Foot: How this class changed my life

Besides all of the useful and practical educational strategies that I learned in this class, I gained something I find more enjoyable than multi-modality. I don't believe it was even Miss Foot's intention, but after she showed us the first five minutes of "Lost", I was hooked. I was aware of this show while it aired, and I knew that it ended last summer. But I never had any reason to watch it. I thought it was one of those shows that got dragged on for a long time so those involved would continue to profit off of "Lost" even after it lost its original essence, and to some extent it was one of those shows, but in the beginning it was one of the most exciting, suspenseful ,and thought provoking shows I ever saw. The different characters all brought something to the table, except Shannon, and in the beginning the show had a great focus, and begged excellent questions. "Lost" originally dealt with the idea of tabla rossa, blank slate, the idea that everyone can start over, and when these individuals came to the island they were starting over. Then there was the issue of science versus faith, John Locke against Jack Shepard. The was the story line went back in time was great for about the first two seasons. The only real complaint I have with the show is the time travel storyline, and the Desmond storyline, these two story lines have nothing to do with the main characters and the stories surrounding them, the writers only introduced these characters and phenomenons to be able to pump out 20 episodes a season,and keep getting paid. Nevertheless, I love this show, it was better in the beginning, but most shows are, I am about to start the last season now that I'm done with this post. Hopefully it all comes together in a faishon deserving of a show of its caliber.

Foot: Reflection Over the Semester

I genuinely enjoyed coming to this class over the past months. I am not a 'computer' person, I have always tried not rely on technology in my day-to-day life, so before this class I had not paid any mind to the relevance of how I am part of this new generation of students who grew up using technology. I think it was that since about 4th or 5th grade computers have been commonplace in my life, that is why I never saw the significance of using technology and multi-modal source in education. But after going through my earlier education classes and hearing little about multi-modality, multi-modal teaching strategies seemed like the education of the future. Th multi-genre autobiography caught my attention, I truly enjoyed this project and the nostalgic feelings that came with it, I had a type of realization when we began to discuss movies, music, and television as "texts'". I will use this when I get my own class because I need to open up the channels of communication with my students before I can become some who is able to motivate these students as individuals. I will use the soundtrack assignment to reach out to the class' experiences and knowledge of music. Depending on my students, I would consider creating an online discussion board for my class, I think it is innovative way to make sure students are doing the readings, but it lacks some academic rigour. I learned a lot from blogging and discussing class work online, I was so fascinated by "The History of Facebook" , how the different players involved kept turning on each other and trying to create new online ideas to manipulate our society's new found obsession with online socialization. I felt like I got a lot off of my chest with the Firestone post, it gave me a chance to talk honestly about my experiences and how I performed as a teacher and how I could grow. I changed as a pre-service educator during this semester by becoming adept to the most effective and practical multi-modal teaching strategies, I believe if I never needed to use any of the strategies or sources we review din this class, then I would be able to properly lead the class using multi-modality..

Foot: My Opinion on Toni Morrison

Every year I am forced to read Beloved by Toni Morrison and listen to teachers talk about how she is such a great author. I'm not commenting on her writing skills, but her message is that of broad sweeping generalizations and a never ending debt. What has Toni Morrison ever done to improve race relations? Nothing, she profits off of racism and discrimination, she needs for peoplle to believe that racism is alive and well to continue to do what she does. She wants us to believe that all white people are guilty for rich settlers did hundred of years ago , "She has unleashed a firestorm of vituperation against white America for the suffering of black slaves and their descendants"(McMichael, 2008). Her only goal is to convince all her readers that today's Black's lives are dictated by the actions of slave masters hundreds of years ago. I'm sure any politically correct person out there reading this is thinking I am a bigot, this couldn't be further from the case, but I can tell an author trying to manipulate people into believing what they want them to. It just bothers me that she is so against racism and slavery, yet she has made a career out of convincing people that these subjects should dictate peoples' lives today. Also, her analogy of killing a child to protect it from slavery bothers me, a mother should never kill her child, it is the most backwards thing that defies nature to the core, Morrison uses the shock effect in all of her work to burn ugly images of white people into the minds of her readers. Toni Morison is racist against modern white people, if any white author made a career out of talking about how inhumane aspects of former black culture were they would be labeled a racist, if she wanted to make a difference for the better she would try to mend fences between the races instead of placing blame.

Foot: Compare / Contrast Entry

Text and Dialogue: The narration in Naruto was right to left, which made this extremely confusing to interpret. The narration in Pinocchio was the best narration I have ever read in a graphic novel, it flowed according to the exact same rules of western reading. In both of the graphic novels they used balloons to express, however in Naruto they used balloons and just put text in the background. There were some captions in Naruto, but only balloons in Pinocchio. There was emanata in Naruto to show different emotions, none in Pinocchio. There were no labels or signs in Pinocchio, but in Naruto there was a sign to say where to begin reading on each page. The lettering was all the same in Pinocchio, it looked to be comic sans, the lettering was uniform in Naruto, but the emanata had many different fonts. Both of the graphic novels had sound effects written in text outside of balloons to show physical actions.

Visual Features: The visual features in Pinocchio were much better than those in Naruto. All of the characters in Pinocchio were unique and very different from each other, and more importantly represented some type of person from Italian history. All of the characters in Naruto looked the same, with the exception of the antagonist. The objects in Pinocchio varied from scene to scene, in most of the Naruto scenes characters don't have objects because the scene is focusing on the facial expression of the character. In Naruto a headband seems to be a n importnat icon that all characters posses, in Pinocchio the wooden spears that the puppets have is a constant icon. The first page of Naruto has an excellent scenery, then it just goes back and forth from characters' faces, the scenery in Pinocchio changes from scene to scene, at the end the illustrator does an excellent job drawing the ocean, also they do a great job drawing the different parts of Italian cities. The depicted action in both of these graphic novels was fighting, but I think all of the different facial expression could be classified as depicted actions.

General Layout and Design: The borders in both of these graphic novels are strait thin lines, These graphic novels also both comprised of mainly scenes with borders and white gutters, but in both graphic novels there are about three or four pages that have a dark background that fills in the gutters. Both graphic novels only used squares and rectangles for panels, Pinocchio had better spacing of panels so that it all looked in sync. Both graphic novels opened up with open panels and had open panels near the end, But Naruto definitely had many more open panels, I enjoy the open panel scenes, they are quite artistic and interesting to look at. Both of the graphic novels used splashes, Pinocchio more than Naruto.

Angles and Frames: The bleed was never used in Pinocchio, because although there were splashes, the action never went into the next page. The bleed was used in all open panels in Naruto. Pinochio used close ups sparingly, whereas Naruto used close ups of characters faces to tell the whole story. Pinocchio used more head shots, head-shoulder shots, and full figure shots to shows the characters' emotions to move the story along. Of course Naruto had head shots, head shoulder shots, and full figure shots, but mainly it was close ups. The longshot an extreme longshot was used in the beginning of Naruto, and the end of Pinocchio, it is meant to introduce the audience to a new setting or to say goodbye to setting. The reverse was used sparingly in both of the graphic novels.

Rhetorical Techniques applied in text, visuals, and design: Both of these graphic novels use exaggeration, I think all graphic novels do, but Naruto uses exaggeration much more than Pinocchio. In Naruto the audience is suppose to identify with the main character, a young defiant rabble rouser, in Pinocchio we identify with all three of the different main male characters who are longing for their respective ladies. The mood of Pinocchio is that of a vampire film, the darkness of the living dead overtures the whole story. The tone of Naruto is that of defying authority and playful ninja fun. Naruot was founded in the simplicity anime, whereas Pinocchio was a much more complex graphic novel that explored the depths of each unique character. The only symbolism I saw a lot was the wooden spears that the puppets use to kill vampires. Naruto was told completely in order, Pinocchio used flashbacks and went a bit out of order at times. There was no juxtaposition except for Naruto and Pinocchio being so much smaller than all of their opponents. The relationships in Naruot was that Naruto was looked down on ,and not thought highly of, so he defied authority, In Pinocchio our main charters was beloved by his followers and thought highly of. Both points of view were an outsider looking in.

Pytash: Final Reflection

This was a very busy semester, but every single college student says this, so who is to believe? I can't' allow for myself to get caught up in frantic nature of the end of the semester, this cycle has occurs so many times, that I feel I have it down to science, it's like riding a bike, after doing it for so long it becomes like second nature. I am glad to say that this semester was not like going through the motions. I feel that I grew the most when working with my student at Firestone, hands down, that experience felt like I was getting a taste of the rest of my life, the reality of it scared me at first, but then I began to feel a pride that came along with being responsible for my student's growth, not just academically, but as a person. I knew that if I could feel proud of what I did with my students, then I could enjoy being in the classroom for years to come. I hope I don't sound picky in this post, I would take any teaching job just to feel the satisfaction I assume comes with being a real teacher with responsibilities. The Language as ..... theories allowed for me to fully understand the different schools of thought on what we ought to be doing as teachers. As I stated in class many times, I would behave as a teacher who employs the Language as a Social Construct theory, I want my teaching to help shape young people so they will be ready to deal with the issues and questions of our society. I didn't gain too much from the Yvonne Hutchison. She had a very willing class that wanted to engage in discussions based on critical thoughts, all she had to do was guide them and make sure they didn't get out of line, I didn't see her motivate any student that wasn't already engaged. The text book for this class was good, I feet I will use a good amount of this book when preparing for lessons. I like how Jago had high expectations, she really pushes for her students to reach their potential, but I think at times she would put too much of a work load on her students. I appreciated how the this class was aligned with Professor Foot's class, the only comment I have about both of these classes is the fact that we only meet 15 or less times a semester, I have always learned better in classes that meet more than once a week, at times it felt like a string of seminars. I know that Dr.Kist, Professor Foot , and yourself have a lot of experience and wisdom to offer in your classes, and just seeing you all so briefly over the semester was convenient for work and running, but I think I would have learned the material better had we met more frequently. I loved that we dealt with The Great Gatsby all semester, I feel ready to go out and teach it right now, I know that one day I will get to teach this book, and I am know armed with many different resources for teaching it. Overall, this was a great semester, I always looked forward to coming to your class, and always felt like I would be learning worth while material from someone who has experienced the job I want to hold. So have a good summer, and I will see you around White Hall.

Pytash: Chapter 7

I found this final chapter to have a very uplifting message, that as teachers we can mold these students into young people ready to deal with the issues and tasks of our society that require the spoken or written word. This chapter rekindled the emotions in me that brought about my desire to pursue a career in preparing young people for the world. The issue of standardizing graduation requirements across the nation has very valid points on both sides, I always tend to believe that states and communities should be allowed to govern themselves, but in this situation if there is no consistency across the board as to what a 'high school diploma' constitutes, then this leaves our society with a huge problem. I hear from older people that back in the day not everyone went to college, that a high school diploma could land a hard worker a decent living. This is not the case today. I really liked the way the diploma project described the language arts academic expectations for students to graduate. I liked how the chapter dealt with the question students might pose, "Why should I care about this book? It has nothing to do with my life", the author's answer is exactly what I would say, she just did it more elegantly. Teaching persuasion, rhetoric, the essential questions of being a human in the Western world, these are all actions that give me self-efficacy as someone who hopes to change students lives in the future. The election lesson idea was brilliant, when I get a class I will defiantly do this every election year, it is a such a perfect example of how literature and famous characters can effect the populous. Also, the five paragraph/essay prompts for the final test was a much better way for students to demonstrate and be assessed on their ability to produce critically thought out opinions on literature and rhetoric.

Pytash: Chapter 6

I look forward to teaching clasical literature more than I look forward to teaching writing or poetry or grammar, so I was very intruiged t osee what our author had to say on the matter. At firt I though tto my self "what am I going to learn from Japanesse teachers, they dont have to deal with the poverty that American teachers do, Japanesse students coem from families where socail success is valuedabove all esle, the student doesnt want ot dishonor this or her family by failing at school, so the Japanesse teachers are dealing with a completely differnet school system and studnet than American teachers are dealing with. But I found that I liked some of things they are doing, they are beign much more productive and getting results or inforamation from all of their teachers. By allowing teahcers to view their job as research more than teaching, then the teacher feels like they are valued by the school system, teachers learn from each other and together when they plan and critique their lessons together. However, I don't like that Japan has a national curriculum, It is as if they are having all of their teahers experiment with different lessons in hope that theywill hit the jackpot and then have every teracher in Japan terah that golden lesson that every Japanesse student will respond to. I totally agree with how a teaher should handel the outset of teaching The Odessey , The teaher needs to spend time explainging what an epic is and provide modern dayexamples of epics, the teacher must stimulate the students' minds to think about mental constructs theyhav about storys that have influnced them in the past. I would mention superheros whem describign the epicand Odsesius. I would want to read the whole story, not the abridged one that they usually use in high school, the complete verison is only longer because it has more episodes, but it is just as easy to comprehend as the abridged. If I am going to teach someone the greatest epic of all time, then we're goign to do it as the stroy has been handed down to us in its entirity. I would assign the reading as I saw fit, I woudl stop at sreasonable stopping points, I think it woud be worth mentionign how the epic works in an episodic fashion, it is a long story comprised of smaller tales. We would do the common activity of chartting the gods, that would be a day right there. I would print out maps of Mediteranian to show the students the actual loactions mentioned in the story. I would have daily rading quizes over the readings, and I really liekd the authors idea for a test and having the studnets preapre the review for the test for their classmates, I would definlty do this in class and will use this in my student teaching. The students will be broken into groups and each group will be responsible for teahcing the class a short review session on their assigned chapters, afeter each groop goes the whoel slcass should be preapred for the entire test,and each student has taught, the reciproacl process empowers the students and teaches them about academic responsibitlites. I am glad that the author used The Odyssey to demonstrate lesson plans for classics, there were a lot of good ideas in here, but I am sure that createing a lesson planis not this simple it will require experince and trial and error experiments if I will create effective lessons plans that I will carry out.