I'm a geek

I can't decide if I'm a total geek or if I just like to use one aspect of teaching or learning to procrastinate from another. I am building a website for the English course I will be teaching. I'm excited to be able to do this. I think it will be beneficial to have. So, am I a geek that I would rather be working on this website than out doing other things during my Christmas break? Possibly. Or, am I just a procrastinator because I should be reading, cleaning, or the like?

Gruesome Santa

You have to wonder about things like this. A family in New York is making a statement about all that has gone wrong with Christmas. Read the news story here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051214/ap_on_re_us/slasher_santa

I'm not sure this is the best option. Don't get me wrong-- as a student/teacher, this is not "the most wonderful time of the year." And I agree that it is really easy to forget why we celebrate Chirstmas in the first place. But I'm not sure having Santa killing the toys really shows that Christmas has gotten to commercial. Santa exists because of the toys-- he is the reason Christmas is shop keepers favorite time of the year.

Addition on Plagiarism

If you want to successfully plagiarize-- at least pick a topic that you are interested in. If you pick a topic that completely goes against your personality, then it will get noticed as odd.

The Process

I have to wonder, what makes someone a good writer? And I have to believe that a part of it is natural and a part of it is practice.

It's always interesting to see someone who has practiced themselves into expertise because it is something he/she wants to master. I think of 2 people I know who play the piano. You can hand either or them a difficult piece of music and both would be able to play it, but one would make it sound so much more meaningful than the other.

Whenever I read about writers going through the writing process, it seems that they follow very similar patterns. They set aside a specific time of day to write. They set themselves up a distraction free environment. But, they also set aside a relatively short amount of time for themselves to do writing. "Good" writers have patterns that they follow. Is it the patterns that make them good? I don't think so-- I think it's the practice that led to the pattern being established. They try different things-- they practice, and the see what works the best and then go with it.

Too often I think writing becomes peoples after rather than priority. All of the research on being a successful student/ business person emphasizes structure. It also all stresses the importance of knowing which tasks are priorities and which can be dismissed. I really like Jack G****'s Energy Performace study which talks about the importance of energy management vs. time management. Often we have time to do so much more than we do, but we don't have the mental energy to follow through.

I think poor writers forget about the necessary mental energy for doing good writing. Maybe good writing is a matter of instinct-- when we have the energy we should prioritize the activity.

I'm not sure, but I know that when I feel like my writing sucks I can't quit-- rather I have to look at it is an opportunity to continue to practice so that hopefully in 20 years I can see that my writing has improved.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Peter Hunt, in his book Criticism, Theory, and Children's Literature, answers the question "Why Study Children's Literature? by saying "Because it is important and because it is fun." Roald Dahl wants to remind people of that. His official website contains both important information and fun.

http://www.roalddahl.com/

Tim Burton recently adapted Dahl's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to film. Some people say this is a remake of the Gene Wilder film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory-- which was also based off of Dahl's book. But Burton's film is not a remake of the old movie-- it is a new interpretation of the text.

Film is funny like that-- it becomes an entity all to its own, and because there are so many remakes in film, viewers often forget to consider that there might be another source-- unless it's Shakespeare. There are numerous movie versions of Hamlet, and no one thinks that they are remakes of each other-- people know they are interpretations of the play. So, the new Charlie in the Chocolate Factory is following in the footsteps of Shakespeare-- it is not a movie remake-- it is a new adaption of the text.
Johnny Depp stars in this movie as the infamous Willy Wonka, and he raises the level of quirkiness within the film.

People say that this adaption of the text is much closer to the book than the Wilder version, and in some ways it is. It allows Wonka to say some of the rude things he says in the book, but it adds something to the book that I believe is a result of J.K. Rowlings. It adds reality to fantasy.

Dahl considered this book a fantasy. Although it starts with poor Charlie and his suspiciously nice family, everything that takes place in the factory could not possibly be real. Yet, in the film version, Wonka keeps having flashbacks to his childhood to explain to the audience why he is as quirky as he is.

Fantasy is losing some of its elements of imagination, because there has to be some realism. Yet, Dahl didn't want to create realism. We don't really want to think about a family so poor that they can only afford Cabbage Soup-- or where 4 Grandparents share one bed-- that's just not entertaining.

Dahl wants his audience to see Charlie's luck. Burton wants to add this didactic element of taking care of one's family and the importance of loving people who are in your life. I don't disapprove of Burton's message, I just don't think it's Dahl's.

So, why study Children's Lit-- because it is important-- and it is fun. It is important to look at what people do to Children's stories to try to accomplish their own agenda. And, it's fun to allow yourself to imagine the impossible every now and then.

Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies is an interesting book. On one hand it gives the reader an interesting place to discuss ethics and civics and how culture affects things. On the other hand, some elements of it are so predictable.

Today, though, the thing that interests me is that there is a game related to the book on the Nobel prize website.

http://nobelprize.org/literature/educational/golding/

The game, although fun, is pretty simplistic. I guess I find that ironic due to the website it's found on. If this game were found on a high school or junior high teacher resource page, I would understand it. But, the game is found on the Nobel Prize site. The Nobel prize asks more from its winners than just a simple plot, and yet all the game does is ask the player to match up symbols and answer really simplistic questions.

Now, I just need someone to create a game that simplifies literary theory. Match up the symbol with the theorist-- a couch for Freud, a magnifying glass for Derrida...

Thanksgiving and Composition

Write a 5 paragraph essay discussing why you're thankful.
Write a thank you note to someone for something they have done for you.
Write a narrative essay about a time you thought about being thankful.
Write why you're thankful to live in the United States/Canada/fill in the blank.
Write why your'e thankful you've had the opportunity to get to know _________.

Thanksgiving seems to be this time for stock journal writing topics. Not that we shouldn't take time to be thankful and think about the good things that are in our lives. It's easy to be critical and take simple things for granted-- I believe that. But, I don't think forcing everyone to write about it is the way to make it effective.

I think gratitude has to be a choice. We have to want to be thankful. As we approach the holidays, sometimes all we can say is "Daddy I want another pony." Maybe we should write about that-- oh wait, we do-- we write out Christmas lists and letters to Santa.

Tis the season for writing-- somehow though, it just doesn't seem right.

Intertextuality

I'm currently reading "Children's Literature comes of Age" and the last chapter is on intertextuality, and the author, Nikolajeva, discusses how intertextuality is different that comparative analysis. She says both look at works in juxtaposition, but that comparative literature looks more at influence and intertextuality looks more at meaning. However, then she proceeds to "do" intertextual criticism by looking at how books. meanings have influenced other books' meanings. I feel like something is missing.

If we really want to look at something in juxtaposition and we want to find similarities within the texts, it seems we should be able to do that with any types of texts. We shouldn't have to limit ourselves to genres that would have influenced themselves. For me, intertextuality should look like more of a hypertext connection. These two works that have nothing in common have so much in common because of this kenotype. But if something is a true kenotype then we have to compare works that wouldn't necessarily have had influence on one another. Sometimes I think influence is a point of connection, but with intertextuality, the newness results from how the connected items might be used differently through time. In Hansel and Gretel candy is used to draw the children to the wicked witch. In The Chocolate War, candy is used to symbolize the evil manipulative powers that be. It is no longer a "special" thing to see candy, but candy still works to manipulate behavior. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, candy manipulates behavior, but can we label Willie Wonka evil? Finally, in Harry Potter, candy is the symbol of Dumbeldore, the positive headmaster. This same symbol exists but it works differently-- Were any of these works influenced by others, possibly, but we don't see that influence as a model.

Tips for Successful Plagiarism

I know that some students are very successful at plagiarism, but some are quite lousy, so I thought I'd spend some time today to point out ways to improve at plagiarism.

1. If you are buying a paper, you should maybe take it to a tutoring center and have them help you revise it. This way you can make sure it has some of your voice. Although be sure not to tell the people at the center that you bought the paper-- that could come back to bite you in the butt. Also, make sure you know what the paper is saying before you take it to the center. If you don't understand it then they will know you bought it.

That leads me to point number 2.
2. Make sure you can understand the paper that you are turning in. If it uses words that you don't know, you should look them up. Sometimes a teacher will ask you what a word means that is used in the paper if he/she suspects that you're plagiarizing. If you know what all the words mean-- especially when they are subjects of whole paragraphs-- you are less apt to be suspected of cheating.

3. Make sure the assignment you turn in matches the assignment that was assigned. If you are supposed to turn in a cause and effect paper on a current event, you shouldn't turn in a cause and effect paper on the civil war. Any war that was fought over 100 years ago no longer qualifies as a current event. There are different ways to make sure your plagiarized work matches your actual assignment. You can pay or coerce someone into doing your homework for you. If he/she sees the assignment, then he'll know what to write. You can type the assignment into google. Sometimes if a school has a standardized curriculum, there are people from your school willing to sell old homework. Or you can look around to make sure that the paper you buy is close to the assignment.

3b. Point 3 is especially true when you are assigned summaries. If you plagiarize a summary, you want to double check that you are plagiarizing the correct work. Sometimes authors write works on similar themes, and it can become tricky to keep track of which story you are supposed to be looking at. Excerpts from stories can be problematic as well. You want to be sure that your summary does not include details from the longer work if you were only supposed to read the abbreviated form.

4. Make sure that there isn't too big of a jump in your writing style from assignments you have done yourself to assignments you are plagiarizing. The most effective plagiarism is done when all works are plagiarized from the same source, then you are less likely to be suspected. Although, unless you are paying someone to do your homework, it is difficult to maintain that sort of consistency. It is important that work you plagiarize sound like you. Otherwise, a teacher might request to see drafts so that he/she can believe that your writing has actually improved that much vs. it being what it is, plagiarism.

Well, I know there are probably other tips out there, but I thought these would get you started.

Happy Cheating, and if you get caught-- you deserve it.

Innovation

As teachers, I think we all strive to be innovative in some way. We want our class to stand out as something interesting. Yet sometimes, innovation is met with resistance. Students who do not know what to do with choice. I'm a big advocate for choice-- you can do this or that. You can present your information this way or that way. Selfishly, I do this for me. I can't stand reading 20-50 versions of the same paper on the same topic. So, I give students choice. But, I am finding that choice demands more instruction. I have to explain all sorts of scenarios-- but then that takes away from innovation. I don't want to imagine out the scenario for you-- I want you to imagine up a scenario for me.

I think innovation is important. I think showing students that the traditional way isn't the only way is valuable. I also think choice is important. So, I guess I need to accept the complications that occur through the process.

Collaboration

Collaboration is an interesting thing. This weekend I was working on a collaborative project with friends, and we were discussing how much better the work that we were doing becomes when we gather input from others than when we simply work alone.

This made me begin to think about syllabus design. This winter I'm teaching a service learning course, and I believe that part of service learning comes from the discussions of what we learn. This is making me think about restructuring my syllabus-- I think I want to have my students do their service in pairs.

I still believe it is important to have some individual work in a composition classroom, and I know that some students really despise group work. Yet, I think that if they have a partner throughout for their service project that they will be able to understand the project more fully. I also think it will build up their security in working in a service environment to have someone with them rather than attempting to conquer it all alone.

Maybe I should talk with someone about this.

Audience and Argument

This morning I was talking with my students about argument, and we began to discuss audience, and the more I think about it, the more relevant to everything it seems.

This morning I woke up to discover that Detroit reelected its mayor yesterday. I'm not sure I think that the best move, but I am not actually a city resident, so I didn't get to vote. I don't know that it's the worst move, but I know it means things won't change. The reason I think about this in connection with audience is I can't help but wonder who campaign ads were geared towards. It seemed at the end that it became an issue of electing the lesser of 2 evils. Logical reasoning got brushed aside by both parties, and that disheartens me.

Argument becomes this vague ideal that allows people to prove points effectively, and marketing departments have taken away any necessary appeals to logic and apply only to desire and emotion. So, this makes me wonder how to convey the importance of logic to students. How do I demonstrate to students the necessity of logic when everything around them dictates that logic just doesn't matter any more. I guess we apply logic to advertisements. Why do marketing execs know that they will get more business by appealing to emotion?

Syllabus and adventure

There are several things that I really enjoy about teaching. I enjoy working with students. I enjoy discussing ideas and seeing where those discussions might lead. I enjoy helping people see things from a different perspective than what they might be used to. But there are a couple of things I don't enjoy about teaching-- grading papers and writing a syllabus.

Syllabus writing is a funny thing-- initially it's exciting-- you can try new ideas out and see how you want them to go together. But then, it's overwhelming-- planning the entire semester at once opens up a lot of possibilities-- what if the students want to do this or that.

When I was a kid, there were choose your own adventure books. If you want Amy to stay on the island go to page 55. If you want Amy to try to swim off the island turn to page 110. Now, with hypertext, choose your own adventure becomes a click vs. a turn. The reader has to just go to the new place; he/she can't read all of the options and choose the best one after the fact.

This makes me wish I could write a choose your own adventure syllabus. If you want to do a project on literacy, click here, and the page opens up to the assignment that the student would do-- read something-- create an ethnography. If you want to do a project on culture, click here, and the page opens up to an assignment about television-- watch this-- read that-- write a script for a news segment on how television portrays American culture. Do you just want an easy A with no work-- that page opens up to an error message-- page not available.

But, we don't write choose your own adventure syllabi-- instead we put the disclaimer at the top that we, the teacher, maintain the right to amend the syllabus at any given moment-- and most of the time, because we don't want to do the planning involved, keep the syllabus the same. Sometimes we learn something new in the course of the semester-- or something really important happens-- and we change it up. So I guess we choose the adventure.

Freak the Mighty

Rod Philbrick's book Freak the Mighty took me a little by surprise, although I don't know that it should have.

Young adult coming of age fiction seems to be always either circular or linear. Either normalcy is returned or a journey begins. In Freak, both and neither happen. Max is the character who achieves a coming of age, and while he is at home throughout the majority of the text, his return to school and "normal" would make it seem to be a circular journey. But, Max is anything but normal at the end of the text. He is doing things that he would have never done before; he is beginning to learn things for himself. He has made a linear journey. But then, this is a coming of age text-- of course he has made a discovery about himself. If he hadn't, then the story wouldn't accomplish anything. One difference in this text is that Max's physical journey in no way parallels his psychological journey, and that confounds typical labels. In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy must make a physical journey while she is discovering herself-- therefore, her journey is circular. Max on the other hand, always needs someone else's help to make any type of physical journey in the text. Freak tells him where to go while they are Freak the Mighty-- His dad tells him where to go when he is being kidnapped, and Freak is the one who saves him from a near death experience. Although Max is taking a journey with Freak, it isn't until Freak dies that Max truly matures. So, I guess if I have to choose a label, this text has a linear journey. The reader knows that Max has turned a corner and is ready to go on a quest, but the reader isn't sure if Max will successfully complete his quest alone.

Dr. Seuss

I have an obsession with Dr. Seuss. So many people think that he's just writing silly stories, but I think people often miss how much can be found in a Dr. Seuss tale. I mean there is originality with all the newly created language. Plus there is fantastic rhythm that can force you to repeat lines against your will. In addition, Dr. Seuss forces you to address prejudice. I mean just think about Green Eggs and Ham, he won't eat them just because they are not normal. And then Sam I am encourages him to see things from a different point of view.

When we talk to students about learning, especially in a non-traditional format, I sometimes think we are a little like Sam-- we have to go on and on about how great something is, but it really doesn't matter what kind of a song and dance we do. Until students are willing to try something for themselves, they will never know if they like Green Eggs and Ham or not.

Dr. Seuss encourages fun. His books are happy, although slightly didactic at times. Regardless, kids love them. I don't know why more adults don't go back to that mindset. If we have fun with learning, it's just that, more fun.

Pictures

I've decided that I want to attempt to post a picture to my blog. I think that would make it more interesting. I was told that it was easy to do, but I never paid enough attention to realize that it was just a matter of pushing the add image choice in the tool bar.

This fun knowledge of technology will make this project more interesting. At least I think so :)

So, does anyone care to guess where this is?

Ella Minnow Pea

A friend gave me this book by Mark Dunn for my birthday a couple of years ago, and I remember looking at the cover, (which my version has a picture of a minnow-- there are many different versions-- the economics of book publishing) and thinking what a strange name for a child. Then I read it aloud-- L-M-N-O-P-- now it has caught my attention. I sat down and read the book shortly after receiving it. I deemed it a clever little story. There is a town that exists as a tribute to a man who wrote a sentence that uses every letter in the alphabet. (There are several such sentences in the book to prove it is not as daring as a feat as initially assumed.) So, the town builds a statue to the man that has the sentence on it. Well, the statue is getting old, and some of the letters are falling off. So the town council decided that since the letters are falling off, that must be the town founder telling the people that they should no longer use those letters. So, as the town must quit using letters, so must the author, and the letters disappear from the text. Now the book becomes this linguistic challenge.

Upon first reading the book, I thought it was a fun play on words-- it gives a decent challenge. But now, as I revisit it, I can't help but wonder what else it might be saying. I think of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and how it stands against tradition. As educators, I don't think we can just stand against tradition as a means of being innovative. But, we should question edicts to find out why they exist. If I was told I couldn't use the letter q again, it might not be worth the fight (although I think the principle of it would make it so) but if I was told the letter a was off limits-- well, it just wouldn't work.

When we think about standards and expectations, I think it is more important to consider what they are standards off. What is the reason behind their existence? What is their purpose? We shouldn't just eliminate ideas because something symbolic happened. But, we shouldn't just exist based on the symbolic either.

Just some thoughts.

Tutoring

I'm interested in seeing the different student responses to tutoring. I work in a tutoring center, and I used to work for 2 different tutoring centers, and I've seen numerous different responses. Some students latch on to a tutor. They begin to feel that they cannot function on their own. Then a tutor has to sort of break a dependence because a tutee can't get tutored forever. Some students defend their intelligence. They are so defensive that they can't actually get any help. Others are so hostile that they too cannot receive help. And then there are ideal students. They know they have something intelligent to say but that they could improve. They try to learn something new each time they come so that eventually they will no longer need to see a tutor. This makes me wonder what the role of the tutor is. How does a tutor help a student see that seeking help is not necessarily a weakness? How does a tutor help a student get the most out of what they are learning without creating a dependence? I'm sure some of it has to do with personality and enabling, but I'm also sure that a tutoring center's mission statement has to play a part as well.

Some tutoring centers want their students to be dependent because they want the income generated from returning students. Other centers are free, so they want independent students so that they can serve as many people as possible.

I think it is important to work to help students become independent learners. If people are willing to try new things and willing to take risks, their work becomes much more interesting.

Writing in a Visual Age

This textbook sucks! I'm writing a review right now, and I keep trying to be objective about what I say, but the more time I spend with this book, the worse I think it is.

I think the concept behind the book is great. Students should use more visuals when they write. I think it would be great for students to use meaningful pictures to highlight their texts. I also think it would be great if more teachers would appreciate that. Really, the only thing a teacher would have to do would be to change page length requirements to word requirements-- and tell students to include pictures/charts and so on.

I really don't have an issue with the idea of the book; it's the execution. It has all these charts-- they are so busy that you don't know which things are important and it took me too long to figure out why the pages were colored the way they are. Also, the questions it asks are really leading. It doesn't ask students to think freely about something-- it guides them-- this isn't analysis-- it's barely a step above reading comprehension. Plus it's section divisions are useless. The first half of the book is just writing styles. All of the useful information about the visual is in the second half of the book, but the authors spent more time gathering information for the first half.

It's probably unprofessional to spout off like this about how annoying this book is. I'm sure there will be loads of instructors who use it and love it and think it is so innovative, but I find it really difficult to follow, and I think the creative aspect of it is extremely limited.

Harry Potter Rocks!

I got in my car at lunch today, and there was some guy on the radio talking about the evils of Harry Potter. He was ragging on parents who read Harry Potter with their kids, saying that he does things with his kids too, but that means that he doesn't let them do drugs, drink alcohol, or read Harry Potter. Since when does reading anything equate with letting an 8 year old do drugs or drink?????? The guy was trying to market anti-Potter crap to pass out for Halloween. I can't help but see the irony here-- How can you boycott Harry Potter (about witches and wizards) and support Halloween (again about witches and wizards). I'm just not sure.

I, as you can probably tell from my heading, am a big supporter of Harry Potter. I have read all of the books. I had my copy of book 6 reserved 3 months in advance, and I had it read within 4 days. And I was slow. I can't wait for the next movie to come out on November 18. I will make my husband go with me that weekend to see it. He already knows and is looking forward to this.

So, why do I like Harry Potter so much? For the same reason I chose to go into Children's Lit in the first place. There is so much to dissect and look at in children's fiction, and it is all frequently overlooked. People look at a children's book and they say-- oh it's a nice story about this or that. They don't evaluate it the same way they would evaluate an adult text. Although a text geared at children might use a simpler vocabulary or a simpler plot line, doesn't mean that there aren't other literary elements to the text. The Harry Potter series has complex characters who change and evolve. And it places characters in moral dilemmas that force them to think about more than just the obvious right and wrong. Although it is fantasy, it makes a statement about cultural criticism-- it creates a culture of its own-- and that culture is not a utopia-- it has ethics and civil situations. People can glean far more from the text than merely a good plot. I enjoy the novels, but the exciting plot is not the primary reason why.

Alright-- now that I've defended Harry Potter in this "public" place, maybe I can get some work done :)