Group Meeting

Wednesday at 3:30 Jen and I will be meeting in the Library to revise our group teach in light of the changes our teacher has suggested. If Any other group members are available to attend please do so, it is important that we get this worked out before the weekend.

Letter

Dear Walt,

I must say that your song in the movie dumbo has some very racial ideas in it. I am certain that when you made this movie in 1941 the idea of stereotyping African Americans wasn't an issue that received a lot of attention. However, I feel that today a more conscious effort to be nonstereotypical would be better for the youth of our country. Perhaps making the workers a racially mixed bunch- even though that may not be historically accurate- would serve the movie better. Also at least give them faces and payment for their labor. I know your movie didn't set out to racially isolate anyone and I'm sure in 1941 no one gave a second thought to that particular scenes' racial discrimination- and who knows maybe that portrayal is accurate- but in todays politically correct world we all need to be more socially tolerant.

Sincerely,

John Chrisman

Reflection on Wednesday's Class

The lessons of day one were interesting. I had never really thought about the stereotypes that are actively present in everyones high schools. However, with a little observation I was able to easily pick out the characteristics that in my mind defined the stereotypical Prep. I was also amused to learn that everyones high school had unique stereotypes. The discussion into why people create stereotypes helped get the ball rolling on understanding why stereotypes occur.

I felt that the commercial assignment was a fun and eye opening activity. At first glance I didn't think there were really any stereotypes in the commercial I had chosen but again once I looked a little deeper the stereotypes were easy to pick out. Stripping the commercial of stereotypes and then replacing them with new stereotypes was fun, because it utilized my creativity, and educational, because it again allowed us to identify more stereotypes.

I suppose I would have to say that stereotypes are something that we are bombarded with everyday. In most every form of media and society there are stereotypes. They are, in todays world, impossible to avoid.

I think teaching about stereotypes is very important. English is a great subject with which to approach the stereotype topic because there is a lot of great literature that can accompany a unit on stereotyping, not to mention the obvious examples that are present in the world today. I dont think I would have any inhibitions about broaching the stereotype topic with my students I have always been of the mindset that the biggest most controversial topics are the ones that should be touched on and taught/learned about the most. I would be excited and interested to get my students engaged and discussing/thinking about the stereotypes they are subject to and the stereotypes they've created in their world.

Commercial

One commercial I really like thats on tv now is the Snickers commercial with the viking and the pilgrim. The two are at a gas station and the pilgrim tells the viking that they are out of Snickers candy bars and the viking yells NOOOOOOOO!!!! and throws a trash can at a car in the parking lot leaving a sizable dent in the cars rear driverside panel. Then the pilgrim tells the viking that he got them Snickers dark bars instead and the viking yells YEEEEESSSS!!!! again throwing a new trash can that somehow magically appered where the old (already thrown) trash can was. Again he hits the car in the parking lot in the rear driverside panel. I think the commercial is hilarious everytime I watch it because its so over the top, theres no real reason for a viking and a pilgrim to be friends traveling together but they do look quite ridiculous and watching a trash can get thrown into a car across a parking lot is farcical. I already really like Snickers candy bars and I havent yet tried the dark chocolate version (even though I do enjoy me some dark chocolate). But I suppose if I were given the choice between the two I would try the dark one. Yeah I'm pretty sure I would think of the commercial when I saw the dark chocolate Snickers.


I also really like the Messin with sasquatch commercials but I cant remember the name of the beef jerky that its for so I suppose its not that effective.

When I wanted to be a Girly man

I can only think of one real instance when I wanted to be a girl and not a boy. I was in middle school and I was a decent soccer player but not a great soccer player as I had always dreamed I would be. I can remember one day playing soccer in the backyard against my sister and some of her fellow high school teammates and just smoking the shit out of them by myself. And it was at that moment that I thought Golly if only I were a girl I would be awesome at soccer. I don't suppose I took into account the physical differences between boys and girls at that point but this is really the only time that I can recall wanting to be a girl instead of a boy for any significant amount of time. But I'm glad I'm a boy because I dont have to shave my legs and arm pits and wear makeup and all those other things that our society (me included) demands of women. I absolutely loath shaving (hence the beard at the moment) so the less of it I have to do the better. I really have nothing more to say about wanting to be a Girl/Woman.

Poem

Fuzzy Red digits
The brain desperately clings to a dream
But it slips away into Freud’s Library

Consciousness
Invades the body slowly
Starting with the mind
Then alerting the eyes
But pausing at the arm
Void of blood
It is a dead log that must be roused
Painfully

Cool air floods the nostrils
Filling them with the stale air of the room
The body struggles up placing an elbow
Into a cool wet pool of drool

First one foot
Then the other
Makes contact with yesterdays dirty cloths
As each toe probes the articles
A coarse muscle rubs itself around the mouth
Riding itself of the chalky film it’s collected

Suddenly the sleeping arm is attacked
By thousands of prickly pears, cactus needles, porcupine quills, and bumble bee stingers
The arm is given a hearty shake, which only intensifies its pain
So it is left to scream as it angrily awakes

Then the body stands with a chorus of creaks and snaps
Each joint rendering a complaint
Turning off the steady HUUUUMMMM of the fan
Revealing the sound of birds in the dead pine
Which scratches the window with only a gust

But the curtain stays closed
The eyes don’t wish to see the birds
The eyes don’t desire the colorful light of the morning sun
The eyes enjoy the dark, the uncertainty



Sight is overrated as a sense
Taken for granted
The body prefers to use its other senses for navigation
The ones tuned out by the contracting lenses

Chapter 14 Response

Chapter 14 was an interesting read. I admit that I would love to do more multigenre work in the classroom as I think its good for students to engage in different styles of writing for different purposes and different audiences. I feel that exposing students to different genres will give them the confidence to write letters to the boss, or memos at work or newspaper articles, or a number of other purposes. The chapter says that multigenre writing is good for students going on to college however, I would have to disagree with that statement that while a student is in college they will be engaged in a multitude of writing in genres other than scholarly work. Even this blog is something I would consider a "scholarly" sort of writing since I am analyzing the text I have read and I'm quoting/paraphrasing it to support my ideas. Only once in my college career can I recall writing in a genre that isn't on some level scholarly and that was in the one, not required, creative writing class I took. In that class I wrote one short story and five poems. Since that class I really struggle to recall an instance in which I have had to know how to write a descriptive essay, or a newspaper article, or anything of that sort. So based on my college experience I would say that students do not need to know how to engage in multigenre writing in order to succeed in college.

The excerpt in the text about plagiarism I found to be full of good ideas. I was especially interested in the statement that "plagiarism is worth mini-lessons, as in multiple, discussion, and practice". I know that my high school experience with proper citation included one quick "you've done this before right?" and then one half hearted lesson and getting a paper back with the bibliography all marked up. Its my opinion that teachers should spend a portion of class on a few different days going over citation requirements and each of these days their should be some practice of citing sources properly done by the students. Our society places a great emphasis on not stealing the ideas and writing of others. Yet, our teachers/professors encourage and often times require us to quote and paraphrase from the sources. So as a student I can remember feeling lost and terrified of misquoting or incorrectly citing a source. Teachers need to recognize that asking students to quote adds a lot of pressure on the students writing.

Finally I loved the quote at the end of this chapter. "As I see it, one of my jobs is to get the academic community to think in broader terms about what constitutes good academic writing." (89). I think this gets to the heart of why schools (especially colleges) don't bother with multigenre writing. Our society for whatever reason doesn't value nonscholarly work as highly as scholarly work. And for many years now people view anything that isn't a research paper as largely not scholastic and thus not as teach worthy. However, this chapter makes the argument that multigenre writing can be every bit as scholastic as a research paper and can actually include elements of a research paper in much craftier and interesting ways. For example I would much rather write and read a paper on king Richard that contains facts but is composed in a short story genre. It gives the students more writing freedom and gives the paper a more interesting, yet factual story. If the students enjoy it more then they will most likely learn more from it.

New Ideas for Group Teach

Essential Questions:
What is Poetry?
How can we start writing Poetry?
What other elements of literature can be incorporated into poetry?

Activity Ideas:
Students Read Scholarly text on teaching poetry

Group Poem

Discussion of previous poetry experiences

Read different poems from different genres

Songs as poems

Model writing and reading poems

Group Meeting

Sunday didn't work for anyone so lets try and get together this week sometime if we can.... Post suggestions for times. I'm willing to meet people individually if need be. I check my blog you everyone in our groups blog at least once a day so either put on comment on here or put a post on your wall and I'll get back to you.