This week in Miller’s Multimodal Composing in Classrooms, they set out to debunk myths that are common in the talked about field.  My favorite myth, myth number 2: All students are “digital natives,” and teachers as “digital immigrants” are strangers who live by very different “mindsets,” made myself reflect on my own experience in this class over the semester.  While I do believe that being a “digital native” does have something to do with the time period in which that person is born. I personally believe however that a person’s socioeconomic background and location in which they call home has more of an effect.   Using myself as an example, I was born in the correct time frame to be labeled as a digital native, but I know many people that are much older and more computer savvy than myself.  Many of these older people that I know grew up in heavy populated cities such as Pittsburgh and Cleveland.  I believe that since these people live in cities where technology is forced upon them every day, that they eventually adapt so well with its use, that it  becomes second nature to them just as easily as a young person who choices to surf on the internet daily. 

Something that I agreed with very strongly in Sara Kajder’s Adolescents and Digital Literacies, is that when an educator is seeking help with using a digital tool in the classroom, they should never be afraid to learn from their students.  Technology is only technology if the object in question was not around when the person was born.  In this regard, our students will be much more knowledgeable with digital tools then we will ever because they do not have to learn to use them since to them, it will be second nature. We must remember that we will continue to learn until the day that we die.  It would behoove us to not fight this fact, but to embrace it so that the classroom can work as a single functioning unit to achieve the level of success desired.           

Some educators see drama as a waste of time since students often do not take anything away from the experience except remembering that they had a good time.  When used correctly however drama in the classroom has many beneficial side effects.  It develops and improves reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills.  Students have to learn to scan texts for details that will lead to a greater understanding of the character or situation that they are reading about. Drama aids students in the ability to think both decisively and analytically about subjects.  They learn to read texts through not only their own, but from another’s perspective. Drama strengthens student’s abilities to follow directions, think individually, and learns about the strengths in groups.  Acting is seldom done alone, and often requires a small group to do.  When students are in groups they learn to not only to follow, but to lead.  Students do this by pulling together everyone’s thoughts and ideas to take full advantage of their numbers.  Drama gives students the chance to learn about other religions, cultures, and societies.  When students decide to act out somebody, they are becoming somebody else.  This person may be a different gender, religion, race, or have a different socioeconomic standing than the student.  The student by becoming someone other than themselves has a chance to have a different perspective on the world. Finally it helps students to develop creativity skills.  By doing this, students help to enrich their own lives as well as everyone around them.    

Upon reading the assigned reading The Unfolding Drama, I found myself agreeing with much of what the author was describing.  From my own high school experience I remember Drama in the English classroom as simply being fun; and most often being used as filler.  My classmates and I would never really put much though into the interpreting part of the assignment but all the efforts into how we were going to entertain our peers with movements, props, and tone.  Then after that it was time to decide who would draw the short straw and be forced to go to the front of the room and act it out.   From the reading I do believe that Drama does have a place in the in an ELC, but educators much be careful on how they plan on using it.  Using drama in the classroom to analysis characters in a novel, which is suggested by the author, is an excellent idea.  There is no greater way to truly understand a characters motives, fears, desires, and to interpret their actions than by becoming that character for a short time.  As the author suggests also I believe that drama should never solely be used by itself, but to enhance the subject material being used to obtain a better understand to truly learn the things being talked about.          

After last week’s class about graphic novels, I found myself wanting to one day incorporate them into to my future classroom.  While it was said in class that there is not much information out there on graphic novels for the classroom; after searching a little bit I was able to find a website called The Graphic Classroom.  The website contains a very large list on Graphic novels broken up into age appropriate categories.  Not only is there a list, but you can click on the novels in the list and receive information on the text such as the number of pages, genre, plot overview, and comments on the novels.  There is also links to over websites which lead to sites about using graphic novels in the classroom.  I think that you should really check out this website if graphic novels at any level seem beneficial to you.     

From this week’s assigned reading I gathered a few things that seem to be a trend for students of the 21^st century.  In Elizabeth Edmondson’s Wiki Literature Circles, I read that students tend to be group oriented.  “When you are part of a group, you tend to not want to let your group down,” the author says.  From personal experience I know that there is strength in being part of a group in the classroom.  When faced with tasks you are unfamiliar with or not up to par with, a person who is proficient at the task is able to take the leadership role for that day.   You also have multiple minds thinking about the same topic, batting ideas back and forth.  Edmondson also suggests that students prefer fast pace game based learning with frequent rewards.  This could be because like Jennifer Dail says in her article The Hunger Games and little Brother Come to life on Voice Thread, that teens are immersed in reality games shows which are in essence a game.  Graphic as we have learned the entire semester are important to students who have grown up in a visual world; where a picture is worth a thousand words.  Something that I found extremely fascinating though in William J. Broz’s, The Green Knight Should Be Green: Graphic Response to Literature is that the visual elements do not always have to be just on paper.  The story about the student bringing in a tanned deer skin depicting the character True Son’s village from Conrad Richter’s The Light in the Forest is a perfect example of this.    

This week’s readings were about the Graphic novel.  While I have friends who have increasingly added Graphic novels to their must read list, I have only read one graphic novel which is mentioned in the text, titled Maus.  In my personal experience, while a graphic novel has pictures like a child’s story, the plot, images, motifs, and symbols are far from an elementary rating.  I believe that the graphic novel with become a contestant thing seen in the classroom because of its popularity.  All too often I see teachers trying to force things on students that have no relevance to the student’s life.  Students who have grown up in the visual age that they have need the graphic novel.  Why should we as future educators fight this?  One of our goals as English educators should be to encourage our students to read more.  The graphic novel is a positive thing, it helps students who have trouble reading to visualize the story that they are reading, and it helps readers who already love to read to expand their horizon by opening them up to new forms of writing.  I personally believe that a teacher should engage as many senses of their students in the classroom as possible and graphic novels help to do that.  

In regards to the film project that we did in Non Print media on Monday, I really did see value in it.  Not only is there a creation and creativity aspect which is essential in a language arts setting, but there are things that students must pay close attention too when they are creating their film.  The story board part of the project was extremely necessary for the successful completion of the project.  A teacher can even simply have their students story board a story and not have them video it, but the actual video portion of the project is the icing on the cake if you will.  If I was ever going to implement this project into my own lesson plans however, there are some things that I would change or have concerns of.  The first is that I would be reluctant to turn my students loose in the school and allow them to run through the school unaccompanied, at least during actual school hours.  In my own high school which was very small; allowing students to try to find filming locations would have been extremely difficult since much of the building was in consent use. The year after I graduated the school actually turned one of the gyms into several classrooms by putting up moveable walls to separate the classes.  As you can imagine the walls were not very sound proof so classes would often be disrupted by each other.  Because of this experience of mine, I would lean towards having this as a take home project, and simply give them a large deadline.  If I was to give the student’s time to film in class however, I would make it mandatory to bring in props for the videos.  Much of our time was spent looking for suitable props to use in our own video.  That is how I would make their time in class as productive as possible.          

A second assigned short story that I wish to talk about is The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie.  While there is an actual collection of short stories which make up the entire body, we were only asked to read one.  This particular story is a about a young Native American who talks about the everyday racism he deals with because of his dark skin and long hair.  The young man talks about a particular night where he went to a 7/11 on a hot summer night to get a creamsicle. He describes the way the clerk stereotypes him because of his race.  The young man goes on to talk about issues that he has dealt with in his life such as alcoholism, a broken relationship, and the job he currently holds. The youth also takes about dreams he has; as well as restlessness that he has been experiencing his entire life.  The story ends with the young man asking about what he thinks his future will entail.      

For this week’s blog I would like to summarize one of the assigned short stories. The story is The Yellow Wallpaper, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.  This will not be an in-depth literary analysis, but a short plot overview.  The story begins with a narrator who is never named.  She is taken by her husband John to a house in the country where she may recover from an illness which is plaguing her.  Her treatment for this mysterious sickness is to rest.  She is encouraged neither to work nor write; which she does in secret in a journal, which she hides from her husband.  While the narrator feels that physical and mental simulation would in fact help her condition, her husband thinks otherwise.  She is confined to a room where she begins to do nothing but stare at the yellow wall paper which covers the room. From the lack of human contact, she begins to give the wallpaper more and more human qualities, until finally has a mental breakdown. The story ends with the narrator ripping the wall paper from the walls in a desperate attempt to free herself.  While there are several symbols in the story, the main one is the yellow wallpaper.  At first the wallpaper is nothing but wallpaper.  As the story progresses however, the wallpaper becomes a physical manifestation of her confinement, a prison if you will.  Not only physically where she is forced in to isolation by her husband, but mentally as well in the social convention of marriage, where a women’s husband had complete control over her.      

I was amazed at the number of podcasts and topics that there were while we were researching them.  I was very surprised since it seems that I have been using the internet my entire life and had never heard of or heard a podcast before.  I found podcasts on Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter.  After I was done checking out all the nerdy stuff that interests me, I began to look at other podcasts that could be used in an educational setting, and not just purely for entertainment.  I found a really good webs site that was labeled 10 Educational History Podcasts to subscribe and listen to.  I’m a really big history buff.  If I would not have proceeded to becoming an English major I would have become a History major.  I started going through a few of them and I found the podcasts very entertaining and I actually learned a few things that I had never known before about the Roman Empire, Alexander the Great, and the Crusades.  I was trying to think how these history podcasts could be useful in an English classroom setting and I think I found one.  Whenever you’re about to begin a new set of works in your classroom which were written during the same time period, they could be used to allow your students to get a cultural understanding of what was going on at the time.  While I did not find any, I’m sure there are podcasts out there about Victorian England, the Industrial revolution, Civil war, Civil rights movements, etc.  I think this would be much better than having your students read the dry introduction at the beginning of the books which many a time I have found myself forced to do so.         

This week’s readings were dedicated to the use of video production in the classroom.  While I have never experienced firsthand making a video production for an assignment it class, I have had a second hand experience.  Last year my brother and his friends took on the task of producing a final scene in of Macbeth by incorporating the theme of Star Wars into it.  To do this they cast Macbeth as a Sith lord and Macduff, Young Siward, and Ross as Jedi knights.  I remembered watching in amusement because I’m a huge fan of both Shakespeare’s Macbeth and George Lucas’s Star Wars and had never dreamed that something like this could be done.  I watched as they planned out screen combat moves, introduced props, backgrounds, and music.  Afterwards they discussed characters tones, facial expressions, wardrobe, and camera angles.  At the time I had thought that it was just a fun project that really little thought had gone into.  They had made most of the dictions on the fly and seemed to be having a really good time with it.  Now that were learning about video productions I’m starting to learn just how wrong I was.  So many little things can change how a film in received by an audience.  There was a reason that they made the character Macbeth wear black, just like there were reasons for a hundred other little things they did the way they did.  I’m really looking forward to one day having my own classroom and seeing just what can all be done with video production in the classroom.         

For this week’s assigned readings we were asked to read about podcast and their use in the classroom.  One way which podcast are being introduced into the classroom is through the use of audio book reporting.  This seems to be a fresh approach on an assignment which is probably as old as the field of English itself.  Not only does allowing students to use podcast to do book reports is engaging for the students because they are using a form of technology; but it also adds audio learning to  the classroom.  Allowing students to use podcast also allows students to practice much needed public speaking skills which will be important for students in the work place to possess. Students when producing a podcast must look at things such as tone, speaking clearly, and be concerned about not boring their audience by keeping them intrigued.  The only drawback that I can see is that students will not be practicing their writing skills, so such skill like spelling and punctuation may become rusty from non use.  

With the free time that we had in class I looked at Kathy Schrock's Kaffeeklatsch blog which is dedicated to using technology in the classroom.  There is alot of posts and alot of info which is a bit overwelming at first.  The things that I found that she talked about most were apple products and twitter, which is great if you use apple products and twitter but if you do not then your surfing through alot of info that that you can not use.  She does have info on new technology and customer reviews which are coming out which can be used in the classroom.  For example there is a new video camera coming out in the near future which has special comand buttons in mind for students doing projects.  Finally she does have personal things on her blog which allow you to relate to her as a person; such as photos and short three to four sentence long remarks on other persons blog and tech. 

In class several times Dr. Oldakowski mentioned a project where students had to make Facebook status updates for a major character in a book that they were reading to aid in classroom discussions.  I thought about taking the idea one step farther.  Perhaps for a project in an English classroom setting students could design a Facebook page with not only status up dates that the character would likely post if they kept a Facebook as the plot proceeds throughout the story.  They could add things such as placing their selected character from their favorite book we read in class into a relationship with another character from another work that we read explaining why they did so.  I think this would be an engaging way for students to do in-depth character analysis to obtain a deeper understanding of the books we read.  They could also make a friends list for that character, using characters from the book that the character is from as well as other books we have read.  They could design a profile picture; say where they live, their age, favorite music, movies, where they work, events, who they would poke, etc.  What do you guys think? 

From this week’s readings I was able to gather that not only do blogs have a place in the classroom, they are revolutionizing it.  Blogs in the classroom allow shy, meek students to voice their opinion on matters without having to physically do so which at times can be intimidating.  It also gives a time cushion for students to gather their thoughts and consolidate them so that they no longer have as great a fear of being embarrassed in front of their peers.  Blogs also allow students to express their creative side because when designing their blogs they can choice things such as their blogs titles, layouts, colors, designs, links, pictures, etc.  While at first I thought that at times having underage high school students blogging on the internet could be harmful to their safety. After all any computer with an internet connection could access, read, and comment “perhaps cruelly” to a student’s writing; which would have the opposite effect that a teacher is seeking when they are trying to build up a student’s confidence as a writer.  I thought it was fascinating that there was a device out there called the Intranet, which is just like the internet, but can be cut off from the outside digital world.  This is a perfect device to still allow your students to enjoy and learn to use blogs while keeping your students safe from cyber bullies and cyber predators.

In a private setting blogs are good because they get students use to a regular writing schedule.  A student keeping a personal blog over the summer would allow students to keep their writing skills sharp when many students’s writing skills begin to digress from the long absence of not using them. While the context of a personal blog is not always academic, the fact that students are often writing to their friends are in fact learning a literary practice because they are practicing writing for a specific audience.     

In the assigned reading, we are told many stories about how educators are adapting lesson plans and teaching strategies to enhance their student’s learning by incorporating digital Medias and tools into the educational realm. In some regard this is great.  When teachers introduce new digital tools into the classroom not only does it make the class more engaging for the students, but it often allows students to use more senses which attributes to students retaining and learning information easier.  Some tools such as Flickr, iMovie, and Wordle seem to have great success in the classroom from what I have gathered in Miller’s book Multimodal Composing in Classrooms.  I do believe that if you are not carful however, that students could become too dependent on these tools.  In this week’s assigned reading, an educator by the name of Carol is talked about.  Carol is a very open teacher when it comes to using digital tools in the classroom and assesses her students by using digital tools to do so.  All her students are doing quite well until she tries to use traditional quizzes to measures her students progress.  Here the students struggle and average much lower in scores than previously in the year.  This story reminds me of a similar experience I had back in my senior year of high school.  We were told to write a research paper by only using source that were books from the school and local library.  While both were sufficiently stocked with material, my classmates and I spent most of our time finding our sources because just about nobody knew how to use a library index.   This is understandable of course because research topics are much easier when doing so on the web.  While digital tools do make our lives easier and should be used, it is also important to never forget how to use older forms in case we ever need to fall back on them.                 

This week in Miller and McVee’s Multimodal Composing in Classrooms, a particular quote that caught my eye was “The biggest challenge, I think, is going to be getting over our fear of relinquishing our personal control in the classroom as teachers.  We are used to being the authoritarians and the leaders, the ones with the answers.”  I believe this statement to be very true.  Teachers, in my option and experience, who do not have control of their classrooms are breeding grounds for anarchy.  This is especially true for educators who are trying to introduce new forms of digital technology into their classroom.  As students we have all had those times in the classroom when our teacher could not find the control button for the volume.  Because of this, you either have the movie, clip, etc threatening to blow the speakers out of the wall, or you have half the class trying to tell the teacher how to access the controls at the same time.  Either way you have a disrupted classroom that is running wild.  Miller says to combat this that it is wise for educators to practice the use of the digital tools that the educator is going to use, and I cannot agree with him more.  When I am preparing to give a presentation on a particular subject I check, double check, and triple check my work and software that I will be using.  Having technical difficulties in front of an audience is not only embarrassing, but it is also downright unprofessional.  According to Miller, 53 % percent of educators do not use digital devices in the classroom.  While some of these teachers I’m sure are old and are stuck in their ways and there is nothing you can say to persuade them otherwise.  I am sure however, that large parts of the 53% mentioned above are afraid of my scenario mentioned earlier happing though.  I think as time goes by however more and more seminaries, conventions, and classes will open up to help educate educators, and given them the opportunity to practice their computer skills until they become confidante enough to incorporate them into their classroom.  In a way, educators are on the frontier of the educational world when it comes to using digital tools in the classroom.  Like the pioneers of old, we will have to overcome one obstacle at a time until we reach our final destination.                

I was thinking about my last blog and how I could in the future if I ever get to be in the position of teaching a classroom of my very own students, how I could motivate them in a subject which some find unbearable. I am brought back to my second grade teacher who everyday would give three raffle tickets to each of us.  At the end of the day whatever tickets we had left (we could lose them if we were bad). We would write our names on the back and place them into a giant jar.  At the end of each day, she would draw three tickets from the jar.  The “chosen” would then walk to the front of the room and reach their hand into the mystery box and take out a prize.  There was always spectacular prizes, fancy pens which lit up, pencils that changed colors when you touched them, candy, and so much more.  She would then discards the tickets at the end of the week and the cycle would begin again.  Well, it did not take a rocket scientist for us to figure out that the more tickets we had in the jar, the better shot we had at having our names drawn. 

            Now how can I use this same concept for 16, 17, and 18 year old teenagers?  I really don’t think taking away their tickets for texting in class would get me very far.  I could however, motivate my students academically by awarding “tokens, tickets are for little kids” to students who for instance perform well on weekly pop quizzes.  These tickets if saved up could be redeemed for things such as a “get out of home work free card,” or “one day late pass for a major assignment pass.”  But you know there will always be that person who is the perfect student, turns everything in on time, and finishes the class with 107 %.  So that’s why at the end of the year I could have a Chinese auction for themed baskets.  I can have things such as a movie basket with movie theater candy, pop corn, and the latest blockbuster hit.  Another example could be an iPod basket that contains a new iPod and 25 dollars worth of songs.  An outdoors basket with flashlight, ham radio, water proof matches, and delicious freeze dried breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert is another example.  The list goes on games, sports, sport teams, Disney, coffee, tea, music, books, gourmet foods, exercise, etc.  The sky is the limit.  You are only limited to your imagination.          

So while I was reading chapter two of William Kist’s book The Socially Networked Classroom, a particular passage caught my eye. 

“I ran in to one of my former students recently who wandered if I still had a copy of the video adaptation they had done-an urban street video version of “The knight’s Tale” from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales… I challenge any British literature teacher to name a project that would have the students still talking about Chaucer 10 years later.” (pg22)

This got me to thinking.  In high school I knew all kinds of kids that while reading works such as Chaucer, Milton, Swift, and Shakespeare were bored out of their minds.  While I unlike others in my class knew that I wanted to farther my education in English; none the less, other did not.  Not only did many of them who had various employment opportunities lined up for right after graduation wonder “why do I need to learn this,” but “what the hell is this guy saying”.   Unlike my peers I enjoyed reading, interpreting, and analyzing works of great authors.  I could never get enough.  Despite my teachers best efforts she could never get certain students involved, especially into Shakespeare’s plays. 

I am a huge fan of Shakespeare, not only for his beautiful poetic verses, but also for his stories and plots.  Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Macbeth, all have the classic elements of a great story; love, betrayal, murder, suspense; all the ingredients for a spectacular story. To introduce Shakespeare and his many plays to my future students I would like propose breaking my students up into groups and have them make videos of modern day translations of the acts; and then combined each groups to create the full play.

 I believe this way of learning a Shakespearean play would be a very engaging activity.  If students learned what Shakespeare’s plays were really about then I believe it would create a student that would be more eager to spend the time to learn and read Shakespeare’s and other works in the Elizabethan language. Not only would the students find the experience stimulating to be watching their peers and judging who developed the most compelling scene.  The students would be analyzing and interpreting their scene for themselves; and would be witnessing Shakespeare’s play how they truly are supposed to be.  Shakespeare’s works were never meant to be read like they are in so many classrooms across the United States, they were meant to be preformed.