Multi-Modal Literacies: Final Reflection

This course has taught me a lot about the use of technology and multi-modal literacies in schools.  Before this course I already had the understanding that technology should be incorporated into the classroom, but this course taught me how to do so.  I think the multi-genre autobiography was a great way to start the course because it really got me thinking about the different texts that have affected my life.  It also helped me to begin thinking of music, movies, and television as texts in addition to books which is very important for 21st century readers.  I also thought the articles we read were very interesting and provided real-life examples of the ways in which multi-modality is used in a variety of different mediums.  I found the article about cell phone novels particularly interesting because it allowed me to think about the writing of novels in a number of different ways.

     I think this class also helped me to grow personally as a learner.  I have found myself analyzing different texts and looking for symbolism and allusions that I probably wouldn't have thought about prior to taking this class.  I found this particularly interesting when I was re-watching different episodes of Lost and I noticed all the literary allusions included in that text.  This class has definitely helped me to see the value in many different texts.

     I definitely plan on incorporating multi-modality into my future classroom.  I have already spoken to my cooperating teacher for my student teaching, and he told me that his school was lucky enough to receive a grant that provided the school with many different forms of technology including laptops for every student and smart slates.  I'm looking forward to my student teaching as an excellent opportunity to gain experience using various forms of technology in my classroom with the guidance of an experienced teacher.  I like the idea of using blogs as a form of reflection for student and I also like the idea of doing online literature circles.  I think this gives students an excellent opportunity to reflect on texts with their peers.  Overall, I think this class taught me a lot about teaching and I plan on using many of the different techniques discussed in class in my own classroom in the future.  

I've attached an interesting video about the merits of integrating technology into the classroom. 

Multi-Modal Literacies: Comparing Naruto to Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer

Text and Dialogue

Balloons (words/thoughts)- In Naruto the words and thoughts were mostly in the form of thought bubbles of various shapes and sizes.  However, I did notice that when the characters spoke actual dialogue the text was in a thought bubble.  When the characters were thinking something internally the text was just written on the page without a bubble.  In Pinocchio, pretty much all the words and thoughts were in round text bubbles.

Captions- In Naruto it was difficult to find any captions because most of the action was conveyed through text balloons and sound effects with pictures showing the action.  In Naruto there was no need for the story to be conveyed through captions.  However, I did find a few captions including the one on page 121 that says “All night Naruto practiced, diligently pummeling an effigy off his teacher…”.  In Pinocchio captions were used in the beginning of the book to retell the original story of Pinocchio.  I also noticed they were used when Pinocchio tells Cricket the story of Geppetto’s murder by the monster. 

Emanata- In Naruto I noticed that exclamation points and question marks were used frequently throughout the book to represent the characters’ thoughts.  The author also used a combination of exclamation points and question marks to represent emotion.  Furthermore, I noticed the use of three periods (…) was also used to represent confusion.  In Pinocchio I didn’t find any emanata because the characters’ emotions were conveyed in other ways. 

Lables/Signs- In Naruto labels were used occasionally to convey the location of the characters.  For example, “The Ninja Academy” is clearly labeled on page 21.  Labels and signs are used similarly in Pinocchio.  For example, “Cherry’s Carpentry” is clearly labeled in the novel so that readers will know where the characters are. 

Lettering- In Naruto, the text bubbles use the same font throughout the novel.  However, it is sometimes bolded when emphasis is needed.  For the sound effects and emanata, a variety of different texts are used depending on the action that is being conveyed.  In Pinocchio, the same font is used for the text bubbles throughout the novel with bolded lettering being used for emphasis.  Different bolder fonts were used for the sound effects. 

Sound Effects- Sound effects were used similarly between the two novels with a few slight differences.  Both novels used sound effects to convey sounds such as “pow!” or “snap!”.  However, Naruto uses these sound effects more extensively.  Sound effects are used in all situations throughout the novel including those of little importance.  For example, “munch munch” is used to convey the sounds of Naruto eating on page 86 of the book. 

Visual Features

Characters- The characters of Naruto and Pinocchio are similar in the fact that they’re both on important quests of self-discovery.  However, they’re different in the fact that Naruto’s quest is to become a powerful ninja and Pinocchio’s quest is mostly about revenge.  Naruto has more characters and they seem to be more complex.  There is room for speculation about the characters.  In Pinocchio, the characters are more one dimensional with the defeat of the monster or the defeat of the townspeople as their only goal.

Objects- I couldn’t really find any significant objects in Naruto.   I think Pinocchio’s nose serves as an important object in Pinocchio despite the fact that it’s a part of his body.  It’s important because it’s his main weapon.  I also think the monsterminator is another important object used in the novel.

Icons- I didn’t observe the use of icons in either of the novels.

Scenery- The scenery in Naruto is very detailed with various uses of shading involved.  The artwork is very similar to the artwork used in anime television series.  The scenery in Pinocchio is depicted in various shades of black and white with some shading, just not as much as in Naruto.  The scenery in Pinocchio isn’t as detailed as in Naruto but the various shades of black and gray do a great job of conveying the mood of the story. 

Depicted Action (internal/external)- In Naruto the action was mostly depicted through pictures and sound effects.  In Pinocchio, the action was depicted by pictures and narrations by the characters.  In both novels internal action was conveyed through captions and text. 

General Layout and Design

Borders- Both novels use square and rectangular panels.  Naruto doesn’t really have clearly defined borders.  Pinocchio mostly uses a white border around the panels except on a few pages that are mostly colored black.

Gutters- Naruto doesn’t have clearly defined gutters.  Pinocchio has a white gutter on the bottom of each page except for the pages that are colored black.

Panels- Each novel uses square and rectangular panels.  In Naruto the characters have more freedom to roam outside the panels wherein Pinocchio the characters mostly remain inside each panel.

Open Panel- I noticed the use of open panels in Naruto mostly with text bleeding between more than one panel.  In Pinocchio, the characters mostly remained in their own panels.

Splash- Splashes were used throughout Naruto to depict fight scenes.  Some panels were even two pages large.  Splashes were also used in Pinocchio to depict action that had a heavy emphasis on it.  For example, a two-page splash was used in the scene where Canpenella was captured. 

Angles and Frames

Bleed- I noticed the use of open panels in Naruto mostly with text bleeding between more than one panel.  In Pinocchio, the characters mostly remained in their own panels.

Close-up- Close-ups were used frequently throughout Naruto, particularly when a character was experiencing a heavy emotion.  In Pinocchio, close-ups were used to convey intense action.

Head shot- Head shots were used throughout Naruto to convey the emotions of the different characters.  Head shots were used in the same way in Pinocchio.

Head-shoulder shot- Head-shoulder shots were used throughout Naruto so that readers could see the characters’ facial features better.  Head-shoulder shots were used in the same way in Pinocchio.

Full-figure shot- In both novels, full-figure shots were mostly used to convey some type of action.  These shots were used when the characters were doing more than just speaking to each other.

Longshot- In both novels, longshots were used to convey action.  Specifically intense fight scenes. 

Extreme Longshot- Extreme longshots were used in both novels to convey large scenes where there was a lot to take in. 

Reverse- Reverse shots are used in both books.

Rhetorical Techniques

Exaggeration- Exaggeration is used frequently throughout Naruto to convey strong emotions or fight scenes.  Exaggeration is used rarely in Pinocchio.

Mood/tone- In Naruto, the mood is mostly conveyed by the detailed scenes and the dialogue and interactions between characters.  In Pinocchio the mood is mostly conveyed by the use of dark colors and shading.

Simplicity/Complexity- In Naruto the characters and scenes were more complex than the characters and scenes in Pinocchio.

Realism/icons/symbolism- Both novels aren’t really realistic because neither of them have situations that could occur in real life.

Order/disorder- There was more disorder in Naruto than in Pinocchio because there was more bleeding between panels and much more was going on in each scene than in Pinocchio.  The panels in Pinocchio were more chronological and easy to follow.

Juxtaposition- I didn’t observe juxtaposition in either novel.

Relationships- The relationships between characters in Naruto were more complex.  In Pinocchio the characters were either all good or all bad.  In Naruto there were more shades of gray.

Point-of-View- Both books were told from the point-of-view of the main character.  However, in Naruto the readers could also see the thoughts of the other characters.  

    

    

    

Multi-Modal Literacies: Lost

     It is my belief that certain television shows and movies can teach us just as much as books and important pieces of literature.  In my opinion, Lost is one of those television shows.  I was fortunate enough to discover Lost about four years ago and ever since then I've been hooked.  At that time, the first four seasons had aired and I watched them all online in about two weeks time.  Ever since then, I've periodically re-watched the entire series and each time, I learned something new about the characters or the mysteries or both.  This show definitely gives people a lot of issues to discuss.
     Another thing I really like a lot about Lost is that it has a lot of allusions to different pieces of literature or elements of culture.  It also has a lot of symbolism which is ultimately what makes it comparable to a piece of literature.  There are multiple references to Alice in Wonderland (The "White Rabbit" episode and Jack's quest to find his father) and The Wizard of Oz ("The Man Behind the Curtain").  Furthermore, Sawyer also references numerous canonical pieces of literature including Of Mice and Men and Lord of the Flies.  He often compares the characters in the show to these literary characters.
     Therefore, it is my opinion that Lost has a lot of discussion points and different elements of it could definitely be used in the classroom.  I like the idea of using the first clip of the show as a means to analyze different elements of film.  There are probably also many other clips that could be used to achieve this same goal.  Furthermore, I think students could watch different clips and analyze the character interactions and discuss some of the allusions represented in the show.  I think this could be used in a lesson about literary allusions in pop culture so that students could see the the books they read in school do have relevance in other parts of their lives.  I've attached a link from lostpedia that gives a list of all the literary allusions in the show.  It's surprising to see how many there are.  I've also attached a link to a youtube video with a list of ten references to lost in popular culture.  It's interesting to see how big of an influence Lost had on the entertainment industry.

Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools: Final Semester Reflection

Overall, I felt that this class taught me a lot about teaching literature to high school students.  I learned a lot about the different ways that literature can be taught as well as some of the different literary theories.  I also like the fact that last semester we mostly focused on young adult literature and this semester we mostly focused on the classics.  I think the pairing of the two classes really helped me find a good medium and I plan to use both types of books in my classroom.  I especially like the project that involves pairing the classics with young adult literature.  I think this is an excellent way to get students to see multiple sides of an issue and think critically about the themes presented in their literature.  I plan on using many of the lessons learned in this class in my future classroom.  It was was definitely a great learning experience!

Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools: Jago Chapter 7

      After reading this chapter of Jago's book I found myself thinking about the teaching methods discussed in the chapter and which methods I agreed with and which methods I disagreed with.  I strongly disagreed with her statement on page 148 where she says "Unfortunately, too often exit exams punish students for the failings of their schools."  While I agree that standardized state tests are unfair to students, I don' t think the blame should be placed on the schools.  I think the blame should be placed on the system at large.  For one thing, teachers don't know exactly what will be on standardized tests so how can they be expected to prepare students for a test in which they don't even know the content? Also, money is another issue because some schools have more money than other schools do which is neither the fault of the students nor the teachers.  I think Jago should really look at the larger issues before being so quick to assign blame to the schools.

     However, while I disagreed with this point, I strongly agreed with the teaching methods she presented in this chapter.  I agree that high school students should understand literary analysis and I plan on teaching my future students this important skill.  Furthermore, I also see the value in allowing students to have a choice on what questions they should be assessed on.  I also like the idea of grading understanding of a novel separate from writing skills.  I think this method of testing and grading will strongly benefit students.  

     Overall, I think this book allowed me to think critically about my own theories regarding teaching and the way in which I plan to run my classroom in the future.  While I disagreed with a lot of Jago's points, I also learned a lot from some of her other points which to me, made this book a worthwhile read.

Multi-Modal Literacies: Speak

   Despite all the final projects at the end of the semester I have managed to find time for a little bit of pleasure reading.  I'm reading "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson and I'm very impressed with the book so far.  I read this book when I was a freshman in high school and I decided to reread it now since it is a young adult book that is commonly used in high school language arts classes.  Also, I always find it interesting to reread books that I've read in high school because my perspective and opinions on the books always change and I think it's interesting for me to see that change.  I think "Speak" is a great book for high school students because the main character, Melinda, is so believable.  The book has a prefect balance between humor and seriousness and I think it has an important message for students.  This book can help teenagers to see that they shouldn't judge somebody based on what they see on the outside, because they ultimately don't really know what's going on in the inside.  Also, this book encourages students to seek help if they've gone through any kind of crisis.  I think this book has a lot of potential for classroom discussion and I would really like to teach it in my future classroom. I've attached a link to a website with a youtube video of Laurie Halse Anderson's poem based on reader responses to her book.  It's very interesting.

Laurie Halse Anderson on Speak

Multi-Modal Literacies: Les Miserables

     Last Tuesday I was lucky enough to go see Les Miserable at Playhouse Square in Cleveland.  It's a musical that centers around the French Revolution but also deals primarily with human relationships and the human spirit in times of trouble.  Although, I've seen this musical twice before it had been about ten years since the last time I saw it.  To me, it was interesting to see how the show has changed in the past ten years including the new uses of technology in lighting and background images that were used.  I also thought it was interesting how I understood the show as a whole so much better.  Last time I saw it I was eleven and I didn't understand a lot of the adult content in the storyline.
     Overall, I think theatre is a great example of a type of text that people don't often utilize.  This show made me think so much about human nature and the human story and the costumes and music were beautiful.  I think people could really benefit from seeing these shows.  Playhouse Square is only about fifty minutes away in Cleveland and there are tickets sold at cheaper prices.  I also think it would be a great idea to do a unit involving theatre with my future students.  I think this would expose them to a different element of culture and allow them to explore different themes in a variety of ways.

Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools: Jago Chapter 6

I found this chapter interesting in a number of ways.  First, I liked the fact that Jago brought up the importance of collaboration between teachers.  I think teachers are often left to their own ideas and I think they could really learn from other people.  More people create more ideas and I think more collaboration between teachers should be done.  I also liked her lesson plan on the Odyssey.  I think she included a lot of great examples of different ways to make sense of the work.  I agree with the idea that students should write their own notes because it helps them learn better than when they're given a handout.  I also like that she has her students organize the characters and setting so that they can all be kept in order.  However, I did wonder about the pace of her classes.  I'm worried that her classes hold little room for struggling readers and that they wouldn't do well in her class because it's so fast paced.  I think it would be better to slow down the reading a little bit so that students of all ability levels will be able to actively participate.

Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools: Jago Chapter 4

     This chapter discussed the elements of literature and the ways in which stories work.  I found it particularly interesting because Jago's approach to teaching different topics such as story structures, literary devices, and story analysis is so different from the approach of many language arts teachers throughout the country.  I really liked the fact that she recognized that having students fill out dry worksheets asking them to fill in the blanks about setting, climax, theme, etc. does little good.  Jago stressed the importance of including these terms as well as many other literary terms as regular classroom dialogue.  I think this is a great way to not only teach the students these words, but to also give them the tools to use these words everyday in the classroom.  I think it's important for teachers to teach literary terms and devices so that students don't see them as abstract, useless ideas that have little relevance to everyday life.  If teachers use these terms everyday in the classroom their students will become more literate and more educated in the study of literature.  They will be able to engage in educated discussions about the literature they read and they will gain a better understanding of every text they read if they have a detailed knowledge of story structures and literary devices.

Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools: Jago Chapter 2

     I thought this chapter was really interesting and it helped to address some questions I've had about the teaching of vocabulary.  During my tutoring experience at Firestone, I noticed that a lot of students seemed to really struggle with comprehending texts because they didn't understand the vocabulary used.  This was surprising to me because some of the words they struggled with seemed to be fairly simple words in my opinion.  This taught me that I shouldn't just assume that students know something and I should always ask students what they are having trouble with so I can help them better.  I agree with Jago's approach to teaching vocabulary because it isn't just rote memorization and it makes words relevant to the texts they are reading.
     I really liked Jago's "personal vocabulary list" bookmarks.  I think this is a great way to get students to realize what words they don't know and how they can learn them.  I also liked how she used "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "Julius Caesar" to not only teach vocabulary, but also to teach tone and focus on characterization.  Furthermore, I also agreed with Jago's idea that vocabulary taught in classrooms should be relevant.  I definitely agree with this.  Students should learn words that they will likely see multiple times throughout different types of literature.  Overall, I really like Jago's approach to vocabulary because it seems that it will really help students learn.  Rote memorization and vocabulary tests are never effective and simply cause students more headaches than they need.  I plan on incorporating many of Jago's ideas into my own classroom in the future.

Multi-Modal Literacies: I Am Sindhutai Sapkal (Cleveland International Film Festival)

When I went to the Cleveland International Film Festival I saw the movie “I Am Sindhutai Sapkal.” The movie tells the story of Chindi who was born in India in the 1950s to a poor farming family.  Despite the fact that Chindi wants to get an education she is only allowed to pursue school through the fourth grade.  She is forced into an arranged marriage at the age of twelve and is eventually wrongfully accused of adultery and thrown out of the house by her abusive husband.  However, despite all struggles she faced, she was eventually able to create orphanages all over India and help hundreds of Indian children find a home.

 

A.    Personal Issues: One of the things that really resonated with me throughout this movie was the fact that Chindi was not allowed to get an education.  When she was young, she was only allowed to go to school if she completed all her farm chores which usually caused her to miss at least half of the school day.  Furthermore, once she got married she was forced to read in secret because her husband did not approve of reading and didn’t consider it the duty of a wife.  I was very surprised by this because I come from a culture that values education for all people and I couldn’t imagine being denied an education because of my gender.  I also grew up in a culture that promotes equality between men and women which was definitely not the case in this film.  I think this film really opened my eyes up to different issues in other parts of the world and the fact that there are probably a lot of problems that I’m not even aware of.  I think most Americans that see this film would probably have a similar reaction to the film as me because they were raised in a similar culture.  However, I think people from other parts of the world with different backgrounds would have different reactions to this film because it would hit them in different ways.  I think one of the great things about any text is that different people can interpret it in different ways based on their own life experiences.

B.     Technique: Overall, I thought the movie was very well done.  I particularly liked the music because a certain song would play every time something bad was about to happen.  I also thought the dialogue between the characters really allowed viewers to get a glimpse into the lives of the characters and their values and beliefs.  I think one of this film’s biggest strengths is its music which really helped add to the characters’ emotions and trials in life. 

C.     Acting: I thought the acting in the film was excellent.  There were three different actresses that played the role of Chindi because of the different ages of the character in the film.  I thought all three actresses did a good job of portraying a single character by using the same mannerisms and speech patterns.  I also thought the other actors in the movie did a great job of making their characters’ real.

D.    Plot: One of the things that made this movie so great was that it was a true story.  I think that really made it interesting to see the plot unfold.

E.     Themes: There are a lot of themes presented in this movie.  Most importantly, I think the film speaks towards women’s rights and promotes the improvement of life conditions for women all over the world.  I also think the film speaks towards the importance of getting an education and feeling a sense of belonging in the world.  This is illustrated in the film when Chindi goes on to help orphans who need some adult guidance in their lives.

F.      Genre: I think that if this film were to belong to any genre it would be a drama. The movie is serious and the characters are realistic conveying an overall inspirational message of the perseverance of individuals.

G.    Representation: Different characters were represented in different ways in this movie.  The men were represented as chauvinistic and controlling and the women were represented as sad and hard-working.  Furthermore, the poor class was represented as hard workers struggling to make a living and the rich were portrayed as powerful and greedy.  I think the characters are represented in this way because that’s how the main character saw the world and that’s the way people in her life acted.  The different representations of different groups of people were based off of the main character’s own life experiences.

H.    Ideology: This movie really challenged the false idea that men and women are not equal and spoke towards the importance of equality between men and women.

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.