Response # 8 for Dr. Pytash-- Reflection of the Semester

Before this semester and for a period in the middle of this semester, I was concerned whether I was in the right field. I am devoted to student development and learning, but I guess I was beginning to get "cold feet". It's almost scary to think of how quickly the past few years have passed and to imagine that I will be student teaching soon.

Although I have been skeptical about my future, I feel that this course has alleviated my anxieties about my future as an educator. Through this course, I learned effective lesson-planning techniques, and I practiced implementing lessons and leading discussions. In addition, I was presented several theories and literary strategies, and I was given the opportunity to decide the type of educator I would like to be. Therefore, this course, the assignments and lessons, and Dr. Pytash's guidance have helped me re-establish my desire to teach, and it greatly prepared me to do so.

One of the most important aspects of my growth as a professional has been the encouragement Dr. Pytash has provided. One day, when I was walking to my office hours in the Tri-Towers Rotunda, I ran into her as she was getting her computer fixed. Upon exchanging hellos, she stood and talked with me for about a half-hour. It meant a lot to me that she would take the time out of her busy Monday schedule to talk to me about my weekend, the week ahead, my professional plans, and and my goal to work toward a master's degree directly after completing my undergraduate coursework. This could not have come at a better time, as I had endured a stressful weekend and was not quite ready to start the week. However, after our conversation, I was motivated to keep plugging along with my homework and job-related requirements. Later on in the semester, when Dr. Pytash read in my exit slip that I was discouraged about an aspect of my performance in my preparation to become an educator, she made sure to speak with me about it and to ensure that I was doing fine. Yet again, this was also very motivating for me, and it helped me maintain a positive attitude. Thanks to her reassurance and interest in my personal endeavors, I have maintained a positive, motivated attitude, and I have been able to take advantage of every learning experience I have been presented throughout this semester. For that, I am endlessly grateful.

Response # 7 for Dr. Pytash-- Classics in the Classroom Chapter 7

In chapter 7 of Classics in the Classroom, Jago explains that she does not implement group assignments at all, as she feels that no matter how she constructs the assignment, some students still "slack off" (158). Before this semester, I may have agreed with Jago. However, I feel that educators need to have more faith in their students' desire to learn.

In the case of assigning group work, students could be easily occupied by giving each student a specific role in a project. For example, if I were to assign groups to become experts of a specific chapter or scene of a text, I would give on person the role of the quote master, which would require him/her to pick out important passages of the text. Then, I would assign another group member the role of the connector, which will require him/her to connect the text with current society. I would also assign a group member to find the themes of the text. And finally, for another role I would assign would be the role of the character master, which would require a group member to record the descriptions, motives, and conflicts of the characters of a text. By micro-managing the roles of students for group work assignments, I would effectively engage them in the activity without worrying about everyone pulling their weight. Therefore, I feel that Jago's bias against group work is invalid, for if students are given structure and expectations, they would be more inclined to contribute to group work and would also be given the opportunity to form deeper understandings of a text.

Final Reflection over the Semester

Throughout this course, I have not only grown as a user of technology, but I have grown as an educator. Before this semester, I was not sure of how I would be able to present literature to students without boring them or conforming to the common teaching practices I have seen over the years.

I was in search of a way to teach students in a unique way. Last semester, as an RA, I was trying to think of how to present personal safety tips to students just before Halloween festivities. After long deliberation, I decided to show clips of danger scenes from horror films, and after each clip, I asked my residents to analyze the scene in terms of what went wrong and what could have been done by the main characters to prevent being harmed. My residents loved this event, and I didn't want to accept that this would be the only time I ever presented information in a unique way.

Through this course, I have learned how to affectively connect texts with film, music, video games, and other contemporary texts, such as graphic novels. As I learned about each of these forms of media, I realized that text is more than words on a page: texts are everywhere. This has made me think differently about movies and music, as it has caused me to look deeper into the meanings of the stories being presented to me. Further, I have learned to analyze literary references in alternative media for future lesson plans.

I have even noticed more of my teachers using multi-modal texts in the literature classroom. For example, my British Literature professor connected Tennyson's poem "Lady of Shalott" to a current song by Emilie Autumn called "Shalott", which actually quotes parts of the poem. This strategy helped connect Victorian culture to themes in current media, but more importantly, it made the poem seem much more meaningful and much less boring to me. That is what multi-modal teaching is all about-engaging all students in a lesson and helping them relate the meanings of a text to their own lives.

As a movie and television junkie, I was relieved by this class because it helped me realize that my love for visually stimulating texts can be transfered to my teaching practices. Not only can I implement videos, music, websites, and video games into my teaching in the future, but I also plan to write a final paper for my British Literature class that connects The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to the film Fight Club. Thus, this class has not only benefitted me as a future educator, but it has also affected me as a student by helping me connect film, a medium that I love to analyze, to text, a medium that I spend most of my time analyzing (which can become rather mundane).

Finally, another discovery I made through this course is that I absolutely love graphic novels. In fact, I could see myself teaching a course that strictly covers the analysis of graphic novels as well as a course that connects canonical texts to graphic novels. Additionally, I plan to incorporate assignments that require students to create their own graphic interpretations of a text.

Throughout this semester, I have learned about a number of multi-modal resources that I can incorporate in my classroom instruction and in my alternative assessments. In addition, I have developed a greater appreciation of diverse forms of texts. However, the most important lesson I have learned through this course is that in order to be an effective educator, I need to delve into teen media in order to connect with my students, and I also need to continue to adapt my teaching strategies as technology continues to experience breakthroughs. As education is continuous, so is technology. Thus, devotion to both needs to be incorporated in the classroom to allow students to grow as users of technology as well as readers of texts.

Compare/Contrast

This is my compare/contrast of American Born Chinese and Naruto, Vol. 1: The Tests of the Ninja

Text and Dialogue

• Narration separate from dialogue is more evident in American Born Chinese, as Naruto is narrated primarily through character dialogue.
• In American Born Chinese, dialogue balloons and thought balloons are distinguished from one another. In Naruto, dialogue is in balloons, while thoughts are presented in a stylized text without a baloon. Sakura's thoughts are posed next to her dialogue through the depiction of her with a different expression with the label "inner Sakura".
• In both of these graphic novels, sound effects are conveyed through captions, which are stylized texts the side of the action.
• In Naruto, emanata is used in the form of exclamation points in the case of a character being alert or surprised. This is also used in American Born Chinese, but in addition, some images are used. For example, clouds are drawn around a confused character's head.
• An example of a label in American Born Chinese is when a frame is labeled "Fresh off the boat" to describe the term "F.O.B.", while in Naruto, sections of the comic are given headline labels and are accompanied with a summary image.
• The lettering for dialogues and captions differ from one another in both of these comics. However, in Naruto, the font point sizes differ and the pitch of the letters is often crammed to fit text into a balloon.
• Sound effects are portrayed in different fonts than the dialogue, such as "clap", "haha" or "smack" in American Born Chinese. In Naruto, sound effects are less traditional, such as "boff", "tak tak", and "ungh".

Visual Features

• Characters are black and white in Naruto, and shading and physical features are much more detailed. In American Born Chinese, the characters are colorful but are much more simply drawn. Each character's race is differentiated through the use of skin tone.
• Objects, scenery, and icons are all simply drawn in American Born Chinese. I like this much better than the detailed drawings of Naruto, as it produces less page clutter.
• Quick action is depicted by several lines of motion in both of these comics. In American Born Chinese, slower actions are depicted over the span of several frames.

General Layout and Design

• Both comics use clean, straight borders. In Naruto, some of the pane;s run to the end of the page and only use two internal borders.
• In American Born Chinese, the gutters are all the same size. This makes the comic cleanly presented and establishes a form of uniformity. In Naruto, the gutters that are closer together are used for consequent pane;s, while larger gutters separate the breaks in a sequence of panels.
• The panels are generally used the same way in both comics. Most panels are smaller, but the larger panels are used for significant actions or wide-angle views. Open panels are used for the more spacious images or to portray a character who is in a setting not conformed by a setting, almost like a dream sequence. This is evident in Naruto when Naruto is admiring Sakura and in American Born Chinese when the Great Sage stood at the five pillars.
• There is a splash page at the beginning page and the ending page of American Born Chinese, while there are several splash pages, mostly at the beginning of a new chapter, in Naruto. However, the comic also includes a two-page spread to provide a large panoramic view of a rooftop scene.

Angles and Frames

• Bleed is used throughout Naruto, while the pages of American Born Chinese are all cleanly conformed by an even page gutter.
• Close ups are used throughout both of the comics when one specific character or object is the sole subject of a panel.
• Head shots are used to create dramatic character reactions in both comics.
• Head-shoulder shots are common in both comics, but they are the most common shots used in American Born Chinese.
• Full-figure shots are used in both comics, but they are the most common shots in Naruto.
• Longshots are used in American Born Chinese to depict characters walking away or arriving from the horizon of the scene. In Naruto, longshots are used to show characters' proximity with one another. Extreme longshots are used to show characters' surroundings and their extreme lenght of distance from the common population of a scene.
• Reverse shots are used in both comics to show a scene from the point of view of a specific character. In American Born Chinese, reverse shots are also used to set a mood of shame.

Rhetorical techniques applied in text, visuals, and design

• Exaggeration is used to portray characters' emotions in both comics. Additionally, asian culture is exaggerated in both comics to present stereotypes, such as the extreme ninja techniques portrayed by both comics.
• Empathy is applied to the Asian characters in American Born Chinese, as they are portrayed as forlorn individuals in response to the injustices they face. In Naruto, Naruto's teacher shows him empathy by believing in him and fighting to protect him because they both grew up as orphans.
• The primary mood of both of these comics depicts the anxiety felt by the main characters to be something they are not.
• In Naruto, the images are very complex and detailed to help narrate the story. In American Born Chinese, the images are simple to compliment the dialogue and narrations without directing attention away from the text.
• Satire is evident in both of these comics to exploit the stereotypes of ninja culture associated with Chinese culture.
• Realism is used in both of these comics to expose the subordination of minority groups. As the Asian characters in American Born Chinese and Naruto in Naruto are attributed different physical characteristics than the other characters in the comics, their appearances are juxtaposed with the unjust treatment to which they are subjected in order to present social prejudices.
• The character Chin-Kee is used to present disorder in the comic American Born Chinese. His irrational behavior is used to present a stereotypical view of a Chinese individual's deviation from American cultural norms. In Naruto, battling and disorder are presented as orderly cultural norms. This serves as a stereotypical view of Chinese culture surrounding ninja battles.
• In American Born Chinese, White American culture is juxtaposed with Asian characters' inability to fit in to present the theme that the Asian characters desire to be someone else in order to escape prejudice. In Naruto, Shinobi characters are juxtaposed with students to show the theme that the students are striving to be more than who they already are.
• In both of these comics, power is attributed to the majority population, and this creates a conflict between them and the characters who serve as visible minorities.
• In both of these comics, the point of view is that of an outsider looking in on the action of the story.

Facebook Project

For Dr. Kist's class, we are currently working on a Facebook project, on which we are required to contribute to an online discussion with local high school students about different texts, one novel and one poetry. Through my participation, I have noticed that this is a unique learning opportunity for students to talk about the themes and the plot of a text.

As students who are reading Wintergirls have continued their reading, they have begun to question the characters actions and what they will do next. This is a great way for students to think and respond critically to the text. I have also noticed that students are thoughtfully reacting to the main character's battle with anorexia. As this is a touchy subject students to discuss, this medium allows them to think entirely about what they are saying before they post it. This allows for sensitive, well developed remarks to be posted in the discussion instead of hurtful, intrusive backlash.

While this is an effective medium for students to discuss a literary text, another redeeming quality of using Facebook is that it teaches students how to be careful and responsible about what they are saying online. I think that in each high school, students need to be taught how to safely and appropriately use social networking sights, and this project presents the perfect opportunity for such a lesson!

Reflection on Evan Schwab's Presentation about Video Games

During the 11th week of the semester, Evan Schwab spoke in Dr. Kist's class about incorporating video games in the classrooms. As someone who enjoys video games, I found this presentation very interesting.

Growing up, I loved playing sports video games. I remember that one of my favorites for the Playstation One system was Tiger Woods '98. What I loved about that game was how "realistic" it was, as what looked like poster cut-outs of famous golfers were superimposed onto a screen. At that time, this technology was cutting-edge. Playing the game was not just entertaining for me; it was informative. As I was learning how to golf properly, playing Tiger's video game was probably one of the most pivotal forms of lessons I could have received. As I watched professional golfers swing over 60 times when my dad and I would play a match, I learned the mechanics of the golf stroke: feet spread apart, placing the ball in the center of the stance, and twisting at the trunk for a smooth swing and release. I also learned how to select clubs based upon the lie of the ball (whether it's in the rough or the fairway) and how to read the slopes of a putting surface. I didn't notice it until afterwards, of course, but by playing Tiger Woods '98, I was actually learning the game of golf through modeling.

Video games have received an unfairly poor rep, in my opinion. Although many people think that gamers lack social skills and are mindless and lazy, I feel that my aforementioned experience is a testimony to the type of learning that can be achieved through gaming. Now, with the development of the Wii and the upcoming release of Playstation Move, gamers can practice the motions of bowling, yoga, throwing a frisbee, shooting a basketball, or even shooting archery. Eventually, students would be able to practice the basic motions of any sport without having to go out in the rain.

Although you cannot find much use for Wii Bowling in the English classroom, there are still some redeeming qualities of gaming for a Language Arts teacher. As video games' technologies are advancing, so are their story lines. As Evan mentioned, the new title Dante's Inferno includes a feature on which gamers can access the entire text of the classic epic poem by Dante. Additionally, video games like Playstation 3's Heavy Rain are proving that first-person video games are becoming user-controllable films, as the visual representation is almost indistinguishable from real life, and the story lines are sophisticated and complex.

So what does that mean? As video games become more like films, they are beginning to incorporate richer texts. As this continues, the themes presented in the story lines of video games are becoming more compatible with texts. How can an English teacher use a video game in the classroom, though? When comparing themes of a text to a video game, an educator could videotape a relevant sequence of a video game and re-play it for a class. In terms of assessment, students could create movie projects much like the television series which was created to the screenplay of Halo.

Back in the day, I remember playing Math Rabbit in my 1st Grade computer class. Who says that as educators, we can't use video games to leave the same lasting impression on our high schoolers? Truly, with the current technological advancements, our opportunities to do so are endless.