I was wondering...

Throughout this course and other courses we have taken to prepare us to be English teachers, we have had many discussions about what tools and strategies we would us in the classroom. When Shay came to visit us and discuss his work with film in the classroom I heard quite a few people saying, "Well he teaches an elective class though..." This really suprised me.
Ever since I decided to be an English teacher I KNEW I would teach a Creative Wri ting elective. I never had any doubt about doing that. I don't mean to suggest that there is not A LOT of work to keep English teachers busy enough, but I was wondering if anyone else had ideas about what else they wanted to do in schools. What other things would you like to be active in ( yearbook, newspaper etc.)?
I always think about being a Creative Writing teacher in addition, and the idea of becoming a basketball couch in school has also crossed my mind. Maybe this is because I come from a small school where teachers had many positions; I'm really not sure. Could that be it?
Karen forwarded this article to me today that basically says everything I believe in regarding poetry and allowing students to express their own voices. Anyways I guess after reading it, I just wondered why we never talk about the additional things we want to do when we teach, especially if they are what administrators are looking for?

IWeb verses Freewebs.com

I agree that the IWeb template seems more professional, especially because there are no advertisements. Still, I thought that a professional website would be useful to showcast yourself as a teacher and also to expand on and organize both your past experiences and where you are headed in your carreer. I can see myself using a professional website like the ones we created, and that is why I decided to construct it using Freewebs.com instead of IWeb. This class has definately transofmred my apprehensive MAC using capability and I am more comfortable using a Mac, but a PC is still what I have at home. I wanted to be able to work on my website in the future and doing it in IWeb I think would have made this assignment, just that--an assignment that I would not be able to expand on after this course. On a side note, after using the Mac to do various things in class this semester, I would consider buying a Mac for my next computer. Applications like IMovie, garageband, IPhoto etc. are much easier to use together on a Mac then I have found from a PC.

ILife Book

As I was re-reading my posts I realized that I hadn't disscussed my experience with the ILife '06 lessons. Michael Rubin's book is a wonderful guide to learning IPhoto, IMovie, Garageband, and IWeb. I will definately hold onto it as a useful tool. However, I learn much better through hands-on experiences, and I found that the lessons Rubin sets up were more confusing, time-consuming, and frustrating. I don't believe my frustrations with the lessons had anything to do with Rubin's technique. Instead, I just think that I do not learn well from step-by-step guides. By the time the IMovie project came around, I was experimenting with it by myself and only refering to the ILife book if I was stuck.From this, I feel the three hours it takes to do a lesson is better spent on experimenting with your own ideas by using the program. It's much faster and I think you know how to use the program better if you fiddle with the buttons. Creating my IMovie... I did a lot of "what does this do, what does that do'es?" Reading and copying what someone else is doing seems mindless and less enjoyable. But maybe it's just me. Did anyone else rely more heavily on the ILife lessons they did?

Project

For my project I am demonstrating how IMovie can be used to help express poetry, visually. Incorporating still pictures with my own written poetry -based on these images- will show a connection between what we write and what we see. I have always had a passion for writing poetry, and I think having students write poetry based on pictures or concrete images will help them appreciate a genre that they may otherwize feel disconnected from. Also, it is important for students to expreience different point of views and perspectives in their own writing in addition to exploring voice and point of view when they are read literature. Choosing a topic that truly interests me and that I feel I will use in the classroom has been challenging, but I am very excited about sharing and learning poetry in this new way.

Did you know??

So I never really understood how to insert hypertext using brackets [[]]. No matter how many times I looked over my notes I couldn't get it to work for me. Here's what I realized today.

If you highlight one of your words in the passage, click on the hypertext icon, and insert the URL, it makes a connection from that word to the website without fiddling with brackets. It seems way simplier to me. I'm excited!

Website

My website is comng along. The template, background, and images are up and ready for viewing. I fouled around with music selections but decided against adding music. I just thought it might be distracting from the information rather than complementary. I don't know maybe it's just me. Regardless, more content is needed and on the way!!

Check it out

IMovie reflection

After all the time I put into my IMovie project, I feel that I have a solid understanding of how to use the applications. I redid my movie about three times; each time I learned how to edit better, decrease and increase my sound, and transition from one slide to the next. I went from being completely incompentant with the equipment and IMovie application to having a good idea of what adaptors I need for both a PC and a Mac. I do feel that students will benifit from using the IMovie application in collaboration with other literature.

Will Richardson talk

Just wanted to take a moment to talk about how incredable Will Richardson's talk was. I loved his example of how the first website found on Google dedicated to Martin Luther King is unrealiable, offensive, and almost commical because it reaffirms his point that students need to be taught or "guided" on how to use the internet and other resources to their benefit. I wrote a little bit more about Will Richardson's visit on the YA Lit blog, which I have bookmarked. If you want to, please take a look at my further response, and the responses from my YA Lit classmates!!

IMovie continues...

With all the struggles I had trying to import my footage on a computer, not to mention finding time when a class is not in the Mac lab, I thought my troubles were at an end. I had saved my project onto a DVD and only needed to add my voice over, but evidently the audio recording does not save with the project so all of my footage was mute. Just another issue that is good to know now... So, I am again in the library uploading my footage and hoping that the audio will save. I agree with Will Richardson that it is important to learn this technology, and I feel that I have a very good understanding of IMovie now. Still, I feel that this amount of time was suppose to be spent on my project NOT my IMovie. I have definately learned what frustration is. In any case, my footage is finished downloading... so here we go again! I hope it turns out alright.

506 IMovie and reflecting on Project

Although I have expressed my concerns to Prof. Sterns and Prof. Reid, I felt the need to speak in regards to the problems relying on the Library for tools and access. After recieving two different adaptors from the library, the technician finally informed me that they must not have any adaptors for PC's. Since then I have had success with viewing my film-footage and have even started editing, which felt great. Unfortunately, a class was using the computer Mac lab for 3 hours during my break today so it will again have to wait until Thursday. I did get things done for other courses, and I feel that I am on the right track with the projects,seminars, papers, etc.
What still worries me, and the only thing that I have not been able to find a decent topic for, is my project for Eng506. Talking to other people in the class, I feel that I am not alone in that I haven't begun, but I am still quiet nervious because I need to begin. I keep thinking of various topics but I cannot seem to target any specifics that seem applicable to teaching. I guess I'm wondering if anyone has a little feedback... models of what you have been working on, or suggestions. One of my favorite passions is writing poetry about paintings..perhaps I could do something with that. I'm a little stuck and I'll keep thinking, but for now I'm on my way to join you for more talk with Will Richardson. (I promise that the next blog on Will's visit will be more meaty) ;) THANKS ahead of time!