I am going to be honest, the first few pages of this chapter scared me a bit. When describing teaching as a profession Jago states, "Some say of education that we are the only profession that eats its young (95)." Clearly, we need to re-examine the way that the teaching process works.
I personally really like some of the ideas from the lesson study in Japan. First I like that the program is made for teachers and by teachers. The idea of working collaboratively with colleagues would definitely help teachers with their lesson plans and teaching practices. As a pre-service teacher, I would value the time spent with more experienced teachers.
I found Jago's comprehension tools and activities very helpful. I can definitely see myself using some of her ideas in my classroom. I like the idea of charts for understanding families within a text. For character analysis, I really like the Odysseus' Open Mind activity. Overall, I think all of her ideas would benefit any new teacher.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Pytash Ch.4 How Stories Work
I can truly relate to Jago's thoughts as a student, "I can remember as a student being in awe of my teachers' ability to identify themes (61)."
I remember sitting at my desk thinking, how does this teacher come up with this? It made sense when the teacher elaborated and explained their thinking but I was never very good at performing this process on my own. If students become familiar with how a plot works as well as how other elements of fiction work they will be one step closer to understanding a difficult text.
Jago also brings up a good point when she describes literary devices, "What they don't understand is that understanding how literary devices work gives readers power over text.
To me, these literary devices and elements of fictions are like formulas in math; how can we expect students to get through a text without understanding these crucial elements?
I remember sitting at my desk thinking, how does this teacher come up with this? It made sense when the teacher elaborated and explained their thinking but I was never very good at performing this process on my own. If students become familiar with how a plot works as well as how other elements of fiction work they will be one step closer to understanding a difficult text.
Jago also brings up a good point when she describes literary devices, "What they don't understand is that understanding how literary devices work gives readers power over text.
To me, these literary devices and elements of fictions are like formulas in math; how can we expect students to get through a text without understanding these crucial elements?
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Pytash Ch.2
I really love some of the ideas that Jago presents in this chapter concerning vocabulary. Rather than having students memorize lists of vocab, she uses methods that make vocab more relevant. The bookmark is a great example of how teachers can make vocabulary words more relevant. By using the bookmark, students are more likely to pay attention to words and write them down, rather than skimming over them while reading. I like how Jago takes her vocabulary lesson further by having students categorize the words they wrote down on their book marks by mood. By categorizing the words, students can see how authors use specific words to establish mood in literature.
Another idea Jago uses to help her students understand a piece of literature and vocabulary is introducing key words from the text and discussing the meaning of the key terms before reading. After reading the text, the students find instances in which the character demonstrates characteristics from the key terms. By completing this exercise, students will not only expand their vocabulary but they will have a better understanding of the text as well. The students than use the key words to describe someone they know, which can help them see how these terms can be used in everyday life.
Overall, I really like Jago's ideas about teaching vocabulary. Instead of teaching lists of words every week, she shows how vocabulary can be tied into class readings and student's lives.
Another idea Jago uses to help her students understand a piece of literature and vocabulary is introducing key words from the text and discussing the meaning of the key terms before reading. After reading the text, the students find instances in which the character demonstrates characteristics from the key terms. By completing this exercise, students will not only expand their vocabulary but they will have a better understanding of the text as well. The students than use the key words to describe someone they know, which can help them see how these terms can be used in everyday life.
Overall, I really like Jago's ideas about teaching vocabulary. Instead of teaching lists of words every week, she shows how vocabulary can be tied into class readings and student's lives.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Kist- Vincent Wants to Sea
To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to this Film Festival experience. I thought that I would have to spend time and money on something that I wouldn't even enjoy, but I was wrong. When I arrived to Tower City, there were a lot more people than I expected to see lining up to go see films. The film that I originally wanted to see was sold out, so on a whim my group decided to see Vincent Wants to Sea. To my horror, the whole thing was in German with English subtitles which usually annoys me. Despite the fact that I did not see the film I had originally intended to and the whole thing was in German, I really enjoyed it.
I would love to merge this experience with one of my lessons when I become a teacher and take my class on a field trip to the Film Festival.
Here is a clip of Vincent Wants to Sea if anyone is interested.
Vincent Wants to Sea
Review
Personal Issues- The three main characters; Vincent, Alex, and Marie all have mental health problems. Vincent has Tourettes syndrome, Alex has O.C.D, and Marie has anorexia. I was surprised at how much I could relate to the characters in that they were different from the people around them. I have A.D.D and I was diagnosed while I was in elementary school. I was really self-conscious when the school psychiatrist came to my class every week for appointments. Maybe this was all in my head but I felt that my classmates knew something was up, and that I was different than them in some way. Because of my own experience, I can definitely relate to these characters feelings about being different than everyone else.
Technique- I felt the camera work was truly spectacular in this film. One instances is when Vincent, Marie, and Alex are climbing a mountain. When they reach the top, they notice a large cross that looks over the entire mountain. The three climb on the cross and sit on it without saying a word. When the camera shows their faces they all look happy and free. I feel that climbing this mountain represents something more profound to all of these characters and the camera illustrates this beautifully.
Acting- Vincent, Alex, and Marie were the principal roles in this film. The actors and actress who portray these characters do a spectacular job of showing the viewer what its like to have these mental health problems. Marie was played by a girl who was very thin but this clearly was not the only reason that she was chosen to be in the film.
Plot- The story begins at Vincent's mother's funeral where we see the symptoms of Vincent's mental illness. Because of his mental illness and the fact that his mother just passed away, Vincent's father takes him to a mental health facility. He is greeted by a doctor when he arrives and his roommate Alex who has O.C.D. He is later introduced to Marie and the two have an instant connection. During an argument with her therapist, Marie steels the therapists keys and plans a get-a-way with Vincent. When Alex threatens to ruin their plan, the two put him in the back of the car and head to the Sea. They are soon pursued by Vincent's strict father and their therapist. This story is about how this journey changes all of them.
Themes- The issues in this film seem to surround those with the mental health problems. The viewer comes to question whether or not the characters are better of in the facility or on their own. While two of the characters seem to learn how to cope with their illness, one struggles severely. The relationship between father and son is an important aspect of the film, which changes over the course of the film. I feel that the message in this film is that we should try to understand those around us and help them in the best way possible.
Genre- I feel like this belongs the coming of age category because through this journey the characters learn to accept themselves and each other. The common characteristics of these films is that there is a change in a major character or they grow in some way. I feel this genre is popular because everyone can relate to it.
Representation- This film represents people with mental health disorders and portrays them as people with real emotions and feelings.I think the film represents them in this way so that viewers can look beyond the disabilities these people have.
Ideology- The father son relationship in this film is challenged throughout the film. The father seems to have had enough of Vincent and continually expresses his disappointment. When Vincent is missing his father is at first frustrated and angry with him, but in the end they both learn to understand each other.
I would love to merge this experience with one of my lessons when I become a teacher and take my class on a field trip to the Film Festival.
Here is a clip of Vincent Wants to Sea if anyone is interested.
Vincent Wants to Sea
Review
Personal Issues- The three main characters; Vincent, Alex, and Marie all have mental health problems. Vincent has Tourettes syndrome, Alex has O.C.D, and Marie has anorexia. I was surprised at how much I could relate to the characters in that they were different from the people around them. I have A.D.D and I was diagnosed while I was in elementary school. I was really self-conscious when the school psychiatrist came to my class every week for appointments. Maybe this was all in my head but I felt that my classmates knew something was up, and that I was different than them in some way. Because of my own experience, I can definitely relate to these characters feelings about being different than everyone else.
Technique- I felt the camera work was truly spectacular in this film. One instances is when Vincent, Marie, and Alex are climbing a mountain. When they reach the top, they notice a large cross that looks over the entire mountain. The three climb on the cross and sit on it without saying a word. When the camera shows their faces they all look happy and free. I feel that climbing this mountain represents something more profound to all of these characters and the camera illustrates this beautifully.
Acting- Vincent, Alex, and Marie were the principal roles in this film. The actors and actress who portray these characters do a spectacular job of showing the viewer what its like to have these mental health problems. Marie was played by a girl who was very thin but this clearly was not the only reason that she was chosen to be in the film.
Plot- The story begins at Vincent's mother's funeral where we see the symptoms of Vincent's mental illness. Because of his mental illness and the fact that his mother just passed away, Vincent's father takes him to a mental health facility. He is greeted by a doctor when he arrives and his roommate Alex who has O.C.D. He is later introduced to Marie and the two have an instant connection. During an argument with her therapist, Marie steels the therapists keys and plans a get-a-way with Vincent. When Alex threatens to ruin their plan, the two put him in the back of the car and head to the Sea. They are soon pursued by Vincent's strict father and their therapist. This story is about how this journey changes all of them.
Themes- The issues in this film seem to surround those with the mental health problems. The viewer comes to question whether or not the characters are better of in the facility or on their own. While two of the characters seem to learn how to cope with their illness, one struggles severely. The relationship between father and son is an important aspect of the film, which changes over the course of the film. I feel that the message in this film is that we should try to understand those around us and help them in the best way possible.
Genre- I feel like this belongs the coming of age category because through this journey the characters learn to accept themselves and each other. The common characteristics of these films is that there is a change in a major character or they grow in some way. I feel this genre is popular because everyone can relate to it.
Representation- This film represents people with mental health disorders and portrays them as people with real emotions and feelings.I think the film represents them in this way so that viewers can look beyond the disabilities these people have.
Ideology- The father son relationship in this film is challenged throughout the film. The father seems to have had enough of Vincent and continually expresses his disappointment. When Vincent is missing his father is at first frustrated and angry with him, but in the end they both learn to understand each other.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Kist- Video Games in the Classroom
While reading this article I was intrigued by the study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2006 which researched why almost a third of American public-high-school students fail to graduate with their class. Most students told researches that school was boring. Sadly, I wasn’t surprised at the final recommendations which were to “make school more relevant and engaging (4).”
Schools have not changed in a long time, even though the students who attend those schools have. Obviously, this is a problem we face as educators. The solution seems simple, make schools more relevant and engaging, but why haven’t they?
Perhaps it is because we look at the way children use media so critically as Levine suggests, and instead of criticizing we should use their interests in media and technology to our advantage.
“Kids are literally wearing digital media,” Levine says. “It’s present everywhere in their lives, except for in the learning environment(4).”
I whole heartedly agree with Levine’s statements; we need to incorporate these new technologies into out classrooms to make learning more relevant to our students.
Incorportating video games into the classroom is definitely a step in the right direction in that students are so interested in gaming. Even though it is relatively new to schools I am interested in seeing developments in this idea of gaming in school and how I can use it one day.
When speaking about the idea of gaming in the classroom Levine says: “Odds are it will take a long time. But I don’t know what the alternative is. My view of it is that we will never get to the holy land in terms of educational performance unless we do something about the engagement factor(4).”
This leads me back to my thoughts on test preparation- we need to go outside of traditional methods and incorporate students apparent interest in technology or nothing will change. We can’t just keep trying the same things and expect different results from our students.
Links
I found this website to be quite relevant to the article Video Games in the Clasroom. It even has activity ideas and all sorts of nifty ideas.
Kist- I (heart) Novels & Publish or Perish
Both of these articles bring into question the future of books. Now-a- days, people have so many choices of where they can buy books and how they prefer to read a book. People can buy the print copy of a book from a bookstore or online, they can also buy the e-book version from their computer, I-pad, cell phone,Kindle and so on.
The article “Publish or Perish” by Ken Auletta addresses some of the beginning concerns of the e-book: “The obstacle was that no one knew how e-books should be read. Computer screens weren’t portable enough, and for many readers cell phones were too small.”
This obstacle contrasts with those of the author of Eternal Dream who began writing her novel on her mobile phone. This presents a whole new kind of text that is growing immensely popular, the cell phone novel. The article “I (heart) Novels” explains that the author uploaded her book to a popular website where it gained readers attention; however, I do not think the cell-phone should be marked off completely as a medium in which readers can read texts from.
In our generation, cell-phones are like a life line in that we always have them on us and are constantly using them. Now think about the next generation, do you think they will mind both reading and writing texts from their cell-phones?
When people buy expensive cell-phones, such as the I-phone, they want it to do everything from searching the Internet, playing their music, and of course perform the normal functions of a cell phone such as dialing and receiving calls and texting. If the phone also comes with the capability of uploading books why wouldn’t iPhone owners use it? Eventually, more and more phones will come with this capability and more people will read books from their phones. With that said, marking off the cell phone as a medium in which books can be read is out of the question.
As we all know, books are used in schools everyday, and with books becoming more readily available on cell phones and iPads will these devices eventually be welcomed into the classroom? Another factor that may contribute to the use of these devices in the classroom is savings. A point made by Russ Grandinettie, the vice-president of Amazon made me think about what schools could save if using these devices: “Look at the price points of digital goods in other media. I read a newspaper this morning online, and it didn’t cost me anything. Look at the price of rental movies. Look at the price of music.” He also mentions the low prices of books.
Not only does Grandinettie mention money, but he also mentions time.
“The real competition here is not, in our view, between the hardcover book and the e-book,” he says. “TV, movies, Web browsing, video games are all competing for people’s valuable time. And if the book doesn’t compete we think that over time the industry will suffer.
I think it’s safe to say that Grandinettie is including students when he says people, which would make this relevant to us teachers. Grandinettie also suggests an idea in this article which I find extremely relevant to this class: “publishers have to reimagine the book as multimedia entertainment.”
The article presents some publishers who are already taking this idea seriously.
“David Rosenthal, the publisher of Simon & Schuster, says that his company is racing ‘to embed audio and video and other value-added features in e-books. It could be an author discussing his book, or a clip from a movie that touches on the book’s topic.’”
Not only have these books made me think about the future of books such as the composition of books and the mediums in which we can use books, but it also made me think about my stance as a future teacher. Will I use these devices in my classroom? Will I use e-books in my class instead of print one day? Will letting students compose work on their cell phones and collecting written work via text message, be acceptable when I am a teacher? Not only is the future of books in question here, but the future of teaching is as well.
Here are some links which relate to ideas presented in my blog:
Kist- I'm So Totally, Digitally Close to You & You're Leaving a Digital Trail
This interest on keepings tabs of the people around you has spread like wild fire over the years. If you sit and think about it its kind of creepy. Do we really want people to know what we are doing at all times? All the information we put on Facebook gives people a pretty good interpretation of us. They know what we are doing, where we go to school, our religion, views of politics, interests, relationship status...need I say more?
So why are we interested in “A stream of everything that’s going on in their lives (Thomas, 1)" as Zuckerberg puts it? Why did we turn against our initial instinct of "freaking out" and become obsessed? To me this is just an easy and convenient way for people to be nosy.
"You're Leaving a Digital Trail" brings up the same term used in "I'm So Totally, Digitally Close to You" and that is big brother. Young people don't seem to care who knows what about them and how they use their information for that matter.
From a future educators stance, I feel that young people should definitely learn more about internet safety. So many people are not getting jobs because of what employers find on their Facebook and so many regrettable pictures get posted of people on Facebook that will be on their forever to haunt them.
Scary to think about...
Solution?
Internet Safety
So why are we interested in “A stream of everything that’s going on in their lives (Thomas, 1)" as Zuckerberg puts it? Why did we turn against our initial instinct of "freaking out" and become obsessed? To me this is just an easy and convenient way for people to be nosy.
"You're Leaving a Digital Trail" brings up the same term used in "I'm So Totally, Digitally Close to You" and that is big brother. Young people don't seem to care who knows what about them and how they use their information for that matter.
From a future educators stance, I feel that young people should definitely learn more about internet safety. So many people are not getting jobs because of what employers find on their Facebook and so many regrettable pictures get posted of people on Facebook that will be on their forever to haunt them.
Scary to think about...
Solution?
Internet Safety
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