Multi-Modal Literacies: Film Festival Experience

     I attended the Cleveland International Film Festival over spring break and I really enjoyed it.  Overall, the whole experience was very similar to simply going to see a movie with just a few differences.  First, it was important for me to purchase my tickets online in order to insure that my movie didn't get sold out.  Unlike going to a regular movie where there are multiple showing times, if I were to get shut out of my movie I wouldn't have another chance to see it.  Another difference was in the way the organizers of the even seated movies.  There were special lines for each movie and the theaters usually didn't start seating people until about fifteen minutes before the movie's starting time which is different than what I'm used to in going to see movies.  Also, the organizers of the even passed out voting sheets so that the viewers could rate their favorite movie which I thought was a great way to get feedback.
     Again, I really enjoyed the overall experience.  The film festival gave me the chance to see the type of movie that isn't normally shown in American theaters.  I saw a movie that took place in India and was entirely spoken in Gujarati.  The film was shown with subtitles so that English speakers could understand it.  This was a unique experience for me, because although I've seen movies with subtitles, I haven't seen very many and I think it gave me a good glimpse of another culture.
     One of the only drawbacks of the film festival was the price of the movie tickets.  I had a difficult time deciding what movie I wanted to see because there were so many really interesting movies to choose from.  I would have liked to see more than one movie, but the price ($12 per ticket) prevented me from doing so.  I'm a college student and I don't have a lot of money so I feel that the prices may deter people from seeing some of the movies they want to see.
     Other than that, I really enjoyed the experience and I will probably go to see a movie at the film festival next year.  I think it was a good example of the fact that film is very artistic and that the art of film should be showcased and appreciated.

Multi-Modal Literacies: Friday Night Lights

     Since we've been talking about texts as more than just the written word I wanted to talk about a TV show that I've fallen in love with.  I recently started watching Friday Night Lights on Netflix and I have to say I'm absolutely addicted.  This show didn't get very good ratings while it was on TV and it was eventually switched to DirecTV but I have to say it deserves a lot more credit than it was given.  There are many important themes explored throughout the show including family relationships, marriages, teenage relationships, and many issues faced by small town America.  While the premise of the show is about football, it really is about more than that.  I'm not really interested in football and sports shows but I loved this show.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone who's looking for a new show to watch.  It's also on the watch instantly queue on Netflix.

Multi-Modal Literacies: Hate List

After struggling to get through my midterm assignments I was finally able to do some of my own pleasure reading.  I decided to read Hate List by Jennifer Brown which has been sitting on my bookshelf since winter break.  Overall, I really enjoyed the book and I plan on eventually including it in my own classroom library.  The book follows the story of the main character, Valerie, who is recovering from the shock of a recent school shooting at her high school.  However, this is more difficult for her than for many of the other students because the shooter was her boyfriend.  Despite the fact that Valerie had no idea that he was capable of such violence, she has to deal with the aftermath of the loss of her boyfriend and the judgment of her peers and community.  I think this book has a lot to say about human nature and how the way we treat other people strongly effects them, more than we often realize.  I think it's important for teenagers to read this book because I think it helps to create tolerance and understanding for people that are different.  I think reading this book could lead to really good discussions about how hurtful words can lead to more than just words, and how it's important to treat other people with respect, even if we don't always get along.  I want to give students the message that they don't have to like everyone, but they do have to respect everyone, because words can often hurt more than actions which is very important.

Multi-Modal Literacies: Firestone Experience

            After going to Firestone High School and completing both my field experience and my tutoring experience I have gained new insights into the structure of American schools and the emphasis on test preparation and I have to say, what I observed opened my eyes to some very serious issues. I believe schools have placed too much weight on test preparation which has stifled critical thinking and I think this is a big concern for the public school system.

            Standardized testing was created in order to create accountability for schools but I feel that all it has done is hurt students’ learning.  Teachers have been forced to constantly drill students with test-taking skills rather than provide them with meaningful educational experiences.  However, I’m not blaming the schools or the administrators for this.  They are simply responding to a flawed educational system nationwide that places too much weight on standardized tests.  Throughout my time at Firestone, I observed countless numbers of frustrated teachers and students who were obviously sick of OGT prep, yet were forced to prepare for these ever important tests. 

            Another problem I have with standardized testing is that the questions are designed to trick students.  As I worked with my student, there were several questions in the OGT practice packets that confused me.  They were worded in such a way as to confused the students about what the question was asking when they could have been worded much differently.  I myself, struggled with a few of these questions.  I also consider myself a strong reader and a highly literate adult.  How will students be able to focus on figuring out the answer to questions if they don’t even know what they’re asking?  This is a question that has baffled me throughout my time at Firestone.

            However, despite the problems with the system of standardized testing, I learned a lot through tutoring my student.  Overall, I was very impressed with all the students in the tutoring program.  I’m sure by the time we got there they were all sick of OGT prep, yet they all showed up to every session and gave 100% effort.  I was particularly impressed with my student.  I was placed with a different student than the one I was with last semester because she was no longer in the program.  While I didn’t know this student very well, I believe we got a lot of important work done.  We mostly focused on practice reading tests where I worked with my student on test-taking strategies and the ways to approach a question that seems difficult.  I was very impressed with my student because despite the fact that he struggled with reading, he was able to articulate which areas he had the most trouble with which helped me know how to help him improve.  Although we were only there for four sessions, I was able to see a noticeable improvement in his reading skills.

            This tutoring experience also taught me a lot about teaching in general.  I tried some reading activities with my student that seemed to work very well and others that didn’t.  This experience helped me to become aware of my own strengths and weaknesses and the ways in which I could use them to help my student. 

            I also liked the fact that we were given the opportunity to work one-on-one with a student focusing on literacy skills.  I think this allowed me to see the struggles of an individual student which will be able to help me when I have my own classroom.  My student struggled with areas that I simply assumed he would know.  This opened my eyes to the issues that high school students struggle with and will help me be a better teacher in the future.

            Another issue I have with test preparation concerns the broadening definition of literacy in our society.  Literacy is no longer just canonical texts but includes a wide variety of different mediums including graphic novels, newspaper articles, magazine articles, film, television, and music to name a few.  Why is it that we test our students on mundane, traditional articles when we could be using a wide variety of mediums to assess their understanding of literacy?  The tests are not designed to test the knowledge of students in today’s modern world. 

            One way to combat this discrepancy may be to infuse multi-modality with test preparation.  It seems like an unlikely combination, but I believe there are several ways to combine the two.  One idea is to have students watch a film or read a graphic novel.  Students can discuss the elements of film or the elements of a graphic novel along with critical thinking questions.  However, the teacher can also assign students questions on these texts similar to the questions assigned on standardized tests.  In this way, students can maintain their critical thinking skills while also preparing for the tests.  Teachers can also do the reverse of this activity.  Students can watch a film or read a graphic novel, then create their own OGT test questions based on these texts.  This allow students to think about the important themes presented in the texts and the way in which OGT prep questions are usually designed. 

            However, while I believe these alternate activities can help to break up the monotony of traditional test preparation I also believe it’s unfortunately necessary that students need to complete traditional OGT review packets.  While I disagree with the idea of standardized tests, I understand that students need to pass these tests in order to graduate so it is my job as a teacher to prepare them.  There are several useful websites that could be used to aid students in test preparation (another use of multi-modality) such as study island and ogtprep.com.  Teachers can have students explore these websites in order to gain the necessary test taking skills they need in order to pass the state tests.

            My experience at Firestone has taught me that with the right teachers, students will work hard and become more educated.  I believe it is my job as a teacher to prepare students for the test while also helping students to learn critical thinking skills.  During the rest of my time at Kent State, I will work hard while trying to figure out how to address both of these issues.  

Multi-Modal Literacies: Extra Credit

     So far this semester I've learned a lot about the different ways in which multi-modality can be incorporated into the classroom and I plan on using many of these methods in my own classroom when I become a teacher.  I like the idea of introducing the multigenre autobiography at the beginning of the school year because I think this is a great introduction for a high school class.  I would begin the class by showing my students my own autobiography so they can see the ways in which different texts influenced my life.  It will also allow them to see what I value as a teacher.  I could explain to my students the ways in which historical fiction taught me a lot about the world I live in without even realizing it and how the different movies and TV shows I watched have impacted my thinking as well.  Then, I would like to assign the multigenre autobiography to my own students so they can learn more about themselves as consumers of literature.  I think the most important part of this project is to stress the importance of including texts that had a strong impact or influence on their lives, not just texts they enjoyed.  I think this really does teach the fact that the media does have a strong impact on everyone even though we don't often realize it.  I also think this project teaches students that a text does not necessarily have to be a book, but that movies and TV shows are also valid texts as well.
     In addition to the multigenre autobiography, I would like to include the study of many different texts in my own classroom.  I will mostly focus my classroom around books since I will be a teacher or language arts.  However, I would like to include a unit on the study of films and their influence on our culture.  I think students would really enjoy this and benefit from this.  Finally, I would like to have my students blog for their class. I think blogging is a great way to get students to interact with each other and share their opinions about a specific text or assignment.  It is also an example of the use of internet technology, which is important in this day and age.

Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools: Jago Chapter 5

     I think this chapter about teaching poetry and helping helping students understand it is a much needed chapter.  I think teachers often have difficult time teaching poetry because students often have preconceived notions about poetry that can be difficult to break.  Therefore, I think it's important for teachers to make sure that they're teaching poetry in such a way that students will learn and understand it.  I liked Jago's method of think-alouds.  I think it's important for teachers to model their thinking so students will know how to approach a difficult poem.  Instead of simply saying they don't understand something, student will learn what questions to ask  and how to make sense of a difficult topic on their own.  I also liked the activity that Jago used in her classroom by having students create graphic organizers and work in groups to try to make sense of the poem on their own.  While they may not be able to answer every question in their groups, they will at least be able to identify what questions they have which is another step to learning.
     While I agreed with many of Jago's methods, I disagreed with the fact that she said students should work on form before free verse.  I think students really struggle with poetry and I've learned a lot from my "Teaching Poetry in Schools" class that I'm taking right now. I've actually had experience teaching poetry to students through this class and I've seen the results of students who are given enough guidance that they aren't searching for an idea, but they also have enough freedom that they can really make their own poem.  Teachers that have used this method have observed students actually looking forward to writing poetry and sharing their poems out loud.  Poetry is a form of creative writing and students should be allowed to have the freedom to be creative.

Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools: Jago Chapter 3

     I'm finding this book really interesting so far and I think it'll give me a lot of ideas about the books I want my students to read and the way I want to structure my classroom.  I really agreed with Jago's criteria for choosing books. I think it's important for teachers to be aware of the reasons they are teaching a book and I like the criteria Jago has proposed.  I think all of these points will help teachers to choose whether or not the books they are teaching are appropriate for secondary students.  I also liked the fact that Jago stressed the importance of making connections to real life and how she analyzed the use of Frankenstein in the classroom and compared it to genetic experiments today.  I think all literature teachers should really stress to their students the connections the books make to the modern world and real-life problems.  After all, classics are a part of the literary canon because they contain timeless themes.  Students should be made aware of these timeless themes and the reasons why they are timeless.

     However, there were a few aspects of this chapter I disagreed with.  I understand Jago's rationale for having her sophomores read twenty books, but in my opinion, that's too many books for a high school language arts class.  I worry that by having students read so many books, they will grow to hate literature and reading because they are so overwhelmed by their assignments.  Also, I know from my experience as a student that trying to cram too many books into one class can be detrimental to student learning.  I recently took a class where the teacher assigned so much reading that it became so overwhelming that I had no time to really focus on any individual piece of literature and form my own opinion about it.  I think it's important that students have just the right amount of work that they're engaged and actively learning, but they aren't overwhelmed at the same time.  

     I also disagreed with the fact that Jago seems to think that young adult literature doesn't really have any place in the classroom.  I think young adult literature is very important for high school students to read because it piques students' interest in reading and provides them with important themes and life lessons.  Young adult literature provides students with characters and experiences that they can identify with.  It makes reading meaningful for students.

     In my classroom, I plan on teaching the classics in class and assigning young adult literature for choice projects and literature circles.  I think in this way, students will be exposed to both types of literature and benefit from the large variety of reading they are doing.  

Multi-Modal Literacies: Video Games in the Classroom

     I had very mixed feelings about the content of this article and it really got me to think about the ways in which schools should be changing and adapting to the use of new technologies in the world at large.  I was very interested in the Quest to Learn concept, but the more I read about it, the more I didn't like.  I don't think it's a good idea to run school like a game, because not everything is a game.  I understand that video games do offer positive aspects to learning, but I don't necessarily agree with the approach used in Quest to Learn.  By running school like a game, students miss out on a lot of great learning opportunities.  While traditional classroom learning isn't always the most fun for students, I think they need to learn the discipline of sitting in a class they aren't particularly interested, but still find ways to pay attention.  I know this may sound harsh but the reality is that students aren't going to be interested in every subject all the time, but they need to realize that these subjects need to be learned.  I feel that by putting such a strong focus on technology, schools will stray away from literature and the arts, which are also very important.  I was also appalled by the comment I found on page seven of the story where the teacher of the digital classroom says "Why memorize the 50 states and their capitals? Why, in the age of Google and pocket computers, memorize anything? 'Handwriting?' Doyle said. 'That’s a 20th-century skill.'” In my opinion, there's so much wrong with this statement.  Students should learn the states and their capitals and memorize information because it's part of being an educated citizen.  People shouldn't be reliant on computers for everything and should have their own knowledge.  Furthermore, students should know how to write.  Writing is a basic skill that will never become outdated.  I was also shocked when the same teacher said that recording a podcast had the same value as writing an essay.  I strongly disagree with this comment.  While I believe there is value in recording a podcast, that does not take the place of an essay.  Strong verbal skills are completely different than strong written skills.  Knowing how to structure an essay and coherently present information in written format does not compare to a podcast.
     However, while I do believe that the traditional classroom has value, I also understand that technology is a huge part of the modern world and students need to have strong technological skills.  I believe that these skills should be taught in school, just not in the same way that Quest to Learn strives to teach.  I watched a youtube video about a school in Chicago that started an after school program teaching technological skills to their students.  The program later turned into a class.  While these students still were a part of a traditional school, they were also learning technology which I think is a great balance between the two methods of schooling.  I also liked the part of the article that discussed schools teaching the proper ways to engage in social networking including how to write a meaningful comment.  I think there's a lot of validity in that because those are skills that students should definitely know since social networking is such a large part of our world today.  Therefore, I believe that technology should be implemented into schools and taught to students, however I don't think it should be the main focus of the school.  I think Quest to Learn turns everything into a game and doesn't teach students all of the skills they will need to become educated adults.








  

Multi-Modal Literacies: Publish of Perish

     After reading this article, I have mixed feelings about the difference between an actual physical book and an ereader.  I've been conflicted about this for awhile because I own an ereader, but I also have a book shelf full of actual books.  I like my ereader because it allows be to store multiple books on one device, change the text size, and I can read in the dark since the screen is lit up similar to a computer screen.  I can also buy a book online and have it available to read in about a minute.  However, I don't think anything could take away from the feel and smell of an actual book.  I like to be able to turn the physical pages and highlight text and make notes.  I also love to browse through a bookstore, even if I'm not actually buying anything.  I just like being around books and leafing through them.  Going to a bookstore gives me more ideas of what books to read.  Also, with an ereader, it's harder for teachers to set up a classroom library and loan books to students, because I wouldn't want to be lending my students an expensive device.  Therefore, I would be very sad to see the physical book industry become obsolete.
     I was also very disturbed by the following statistic at the beginning of the article when Steve Jobs is quoted saying “It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore.  Forty per cent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year.”  As a future language arts teacher, this really made me think about the literacy rates in this country.  What's the point of having the ability to read if you don't read?  I think everyone should regularly read books because they open minds and give people insight into all sorts of different topics they never would have known about before.  Therefore, I think it's important for teachers to work towards promoting reading outside of school.  I plan on having a classroom library and lending books to students.  I also plan on having book talks once a week in order to get students interested in reading and give them ideas for the types of books they could read.  
     I think that the Kindle and IPad are great forms of technology and I think e-books are a good thing, but I don't think that books should be marketed in the same way as an IPhone application or a movie or television show.  The fact is that books aren't the same as a movie or TV show.  Books are their own medium and should be treated as their own medium.  I hope that I will be able to promote literacy to all my future students.  


 vs. 

Multi-Modal Literacies: I heart novels

     This article was fascinating to me because I had never heard of this genre before, but it sounds like strong new literary form that's here to stay.  My first thought after reading the article was that it would be really hard to write an entire novel using just a cell phone! I don't think I'd have the patience to do that and I would definitely switch to my computer screen.  However, like the article said, computers aren't as common in Japan, and people have used cell phones as their means of private personal communication and as a means of writing.  I think this is a really great thing, because it allows average people to express their views and write.  I don't think there's ever been a mass popularity of novel writing before.  I also think it allows the culture to see the world through the eyes of the average youth, which is important.
     I also liked the use of pseudonyms in the Japanese culture.  After reading "You're leaving a digital trail," pseudonyms sound like a great way to protect your identity in a world where privacy is becoming more of a concern.  I think that cell phone novels wouldn't survive in our culture, because people wouldn't have the patience for it and nobody would want to use pseudonyms because they would want credit for their work.  I think this demonstrates a cultural difference between Japan and the United States.
     I think it would be interesting for teachers to discuss cell phone novels with their students and possibly have them write a cell phone short story.  I think they would be really interested in this and it would not only teach them about new literacies, but it could also teach them about differences in culture between Japan and America. 

Multi-Modal Literacies: You're leaving a digital trail

     I found this article both interesting and disturbing and I can't seem to make up my mind about it.  At the beginning of the article, my first thoughts were that it's scary that peoples' movements and habits can be so easily tracked.  To me, this seems to open so many different possibilities for invasion of privacy and and increase in crimes related to stalking and different things of that nature.  It reminded me of Little Brother and made me think of the ways in which these new technologies and collective intelligence may eventually lead to tracking and censorship similar to Little Brother.
     However, while all this may be the case, the article did present a lot of positive uses of new technologies.  For example, the article mentioned that collective intelligence can be used to track business trends that can help people in the stock market or owners of businesses.  I also found the advantages to public health to be particularly positive.  The article mentioned that with the use of collective intelligence, researchers can predict when a new wave of the flu would be going around.  I also thought it was interesting that the article said that the SARS epidemic could have been prevented in a few days with these technologies.  These are all positive things that people should consider.  However, there was one quote from Dr. Pentland in the article in regards to the SARS epidemic saying “If I could have looked at the cellphone records, it could have been stopped that morning rather than a couple of weeks later, I’m sorry, that trumps minute concerns about privacy.”  My question though is "does this really trump concerns about privacy?"  I realize that in the SARS situation, lives could have been saved and I agree with the use of technology for that purpose, but how far will people take this attitude of "the end justifies the means?"  This is something we all should think about.
     To this end, I think it's important for teachers to teach students the importance of being safe on the internet and being careful about what types of information they provide about themselves.  Internet usage and social networking is so common for students, that I think teachers need to remind them that they need to protect themselves and their privacy.  I've provided a link to the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence for people to learn more information about the research going on in this field.

MIT Center for Collective Intelligence

Multi-Modal Literacies: I'm So Totally, Digitally Close to You

     I found this article really interesting because it allowed me to examine social networking and the ways in which it can affect personal relationships.  I found this article really relevant because it allowed me to examine my own uses of facebook and twitter and the ways in which these websites have ruled my social life.  I thought the article really represented the pros and cons of social networking and the fact that it can allow people to feel close  to others, yet also feel that their privacy is being invaded.  To me, this is a big concern for high school students because I think that social networking provides teenagers with a medium through which they can communicate intimately and in a way that the whole world can say.  I think cyber bullying is probably a bigger problem than many people realize because of the fact that people can send private messages to others. Also, people can subtly post information in status updates or comments that appear meaningless to others, yet hurt one person in particular.  I think parents need to pay more attention to this and teachers should spend time discussing appropriate uses of social networking sites.
     I also thought it was interesting that people panicked when the news feed came out on facebook.  I was really surprised by this because I always knew facebook to have the news feed and I couldn't imagine it without it.  However, it is true that it allows people to know every detail of peoples' lives.  I also thought it was interesting when the article quoted Mark Zuckerberg saying "Facebook has always tried to push the envelope, and at times that means stretching people and getting them to be comfortable with things they aren’t yet comfortable with. A lot of this is just social norms catching up with what technology is capable of.” To me, I don't necessarily think that it's just social norms catching up with technology, because I don't think it used to be in the norm to know so many intimate details of other peoples' lives.  I think facebook and other social networking sites have created new social norms.
     I also think it's really important for teachers to talk about social networking and safety with their students and I think this is a new topic for schools.  Students need to be taught the importance of using privacy features and knowing who  can see things on their profiles and how it can impact their lives.  Teachers could do a mini unit on the importance of internet privacy and teach students skills they will use throughout their lives, so they don't have to learn them the hard way. 
     Overall, I think social networking is a good thing, but I think people need to be careful about how they use it.