My New Toy Called Blabberize

I found a new toy to play with in my hybrid and my online classes called Blabberize. I can use this for my weekly announcements and my students can use it in their discussion forum introduction posts and on their blogs.

I am excited to use it in my spring course. Just Google blabberize and you can play, too.

Week 14 Day One 6 Steps to Comic Book Making

This week's Monday lesson was done online rather than F2F because of my trip to Tempe, Arizona for my husband's Ironman event.

The discussion was facilitated by Michelle P. and Ian R. The questions that were posed related to the 6-step process of comic book writing that Scott McCloud (pictured above) wrote about in his book Understanding Comics.

One of the more interesting questions involved how would you design a comic book for a blind person. Amy H. did a great job of answering this question.

"When creating a comic book for the blind I would start off by designing a normal comic but the pictures would be raised so you could feel your way through the story. I would also incorporate smell by having an aroma come from the page that will hit you when you turn the page. I think it would be hard to really get my audience to taste the comic but I would integrate smells of food that smell as though they are in your mouth. And last to really get the comic to stand out I would have sounds that go off with the turn of the page, almost like cards that play music when you open them."

Another question related to transfering the comic book medium to the movie medium. Krista H. did a nice job answering the question below.

Compare and contrast the comic medium with the movie medium after watching this video clip of Watchmen and reviewing the Watchmen comic. What can a comic book do more effectively than a movie and visa versa?

 "Comics and movies are, of course, very different, and their differences are quite obvious. Comics are simply read and viewed at a stand still, while movies are just viewed but have real-life action and sound accompanying it. It takes a lot more work on the brain and thinking process to read a comic than it does to watch a movie, and as usual movies tend leave out certain points and put it ridiculous ones for Hollywood's sake (considering works of literature being made into films). In other words, movies tend to be much more embellished than a comic, possibly because they need to grab the attention of a much larger crowd.


- Comic books can do things that movies cannot, and the same thing applies to film. When reading a comic like the Watchmen, one is getting the true, full story. When it is transformed into a movie, however, things are lost (or as stated above, added with things that may seem pointless). I believe that to read a story within a comic, things can be more easily understood and pondered. Movies, however, move so fast and do not necessarily have the time to give one the background story or time to think about what is happening. There are always more benefits to reading a comic, as well. Reading a comic increases vocabulary and can help someone grow more intellectually than a film. Reading words definitely cannot harm one's eyes like a huge screen up-close. Art and written words merged together are much more original and appreciated than them being re-made on a television screen. Movies, however, tell a story in a way that captures many more people's attention. The story is more enhanced, as well. It is a way for the comic to "come alive" with 'moving' pictures and sounds. In some cases movies, for lack of better words, "dumb down" the initial point of a story so that it can also be more universally understood. Although they both have setbacks, both the comic and movie medium have their own special ways of appreciating and portraying comics."

Week 13 Day Two: Time, Motion, and Emotion in Comics

Sam E and Samantha led an online discussion on time, motion, and emotion in comics. Blog Post 5 was to take a Peanuts comic strip and analyze time, motion, and emotion.

Mike M did a great job with his post on the Peanuts strip below.

The first panel shows snoopy atop his dog house. Following the stoic nature of his character he remains still with his back straight and his gaze forward while the girl seems to cringe at his story. Her frown and scrunched up eyebrows seems to lead her to snobbishly announce to snoopy that she refuses to waste money on such a thing. Snoopy remains stoic, and completely unaffected by the rude comment. The girl turns around and with a pompous air about her ends her critique with, "however if you get some free author's copies, I'd be glad to have one." Her demeanor suggests that she is trying to con him into giving her a free copy, and her harsh critique was simply a ruse. As she walks away, and the dog house becomes no longer visible Schulz sketches in some motion lines to indicate snoopy's throwing of his typewriter at the little girl's head.

www.comicstriparchive.com/Peanuts/

Week 13 Day One: Comic Strip Acting

Cedric and Krista took charge as TAs of the day as the class continued studying comics as literature. They divided the class into groups and gave each group a task to come up with a 3-framed comic strip that would incorporate certain things. The objective of the lesson was to learn the vocabulary of comics.

Each group had to make their cartoons come alive and act them out. The themes were recent events in the news. Krista and Cedric acted out theirs first. A couple of suggestions that I would make to this pair would be to have the groups prepare the cartoon strip on flipchart paper as the cartoon drawing on the board took a bit of time.

The other suggestion was to have students take a post test on the vocabulary to make sure that they did, in fact, learn it. A pre-test was given in preparation for the lesson which most people did well on.

The journal activity was a bit different. Bubble gum was handed out with a comic strip. People free wrote on their strip and then came up to the front to show the strip and read their journal entry.

Week 12 Day Two: Comics as Literature

Today we began the unit on comics as literature. Lisa and Talia did a great job introducing the subject of comics with their presentation which the students viewed before coming to class.

For the journal entry they found a very cool video which gave a brief history of comics. See below.

Emily wrote this:

"Comics... personally when i think of the term comic, I think of comedy or light-hearted literature if you will. Comics I feel have changed so much over time. Initially their subjects  were about everyday life, romance politics, and so on. I thought it was funny how there was a comic code that restricted what sort of ideas one could publish. I feel the comics are definitely a form of art and who is to say what you are allowed or not allowed to write about. It is also interesing to me the basic idea of comic books, and how some invlove supernatural, some poke fun of controversial issues, but in the end they all convey how complex the world is and how each indvidual uses different approches to express his or her thoughts."

I love what she said about how comics convey the complexities of our world. This is what literature does, doesn't it?

Lisa and Talia then broke the groups up into the color of shirts they were wearing and had the groups work in pairs with groups of four working on the same cartoon strip coming up with the dialog. I loved working with Megan on our Peanuts cartoon strip. It was harder than I thought to fill in the bubbles. We analyzed plot, theme, and character as we created our dialog. The groups presented their dialogs as they projected the cartoon strips on the screen. As you can see above, Francesca and Erica are enjoying their dramatic presentation of their Popeye and Olive Oyl cartoon.

Week 11 Day 2: Vintage Radio

The students this week were to create a 5-minute radio script around a horror theme. Here is Samantha's post:

Announcer:

Good evening. It's that time again for 5 Minutes of Horror, the radio show that will chill your soul and rattle your minds. Sit back and don't relax.

Narration Provided by Michael Jackson's Thriller- Vincent Price


Music:

Eerie theme music


Narrator:

It was midnight, maybe later; Darkness leaves no hint what the hour may be.


Sound: Ocean waves russel the shells on shore; whispering.


Music: none for the remainder of the story


Narrator:


A man is startled awake in his home not far from the shore.


It was another nightmare he has become accustomed to since the death of his twin daughters


Barely a year ago they had drowned at sea. First one, then the other


After a week's search, no bodies were found.


The man, Jonathon has since moved from the home he and his since divorced wife had raised their daughters but could not stand to be away from the sea.



Sound: Only the sound of the waves, the whispering shells and Jon's heavy breathing.

Narrator:


Sweat drips down his fatigued face.

Without turning the lights on Jon makes his way down the stairs and into the kitchen.

He opens the refrigerator in search of a refreshment to calm his thoughts.



The light from the fridge spills onto the kitchen floor.


Jon notices a small pool of water by his feet; probably a leak.


Finally turning on the light he notices there are multiple pools of water and to his surprise and greatest fear, a pair of damp foot prints leading to the front porch.




Sound: The waves have ceased to exist in his mind; silence.

Narrator:

Against his own will, Jon makes his way to the screen door and slowly pulls it open.
His eyes are now closed for fear of seeing the two reminders of his past life.
As he stands there he feels two cold, wet, child hands wrapping around each of his.


Sound: A huge wave breaks and crashes on the shore

He opens his eyes.


-Que Vincent Price laugh

Many students forgot to go back to the title, which was "They Came by Night." So many of the scripts were about something or someone coming in the night rather than things or people coming in the night. It is hard to create a story that doesn't sound like a cliche. I think Samantha did the best job and got her kudos when we met on Monday.

Week 11 Day One: Monologues

Matt and Vince did a great job on their monologue presentation beginning with a journal entry based on a George Carlin monologue about all the 21st century cliches we use to identify ourselves. Have a listen.

From there, the students worked in groups of three to come up with a comic monologue. Our group decided to do it on Excuses 101: How to Skip School. We came up with 5 excuses. Two groups came up with Halloween monologues, while other groups talked about tatoos, FGCU, and a day at the gym.

We used polleverywhere to vote on the best monologue, which happened to be the last group. This was the winning entry delivered by Mike, written by Catherine, and directed by Joe.

Diaries of Mike

So, true story. I was in the weight room waiting for my turn on the bench when I saw this guy just checking himself out in the mirrors. I asked this Guido if I could work with him. He ignored me for awhile and continued looking at himself in the mirror. Finally he picked up his weights and laid back. (Act out) He was doing well for awhile and then (sound effects: fart sound)… Right after, he ran as fast as he could off to the bathroom.

Lots of reflection going on in this lesson. I expected more quality out of the writing than what I got. On reflection, I would have the TAs create a rubric for what makes a good monologue. Maybe elicit from the students after the journal writing a discussion of the elements that Richard Pyror and George Carlin incorporated  in their monologues that made them funny. Perhaps in addition to talking about the content of a good monologue, a discussion could follow about an effective delivery.

When the students voted on the best monologue, they would have to use a rubric.

The good thing about yesterday was that I was able to use the TA evaluation sheet. Students filled that out and sent it to Matt and Vincent. I am anxious to read some of the comments. The students have been practicing all semester on writing sandwich critiques.

Week 10 Day Two: Scuba Lessons and Sure Thing Blog Post

The blog post for Wedensday's online class was tied to two one-act romantic comedies, Scuba Lessons by Joseph Zeccola and Sure Thing by David Ives.

Here's a clip from Kelly's monologue at the beginning of  Scuba Lessons.



And here's a short clip from Part 1 of Sure Thing.



Talia's post was as follows:

3. In Scuba Lessons, there was evidence that Kelly and Dan had previously dated. What evidence from the play makes you think that they will or will not make it in this budding relationship.






Kelly’s expectations for a partner are quite high. High expectations that are out of reach usually end in disappointment. She is the type that thinks “love will cure all” and it will strike like lightning, based on her dream and the opening aside. She is holding onto a fantasy that might not ever come true. Kelly seems to have issues and she even says, “I feel guilty a lot”.





I hope Kelly and Dan make it. Kelly is a little neurotic but it seems that she has accepted Dan and knows him well. Dan may not be as predictable as she thinks and does say exactly what she wants to hear when he compares her eyes to “home”. If she is able to let her guard down and not try to control or demean Dan, their relationship could work. Hopefully Dan can keep her interested and not be too predictable. Also, if Kelly can stay in reality and not believe that a “perfect man” exists, they may have a lasting, healthy relationship.



Image url:



http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm1.static.flickr.com/58/220279254_17c20cbec5.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blog.flickr.net/en/2008/02/page/2/&usg=__xbLFunx6IW4M-nxCdQWY7lO5VxM=&h=470&w=500&sz=101&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=FKae62O97E8EvM:&tbnh=122&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlove%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DX%26um%3D1

Week 10 Day One: I Dream Before I Take the Stand

Jade and Jessica presented today's lesson on a short one-act play by Arlene Hutton called, I Dream Before I Take the Stand. They kicked off the lesson with a YouTube video entitled, Interrogation or Child Abuse about the verbal abuse that takes place in police interrogations. Check it out....

Mike and Michelle shared their journal entries with the class. The students took a quick five-question quiz before beginning the discussion on the play.

Jade led the whole group discussion on the similarities and differences between the video clip and the play. Krista hadn't realized that the play was a dream sequence, so we talked about that. Samantha brought out the point that it is the prosecuting attorney's job to interrogate in such a way as to extract information. However, it was pointed out that it is verbal abuse in police interrogations to pressure people into confessing to crimes they did not commit.

The rest of the period was spent engaging in a game called Two Truths and a Lie. We worked in groups of 4 each telling our own two truths and a lie and then we chose the best person in the group to go up and try and fool the audience. Mason was in my group and did a good job with his two truths and a lie.

The only suggestion I had for Jade and Jessica for the lesson would be to do a summary of the objectives of the lesson so that students are reminded of what they should walk away with...I call it the gem of the day. All in all, I felt that the students were engaged in the lesson. I know I was.

Poll Everywhere

Make your own poll voting question with Poll Everywhere

Week 9 Day Two: Enemy of the People Wrap Up

It was another fun day of videotaping for our TA of the Day Lesson wrapping up Enemy of the People. Rather than do a tedious rehash of the play, Catherine and Amy decided to focus on the theme of Whistle Blowers.

The directions were to research a famous whistleblower and connect it to Enemy of the People.

1. Summarize briefly who this person was and why this person was a whistleblower. Here is an example of one post that Talia did.

2. Compare and contrast this person to the whistleblower from Enemy of the People, Dr. Stockmann.

3. Include a wordle as your graphic that describes the whistleblower you have chosen. Complete this in no less than 150 words (excluding the words on your Wordle) and following the rest of guidelines found in the Week 9 overview.

Peter Buxton was the whistleblower in the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. He was an interviewer for the U.S. Public Health Service and after learning that the experiment was extremely unethical he tried to uncover its injustice within the PHS. For six years these attempts failed, so he leaked the story to Jean Heller of the Washington Star, which published the story and led to the termination of the study. The Experiment attempted to understand the course of untreated syphilis based on a clinical study of 399 African American syphilitic farmers in Alabama from 1932 to 1972. The study was so blatantly unethical not only because information and basic medical care was prohibited, when a cure for syphilis became available, its access was denied. “In 1943, the PHS began to administer penicillin to patients with syphilis. Study subjects were excluded.” The aftermath of Buxton’s revelation caused the US to better regulate its ethics practices and has formed the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) and “it also led to federal regulation requiring Institutional Review Boards for protection of human subjects in studies involving human subjects”. Policies such as “informed consent” were adopted as well.



Unlike Dr. Stockman, Peter Buxton was not a doctor. Both Dr. Stockman and Buxton worked in areas of Public Health. They were alike in the way that they saw something happening that was unethical and very dangerous to human lives. They both decided to go against the majority to uncover the injustice and source of harm. Peter Buxton’s news eventually came out the harm was stopped but we do not know what happened in the end with Dr. Stockman’s information. However, their goals were the same. They saw human lives being treated as disposable and tried to shed light on sources of harm and injustice with the hope of ending unnecessary harm.



Works Cited
"Research Ethics: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study." Tuskegee University. Tuskegee University. Web. 21 Oct. 2009. .
"Tuskegee syphilis experiment." Wikipedia.org. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.,. Web. 21 Oct. 2009. .



Picture
http://www.anairhoads.org/govexperiments/tuskegee.shtml

Week 9 Day One: Enemy of the People Act III

The dynamic M & M team (Mason and Megan) did their presentation today on Act III of Enemy of the people.

They began with a journal entry with the question:

They divided the class into 5 groups with each group having a different question.

1) Describe what kind of “enemy” Dr. Stockmann believes he is. Who does he believe he is an enemy to, and why? In Act III, how does Dr. Stockmann show his pride at that, even in anger?




2) The definition of “enemy” is in the eyes of the beholder. Identify the different types of enemies in the play (excluding Dr. Stockmann), and compare and contrast what different types there are.

(cowardice, greed, hypocritical, irrational, corrupt, , political, secret agendas ect…)



3) The mob, or “herd” mentality throughout the play is reflective of what condition(s) of the masses and political system in the play?

How does one person’s struggle to do the right thing, leave Dr. Stockmann and his family on the losing side of an unfair fight?

(Meaning, how did power and politics influence the situation, and how did the herd mentality occur?)



4) “You are fighting for the truth, and that’s why you are alone. And that makes you strong. We’re the strongest people in the world…and the strong must learn to be lonely (Gwynn, 1062)”

Dissect and explain Stockmann’s speech, describing strength and loneliness being the result/consequence of doing the right thing. Who else in history has been in a similar situation? Include the so-called “good guys” or “bad guys” of history.



5) How may “An Enemy of the People,” have been scandalous when published, and why? What themes or content could have been, or was, shocking or uncharted in Norway (or anywhere else in the world) when Ibsen published in 1882? (It was adapted by Miller in 1950).

(Give examples of conversations or actions in Act III that reflect or play out these themes.)


My group worked on the second question. Ian came up with a definition of "enemy" and we took it from there. Krista, Lisa, Ian, and I had a lively discussion on how everyone in the play was an enemy to someone else. We narrowed down our categories. Krista did a great job with the presentation. Ian had his notes very well organized and even highlighted phrases to help bring out the important points. I love working with these literary laureates.
 
 

 

Week 8 Day Two: Midterm Reflections Using Technology

So many of my literary laureates did a super job on their midterm reflections using technology. The choices were as follows:

Do a midterm course reflection by choosing to do any of the following as the method of delivery and covering the answers to the following questions: 1. What did I learn? What did I do? How did I feel about what I learned, what I did and how I felt about what I learned and did.

1. Create a week by week blog (Weeks 1 - 7) using www.blogger.com (You must provide the link to your blog in the Week 7 drop box). You can use my reflection blog as an example: http://lit2000reflections.blogspot.com/ You must upload a graphic and/or video link for each of the weeks' posts.



2. Create a cartoon book using www.toondoo.com. Your book must have a minimum of twelve pages. Examples of toondoo books are on the website. This creation will prepare you for our comics as literature module.Once you produce your Toondoo, you will be able to get the link and post the link in the drop box.



3. Create a movie using Moviemaker or Imovie of your learning thus far this semester. Your movie must be at least 5 minutes long. Directions for doing a Moviemaker project are in the Week 7 lesson folder.You need to have a headset and microphone to do this project. They can be purchased at Target or Walmart for about $17.00.



4. Create an audio PowerPoint presentation using http://www.jingproject.com/You will need a headset with mike to do this project.You will be limited to doing this reflection in 5 minutes. There is a video tutorial there which shows you how this works. You will upload the project to Screencast, which will provide you with a link to share with others. Put that link in the dropbox.



5. Create a Photostory using Photostory 3 of your midterm reflection. There are instructions for doing a Photostory in the Week 7 lesson folder. You will need a headset with mike to do this project. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/PhotoStory/default.mspx



6. Create 7 different vokis in which you relate what you learned, what you did, and how you felt about it. A voki is a speaking avatar that I use in my course announcements. You only need a cell phone to record with. If you choose to do this voki reflection, you must use your own voice (not the text option that is offered). You get up to one minute of recording time. The combined time of your 7 vokis must be at least 5 minutes. You will drop your voki into the discussion forum in the Week 7 lesson folder (NOT the drop box). You must follow the directions for copying and pasting the voki into the message box very carefully. The code you embed has to be the right one or it will not post. Your vokis will be labeled as follows: Week 1 Reflection, Week 2 Reflection, Week 3 Reflection, etc.



Go to www.voki.com to set up a free account and then you can go to town and create your vokis.


Here are a couple samples:


Michael M's blog: http://michaelmcginn.blogspot.com/2009/10/week-6.html

Jade M's video:




Megan P's Toondoo:

What Not to do in Lit 2000 by MeganPreston

Make Your Own At www.toondoo.com

Week 8 Day One: Enemy of the People Act I

We had a great time in class today with Erica and Emily's hands on characterization lesson. I was assigned to Group 1 with Vincent, Amy, Matt, Francesca, and Stephanie. We got to play with construction paper, scissors, markers, and the internet to create a description of Dr. Stockmann.

As usual, I tried to micro-manage the group giving roles to everyone. We felt we didn't have an artist in the group, but we came up with some creative ideas. I liked all of our ideas. Stephanie became the writer for the brainstorming of the elements of characterization. Francesca and Matt were our artists. Vincent was our internet to-go guy whose job was to find some neat pictures. Amy took charge of putting it all together.

We all presented our parts orally to the group. I was proud of our product.

The one thing I would do differently if I were the instructor would be to reduce the size of our group to make people more accountable...and maybe even assign roles to members of the group.

Emily and Erica were sooooo organized and provided some nice feedback. They circulated throughout the room and make sure people were on task.

I loved this lesson even though my artistic talents leave something to be desired. I am thinking that I always limit myself to what is on a piece of paper. We could have used several pieces of construction paper to make our character. I liked how Emily and Erica presented their product of the character of Petra as the beginning of the feedback session. They needed more time for the feedback session.

Bolduc-Simpson Nota Project Ibsen's "A Doll House"

How to Create a Voki and Embed It Into a Blog or Discussion Forum Post

How to Embed a YouTube Video in Blog

How I Became a Teacher: It All Started With a Beer

Making a Voki

Week 7 Day Two: Midterm Reflection Test Post

Students were introduced to blogging in their online post and were asked to created one test post of three things they learned, three things they did. They were also asked to write about how they felt about what they learned and did.

Here is what Cedric said:

3 Important Things Learned so Far

Think outside the box and you will find Mrs. Simpson and maybe a candy bar.

Wordles are the coolest thing ever. I have tried to put one in all my group projects in all my other classes.

I also learned that poetry is everywhere, even in the school newspaper

3 Activities I liked or disliked.

I love that we interact with each other and have to get in front of the class and speak. It's one my favorite things to do in the class.

I am not a huge Anything Else Cafe fan. I miss points every time because I do not reply to questions that have already been answered. It is helpful though.

Leaving the class to write the poem was a lot of fun. I loved getting out of the room and bouncing ideas off of one another.
My feelings about Intro to Lit:

I am fan of this class because I had an idea of what to expect. Being that I have taken two other courses with Mrs. Simpson. I knew it wasn't going to be a walk in the park, but I also knew that I would enjoy going there. So far I have written poetry, which I haven't done in a couple years and now continuing on my third blog team. It has been a great semester so far and it will be even better with an "A" at the end. The tools and concepts I have learned will definitely pay off throughout my college career.

Week 7 Day One: Poem Writing

We all wrote poems today in class. Twenty-four different types of poems were put in a hat and pairs came up and picked a type of poem. These poems ranged from limericks to Senyrus to haikus to ABC poems to name poems. Francesca's partner didn't show up so I got to work with her on a name poem. We chose her name to work on. She and I had a neat process for doing our name poem. We thought of our theme as we were walking to our destination. Once we got there, we brainstormed ideas for nature poems, came up with a flower idea and connected it to childhood.

We went through the revision process 10 minutes before the time limit and changed our general flower idea from daisy to dandelion. Then we incorporated more sensory details.We also alternated the lines. I did the first; she did the second, etc. I would have changed a couple of things about our process. I didn't have the students put the type of poem at the top of the paper. So when I was typing up all of their poems when I got back to the office, I couldn't figure out some of them. The other thing I would have done differently is to have them write out the process they used in coming up with the poem they wrote. I know that Lisa and Talia actually wrote two name poems in the 30 minutes they had to write their poems.



Check out our poem. Francesca came up with that dynamite last line. I think we should submit it to The Mangrove Review and see what happens.

A Day With a Dandelion

Finding a dandelion in my secret garden

Reminds me of my childhood

An adventure in a world of imagination and beauty

Nature at its finest

Closed off from the hustle and bustle of the city

Ever imprinted in my mind

Smelling that  flower

Clutched delicately in my now mature hand

Again mine to be

Week 7 Day One: Types of Poems and Poetry Writing

Week 6 Days One & Two: Dramatic Poetry

This Wordle, done by Krista H. generated a lot of discussion on the video clip by Dr. Rafay Habib called Islam Against Terrorism: To a Suicide Bomber. The YouTube poem exemplified this week's focus on dramatic poetry.

http://www.wordle.net/



The lesson was done online with three discussion forums of about 8 people in each group. The discussion leaders were told ahead of time that they would have to come up with questions and facilitate the discussion. All three groups did a fantastic job. In addition to the Habib poem, two other dramatic poems were assigned: Thomas Hardy's Ruined Maid and Langston Hughes' Dream Boogie.

Here were some of the questions the Group 1 leader asked on Habib's poem:

1. What effect does seeing and hearing the poet have on the poem and the emotions it elicits?
2. Compare/contrast the tone of Habib's poem and Hardy's poem.
3. Do any stereotypes or prejudices come up when you heard the title or as you listened to the peom?
4.Do you think there could be any consequences (to the poet or to society) from this poem? It is on a sensitive subject!

Here are some answers to #3 and #4 from the students.

To answer question one for RE: Islam.
1. What effect does seeing and hearing the poet have on the poem and the emotions it illicits?

Watching the author of the poem recite it in front of camera for the audience to see and hear definitely charges many emotions. I saw the sadness in his eyes and felt the angst in his voice. This caused me to emphasize with the author. It caused me to understand what he was feeling and want what he was trying to sell.
Re: group 1

3. After listening to the poem written by Dr. Rafey Habib it has brought to my attention many other stereotypes that we see on a daily basis. Pretty much every ethnic group has a stereotype. For example when someone thinks of someone Jewish they joke about money, they stereotype that Jew's are cheap. When in reality its just a stereotype because not all Jew's are "cheap". Another stereotype that you will see almost every day is that against African Americans, some people think that because someone is black that they are a gangster or not smart, which is obviously a false judgment.


Re: group 1 9/28/2009 1:53 PM Reply
To answer question three for RE: Islam.
3. Do any stereotypes or prejudices come up when you heard the title or as you listened to the poem?

Of course, as soon as the video started. But, to clarify first, I had an uncle that I loved very much die during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Anyways, the stereotypes and the prejudices begin when I read the title. I thought to myself, how could this be true? An Islam against terrorism? Isn’t this what the religion is all about? Yet, after viewing the video, I held no prejudices, I was enlightened.


Re: Re: group 1 9/28/2009 1:59 PM Reply
I really appreciate the honesty of your post! We all have prejudices...they enable our survival. I think the distinction i have to keep in the front of my mind is that any kind of extreme brings negative results. Islam does not equate with terrorism, they are fundamentalists. I also like to think of the comparison to Christianity: Nazis are fundamentalist Christians. Most Christians don't agree with their views either. I think the poet is trying to separate the religion of Islam from people who take it to the opposite harmful extreme.


Re: Re: Re: group 1 9/28/2009 2:05 PM Reply
I really never thought of it that way. Thank you.


Re: Re: Re: group 1 9/28/2009 2:20 PM Reply
SORRY!!! i meant to say the KKK are fundamentalist Christians...not Nazis...my bad:)


Re: Re: Re: group 1 9/28/2009 3:02 PM Reply
I am Jewish, and it surprises me sometimes that some people think Jewish people have a prejudice or hatred of German people. I did not even know that anyone thought this until people asked me why I was taking German as my foreign language in high school if I hated Germans. When I said that I had absolutely no hatred for Germans, some people apologized for thinking I was Jewish. By this point I was very confused, and when I told them that I am Jewish, they seemed to have a hard time understanding the concept of a Jewish person not hating Germans. The thing is, before WWII there were a lot of Jews living in Germany. In fact, Yiddish, which is a Jewish language (Hebrew is mainly for religious ceremonies and stuff) is so closely related to German that you can understand someone speaking one language if you know the other.

I can understand Jewish people hating Nazis, but not all Germans were Nazis. Just as some people seem to think that all Muslims must be terrorists, it appears that some people also think that all Germans must be Nazis. I find this a ridiculous notion.


Re: group 1 9/28/2009 1:56 PM Reply
To answer question four for RE: Islam.

4.Do you think there could be any consequences (to the poet or to society) from this poem? It is on a sensitive subject!

Yes, I do think that there could be a consequence to both the poet and society. The consequence to the poet could include some type of assassination, considering the people that he is bashing are hostile. Another consequence includes society. This consequence, not necessarily a punishment, could include their opinions being changed.

Re: group 1 9/28/2009 3:07 PM Reply
I dont think anyone will kill him for this. If the terrorists kill him, it will only support his words. It would show that his words are true and they wanted to silence him. Like a ripple in a pond, this would cause a change in the opinions and views of many people around the world.

I do agree with you, however, on the point that this poem will have a positive impact on the world.

Re: Re: group 1 9/28/2009 3:13 PM Reply
I completely agree. Especially because the poem is aimed at such unstable people that will kill themselves to try to make a point. So chances are a terrorist could bomb his house or try to assassinate the poet.


Re: group 1 9/28/2009 2:04 PM Reply
3. Do any stereotypes or prejudices come up when you heard the title or as you listened to the poem?

When I heard the title I had a gut feeling that I knew what the poem would be about. And as I listened I realized I was correct. I found the poem to be very enlightening. Also, last week we learned about giving background information before the poem, and I thought the fact that the author spoke a little about his thoughts before reciting his poem was really great.

The other dramatic poem set to music that just about everyone enjoyed discussing and listening to was a poem by Gwendolyn Brooks called We Real Cool. They read the poem then watched and listened to this YouTube version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w-j952tOmY



Hearing the poem read aloud brought home the meaning and the tone of the poem to many of the students.

I was tickled pink with all the discussion of the poems and how one connects to the message in a poem.

Would I change anything about two two online lessons? Probably not, except maybe the choice of the poem by Neruda If you forget me. Many of the students didn't understand the theme of the poem. Perhaps that needed some contextualizing before they did their journal entry on it. Check it out and you decide if this was appropriate for a journal entry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aLC-g4U7zI

Week 5 Day Two: Ballad Writing

Students today were to take a real story of a murder, preferably one that involved a love triangle and were to write their own ballad around the story following the guidelines for writing a ballad. My balladeers were phenomenal. Here is a sampling from the class based on the Scott Peterson story.

A tale of woe on Christmas Eve
Missing was Laci Peterson
Her home she did not choose to leave
But without a doubt she was gone

She was pregnant with a baby boy
So that makes two lives destroyed
At first Scott was thought to be innocent
But his story was inconsistent

Scott was having an affair with Amber Frey
And 15 days before Christmas Day
He told her he had lost his wife
But at this time she was still alive

Scott Peterson was arrested
And through circumstantial evidence
Scott was found to be guilty
And was given the death penalty

Mason B.

Here's one by Samantha S. that has a wicked but funny twist:

Who’s that knocking on the door?
That’s not a knocking,
That’s Lisa Freiburg fallen to the floor.
She probably slipped while mopping.

What’s that hammer doing in the yard?
That’s little Zachary’s toy.
He must be using it to play watch guard.
It’s been a couple days, where is that boy?

What’s that screaming in the middle of the night?
I heard it all the way down the street.
Baby Savannah must have woke with a fright.
I hope she can get back to sleep.

Do you hear that thumping sound?
Don’t worry it’s just the Freiburg pup.
I always liked that hound.
But all the water is gone from his cup.

They’re such a nice bunch;
All except for Edward Covington,
I once heard he threw Lisa a punch.
I heard he’s been arrested for stealing drugs by the ton.

Sadly none of this is the case,
They found Edward hiding from the police,
With scratches and a cut on the face.
He’ll be charged with murder and hopefully never released.

12 knives and two hammers.
Here’s an arm and there’s a leg under the bed,
Well that explains all of the clamor.
Oh look! Someone is missing a head.

-Samantha S.

Here is another ballad based on the Scott Peterson story by Ian R.

She once was a woman,

with so many ambitions

wanting a child, a career

to add to the decisions



One day she came across,

a young man named Scott

but little did she know,

she was in for a long shot



The couple became engaged,

then decided to get married

soon she was pregnant,

now her life starts to vary



There was no indication,

no clues and nothing further

that her husband would one day,

commit the ultimate murder



Now Scott can think about,

imagine, and vision

what life would be like,

outside of San Quentin State Prison

Ian R.

Finally, here is Erica's ballad based on the story of John Sweeney and Dominique Dunn.

This is the sad tale

Of Dominique Dunn

A beautiful young actress

Who dies much too young



She was a good friend

Who was kind to all

But fate saw it different

And her life took a fall



It was love, she would say

With John Sweeney, the chef

Then abuse came too often

So she ran, yes she left



But the break was too much

For this chef, we can tell

For an argument ensued

Strangling her till she fell



In a coma she stayed

For a long, long 6 days

Her family knew she

Would, at best, live in haze



So they pulled all the plugs

Her life came to an end

The finale of kindness

The finale of a friend



John Sweeney admitted

The fate he had brought

Received 6 years in prison

But a lifetime was fought



In just 2 ½ years

He was free once again

As a man, as a chef

But where was our friend?



She will never be free

To move on in our world

But her memory will live

As long as any spoken word



Life has its own way

Of changing all paths

So be kind, be a friend

With much love and much laughs

Erica R.


How would I do this lesson differently? I would have the students write a short summary of the story they chose to write the ballad on. Also, I would have them provide a title for the story.

All in all, I am tickled pink with the results of this exercise.

 

 

Week 5 Day One: What is Poetry?

 

 

Poetry is everywhere....even in the Eagle News. Today students picked up their school paper, circled words and phrases from an article, and made a poem using those words and phrases. Putting technology aside for the moment, students and I took scissors in hand, construction paper, and pens, and became poets. Show and Tell followed with students coming up to recite their poems and show their artwork. It was a fun day with lots of sideways thinking and laughter.

 

Week 4 Day Two: This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona

Combined with video clips from the movie Smoke Signals, students had a discussion on the style and symbolism in Sherman Alexie's This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona.

The video clips helped the students imagine the setting, the plot, and the characters. A few said they wanted to see the film in its entirety. This is one of those situations where the film adaptation is just as good as the story.

Here are a couple of the discussion forum posts I got from the students.

Vince G's Post:

During the specific clip, Smoke Signals - How Do We Forgive Our Fathers, the style and symbolism was clear. As the Indian stood on the bridge asking, "How could we forgive our fathers," over and over again, it seemed to me that style was grim and depressing. Leaving the view with a sad taste of regret. After seeing the man collapse to the ground, I felt the urge to approach my own father and just forgive him, for anything really, even though there is nothing wrong. The maker of this film seemed to have had the correct idea when in production. It definitely made me think.

I was also captivated by the brilliant imagery of the rapids and lighting.

There was also symbolism placed in the video. When the man was letting go of his (fathers ashes?) he began to cry. This was a symbol of letting go. He was forgiving his father by letting him go. Letting go.

Talia A's Post:

This video was the most powerful to me. I think the water in the video is symbolic of the strength that we give our fathers and the emotions they elicit.

Whether we like it or not, both water and our fathers have a huge impact on our lives. Water, like our fathers, can be a source of enjoyment but also pain. We dive and swim but can lose everything as in the tsunami in Asia and Hurricane Katrina. Both are essential to life: fathers in conception and water to maintain life.

Rivers and other bodies of water are so powerful, they can cut through rock and land. And even when they do, cut us or land deeply, the wounds may or may not heal but we must somehow continue. Water brings life to the surrounding banks, nourishing animals and crops. With these cuts, we can still grow in time. They can both be warm and cool, as in a father's attitudes or emotions. They both can be loud or soft.

We build bridges over water to get through to the other side. With our fathers, we can forgive and are, therefore, able to move forward, move on, and reach new emotional destinations. Either subject, be it water or our fathers, it is what it is, no more, no less. I think acceptance is part of that bridge.

Week 4 Day One: Shiloh & A Party Down at the Square

http://faculty.washington.edu/qtaylor/images/event_omaha_courthouse_lynching.jpg
http://ro3011.k12.sd.us/event/pics/battle%20pics/BattleofShiloh.jpg

Bobbie Ann Mason's Shiloh and Ralph Ellison's A Party Down at the Square provided some juicy material for our class discussion today. The students came prepared with one question they wanted to know the answer to. Using Polleverywhere, they texted their question. So, with a bank of 24 questions, we were ready to work in small groups and address some of these questions.

The only problem was that I didn't predict that I couldn't show the whole set of questions. Or at least, technically I couldn't figure out that I could have split the screens and Group 1 could have dealt with the questions on the left and Group 2 could have dealt with the questions on the right. The students worked in groups of three or four with one of the persons designated to summarize the group's discussion in a Word document and drop that in the drop box for a group grade.

The feedback session was as a whole class discussion with each group taking their favorite question to summarize. We would have had more time for the group discussion and the feedback discussion if I hadn't had the technical problems.

Their journal entry was a slide show on the most beautiful places in the world. Take a look and a listen.



I am pleased with the journaling activity we do each Monday in class. I need to incorporate that in the Wednesday online class the next time I teach the class. Doing the journaling online allows me to respond immediately to the students when I finish the class using the messaging system in Angel, our learning management system. Sometimes, I get students responding back to my comment on the prompt.

All in all, my literary laureates are doing great. Their Paper 1 draft is due on Wednesday. Let's see if they are getting it: plot, character, point of view, setting, style, and symbolism. We have done a lot in these three and a half weeks of class!

Week 3 Day Two: The Red Convertible and The Story of an Hour

Monday, September 7th was Labor Day so we didn't have a F2F class. This gave me some time to prepare my upcoming vodcasts on setting, style, and symbolism in literature. Our online discussion forum dealt with characterization and plot analysis of Kate Chopin's Story of an Hour and Lymes LaMartine's The Red Convertible.

Since I gave the students a choice of doing one or the another and a choice of questions related to each of these stories, I was expecting an even number of posts in each of the stories. Au contraire....most students chose to discuss Kate Chopin's story. I wonder why? Easier task? More interest in one over the other? I think that there are more complex issues to interpret in The Red Convertible. However, I thought it would appeal to students who can bring in their relationships with their siblings or their knowledge of what war does to a man or woman returning to the home country.

I think I will incorporate the poll function in Angel and see what are the reasons why students are attracted to one story over another.


The majority of the posts and sandwich critiques of others' posts had improved dramatically since the first discussion forum. The students are delving deeper and exercising their critical thinking muscles.


The one thing I would change next time is to demand on all the posts that students cite an academic source. Many talked about the life of a woman in the 19th century, yet few actually included an academic reference in their discussion.


Take a look at Jessica M's discussion post:

Story of an Hour
by Jessica M (jm) at 9/9/2009 10:54 PM


What was life like for Mrs. Mallard in the home Of Brently Mallard?


- It appears that life for Mrs. Mallard was oppressed by her husband. Her joy of being free through her husband's death makes it seem as if she never had a desire to be married at all.
In the report of the train accident, Brently Mallard's name was at the top of the list of fatalities. Does this information mean that Mallard was an important citizen in his community? Does it also suggest that perhaps Louise married him, in part, because of his standing in the community?
- Mr. Mallard being at the top of the fatality report could hint at him being a strong figure within the community. As it would seem that the more "important" deaths would be at the top of the death list. The author's life extended from 1851 to 1904. Some social concepts of this era included women that stayed at home and maintained the home and children, and men pursued wealth. In the story, it describes Louise as a young women. So it seems entirely possible that she may have only married him for his social standing or wealth.


Write a paragraph about what society expected in the typical 19th century American woman.


- The typical 19th century American woman was a woman that remained at home, took care of the children, took care of the house, maintained the premises (farm work). While the husband worked, more women started to become employed in the 19th century, but many laws kept women from obtaining high level positions, such as laws that required women to work eight hours or less a day, when men could work fifteen. There were also laws passed that kept women from lifting weights above a certain amount, resulting in a slim job market for the American woman. It was expected and accepted that the women remained home, married a man with a job, and cooked, cleaned, and cared for the husband and children.

Week 2 Day Two Obrien's How to Tell a War Story

www.wordle.net

(Matt G's Wordle to describe Bob 'Rat' Kiley)

Our online Discussion Forum 2 options had two text-based assignments and one visual Wordle assignment. I had tried to make all the assignments equal in difficulty, but surprise, surprise....all students with the exception of one chose to do a Wordle describing the main character Bob 'Rat' Kiley.

The Wordles were great. A few people had trouble pasting the code into their post. I was pleased with the sandwich critiques that the majority of the students did in their replies to their peers. However, I realized that the assignment needed to have a text-based justification of the students' word choice, colors, and font. I will amend the instructions so that the students have to justify their choices of layout, font, and colors in their Wordles and talk about some of the word choices they made to describe Bob 'Rat' Kiley.

Here is Catherine H's Wordle Interpretation of Rat Kiley.



http://www.wordle.net/

Week 2 Day One: Group Activity on Tim Gautreaux's Died and Gone to Vegas

I began Week 2's class with some kudos for my students. Jade M. and Vince G. had the best plot awards, while Mason got the award for best sandwich critique.

We moved onto the journaling of an NPR Storycore podcast about a couple who has been married for 60 years. I am using the journaling feature in Angel (which is really called the survey feature) to have students free write on weekly prompts. I chose this prompt to follow up on Margaret Atwood's Happy Endings. I gave them 5 minutes to write and spoke about exercising the writing muscle in order to become better writers. I enjoyed writing along with them. I offered to set up the journal so that others who wanted to share their entries could do so.

Next week I will have volunteers read their entries with me voluteering first to get the ball rolling. I wish I had thought to do that today. This was something we did in the National Writing Project (NWP) Summer Institute a couple of years ago. I was scared to share at first but then decided no one was judging my writing, so I got braver as the days passed during the institute.

The group project, I felt, was too rushed. I gave them 15 minutes to do their response according to whether they were an author expert, character expert, vocabulary expert, or plot expert. There were a few students who hadn't done the readings. However, when one student pointed out that in the Week 2 Overview of Assignments, I had written the Monday deadline as 11:55 p.m. rather than by class time, I had to let this slide . I hate it when I screw up the details and the students call me up on them. No penalties this week for not doing the reading.

The other exercise to write down on an index card two questions they didn't know the answers to was never done. I spent 20 minutes on the kudos, business matters (having them fill out an index card with some personal info, giving them this blog address, talking a little about why I was having them journal, etc.) I didn't get the chance to show them the National Gallery of Writing site and talk about Paper 1 (which I haven't posted yet in the Course Documents folder). I can't spend all this time on business matters, but until my students get in the groove of what is expected each week, I'm afraid I won't be able to economize.

I talked to the students about leaving the classroom with one gem....one thing that will stick with them about what they learned, or what they did, or how they felt about what they learned or did. Then, as I saw the clock tick down to 3:13 with people still submitting their group project in the drop box, I had a flash of brilliance (or a brain fart as my former colleague Vince used to say). I stood at the door and said that everyone had to say what gem they were walking out the door with. I got some good gems from them all, even Ian who was going to just repeat what someone before him said. I was cruel and let everyone go before he came up with a variation of what someone said about the importance of annotating.

So what was my gem as I walked out of the class at 3:20 p.m? I learned that just about everyone in the class knows what a wet willy is but me. My childhood was much too sheltered, I guess.

Things to refine for this lesson if I do it again:
1. Delete the assignment to read the Prologue of the Wife of Bath and just assign the Tale of the Wife of Bath instead. They didn't have to read that long prologue to understand the points on characterization and relate it to Tim Gautreaux's Died and Gone to Vegas.
2. Clarify during the group work feedback session that an individual group member could add to his or her answer during the discussion with the group members before emailing the answer to the writer to collect all responses and turn into the drop box.
3. Spend a few minutes having a whole class discussion having students summarize some of their answers
4. Choose one group to record the discussion rather than just flitting around catching bits and pieces of conversations
5. Incorporate a small assessment of the activity at the end of the activity before the group processing to make individuals accountable for their own learning of the material.

We are all Process Improvement Consultants (PICs) in this learning journey, right. Literary Laureates, I invite you to comment on these ramblings of my learning and teaching of Lit 2000. I have sooooo much to learn from you! Ciao for now.......