So much to do, so little time

Well I figured I'd spare 5-10 minutes in this hectic life I am living to reflect on a number of things. First of all, I really thought that taking 18 credit hours was going to be unbearable, but I'm finding that taking it day by day and staying completely organized has been helpful.


I'm so glad I met with Dr. Kist about class substitutions & the issue with Lit in English II because otherwise I'd be stuck taking 18 credit hours again next fall! Even though I am certain I could pull it off, I'm relieved that I will have one less thing to worry about.


I really am enjoying this semester and most of the materials I am reading. Right now, I am pretty focused on The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (in fact, I am writing a critical analysis for it for Lit in English II), Charles Baudelaire's Flowers of Evil (dislike), and of course, textbooks for various classrooms. I'm finding my text Classics in the Classroom for Teaching Literature in the Secondary Classroom to be a very useful book. Carol Jagos, the author, has some top notch teacher advice and learning methods that could easily be applied to the classroom. One noteable thing is how in her classroom she keeps a list of all literary terms posted for students to refer to and develop their vocabulary. This gets the students talking in "literary jargon" in the classroom and I think this is a great idea--I will definitely use this technique. Jagos recommends that all English teachers own the book A Glossary of Literary Terms by M.H. Abrams. It can be found cheap on Amazon!


I'm looking forward to the Cleveland Film Festival--I'm surprised how many people outside of class have heard about it and even plan on going. I've had a couple friends ask to see the magazine of all the movie listings because they were interested in going...People love the multi-modal world!! I've decided that I am going on Wednesday March 25 and I am going to see the short film series. They all seem interesting! Before this starts, around 4pm, I'm actually going shopping at Tower City! (Way to kill two birds with one stone, right?)


I've been trying to follow up on a number of educational blogs, but one stuck out to me--The NCTE Assembly of Media Arts. There is a blog about comic books and how Harvard classrooms are incorporating the use of comic books as part of the curriculum! For example, there is an article titled Hitting the Comic Books that tells all about it. They talk about the recent movie Watchmen which was first a comic book. Professors at Harvard are using it as an example to "expresses timeless, fundamental concerns with the corruptive nature of power." This is great! The idea of taking something students read or watch to apply it to a lesson. A little something called real-world application. I am a firm believer in this idea. If you take something artistic, entertaining, modern, and relative to a student's life, the better retention and comprehension the student will have for your lesson. And even better, they will have FUN learning!! This is what I call education!!