Classics In The Classrom Chapter 4

Page 75 "STUDENTS NEED POETRY." That's all I had to read and I knew I was going to enjoy this chapter. Along with my Mother, we both feel like poetry has diminished slowly from schools. We don't see it in the curriculum except for maybe one lesson or a possibly reading a classical poem or two. When students hear that they are going to be writing poetry they cringe at the thought. Many of them think "God we have to rhyme, everyone is going to think it's dumb," the list goes on and on. However, I bet none of the teachers put it like this book has, which by the way I have been telling any student I have tutored for YEARS. When they go home and put on their headphones and listen to music to block out their parents, guess what, that's poetry. Eminem is probably one of my favorite examples. He is a lyrical genius and has been for years. When we were at Akron North, one of my students said that "Poetry is gay man" and put his earphones in and started listening to Lil Wayne. I tapped my pencil on the table and asked him to tell me the lyrics he was listening to, and to write them down. He actually wrote the lyrics in a poem form, broken up line by line. I told him that he had just written poetry. Kids just need to be taugh of all the advantages that writing like this can bring. Many poetry assignments are going to be left open for the students to pick about what they are writing about. What could be easier? I think students are scared of poetry when they have to try and learn about sonnets, couplets, stanzas etc. If given the tools and knowledge of how to approach/think about writing poetry I think we would see a change in this pattern of behavior. Personally poetry is my favorite thing to write. I love escaping and putting all my thoughts that are trapped inside my mind onto paper and relieving the stress they cause.

Multi Modal - Film Review

Movie- Warrior Champions

Personal Issues- I'm not sure I understand this prompt, but I think that the issue in the movie was quite strong. Everyone in the theatre can relate to facing adversity in their lives, and trying to overcome barriers set in their way. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house during some of the parts of the movie. I think I would tell other viewers that I too can relate to their issues. Clearly I have never been to war, nor lost a limb, but I have experienced losing the use of my legs for 6 months, and trying to battle back to achieve things that doctors said I wouldn't be able to do.

Technique- The use of music weas fantastic in this movie. I think the two brothers who produced it did a great job analyzing and coming up with certain music for certain parts. I think they had great views and shots of the actors/actresses throughout the entire movie. It was more of a personal autobigraphical movie, and yet they portrayed it into a story shot by shot. I loved the fact that they have so many angles that in the personal view of the viewer. It's in third person point of view, and it makes you feel as if you are actually at the Olympics during points in the movie.

Acting- There were no roles in this movie. It was the story of 4 athletes who were injured in Afghanistan and were competing to the Paralympics. I think that was the best feature of the film. I liked the fact that these were real people, in their own roles, and nothing was going to interfere with who they were, even with a camera in their faces.

Plot- I basically just told you the plot. The brothers filmed 4 athletes, 3 of which actually competed in the Paralympics in Beijing. They followed them as they trained, lived their daily lives, and traveled to Beijing to compete. The end was their journey home, and what they did after their experience of a lifetime. The film was awesome this way because I love non-fictional movies. I think it brings a certain element that fiction can't produce in their films.

Themes- The theme is power. I don't think I could put it any other way. The struggles and adversity these people face are so incredible, that only sheer power could get them through. I am not only talking about physical power, but mental and spiritual as well. I thought that the messages throughout the movie were clear and concise. I would rank this movie as one of my top ten favorites.

Genre- I would say that this would be in a category of it's own. I would almost call it an inspiring movie before anything else. It really is a documentary of things that we should all be aware of, and actions we should take when we think we have it tough. I loved the entire movie, and I can't say that I have seen anything like it in my life.

Representation- This movie represents veterans in such a different light for me. I have never really thought about people who have just served and are still quite young to be so affected by the war, yet I hear about people dying everyday. I never really knew how many of the prostetic limbs have worked before I saw this movie. It is interesting to me just how mobile these men and women have become.

Ideology- I wouldn't say that any ideology was challenged or confirmed, but I think the audience now has a better understanding about what really goes on in the lives of those who are handicapped. I usually think that people, myself included, would feel sorry for them but not anymore. I think that these people are just as normal as me, and yet I believe many of them seem happier with their lives than I do with mine sometime. All in all, I thought it taught a great lesson

Classics In The Classrom Chapter 2

I found this chapter to be somewhat repetitive but useful and full of things that we could use as teachers. Of course Literature is all about words. Unless the book is a picture book, there would be no way for a student to read a book, unless they have it on cassette. I do however, like the emphasis that this chapter places upon vocabulary. I feel like all the time the students don't have a wide enough vocabulary to comprehend the novels they have to read in high school. On page 26 I like the "My Vocabulary List" that they have for use. I think it's a great idea that student would have the opportunity to write down the words and page number they are on when they encounter words they don't know. It's useful because I feel like many times the students pass the words over and just continue reading. Although this can work with some novels many are filled with words that will confuse and stump students and we find that some students are just too proud to ask for help. I think this would put it discretely and allow them to find the help themselves.

I also enjoyed the do's and don'ts of how to teach vocabulary. A lot of times in my education my teachers would simply ask us to look up the word in a dictionary. They never took it upon themselves to help us integrate that word/words into our daily lessons. I think it's lazy to make all of the responsibility fall upon the students. Words are the key to learning about literature. I think practicing and focusing on vocabulary is a lost art.

Multi Modal-I'm So Totally Digitally Close To You

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/magazine/07awareness-t.html

" They call it 'Ambient awareness.' It is, they say, very much like being physically near someone and picking up on his mood through little things he does- body language, sighs, stray comments-out of the corner of your eye." This article was INSANE to me. Not only was it interesting to read just how the website of Facebook was created, but it was interesting to just read and look how severely a site like this really impacts the lives of millions around the world. I admit that I get on Facebook probably once or twice a day. However, to be obsessed with knowing everything and anything about your friends is too much for me. He mentions "News Feeds" which is an application on the site, but they were solely made to make it easier to "creep" on people.

About the topic of Twitter, I will stand by my previous post about disliking the entire concept. Twitter is just a site for people to constantly tell us what they are doing. I don't care if you are "bored at work" and five minutes later you are "still bored at work." Yes, Facebook has the whole "Status" set, but most people update that MAYBE once a day. I might do it once a week. Plus, Facebook only really interests me so I can keep in contact with my friends who I don't get to go to school with, or whom I have fallen out of contact with.

These days I do worry about some of the content that may be on my Facebook. I admit that I have had to clean up some of my pictures and comments. Not because I was doing anything illegal, but because how I act and what I say to my friends is completely different than how I will want to be viewed by a potential employer. I fear that daily many people don't stop and think about that, and unfortunately it will come back to haunt them.

Classics in the Classroom Chapter 6

There were several points I liked in this chapter. One of the first was the author talking about the use of comprehension tools. In the chapter the referred to one way using this is making a chart of the gods for the students that are reading the Odyssey. This is a way to further their knowing of what they are about to be reading and studying. Another thing that we could use is simply a character list from the internet before a student would read the text. Comprehension tools to me are a way of helping your students reach their highest potential point of learning. A lot of times teachers will dive into lessons and won't give any background on the information that they are teaching.

One of the other points I loved in this chapter was on page 97. There were 4 points the author made that I believed summed up key points of teaching.

1. Being a teacher means being a learner- although we are going to be the ones teaching, it doesn't mean we can ever stop learning. We learn from other teachers ways to better our classrooms and lessons, and we learn from our students how to help convey a message or meaning in a better way to them. We can never close our minds to new ideas and approaches.

2. However much you think you know, it is always worth thinking some more-again I think this is very similar to the above statement, but it corresponds with my life goal of "Never being satisfied." When you think you know everything, someone out there knows it better.

3. Whenever you find yourself in a quandary, read the research- there will be times where we won't know what to do in our classrooms. We will be stuck either with a lesson or with a student of ours and we are going to have to go get help. We need to look to research for how to deal with such things.

4. Teaching well can be thrilling- we all need to be excited about our jobs. When we create lesson plans and teach our students they are going to only be as into it as we are. Like Dr. Kist we need to be enthusiastic about our approach in order for our students to feel the same. We are going to teach well and it's ok to be excited about it because that is what we have worked for these past 4 years.

Chapter 3 "Classics In the Classroom"

I enjoyed reading this chapter, but there was one part that caught my attention more than anything else. It was the part in the chapter that talked about reading for empathy. I tend to read literature to escape my sometimes boring life, and dive into another adventure instead. This is a typical thing to read for. Yet, I enjoyed reading about how many of the interns/students at Columbia University are required to read literature to help them become more empathetic towards their patients. "The Death of Ivan Ilych" is supposed to make them realize that what they are doing isn't simply just a job, but that they are affecting people everyday with what they do. I found that to be very interesting because usually you wouldn't think such a task like this would be required of doctors. I always just think they are more like robots who come in, do their job, and don't worry about anything that may potentially go wrong with any of their procedures.

Yet, when I really started to think about this part in the chapter, I think about my future as a teacher. I am going to have students from all different backgrounds, religions, ethnicity and heritage. I am going to need to be empathetic for the students that I am going to be teaching. I need to learn about who they are, where they come from and the things that they can relate to. Too many times we see teachers who are ignorant or naive about what is going on in the lives of their students. I refuse to be one of those teachers. I want to not only educate them, but allow them to further educate me. Those boundaries don't need to exist between students and teachers, they should be broken down and allow everyone to connect on much deeper levels, which I believe in turn will enable further education development to occur.

Chapter 1 "Classics IN the Classroom"

One of the points in this chapter is this: Reading Literature Educates Students' Imaginations. I believe that this is 100% true. The example of Gus and Bigger is just one of many examples that we can use to exemplify this. When we are giving our students literature, we need to keep this in mind. For instance, students in bad neighborhoods or those who come from poor families need literature to help them escape. When these students are reading it is a good idea to give them novels that give them hope. When reading students relate to the characters in the novels. They can take things away from their situations and begin to adapt those morals, values, and ideas to their lives. I know for instance when I was trying to find myself in high school, my teacher set the infamous "To Kill A Mockingbird" on my desk and it changed my life. I remember thinking about someone like Tom Robinson who had nothing going for him. I was feeling sorry for him and thought of just how easy my life really was. Then I could also relate to Atticus Finch. He was a man who I envied because he had all of his things together, and he knew how to be a man in a town full of boys. It's inspiring to read fiction like this book, however non-fiction is just as powerful as fiction. Many non-fiction books give us insight into lives of people we can only dream to emulate. Autobiographies about our favorite sports stars and idols can be very inspirational. Someone such as Marshall Mathers, who came up from nothing, and rose to be one of the biggest white rappers in America's history could truly touch the lives of students. I was very moved by this section in this chapter, and I believe it touches on a very important subject of being a future teacher.

Multi-Modal Costanzo Chapter 2

In this particular chapter, I never really understood the "entire" concept of their being different languages within a film. I do get the fact that film has characters/actors, and what they say and do doesn't necessarily mean what we may think it means. On page 16, Metz says "A film is difficult to explain, because it's so easy to understand." He makes a valid point that as an audience our main objective is to get to a theatre, sit down, watch and interpret. We don't have any other objective when we go see a movie. However, there is so much more there than what meets the eye. All of the angles, the cast of actors/actresses, the setting, tone of voice, etc. Everything comes into play in these movies, and that's what I think he is referring to.

Throughout the chapter talk about Cinematic Grammar and the use of signs and referants. The grammar part is understandable to me. I believe that things such as music, sweat, position of an actor plays a vital importance to getting a message across. The tune of a sorrowful jazz saxaphone can indicate a mopd change for a particular character. There are things in movies that don't need words to get the message across to the viewer. On page 18 Costanzo explains the difference between signifiers, and what is being signified. I know that when I watch scary movies, as soon as I hear eerie music, I brace myself for a surprise because of years of that happening to me while watching movies.

I enjoyed this chapter because it took a look at more of the elements of film, rather than JUST how we VIEW it. I would have never stopped to think of such things, had this book not been a requirement for the class.