Pytash: Jago: Ch. 5

How Poems Work

I never understood why students hate poetry the most out of all the units that are taught in a language arts class. I love poetry. After reading this chapter, I learned how to make poetry more understandable and enjoyable for my students. Whenever I think of a poet (no matter how hard I try to stop thinking this way) I always envision someone that can just sit down, and write their feelings and come up with art on the first try. However, I know this isn't true, and I think it's important that students know that poets work at what they do. I loved how Jago explained how Poe came up with "The Raven" on page 93. After having students read "The Raven", I think it'd be funny to have them re-read it, but replacing "raven" with "parrot" and asking them what kind of changes that made to the mood of the poem. This can simply show them how much thought went into the poem.

On page 81, Jago tells us how to structure freewriting. I love her examples of getting the students started by saying, "Maybe Wordsworth was thinking..." When I first started reading about the freewriting idea, I didn't like it because I did not know what my students would come up with. I know that when I'm giving the option to do something like this, I have to discuss with my neighbor real quick about what they're going to write just so I have a slight idea on where to get started. I love that Jago gives structure to freewriting. 

Pytash: Jago: Ch. 3

Choosing Which Books to Teach

First and foremost, did anyone else giggle a little when they read on page 40 the guy's name that came up with the list of popular required texts? His last name is Applebee...I wonder if he's eatin good in the neighborhood? 

 Anyways, on to the content of the chapter!

I always thought that I would just teach books that I liked, and could have fun reading over and over again. But Jago challenged me to choose books that are in depth, and can be torn apart. As much as I love Sonya Sones, and as much as I would love teaching "What My Mother Doesn't Know", what WOULD I teach? This book only really has one layer (if there's more, then someone please enlighten me!) and I think the only reason I would want to teach it is because it's a quick read, it's fun, and it seems VERY relatable to high school students. But what would I be doing to my students? Nothing. They wouldn't be gaining any knowledge, so right now, I'm making a vow that I will only choose books that meet the six requirements on page 47.

The exercise that Jago did with her students while reading Frankenstein on page 55 was a really good idea too. It's weird how you know there's a certain mood set for a book, but if you actually look at the wording, you can see how the author planned their vocabulary for the exact mood. If you teach students how to discover the important words, they're that much closer to understanding texts as a whole. Thus far, I really enjoy the tips that Jago is giving us as teachers.

Pytash: Jago: Ch. 1

Seven Guiding Principles for Literature Teachers:

There are two defining differences between my best friend and I: 1. She only reads young adult novels and has a very limited vocabulary. 2. She is brunette and I am blonde. 

I always wondered how she couldn't just KNOW what words mean, but when reading the first chapter of Jago's Classics in the Classroom, I think I may have figured it out! The fourth principle that Jago brings up is that "Reading literature requires language study and builds vocabulary" (page 8) I'm not a huge fan of classics, but I read them and understand them. I grew up with parents that pushed me to learn new words, and use them, but if you don't grow up with this, then in school you would need to stretch your knowledge of words by reading them consistently, and using them. Jago mentions the best way of doing this by having students involved with literature, and not the every-day young adult literature, but classics. 

After last semester's young adult literature class, I was all for using young adult literature in the classroom, but what will it REALLY teach my students other than reading can be fun? While pairing these YA books with classic texts, I think we can show students that they can learn from what they read, build their knowledge base, and still have fun reading.  

Foot: Multi-Modal Experience with Social Studies

I know a local Social Studies teacher (she's my fiance's mom!) and she teaches a criminal justice class. She was talking about making her lesson plans and she was asking if she should use Criminal Minds or CSI in her class. I'm a huge Criminal Minds fan, but I asked her quite bluntly, "Are you just not wanting to do anything tomorrow in that class? Why show them a TV show?" She knows that I'm an aspiring teacher, so she told me that while a lot of teachers use movies and TV shows to kill time, that she just takes little bits and pieces from the shows to use as examples. She explained that she wants her students watching them outside of class so they understand the topics better, but that she tries to get them hooked by showing things that relate to class, but seem a lot cooler on TV. I thought this was a really good technique of getting students interested.

Here's a trailer for Criminal Minds if you're interested:


I also just got done with a court case, and I was telling her about it and showed her the results from the judge. She asked for a copy of the results so she could show her class. I thought it was cool that she could use an actual form that relates to her class and thought about using it too.

Obviously, there are different ways to get students involved in Language Arts classes too. There's a YouTube series called "Sassy Gay Friend" that CRACKS ME UP! (The Social Studies teacher mentioned above is the one that introduced me to them) But, it's obviously not suitable for high school students. However, it takes great texts and shows how the entire plot would change if the main female had a sassy gay friend. In an ideal world where no one could be offended, I would love to show my students these videos.

Here's the "Sassy Gay Friend" episode for Romeo and Juliet:

Foot: Pleasure Text

On the night of Valentine's Day I watched "The Romantics." It has Anna Paquin (from True Blood) and Katie Holmes. I'm a huge Dawson's Creek fan AND True Blood fan, so I  really wanted to see it just for the actresses, but let me tell you- it was horrible. Basically, Anna's Character is getting married, and Katie's Character and the groom are in love.

Here's the trailer:

I feel like more and more movies are trying to hard to be intellectual, and I feel like the storyline could have worked so much better if it wasn't trying to be an indie film. Plus, the ending was NOT fulfilling. I won't ruin anything for the movie, but let's just say the ending didn't solve anything.

Foot: Little Brother

Wow- So I absolutely LOVED this book. I think it’s a great book to introduce to teens in this age of technology because it makes them think about what information they’re putting out there, and how technology can be used to either hurt them or help them. It also shows how each student can make a difference if they really try.

As a high schooler, I had a science fair project where we had to come up with something that would make our community better and then we had to get involved and try to put the plan in motion. (I was in an honor’s class- ick!) For the “getting involved” part of the project, we wrote a letter to our mayor, and nothing really came of it. So, I thought that there was really no way to get involved and that one little student can’t really make a difference in a big community. However, Little Brother proved me wrong. Marcus was able to create Xnet and basically overthrow the government.  Even though the book seems to be set in the future, it’s a realistic future where our government puts us in a totalitarian state because of terrorists’ attacks.

Little Brother is like a modern day hippy story. In fact, in chapter 11, Marcus’s history teacher explains the movement that the original hippies went through in order to protest the Vietnam War. I thought it was clever that Cory Doctorow tied in “old-school” hippies with modern day hippies. If the reader hadn’t already made the connection, they would when Marcus said, “Suddenly, those lame, solemn, grown-up street demonstrations didn’t seem so lame after all. Maybe there was room for that kind of action in the Xnet movement.” (page 178)