The professor and the madman!

It is very interesting to read how a dictionary is made. It has to be very hard to decide which words to even use! I found it very interesting when Murray went to visit Minor and found that he was an insane murderer. I keep getting the message that though someone is a murderer or homeless or anything less than a scholar, they are still capable of producing effective writing. I am not sure if this is the point that is supposed to come across.

I also think that this book relates greatly to our assignment on making a dictionary of slang! After reading this story, I am actually looking forward to making the dictionary! I remember Dr. Kist saying to write down the words that we hear being used as slang nover the next few weeks. This makes the assignment even more closely related to this book. Allowing others to contribute to our assignment will help to get the perspective of so many people!

Hungry Minds

I know that the point of this article is to get us thinking about how writing can effect the lives of all people, even the homeless, but I found myself sympathizing with the fact that these people are homeless and cannot eat when they want to. In the beginning of the article when it talks about the men who go through the line three or four times, I felt myself wanting to help these people find ways to take care of themselves, not to want to write.

I did, however, enjoy the part when the author named some of the people who have participated in the writing workshop, and what they wrote about. It is interesting to see the points of view of people who are in these types of situations. I think that having someone who has had success with one of these workshops would be a great speaker for students! Looking at how going from almost nothing to having great success would be a good motivator for students.

Koch--Chapter 1

There was a time in high school when I really thought that I wanted to write a story based on me and all of my friends. I thought it would be such a good story because there was so much going on in all of our lives. We were all dealing with the death of friends, heartbreaking romances, teen pregnancies, fathers running against each other for mayor, betrayals and more. There was so much going on with the people close to us that the story would have to be interesting.
When I think back to the thought of writing a story about all of this, and I actually try to figure out what I would start writing if I sat down to try to accomplish this, I am stumped. This is why I don't think that Koch's idea of sitting down and just writing is a way to get started on a project.

"There is no need to wait for inspiration; no need to find your confidence; no need to know exactly why or what you're writing; no need to read wise and thoughtful books about how to write; no need to know your story; no need to understand your characters; no need to be sure you're on the right track; no need even for your research to be complere" (Koch 4).

To me, this idea is not a good way to start writing. When he continues he says that "everything comes to you in the process of writing." This is true, but I still think that there should be a starting point, or some type of brainstorming in order for the writing to make sense as it happens. I have to picture a story in my head first; the characters, the setting, everything needs to come from an idea for me. I don't think if I just sat down and started to write anything, jibberish, that a product would result. That is more like journal writing to me.

Image Grammar

In Harry Noden's, Image Grammar, I really like how he not only tells the reader what he is trying to expose, but he also gives detailed examples from novels and other types of writing to show the reader exactly what he is talking about. I especially like the quote on page 26: "Verbs can give you action shots. Specific details can supply the stills." The book goes on to say that the more specific details that are used the more the reader will trust the writer.

I was grading the essays from my ten-day unit and I noticed that I commented a lot on specific details being used to describe and explain quotes being used. I found myself understanding exactly what the student was trying to say when the details were specific. Other essays were harder to read and harder to understand. I think using several details in story writing is essential, and it is important to teach our students to do the same. the following site contains information on how using details will help to make writing richer. http://essayinfo.com/essays/narrative_essay.php

Ten day unit

I finished teaching my ten day unit this week! I had a lot of fun teaching this unit on irony. I used the story, "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe. When I started planning for my plan I thought I was going to need a lot of activities to cover the time, but I was surprised to see that I cannot do more than 2 activities per class period. I did three a couple times, and I felt really rushed to get through everything. I am glad I did my unit early because now I have time to relfect on it, and use what I have learned to create plans for January. Luckily, I will teaching Jane Eyre and Romeo and Juliet. I am using a lot of the ideas from my Jane Eyre wiki. I will change them a little to accommodate my students, but I think they will work well.

I also really like my cooperating teacher. I had one day when my lesson was not so strong, and I wanted to die! She let me go through the entire period trying to imporovise. Afterward, she sat with me (laughing), but gave me good feedback on how I could improve on the problems I had that day. It was frustrating, but I am glad I went through it.

Lesson planning and Atwell chapter 8

So far planning the ten day unit has been very time consuming and stressful. I feel like it is hard to find a medium between trying to plan for interesting, fun activities and also making sure that the students are learning the material as well. I am a little nervous doing my unit so early.

Having students talk or write to each other on the books they are reading, recommendations and journal entries is a good way to get them interested in trying new things. When Atwell says "The ways my students write to each other are different from the ways tey write to me -not better, not worse, but different in the same ways their conversations differ from talk with a teacher," it seems to me that students should write this way. But do they all talk to each other in this way? In my experience so far at the high school, I would say that some of the students talk and elaborate more with their friends, and some are the complete opposite. Some of the students don't want their friends to know what they are writing about or reading. One student is reading the Canterbury Tales for fun, and he said he gets embarassed when his friends say things to him. I am not going to lie, The Canterbury Tales is not a fun, or interesting read, in my opinion, but I think it is great that this student reads stories like this. He talks to teachers about the book, and many of them have not read it.

On page 283, Atwell says "There isn't one set of questions for a teacher to ask students in their reading journals." I agree with this. Everyone interprets literature differently, but what do you do if a student just doesn't get it, or is completely wrong? http://www.suite101.com/content/improving-reading-comprehension-a60513
I think this is good information. I think building comprehension skills is really important, so that students don't get left behind during instruction. Supporting their answers with parts of the text really seems to help me. Once you come up with your answer, trying to support it will clarify whether or not your answer is correct.

Myers Article

I could not imagine being a teacher in this time period. Though I know I wouldn't know any different, I will pretend that I would. I feel bad for the students. Having to answer questions from the instructor without being able to ask questions back seems very unfair. Listening to the student's questions is one method of learning about what our students already know and what they want to know.
On page 64, they start to talk about discipline. One teacher says to a student "How can you learn anything with your knees and toes out of order?" I am not sure how movement has anything to do with learning. I understand teaching discipline, but this seems cruel.
On page 66 it says "These diverse districts which were often organized under specific ethnic communities, mandated that their own values be taught, therefore increasing the ethnic tensions among different groups and providing a continuing rationale for the drive to have schools socialize students into a "unified" national culture with a unified national language." I am not sure I understand this, but I think it is saying that one value is to be taught and because of that tension is growing among the other groups in the area. Why would they want to do this? Was there supposed to be a focus on one set of values for different areas, or the U.S. as a whole? Ithink that this idea is better, http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3499.

On page 113 it says "Darrah describes the failure of the team concept of one company where this team concept was announced and mandated, creating the impression that the company did not believe in worker involvement in planning. Afterward the company blamed the workers for the failure of the idea, claiming the workers lacked the necessary skills." I am not sure how this is empowering? I think I would be skepical too.

Student teaching

So far my observations are going really well. I love my cooperating teacher, she is very patient and she is allowing me to pretty much design my own lessons. I feel very fortunate to be teaching Jane Eyre in the spring since that is the novel I did my wiki on last semester! I am a little nervous about teaching this novel to 9th graders. I feel that it will be challenging for them and for me. I will also be teaching Romeo and Juliet in the spring, so I am excited to do that as well.
I have met a lot of the teachers at the high school, and all of them have been great! I sat in on one teacher's class (which was not my cooperating teacher's class) and watched. My cooperating teacher thought it would be a good idea to see some of the behavior disorder students. After sitting in her classroom for one period (50 minutes) I found I was very stressed out and frustrated. I immediately realized that I would probably have handled the situation differently, but then after thinking about it, I am no sure it would have mattered how I handled it, they would not listen to me anyhow.
I have listened to some of the other teacher's ideas and lesson plans, and I think that this high school is lucky to have so many good teachers. They all care and want to help the students.
I found this site interesting and helpful for small tips while student teaching. I think that it may change every so often, so the writing you see may differ a little from what I read tonight:
http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Tips/Student_Teaching/

Atwell-chapter 4

In chapter 4 of Atwell's book there is a section on "keeping track" of students work. I feel that this is really important because after ten months of work, and the hundreds of kids I will encounter in that ten months, organization will be required. Not only do I have to be organized, but I need to make sure my students are staying organized as well. I like how she talks about the different color folders that are used for different parts of the class. I remember being in middle school and trying to use a couple folders for 7 classes. I was always unorganized! My teachers never offered to help get me organized, I guess that is mine and my parents responsibility before his/hers. I think the fact that this teacher cares enough to actually buy her students folders for them shows a real concern for organization. I really want to do this with my students! http://www.teachervision.fen.com/classroom-management/resource/5803.html
This link has a lot of ideas on organizing the classroom!!

The next part of this chapter I was intrigued by was "establishing expectations." I completely agree when she says, "I need to teach my students what I expect -often again and again, through the fall, until they get inside their new roles and responsibilities." I think that even after modeling expectations, students should be reminded of expectations. I often wonder how I handled so many classes at one time, since I find it hard to manage 4 now. I can see how students will become overwhelmed and may need reminders of what is expected of them.

The last part I want to mention is on page 115. Nancie is talking about rules for workshop and she says: "Writing and reading can vary, and writers and readers can grow, when the teacher creates a reliable environment and pushes kids to use it." I think this is a great attitude toward teaching writing! Students will need direction and motivation in order to take full advantage of the classroom. This is an interesting article on how we, as teachers, can motivate our students. http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/motiv.htm

Atwell Chapter 1

I really liked the statement on page 4 when Atwell said, "I paved the way...through uncovering and questioning by assumptions, through observing my kids and myself in action and trying to make sense of my observations, through dumb mistakes, uncertain experiments, and, underneath it all, a desire to my best by students and a willingness to acknowledge that my definition of best will be -should be -ever changing." Starting the chapter by saying this made me feel like no matter how long I work as a teacher, or how many times I try to perfect my craft at teaching students how to write, I should always be making changes and learning from each and every experience.

Atwell talks a lot about opening up the options for students in order to give them a variety of choices as writers. I agree with doing this. I feel if they are writing about a topic they themselves choose, the words will have more meaning, and they will be part of who the person is. When we assign topics to writers, and they have no interest in the topic, we stifle their creativity and their willingness to put forth the most effort.

I really liked how Atwell displayed her rules as she changed her orthodoxies throughout the chapter. On page 17 she gives rules which were tweeked from the rules she previously used. Then again on page 18, she reconstructs these rules, and bases them off of the question, "Am I doing it right?" This is a question I feel I will have as a student teacher especially, but also throughout my career!! I also love the questions she puts on page 22. It is helpful to read what other experienced teachers are thinking when he/she begins the school year.

Reflection on Multi Modal

After taking this course I feel I have learned a lot about using multiple modalities in the classroom. I really loved the idea of the multigenre autobiography and may use it in my own classroom. I felt it was a great way to introduce us to how many different media have affected us throughout our lives. I also feel that I have learned a lot about using film in the classroom. Before this class I didn't feel like all of these things, film, video games, music and hobbies could be used to engage students.
I am nervous about creating lesson plans for my students that are interesting and teach the objective at the same time. Sometimes I don't feel like I am really creative, but this course has given me more ideas when it comes to planning. I still feel like I will struggle a little coming up with new and interesting plans to engage my students, but I am more confident now that I realize there are multiple options.
I know that this class was not always in the course plans for obtaining a teaching degree from Kent State and I think it is definitely a tremendously helpful course.

Using video games in the classroom

I didn't get around to posting after we had the speaker on video games. It is hard for me to grasp using video games in the classroom since I have never been a big fan of them, but I can definitely see how using them would be fun for the students. I absolutely agree with incorporating their interests and hobbies into the classroom to make it more enjoyable and relatable. I am not sure how I would do this though. I think this will be my biggest challenge.

Reflection on Teaching Lit

This class was very helpful to me. I am nervous about creating lesson plans that are going to be interesting for my students and I feel like everything I have learned in this class will help me to put together more meaningful plans. All of the handouts that we were given are so helpful and I plan on keeping everything for futher reference.
I really felt like Mrs. Pytash was a great teacher and I am so happy that I got to have more than one course with her. After this class I feel more confident taking on student teaching.

Presentation on Autism

The presentation from Michele Cahoon was very interesting. I know that I will be interacting and teaching students with Autism, so to get a deeper look at what that means was very helpful in preparing me for what is to come in my teaching career. After listening to Michele talk about the different types of Autism, the different ways that each student with Autism learns, IEP's, 504's, and how students with Autism need to be told what to do and what not to do in the classroom I felt overwhelmed. At first I thought, wow this is going to be hard. But then I realized that there are going to be so many of my students on IEP's and some will have behavior problems, some will have emotional problems and so on. I need to stop looking at these students as challenging and start looking at all of my students as challenging. Every child learns in a different way and I am not only going to have to try to accommodate students with Autism and behavior issues, I will be working with students who will all need some kind of accommodation with their learning.
I am going to volunteer this summer at Rotary Camp because I feel that the experience I will gain from interacting with children with Autism will help me to better understand what is helpful and what is detrimental when teaching students with Autism.

Chapter 7 of Jago

The first line I underlined in this chapter was, "Assessing students' progress toward these standards makes sense. Unfortunately, too often exit exams punish students for the failings of their schools" (page 148). I agree. When I was in school I did not write analysis papers. I could crank out a research paper with no sweat, but if I had been asked to analyze a character and relate it to my own life or experiences I would have been lost. I would have felt like the students Jago had who were always asking why they were reading about old men. I feel that if we want students to graduate having learned these benchmarks we have to pay attention to what works. This goes back to the Gallagher article and how he allowed students to keep improving. Finding out what students' weaknesses are and building from there is a good way to find out how best to help each student.
The second line I underlined was, "As students grapple with the decisions characters make they explore their own values" (page 150). Again, I agree. Having students relate a character or entire novel to their own lives is a great way to get them to understand it better. It may not relate entirely, but there is some aspect to every novel that can be related to the reader personally. If the student has never been in a similar situation, doesn't know anyone who has, hasnt't watched a movie or television show where the characters can relate, etc. the student should be able to put themselves in the shoes of the characters in the novel and recite how they would react. Why? How? What elements in the novel would change?
This goes along with the last line I underlined, which was, "Students will graduate abel to read and understand the best that literature has to offer. They will be exposed to ideas and values outside thrie realm of experience" (page 160). This is a great goal to live up to as a teacher.

Naruto vs. American Born Chinese

I have only read one graphic novel and that was Beowulf. I am not a fan of graphic novels, but I did like American Born Chinese. When I first caught on to the way it was written (all the stories continuing one at a time), I thought it was going to stay that way and have three different endings. I really liked how the ending brought all the stories together and explained them. I really did not see that coming! I think the book can teach valuable lessons about how youth are treated in general. Everyone is different and no one should be punsihed for their differences.
As for Naruto, I wasn't a huge fan. I actually hated how it had to be read backwards. In the beginning I caught myself so many times immediately reading from left to right. The story was not as interesting to me either. It is inspiring to read about a mischievous child who ends up being great, but I think there are other books that can send that message.
I definitely liked the panels in American Born Chinese better as well. The crisp look of the pages made it easier to read. I never found myself stalling to find out if I was going in the right order. In Naruto, the black and white scenery did not spark much interest. I felt like the scenery was all over the place. I preferred the smaller panels in American Born Chinese. I think there was a lot more action in Naruto, which may have been the cause for the confusion when it came to the panels. There was too much going on and with no color it was not as easy to interpret and was not as engaging.
Both novels were filled with a variety of shots, long, meduim and close up. The characters in both novels were likable, but I still feel that the characters in American Born Chinese were more realistic. Again that could be the neatness of the illustrations and the fact that they are in color.
All in all I would definitely recommend American Born Chinese to students. I would recommend Naruto, but I would probably tell students that both are good, but in my opinion American Born Chinese flows easier.

Jago chapter 4

I like how the author explains the different elements of a story. I actually have never heard of the tone. That is probably wierd. When I read about the tone of a story I thought of The Great Gatsby and what the tone of the story is. With the examples given, ironic, nervous, excited, calm, detached, suspicious or wary. I came to the conclusion that I think the tone of the Great Gatsby is suspicious and ironic. Suspicious because the narrator, Nick, seems suspicious of everyone he talks about especially Gatsby. He pays great attention to the detail of all the characters. Ironic because you would think the rich man with the beautiful shirts would win the love of the spoiled and greedy woman. Also, you would not think that the rich man would be killed by the poor man. There are more example that could be given or debated. I like the part on literary devices and how important they are to a story or poem. On page 67 Jago says, "What students don't understand is that understanding how literary devices work gives readers power over text. The more clearly students understand how a writer works his magic in a line of poetry or prose, the better able they will be to analyze that line." The background is important, but students need to be able to relate the piece to their lives or at least to situations around them to understand what the writer is talking about.

Jago chapter 5

Poetry is one of the hardest genres for me. When I was in high school I read a book about living in a Utopian society (I cant remember what it was called) and that was it. Needless to say the curricullum at my school was not very hard or challenging and when I got to college I understood nothing! When I read Wordsworth, Chaucer or Coleridge I had no clue what to make of the literature. I completely understand students wanting to give up and blame the poem for being too hard as the reason they don't understand it. Poems can be hard to understand! It is hard for students to understand authors like William Wordsworth becuase they do not understand the language. But, like Jago says, students spend hours a day listening to song lyrics that express the writer's feelings just like Wordsworth did with his poetry. If you don't understand the vocabulary the poem does not mean much. I like the idea on page 76 about the students coming up with their own vocabulary words to work on. I also agree with the statement on page 77 that "young readers don't have a place to store this information ((background of the poem) until they have made some sense of the text for themselves." Until students can relate the literature to their own lives they are unable to make a connection. I feel this is a huge part of making poetry work in the classroom.

Jago Chapter 2

In the beginning of the chapter Jago talks about how vocabulary is one of the biggest challenges litereature poses on students. I completely agree! I remember the first time I read Chaucer and I think had I had a good teacher it may have been easier to understand, but I had a very hard time learning some of the classic literature. I agree with the statement that children who read more will have bigger vocabularies, but many of the students are not into the classic literature. For example, poetry by William Wordsworth is not something that a student would pick up and read if it weren't assigned to them. Therefore, I think it is true that reading broadens vocabulary, but it does not make it easier for students to understand all vocabulary. A lot of the old english is very hard to understand. Most students are interested to Shakespeare, but it is not until college that many of the old classics are introduced. At least that is how it was in my high school.

I heart novels

This is crazy to me! The fact that people can write their thoughts on their phone and have it turn into a best seller is amazing. I can't imagine how they have time to type everything in that way it seems to me like it would take forever. I may be missing something, but it just seems nuts, but at the same time really cool. The cell phone novel:
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/news/2005/03/66950 .
It is really cool how the site carries more than a million copies. I really wonder how long it takes someone to read the whole novel this way. It is also cool that the person who invented the site is the one who in the end has a deep effect on other's who have novels on the site (i.e. Kiki).

Film Festival--Racing Dreams

I went to the film festival and saw the movie, Racing Dreams. It was about three kids that dream of being a race car driver. Two boys and one girl compete to be the national champion of their age group. The movie was really good and kept my attention the whole time. It was actually really funny and had some sad moments as well. I thought watching a documentary would be a little wierd or boring, but it was very interesting. Each kid had their own story within the movie that was followed and I particlularly felt for the boy whose father and mother were not around much for him so he was raised by his grandparents. One of the kids, Josh Hobson, was actually at the movie with us and talked to the people in the theater right before the movie started! It was neat to see him and then watch him on the screen. Afterward he stayed and answered questions about the movie. It was obvious that he is still racing and that this film was a few years old because he looked around 14-15 and in the film he was 11. He and the other boy actually won the national championship in their age group.

Jago Ch. 6

This chapter was very long, but very helpful! On page 97, Jago says, "Being a teacher means being a learner." This is very true. I am nervous about teaching literature in an exciting way and this statement rings true when I think about teaching anything. I have to learn the subject inside and out and I have to keep expanding my knowledge on literature in order to teach it effectively. Teaching something like The Odyssey would be hard if the students have never learned about greek mythology. I really like how in this chapter the whole lesson plan is described. I really like the character web and the Cornell Notes form. I think getting the students used to taking notes in a particular way, like using a form such as this, will help them to pay attention to what is important when listening to a lecture. I really liked the list of greek gods as well. It is hard to keep track of who is who and I especially looovve the way she displays the standard beside the character webs and other classroom assignments so that students know that the work they are doing is necessary and like Jago says "standards-aligned."

The Socially Networked Classroom and films

was re-reading the section of the book on films because that is what we are working on right now. I really loved the idea of having students do an urban street video version of a classic like the Canterbury Tales. I think that would be a perfect way to learn what goes into making a film, but also interpreting the story your own way! I agree with the students when in the book it says that they find it hard to watch films casually after paying so much attention to the elements. After watching "To Kill a Mockingbird" and analyzing a scene I find myself doing it with other movies too.

History of Facebook

I wish I was as smart as Mark Zuckerberg! After reading about Zuckerberg and his invention I wonder what his teachers thought of him? I mean, he may very well be smarter than most of his teachers and I wonder how you teach a student who is that smart? Also, college is different than high school in the sense that in high school students are required to go to class, so how do you engage a student, who is so immensely engulfed in one interest or subject, in a subject that is not related?

I'm So Totally, Digitally Close to You.

After reading this article I started to read the comments that people left. One 78-year-old woman, who is a teacher, wrote, "Is this a generation gap? And how will these GenY people feel when their pasts catch up with them during job applications or dating relationships?"
The author of the article replied by saying, "It's an excellent question! Many of these online sites leave persistent digital trails -- pictures and posts that can be Googled later on, by employers, potential mates and the like. What's more, any time you post something publicly online, you're inherently giving up control of that information. It's extremely easy to cut and paste something out of someone's Facebook page, Twitter feed, blog, Flickr account, and put it into a different blog or Web site. So even if you decided you were sick of your online life and wanted to delete it, you might discover stray bits of it floating around on other sites -- where curious or admiring observers had cut and pasted it." I wonder the same thing sometimes. Currently I have a Facebook account and I am careful of what I post and pictures I put up because I am going to be a teacher soon, but I wonder what kinds of posts and pics will be considered inappropriate? Should I have a Facebook account when I start teaching? After thinking about this a lot I feel that participating in these social networks is fine, but a lot of caution must be taken. Like stated, people can take pictures anywhere now with cell phones, so not only do the posts and pictures I display need to be monitored, but watching what I am doing and saying outside of my home that can easily be broadcast for the public.

Costanzo and class activities

In the Costanzo text it says "The earliest cameras were fixed, but today the camera moves." Since cameras are no longer fixed there are many different types of shots a cameraman can capture. Knowing about these types of shots, a tilt, pan, crane shot or zoom shot, creating a storyboard before filming helps the cameraman to decide what types of shots will work best. I think the activities we did today involving making up our own storyboards were really helpful in showing us that much thought goes into how a film is shot. Making the right choice when it comes to shooting is important to getting the point across that the director and writer wish to make. Creating these storyboards was also helpful for helping me to remember the events that happened in "Little Brother." After a period of time passes it is hard to remember all of the events in order, so this activity also helps students to not only remember all of the events, but to put them in order. Doing it without speaking is also a good way to get students to work as a team.

I just finished the first 4 chapters in "Great Films" by Costanzo. I never realized how much goes into making a film!! It is true that being able to see the pictures in front of you and to be able to hear the music does help to understand what is going on and what the character is thinking. With a book it is interesting to have the visuals described to you and to have to picture them in your mind as opposed to having the film do everything for you.
In chapter 3, the technology of film, I think it is very hard to remember what all of the bold faced words mean. There are so many details that a filmmaker has to understand. There are so many facets to a movie!! I didn't think that making a movie was simple, but I didn't think it was so complex either. Just for lighting alone there are 11 bold faced words that describe different kinds of lighting. This information definitely causes me to appreciate the work put into a film!

Classics in the Classroom chapter 3

I really liked this chapter! I am actually a little worried about what books I will be able to teach. There are some that I particularly like and that I would like to teach, but I wonder what will happen if the school I am teaching at requires books that I don't feel are challenging enough. I really hope to learn more ways of trying to challenge my students so that they do not finish the novel in 2 days and are bored with the assignments. I think a good way to do this would be to assign multiple assignments and to require many books to fulfill the requirements for the assignments. Using one novel to lead discussion and presentations while using another novel to allow the students to form literature circles. I think as long as the students are constantly engaged and reading books that will challenge and interest them they will be more inclined to put forth the effort it takes to develop a full understanding of the novels. My favorite sentence in the entire chapter was, "How are these young people to develop empathy for other, to know individuals unlike themselves, to walk in someone else's shoes except through literature?"

Classics in the Classroom~Chapter 1

I just finished reading chapter 1 for Teaching Lit and I thought it was a very good chapter. I found myself agreeing with everything that Jago said. For example, "while projects like watching films and painting murals may help engage students in their reading, they must be used sparingly and should always be accompanied by a writing assignment." I agree with this statement. I think that markers and coloring are a great way for students to express their feelings on what they are reading, but if most of what is done in the classroom consists of these projects, then students are not working at Zone of Proximal Development.
I found it sad when Jago said, "researchers found that at integrated schools in middle-class neighborhoods the content of instruction, grade by grade, was for the most part consistent with the content of the test. yet this was not the case in predominately minority and African American or high poverty schools." I feel like lower class students and the teachers that teach them are not supplied with the proper resources and materials needed to make the content of the classroom consistent with the content of the test.
I especially loved Vygotsky's quote, "The only good kind of instruction is that which marches ahead of development and leads it." I feel this is a very insightful quote because we as teachers are going to be looked at as leaders and we will be expected to lead our students through the path of knowledge. Kind of cheesy I know, but it really makes sense to me!

multi genre autobiographies!

I haven't presented my autobiography yet, but I really enjoyed listening to and watching everyone that did present today! I did find myself looking at some of the slides and thinking I felt the same way and have some of the same things in my presentation. There were also a few that made me remember things about my past that I forgot about! It is a really fun project and I definitely think I will use it in my future classroom.

AFter finishing Little Brother

I have finished the book and I loved it! I think it is really cute and it portrays these students as very intelligent though in the beginning I felt we were supposed to get the idea that they were not since they were so into video gaming. I think it goes to show that no student should be underestimated! In fact, video games may help students to become better learners and also better at using technology, http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2004/05/63415
However, I do think that the sexual encounters are definitely risky for younger students. I think that an older high school student could be mature enough to handle it and this book, in my opinion, is definitely better suited for a junior or senior in high school.

Little Brother up to chap. 15

Just from chapter 10 to chapter 15 I have become so much more interested in the book. Marcus begins to date a girl, Ange, and the storyline that follows their relationship is really cute. Even though this girl seems to be really into Marcus I can't help but wonder if there is going to be a twist coming. It wouldn't be too far fetched if the author made her into a spy or something for DHS. I am probably way off, but it seems that something is going to have to happen soon. They are doing all of this "jamming" and interviews with the press and so far it just seems that they are getting away with all of this without being caught. I am anticipating what is coming up!

I also wonder if this is a book that can be read in Middle or High school? It is a good book and I think that students would be interested, but would it be appropriate with the way the author explains Marcus' and Ange's sexual encounters?

Little Brother

So far "Little Brother" has proven that students who play video games are not lazy and they do not posses poor time management skills. The main character in this book is so intelligent when it comes to technology that he outsmarts his teachers and the security systems at his school. He comes up with effective ways to overcome the obstacles that prevent him from mastering this game he loves so much, called, Harajuku Fun Madness. I am only on chapter 7 and so far I find it hard to put this book down. It has been full of action and witty remarks that keep me wanting to read more.
I think that the author of this book is not only making a statement about technology use in our country, but he is also saying that we greatly underestimate the students that know how to use it well.