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.

Multi-Modal Literacies: History of Facebook

I am astounded on the worth of Facebook and its quick yet precise evolution in the past couple of years. Mark Zuckenberg is in every way a genius! While reading the Rolling Stone article, I was quickly reminded of Little Brother. Zuckenberg reminded me so much of Marcus. They both had a gift when it came to technology and no matter how many limitations were bestowed upon them, they were able to conquer with their knowledge of coding. The empire of Facebook is remarkable, but to be honest while reading the article it amazes me how by signing up for website, I am taking part in making someone across the United States a billionaire.

As a future educator and being apart of the digital era, it is vital for us to remember that once information is shared over the Internet, it becomes public. There are many different ways that your information can be accessed and ultimately used against you. Modesty in technology is important and this is something that we should be sharing with our middle and high school students. Social-Networking is an amazing tool of communication and entertainment, but it can also have its negative affects. One of the questions that I have been back and forth with in my mind is "At what age is social-networking appropriate?"