Stephanie’s Wicked Awesome Words

When I first received this assignment, I was unsure about it and what it was seeking to accomplish.  I am not very technologically advanced, and as a result was nervous to keep my own blog.  In the end, however, I learned to enjoy it.  It helped me to branch out and experience what technology has to offer.

Had I not taken this course, I never would have known about RSS technology and the endless possibilities it holds.  Although truthfully I will probably rarely use it after this course, it helped me a lot to study articles related to my topic of interest.  Rather than having to look through several websites, all articles concerning my topic were in one convenient location.  If I ever take a course that requires me to study a particular topic in current events, I will more than likely use Google Reader.  For my own personal needs, however, I will stick to the NY Times website.

This assignment expanded my thinking on young adult versus classic literature in the high school classroom.  I did start off covering No Child Left Behind legislation, yet after a couple posts I decided that the other issue interested me more.  When I first started studying literature in the classroom, I was dead set on classic literature being the only way to go.  It has been a staple of the literary canon for so long, and has been taught for a reason.  I felt that although YA literature is good for pleasure reading, it has no place in a school setting.

Towards the end of my blogging, however, I changed my tune a bit.  I realized that in certain cases YA literature is necessary to foster interest in reading.  Some students will despise classic literature, and as a result will be turned off to reading forever.  For these cases, the modern themes in YA literature should be used to help students connect with literature.  From there, classic literature can become more prevalent.  YA literature can also be used to segue into classical pieces.  For example, the YA novel Jake, Reinvented models the story of The Great Gatsby and can help students understand the latter work better.  The novel Special explores many of the themes in Lord of the Flies, and can thus be used as a starting point to understanding the more classic piece.

To be honest, this RSS Notebook assignment and ENG 311 in general were huge factors in my deciding to no longer go into education.  I really enjoyed the class and the ideas it taught, but it made me realize that teaching is not for me.  If I had a classroom, I would want to discuss in depth difficult issues in classical pieces of literature.  I have realized that what I want for a classroom is not conducive to the learning abilities of average high school students.

Therefore, I am glad I took this course when I did and glad that I studied this particular topic in my blog.  The point of the assignment was for students to get a better grasp on the teaching profession and how it will affect their lives.  It helped me enormously by teaching me that education is not the route for me.

On Saturday, April 14, 2007, I attended the Bright Ideas Conference on MSU’s campus.  Although I am no longer going into teaching, the conference was interesting and informative. The conference started off with a speech by keynote speaker Jacqueline Woodson, a celebrated author and multi-award winner.  After that, participants attended smaller sessions on a wide range of topics.

Woodson talked about the importance of writing, believing that everyone has the right to tell a story.  She gave writing hints, not only for audience members, but also for teachers to take back to their students.  She said that if one is to write, he must not allow fear to play a factor.  He should read everything aloud as a tool for better revision.  He should allow himself time to sit down and delve into writing.  Woodson said that if a person doesn’t read, he can never aspire to great writing.  She said that it is essential to foster a community of people who support your writing and will help you with it.

Overall, I enjoyed Woodson’s speech.  She read a lot from her work, which helped connect her points with actual examples.  However, I felt that a lot of time was spent praising herself.  She talked more about herself and her own writing habits than about how to teach writing to students.  In addition, her numerous comments about homosexuality had absolutely nothing to do with education and were flat out unnecessary.

The first session I attended was “Introducing a Twenty-First Century Curriculum: Incorporating Mass Communication into the English Classroom.”  The presenters discussed news as a rising form of media, and how it can be used alongside the literary canon in the classroom.  They talked in detail about Wikis, explaining the basic idea behind them and giving hints on how to start one.  They suggested developing a Wiki for the classroom to teach students about editing and social writing.  Not only that, but the Wiki can also teach students not to trust everything they read on the Internet.

The second session I attended was “macBeth: Using Technology to Enhance the Teaching of Shakespeare.”  The presenters talked about the idea of embodiment, in which students put themselves into the place of the characters in “Macbeth.”   Presenter Lindsay Steenbergen showed examples of videos her students had made as part of an interactive assignment.  Students were required to apply the story of “Macbeth” to pop culture of today, and used such programs as iMove and Garageband to create these videos.  Presenter Jeff Patterson showed the mock Myspace pages that students in his class had created.  Each student was a different character from “Macbeth” and had to create his own Myspace page and choose his Top Friends.  Because his school wouldn’t allow students to actually use Myspace, Patterson made a template in PowerPoint to model that of Myspace.

Overall, I enjoyed the two sessions I attended and learned more about technology in the classroom.  The second session especially presented ideas that would be extremely useful in high school classrooms.  Both sessions worked to link contemporary forms of technology with age-old areas of English study.  If I were still planning on becoming a teacher, I would no doubt use these suggestions in my classroom.

When I started my blog, I forgot to include the introductory post so I am doing it right now. When I initially began writing, I focused on the topic of standardized testing, in particular how No Child Left Behind legislation affects language arts instruction in the secondary classroom. I used the major search query “No Child Left Behind” through Google News. Since taking education classes, my views concerning NCLB have changed and I wanted to explore the specifics of the issue so that I could be better informed. I wanted to know more of the specifics of NCLB and how it directly affects teachers in the secondary school English classroom.

I sidetracked on a blog and did an article on Religion in Schools. This post, however, is not included in my seven article posts for the semester. I simply wanted to explore how religion plays a role in schools, despite the fact that church and state are supposed to be separate.

From here, I changed my focus to young adult versus classic literature, which is what I will finish out the semester studying. We have talked a lot in class about the benefits of young adult literature and it seemed to me that classic literature in the classroom was being shown as bad. Therefore, I wanted to see what others say about this topic, whether or not YA or classic literature is better to teach to secondary students. For this topic, I am using the major search query “Classics + Young Adult Literature” as well as “Teaching Classic Literature” through Google News. In addition to these, I am looking at the New York Times and BBC World News news sources, in particular the education sections. I am also looking at a blog on “Teaching Classic Literature” for inspiration. Although I don’t think people will be able to change my opinion, I want to know what the general consensus is. It seems that nowadays people are drifting away from the classics, especially adults, and I want to perhaps understand better why that is.