Should I use the newspaper in my secondary English classroom?
Absolutely! Being a news junkie, this is great "news". While they are many great applications to teachign from the local paper, like anything else there has to be some yin to the yang. Teaching writing by looking at articles can be a great door through which students can enter a world, which seems much more accessible than a 100 year selection of boring literature. Probably not the best thing for an English major to say. But truthully, reading about stories occurring in students' communities is much more personally relevant than trying to build similarities between Shakespeare and tenth graders. That effort to build personal relevance usually sounds something like, "Have you ever felt like..., well so did..."
So yes, I think it would be valuable to use these resources in my English classroom. However, it turns out that news companies have reeponsibities to make money. In addition, many news companies are attached to larger companies. Therefore, even with the news, you have to have a pinch of skepticism about anythin that another person tells you.
A Great Idea - "Students could also study how writers may metaphors or hyperbolic language to describe an event in a manner that represents a particular attitude toward that event. For example, in writing about the Palestinian / Isreali conflict, a writer might describe one side's bombing or attack as an "incursion", "Deadly Destruction" or "Massacre". How and why writers choose these words would be a great discussion to lead off a journalism activity.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Beech Chapter 7
Beech says, "In studying the prototypical features of different film / television genres, as well as those of comics, graphic novels, and popular music, students are learning to understand how these features not not only reflect historical and cultural forces, but also shape perceptions of these forces. With this understanding they are better able to critique the ideological aspects inherent in these features."
What I take from this chapter as well as this statement, is that students need to understand how popular media is decided upon. In addition, helping students to understand the forces behind popular media ill enable them to be consciuous of the information that is being sold to them.
As an educator, this chapter gives me insight into further activities that can be academically relevant, while being personally engaging to th students. Often we think that there is little to be gained from TV and film. I say that like everything else, yu get out of it what you put in. So, studying popular media can benefit students.
The teaching idea on page 67, "Engaging Students in Active Viewing and Thinking", could be adapted to teaching all text including literature. Teasley and Wilder's six characteristics for analyzing film, is a great start for all of us to begin academic analyzation. Before this can be done, I think it would be fun and informative to teach and activate prior knowledge about the different genre types. One idea that I have is to make lists of films and programs that fall into different genres, then discussing what about them makes them unique to a particular genre.
What I take from this chapter as well as this statement, is that students need to understand how popular media is decided upon. In addition, helping students to understand the forces behind popular media ill enable them to be consciuous of the information that is being sold to them.
As an educator, this chapter gives me insight into further activities that can be academically relevant, while being personally engaging to th students. Often we think that there is little to be gained from TV and film. I say that like everything else, yu get out of it what you put in. So, studying popular media can benefit students.
The teaching idea on page 67, "Engaging Students in Active Viewing and Thinking", could be adapted to teaching all text including literature. Teasley and Wilder's six characteristics for analyzing film, is a great start for all of us to begin academic analyzation. Before this can be done, I think it would be fun and informative to teach and activate prior knowledge about the different genre types. One idea that I have is to make lists of films and programs that fall into different genres, then discussing what about them makes them unique to a particular genre.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Thing 29 - Google
The first activity, Google Tools, would be an interesting short video to watch with students. I think this would be a great way to discuss the issues surrounding copyright, and plagiarism. I do think that they need to be able to navigate the woderful tool that Google is. The more they know about all of the features that this innovative service has to offer, the more efficient and productive their researching will become.
The Twilert is also an innovative way for students, and everyone else to stay up to date on topics of interests. I also think this would be a good resource for researching. One concern that I have about having all of this information available to students is information overload. That is, I think they may get overwhelmed with the vastness of information available to them. Today, in class, I was working with a fifth grade class doing a research and writing project on a place. Over the weekend students were suppose to locate books of their location. About half of the students came with books or articles on thier topic. The students that did not have sources of information were permitted to use lap tops to find information and to begin recording facts and information for their writing project. The students with the internet access accompleiched much less in this 90 minute period than did the students pulling information out of books and articles.
If these same students were trained on the use of the search wiki in google, there time today may have been better spent. They would have been able to look through many sites, comment on them, and return to them later to search a few sites in more depth.
Requiring the use of g-mail for e-mail usage would result in a familiarity in logging into a google account. Once logged in on a regular basis, students would be more likely to begin to use all these features on a more regular basis.
The Twilert is also an innovative way for students, and everyone else to stay up to date on topics of interests. I also think this would be a good resource for researching. One concern that I have about having all of this information available to students is information overload. That is, I think they may get overwhelmed with the vastness of information available to them. Today, in class, I was working with a fifth grade class doing a research and writing project on a place. Over the weekend students were suppose to locate books of their location. About half of the students came with books or articles on thier topic. The students that did not have sources of information were permitted to use lap tops to find information and to begin recording facts and information for their writing project. The students with the internet access accompleiched much less in this 90 minute period than did the students pulling information out of books and articles.
If these same students were trained on the use of the search wiki in google, there time today may have been better spent. They would have been able to look through many sites, comment on them, and return to them later to search a few sites in more depth.
Requiring the use of g-mail for e-mail usage would result in a familiarity in logging into a google account. Once logged in on a regular basis, students would be more likely to begin to use all these features on a more regular basis.
Unit Plan Ideas
I think that this ten day unit will be the first ten days of teaching To Kill a Mockingbird. This novel is often times taught in middle school. Therefore, my lessons will cater to an eighth grade inner-city class of mixed ability levels. Since I do not yet know my students, I will modify my orginal plans to meet any special needs that they may have.
Since this plan will be both about a piece of literature as well as film, I will use a variety of technidques to meet my learning goals. In this unit I will combine the reading of To Kill a Mockingbird with it's film counterpart. In addition, Iplan to use other films to demonstrate characters representations such as hero, villian, antagoonist, protagonist, etc.
The first day of the unit, students will be introduced to basic film shots including the close-up, medium-shot, and long shot. They will also be introduced to story boarding. During the unit we will read scenes in the novel, discuss appropriate shot types, story board a few shots, and then see how the film makers ultimately ended up shooting the shot. Toward the end of the second week, students will storyboard approxiamately two minutes worth of shots from scenes in the book. These storyboards will be shared with the class to promote public speaking skills.
Assessment will include reviewing students' in class work, discussions about the readings, journal entries, and a final presentation of the two minute's worth of story board. There will also be written quizzes to provide feedback to me as an instructor as to what needs the students still have in order to own the concepts explored in class. This will be a unit centered around the student and driven by the text.
I will need some technology for this unit. This will be limited to TV, DVD player, and DVDs. In addition, I will scaffold this text with vocabulary exercises in order to fully promote the richness of the writing.
Since this plan will be both about a piece of literature as well as film, I will use a variety of technidques to meet my learning goals. In this unit I will combine the reading of To Kill a Mockingbird with it's film counterpart. In addition, Iplan to use other films to demonstrate characters representations such as hero, villian, antagoonist, protagonist, etc.
The first day of the unit, students will be introduced to basic film shots including the close-up, medium-shot, and long shot. They will also be introduced to story boarding. During the unit we will read scenes in the novel, discuss appropriate shot types, story board a few shots, and then see how the film makers ultimately ended up shooting the shot. Toward the end of the second week, students will storyboard approxiamately two minutes worth of shots from scenes in the book. These storyboards will be shared with the class to promote public speaking skills.
Assessment will include reviewing students' in class work, discussions about the readings, journal entries, and a final presentation of the two minute's worth of story board. There will also be written quizzes to provide feedback to me as an instructor as to what needs the students still have in order to own the concepts explored in class. This will be a unit centered around the student and driven by the text.
I will need some technology for this unit. This will be limited to TV, DVD player, and DVDs. In addition, I will scaffold this text with vocabulary exercises in order to fully promote the richness of the writing.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
More Things on a Stick...
My experience with this site, so far, has been very positive. I think this would be a fun and interesting way to explore technology with students. Using the features on this website and incorporating them into websites or blogs would be something that I think students would have a lot of fun with. Playing the devil's advocate, I am not sure how much of this could be utilized within an urban secnodary English class. My concern is two-fold. First of all, this process has taken me a long time to become familiar with. There is so much other curriculum needed to be covered, I am skeptical about being able to devote the time needed to be successful. My second concern is that of having access to technology, including high-speed accees, both in the class as well as at home. While this concern should not keep me from teaching it, it may present a challenge in being successsful with it. I hope to be able to use this, however with limited resources, I am skeptical about its' practicality in the urban secondary English classroom. If access to current technology is an obstacle for some students, and not others, how can we truly ensure success?
Sunday, February 8, 2009
The Persuaders
This very insightful program about marketing began with the industry term “clutter”. Clutter in marketing refers to the amount of messages that consumers are bombarded with everyday. An example not talked about in the video, is schools. Some schools facing budget issues have allowed local businesses to advertise on school papers including study guides and tests. All of us are bombarded with an immense amount of advertising. The most well known example would be Times Square in New York City.
In the past brands would market a differentiation between themselves and other brands. For example, a laundry detergent would suggest that their product gets clothes whiter than the competitors’ brands. Today’s consumer believes that all brands will get the job done in a similar fashion. Today’s products and the advertising that goes along with them is geared around a lifestyle and sense of belonging to a group. “Brands become an invitation to a lifestyle.” Marketers are aware that we want to be a part of a group and they use that desire to “create a cult-like status”. Examples of companies that have been successful in this are Saturn, Macintosh, BMW, Nike, and Budweiser.
With the advent of the digital video recorder, advertising through the traditional format of the thirty second commercial has become less successful. “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” That was the comment of an advertising executive discussing the decline in success of the thirty second commercial. Companies are now engaged in “product-placement”. This is the act of placing the actual product within a show or film. Two examples of successful product-placement are Absolut Vodka in HBO’s Sex in the City and Fed-Ex in the film Cast Away. One fear about product placement is that consumers will be turned off by this distraction in their entertainment and refrain from purchasing the product.
“Consumers are driven by unconscious desires.” One of the preeminent experts in the field of consumer research says that we make purchase decisions based on our reptilian desires. SUV that are most successful have been successful in meeting the of our desire of having the feeling that we are dominators. Therefore, the larger and more powerful the vehicle is, the more likely it is to meet our primal desire of being the dominant member of the group. “The secret of persuasion is convincing a person to persuade themselves.”
I would use this with students to help them become more aware of the advertisements that they are exposed to. A great project would be to have students decide what brands they are drawn to and write about the lifestyle that these brands express to them. This would be followed by creating “the perfect brand” for the lifestyle they would like to be a part of. What would be the demographics that you would market this product for?
In the past brands would market a differentiation between themselves and other brands. For example, a laundry detergent would suggest that their product gets clothes whiter than the competitors’ brands. Today’s consumer believes that all brands will get the job done in a similar fashion. Today’s products and the advertising that goes along with them is geared around a lifestyle and sense of belonging to a group. “Brands become an invitation to a lifestyle.” Marketers are aware that we want to be a part of a group and they use that desire to “create a cult-like status”. Examples of companies that have been successful in this are Saturn, Macintosh, BMW, Nike, and Budweiser.
With the advent of the digital video recorder, advertising through the traditional format of the thirty second commercial has become less successful. “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” That was the comment of an advertising executive discussing the decline in success of the thirty second commercial. Companies are now engaged in “product-placement”. This is the act of placing the actual product within a show or film. Two examples of successful product-placement are Absolut Vodka in HBO’s Sex in the City and Fed-Ex in the film Cast Away. One fear about product placement is that consumers will be turned off by this distraction in their entertainment and refrain from purchasing the product.
“Consumers are driven by unconscious desires.” One of the preeminent experts in the field of consumer research says that we make purchase decisions based on our reptilian desires. SUV that are most successful have been successful in meeting the of our desire of having the feeling that we are dominators. Therefore, the larger and more powerful the vehicle is, the more likely it is to meet our primal desire of being the dominant member of the group. “The secret of persuasion is convincing a person to persuade themselves.”
I would use this with students to help them become more aware of the advertisements that they are exposed to. A great project would be to have students decide what brands they are drawn to and write about the lifestyle that these brands express to them. This would be followed by creating “the perfect brand” for the lifestyle they would like to be a part of. What would be the demographics that you would market this product for?
Saturday, February 7, 2009
A Film to Use in Class
I think of myself as somewhat of a movie buff. Therefore, narrowing down the choices of great movies that I would use to facilitate media literacy is quite daunting. Here is a short list off of the tope of my head.
1. Goodfellow's
2. Godfather 1
3. Godfather 2
4. Boiler Room
5. Schindler's List
6. Top Gun
7. Casa Blanca
8. Raging Bull
9. Citizen Kane
10 To Kill a Mockingbird
1. Goodfellow's
2. Godfather 1
3. Godfather 2
4. Boiler Room
5. Schindler's List
6. Top Gun
7. Casa Blanca
8. Raging Bull
9. Citizen Kane
10 To Kill a Mockingbird
Beach - Chapter 3 & 4 - A look at what I learned...
There is a lot of interesting information in these chapters and related internet sites. One issue that stands out in my mind is that of time. I agree that teaching film in a secondary English class is appropriate and crucial to providing my students with the best education possible. Unfortunately, I will have a very limited amount of time to experience topics with my students. Being that most feature films would take 2 full class periods to view, I think that for most film analysis I will do, will be viewing clips and single frames. This will require teaching background information, however with the limited time we have together, this is the strategy I will employ. However, for films of great importance, in whick I wat to study in greater depth, we will view the entire film.
When selecting films to use, I have found that the Internet Movie Database is a valuable resource. In addition, I will also use Rottentomatoes.com and MovieLens. These interent sites also have oppurtunities for students to both read reviews as well as create their own. When discussing films, it is important to remember that students will usually be viewing the films for the first time. Therefore, in order to create an authentic discussion experience, it is imporatant for instructors to allow students to voice theri opinions ans interpretations, even when they may be inaccurate of in contrast of your personal insight.
In regards to critically approaching media teaxts, it is important to view these type of tect through a educated lens. If we give our students the ability to view these textx, especially advertisemts, through the lens of an advertiser, they will be set free from the need to conform to the image that advertisers are banking them to be. If we are successful in teaching students to critically engage in the media, students will begin to challenge the ideological and political assumptions operating in media texts, leading them to examine their own beliefs and attitudes about themselves and the world.
When selecting films to use, I have found that the Internet Movie Database is a valuable resource. In addition, I will also use Rottentomatoes.com and MovieLens. These interent sites also have oppurtunities for students to both read reviews as well as create their own. When discussing films, it is important to remember that students will usually be viewing the films for the first time. Therefore, in order to create an authentic discussion experience, it is imporatant for instructors to allow students to voice theri opinions ans interpretations, even when they may be inaccurate of in contrast of your personal insight.
In regards to critically approaching media teaxts, it is important to view these type of tect through a educated lens. If we give our students the ability to view these textx, especially advertisemts, through the lens of an advertiser, they will be set free from the need to conform to the image that advertisers are banking them to be. If we are successful in teaching students to critically engage in the media, students will begin to challenge the ideological and political assumptions operating in media texts, leading them to examine their own beliefs and attitudes about themselves and the world.
Ernest Morrell "Aha Moments" Pgs 57-114
Chapter 4
- The Notorious B.I.G said it best, "Either you slang crack-rock or you got a wicked jump-shot."
2. Baker (1993) and George (1999) all argue that the creative people who are talking about youth culture in a way that makes sense are rappers, and the youth are responding in many ways.
3. I further argue that hip-hop texts are literary texts and can be used to scaffold literary terms and concepts and ultimately foster literary interpretations.
4. Certainly, teachers should consult with their students early and often abouth the artists, songs, and genres that have had and are having a big impact on their lives.
-Does this mean I can't use Jimmy Buffet's Cheese Burger in Paradise?
5. Teachers should feel confident using popular music in conjunction with poetry, by itself, as a part of theme-based, multi-genre units or as part of a larger research on youth and popular culture.
6. The possibilities are virtually endless for the teacher who wants to bring popular music into her or hid English classroom.
Chapter 5
7. There is noo doubt that adolescents watch a great deal of television and film.
8. Many of the elite English programs now offer critical film studies courses.
9. ...students already possess many of the skills that we, as educators want to impart to them. However, by not allowing them to tap into their huge reservoirs of knowledge, we also prevent many from incorporating these skills into engagements of traditional texts.
10. I encourage creative appraoches to instruction that emenate from the worlds and perceptions of the students and are based upon a sound theoretical framework.
11. Teaching popular television and film in secondary English classrooms is a vital and valuable enterprise for many reasons. (Improve academic reading and writing / Facilitate critical engagement with popular media)
Chapter 6
12. Most people spend as much as 1/3 of their lives engaged with mass media.
13. A person of 60 years of age has seen, read, or heard as many as 50 million advertisements.
14. A recent report by the National Reading Conference on literacy development among adolescents calls for literacy educators to help students learn to more critically interrogate the mass media that play such a central role in their identity development and world view.
15. The British Broadcasting Standards commission has recommended that media studies be taught at primary school, given its' importance to students' lives.
-So not only is the rest of the world better at teaching math and science, but in areas of communication as well. Is there anything we are the best at, other than building war planes and nuclear bombs? It turns out that most of the rest of the modern world also requires more of their teachers and pays them better. In Australia, first-year teachers make more than first-year doctors!
16. I would go further in encouraging literacy educators to not only enable students to become critical consumers of media texts, but to provide the oppurtunities for students to become critical producers of counter-media texts.
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