Sunday, January 25, 2009
Shallow v. Academic Analysis
I didn't like it. It was stupid. Boring. Too many big words. Too long. The ending sucked. Unrealistic. Before you go on, think about it a little more. Ask why. While all of these reactions to literature or film or other media are all legitimate, when you are asked to analyze or review these for an assignment, you MUST approach the text in a mature and thoughtful way. If the director of a film choose to end a tragedy with a alternative, happily-ever-after ending, why? If the character cusses up a storm, why? Do these things create in the viewer the desired effect that the author or director intended for the audience? Does a certain detailed and incredibly long description create an atmosphere that is necessary for us as readers to understand? When you review anything with an academic eye, you must ask yourself about the purpose of the author. Ask WHY!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Wastin' Time
We all do it, and sometimes it is OK. But there is a time and a place to work. Often times we think that we can do it later, do it at home, do it during Pirate Time or before school. That's what we think, until something better comes along, like a juicy piece of gossip that we just HAVE to talk about or a great movie comes on that we just have to watch. And when we do have something better to do, we ingore what needs to be done or what should have been done earlier. I am just as guilty of this as the next person, but when I have a designated time to work, I do it!
And thus, wasting time leads to hurried and sloppy work. It leads to skimming the material rather than reading closely. It leads to relying on spell check, which will NOT catch the their, there, and they're mistakes or the were-where, whether, weather mistakes! Grammar check will not insert or delete commas for you. So when you wait until the last minute for the homework fairy to do it for you, it WILL affect your grade.
Funny that I have seniors who still waste time when they have research to do in the library. Like they think that the research will again magically happen? Or that the paper will be easy to write at the last minute so all the research can be done at the last minute? Call me crazy, but all my attempts to prevent procrastination seem fruitless. I will just stop trying I suppose.
But if you can't afford me the time in class, don't expect me to afford you the time outside of class. Call me grouchy, but learning is a two-way street.
And thus, wasting time leads to hurried and sloppy work. It leads to skimming the material rather than reading closely. It leads to relying on spell check, which will NOT catch the their, there, and they're mistakes or the were-where, whether, weather mistakes! Grammar check will not insert or delete commas for you. So when you wait until the last minute for the homework fairy to do it for you, it WILL affect your grade.
Funny that I have seniors who still waste time when they have research to do in the library. Like they think that the research will again magically happen? Or that the paper will be easy to write at the last minute so all the research can be done at the last minute? Call me crazy, but all my attempts to prevent procrastination seem fruitless. I will just stop trying I suppose.
But if you can't afford me the time in class, don't expect me to afford you the time outside of class. Call me grouchy, but learning is a two-way street.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Banning Books! Are you crazy?!
Call me crazy, but the banning of books because they might disturb our gentile sensibilities is insulting to my intelligence. If the content of a book makes the reader uncomfortable, then put the damn book down! However, if you continue to read it because you are titilated by the words or the scenes that are written and then complain, you are doing the rest of us a great disservice.
There is a clear distinction between the inclusion of a child rape scene so that some pervert might get his kicks and the inclusion of such a scene to show the deep and everlasting betrayal between two friends.
This particular reference is to the recent challenging of the wonderfully written and highly educational novel, The Kite Runner, in California. This novel has so much to teach its readers about the Afghanistan culture and conflicts, as well as the depth of friendship and family as a powerful theme to which most of humankind can relate.
Having just finished a "banned book review" with my students, I found it important to talk to them about the content of books that have far more positive aspects than what is controversial about them. As I try desperately to creat critical thinkers in my classroom, I encourage each of them to analyze the author's purpose for the inclusion of language, violence, and sex. Toni Morrison's Beloved would not be as poignant without the violent rape of Sethe, and in turn her violent attempt to save Beloved from the white slave owner. Holden Caufield's views of humanity would not be as bitter or angry without the profanity that made him feel more grown up than his years. Walter Dean Meyer's Fallen Angels would give a fluffy and rose-colored image of the Vietnam war without the graphic descriptions of the pyschological and physical damage that the war did to the young men who fought for a cause they did not understand.
So before you condemn a book for its content, you must ask yourself WHY. And was it necessary to use to get a point across to the reader? And then, if you still find the book offensive, for God's and the rest of our's sake, put the book down! But please don't take that right away from the rest of us!
There is a clear distinction between the inclusion of a child rape scene so that some pervert might get his kicks and the inclusion of such a scene to show the deep and everlasting betrayal between two friends.
This particular reference is to the recent challenging of the wonderfully written and highly educational novel, The Kite Runner, in California. This novel has so much to teach its readers about the Afghanistan culture and conflicts, as well as the depth of friendship and family as a powerful theme to which most of humankind can relate.
Having just finished a "banned book review" with my students, I found it important to talk to them about the content of books that have far more positive aspects than what is controversial about them. As I try desperately to creat critical thinkers in my classroom, I encourage each of them to analyze the author's purpose for the inclusion of language, violence, and sex. Toni Morrison's Beloved would not be as poignant without the violent rape of Sethe, and in turn her violent attempt to save Beloved from the white slave owner. Holden Caufield's views of humanity would not be as bitter or angry without the profanity that made him feel more grown up than his years. Walter Dean Meyer's Fallen Angels would give a fluffy and rose-colored image of the Vietnam war without the graphic descriptions of the pyschological and physical damage that the war did to the young men who fought for a cause they did not understand.
So before you condemn a book for its content, you must ask yourself WHY. And was it necessary to use to get a point across to the reader? And then, if you still find the book offensive, for God's and the rest of our's sake, put the book down! But please don't take that right away from the rest of us!
Monday, October 6, 2008
Sharing Self
It's always a little intimidating reading your own work aloud before a classroom full of students who may or may not appreciate your story, your humor, your depth of feeling.
So when I shared the essay I wrote about Daniel, I was nervous, my voice shook slightly, and I could feel my knees quivering beneath me. Lucky for me, I heard laughter or silence in all the right places and by the end of the essay, they had heard the message I intended.
The task before students is to evoke similar responses in their audiences through their writing: to make the readers and listeners laugh and think and see what it is they are writing about.
It is about becoming vunerable and open to negative responses, to inappropriate laughter, to uncaring or cold commemts. Teenagers don't often willingly offer themselves up as sacrificial lambs on the writing butcher block. They remain safe by telling the same cliched stories that teachers have read for eons. But growth only happens when we risk much more, when we risk our hearts and souls by pouring them onto a page where we are left open to attack. The growth happens when we become determined to be more and to do more than is expected.
So what does reading my story of Daniel do for me? It exposes me as a human being, one with a sense of humor, a sense of compassion. It also allows me to demonstrate to each of them the love that I have for what I ask of each of them.
May you grow with each word you write.
So when I shared the essay I wrote about Daniel, I was nervous, my voice shook slightly, and I could feel my knees quivering beneath me. Lucky for me, I heard laughter or silence in all the right places and by the end of the essay, they had heard the message I intended.
The task before students is to evoke similar responses in their audiences through their writing: to make the readers and listeners laugh and think and see what it is they are writing about.
It is about becoming vunerable and open to negative responses, to inappropriate laughter, to uncaring or cold commemts. Teenagers don't often willingly offer themselves up as sacrificial lambs on the writing butcher block. They remain safe by telling the same cliched stories that teachers have read for eons. But growth only happens when we risk much more, when we risk our hearts and souls by pouring them onto a page where we are left open to attack. The growth happens when we become determined to be more and to do more than is expected.
So what does reading my story of Daniel do for me? It exposes me as a human being, one with a sense of humor, a sense of compassion. It also allows me to demonstrate to each of them the love that I have for what I ask of each of them.
May you grow with each word you write.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Reading Dracula
Let me just say I that I am having the best time in my Gothic Literature class!!! There are just 6 of us in there, count me, that's 7 and we are having FUN!
Every student is engaged in the story, questioning the text, and finding real meaning in the plot. We spend all hour talking about a single chapter. This is the joy of an elective. I don't have to cram a lot of material into the semester. We can luxuriate in a single text for an extensive period of time. There are no real deadlines as long as the students and I have an understanding of the goals of the class and that every thing we do and talk about meets those objectives.
Here's a creepy story though--today is Septemeber 30 and we just finished the chapter where VanHelsing, Dr. Seward, Quincey, and Arthur Holmwood must kill Lucy the vampire--the date in the book--September 30. Makes me want to hum the Twilight Zone song!
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