When Finals Are Stressing You...Look at This

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Finals Week

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Obama's Thoughts on Education

Some words on education from our new president :)

Blogs in my Future Classroom

Blogs can function in a number of ways in a classroom setting. The first way I’d like to use a blog is to form a classroom community. I noticed when we started blogging in here, thought we didn’t talk to each other much in class, I felt like I knew a little bit about everyone else in the classroom because I had time to browse through their profiles. I think that really aided in the close feeling of the class. It also was helpful because we only met once a week. I think it would also be a great way for students to get to know a little more about me by reading my profile. A blog can also be used to post classroom schedules, due dates, or pictures. Parents, I think, would enjoy seeing that as well. I think I’d also love to use the blog as a forum to discuss a text or texts we are studying. I’d love to use a blog to study/discuss a text we are reading. For example, if the homework is to read a chapter or two, maybe there could be a guiding question students have to respond to or I could ask them to write a free response to reading. I also like the way that we have been using online forums to edit/response to peer work. I think this would be a great experience for kids to use the internet to read and respond to one another’s work. I really look forward to implementing blogs in my future classroom curriculum and the experiences I’ve had with blogging this semester have really given me a lot of wonderful ideas.

Writing vs Reading Short Fiction

Through this experience, I found that though the processes of writing about fiction and writing fiction are informed by one another, they are very different processes. When I was analyzing “No Sweetness Here” I investigated the story through a postcolonial lens and searched for evidence to support my reading. It was a very structured process and the background I have gained as a literature major has made it easy and enjoyable for me to analyze the piece. Writing fiction was a very different experience for me, though. Even with the very specific prompt, creative writing, for me, is less of a structured process. There are such minimum restrictions that I found it difficult to get started. One way that reading short fiction informed my own fiction writing was by serving as a reminder of the elements of fiction that are important in the creation of effective characters, plot, and theme within a short span of the story. When reading “No Sweetness Here” I noticed that though Aidoo did not go into great detail physically describing her characters, she gave enough about them to serve her message. I also saw that she used her story to deliver an important message and thought I would try to do the same thing. For my future teaching, I would love to spend more time than usual giving students creative outlets for writing. Formal writing is important, but creative writing does allow students to understand all the elements that are at work in the telling of a story.

Blog #3: The Study and Creation of Myths

I discovered that the experience of creating a myth and studying myth is intertwined. Creating myth is different in that it requires a lot of creative thought. I found it was more difficult to write than the poetry assignment because I have more experience in reading a vast canon of poetic works. Myth, on the other hand, is a genre I have less experience with. My biggest challenge in writing the myth was finding a starting point. I felt that our study of myth helped me to ground my own myth in a starting place. The first step I took was thinking about whether I wanted my myth to fall in one of the categories we learned about (feminine divine, creation, sacred places, etc.). I decided to go with a contemporary take on a myth. Writing the myth has enhanced my study of myths by giving me the perspective of “myth creator.” I think the only difference is that the myths we studied were created/written under a different context. Older/ancient myths were created to answer questions that humans didn’t know the answer to. However, that did not make this experience any less significant. From this experience, I’ve learned that it can be a challenge to ask students to write a genre they are unfamiliar with. So it is crucial to provide them with enough support and background context for them to draw models to work from. If we had not been able to study myths before hand, it would have been even more difficult to come up with ideas. I also learned that creative writing, which some teachers are reluctant to include in their curriculum, is very useful and can enhance the study of more traditional forms of literature.

Writing About Poetry vs. Writing Poetry

I had a great experience both writing poetry and writing about poetry. These two processes are similar in that they require the writer to have some general knowledge of poetic elements such as form and imagery. To explicate a poem, the writer must be able to choose specific elements, such as form and diction, to inform the analysis of the poem. Writing a poem also requires that the poet be aware of the formal elements of poetry that will be a part of their piece. For example, when writing a poem, a writer should be thinking about how form will affect meaning and vice versa. Writing about poetry helped my poetry writing in two ways. One, it allowed me to be aware of the various aspects that make a poem interesting and lively- playing with form, punctuation, diction, etc. And two, in choosing a poem that I enjoyed to explicate, I was able to study a model of poetry and utilize it in writing my own poetry. In the same respect, writing poetry gives a writer a sense of the time, effort, and thought that goes into a piece. This allows a writer to more carefully break down a poem in an explication. From this experience, I learned that it is possible to use both formal writing and creative writing to use poetry. In the past, I’ve met teachers who view poetry writing or creative writing as a “tacked-on” writing exercise that comes in second to teaching formal writing. However, by doing both, I’ve been able to see that formal and creative writing enhance one another.

Welcome!

Hi everyone. Welcome to my 495ESM blog! Thanks for stopping by. This is is fourth year living here in the valley. Before this, I spent my life being an Army brat, and spent my previous years in Louisiana, Texas, and Germany. I decided to come to Southern California to be closer to family and of course, the weather! Like most of you probably reading this, this is my last semester here at Cal State Northridge. I’m an English major (Four Year Integration option), which means I’ve been working on my undergraduate degree and preliminary single subject credential simultaneously the past four years. This is also my last semester of student teaching. Working to complete my undergraduate degree and preliminary credential has been a wonderful learning experience, and I’m excited to pass on what I’ve learned to future students.

The main reason I’ve decided to teach is because I love English/Language Arts as a subject. For me, reading literature in (and out) of school has forced me to think outside of my comfort zone and question my own beliefs to better understand the world I inhabit. It has asked me to investigate the differences between right and wrong and the gray space in between. I have become better at seeing details and how they play a role within a larger whole. I believe this is the most important aspect in educating our youth. Though we can’t give students all the answers, we can teach them to think critically and give them the tools to find them. Then, of course, there is the more practical need that is served in this subject area. The study of English/Language Arts prepares students to be a functional cog in the work force. It teaches students to communicate orally and in writing, and read a piece of text and fully understand it. I have always known that I’ve wanted to do a job that helps people, and what could be more important that preparing our future generation for the personal and professional challenges they are to face?

My hope as a teacher is that students will come out of my classroom as better, more generous human beings and as critical thinkers who are not afraid to question what they know. My greatest concern is that I will get burnt out quickly. I’m scared that I may lose my enthusiasm and dedication to the profession, like many other great teachers who could no longer tolerate school politics and decided to leave. I hope that I will be able to tackle whatever troubles I may come across and be able to do it all while still keeping a smile on my face.

I really haven’t given a whole lot of thought to what role technology will play in my teaching. I’m still in the process of figuring that out. Though I feel like I am generally tech-savvy, I still feel like there is a lot for me to learn about technology that can be used in the classroom. I think that technology should be present in the classroom whether it is to use it for lecture, activities, or research, but still haven’t figured out how I can/will integrate technology into my class. But I know for sure I am ready and willing to learn more about how to accomplish doing this. Wish me luck.