Annotated Bibliography That I Will Edit Later

http://www.jstor.org.webdb.plattsburgh.edu:2048/stable/41483395?seq=2&Search=yes&searchText=fantasy&searchText=Using&searchText=literature&searchText=teach&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DUsing%2Bfantasy%2Bto%2Bteach%2Bliterature%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff&prevSearch=&item=8&ttl=7512&returnArticleService=showFullText&resultsServiceName=null This talks about the benefits of teaching fantasy to students and how that genre isn't simply for pleasure.

http://www.jstor.org.webdb.plattsburgh.edu:2048/stable/41404645?seq=3&Search=yes&searchText=fantasy&searchText=Using&searchText=literature&searchText=teach&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicResults%3Fhp%3D25%26la%3D%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff%26acc%3Don%26vf%3Djo%26bk%3Doff%26pm%3Doff%26jo%3Doff%26ar%3Doff%26re%3Doff%26ms%3Doff%26gw%3Djtx%26Query%3DUsing%2Bfantasy%2Bto%2Bteach%2Bliterature%26sbq%3DUsing%2Bfantasy%2Bto%2Bteach%2Bliterature%26si%3D26&prevSearch=&item=36&ttl=7512&returnArticleService=showFullText&resultsServiceName=null

http://www.jstor.org.webdb.plattsburgh.edu:2048/stable/819230?&Search=yes&searchText=fantasy&searchText=Using&searchText=literature&searchText=teach&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicResults%3Fhp%3D25%26la%3D%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff%26acc%3Don%26vf%3Djo%26bk%3Doff%26pm%3Doff%26jo%3Doff%26ar%3Doff%26re%3Doff%26ms%3Doff%26gw%3Djtx%26Query%3DUsing%2Bfantasy%2Bto%2Bteach%2Bliterature%26sbq%3DUsing%2Bfantasy%2Bto%2Bteach%2Bliterature%26si%3D26&prevSearch=&item=50&ttl=7512&returnArticleService=showFullText This article is about how science-fiction is a legitimate genre.

http://www.jstor.org.webdb.plattsburgh.edu:2048/stable/998458?&Search=yes&searchText=fantasy&searchText=Using&searchText=literature&searchText=teach&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicResults%3Fhp%3D25%26la%3D%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff%26acc%3Don%26vf%3Dall%26bk%3Doff%26pm%3Doff%26jo%3Doff%26ar%3Doff%26re%3Doff%26ms%3Doff%26gw%3Djtx%26Query%3DUsing%2Bfantasy%2Bto%2Bteach%2Bliterature%26sbq%3DUsing%2Bfantasy%2Bto%2Bteach%2Bliterature%26si%3D26&prevSearch=&item=30&ttl=7512&returnArticleService=showFullText Education and Fantasy

Multigenre: Literacy

We wear the mask that sighs and groans,
It greets assignments with more moans, -
This debt we pay to lit'racy;
With weary, heavy hearts they be
Ignore responsibility,

Why should English be otherwise,
In reading, grammar, and criticize?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We frown, but oh great Christ, our bliss
To thee our love to read amiss
We write, but oh paper is cruel
Beneath fingers, and lacking fuel,
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!







In my multigenre, I'd like to focus on specific activities that could help students read and write better. It can be from "reading carts" to interesting grammar lessons. I'm not so interested in getting students into specific works of literature, but literature as a whole. But I also want to combine grammar and writing with reading to increase overall literacy.




Barb: Hey wht u up 2?
Val: Not mch doing ths sheet 4 eng class
Barb: Y?
Val: Cuz I want a good grade
Barb: Kk. Wnna go out l8tr?
Val: Sur Ill txt you wen im dun

This is how students communicate to each other on a regular basis, whether via texting with phones or through instant messaging on the internet. I wish students wouldn't communicate this way, because it negates what they learn (or what I hope they learn) in class: proper grammar, interest in reading, and writing skills. Maybe, if I can figure out a way to make these things fun for students to do, they'd be more interested in practicing these skills on a regular basis. It might not change their habits when speaking to one another, but it will hopefully change their habits for reading and writing.

Essay Writing

"Our essay prompts should not merely be exercises in writing to a particular form, in revealing limited information learned specifically for a test. They should instead be opportunities for our students to create additional original thinking about literature," (Moffett 1983, 171).

I agree completely with this quote. Too often in my high school career, I was told to write an essay with a limited prompt with very strict guidelines to include certain parts of a text; I would feel stifled. I reveled in the ability to create a paper that no one else in my class would create, if only so that my paper would stand out in the sea of papers that the teacher had to read. Often, it was hard to do under the restraints of the essay prompts given because they expected a certain level of regurgitation of information. Many students' essays seemed to be about the same thing.

I enjoyed Romano's adaptation of an essay prompt. To include creative elements in an otherwise rigid structure allows for students to create their own, individual papers that will be unlike what anyone else writes.  I will definitely utilize the creative essay technique for my own classroom. Students will enjoy writing them because of the freedom they will have. If nothing else, this will allow for grading to be more entertaining because I will not have to read the same essay over and over.

Multigenre Topics

I was thinking about doing my multigenre paper on increasing literacy. I think that literacy rates are going down because of the prevalence of the internet, texting, and television. Students are less inclined to read books and learn proper writing processes when there are electronic options available to them. Literacy comes in three parts: reading, writing, and grammar.
I hope to do some research that will help me find ways to get students interested in reading again. I know when I was in school, my teachers used "reading carts", independent reading based upon a choice of books on a cart, to promote reading that interested my classmates and I. I'd also like to find some research about interesting ways to teach grammar, because half of literacy is proper language. Creative writing assignments were used in my high school to help us become better writers, but I feel like there are probably other ways to get students into writing properly.

I was going to continue the topic of ADD in this multigenre, because that was what I wrote my last one on, but I feel like there might not be enough research material for it. I know that when I did research last time, the articles were more based in the scientific and medical aspects of the disorder, rather than any practical applications for helping students with ADD learn. Also, with this topic, I don't really know what I would try to prove through my research.

Our Town: For or Against Humanity?

The third act of Our Town portrayed a negative side of humanity. Within the third act, the people that are dead discuss how the living don't appreciate the little things in life and don't try to enjoy every opportunity. I feel that this depicts the reality that people don't appreciate what they have. Usually, people are stressed, or worried, or disappointed about something and they don't take the time to appreciate what's around them because they are so distracted by the negative things in their lives. Society gets bogged down by all the negative things that they forget to think about the positives and enjoy them while they last. For instance, as a kid, Emily couldn't appreciate that her mother made her breakfast every morning, and that her father came home with a present for her. After her death, she is so hurt by the fact that she couldn't appreciate it then and she could so much now that she couldn't even face the event again. After she returns to her grave, Simon Stimson tells her that living is a waste of time because everyone lives in a self-centered way, which also lends to an accurate negative portrayal of society.

While the dead are sitting there during Emily's funeral, they are removed from humanity and the living and are waiting for the eternal part of their nature to occur. This is another commentary on society, saying that we are unsure about what happens after death, if anything at all. The dead have a sad existence, waiting for something that might never come. While they are removed from the living, they don't often associate with each other often either. There is nothing for them to look forward to, really, except for this eternal thing to happen them that might never happen.

HFPP Paper Blog

I know that I will not agree with the school board; Huck Finn should be kept in the curriculum.

I know that I will not focus strictly on the issue of race; not only is that too simple of a topic, but if that is the only defense for reading or not reading Huck Finn, the argument would never end because people can never agree about race.

I think I'd like to focus on childhood and how Huck Finn accurately represents children, even though the book is fairly old and was written in a different time. Comparing Huck to today's students could help show that children are the same despite time period, race, class, or any number of things. Which I guess would help lend to the topic of racial equality in the book and racial equality of today and how they differ or are still the same.

Or I could focus on how Huck defies the barriers set for him by his elders and society, and how he never actually conforms. It could help students develop their own individuality and sense of self while still having them engage in a literary work from the past. 

Most importantly, I need to focus on the fact that although the ELA classroom has changed through the use of technology and teaching methods, that students themselves haven't changed. They are still capable of being educated and interested in the same things students of the past were educated and interested in. Steps simply have to be taken to intertwine the modern classroom setting with works from the past to help enhance the learning experience. I could talk about integrating film into the unit, or the reenactment/exploration of scenes, or some sort of short video experience (youtube) that somehow incorporates Huck Finn.

Huck Finn and Night of the Hunter

1. a) Huck Finn shaped my viewing experience of Night of the Hunter by creating a lens in which I watched the movie with the intent of finding connections between it and the book. In the movie, I noticed how The Pastor was an irresponsible father figure, similar to how Huck's father was irresponsible. Both had an interest in money that belonged to the children. Consequently, Huck, John, and Pearl all realized that the money was too much responsibility for them to handle. Huck decides to give his money to the mayor because he doesn't want to have to deal with his father. John hits The Pastor with the doll full of money when he's at his breaking point, saying he doesn't want it anymore and that it is "too much". Pearl tells The Pastor where the money is after much interrogation. All these things point to the fact that children should not be left to control large sums of money.

    b) Both works address the topic of responsibility of adults. Huck Finn has an irresponsible father, and the role of a good parent is taken up by The Widow. This is to show how Huck's father was supposed to act and how he fell severely short of the standards of a good, responsible parent. In Night of the Hunter, the kids' father decides to steal money from a bank in order to give his kids a good life that doesn't involve them roaming the streets. However, the ends don't justify the means in this case, and the money ends up causing lots of problems for the children later on. Their mother doesn't do a much better job, because she invites a murderer into their house and marries him. The Pastor is not a good father-figure either, because he only wants to take the money from the children, and doesn't really care about their well-being (he starves them, lets them get dirty, etc.). The only proper adult figures in the film are the old couple who worries after the family, and Uncle Berdie, who helps John fix the boat him and Pearl use to escape with. And even then, all three of them aren't good parental figures either because the old couple is misled by The Pastor, and Uncle Berdie drinks too much.

3. I don't know if I'd teach Night of the Hunter with Huck Finn. Although I can see the merits of doing so, I don't believe that the two are the best match. Both works are fairly old, so if I had to teach Huck Finn, I would probably pick a newer movie to pair with the book in order to keep students' interest. I'd probably pick Matilda or some other movie about a child with an inappropriate family, and have students focus on how parents should act with their children, and what was wrong with how the parents in the book and film acted. I could also make them focus on things like greed and magic, which are prevalent in both works.