Making the Classics Interesting for the Students

I understand that a lot of students don't like the classics, and I feel that it is because of how teachers portray them and teach them. I do not feel that students will like the classics more if you bring technology into it. I feel that to get the students more into the classics, we need to sell the classics to them, and change up which classics we teach. Each year the same classics are taught in majority of the schools in the country. Those classics are generally, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Catcher and the Rye, The Scarlet Letter, Of Mice and Men, The Great Gatsby, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Lord of the Flies, and so on. I know from experience that there were two main reasons why I was not into reading those novels. One reason is because my teachers would say, we are going to read a great classic that your probably going to hate but we are going to read it anyway because it is a classic, and two was that when talking with my upper class friends they would talk about how horrible the book is and so on. I feel that for starters, teachers need to encourage their students to read the book, not tell them that they're going to hate it but either way they're reading it. Two is that I feel that we need to change up which classics we read in schools. No, I do not think books like Harry Potter and The Hunger Games should replace classics in the class room. However, there are a whole lot more then 8 phenomenal classic books in this world that can and should be taught to our students. For instance, how about instead of teaching the exact same books every year for each grade level, we have a rotating cycle that last say 5 years, and then restarts its cycle. I will use Senior English classes as an example. We can say that in 2012 the seniors will all read The Catcher and the Rye (I used this book because it was the one I read senior year), then the 2013 seniors will read Gone with the Wind, the seniors of 2014 can read Dracula, the seniors of 2015 can read Jane Eyre, and the Seniors of 2016 can read Heart of Darkness, then the cycle restarts. Each grade will have a different cycle of books so that there is no chance of students re-reading any book. I feel this would work because one, the students would not have their older friends discouraging them about a book because they did not read it, two it would introduce the students to a larger variety of classics because when talking to their friends in lower or higher classes they will hear about what they are reading and possibly become interesting, and three it would help the teachers. I see it helping the teachers because it is obvious that after five, eight, ten years, the teachers become quite exhausted from teaching the exact same books in four classes a year. If we change up which classic they are teaching then they will be much more excited and will encourage the students more. Plus, when doing projects involved with the novels the students will become more creative because they will not ask the upper class friends what their project was and then duplicate it. They will have to come up with their own project.

green knight should be green: Graphic response to literature

When I read this article I fell in love with it. I loved the idea of having the students made an illustration of what they feel is an important focal point of scene of a story/poem/novel. One thing that I plan on doing with my classes in the future is striving to encourage as much creativity as possible. I feel that today teachers have strayed away from creativity and only care about the students repeating what they have been told so that they can get good grades. One thing I learned about myself early on in school was that if I could not be creative in learning or was not taught in any way other then lecturing, that I did not obtained what was being said. So often my history and math teachers just stood at the front of the room lecturing me on what I need to know and why and how it is important today, and I hate to say ti but I barely took in anything from what they taught me. It is very difficult for me to take in knowledge when I am not engaged at all, and lecturing is not engaging what so ever. The idea of bringing in graphic illustrations done by the students excite me because one, it encourages students to read and two, it encourages them to think out of the box and analyze what they are reading and really pull it apart and determine what is important.

Using Facebook to Learn what we need to Learn?

After reading Chapter 5 in Kist's book, the section that "bothered" me the most would be "How do we use Facebook to learn what we need to learn." I understand that Kist feels that social networking could be used with school, but his ways bothered me a bit. Yes I use Facebook to communicate with friends or group members on a project we are working on, and yes in college I am friends through Facebook with some of my professors. However, I do not feel it is appropriate for teachers to communicate with high school or younger students through social networking. I understand the group was protected and only allowed the teachers and students to join, and I understand that it was strictly for school/projects/homework. However, I do not feel it is right. Many schools today set up student e-mail accounts through the schools for students to contact one another for projects and such and for students to be able to contact their teachers, and vice versa, outside of school. Facebook in my opinion is going way too far. Through that group a teacher can gain access to their students Facebook account information and such, and can see when and how long each of their students are on Facebook. I just feel that it is not appropriate for high school and lower. I understand that today world wants to include technology in their lives as much as possible, but Facebook for school is not right in my opinion. Sorry, but I do not agree with it.

McTaggart, J., Graphic novels: The good, the bad and the ugly

When it comes to Graphic Novels, I was psyched! I was first introduced to them my Senior Year of High School. This happened because I chose to take Literature of the Holocaust and my teacher had us read Maus I and II. I found the novels to be phenomenal and a fantastic way to get students to understand the true hardships and feelings of the Holocaust. A couple of the teachers, when they found out he was having us read those novels, became very upset stating that they were not real novels and that they were simply children books about World War II. Well not only did it hurt him, but it hurt me too since I wanted to be an English Teacher and loved the books. The teacher who had to strongest feelings against the novels happened to be my English teacher that year and he even asked me at the end of my class one day, because he saw me with the books, about how I felt reading them compared to our current reading of The Last Samurai. Being who I am I explained to him how much one could analyze Maus I and II and really dig deep into the Holocaust through those pages and even help out students with lower reading levels and such. I remember him not agreeing with me in that instant, but when we met again for class that Monday, he came to me and said that he read the books over the weekend and agreed with me. So many teachers are so against graphic novels, and it truly shocks me. I almost feel that many of the teachers today feel that if the book is not a few hundred pages long or a classic that the students just cannot learn from them or something, but they are wrong. Graphic Novels are just as important to the literature world as any other form of writing. It's just different because there are pictures

20 Shot Picture

When it came to our 20 chot picture, I had a blast! true, at first I was not excited to play the main role, Connie, for multiple reasons but I still had fun. The story my group performed was Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Overall the story drove me insane because of the ignorance of the main character  which is one reason I was not happy to be playing her. However, my group still had a lot of fun. We modernized it a bit do to the fact that we had very little to no props. I think it also went well because during the whole shooting fiasco, we were having fun. I thought that the project would just be 100% work and boring as hell, but in the end I already had 1 friend in the group, and it seemed like as a whole are group was filled with upbeat and creative people. So what started off as a scary project like the podcasts, ended with a lot of fun, tons of laughs, and quite a few inside jokes.

Shafer G.

After reading the article, I liked the idea of the videos, but hated the reasoning behind them. Shafer thought it would be better for the students, in groups, to do a video discussing the literary techniques and analysis of writers and such like that versus an exam or term paper. I love the idea of the video for an end of a unit project. So each group is assigned an author you will learn about that year and at the end of the unit, or even the beginning, they play their video so that everyone knows what they'll be reading and what to look for etcetra. However, I know students hate exams and term papers, but they are there for a reason. Replacing a final essay with a video is not showing the teacher how much the student has learned. I saw this in my high school actually. Each English class is supposed to do an end of the year research essay. The higher your grade level the more difficult the paper as usual. One teacher however, since she hates reading and grading papers, changed the assignment. She let her students choose between a seven pages research essay, or a five minute presentation on their topic. A five minute presentation is completely different than a research essay. In the end, all of her students in her freshman class did horrible on their writing assignments in their sophomore year because she never made them write or taught them proper techniques and such. So I feel that have students make a video instead of an end of the year paper is not a good idea. However, I love the idea of having them do it at the end of each unit almost as a refresher of what they learned for the whole class to see.

750words.com

OMG! Just got done using this website and I love it! I absolutely love writing and I am definitely going to use this sight daily! I find it so intriguing what the statistics were for what I wrote and I cannot wait to see what tomorrow will bring. I am using it solely off of creative writing, so clearly nothing I write will have to deal with my personal life and or my day, but I am curious if how my day goes effects what I write. I am sure it will but this website will definitely tell me for sure. Thank you so much Stephanie for introducing me to this website, I think it is the coolest one yet and I cannot wait to write some more on it, it is clearly going to be my next addiction!

Script Writing in English Class

An article I just read talked about video creating in the English classroom. At first, I was confused. This is because in my high school if a student wanted to learn about video creation and production, then they would have taken the class TVTech and joined the club after school. However, as I read the article, it made sense to touch on it in the classroom. As I read on I realized that I might have enjoyed writing scripts and such, or directing videos. Now I wish that my English Classes touched on the subject because it could have made a difference in my interests and possibly future. Also, I feel that script writing is an English technique and that the English classrooms should not skip over any forms of writing, especially not ones that could cause the students to be more interested into what is going on in class and less interested in what is happening on their cell phones.

PodCast Time!

So, as many know, and will soon find out, I hate technology. I enjoy the use of it for communication and transportation, but that is it. I do not use technology past those purposes. However, This past week I needed to learn about podcasts. I was terrified at first, actually, I was beyond terrified. What the hell is a Podcast anyway???? I just don't get it. Don't get the point in making one, don't get the point in making one. But, I must learn and make one so yeah, such a fun week. Through research I learned that a podcast is "a type of digital media consisting of an episodic series of audio, video, PDF, or epub files subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication or streamed online to a computer or mobile device," whatever the hell that means. After hearing a couple I learned that it is literally a person speaking in a microphone about something and recording what they said for others to hear. Now that I know what a podcast is, I still do not get the point in making them. I understand making one to teach a language online,

podcast voice "Where is the library?"
podcast voice "¿Dónde está la biblioteca? "

however, I do not understand the point for other people to make podcasts. But. in the end, it does not matter if I don't see a point in it because other people do and are making podcasts.

All in all, I now know about podcasts, have made a podcasts, and can say that I will never listen to a podcast by my own free will nor make another podcast by my own free will. Sorry to all who feel i am wrong, but it's my blog. Bye.

Good Idea Wilber

Going through Wilber's readings I found a couple sites that were very interesting to me. One was the http://www.pbs.org/americanfamily/tree/# link. I found it so cool, even at my age, that I could make an interactive family tree. One thing I have always ben interested in is where my family started and what they've gone through to get where they are today. I feel like, since today computers are used in 4th and 5th grade classrooms, that it would be a great program to use in elementary schools. A common project for children these days is making a family tree and through this website children can make a family tree that doesn't require materials posterboard and glue and such and, after making the tree they can send it to family members who can also add some information they know about ancestors.

Another link I enjoyed was http://wikisineducation.wetpaint.com/page/Wikis+in+the+Classroom, I found it great because it is a list of different teacher's wiki pages about different topics and books and such. Plus it says right next the wiki what the grade level is it is being used in so if a teacher were questioning using the book Kite Runner in their 9th grade classroom they can check this wiki and see if other teachers have used the book and at what levels it was used. I feel the biggest mistake a teacher could make is using a great book with the wrong grade level. If the reading or lesson in the book is at a higher level than the students then it is wasted time because they won't be able to grasp the information. If it's too young of an age for them then the students will push it off like it's nothing and not take the time to read. This wiki page can help teachers decide on books for their classroom as well as get ideas on different projects or assignments they can use with that book.

Literature Circles on Blogs

Kist suggests that teachers moves literature circles from in the classroom to online. I disagree. For starters I found that the 2nd sentence in the section was so stupid. it states, "Teachers are attempting to replicate the face-to-face literature circle experience in several ways." Last time I checked, face-to-face means just that, that two or more people are communicating in person about something. Having your students communicate online about a book or poem is NOT face-to-face. Also, I feel that the teacher is doing this partly because either they do not enjoy allowing their students have free reign of expression and communication in the classroom, or they are simply too lazy to go through the process of literature circles. Another point is this, when a student gives input on a novel in class, I know it is generally what they know or see or think, when they give input through technology, odds are they simply copy and pasted someone else's thoughts so they could get on with their lives on the computer. Have literature circles within the classroom tells me that the thoughts and feelings and discussion right there right then are real, they are not anyone else's but the students speaking and it is genuine. Online is way too easy and tempting to high schoolers and middle schoolers to simply look up something about the novel and rewrite it without even reading the works.

Online Safety

When it came to this section of Kist I was for it as well as against it. I do see multiple reasons for teaching internet safety in schools, however I do feel that it is the parent's job. Yes the schools should reach out to the students teaching them how to notice cyber bullying and inappropriate things as well as informing the students that there is an outreach group who can help them. However, the idea that schools need to teach children about the proper use of chat rooms and not trusting strangers and social media is wrong, that's something the parents Should take care of. So much class time today is taken away from students to prepare for standardized testing, so we should not be taking even more class time away from them to teach them not to talk to strangers on the internet. Teaching a child internet safety is a Parent's job, it is right up there with teaching them not to talk to strangers or run across the road without looking or to be polite to everyone especially their elders. It's one thing if the kids are in a boarding school where the don't live at home, it's another thing when they don't. Leave the parents job for them to do, not a school.

One of my favorite parts of this weeks readings was the sections, Bringing Together Research and Practice. Brice talked about how a big part of making a classroom work is to get the students excited and engaged. I agree whole heartily. At one point he even said how a student who loves to read and write may not do the work if they are not engaged and that is so true. Being excited about class is the only way a student will ever put effort into their work, how could someone put effort into something they don't care about???

YouCube!

Hey Everyone! I have a link for in my opinion a cool website that is great for projects. It's called YouCube and obviously works with YouTube. The purpose of the site is that you copy and paste links from youtube onto your cube so that when doing a presentation on say the greek gods, you could keep all of your videos together in one place versus waiting for each slide to buffer when you get to it. Also it's cool how you can do an entire presentation with just that program. For example if you wanted to do a project about child abuse with multiple videos then you can have your cube set up for class and each time you need a video you just turn the cube and your video starts playing. I hope you like the program, I was introduced to it in my mythology class senior year of high school where we all used it and it worked great! Hope you like!!


http://youcub.es/ 

Awesome way to bring back Memories!

One of Kist's ideas that I have fallen in love with was his PowerPoint Multigenre Autobiography! His idea of having his students put together a poster of some sort of what they felt had shaped them is jsut the coolest idea on the planet! As I read that activity I started thinking of what I would put onto my own poster if I got the chance to do it. I just feel that the activity would really make the students think about what they see and hear everyday and I think it would get them to realize that they are all more alike then they really thought. Most young adults in schools these days swear that only their group of friends had the same likes and dislikes when they were kids up until now. By doing this activity they would see how similar they all actually are!

If I did this activity, here are a few things I would have on mine!

Info on Kist....

When it come to the readings for this week, I was very shocked to find out that the author of our book didn't use too much technology in his classrooms at first. Thankfully he caught himself in the act he's against. I loved how he even said, "Not only did I need to "walk the walk," I needed to pick up the pace." I must say, I loved how he toured the U.S. schools to see how others were using technology in their classrooms to get a good idea of what was too much, what was too little, and what was just the right amount of usage of technology in the classrooms. I'm sure he got plenty of ideas of how he can use technology with his classes as well which always helps no matter how long you've been a teacher.

Hey There!

Hey Everyone!

My name is Victoria Botterbrodt, and as you can tell from my last name, I'm German! The name Botterbrodt translates into Butter Bread, and yes that's un-toasted bread. I have 3 older brothers and the I'm from South Jersey. I came to Slippery Rock because I heard how great their program is for Secondary Education English. I am also a minor in Art because I have always loved being Artistic! I've known since I was in 2nd grade that I've wanted to be a teacher, and though the workload is overwhelming sometimes, it's totally worth it! When I'm not writing papers and making art I can be found doing 1 of 3 things. I'm either reading an amazing book, watching a movie, or riding my horse, Noah! I read all genres of books, I just find it too boring to stay in the same genre too long because after a while it becomes too predictable. I watch any and all movies I can find the time to watch. When it comes to Disney movies or parks don't try to stump me because I'm way too obsessed. My horse Noah is my life, and that is not a lie. When I don't have class I will hang around the barn for hours just to be near Noah. Other than Noah I have 5 other pets. I have 3 outdoor cats named Sammy and Romy and Michele. I also have 2 dogs, a collie named Summer and a Yellow Lab named Trace. 

                   

           

                    Summer                                                          

Trace

  Mom & Dad

                     The Botterbrodt Kids with Grandmom

Left-Right: Karl (2nd Bro.) Jenny, Grandmom, Stephanie, Me, Eric (1st Bro), Glen (3rd)

    Me and Noah at ECRDA Championships

Noah at our First Horse Show