Pleasure Reading

     I've been watching the NBA finals and so far have been greatly disappointed in most of the results.  For one two of my favorite teams didn't even make the playoffs, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors, both had really rough seasons plagued with multiple injuries.  The Cavs actually set a record this year for longest losing streak.  Then my favorite teams that did make the playoffs, Portland Trailblazers and New Orleans Hornets lost in the first round.  So I really don't have much to look forward to in the playoffs any more.  I just really don't want to see the Miami Heat win, as a team the lack focus and heart, they simply want to win to say we are the best and everyone else stinks.  Their game is full of flair and poor sportsmanship, which can really be said about any team with Eddie House on it.
 This little move cost him $25,000.
And to be completely honest I really don't want the Los Angeles Lakers to win again for the third time in a row.  They're a really good team don't get me wrong, but I feel like they are way to sure of themselves and need a reality check.
     The biggest surprise of the playoffs so far came in the form of the eighth seeded Memphis Grizzles who beat out the number one seeded San Antonio Spurs, no one saw that coming besides Charles Barkely apparently who knew it all along.

Graphic Novel Comparison

Text and Dialogue

Balloons - Pinocchio - plain round speech balloons
                Naruto - round for regular speech, and jagged for more emotional speaking
Caption - Pinocchio - used for some narration
                Naruto - used for chapter changes
Emanata - Pinocchio - used in vampire deaths
                Naruto - used frequently to represent action, such as in the fight scenes
Labels and Signs - Pinocchio - none
                             Naruto - very few
Lettering - Pinocchio - stays same throughout
                 Naruto - changes same as balloons, different for regular speech and excited speech
Sound Effects - Pinocchio - used in the fight scenes
                         Naruto - used throughout story for almost every action that takes place

Visual Effects


Characters - Pinocchio - lots of shadows with thick dark lines
                    Naruto - lightly drawn to give the idea of movements
Objects - Pinocchio - not much detail
                Naruto - very detailed much like the characters
Icons- Pinocchio - his nose
          Naruto - his headband
Scenery - Pinocchio - very dark
                Naruto - realistic and detailed
Depicted Action - Pinocchio - simple only one or two frames but still intricate
                            Naruto - more in-depth with close-ups and far shots
Borders - Pinocchio - thin and black, crooked
               Naruto - thin and black
Gutters - Pinocchio - black or white
              Naruto - white some narrow and some thick
Panels - Pinocchio - many different sizes
             Naruto - many different sizes
Open Panels - Pinocchio - mostly used in emotional scenes
                       Naruto - action scenes
Splash - Pinocchio - exciting scenes
              Naruto - epic battle scenes and title pages

Angles and Frames


Bleed - Pinocchio - only on full page splashes
            Naruto - done quite frequently
Close-up - Pinocchio - vampires dying
                  Naruto - fight scenes mostly
Headshot - Pinocchio - when one character is speaking
                  Naruto - when one character is speaking or to show emotion
Head-shoulder shot - Pinocchio - dialogue
                                 Naruto - dialogue and emotions
Full-figure shot - Pinocchio - more than one character in frame
                          Naruto - more than one character in frame
Long shot - Pinocchio - used to move story along
                   Naruto - display setting
Extreme long shot - Pinocchio - none
                              Naruto - used for exaggeration
Reverse - Pinocchio - tense scenes with high emotion
                Naruto - tense scenes with high emotion

Rhetorical Techniques Applied in Texts, Visuals, and Design


Exaggeration - Pinocchio - his emotions through shadows and heavy lines
                       Naruto - playfulness of Naruto and the fighting
Empathy/Identification - Pinocchio - loss of loved one
                                     Naruto - loneliness
Mood/Tone - Pinocchio - dark and tense
                      Naruto - light and fun
Simplicity/Complexity - Pinocchio - simple story line done in a complex way
                                    Naruto - complex, but maybe just because I found it difficult to read sometimes
Irony/Satire - Pinocchio - well-known children's character used in violent story
                     Naruto - he is looked down upon, but turns out to be great
Realism/Icons/Symbolism - Pinocchio - not very realistic although I consider Pinocchio to be kind of an icon
                                          Naruto - hardships of growing up realistic and symbolic
Order/Disorder - Pinocchio - seeks order through disorder
                           Naruto - seeks order through disorder
Juxtaposition - Pinocchio - good versus evil
                       Naruto - what people see in Naruto versus what he actually is
Relationships - Pinocchio - fighting for the relationship he lost
                       Naruto - feels the need to prove himself in order to gain relationships
Point of View - Pinocchio - 3rd person
                        Naruto - 3rd person

Graphic Novel Comparison

Text and Dialogue

Balloons - Pinocchio - plain round speech balloons
                Naruto - round for regular speech, and jagged for more emotional speaking
Caption - Pinocchio - used for some narration
                Naruto - used for chapter changes
Emanata - Pinocchio - used in vampire deaths
                Naruto - used frequently to represent action, such as in the fight scenes
Labels and Signs - Pinocchio - none
                             Naruto - very few
Lettering - Pinocchio - stays same throughout
                 Naruto - changes same as balloons, different for regular speech and excited speech
Sound Effects - Pinocchio - used in the fight scenes
                         Naruto - used throughout story for almost every action that takes place

Visual Effects


Characters - Pinocchio - lots of shadows with thick dark lines
                    Naruto - lightly drawn to give the idea of movements
Objects - Pinocchio - not much detail
                Naruto - very detailed much like the characters
Icons- Pinocchio - his nose
          Naruto - his headband
Scenery - Pinocchio - very dark
                Naruto - realistic and detailed
Depicted Action - Pinocchio - simple only one or two frames but still intricate
                            Naruto - more in-depth with close-ups and far shots
Borders -

Pleasure Reading

     So I watch some of correspondents dinner the other night and can I just say that President Obama is hilarious.  The whole night comments were being made about Obama's birth certificate and he finally decided to release a video of his birth.  He said this all with a completely straight face so I had no idea what to expect and then he said that he was going to play it right now, and the next thing I know the intro to The Lion King is playing when Simba is born and it just might be one of the funniest things I have ever seen.  Seth Meyers, the head writer for Saturday Night Live and the anchor for Weekend Update on SNL, also spoke that evening.  He had a lot of great jokes at lots of people's expense and for the most part everyone had a pretty good sense of humor everyone that is except for Donald Trump.  Whenever someone started talking about Trump it would change to a shot of him in the audience and his expression never changed.  I think he only smiled once and that was when the President made a joke about Trump's television show Celebrity Apprentice.

     This was the first time I have ever watched the correspondents dinner, and much to my surprise I actually enjoyed it.  I really have no interest in politics whatsoever and am really bored by the idea of watching important people talk at a big, expensive fancy dinner, but it was pretty entertaining.

MMLit Final Reflection

     This semester is almost over and looking back on it makes it seem really short, as is the case with most things.  Before this class I new the importance of incorporating different technologies into the classroom, but I didn't really know how to do it.  This class gave me a new outlook on the class that allowed me to see how essential using multiple modalities is an how easily it can fit into just about any lesson.  The assignment that stands out the most to me from the semester would definitely have to be the multi-genre autobiography, it was a great way to start off the semester with something enjoyable and interesting.  We became closer as a class at the same time as learning how to work with certain online resources that we can use in the future.  I also really enjoyed everything we did in class that dealt with film.  I love film and whenever I think of a lesson I almost always try to think of how to incorporate a film into it and this class really allowed me to see the advantages in doing so.  The class also provided me with lots of great ideas on how to use film courtesy of Costanzo's textbook, Great Films and How to Teach Them.  I really liked this book, it offer an in-depth look into film and how they can be used as educational resources in a classroom.  I wrote my eleventh grade research paper on different films and if I had  had this book at the time it may have made things a little easier.
     I will be taking a lot of valuable lessons from this class that I will keep with me as I continue with my dream of one day becoming a teacher.  I also plan on attending as many film festivals as possible, after having a great experience at the Cleveland International Film Festival.

Final Reflection

     This semester has been an extremely difficult one.  I took five classes that interested me, but at the same time I found each of them to be challenging in their own way.  Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools was no exception, the only difference from it and my other classes was that a lot of the enjoyment I experienced in the class came from the challenges I had during it.
     Comparing this class to last semesters Teaching Reading with Literature I found them to be the perfect foil to one another.  One stressed the importance of young adult literature while the other showed how to use YA Lit in conjunction with canonical texts.  The main argument for canonical text coming from our text book Classics in the Classroom by Carol Jago.  Having just one of these classes without the other would have led to what I imagine as a pretty one sided curriculum, that might have stressed one over the other leaving students with a lopsided understanding of literature and its place in the world, past, present, and future.
     Our two main in-class assignment, facilitating classroom discussion and our expert group presentations, were two of the most helpful activities I've ever had the pleasure of participating in.  Obviously we were not in an actual classroom setting when performing these task, but I still think they served their purpose of preparing us for when we are in the actual situation.  When standing in front of the class I found a confidence that I never knew I had, sure I was nervous, but once I got going it seemed more natural.  I found this more in the discussion activity then the expert groups, but it was in both.  With the expert group I think I finally gained a level of comfort with writing lesson plans.  Lesson plans were something that used to make me very nervous, but after this activity I was able to see the amount of freedom you can have even when dealing with standards and bench marks.  I found the best thing is just not to allow yourself to become overwhelmed with everything you are trying to include, keep it simple and expand upon it if applicable.
     I really enjoyed this class and I think the knowledge I gained from it is pretty invaluable, I'm going to be holding on to the book for a while I now that much for sure and I also plan on buying Critical encounters.  Both books seem like they have a lot to offer teachers and I plan on getting a lot of use out of them both.  I wish this class didn't have to end I feel like as much as I have learned there is still so much more and I want the lessons to just keep coming, but I definitely look forward to using all that I learned in my very own classroom someday.

Jago Ch. 7

     A national assessment test sounds promising, but the path to get there is a long on to say the least.  I'm not sure how important it is to have similar standards as long as they all have something in common and that is that they are high.  We must hold students to a higher level, challenge them and help them to succeed in whatever the future holds for them.  As far as where literature comes into play in all of this I pretty much agree with Jago, in that classic literature is still a very important part of the curriculum.  Teaching a student how to analyze a piece of writing well is necessary since this bit of knowledge can be used in almost every aspect of the students every day life.  Learning how to deal with certain situations and sympathizing with those who can't.  I don't know if a student should not be able to graduate if they don't know how to analyze something and express there own opinion in a productive way, but I do know that teachers need to impart as much as possible onto each student who passes through their room, because not all states do have a final graduation exam, so it's up to us to determine if they are ready or not and then to hope that we are right.

Jago Ch. 6 Lesson Design for Classical Literature.

     Designing a lesson is something I feel I need to get better at doing.  With this subject I'm going with the more experience the easier it will become, if that turns out to be false, well we'll just have to wait and see.
     The chapter sort of starts out with a paradox, do we blame the new teachers when all they are doing is teaching the way they were taught by the old teachers.  Well I say stop trying to blame and start trying to solve.  Jago does this by explaining how she was taught to be a teacher.  Much like students a teacher must always be ready and willing to learn.  The teaching knowledge will never stop as long as you are open to it.
     Then comes the actual lesson design, Jago uses The Odyssey as her example text, with a few other texts thrown in for good measure.  She offers a very in-depth look at the thought and process behind designing a lesson, some new to me and some I've heard before but presented with new aspects.  It definitely has a lot of helpful material that I don't think I could have ever thought of using.  I really like the idea of comparing translations.  It's a very implicit way to allow students to see other viewpoints of the same material.  We want students to think critically, but at the same time allow for other opinions to intrude and possible change how they see things and what better way to model that then with two or more translation of the exact same material.
     I think with a lot of the classics, you can have really great ideas on how to teach them in a fun and interesting way, but until the students connect to the text it may not be worth it.  Take The Odyssey, which is an epic, and the story itself is immensely dense, complicated, and layered, all in a good way of course.  Now some students may notice this right off the bat and it may even excite them.  For the rest you need to figure out how to convey the mass amount of epic that is The Odyssey to them.  I think Jago does and excellent job of this, she prepares herself and her students before they even start to read, which is always a good idea I think.  "Students take over teaching" is another great way to connect the students to the text even if it is with a very specific part.
     With this chapter I am trying to look beyond Jago's actual lesson and see something underneath the explicit assignment.  I see encouraging participation, activating critical thinking, and comparing fictional characters to real life ones to establish and form a personal view of the world.  All are important and none should be neglected.  There is a lot to designing a lesson and I look forward to attempting it in the near future.

Jago Ch. 4 How Stories Work

     Chapter 4 describes my favorite part of English, the stories.  I love every aspect, element, and device.  I love the way different things are revealed as the story progresses, and I especially love the way Jago describes the process as gaining power over the text.
     Jago also brings up a point I never thought of before, "books that demand hard thinking on the part of a reader are more likely to be remembered that those students breeze through," (67).  In order for a student to gain anything from a piece of literature it must challenge them.
     Jago uses excellent examples with The Call of the Wild and The Grapes of Wrath.  It is important to identify helpful passages that convey specific ideas necessary to a student's learning.  As Jago states you don't want to ask trivial things such as "find the simile, identify the alliteration, spot the allusion" (68) instead provide the students with a passage that possesses these devices and let the reading do the rest.
     Students are capable of analyzing text and identifying devices, what they need help with is understanding why it is important to know how to do these things.  If students understood that already half of our job would already be done.  They need to make the connection between what we are trying to teach them and how it comes into play in the real world.  It all really boils down to critical thinking skills.
     A hero on a quest is how Jago describes the basic story structure, for the most part this plot could be applied to just about any story.  Students can identify with conflict and obstacles, they face them everyday, the teacher just needs to make sure they can see past that into the deeper meaning behind the way the author presents the hero's quest.

Jago Ch. 2 All About Words

     After reading chapter two there was a sentence that really stood out to me, that I had to go back and reread.  "So much of what happens in school seems artificial to students, a series of meaningless assignments that they must perform for the teacher or else fail." (27)  When I was in high school I remember thinking this exact same thing for just about every assignment in just about every class.  The big question on my mind was "why?" and not a single teacher answered that for me.  Jago not only answers "why" but also tells us "how" in this chapter.
     Students need guidance and as an English teacher I think that is a big part of our job.  Guiding the students to achieve a higher learning.  Without a set purpose this task would be next to impossible, purpose meaning why as a student do I need to learn new vocabulary words.  A higher vocabulary means a higher understanding, it is as simple as that.  Understanding leads to knowledge and knowledge leads to success or power or whatever you want to use it for, but no matter how it is used the importance of it cannot be argued against.  A student should be able to recognize the importance of the lessons we are trying to teach them, they should want to better themselves as learners.  This can only be done with a teacher who possess the ability to motivate and interest.  For the inexperienced teacher, such as myself, I think Jago offers plenty of decent ideas for a majority of situations that will occur in a classroom.  She talks a lot about the zone of proximal development and rightfully so, since I agree that the importance of this zone cannot be overlooked, students must be pushed in all aspects of their schooling and that includes vocabulary.

Pleasure Reading

     As busy as I have been with my schoolwork and work, I managed to get out and see "Battle L.A." and "Sucker Punch." I wasn't expecting much from "Battle L.A." I figured it would be an apocalyptic alien invasion and nothing more, which it was. They tried to insert some background on the characters which was unnecessary in my opinion. The background of these characters ended up developing into conflict between two of the soldiers in the company that the movie focused on and it really just didn't make sense.  It seemed like "Independence Day" meets "Full Metal Jacket", which I think sounds like an awesome movie, but it truth It could have been much better.  In the end though, if you went into the movie expecting a good action/war flick then you got what you wanted. Overall however, I preferred "Sucker Punch."
     Now this is an action flick.  The latest from Zack Snyder the direct of "300" and "Watchmen" two of my favorite movies from the past couple of years.  I was excited beyond words for this movie.  From start to almost the finish it completely held your attention.  There was either epic fight scenes or moments that left you thinking "did that just happen" around every turn.  The reason I said almost the finish is because the end left a lot to be desired. At one moment I prepared myself to get up because I thought the movie had ended, but it just kept on going. When I thought the movie had ended I was completely satisfied with it and was happy, but instead they dragged it along and milked it for all it was worth. Still, it remained my favorite of the two and one of the best films I have seen so far this year.
  

I (Heart) Novels, Publish or Perish, Video Games in the Classroom

     I had never heard of cell-phone novels until I had read "I (Heart) Novels".  I definitely like the idea of writing freely for yourself and allowing others to read it for free.  The material is "unfiltered and unedited" so it is basically exactly how the writer intended it, which is extremely rare in any form of media at this time.  I think the article acts as a way to inform the public of the ever-changing world of literature and how technology is a bug part of those changes.  This makes me think of the different ways I could allow my students to express themselves in and out of the classroom.  Who knows maybe someday we won't even have text books any more and we'll read everything from our cell phones or I-pads.  There will no longer be formal writing assignments instead all assignments will be completed through some sort of mobile device.  I like the creativity that is shown of this new medium in the article, but at the same time I would hate to see books and hard copies completely disappear.  I prefer to do all of my reading with the actually book in front of me and some of my writing with pen and paper, and I really don't see that changing for me anytime soon.
                                                  
                                             Students using Kindles in the classroom

    
     This brings us to the article "Publish or Perish".  The future of reading is apparently electronic, which I am all right with as long as that means the world of literature will live on.  Now I may be on of the people at fault for the decline of sales in the book world.  When I was younger I would buy new books all the time, whether it was at my elementary school book fair or out of one of the take home book order forms, but these both stopped as I got older.  So instead I turned to the library and used that for my reading needs for most of high school and some of college only recently (actually a couple of weeks ago) did I decide to start buying books again.  I don't have an I-pad or a kindle so I won't be buying any e-books, strictly old fashioned for me.  I'll still use the library, which I will also encourage my students to do as frequently as possible, but I simply plan on buying more books for my personal library.  The world of literature is changing, but as long as I can still read whatever and whenever I want I'm o.k. with that.
     "Video Games in the Classroom" describes something that I can only call awesome.  Now before you jump on me and say video games have no place in the classroom, let me just say that I agree.  But with this new generation of students video games are a way of life for a lot of them and with the class being only three times a week, I can begin to see the positive side of it.  So what can a student learn from playing video games,  how about accepting defeat, problem solving, and teamwork.  Video games have nothing on real life situations but if that what we need to use to get kids motivated and ready to perform, why not give them a break three times a week and teach them something along the way.  The article also deals with school budgets which I've seen get a little sketchy when I was in high school, so maybe this isn't for everyone, or at least the hands on activity or a stand alone class.  But why not just present the students with the idea to look at their video games or other after school activities in a different way and challenge them to gain lessons and values from them instead of just zoning out.  We as teachers must adapt to the students way of life, mostly for motivation and to gain some level of connectedness and I see no harm in doing this through video games.
                                    
                                          Video of a teacher using video games in the classroom

(818) Movie Review

     The movie I saw at the Cleveland International Film Festival was (818), film's imdb page, directed by Robert Lee King and written by David Michael Barrett.  The plot was about a washed up soap opera star who planned to kill her husband after he wrote her out of his will.  The movie is first and foremost a comedy, with some suspenseful elements thrown in.  There were a couple of cliche moments, wacky characters and certain plot devices, but it is almost impossible these days to find a movie without a single cliche.  

     The story wasn't the most original, but it was presented in a way that at least seemed new.  The film acts as a two hour long day time soap without commercials.  I think this is done on purpose in order to satirize the world of acting and to see what someone who never stops acting, even when cameras aren't rolling, would be like.  So even if the plot was old news this was at least a way to keep it interesting and even added an air of freshness to it.  I have never seen a movie that purposely took itself to seriously.  The characters were over the top and the actors who portrayed them overacted perfectly.  Even the score was something you would find in an usual soap opera.  The filming was no different, very few if any long takes, which is exactly what you would expect from daytime television. Not to mention lots of back and forth conversations with overly dramatic pauses dispersed throughout.  If you could get over the advertent cheesiness of the movie it was actually quite entertaining.  

     The story didn't deliver any strong, willful messages it was just simply there for your viewing pleasure.  The characters were not role models or heroes, they were flawed products of society that allowed greed and fame to get the better of them.  The only characters who seemed to have any kind of morals managed to get themselves killed within the first twenty minutes of the film.  Its soul purpose was to entertain and in that I believe it succeeded.

     The movie asked you to enter a world that few are familiar with, the world of acting.  It asked you to accept extraordinary circumstances as real life events.  It asked you to sympathize with deeply flawed characters.  This may seem like the movie asked a lot, but I would rather a film ask something of me than I of it.  The movie may not have been deep or emotionally strong, but it definitely didn't take you by the hand and spell everything out for you.  So in other words I think it did exactly what a good movie should.

                                                                             trailer

                                                                        

                                                                        Official Site

    

Cleveland International Film Festival

     I just got back from the Cleveland International Film Festival and I would have to say that overall I had a pretty good time.  I went to see a film called (818) with my sister and a friend of mine.  I enjoyed the film and the company, but some other things were a little off-putting.  First off I did not buy my tickets ahead of time, because my schedule for the past couple of weeks has been pretty hectic and nothing was really set in stone so I wasn't sure when I was actually going to get a chance to go to a film, so I didn't want to buy tickets and then not be able to go.  Then I found out the movie was stand-by only, but I really only had the time to see that particular film, so I took a chance and went anyway.  Luckily I was able to get in.  Now I've experienced stand-by before and I must admit I did not find any part of it to be enjoyable, but in the case of the film festival it really wasn't that bad.  It was really well organized and the wait really wasn't that long, so besides a couple of annoying people in line this part was o.k.  So we got our stand-by tickets, numbers 10, 11, and 12, and had a pretty good feeling about getting in with such low numbers, so we spent the rest of the time walking around the mall until the movie started.  We returned to the theater 15 minutes before the film was supposed to start and waited in line again, this experience was not as enjoyable.  We didn't have to wait for very long, but as soon as they called the numbers people at the bag of the line rushed ahead like the building was on fire, it was ridiculous.  I have never seen such a mad dash for what would be considered mediocre seats at best.  But I didn't let that get to me after all I was at the Cleveland International Film Festival for the first time.
     After the film ended there was a brief question and answer with the director, producer, and star of the film.  This was actually really cool even though some of the questions were pretty mind-numbing.  The director seemed like a really nice guy and had a lot of interesting things to say about the process that went into making his movie.  This part was unexpected, but I really enjoyed it.  I definitely plan on attending again next year and whenever I get the chance I hope to go to other film festivals around the world.  It was a new experience and I loved just about every minute of it.

Firestone Experience

     When I think of test preparation, especially for standardized tests, multi-modalities aren't really on my mind. I think that's why I like this assignment, it is forcing me to do something I wouldn't normally think to do.  It also makes it very difficult to come up with a decent idea.  I really like the idea of online discussions, but when dealing with test material who have to be careful with whether or not the students are providing correct information to one another.  Also with standardized tests there are often online study guides that are easy for students to use, but I see those being more helpful at home then at school.  So these ideas lead me to think even more outside of the box.
     Maybe use and online calendar or scheduler and have students set up there own personal plan of when and what to study each night leading up to the test.  Taking the schedules and post them on a class site for other students to see and possibly forming groups out of them.  The groups could be formed based on similar struggles or stronger students with weaker ones, that really depends on the specific class and the students in it.  Students who don't need to study certain parts wouldn't put it in their schedule so if it was missing you could put them with students who had the missing subject on more then one day, something like that.
     Standardized tests prove to be a pretty difficult problem, because as the teacher you have no control over them, so combining them with multi-modalities is understandable difficult.
     Looking back at my Firestone High School experience, I decided to reflect on the amount of modalities I witnessed being used in the classrooms.  The reply to which would be, not much.  In one class they watched a movie based on the book they were reading and that's really about it.  I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing though.  It's definitely better than just using it to use it, because I actually saw a couple of decent lessens without using multi-modalities.
     As far as our dependency on teaching to the test versus the broadening definition of literacy I think multi-modality should be embraced greatly.  The ever-growing field of educational technology and just technology in general is astounding.  Plus more and more students are becoming familiar with these things on their own without the guide of a teacher, so why not use them in a classroom.  Testing students on what they learn is important don't get me wrong, but I think making sure student motivation is there is equally important.  We need to incorporate interesting material into our lessons focus more on students' level of understanding rather than strict by the book lessons.  Teachers need to be free to encourage students' free thinking.  This will help the in school and after school in everyday life.
     Hopefully using a wide variety of material and modalities students will begin to develop different perspectives on how to problem solve in turn raising their test scores.  All of this is set in an ideal world and obviously we must be prepared for our plans to fail, but if you keep your standards high your students should follow suit.
     At Firestone the only form of modality I used during tutoring was really examples.  I tried to base certain situations in the student's everyday life to help him identify with the problems.  When I think of modality I also think of different ways to use critical thinking skills and I think that is what I was trying to accomplish during the tutoring session.  This is also something I worry a great deal about is making the material I am required to teach obtainable, understandable, and relatable to the students and I think multi-modalities will help with this a great deal.  Students need variety in their life, it keeps things interesting and fresh.  Without these emotions in a student you have quite a road ahead of you, but using multi-modality will hopefully do half of this job all on its own.

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

     I have a twitter and a facebook.  I use facebook at least once a day and twitter probably more like once a week.  When I say use I basically mean look at, because I rarely ever actually post anything on either site.  I understand the sites values and why it is so easy to become addicted to them, but that doesn't mean I have to go along with it.  The ideas presented in the first article I find very unsettling to be honest.  So these sites make you feel closer to your friends?  Ok, I guess.  Maybe it's just the anti-social person in me, but I really don't care about the mundane details of my "friends" lives.  I rarely see the people in my friends list anymore, a more appropriate name should be acquaintances list, because in all honesty how many of those people are actually your close friends.  I have nothing against the people who use social networking sites on a regular basis, in fact I even get jealous of people who get more posts than me, but that's life.  

     So I read "Digitally Close to You" and then moved onto "Digital Trail" and at first I didn't think much of the article, like ok who wouldn't take a free phone for the loss of privacy.  Then it got into all of the new things google and apple were trying and I began to feel a little outdated.  I don't have a smart phone, heck my phone can't even receive picture mail or get on the internet.  I have it to make calls and send texts, with an occasional picture thrown in there every now and again.  After I read this article I felt the need to update, but the lack of funds prevented me.  Money versus social awareness.  Money almost always wins.  

     Technology can be good and technology can be bad I can see both sides of the argument, but until some of the new tech is forced upon me I'll stick with what I know and am comfortable with. 

Costanzo - MMLit

     When I looked at the book list over break for the texts I would need for this semester I came across something a little unorthodox, Great Films by William Costanzo.  I can only imagine the look on my face when I read this, since I wasn't looking in a mirror at the time, but it probably looked like a kid's on Christmas morning.  The idea of studying film is something I greatly looked forward to doing and adding that to education just made it all the more better.
     I have loved film for as long as I can remember.  My freshman year of high school I would watch a new movie everyday, no matter what, often abandoning my homework to do so.  It was a great escape for me and I treasured every second of it.  Most of my English teachers did not share my sentiments.  I had one who refused to acknowledge that film even existed, even on our "fun days" we didn't watch movies, but he was actually the best English teacher I ever had so it didn't really bother me.  Another teacher allowed us to watch a couple movies throughout the year, but I never really made a connection between the movie and the class's literature.  I never really discovered a healthy medium in high school, which is something I think I subconsciously wanted very much.
     Costanzo offers a wide varied of how to approach and look at film in a classroom environment.  In high school all I knew about film was what I had taught myself.  I even wrote my eleventh grade research paper on the depiction of race in film and how it reflects and affects our society.  The ideas in the paper i used were all self taught I didn't have a book or teacher to tell me about film theories, or genres, or how to reach beneath the surface of a film.
     Then I read Costanzo and realized something, I had actually been taught of all these things just not with film.  Books have genres, characters, settings, and everything else you can think of, just like movies.  I knew what to expect when watching or reading science-fiction, I knew what it meant for a character to have an epiphany, I knew all of this without even realizing it at the time.
     We learn all of these different ways to incorporate technology into the classroom and how beneficial and can be, but my familiarity with those things is limited.  Film on the other hand is something I am very familiar with and look forward to using in my classroom.  I have seen countless films and because of this I find that I am able to "read" them.  I can't not wait to share this with students, some who hopefully will be as excited about it as I am.
     With books you have an author and an editor, with films you have to take into account of how many peoples visions are actually going into a final product.  This is kind of how I see my classroom, multiple visions  all contributing to how students view the world.  Films can introduce them to a world they have never seen and opinions they have never heard.  Every scene presents a new idea much like a lesson, all you have to do is be open to it.

Jago Ch. 5

     I will be the first to admit that poetry is outside of my comfort zone.  That's why I took a special interest in this particular chapter.  I do have experience with analyzing poems as I'm sure we all have since it was a requirement in high school, but I never really was comfortable doing it.  I always felt like my answer was wrong and that I was reading to much into certain aspects of the poem.  Then I found out that maybe that wasn't such a bad thing after all.  What Jago does in this chapter is break down "how poems work."  She does this mainly by enforcing the thinking aloud strategy.  She wants her students to be proactive and work out there own list of unknown vocabulary and work through integrating these new words into there lives.
     She gives us five helpful ways for the students to become involved with the poem.  Pose questions, identify unfamiliar vocabulary and allusions, make connections to their own experiences, rephrase inverted lines, and comment on the poem.  All very important tasks that must be remembered when working with poetry.  Once again she has provided us with invaluable information.
     Poetry is important.  As a person I may not think very highly of it, but I have to ignore that and present it in a way that hides how I feel.  Jago uses modern lyrics as a way to show kids that they experience poetry everyday without even realizing it.  I try to approach the situation in a similar way.  I do have a few poems that I am fond of and hopefully will discover more that I like or find a place for the ones I already like in the curriculum.
     I think the main reason I am not a fan is because I am terrible at writing it.  I do actually enjoy analyzing it, it's just as I said before I'm not really comfortable with it.  Hopefully using Jago help I will become more comfortable or at least reach a level where I can convey the ideas to the students without revealing my true feelings.  After reading the chapter I can already sense a sort of change in my view of poetry, but like all parts of becoming a teacher I'm sure it will take time to perfect.  

Jago Ch. 3

     Choosing what books to teach, how important is this?  The answer, very.  You can't just pick any old book and go into your classroom and attempt to teach it.  Jago manages to offer multiple examples of common texts in the classroom, with a few pointers on how to incorporate them.  The chapter's strong points are definitely the list and supporting that list by using Frankenstein as an example.  The list I am referring to is the 14 aspects that define a classic according to Italo Calvino.  I respect this list for multiple reasons.  For one, Calvino, in my opinion, is a great author and his input must be respected when it comes to classics because I consider a lot of his books to be classics.  Secondly Jago could have just mentioned the list and left it at that, but she doesn't.  Instead she expands on it by adding her own list of criteria and then she takes a popular high school book, Frankenstein, and describes how it falls into her six aspects of a classic.  By doing this it helps me as a prospective teacher know what to look for in a book when it comes to planning a lesson.
     Jago takes what could turn out to be a very difficult task for a teacher and turns it into a sort of formula, that if you follow it it would be impossible to fail.  She tells us exactly what to look for and why it is important for a book to possess these qualities.  I already have my own ideas of what makes a classic, but having a professional opinion to look at will help improve my outlook.
     Conveying these ideas to students once again seems to be the more troubling task.  You can tell a student that reading a book will improve them as a student and an individual, but where's the fun in that.  If you come right out and tell a student that, most likely they will just shut you out and say something along the lines of, "you don't know me," or at least that's how a lot of my fellow students in high school would have acted.  They didn't want someone telling them that they needed to discover or learn something new they wanted to do it for themselves.  But if they weren't aware of the possibility of a change in the first place they would be very unlikely to display an interest in the first place.  So basically what we have is a never ending cycle.  So choosing a book is a very big deal.
     The student needs to trust your choice as a teacher, so they need to trust you.  Preconceived notions and personal preference are just two of the many reasons why students may not like the idea of reading in the classroom.  I have so many thoughts racing through my head about this topic that it's hard to put them all into words.
     The idea of choosing what students read throughout high school both excites and intimidates me.  I hold myself to a pretty high standard and I plan on holding my students to the same thing.  Experiences should help, but until then I feel like this book will act as a pretty decent substitute.    

Jago Ch. 1

     While reading the first chapter of "Classics in the Classroom" my first thoughts were of how much this book acts as a different opinion on all that we have learned about using young adult literature in the classroom.  The use of young adult literature cannot be underestimated, but at the same time classics must not be forgotten.  This is the main message I gained from chapter 1.
     Seven Guiding Principles for Literature Teachers is the title for chapter 1.  The seven ideas that follow are definitely invaluable lessons for future and present teachers.  When it comes to teaching classics I keep thinking back to the books I read in high school and how boring most of them were.  I really only had one teacher who helped me to look beneath the surface of these ancient books and see the universal themes that could be uncovered there.  Jago made me realize what he was doing and why it was necessary in order to improve my abilities as a learner.
     Getting this idea across to the average high school student seems like one of the most difficult aspects to the job.  This chapter provides the bare essentials to getting started with incorporating classics into the classroom.  I'm hoping that by the time I have finished reading the rest of the book I will have a decent understanding of how to get the students interested and the books exciting and fresh as old as they may be.
     Jago makes an interesting argument for classics that cannot be ignored.  YA Lit may seem more relevant, but very rarely is it as layered as the classics.  I think a failure to see these layers by student and even some teachers acts as the great downfall of us progressing as readers and in turn as intellectuals, or at least being able to maintain an intellectual conversation.
     Whether the book is classic or modern literature it must serve a greater purpose and that must not be forgotten.  The Zone of Proximal Development must be noticed and utilized.  Bettering the students is the number one priority of a teacher and this book certainly helps in learning how to do that efficiently.  

Pleasure Reading - MMLit

For this pleasure reading I wanted to share two movies that I have watched recently and throughly enjoyed.  The first is called Tell No One, a French film from 2006 based on a book by American author Harlan Coben.  I've never read any of Coben's novels, in fact before I saw this movie I had never even heard of him, here is a link to his website for more information http://www.harlancoben.com/.  After having read more about him and based on how much I liked the film I just might look into reading some of his books.  The plot of the movie is a complicated one, it's a thriller first and foremost, but beneath the surface it's more like an intense love story.  A man's wife is murdered and eight years later he receives and e-mail that makes him believe she is still alive, what follows is one of the most emotional rides I have ever been on.  Most of this emotion is drawn from the soundtrack, which includes Otis Redding, Jeff Buckley, and U2.  Now I am a huge Jeff Buckley fan, he could do no wrong in my book, and when his version of "Lilac Wine" started playing in the movie in felt like it was the reason the song was written, it matched the movie so perfectly.  After watching the movie it immediately moved into my top 10 maybe even top 5 of the best movies I've ever seen.  I highly recommend it to fans of Hitchcock and anyone just looking to enjoy a well written, acted, and made film. Here's the trailer, it does include some nudity so just a heads up.

The next movie is called The Signal, and the genre it belongs to is even harder to pinpoint.  Often times funny, scary, bloody, with a touch of mind bending science fiction and romance thrown in, it's impossible to actually categorize this movie.  A mysterious signal is being transmitted through people phones, televisions, and radios making them become very violent.  I think it's summed up best by a line from the movie.  "There's a bad sector in the electromagnetic spectrum which is causing a rift in logical thinking. Rational behavior has given way to primal... primordial action. We've reached a critical juncture in the consistency of everyday living. Societal norms are being completely abandoned. Anarchy has replaced etiquette. Chaos is the ruling class of this civilization, so I think coming to a goddamn New Years Eve party is the last thing on people's minds!"

The trailer makes the movie out to be strictly a thriller, but don't let it fool you although the movie is very thrilling the thrills are smoothed out with dark humor and great characters.

So that's what my pleasure "reading" has been for the past week.  Two movies that I really liked and just so happen to have quite a bit to do with technology.

How the Web Was Won - MMLit

           Before reading this article my knowledge of how the internet was created and formed was basically Al Gore. I was reading and I kept wondering when does Gore show up, isn't he always saying he invented the internet.  Finally he showed up and to my surprise he really didn't do much, that's not to say what he did wasn't important, but he definitely wasn't as involved as I thought he was.  I mean funding could have come from anywhere when you really think about it.
           The article itself actually turned out to be a lot more interesting than I had originally expected.  I think most of the interest had to do with the way the material was presented, a series of interviews presenting different views from different people all involved in the creation of the internet.  It definitely made the information more accessible instead of just reading a journalist's rendering of all of these interviews.
            It's surprising to think about how much use everyone gets out of the internet but how little we actually know about it.  It's more like this magical network that does what we ask without question and if it doesn't question us why should we question it.  So we get this story filled with competition, with AT&T being the unlikely antagonist, and a sense that the people involved knew that what they were doing was going to be big but no one else did.  The best way it's described is by Leonard Kleinrock, a professor of computer science at UCLA.  He talks about the major accomplishments of 1969 and how with everything that happened that year the last thing anyone was thinking about was the birth of the internet.
            The article goes on to discuss all of the recent innovations that deal with the internet and how it's always changing and improving.  The internet provides us with more than we actually need, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.  Politics, music, games, the list goes on and on.  I took a class called Media, Power, and Culture last semester and a good majority of that class was spent discussing the impact of the internet and how over the years it has changed our way of life.  The internet cannot be ignored and knowing the history of it might just shed some light on the magic of it.

Little Brother - MMLit

            I finished Little Brother yesterday and I have to say that I was very disappointed.  Throughout the novel you had Marcus explaining all the neat aspects of technology and I thought that it was all going to come back in the end, but it didn't.  The climax was set up perfectly, you had this huge gathering of people wanting to play this weird game and the air was filled with a feeling of revolution, with the idea that something big was going to happen, but it never did.  Marcus basically ran away, and then felt really guilty about it so he went back only to be arrested a day or two later.  So now I was thinking, "o.k. maybe this book won me back an unhappy ending would fit the reality of the book's world fairly well."  Wrong again, instead we get Marcus accepting his fate like he always new this was going to happen and then being miraculously saved by Barbara Stratford.  Compared to the other exciting parts of the novel, such as the late night beach meeting and the concert in the park, the ending just didn't hold up.  The book dragged on too much only to get to a rushed ending where I no longer really cared about what happened to Marcus.  How are you supposed to sympathize with a hero who basically says screw it and then pees his pants?  I had pretty high hopes for this book, it had my full attention by the second or third chapter, but after awhile I just couldn't wait for it to end.
           The best part of the book I think is the idea behind the book.  The idea that this is something that could actually happen.  That we should be more aware of the role technology plays in our lives and how much of that role is positive and how much is negative.  The book also has the idea of nonconformity going for it.  In a world where kids are constantly trying to fit in to groups that already exist, Marcus is someone who starts his own group and still doesn't feel the need to fit in.  He rolls with the punches and lives life the way he wants.  He could be a role model to children and adults alike.  Always stand by your beliefs no matter how difficult the obstacles that stand in your way may be.

The Battle For Facebook - MMLit

             I've never met Mark Zuckerberg, nor have I ever wanted to, but after reading this article I hope I never do.  He sounds like a terrible person, who may or may not have broken multiple laws to get to where he is today.  In summation I think it is terrible that there are people who would abandon and betray others, some who are supposed to be your closest friends, in order to gain success and fame.  I actually started getting pretty upset while I was reading the article.  A quote from the article that stuck out the most to me was actually a quote from James Boyle the co-founder of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke Law School.  He said, "There are lots of things that an average person might consider reprehensible that aren't against the law."  Our morals and values should go further than what the laws provides us with and Zuckerberg's clearly don't.  

            The technology aspect of the article is pretty amazing though, you use facebook easily enough that you never really think about the time and effort that it might have taken to program the site itself.  Much like Marcus (must be the name) in Little Brother, Zuckerberg was a natural when it came to getting computers to work for him.  They both used technology so seamlessly it is no wonder they each found success in their own ways.  I'm not much help when it comes to computers, I can really only do pretty basic things with them.  As this class progresses I find myself becoming more interested in blogging and using similar sites, so we'll see what happens to my computer IQ by the end.  

           From this article I take more of lesson on morals then technology, but in Zuckerberg's case these things seem to go hand in hand.