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.