Module 10

To be honest, as one of the few non-education majors in the class, I was a little skeptical about this assignment. In the end though, it was one of my favorites!

I really enjoyed every one's presentations, but there were three specific ones that really stuck out to me. These three were assignments I would have loved to do in one of my English classes. It seems like many of them dealt with analyzing how complex characters developed over the course of a text, how they interacted with other characters, and how it advanced the plot of developed the theme.

The Character Analysis using Of Mice and Men and Twitter was one that resonated with me. I think it is important to start teaching social media in middle school/ high school level because of how much it impacts our current society. No teacher should deny their students education just because they do not agree with the topic. Social media is here to stay and there is no denying it will only get bigger and better.

Miss Peregrines Artifacts assignment was definitely one I wished I could have done. I love any assignment that deals with art and creative expression. The purpose of the assignment was to create a visual artifact that represented your understanding of the text including theme, mood, symbolism, and the overall meaning. I loved how for their example, they each made bird cages, but had very different interpretations of the artifact.

Last, but not least, was the OMG it's Shakespeare assignment. I loved that one of the purposes of the assignment was to create a personal connection with the text by using text language. When you modernize any text, you gain a better understanding. However, this project takes "modern" to a whole new level. They used text jargon in their example and tried to put themselves into the characters shoes when responding to each other's text messages.

Module 9

People would say I have a pretty outgoing personality, but for some reason as soon as it comes to speaking in front of a bunch of people, I instantly shut down and become shy. So, you can only imagine how I feel when it comes to drama and acting. The funniest part is that when I was younger, I wanted to be an actress.

In my analysis of the assigned reading, I was still kind of confused about what process drama really was. Like I have said in the past, I am a visual learner and typically do not completely grasp concepts until I see them in action.

The in-class activities were where I comprehended everything and realized I really liked the whole notion. I loved how TO incorporated the whole class and how comfortable he made everyone feel. It was also really fast paced and did not give me enough time to overthink and freak out before “performing.” I really enjoyed the short story activity we did in small groups.

However, my favorite activity was the interpretation of the grocer’s children poem. It was really cool that we basically were the ones to come up with the “scripts” and the poem was just a reference. Each group had their own interpretation, some feeling bad for the grocer and some who were disgusted.

Although I did not get up and participate in the live action skit, I enjoyed watching my peers and had a good laugh. I was pleasantly surprised with some of my classmates and never expected some people to act the way they did. I still wish I would have volunteered, but as soon as TO asked who wanted to come up to perform, my palms instantly started sweating and I felt the nerves. Overall, this was one of my favorite units and I wish I would have done something similar to this in high school.

Module 8

This module was all about video production and how it can be used to analyze literary elements. One of my favorite in class assignments was  completed during this module and that was creating the storyboard of the short story, The Story of an Hour. A rather morbid story, it is filled with extensive detail that make creating visuals quite easy. We were each given a piece of the story to turn into a storyboard, or a sequence of drawings planning the shots for a movie.

I loved this part because I am a very visual person so when I read novels, I imagine everything, even the smallest details in my head. I am the type of person who needs to visualize it to really understand and enjoy it. One of my favorite things in the world is when books I love and have connected with are made into movies because then I get to experience it in an even more intimate way. Bringing my ideas to life and collaborating with fellow classmates to create the final product was challenging, but enjoyable. 

In terms of the project, the video analysis of a literary theme, while brainstorming about ideas, I became a little apprehensive. I do not have a lot of video production experience, but have always been intrigued by cinematography and all of its elements. I am a big movie fanatic who is very aware and appreciative of all of the strenuous work that goes into a movie's production.

For us, the only difficult part we had was picking a novel and then a specific chapter. After meeting a few times, we finally decided on To Kill a Mockingbird as we had all read this book and were aware of its implications and strong elements that would help us recreate it visually. We chose the courtroom scene where Tom Robinson is convicted and Scout and Jem feel the pain of injustice. The collaboration of our ideas were fascinating and we all considered the attention to detail. Our storyboard features specific shots that were planned to emphasize our theme, the existence of social injustice. In the end, the production process was easy and everything really flowed. 

Module 7

When I learned that we would be doing a podcast for this class, I have to admit, I was a little worried. I do not consider myself a hand-waver, but I had never worked with this technology before and knew very little about the world of podcasting. I know it has become relatively big in this day and age, but it was something that had never really grasped my interest.

The assignment would be to record a podcast of us promoting a young adult novel. We could basically do whatever we wanted and, honestly, this overwhelmed me. I am used to receiving very specific instructions with little room for creativity. Frankly, the fact that I was feeling this way made me sad that my past educational experiences have been so inept. 

We read an article in class titled, "The Book Report, Version 2.0: Podcasting on Young Adult Novels" and this definitely helped calm my nerves as it provided more direction to this assignment with analysis and examples. One point that struck me in the article talked about the literary idea of perspective and how podcasting forced students to consider the options. Whether the viewpoint be as outsiders to the story, as the characters themselves, or both, this was important to take into account before recording.

For our podcast we decided to do the Great Gatsby, as it was a book we were all familiar with. We listened to a few podcasts and decided to go with an interview format where the host would ask a book critic questions regarding the plot, themes, and symbolism. Trying to pinpoint the main ideas proved to be challenging as there were many provided in our research, but we did our best to pick ideas that promoted the book. 

Prior to the recording process, Aimee and I were very confident in our script, but as soon as the little red light went on, we could barely speak. Eventually, we got more comfortable and, after a few, tries, successfully recorded the podcast. We all agreed that the research process was a majority of the work, while the recording was fairly simple. Overall, I really enjoyed this unit and it has definitely sparked my interest with podcasting. 

Module 6

In this unit, argumentative writing was covered and it was no easy feat. 

The readings for this module included Hyler Chapter 5 and Gura Chapters 12 and 13. Hyler discussed argumentative papers and how to best format them. He also compares argumentative writing to persuasive writing and stresses the importance of knowing the difference. Argumentative writing involves facts and knowing both sides of the argument, whereas persuasive is more one sided, looking to merely convince an audience. I think to understand one, you need to understand both. 

Gura discusses argumentative writing as well, but focuses on tools that can be used to enhance an argument. Blogging is heavily emphasized as a prewriting exercise and, as a big advocate for blogs, I loved this. I think blogging is a great tool that also involves peer review and 

My favorite part of this unit, however, was the Public Service Announcement assignment. I appreciate a great public service announcement and think they are necessary for keeping people aware. Many times we get so caught up in our everyday activities that we forget to take a step back and care for the world around us, the world we live in. 

The following was the PSA I created... (My printer ran out of ink, so unfortunately I did not have the PSA I would have liked for the gallery walk)

I did my PSA on voting because I thought it was very relevant with the election only a few weeks away. I cannot tell you how many times I hear people complaining about our president or political officials and then have the nerve to say they did not even cast a vote. That is exactly where the inspiration behind my announcement came from. 

Overall I think this unit was very helpful and I took many things away from it. As a non-education major, I always skew the content to fit my needs and sometimes it is rather difficult. With this unit, I found it fairly simple and even got to utilize design elements, which is a huge part of my major. 

Module 5

In Module 5, the objective was to discuss strengths of digital tasks that enable students to create original narratives. The chapters discussed in this unit contained a lot of relevant information, but something about Gura Chapter 2 really stuck with me. At it’s core, the chapter discussed how creativity is being jeopardized in school due to the preparation for state wide assessments.

I really resonated with this because towards the end of my time in high school, more and more state assessments were added. Luckily, as a senior, I was grandfathered out of them, but saw my sister and her friends suffer.

The digital tool within this chapter, Animoto, a service tool/application that allows the user to produce slideshows from pictures, video clips, and music. I had never heard of this tool, but it immediately caught my interest and would have loved to utilize it's features in some of my classes.

The assignment, "digital story pitch," required the students to create their own short stories and then create an Animoto to endorse/sell their pitch. I love the kind of assignments that allow students to focus on something other than just the writing. Writing is not everyone's strong suit and it is important for teachers to understand this and incorporate a diverse set of learning tools within the curriculum. 

In the discussion surrounding this Chapter, TO brought up a very interesting point regarding the animated pitches and if students should be told about it before writing their stories or after. I thought it would be wise to tell them ahead of time so they could get the most out of the assignment. Sometimes students put in a minimal effort if they think the assignment is solely what is in front of them. If you told them at the beginning, the opportunity for critical thinking would present itself with the potential for great work.