymore, but I do believe canons should be balanced with young adult literature. I know that lessons of adversity, adultery, love, promiscuity, etc., could be taught from canons, but young adult literature can be more appealing to students and it adds diversity to lesson plans. I am really looking forward to the final project in class because it displays this idea of canons paired with young adult literature.

The most beneficial activities we did this semester was viewing lessons and creating lesson plans. This semester was the first time I had the chance to experience writing lessons and viewing the time and energy that goes into creating a lesson. The video that we viewed in class that I really liked was the one with the teacher who was giving her students a lesson using Shakespeare. The video was not that long, but I was able to see how she used an entry, mini lesson, large-group discussion, small-group discussion and closure. I guess I did not that lessons were planned literally from the beginning of the class to the end of class. After viewing the video I understand that it is extremely important for teachers to have their lessons completely planned out, so students can utilitize all of class time to engage in meaningful activities and learning.

Lastly, I love the classroom discussions that took place throughout the semester. It is nice to know that we share common grounds when it comes to concerns and passions. I also love the fact that we learn multiple activities that I plan on using in my classroom. We learning creative ways of creating groups, lessons for critical thinking and applications of themes. I feel like this course has made all of us more comfortable when it comes to teaching.

Pytash: Literature, and the High School Graduate

I loved that we ended the semester reading Chapter 7: Literature, and the High School Graduate. This chapter served as a nice motivation for all teachers and future teachers. Many times we put a lot of emphasis on our lesson plans and meeting state requirements for curriculum, and we forget, as a teacher, we are also training students to become functional contributors to our society. We are supplying them with the tools they need to move on to the next level, whatever that level may be. Jago dedicated this chapter of her book to shed light on the profound impact teachers can have on students.

One of my favorite parts of this chapter was the part dedicated to assessment. I completely agree with Jago, too many teachers test students on literature in common ways. Making tests that include multiple choice, matching and true/false questions does not encourage higher levels of thinking. Students are easily able to access study guide materials, such as sparknotes or enotes, to find out the important characters of the story and the main plot events. I loved the way this chapter reflected the last couple of Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools classes. Jago believes using character analysis, application and/or evaluation as a closing of the text. I completely agree, all of these activities demand critical thinking of literature from students and no student could just get by from not being actively engaged in the text. Lastly, the section on assessment is truly important for all teachers. It makes students take a more active role in their education and I believe classes will be more enjoyable because students are not just reading to take a test. Instead, teachers are tapping into their ability to critically think and consequently students are actually learning.

Pytash: Canonical Wiki

This is my first experience with a canonical wiki and I really enjoyed it. I found a great variety of lessons that would appeal to a diverse group of students. The lesson plans that I found were based on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. When looking for lesson plans, I wanted to find lessons that were nontraditional and would solicit a higher level thinking. For pre-reading activities I found anticipation guides that got students ready to read the novel and begin thinking about the themes within the book. For during-reading activities, I found worksheets where students could record key information from the text as they read. I also found numerous activities that called for students to keep a journal where they would write down questions about the text and their opinions of the text as they read along. It is really important to keep students active while reading a text. A lot of the activities that I found would be great for post-reading activities. I found unique adaptations of a character analysis, group discussions, small group presentations of a critical analysis and the film version of Frankenstein. I also found other adaptations of the text. It is important for struggling readers to be taken into account when making a lesson plan, I found a version of Frankenstein that was 80 pages and would be great from struggling readers and ESL students. Lastly, there are many versions of a graphic novel and comic books that would appeal to students that could be used for supplemental activities.

This assignment showed me that there are infinite activities and lessons that can be taught about Frankenstein and any other canon. In Frankenstein, there are themes that relate to our society today and the lessons that I came across put an emphasis on students finding the meaningfulness of these themes, in relation to their own lives. Frankenstein specifically is considered one of the first gothic-fiction and the context of this genre is extremely important for students to understand. There are so many lessons that could be taught in correlation with canons and would greatly recommend Frankenstein.

Educational Technology:

Subject: Health
Grades: 4-6

All health classes put an emphasis on physical health of students. They also require for students to perform health tests to test student's endurance while comparing results amongst students. Kidnetic is a great site that merges phyiscal education together with technology. On this site students offers physical activities for students that requires a great deal of energy and it also provides students with health information that goes along with a health-based professional curriculum guide. This website would be of great use in health classes because in grades 4-6, students are not ready to sit in a classroom and receive a lecture about health and adequately take notes. As a teacher, I could use this site as the foundation of my instruction while actively engaging my students.

The advantages of this site is that it is absolutely free, it engages students physically and it provides a large amount of information pertaining to the overall health of human beings. The disadvantages of this site is that it requires a significant amount of space and there is no way for teachers to monitor their students' activities besides walking around and admiring.

Educational Technology: Google Earth

Subject: Earth Sciences
Grades: 7-12

Google Earth would be a good tool to use in middle and high school Language Arts classrooms. It can be used as a research tool when students are researching different countries. Google Earth will allow students the opportunity to explore the planet and/or area, in which they are researching. Google Earth will tell students climate information, animal populations and buildings/businesses in a specific area.The benefits of this program outweigh the disadvantages. You can find directions and locations to businesses. It also allows viewing of planets, countries, the moon and basic astrology. The only major problem with this program is accuracy when it comes to updates.

Educational Technology: Animoto

Subject: Language Arts
Grades: 7-12

Everyone has had to do a PowerPoint presentation at some point in their life and for many of us our first experience with the program was in middle or high school. Animoto presents a new kind of presentation that offers more originality and creativeness than traditional PowerPoint. For a teacher, we will use PowerPoints for lecture most of the time especially in a Language Arts classroom. Animoto would be a great way to present lessons to students in a more innovative way that demands attention. The advantages of this program is its high quality and creative aspects. The program is more technologically advanced than other presentation programs used in classrooms. The disadvantages of this program is its annual cost of use. If a package is not purchased, the movies/presentations that can be created are limited to 30 seconds. 30 seconds would not be enough time to have a meaningful presentation to the class.

Educational Technology: Wallwisher

Subject: Language Arts
Grades: 7-12

Wallwisher is an online board maker and would be great for Language Arts classrooms. In Language Arts classroom a lot of time is spent reading literature. Traditional activites involving literature are becoming less popular amongst today's generation. Online Literature Circles are becoming more and more popular in Language Arts classroooms. Online Literature Circles are used for students to discuss themes, ideas and opinions of a text with peers and Wallwisher would be a great new tool to be utilized. Students can register for Wallwisher in groups and discuss different opinions and ideas from the book that they are currently reading.

The strengths of Wallwisher is the easy accessibility of the program and it is free. Also, teachers are able to view posts before they are actually published. This is really important in middle and high school classrooms. Teachers need to be able to monitor conversations, making sure they are appropriate and students stay on topic. The only downfall of this program is that text is limited to 160 characters per post. This could be a problem when students want to explicitly express ideas and thoughts.

Educational Technology: Glogster

Subject: Language Arts
Grades: 7-12

In short, Glogs are posters that can be created online made up of texts, images, music and videos. Glogs are an unique creation of mixed graphics that could be used in an edudcational setting. Glogster would be great to use in Language Arts classrooms. Instead of making students take formal tests after reading literature or even a short story, students can create visual pieces through Glogster displaying their interpretation and comprehension of the lesson. This website also offers a site Glogster EDU, which is a platform for teachers and students to express their creativity in the classroom. The advantages of these sites are that they allow for creativity and interaction. This sites are also not limited to one subject matter, it can be used in different classrooms for different grade levels. The major disadvantage of this program is pricing. For the basic teacher, the site is free, but only 50 students can register and the features are limited. As a teacher, that only allows you to use Glogster with one, maybe two full classrooms. In order to get unlimited features, the program has an annual fee of $99 and 200 students could register.

Pytash: Lesson Design for Classical Literature

I absolutely love when I read texts and the contents of a chapter include some of my personal experiences. In this chapter of Classics in the Classroom, Jago wrote about the idea of expert groups. In Block II of Advanced Study, we have had the opportunity to work in expert group numerous times. While I believe it was a great idea for future teachers to engage in this activity, I never thought about how students could benefit from this experience. When students get into expert groups they are able to collaborate on the ideas of their peers (which would make Vygotsky very happy) and construct their knowledge in a way that the rest of the class could find beneficial. Also, it takes pressure off of students to concern themselves with a huge amount of information, and they are able to narrow it down and focus primarily on one idea at a time.

I also really liked the way that this chapter connected to Chapter 4. Jago expressed the importance of teaching students the structure of stories, so they can better understand the elements within the story. In Chapter 6, Jago used the example of  The Odyssey. We all know that this story is based about Greek Mythology, but it is also an epic. According to Jago, this would be important information to go over with students to give them a foundation on the story as a whole.

Pytash: How Stories Work

This chapter happened to be one of the most interesting chapters in Classics in the Classroom. While I was reading this chapter I tried to remember if I ever had a teacher who taught me the basic structure of all stories, and I could not recall a single time. I believe knowing how stories are structured and formatted will help all students no matter their ability to get more out of a text than they would have been able to otherwise. When thinking primarily of students who struggle getting through texts, it will be extremely beneficial for them to have a foundation to work off of.

As a teacher, being able to break down certain elements of a story are vital to students overall comprehension. I also do not remember doing a story breakdown for texts that I read in high school. I believe I would have been able to identify the main characters, the setting and the plot of most stories, but reality is that a lot of students cannnot. One thing I know I struggled with was point of views. Jago used The Call of the Wild show as a reference to show the difference between different point of views. While I could identify some elements of a story, being able to tell the difference between first and third person was a struggle and it is common because it is not always being taught. I loved how this chapter, along with just about all the other chapters, placed most of the responsibility on teachers. As a teacher, I need to challenge my students and demand a higher level of thinking.

Pytash: All About Words

This chapter of Classics in the Classroom was really important to me. It was not until we started field experience at Firestone High School that I realized students have a problem with vocabulary acquisition. I have come to realize that difficulty that students have when it comes to defining words, syntax and even phonetics. As a future English teacher, vocabulary is really the foundation of all my lessons. If students do not know how to read it will ultimately have a drastic impact on their level of comprehension. If students do not and cannot expand their vocabulary it will effect the way, in which they write. Needless to say vocabulary acquisition is the heart of all Language Arts classrooms.

I did not have to read this chapter to fully understand the ineffective ways vocabulary lessons are commonly used in Language Arts classrooms today. Jago expressed that the methods some teachers use puts little emphasis on comprehension, while students just memorize vocabulary words for a test and soon after they forget the words. As a future teacher, I believe students should not have to worry about remembering vocabulary words for tests, but they should be using these words in different exercises year round. These words should be used so much that they become a part of their everyday language.

One of the parts of the chapter that really made me think was when Jago spoke about the criteria for vocabulary words. I never thought about vocabulary from the standpoint of the teacher, and I never thought about the process in which teachers should evaluate what words are taught. After reading this chapter it is tremendously important for vocabulary words to be meaningful and useful. When these words are meaningful, students can get more use out of them and they are able to better navigate through society knowing words that are going to be prevalent in their lives.

Foot: With Love, From the Age of Reason

How many times have you thought about the young you? How many times have you questioned if you have become who you once said you wanted to be?? Both of these questions seem quite simplistic, but after watching With Love, From the Age of Reason, I have thought about these questions in a different light. A brief synopsis:

The main character of the film is a 40 year old woman named Margaret. Margaret seems to have it all. She is a successful businesswoman, head of her firm, has an amazing man in her life and she is quite wealthy. She has achieved what we (Americans) would call the American dream. One day she receives envolopes consisting of letters and the letters are ones that were written 33 years earlier by herself. These letters are delivered and they shed light on her past. It takes her to a place where she has not been in a really long time. She is able to relive her childhood and she is taken back to when her imagination was lively and wealth was the furthest thing that she needed to make her happy. She realizes that she has let her 7 year old self down and that she has not become the person she told herself she would become.

Personal Issues: This film was quite emotional, it was hard not to put yourself in Margaret's shoes and imagine the things you wanted as a child. I absolutely love romantic comedies and this film really did touch me. I could not stop thinking about the things that I wanted as a child and if I have lost touch of who I was and intended on being. Kids view things with simplicity and status are typically the last things that matter. I found myself really questioning if I could revert back to the way I use to think when I was only 7 years old.

Technique: The technical approach that Yann Samuell used for this movie was brilliant. Throughout the story, there were many flashbacks and visions that were incorporated to better tell the story. Whenever Margaret received a letter, she would have flashbacks and that is how the audience got to know the real Margaret, the young Margaret. Through this technique, we (the audience) learned about her family, her best friend and even her different treasures in her life.

Plot: "Dear Me, today I am seven years old and I'm writing you this letter to help you remember the promises I made, and also to remind you of what I want to become..." Fast forward 30+ years to Margaret, a hard-charging businesswoman who sells global-warming power plants to the Chinese. Margaret has looks to kill and an adoring English lover. In fact, she has everything going for her but freedom. On her 40th birthday, Margaret receives the first bundle of letters she wrote to herself when she was seven. A jumble of colorful collages, photographs, and wildly creative puzzles, they seem to come from a different girl entirely. As her letters to herself keep coming, Margaret finds herself disenchanted. She visits her childhood village and, by reconnecting with people who see in her the girl they once knew, she starts finding her way to the woman she vowed to become. WITH LOVE, FROM THE AGE OF REASON is an absolutely charming film starring the ravishing Sophie Marceau. (In French with subtitles) – B.B.

Themes: With Love, From the Age of Reason was filled with some many different themes. There were themes of love, success and imagination, but I believe the two most powerful themes of this film were wealth and power. Throughout the film this is what Margaret is most conflicted with, she has both wealth and power, but neither one of these things were important to her as a child.

Genre: Romantic-Comedy

Representation: This film is a representation of how successful, wealthy people are sometimes missing the more simplistic aspects of life. This film is an account of conflicts that are quite realistic and relevant to plenty of peoples' lives.

Ideology: Wealth and power do not always bring forth a life of happiness.

Acting: The acting was amazing and I really believe Sophie Marceau did a great job playing the lead role. All of the roles were believeable and the actors made it really easy for the audience to relate to them.

Foot: Cleveland Film Festival

I was finally able to go to the Cleveland Film Festival on the very last day. It is kind of sad that I have been living in Cleveland for over half of my life and I have never heard of this event. To be completely honest I was not looking forward to even going, but once I got there it turned out to be a really good experience.

When I got downtown I was really surprised by the popularity of the Film Festival. There were a lot of people downtown and that may have something to do with it being the last day of the show. I really enjoyed my time watching the film. Before the film actually started, there were two women sitting next to me and they began to engage in conversation. After observing different conversations around me, I quickly came to the conclusion that most of the people watching these films were educators and/or people who really had  a love for arts. Beings that I was by myself, I believe this fact alone made me a tad bit more comfortable. I am actually looking forward to this event next year and I would love to see more than one film.

Foot: I (heart) Novels & Publish or Perish

Foot: "Hall Pass"

I recently had the opportunity to go to the movies for the first time in forever. My life has been consumed by College, so it is always good to do something for simply pleasure. I had never heard of Hall Pass, but my friends really wanted to see it and after watching the trailer, I agreed this movie was a must see! The plot of the story revolves around two married couples who are friends. The two wives have become fed up with their overly curious husbands who long for attention from younger women. The wives have decided to allow their husbands a week off from marriage, they are able to do absolutely anything, no questions asked.

This comedy became symbolic to life. We tend to always be intrigued by the things we know we cannot have or pursue and when the opportunity arises for us to capitalize on these things, they do not seem as appealing. Okay, maybe I thought way too deep about this parody, but I am a future educator and it has become second nature to find hidden messages in all texts. I suggest everyone who enjoys a good life to go out and see this movie.

Foot: Firestone Experience

I really enjoyed our last visitations to Firestone High School. Tutoring for the Ohio Graduation Test taught me a lot about my future students and the preparation that needs to go into making lesson plans. Not all students learn the same way and at the same pace, by infusing multi-modalities into test preparation students would be able to learn more effectively. During our tutoring sessions, I was able to use technology to better assist myself and my learner with her vocabulary acquisition and critical thinking. There was a lot of vocabulary that my student just did not understand and instead of me giving her my definition of terms; I used my dictionary app to allow her to read the definition. After she read the definition, I asked her to put it in her own words and try to use it in a sentence that is meaningful to her. By doing things this way, she was able to construct her own knowledge and now she has a better chance of it being stored in her long term memory. I also used  a lot of television shows and movies for examples when we were going over essay prompts. Whenever I could not get my student to critically think, I asked her to apply the question to something in popular culture. By applying these questions to the world around us, my student could better understand the content.

Now that I am reflecting back on the experience, I would have wanted to incorporate different multi-modalities that I was not able to at the time. One of the things that I wish I could have utilized was a smart board. I believe if I was able to tutor in a more hands on way, than just sitting at a desk going over a booklet it would have been a little more effective. We could have both worked on the smart board solving math problems and even brainstorming for the writing prompts. Also, I wish we were able to have some small group tutoring instead of just one on one. I believe that my student would have benefitted from acquiring knowledge vicariously from her peers. Sometimes when students are not completely motivated, other students can serve as motivators. Multi-modal literacies are relevant to every aspect of teaching and learning; therefore, I strongly believe multi-modal literacies should be incorporated with test preparation and standardized testing.

In the case of just tutoring one student, I believe the OGT booklet was the most effective. I liked how it gave the students a breakdown of how each section of the test was scored and multiple test variations. I also looked up some alternative testing practice online and a lot of the practice tests were listed on the Ohio Department of Education site. I believe that using these practice test provided by the state will help students the most with actual practice. As a tutor, it is my job to give my student good test taking skills and get them to understand that all of these practice tests are going to resemble the actually test. By familiarizing the students with what the state is looking for, they are better able to know how to respond. While I do believe it is possible to infuse multi-modal literacies into testing preparation and I definitely think it would be useful for students, I do not feel as though teachers would actually do this. Standardized tests, such as the OGT, creep up on students and teachers and time is very limited when it comes to making sure that students are fully prepared to take and pass the test. Like I previously stated, it is more important in the eyes of a teacher for students to understand content and know the types of questions that they will be required to answer, rather than being able to engage in testing preparation in a more innovative way.

The difficulties that I witnessed students face while I was observing at Firestone High School was quite alarming. I was told by one of the teachers that vocabulary acquisition was a school wide issue and every English teacher was focusing class time on this problem. Moreover, I noticed that a lot of students were not able to properly apply the writing process. They did not know about making an effective outline before they began writing, so they could begin the writing process through its first step, brainstorming. This is a place where multi-modalities could make a tremendous impact on student's success. For vocabulary acquisition, teachers can plan for interactive modules on the smart board for vocabulary lessons. Students can write in journals using all of their vocabulary words. They can maintain a blog space where they can practice both writing applications and vocabulary acquisition. There are so many different approaches that teachers can to take to better their students' comprehension and activation of long term memory.

Foot: Video Games in the Classroom

I absolutely loved this article. This article is so relevant to a conversation that I just had with someone earlier today. A 35 year old deaf education teacher asked a group of young girls, as well as myself a very practical question. She wanted to know who we believed was to blame for the downfall of our educational system, is if family or educators? All of the girls believed that the lack of family involvement and motivation has caused our educational system to drastically fall, but I disagreed. She was beyond shocked that I thought teachers were the downfall of our educational system and she did not understand how I could say that beings that I am a future educator. I offered her an explanation that follows the theme of this article. I believe that too many teachers are too afraid or unwilling to change their educational approach. Lesson plans with technology and alternative, interactive activities motivate students to learn. It motivates students want to learn!

Al Doyle's inclusion of video games in the classroom is the epitome of a teacher thinking out of the box and creating a lesson that is relevant to today's digital learners. One idea that this article presented that I have never thought about before was the abandonment of education as we know it today. While I do believe our approach to education drastically needs to be reconstructed, I do not know how practical it would be to actually rebuild the foundation of our educational system, but is this a matter of practicallity or a matter of what needs to happen? The idea of a Quest for Learning is an amazing one. I could only imagine the enthusiam that would be produced if a student no longer had to sit behind a desk and listen to a monotone teacher lecture about World War I. Instead they are playing a video game, encountering the same obstacles soldiers did during this time. It gives them hands on and first hand experience. I definitely believe that this is a great idea and could be extremely useful to use video games in our classrooms.

Foot: Costanzo

Great Films by William Costanzo presented information that I never really thought about. In high school, I was never given the opportunity to actually study films. I remember a couple of teachers using films as a supplemental after we read the book version of the story, but never did we just watch a film and critique it. I strongly believe that giving students to opportunity to study film could be quite beneficial. Not only will studying films teach students have to think critically about different themes and offer an alternative way to do a critical analysis, it also would be a great motivator. It will spark interest amongst your students by infusing a different modality.

Costanzo offers different ways for teachers to approach utilization of films in the classroom and he also provides formats for film reviews. The film review formats that he provides could serve as a pre-writing activity after they have already viewed the film. It allows students to get all of the important information they have collected for the film on paper before they go more indept with it.

I definitely plan on using as many films that I can in my future classroom. I believe that students do not always have to read novels in order to acquire information to write papers or do critical activities. A lot of the films that Costanzo listed in his book are known as classics and some of the films are in book form. For example, To Kill a Mockingbird; the book version and the movie are so closely related because during that time period producers did not manipulate the storyline as much as producers do today. I say that to say, when watching classic movies students can still get the same message that they would have got from reading the book. I also believe that this is a more effective way of showing films in the classroom instead of using it just as a supplemental because students are getting more knowledge out of the activity.

Foot: I'm So Totally, Digitally Close to You & You're Leaving a Digital Trail

When I first started reading this article, I became instantly annoyed. Honestly, I would completely fine with never hearing about the history of facebook again, but this article was different. The main focus was neither facebook nor Zuckenberg, this article focused on the "ambient awareness" of social networking sites. This article added a very different perspective of the reasons people use social networking sites and its positive effects. This article paints a clear picture of what ambient awareness is and what it entails. Clive Thompson writes, "It is, they say, very much like being physically near someone and picking up on his mood through the little things he does — body language, sighs, stray comments — out of the corner of your eye." Tools like Twitter and Facebook have become some sort of microblogging, through status updates, users are able to stay connected with their friends while never having face to face interaction. While younger users view this as an advantage, many older users see this as a problem for society. This has been a common downfall amongst older users, they believe people no longer have to interact face to face and consequently generations are missing out on real social interactions. I thought that this would be the focus of the article, but instead Thompson focused on the positive aspects of these social interactions online. Furthermore he wrote, "This is the paradox of ambient awareness. Each little update — each individual bit of social information — is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting." Thompson believes Twitter can help one know more about their friends than they would have learned normally.

I began to ask myself, "How can I use Twitter in my classroom?" In the article, Thompson shared his own anecdote about one of his Twitter followers, Shannon Seery. Seery explained that she used Twitter to get immediate feedback from her followers. She would ask questions about her taxes and accountants. Through Twitter, Seery was able to communicate with people who offered her a broad spectrum of information that was not available when she limited herself to her circle of friends and family. This portion of the article really stood out to me because I can begin to use Twitter to network with other teachers all over the world. I would be able to find other strategies of teaching and incorporate others' ideas into my lesson plan. I never viewed Twitter as a way for teachers or any other professionals to network, but this article birthed new ideas within me.

In all honestly after reading You're Leaving a Digital Trail, I instantly became extremely paranoid. I always knew the dangers of sharing information on the internet, but I never took it that seriously. I can truly say that nothing I put on the internet is in any way shameful if it did come up years later, but just know that there is a lack of privacy is quite alarming. While I know that even after reading this article, I will still keep my facebook and twitter account active, but it makes me think about my future students. Kids are not always the most responsible when it comes to censorship and know what is appropriate and what is not, so it makes me scared to think of how the things they place online today will impact their future. Also, as a future educator this always raises concern when it comes to different forms of technology that I want to use in my classroom. Before reading this article, I already was thinking about how parents would react to a teacher using social networking as an educational tool, but after reading this it drastically raises my concerns. And by all means parents would have valid points if they did not want their children to be members of these sites. I recently found some other educational sites that could be used in place of social networking sites that gives teachers more control of what is actually published by their students. Some of these sites are Glogster EDU and Penzu.

Pytash: Classics in the Classroom Ch. 5

How Poems Work:

While I always enjoyed poetry, especially in high school, I never recognized the need for poetry. I have grown to understand that poetry has many interpretations and there are plenty of methods critics use to analyze and critique a poem, but I did not learn this in high school. The thought of having to teach poetry in schools scares me. It would seem frustrating to tell a student that their interpretation of a poem is wrong and that they should have viewed the poem in a particular way. Teaching poetry in schools did not seem to be a concrete lesson because there is no right or wrong answer in my opinion when it supported with facts.

Chapter 5 was constructed so that teachers could learns meaningful ways to teach poetry in schools. I loved the way that Jago pointed out the need for students to learn poetry and that we are surrounded by poetry everyday. I also liked the way that she pointed out ways for teachers to incorporate the students' every day lives into the lesson. For example, she said we can take lyrics from popular songs as an illustration of poetry. Poetry is a form of literature that should not be looked over when teaching literature. By reading this chapter, I was able to identify the importance of teaching poetry and how many lesson can be formulated into a lesson plan. Jago says, "whether songwriters or students realize it or not - to tried-and-true literary devices: rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia, figurative language, hyperbole, understatement" (75). This quote from the chapter really stuck out to me and it reminded when I was spending time at Firestone High School. The literary devices listed above were apart of the 10th grade curriculum requirements for the school district. During a specific lesson, the teacher used a poem for students to identify these literary devices. The poem she used was Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven." I never thought that this lesson in particular had any significance, but after reading this chapter I know that poetry helps students contruct knowledge and parts of speech in a meaningful way.

Pytash: Jago Chapter 3

Choosing Which Books to Teach:

Jago opens this chapter stating that the most important decision a teacher can make is concerning what books he/she chooses to teach. While doing observation hours at Firestone High School, I was told that a lot of districts structure what should be taught in specific grade levels, so each student in the district is learning the same thing. The teacher also told me that the teachers have the free will to teach these lessons using whatever text they choose. Before then, I had never thought about what texts I would necessarily want to use in my classroom concerning classic literature. In Chapter 3, Jago provides us with criteria for choosing books, which I feel is going to be tremendously useful when I have to start planning lessons.

Jago believes texts that:

• are written in language that is perfectly suited to the author's purpose;
• expose readers to complex human dilemmas;
• include compelling, disconcerting characters;
• explore universal themes that combine different periods and cultures;
• challenge readers to reexamine their beliefs; and
• tell a good story with places for laughing and places for crying.

The criteria that Jago lists are avenues for students to enrich their understandings and experience. She also went on to list the books that she reads with her classes the entire school year and the number of books they end of reading is very alarming. I never remember reading that many books in my high school career, let alone in one school year. I am however excited that she did share this information because it shows me that it is possible for high school students to tackle classic literature and at a pretty fast pace. Most importantly it is vital that I know as a teacher, a great deal of the success of tackling classic literature is my responsibility. My lesson plans and unit projects have to be well thought out and prepared. Lastly, one of the most intriguing facts Jago mentioned in this chapter was how certain titles of classic literature have become institutionalized in our middle and high school English classes. There have been findings that there has been little to know change concerning the texts that have been used over the years. I believe this information raises multiple red flags. While these texts are classics, I believe it is important for us to adopt new literature.

Pytash: Classics in the Classroom Ch. 1

Seven Guilding Principles for Literature Teachers:

When I first began reading this chapter, I thought the first point Jago mentioned, Students must read was quite vague. Once I went further into the chapter, I understood the purpose of pointing out such a minisucle fact. As a future educator, this chapter gets back to the basics. I can remember a time when I was in high school, and I thought I could not relate to the classical literature that was assigned for reading. I could never understand how reading books like The Scarlet Letter, Huckleberry Finn, The Odyssey, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc. related to the world that I was living in. Jago does an amazing job is discussing how as a teacher, we are supposed to construct our lessons in meaningful ways; even when it comes to reading classic literature.

The structure of this chapter is closely related to the some of topics we have been discussing in Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools; the focus is placed on the teacher. It is up to a teacher to structure the lesson in a way that students are able to apply classic literature to their life. The Scarlet Letter has great significance, it teaches students moral lessons while having encounters withe sin, guilt, repentence and laws. Huckleberry Finn focuses on ethically issues concerning race relations and slavery. The Odyssey revolves around life's journey and the self-growth. To Kill a Mockingbird is a book of racial heroism and deals with tramatic events that occur in life. All of these classic pieces of literature can be transferred in meaningful ways, but it is the teacher's job to do such. One of the ways a teacher can focus more on the relatability and meaning of texts is to reframe from always using traditional methods of testing comprehension, and start integrating classroom discussions to find the true meaning of texts. Through social interactions, students are able to make more sense of reading and perhaps even enjoy it.

Jago did an amazing job on addressing what a teacher needs to do in order to teach classic literature, but I was in a way disturbed by the way she discouraged pleasure reading. While I do believe it is important to put an emphasis on classic literature, I also recognize the need for students to be able to have encounters with young adult literature. Young adult literature is a gateway for students to enjoy reading and want to pick up a bookm rather than watch a movie or play video games. By limiting pleasure reading, it can become determential to a student's growth in variety of texts. I believe a healthy balance between both classic literature and young adult literature will lead to a well-rounded student.

Foot: Multigenre Autobiography Assignment

As a beginner teacher, the multigenre autobiography would be a good assignment for my classroom. I believe it would be a good assignment to do at the beginning of the school year; therefore, I as well as the students would be provided a creative means to get to know each other. Through the multigenre autobiography, students will be able to understand who their classmates are and the things that are important to them. I believe this exercise will be quite beneficial for the chemistry in my classroom. Oftentimes, children believe they have absolutely nothing in common with their peers, but this assignment is a means to broadcast similarities.

I also believe this assignment allows students to start thinking critically about literature and try to apply it in some way to their life. We have learned that we are now in the age of digital learners, and it would be quite interesting to see what different forms of texts has influenced the lives of said digital learners. One thing that I realized while watching my classmates multigenre autobiographies, I naturally wrote down some of texts they included, because I became very intrigued with some of their summaries of the books. It made me want to read more. The multigenre autobiography assignment would be a good way to initiate student's desire for pleasure reading. I would structure the way I assigned the project a little different. Students would be allotted ten minutes, and no one would be able to give oral commentary while presenting. I found that when students gave oral commentary, they dragged their presentation out longer than it should have been with personal anecdotes. If the students were to record their narration, it would be more thought-out and precise. While students are giving their presentations, those that are serving as the audience should collect titles of text that stood out to them, and the ones they would potentially like to read or watch. This way, students are learning about their classmates, but also focusing on furthering their encounters with literature.



Classroom Activities:
We have had the opportunity to test out some of the activities that William Kist included in "The Socially Networked Classroom." While some of the classroom activities seem quite trivial, I believe these activities provide a means for students to relax and wake-up. One of the activities that I really enjoyed is the number game. All the students in the class get in a circle, and without any type of communication with each other, they are to count one at a time to 21, but in an unspecified order. It seems as though this activity is simple, but it becomes complex if students do not pay attention and really read their classmates. I believe this would be a good activity to use as an icebreaker for a morning or afternoon class. It gets students up and active. Another activity that I really liked and I plan on using in my future classroom is fishbowl. Fishbowl can be used to get students into random groups or pairs, but it also involves a great deal of mental activity. For this activity, with a partner, students will write on their piece of paper a word that is in some way related to their partner's word. For example, Student A writes "salt" and Student B writes "pepper." After each group has came up with pairs of words, everyone will ball their paper up and put them into a bowl. One by one, students will randomly pick a ball and try to find their pair amongst their classmates. This activity will wake students up by getting them involved, but it also a means for picking pairs in a more interesting way.



Multi-Modal Literacies: All for Pleasure:)

After taking Teaching Reading with Literature, I have become more than anxious to explore different literature that are popular amongst young adults. I know I am beyond late with my newest series, but better late than never right?

I have recently become obsessed with the Twilight series. I am not one of those people who have read the books and was so excited when they turned into movies; actually I am the complete opposite. I started by watching the first Twilight movie and falling head over heels for Jacob. Yes, I am team Jacob all the way. Needless to say I am completely caught up with the movies and anticipating the next movie. Someone encouraged me to start reading the series, but with school I do not really have the time. Oh, but since I picked up the first book I have been completely hooked. I feel like by watching the movies I am able to visualize the book more. Instead of reading the book first, I eliminated the chances of producing false hope of Edward being some type of macho man! 

It is funny to think that at my age, I am more intrigued by this story of vampires and wolves than I was when the books were more age appropriate.

Multi-Modal Literacies: The Socially Networked Classroom and the Internet

This is the first textbook that I have read that has been intriguing and not just facts based on research transformed in a paragraph form. I thought Dr. Kist did an amazing job with integrating different activities in the text that can be useful in my future classroom. The concern I did have while reading this book was my lack of expertise in technology. As future educators, we are learning that it is vital that we integrate as much technology as possible in our classroom because we will be teaching digital learners. It is alarming because technology keeps advancing and it is hard to keep up with it.

Dr. Kist talked about us becoming "new literacies teachers," but I would not even know were to begin to become such.

There were a lot of activities listed and described in the text, but one of them that stuck out to me was the Online Literature Circles. I have participated in Online Literature Circles last semester. I honestly thought that it was an amazing idea and I would love to use this activity in my classroom. Online Literature Circles encourages participation from all students, but it also allows students to get information and opinions of the text that they may have missed.

The Vanity Fair article An Oral History of the Internet was a drag to read. I found it to be really boring as it got into the dynamics of the people who contributed to the Internet and the technology involved. I found it so hard to relate and furthermore to even become interested. Finally toward the middle of the article, I became intrigued by how people were kind of hesitant about the Internet. It reminded me about new technology today. The older generations in my family are always weirded out by how advanced we are becoming in technology as a nation. It is funny when I started thinking about the evolution of computers and technology. I remember a time when to have a computer was considered a luxury, but now it is surprising when someone says they do not have a computer of some form. This article ultimately made me excited about what is to come with technology.

Multi-Modal Literacies: Little Brother

When I first started reading this book, I fell in love with it. The book seemed a bit futuristic with its computer software programs and the high school's advanced technology, but  I loved the story line. I found at times it was hard to keep up when the characters were going in-dept about the computer coding and software. It added to the development of the story, but it made it hard for a reader who was not an expert in technology to follow along. There was a great deal of emotion and anxiety that I experienced as I read about the way the kids were tortured. I felt the most sympathy for Darryl because he did not even want to skip school that day, but he did and he paid the most for that decision. Honestly, once the book took a turn for the worst, I did not enjoy reading it. It took me longer than I thought to finish the book because I started to find it awkward. I hated the way the government had took so much control over the people and most importantly I hated the way innocent kids were tortured in the process. It took me back to the terrorist attacks of 911 and all I could think about was what if this happen to us?



I found this book to be really good and it reminded me of a youtube video that I was shown in class not too long ago. The video was used to inform people that today's generation are digital learners and with that being said technology is the basis of the lives of most young people. Although Little Brother seems futuristic, I do not think that it is unlikely for students to be able to master computer software and break down firewalls. It raises many flags to me as a future educator. If there are software available that can get around school firewalls and accessibility, as an educator what are we supposed to do to protect our students and the integrity of our school system?

Multi-Modal Literacies: Multigenre Autobiography

The Multigenre Autobiography project has me truly missing the 90's. I was the kid sitting in front of the television early every Saturday morning with a huge bowl of cereal watching cartoons and my favorite t.v. shows. Cartoons and shows like Barney, Gullah Gullah Island, Reading Rainbow, Power Rangers, Rugrats, Fish Bone, Arthur, etc. These are all the shows I grew to love and taught me everything from my alphabet to lesson of what was morally right and wrong. Watching these shows I learned, taught me so much about myself as a child. I always wanted to be a powerful girl, that is why I was always the pink power ranger:-) Reading Rainbow birthed my love for books. Every kid has childhood dreams and at the tender age of 6 all I wanted to do was sing. I knew music from gospel to r&b and music became my therapy. It was my pick me up, it became my get away and it was my reality. Music speaks to me in ways like no other. My favorite artists from the 90's are Monica, Aaliyah, SWV, and Boyz II Men.

This is the first time I have been introduced to a Multigenre Autobiography. I love the creative aspect of the project and honestly I have never contemplated the impact literacture has had on my life. The experience of creating my own autobiography is an enlightening one. For the first time, I am sitting down and thinking of all the texts, movies, music, sitcoms, toys, etc. that have had a profound impact on my life as a whole. I am also learning that there are multiple genres that I have grown to love and that teach me different things in different ways. This is definitely an assignment I would use with my future students. It gets them thinking about what is/was important to them, while also showing them their different modalities.