I really do love listening and learning to all of the great ideas that develop out of this class. I'm so used to being in a typical lecture "teacher knows all" class, so Writing for Non-Print Media was really refreshing. The idea of student collaboration and learning wasn't just a concept that we read in the book, but something we witnessed every day. I've even had classes here at Slippery Rock specifically designed to address "diverse learners" yet couldn't accommodate that in our classroom. Especially now as we present out lesson plans, I'm even more excited. I haven't had too many experience so far creating lessons, but so far I enjoy it! I love seeing everyone's creativity in their future teaching.
Mary and I are working on a lesson plan for the novel "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green where we incorporate music and visual aid. I'm really excited to share it!

Good Reads

Last year, I created a Goodreads account. Essentially, Goodreads is an internet site where one can discover new books, read/write reviews, and keep track of your own personal reading collection. This became handy because for 2012, my New Year's resolution was to read 50 novels in that year. I discovered that they had a nifty counting widget that would track my reading to meet my 50 book goal. I could just log a book into my account with the date I finished it, and counted into my list. Unfortunately, this busy semester has left me with little leisure reading time, so my book count is 36 at the moment. By some miracle, I'd love to read 14 more novels by January 1, 2013!
Anywho, for anyone interested in a site to discover new novels and be a total bookworm, Good Reads is the place to go!

NCTE

This may sound bad..but even though I know what the NCTE stands for, I had never really looked into the organization. This afternoon, I took sometime to look through their website, and I found some really interesting information! They have all sorts of resources, from lesson plans to professional development. It's definitely worth checking out.

Graphic novels were never a part of my life growing up. No one I knew read them...and I always sorta skipped that section in the bookstore. Yet this summer, my books for this semester started arriving in the mail...and three of them for World Literature were graphic novels. I'll admit, I kinda scoffed at the sight of them. Reading them was a totally new experience for me. Honestly, if I hadn't been required to read graphic novels this semester, I don't think I would've appreciated this quite nearly as much.
I really do think incorporating graphic novels into the curriculum is a great idea. Students don't learn in a uniform, singular way, so we have a responsibility to accommodate this. I want both the struggling and advanced reader in my class to enjoy, appreciate, and grow from what they read.

Problem.

I have developed a serious beef with the Ed department at Slippery Rock. For the most part, I find our required classes extremely useful. Of course, it's important for us to learn and discuss the canon, because we will eventually teach it in a few short years. These classic authors definitely have value, whether it be Shakespeare, Hawthorne, etc. This week in class, we had a discussion about education of the canon. In "Comics, the Canon, and the Classroom", Carter explains the need for a variety of literature in schools. "Rather than being an exclusive sphere encompassing for the most part only white, European males, it became more a plane for multiple voices and experiences.." (57).
This past week, I registered for my spring classes. After meeting with my adviser, I learned that the English section titled "Diverse Literature" is not required for our major. This section includes African-American Literature, Literature of the Women's Movement, Native American Literature, Latino Literature of the US, and Eastern Literature. Honestly, this pisses me off. In our education classes, we learn about the necessity of inclusion. Yet, our program does not practice this. I'm tired of seeing people labeled as a superfluous "special interest" groups, whether it be through literature or even politics. Women, African-Americans, the LGBTQ community, etc. represent millions of people who deserve their place in literature. For years, these groups have been severely underrepresented. How are we as future teachers expected to teach diverse material when even our college deems it less important than the canon? I think it's vital that students read literature from a variety of different cultures. Exposing students to diverse literature is an important step towards eliminating ignorance. I want my students to be able to personally identify with novels I choose. In an article written by Ellen Oh, she explains the necessity to fix the problem with YA literature. She writes, "We need to teach our youth the beauty of diversity. Beauty does not come in only one color. It does not come in only one size and one shape. And maybe when our teens grow up exposed to diversity, then they will grow into adults who embrace it." 

Today I stumbled upon this really awesome photography series by Dinah Fried. Each photo is a representation through food of a famous novel. I loved it, so I thought I'd share it with all of you!

Videos!

I enjoyed our week of video-making more than I expected. It brought me back to the sweet days of high school. While covering the Canterbury Tales, our class had to create some sort of video to correspond with our readings. My two best friends and I decided to create a video in which the characters of Canterbury Tales were at a movie premiere of their film adaptation. While dressing up with costumes and accents with friends is a hilarious experience, I do believe it had educational value. Understanding how to portray the character really displayed your comprehension of the text, in a way that was more creative than writing in on a short answer test.
Likewise, I loved making the video in class. I really like the process of individual story boarding first, then doing a final copy as a group. It was interesting to see what scenes my peers focused on, which were occasionally different than mine. I think it's an important way for each member of the group to contribute in a unique way. Overall, I would definitely use video making with my students. Of course, the assignment would have to be tailored according to age group (I highly doubt anyone would let their 15 year old student roam anywhere in the building to shoot!), but I'm certain it has a place in the curriculum.  

         Last week in my American Literature class, we had to read passages from Sarah Margaret Fuller and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. To me, the most shocking realization while reading Woman in the Nineteenth Century is that many of the issues Fuller discusses are still important today. While we have made significant achievements for women, we still struggle for equality on many levels. During their lifetime, women experienced more extreme examples of discrimination. Not only were women less important than men, but they also lacked the power of autonomy- to own property, divorce, control their bodies, etc. For women to openly denounce these flawed societal expectations is incredibly brave.

I stumbled upon a few quotations that depressed me. Though Fuller wrote this piece over 100 years ago, the statements are unfortunately applicable to our current culture. For example, Fuller writes, “Such duties are inconsistent with those of a mother; and then we have ludicrous pictures of ladies in hysterics at the polls, and senate chambers filled with cradles” (1828). Immediately, I thought of every male I’ve heard make the claim that a woman would find difficulty being both a politician and mother. I remember during the 2008 presidential election, so many conversations I heard about Sarah Plain revolved around her questionable capability of leading the country while mothering five children, not her politics. These structured gender stereotypes are ingrained in us from birth. Honestly, do we ever hear of a man’s questionable ability in a role of power while also juggling fatherhood?
Another interesting quote I found said, “But early I perceived that men never, in any extreme of despair, wished to be women. On the contrary they were ever ready to taunt one another, at any sign of weakness, with, ‘Art thou not like the women, who’“. Last year, Karla Fonner from SRU’s Women’s Center came to talk with my Intercultural Communication class. In an exercise, she explained that the vast majority of the insults we use in our society are pejorative words for gay people and women. It was shocking to realize that most insults are merely subtle ways to demean minorities. At least in my opinion, it’s much more accepted for women to enjoy aspects of masculinity than for men to embrace their feminine side. This is because women are still in many ways view as second class citizens.

As I read more diverse literature in my college courses, I’m finally realizing how limited my high school literature curriculum was. Off hand, I can only name one or two females authors we covered in class. I'm an active member of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance on campus, so women's rights are really close to my heart. I have such a great respect for these women for giving a great big middle finger to every man who told her that being a women made her less worthy. As a future teacher, I believe incorporating more literature by women into the curriculum will help the inequality we still face today. It's important to expose students to literature written by all minorities that are typically excluded from the overwhelmingly white male canon. 

Ok ok, I'll admit. When I first heard we had to make a podcast as one of our big assignments, I wasn't exactly thrilled. It's not that I'm anti-technology, it's just podcasts were pretty foreign to me, and considering that I'm a very visual learner, didn't think they would benefit me.
Mary Leach and I did our book review podcast on The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Let me just tell you, becoming acquainted with talking to a computer is a bit weird. Overall though, I think it was a pretty cool experience. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I imagined, and I appreciate the assignment because otherwise I'd probably never dabble in podcasting. I think it could be a great tool to use with students in my classroom, especially to show their understanding of a novel in a creative way.

Just some thoughts.

This week in my American Literature class, we're covered Ralph Waldo Emerson...which means a whole lot of discussion about Transcendentalism. I'll admit, sometimes that class is really challenging for me, and I think I'm realizing why.
My high school was pretty conservative. I guess it had to be, considering it was an all-girls Catholic school. My English class was pretty basic, and I say that pejoratively. Most of desire to teach came from my middle school teacher, who really gave me an inspiration to read and interpret literature. It's not that my high school English teacher wasn't likable -in fact, she was a great person. Knowing I was a bookworm, she'd always give me books to read outside of class or over the summer. Yet, during class, the teaching was sort of stagnant. Sure, we went over the typical high school material: The Scarlet Letter, Shakespeare, The Sound and the Fury, Fahrenheit 451, etc. Sure, we covered the basic understanding of the plot and characters, but never really pushed for more. Even in Shakespeare, everything was so rushed and vague. Perhaps it was due to discouragement that so many of the students hadn't read the book, but we never really got to have really stimulating conversations about meaning. Most of our tests were simple multiple choice objective questions about the text that needed only to be memorized the night before. So many of my peers in college had delved deeper into these great literary greats in high school, and I guess I'm sort of jealous that I didn't get that experience. At the very least, I've gathered some tips on how I want to lead my future classroom. I love that my literature courses nowadays focus more on essay writing than black and white questions. I want my students to know that I value their thoughts and opinions about what they read rather than memorizing material.

Happy (belated) World Teachers' Day!
Here's a bit of inspiration from an awesome slam poet:

A Really Different Place

During class today, we spent some time in the computer lab perusing online at blogs/wikis/etc. I found some really interesting ones along the way. My favorite that I stumbled upon is a blog called A Really Different Place. This blog is a great collaboration between students and teacher. Both the students and teacher create posts on the blog on various subjects. Sometimes, students will post stories or poems, other times it will be book reviews or updates about the class itself.

The site itself is extremely organized. It contains a mission statement, directions for new users, and terms and conditions. It even encourages parents to monitor the blog and their child's posts. I thought the best part was that you could easily look up a single student's posts through the navigation bar. Kudos to whoever created/organized the site!

I think this blog is a great example of using an online tool to collaborate and share information. I really liked that the posts were informal and fun but still informative. I think blogs like this allow the teacher to see the students' personalities shine a bit brighter since they're permitted to be more creative.

Last night, my best friends and I went to see The Perks of Being a Wallflower premiere in Pittsburgh.

Stephen Chbosky was there to sign books and introduce the movie! I first read Perks when I was a sophomore in high school and immediately fell in love with Charlie, the main character. Seeing the story on the big screen was such an awesome experience. This is a bit embarrassing  but I pretty much cried the entire last half of the film. There are some really emotional parts through the end that overwhelmed the entire audience (no really, everyone was sniffling!). Stephen both wrote the screenplay and directed it, and it definitely made a difference. I may go as far as to say this is the best book to film adaptation I've ever seen.
I've always thought this novel would be great to teach in a high school class. Sure, it has some controversial/suggestive topics, but nothing that the typical high school won't experience. It addresses adolescent and universal issues in a really creative way through a down-to-earth character to whom we can all relate. I guarantee you will love this movie.

I really enjoyed this week's readings. Probably my favorite was Chapter 4 in Miller & McVee, where it discussed the multimodal projects of Carol, a 9th grade English teacher. I loved hearing the results of her Halloween story project. "Her son, the mother told Carol, frequently struggled with school learning and was easily intimidated by school assignments, but during this particular week, he had told his mother enthusiastically about his story, had continued to work on it at home, and- in an uncharacteristic demonstration of confidence-had proudly shared it with his mother" (55). This quote really struck me.
I really  loved my high school, but it did have its fair share of flaws. One of which was the separation of "good" and "bad" students. The honors students were always in classes together, and then students who typically got lower scores were together. Often in my honors English class, the teacher would comment/joke about the "other" class that failed their tests, or didn't turn in project, or handed in sub-par work. While I get that teacher get frustrated sometimes, I hated seeing a whole group of girls (it was an all-girls school) labeled as "bad" and expected to fail. I firmly believe that no student is "bad". It's so important to me that when I teach, I use multimodality and new digital literacies to make sure that all of my students feel connected to what they're learning. I've experienced so many teachers that when faced with students that didn't understand the lesson, shrugged their shoulders and moved onto the next topic. Instead, they should've taken the time to approach the lesson in a different way that allows students who learn a different way to understand. Honestly, my biggest dream as a teacher is allowing students, like the boy Carol encountered, to see that they truly can excel in school and see learning in a different light.

As stated in my last post, I'm a huge fan of poetry. I've been writing it ever since I can remember (yes, that includes the cheesy ones I wrote when I was 12 that I still have) The past few years, I've really gotten into spoken word poetry. Hearing a piece performed is a totally different experience than reading it on the page. This poem below "A Finger, Two Dots, Then Me", performed by the awesome Derrick Brown, was the first spoken word poem introduced to me at a Writer's Workshop in high school. Even now, it's one of my favorites. As a teacher, I'm really excited to share contemporary poets to my students along side the classics. I really want to emphasize to my students that they can write awesome and emotional poetry and feel proud of their work. 

Personally, I think this poem is best heard with your headphones on a high volume with your eyes closed..but that might just be me. Enjoy!

Ideas for Later

I'm rather disappointed I had to miss this week's class, because after going through the assigned readings I would've loved to hear the discussions that took place. Ah, well.

The reading that struck me the most was Kist's chapter, "Short: Social Networking in a Low-Tech Environment". I felt like I was "star-ing" something on every page! At the moment, I'm really interested in working with low-income schools in more urban areas, so I really enjoyed this section. I absolutely loved the activities suggested in the book. As a student in grade/high school, I never minded simple writing assignments because, well, I love to write. I love analyzing text, writing responses, etc. However, I'm fully aware that my students may not share the same sentiment, or have had writing introduced in a way that excited them.

My favorite idea was the "List Group Label With Found Poetry". I write poetry in my spare time, and love reading it when I get the chance. I actually wish we incorporated it more into my curriculum more in high school and college. I really liked the book's idea because it removes the stigma around poetry that it has to rhyme or resemble Shakespeare. The activity gives the students some direction by providing a "key word", but then allows the students freedom. I was always really shy in grade/high school (I still kind of am...), so when imagining ideas for class, I always try and keep in mind that not all students will be excited to speak out or show their work to the class. This activity has a great mix of both--allowing students to showcase their originality by having their own words on the poster corner, but combining their words into one collective poem.
Overall, I'm pretty excited to see what other ideas the text offers for the classroom.

This week in Writing for Non-Print Media, I really enjoyed reading the book Adolescents and Digital Literacies. My favorite was the tackling of literacy myths, because I could personally identify with nearly all of them. Unfortunately, many teachers perpetuate those myths, such as "students who struggle with one literacy will have difficulty with all literacies". I've seen teens given the label of "bad student" (which followed them all throughout high school), when in reality he/she just struggled in one area. Given the opportunity, he/she could excel in another area. It's important as teachers to know our students' strengths and weaknesses, so we can better cater to their learning styles. For instance, so many students struggle while reading Shakespeare right from the page. Acting the scene out in class, perhaps, would be a great way to help students who are visual learners. The use of non-print media is a really important way to approach different learning styles and bring more modern and nontraditional methods into the classroom.

Greetings!

Hello, everyone.
My name is Brandy Geist. I'm a 20 year old junior attending Slippery Rock University. I'm majoring in Secondary English Education (and also hopefully minoring in Women's Studies). Reading and writing are both really big passions in my life, and I'm very excited to become a high school English teacher and share that with my students. Eighth grade was around the time becoming a teacher sparked my interest, and the idea has stuck ever since.
Some of my random interests include: reading, writing poetry, feminism, Sylvia Plath, and chai tea. I do keep a personal blog, but I'm eager to keep a blog specifically focused on my future career. Hopefully this blog with be a great place to gather resources or ideas to use in the classroom! Happy reading :)