Foot - Smart Boards: Benefits and How To

I took Educational Technology 3 years ago and we only used the Smart Board once, so I'm a little bit hazy on the how to of the Smart Board. I thought I might blog about it and perhaps help others while I help myself.

Here is a study giving an introduction about Smart Boards in education, how to engage students with a Smart Board, how to use a Smart Board for the benefits of students with special needs and a teacher preparation guide.

Here is a YouTube tutorial on how to use a Smart Board:

And here is an article giving the pros and cons of Smart Boards.

Even if this blog doesn't help now, it may be useful to safe the links and use them for future reference. Hope it helps!

Foot Pleasure Reading - "Atlas Shrugged" Shrugged Off by Hollywood?

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is a classic tale of the strangling grip of big government, the power of capitalism, and the undying vision of entrepreneurs. This book asks the haunting question, "Who is John Galt"? and if you don't feel like reading this 1069 page novel to perhaps find the answer you can watch the movie...or can you?

Though Atlas Shrugged Part One is playing in theaters now, not very long ago it was almost stopped in its tracks by unwillingness from Big Hollywood to produce the movie. In the link below John Stossel and Sean Hannity speak about the movie's message and the reason behind it almost not being made. This is from Fox News so those of you of a more liberal persuasion will probably disagree with a few of the points, but it's worth watching.

John Stossel: Why Did Hollywood Resist Atlas Shrugged Film

Here is another link to Atlas Shrugged Part One the trailer. Check it out and also check out local listings for movie times and decide what you think of the movie's message for yourself!

Foot - End of the Semester Reflection

The multi-module forms I would like to incorporate into my classroom are the multi-genre autobiography, a blog, story boards, wikis, especially Canotical Text wikis, graphic novels, video games, and of course good ole fashion books.

• I believe the multi-genre autobiography is an excellent way to get to know my students and to gauge their interests. This activity could be done at the beginning of the year and another option is to repeat the activity but have students only cover the year they've been in school. This way the students and myself could see what's changed and if the students grown.

• Blogs are fantastic for group discussions about literature, films, just about any subject imaginable. It is also an avenue to allow students to express their opinions in a safe environment and it teaches how to communicate effectively and respectfully. Blogs can also encourage and help develop critical and analytical thinking.

• I love the story boards for a group activity. It's fun, interactive, requires team work, and it allows students to break up a scene from a book and better understand it.

• The Canotical Text wikis are great! Giving students to power to choose how they can be taught the classics or rather how they can learn them it a wonderful idea. It will give students an opportunity to broaden their understanding of the text and it will introduce them to multi-module learning opportunities.

• Graphic novels of classics or just graphic novels are interesting, textually different from other texts, visually exciting and more "modern". Graphic novels are very popular in teen culture and incorporating them into the classroom is an excellent way to grab students attention.

• Video games in the classroom is a fun, but I fear risky idea in the classroom. I like the idea and the principle behind the idea is sound; but I just don't want my classroom to become a playroom. Education is fun and used in the right way video games can enhance that.

All of the above list can be used to enhance communication. Students either must communicate with each other to complete the assignment, such as in a blog or making a story board, or topics of conversation will crop up such as in the use of wikis and graphic novels. Video games can even enhance communication as students help each other through the game and the activities that are spawned from the game.

Reviewing my blog it seems I am more willing to include pictures and links in my postings. This could reflect my growing appreciation of and skills in technology.

Overall this class was very enjoyable and useful. I am excited about the technology available to us in the educational sphere. It is truly amazing the lessons we can teach through the many multi-module texts available and those yet to come.

Foot - Comparing Naruto The First Test and Pinocchio Vampire Slayer

Pinocchio Vampire Slayer and Naruto Volume 1 The First Test were interesting books with

similarities and difference. The biggest being I hated Naruto and actually enjoyed

Pinocchio. But, setting my personal preferences aside, and looking at the technical similarities and differences helped deepen my understand

ing of graphic novels.

Text and Dialogue:

The text and dialogue of the texts were different in that Pinocchio is told from Pinocchio's point of view - he's in almost every single panel and page. Naruto, on the other hand, doesn't necessarily have to be in every frame in order to move the story along. Both story lines are moved along by conversation.

The lettering or font in both texts vary according to what action is occurring, but Pinocchio is definitely more regimented. In Naruto there are many sound effects and the text changes drastically from the conversations to the sound effect.

Naruto had many more emanata's than Pinocchio. Explanation points inside balloon texts seemed the most common.

The most obvious difference in the books was that Pinocchio can be read in the tradit

ion way: front to back, right to left. Naruto takes an interesting spin and you read back to front, right to left. You do move down the page in both texts. I got really confused when I first started Naruto, but as I continued it became easier and easier to follow along and I eventually liked it. This page demonstrates reading from top right to left to the bottom of the page.

Visual Features:

Both books were drawn in black and white. I would have liked to have seen more color in Naruto. But with Pinocchio, which had a much darker theme with the vampires and Gepetto killing Master Cherry and all, so the black and white worked well. The characters were drawn differently - in Pinocchio the characters eyes are almost always totally white and not that the pictures lack emotion but it looks more like sketches. In Naruto the characters are more life like, if not slightly exaggerated. For example when Master Iruka is yelling at Naruto his head gets ginormous. Below is an example of how the darkness works in Pinocchio:

The scenery in both books was set in the village and in the woods. The differences were in how the scenery was drawn and Pinocchio is set in Italy and Naruto is set in Asia. I liked the way Pinocchio's scenery was drawn because it was easier to follow than Naruto. I felt like sometimes there was too much going on in Naruto panels.

Objects were present in both texts. In Pinocchio, like the original novel, Pinocchio's nose is an object of power. Pinocchio uses his nose to kill the vampires and it also acts as a lie detector. In Naruto, for example two objects were significant; his graduation head band and the sacred scroll Naruto stole.

The general layout and design:

The general layout and design of the graphic novels was similar in that there is a mix of bordered panels (the borders were thin black lines in rectangular boxes) and the gutters were about same size. There is a mix of open panels and splash panels throughout the story. My favorite panels were those that were open panels and splash panels because they were like a visual "Bam!".

Angels and Frames:

Both texts have close-ups, head-shots, full-figure shots, and extreme long-shots.

These panels demonstrate full-figure, close-ups, and head shots.

Rhetorical technique:

Both Naruto and Pinocchio have themes of growing up, being lonely, struggling to fit in, and discovering their true purpose.

Neither Naruto nor Pinocchio have parents and they have to make their own way in life even though their villages don't support them and the are outcasts. Both Naruto and Pinocchio have father figures in their lives: Master Cherry in Pinocchio and Master Iruka in Naruto. Both stories are full of action and the complexity of each character finding a quest and purpose for their lives provides an element of classical literature in these modern graphic novels.

Foot - Pleasure Reading - Sookie Stackhouse Series

I'm probably the last person on earth to do it, but I've finally discovered Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse Series. I was looking through my personal library and happened upon the first Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead Until Dark, which I'd started once but hadn't really gotten into. I decided to give it another try and 6 days later I'm on the 4th book of the series!

The HBO series TrueBlood is based off these books and I haven't seen the show yet but the books are so much fun. A link to a website called Fabulous Fiction shows all of Charlaine Harris' books including the Sookie Stackhouse series.

I'm not a Twilight fan, but these vampire books are really fantastic, fun, entertaining, and well-written. I just finished the third book, Club Dead, and I can't wait to move on to the next book!

Foot- Pleasure Reading - Teacher Movie Marathon!

Dangerous Minds

Michelle Pfeiffer is excellent as real-life former marine Louanne Johnson. Teaching English in a tough inne

r-city school, she reaches the "unteachable" through caring and understanding. Very true-to-life, Dangerous Minds does not fall into sentimentality but instead teaches us of the importance of making our own choices and not allowing circumstances to rule us.

Lean on Me

Morgan Freeman plays Joe Clark, the real-life bat-wielding Principal whose goal was to bring discipline and learning to Eastside High School in New York. While he was not always the easiest on the teachers, it would sure be nice if more Principals stressed the importance of discipline and learning in their schools as he did. This film shows the importance of having strong leadership at the top.

To Sir, With Love

Produced in 1967, this film with Sidney Poitier as a novice teacher has a lot to teach us today. Poitier takes a teaching position in the rough part of

London in order to pay his bills. Realizing that his students need to be taught important life lessons more than the curriculum he has been handed to teach them, he throws out the lesson plans and makes a real impact on their personal lives.

Dead Poet's Society

Robin Williams gives an awesome performance as an unconventional English teacher in a very conventional (read conservative) private school. His love of poetry and his inspiring teaching methods have a great impact on his students. The central message of the movie, to live life to the fullest everyday, is not lost. Further, Williams' poetry recitations are awe-inspiring.

Freedom Writers

Hilary Swank plays real life teacher Erin Gruwell who takes on freshman English at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California. The school is racially diverse but not well integrated, with students sticking to their own ethnic groups. Gruwell proves to be naïve and out of her element yet her dedication to finding a way to reach these troubled kids is truly inspirational and moving. In real life, a number of Gruwell's students have themselves turned to teaching because of her.

Foot - Film Festival Film Review

Before I discuss my personal response to the film or the any of the other questions from Costanzo here is the Cleveland Film Festival's synopsis of The Children of Chabannes,

"The 1999 Emmy Award-winning documentary from notable director Lisa Gossels, THE CHILDREN OF CHABANNES tells the story of the over 400 Jewish children who fled to France from 1939-1943 to avoid Nazi concentration camps. As World War II began, many parents made the excruciatingly difficult decision to separate from their children in order to save them. Some of those children lucky enough to escape Germany were shipped off to the Château de Chabannes, a public school and dormitory located in an insulated region of rural France and created to house and educate orphaned and displaced Jewish children. The school was established by a man named Félix Chevrier. He was joined by a handful of remarkably brave and selfless educators who gave these abandoned children, most of whom never saw their parents again, a chance to grow up. But as the Nazis advanced, World War II inevitably reached the doorsteps of the Château in 1942, causing the teachers to risk their own lives in order to keep the children from being deported to death camps. Told through interviews with surviving teachers and students of Chabannes, including Gossels' father who attended the school, THE CHILDREN OF CHABANNES is a celebration of humanity and courage during one of the most tragic periods of our history. (In French and English with subtitles) – M.M."

Personal Issues: I have always been interested in the Holocaust and I believe it's vitally important to remember and honor Holocaust victims and survivors and to educate as many people as possible about the horrors and the bravery of that time in our history. The Children of Chabannes struck a really emotional chord in me because not only was it about Holocaust victims but it was about children. The innocence of children should never be exposed to the horrors of this world, but during the Holocaust Jewish children were subjected to racism, humiliation, separation from their families, and death. This subject matter is extremely powerful and so it was very emotionally touching. I definitely feel like other viewers were stuck emotionally by the film because many people around me were crying during the film. Another aspect that I loved about this film was that the "saviors" of these children were teachers! The refuge of Chateau Chabannes was a school and the brave warriors that helped protect the children were teachers. Two sisters, Irene and Renee Paillasou, taught the children valuable lessons not only in the classroom but throughout everyday life. Theirsand the other teachers at Chabannes are truly inspiring.

Technique: The movie was a documentary so there were some great photographs of the children and workers of the Chateau Chabannes. The film was shot in France and so there is an abundance of gorgeous scenery. The music was quant and in my limited experience or knowledge about France, very "French" sounding. The shots involving the schools founder, Félix Chevrier, who was portrayed by an actor, were interesting in that while he walked in the woods, a daily habit of his, is showed only his feet and legs or a blurry glance of his upper half. I'm not sure about the reasoning behind this, but I found it interesting. The narrator was the film maker, Lisa Gossels, and I hated her voice. It was annoying and it took away from the film's content.

Acting: This was a true documentary so most of the "actors" were not actors at all but the actual people who experienced the story.

Plot: I already laid out the plot above, so please re-read that section if there are any questions about the plot. This question asks how "compelling" I found the plot. Well, for the entire film I was completely enthralled. I loved the story and

thought it was wonderfully developed.

Themes: The major issues or themes of the film were hope, courage, heroism, cruelty, learning from the past, the power of kindness, tolerance, and racism. The plot was straightforward but the beautiful themes of the story, courage in spite of incredible opposition and the resilience of the human spirit, were interwoven throughout the entire telling of this incredible story.

Genre: This film falls under the genre of historical documentary. I think this type of film is and has been popular because the lessons of the past are always worth learning. Documentaries, when they are well done, and be excellent learning tool for any classroom, but especially English. I believe literature and history go hand in hand and many historical events, such as the Holocaust, can be better understood though teaching books such as The Diary of Anne Frank or The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reis.

Representation: This film represents the French teachers and workers at the Chateau Chabannes, the French villagers, and the Jewish children. The French teachers and workers are strong, practical, sacrificing, hard working, and selfless. The French villagers are simple, kind, hard working, and set in their ways. The Jewish children are smart, mature, war wearied and worn, and most of all they are simply children. The reasons for these representations are that the teachers and workers gave all they had to help the Jewish people; the French Villagers are seen farming and mulling around their tiny town; and the children are seen leaving their parents behind, running and hiding and enduring extreme hardship, and laughing and playing and enjoying life despite all of its adversity.

Ideology: The idea of tolerance was strong throughout the film. The historical message that the Nazis were part of a horrific genocide was obviously present.

Here are few interesting websites about the film!

Open Letter form Pierre Sauvage to Lisa Gossels, producer of the 2000 documentary The Children of Chabannes

The Children of Chabbanes Movie Trailer

Facing History in Ourselves: The Children of Chabannes

Foot - Film Festival Experience

I went to the 35th International Film Festival for the first time today and it was really great! My Dad and I were able to go together and we saw The Children of Chabannes. We made a date of it so we rode in on the Rapid Transit, got lunch, walked around Tower City and then watched the film.

My first experience at the Film Festival was very positive. The organization

was efficient and the workers very friendly and the director even came and spoke to us. There was a Q and A session after the film that I was unable to attend but I thought it was really fantastic to get the audience involved with the director.

I'll talk more about the actual film in my next post, but my overall feeling toward the Festival is a good one. I enjoyed myself and I

look forward to going again next year.

Foot - Firestone Experience

I only experienced Firestone twice, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and I found it to be very useful.

My first visit there my student was enthusiastic and very willing to study in order to pass the OGT the first time.

My student needed only slight guidance in the English portion of test. I helped my student with vocabulary - finding context clues - and helped steer her in the right direction with prompts. The one thing I found rather frustrating was the totally bland material used by the OGT test makers. I understand that not everything we read needs to be fun, but the dry material used was disappointing.

Math wasn't a problem at all because my student was a whiz at math (thank goodness!). Although my student didn't have trouble with math I figure some others did and so I found an interesting and useful site for help in the math portion of the OGT. It's called YourTeacher.com and this link goes directly to the math test preparation for the OGT.

Another multi-module site that is popular among high schools is Study Island. Study Island is a web-based program that helps students study for all sections of the OGT.

My second day at Firestone my student didn't show up. Mr. Martin went to go get her and never came back. I sat for a little while reading but then I looked around and saw a student without a tutor. I decided to ask him to join me and he did. After that, another student sat down with us and I was able to work with both of them. At this point I asked if they would rather work on the same problem all together or different problems and they agreed to work on the same one.

One my the students was very confident and he moved quickly through the work. My other student was less confident and took a longer time. I found that my timid student would get flustered when my confident student was already finished with a question and instead of working through his own question he would simply look to the other student for the answer. After the first question, I gave the student's each a different question and my timid student, once he was on his own, did wonderfully! One technique that helped my timid student was reading each answer to a question and crossing out those least likely to be the correct answer. This seemed to cut down on the overwhelmingness of the looking at four possible answers.

Besides the work with the students, I also loved working with Mr. Martin and Mr. Parks. Their encouraging words to their students, their pride in the students, and their absolute belief that the kids could pass the OGT the first time, was inspiring and refreshing.

Going to Mr. Park's presentation about teaching in an urban school was really incredible. His passion for his work was inspiring and encouraging. I've been running on empty for the past few weeks and sometimes it's easy to lose sight of why I'm in school in the first place, but talking with Mr. Parks, Mr. Martin, and one of Mr. Park's former students helped remind me why I want to be a teacher. One of the activities Mr. Parks does with his Freshmen classes on the first day of school is to show them a clip from Apollo 13. In the clip the astronaut's are stuck half way between earth and the moon and the engineers on earth are trying to figure out how to get them home. Mr. Parks used the analogy that the students are currently in 9th grade, stuck in space with everybody's bad expectations keeping them there. He explains that it is his mission to bring them home to their goal, 10 grade. All they have to do is give him their best. And failure is not an option.

He also told and showed us how at the beginning of every class the students line up outside the classroom door and Mr. Parks greats each of them with a handshake and a how are you. They, in return, need to look him in the eye, shake his hand, and ask how he is. This simple act, which he did with us, made me feel at ease with him; it made me feel like an equal; it made me feel respected.

Respect is a key, perhaps the key element in creating a relationship with your students and a classroom dynamic that is truly incredible. A former student of Mr. Parks also spoke to us and she explained that no other teacher had ever respected her or showed that they truly cared; Mr. Parks did both. This student improved her grades and her outlook on her life because a teacher showed he truly cared about her and respected her.

Mr. Parks went on to explain that it's not always easy and at times he thought he was going to give up; but he pulled through and he absolutely loves what he does. The kids are a part of his life and he is a part of theirs. He's making a HUGE difference and the impact he makes in their lives will carry on throughout the rest of their school careers and lives.

Mr. Martin also had some great advice to give and stories to share. One of the main things I took away from what he said was that it's important to be willing to learn about the culture in which your kids live. Being willing to learn their "slang" or even their dance moves will prove to them that you truly care for them and their culture.

Overall my experience in Firestone was positive, worthwhile, and very useful. I was encouraged by the students and the teachers and reminded exactly whey I want to be a teacher.

Foot - Great Films and How to Teach Them

I recently blogged about the movie P.S. I Love You and I mentioned that I had ordered the book that the film is based on. In my Literary Autobiography I mentioned several books that were also films, such as Fiddler on the Roof, based on Shalom Alcheim's Holiday Tales, Exodus based on the book by Leon Uris, and the Chronicles of Narnia based on the books by C.S. Lewis. How many classic books have been made into films? Just from Jane Austin alone we've gleaned the films, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion. It is truly amazing how linked films and literature really are. After reading Great Films and How to Teach Them I became even more excited about the possibilities surrounding the use of film in an English classroom.

I don't know very much about film except that I have watched a lot of movies and I took a film class one semester. My only fear about using film in my classroom is that it will become an easy cop-out for my students to not read the book - I know I could simply have them read the book first, but there has to be a unique and exciting way to interlace the two creating the best possible learning experience.

I decided to focus on Schindler's List because the possibilities of teaching this as a book and as a film are terrific. Also, Schindler's List is just one of the many Holocaust inspired films/books and an entire unit about the Holocaust could be taught using films, books, and a large variety of multi-media texts. Focusing just on the film version of Schinlder's List, I believe one of the most striking elements of the film is that it is in black and white. At one point in the film there is a girl with a red coat that is in color; it's very striking and seeing how this effects the students would be interesting. Here is an interesting website, Schindler's List as an Education Tool Classroom Activities based on Spielberg's Film, I found with a specific section for The Little Girl in the Red Coat.

Focusing on the Little Girl in the Red Coat reminds the students that the victims of the Holocaust were individuals; not just numbers. The website provides testimonials and entire lesson that focuses on the idea of individual remembrances.

Foot - You're Leaving a Digital Trail - What about Privacy?

You're Leaving a Digital Trail - What about Privacy? was a great article, especially since I got rid of my personal Facebook because I wanted more privacy. The very last quote of the article scared me a little, "For most of human history, people have lived in small tribes where everything they did was known by everyone they knew,” Dr. Malone said. “In some sense we’re becoming a global village. Privacy may turn out to have become an anomaly (Malone)”. I don't really want to become part of a "global village"; I like my privacy.

Of course, technology is a very useful, “'There are so many uses for this technology — from marketing to war fighting...'says Steve Steinberg, a computer scientist who works for an investment firm in New York"; he goes on to say, "'that I can’t imagine it not pervading our lives in just the next few years'”(Steinberg ¶ 7). Just this past year there were a plethora of stories about Facebook privacy issues , but did we stop using Facebook? Hardly. We, as a society, are becoming more and more willing to let go of our privacy and so Mr. Steinberg is correct in saying Technology will pervade out lives...but my thought on the matter is that we have let technology pervade our lives and we willing let go of privacy in order to be more "connected".

Foot - Letters from Japan: I (heart) Novels

Before reading I (heart) Novels, I had never even heard of Cell Phone Novels, and even now it amazes me...my thumbs would get tired.

From the article, I gathered that this particular type of writing is preferred by young girls, which I found very interesting. I mean, what girl doesn't remember being 13 on up and chatting with friends about all the extreme drama going on in their lives? Now a days, it's not just talking it's texting. Instead of just the seemingly inconsequential story lines of one would expect from a teen, the stories that emerge from Cell Phone Novels are emotional and thought-provoking. An example of the kinds of emotional stories being told through Cell Phone Novels, is a book called "Love Sky,” by Mika that describes the story of a girl who, in her Freshman year, "falls in love with a rebel named Hiro, and is raped by a group of men incited by Hiro’s ex-girlfriend. Then Mika gets pregnant with Hiro’s child, and he breaks up with her. Later, she finds out why: he is terminally ill with lymphoma and had hoped to spare her" (Goodyear ¶ 9). The article goes on to explain that the, "the moral of the story is not that sex leads to all kinds of pain, and so should be avoided, but that sex leads to all kinds of pain, and pain is at the center of a woman’s life" (Goodyear ¶ 9).

The good things about Cell Phone Novels are that young women are finding new and innovative ways to express themselves using a piece of technology that has taken the entire world by storm. I don't got anywhere without my cell phone; having that constant outlet for creativity is absolutely great. Another pro of the Cell Phone Novel is that, "miraculously, books have become cool accessories. 'The cell-phone novel is an extreme success story of how social networks are used to build a product and launch it,' Yoshida, the technology executive, says. 'It’s a group effort. Your fans support you and encourage you in the process of creating work—they help build the work. Then they buy the book to reaffirm their relationship to it in the first place'" ( Goodyear, Yoshida ¶ 18).

Some cons of the Cell Phone Novel could be the lack of grammar and a fear that actual literature will fall by the wayside. Grammar probably goes out the window - and in the firsts section of the article it is explained that one author, Mone, "started posting her novel straight from her phone to a media-sharing site called Maho i-Land (Magic Island), never looking over what she wrote or contemplating plot (Goodyear ¶ 2). Another fear of some would be that traditional Japanese Literature would become out of date, “Everyone in publishing received this as an enormous shock to the system, and wondered, What is happening here?” Mikio Funayama, the editor of Bungakukai, a respected monthly literary journal" (Funayama ¶ 14).

The pros and cons of the Cell Phone Novels are something to consider when considering using this in your classroom. I love the idea of using this during a unit on creative writing. Students could collect appropriate texts from a certain period of time, like over a weekend, and then they could piece the texts together into a story. Or they could simply compose on their cell phones whenever they wanted and post it on a sight that could be reviewed by the teacher.

I'm excited about the Cell Phone Novels and I look forward to it becoming a bid deal in the U.S.

Foot - Publish or Perish - The iPad, the Kindle, and the Future of Books: The New Yorker

The iPad, the Kindle, and the Future of Books article ties in nicely with my blog about Borders closing. Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos boldly declared that, “the physical book and bookstores are dead” (Bezos ¶ 16). Yikes! I certainly hope not. But, as they say, numbers don't lie, according to the article eBooks, "account for only an estimated three to five per cent of the market, their sales increased a hundred and seventy-seven per cent in 2009, and it was projected that they would eventually account for between twenty-five and fifty per cent of all books sold" (Auletta ¶ 3). So, what makes digital books so popular? Obviously convenience comes into play; the Kindle boasts that it can download a book in 60 seconds (Auletta ¶ 16). Another positive of digital books is the relatively low price. When digital books started becoming popular, Amazon sold the books for $9.99 (Auletta ¶ 3). An actual paper, hard-cover book bought at a bookstore can cost up to $40.00; so digital books have that going for them. Convenience and price are gouging the bookstores, "Roxanne Coady, who owns R. J. Julia Booksellers, an independent bookstore in Madison, Connecticut, said, 'Bookselling is an eight-inch pie that keeps getting more forks coming into it. For us, the first fork was the chains. The second fork was people reading less. The third fork was Amazon. Now it’s digital downloads'" (Coady ¶ 22).

So what do regular bookstores have going for them? I'd say the strongest thing is the actual experience associated with buying a book at the bookstore. I got to Lewis Buzbee's book "The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop" to prove my point, "Elias Canetti has described cafes as places we go to be 'along among others,' and I've always felt this was true of the bookstores, too. It's a lovely combination, this solitude and gathering, almost as if the bookstores were an antidote for what is sold" (Buzbee 6). Anyone who loves bookstores understands this wonderful feeling of being "along among others"; of browsing for a book and feeling, smelling, and seeing the bookstore experience. “In a bookstore, there’s a serendipitous element involved in browsing,” Jonathan Burnham, the senior vice-president and publisher of HarperCollins, says. “Independent bookstores are like a community center. We walk in and know the people who work there and like to hear their reading recommendations.” (Burnham ¶ 24).

What is the future of books? From Steve Job's or Jeff Bezo's point of view technology is the only possible future. I feel that though digital books are popular and useful and to some degree really great, paper books and bookstores will never be completely destroyed. I hope the future of books is a future where digital books and regular paper books coincide and consumers will always have the opportunity to choose which they prefer. As for me, I'll stick with the paper books and my beloved book stores.

Foot - Learning By Playing: Video Games in the Classroom

The words school and fun rarely go together. Of course as a future teacher I want my classroom to be fun; I want learning to be fun. And reading Learning By Playing: Video Games in the Classroom I realized there is a whole realm of exciting possibilities in the field of video games and the classroom. When I read the paragraph about the various worlds the students explored and went on "quests" in I was totally enthralled; it sounded awesome! "And while students at the school are put through the usual rigors of studying pre-algebra, basic physics, ancient civilizations and writing, they do it inside interdisciplinary classes with names like Codeworlds — a hybrid of math and English class — where the quests blend skills from different subject areas. Students have been called upon to balance the budget and brainstorm business ideas for an imaginary community called Creepytown, for example, and to design architectural blueprints for a village of bumbling little creatures called the Troggles" (Corbett ¶ 13).

One of the worries I have with so much technology in the classroom is exemplified by an 11 year old student named Kai. He explained the many different types of media he used but said this about blogging, "He used to have a blog, but it took too much time so he dropped it" (Corbett ¶ 21). Is the already shortened attention span of most children becoming even shorter? Are kids unwilling to invest too much time into worthwhile endeavors? That, I believe, is one of the benefits of more traditional learning avenues; they require more time and therefore the attention span of students will hopefully be developed.

Toward the end of the article there is a paragraph about a social networking program called Being Me, in which students are taught, "things like how to tag photos, update their status, credit the work of others, comment meaningfully on blog posts and navigate the complex politics of 'friending'". Okay, when I read this I couldn't help but find it pointless. I don't think we need to teach kids how to use a medium like Facebook; they can and do learn on their own. Corbett explains that Being Me is an, "effort on the school's part to look at the things kids are already doing - social networking, playing video games, tinkering with digital media - and try to help them do it with more thought and purpose, to recognize both their role and their influence inside a larger system" (Corbett 59).

Looking at it this way, I can possibly see the point of Being Me, still I don't think it's necessarily the best way to go about teaching the use of thought and purpose. Overall I enjoyed this article and I really want to incorporate video games into my classroom. An example, could be role playing games about classic literature.

Borders Store's Closing

If anyone paid attention to my Literary Autobiography Presentation, they'll know that I love books and reading. So, when I found out my very favorite book store, Borders, was filing for bankruptcy and closing several stores in Ohio and throughout the U.S. I was devastated. I started wondering why Borders was closing: every time I'd been in the two nearest my home, Niles and Mentor, the store was bustling with business. So after thinking about it for about 20 seconds I decided there was a double culprit: poor business management and technology.

I don't know much about running a business so I can't give much of a statement on the business side of things. However, I am an avid consumer of books and the fact that people would rather download a book or buy it online as opposed to actually going to the store makes me sad.

I know it's more convenient to get things off a website and I also know Borders has an online store and even offers eReaders, but still, whatever happened to human interaction? To actually experience the thrill of walking into a bookstore and seeing the thousands of different books, cds, movies, etc. laid out in from of you like a jungle of exciting and tantalizing entertainment and education? What has happened to the excitement of smelling the delicious coffee and pastries from the coffee shop...or the smell of new books? What has happened to interacting with other consumers, readers, sales people, and just other human beings in general? Technology is wonderful. Being able to download a book to your iPad, iPod, eReader, Kindle, etc. is fantastic - but believe me, there is nothing like going to an actual store, walking in and be bombarded with the sights and smells of an actual bookstore. For many people throughout Ohio, going to a Borders bookstore is maybe not impossible but highly inconvenient. What stores will be next? Barnes and Noble, perhaps? Who knows. All I do know is that our society is losing the wonderful experience associated with going to a bookstore to buy your books.

Here are a few articles about various Borders store closings:

The Chicago Sun Times entitled "Borders Store's Closing Saddens Fans"

"Borders: We Will Survive"

Here is a list of the stores that will be closing throughout the U.S.

Also if you love bookstores or the idea of the book stores The Yellow Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee is a fantastic read. Here is a link to an expert and review of the book!

Foot - Pleasure Reading

P.S. I Love You is one of my absolute favorite movies and when I saw that it's based on a book I quickly bought it from Borders.

I haven't gotten the book yet, but I thought I would blog a little bit about the movie as it's one of my favorites and I watched to for pleasure this past weekend.

The main gist of the story is that Holly (played by Hilary Swank) and her husband Gerry (Played by Gerard Butler) are madly, completely and totally in love and like all people who are in love they fight. The opening scene is a huge blow-out fight that ends with Holly and Gerry running into each others arms and realizing how silly the fight was. The scene ends and the next scene is a funeral - Gerry's funeral. He has died of a brain tumor and a few weeks after the funeral, on Holly's birthday, a cake arrives that says, "Happy Birthday My Love. I love you, Gerry" and a recording attached to the box with a note that says "Play Me" begins one of the most romantic stories of loss and renewal ever. The movie touches on the universal themes of a loved one dying and how to cope with that loss and how to eventually overcome the loss and begin life again. It sounds depressing, and it is a little, but it's also beautiful and happy and wonderful.

The soundtrack is amazing too! Here are links to two of my favorite songs on the soundtrack: Love You to the End by the Pouges and If I Ever Leave This World Alive by Flogging Molly and one more that is not on the soundtrack, but should be, Galloway Girl by Steve Earl.

And if the phenomenal story line and cast is not enough to get you to watch the movie then Gerard Butler should be =)

Foot - Web Gave 'Twilight' Fresh Blood

Reading "Web Gave 'Twilight Fresh Blood"brought up two different themes: How to connect social networking and Twilight and wondering if teaching Twilight is the best option for my students, or if it should just be kept for personal reading.

First off, it appears that Stephanie Meyers used social networking and the Internet to promote herself and her book and it worked wonders. Stephanie Myers personal site was used by Meyers as, "she directly engaged with her readers. When fans posted messages, Meyer's response was personal. She'd write back or blog about it" (Susan Carpenter, ¶ 6). The idea of fans being able to directly communicate with the author and breaking down a barrier between themselves and the one who created the characters they love shouldn't be a surprise. But, for some reason, it seemed rare to me. Maybe I haven't been looking at the right author websites. So, obviously from the HUGE fan base and reader response to the Twilight series, the web worked wonders for Stephanie Meyers. To demonstrate just how big the Twilight fan base is, I found these two websites, Twilight Fan Page and Twihards.com

The Internet and technology has obviously bolstered Twilight, however is Twilight something to be taught in the classroom? In the article, Publishers Weekly children's book editor Diane Roback says that, "It [Twilight Series] speaks to this sort of exquisite pleasure of not being able to fulfill the relationship," Roback continues. "The books have a strong moral message, which is abstinence before marriage, and by choosing a vampire who does not want her to become a vampire, they're locked in that kind of struggle of the hormones that many teenagers find themselves in (Roback ¶ 16)." So, this book could help teens identify with the characters and the struggles of raging hormones. That's one lesson.

Some may say that Twilight lacks the serious literary quality necessary for classroom books, but what is one of the biggest reasons we choose the books we choose for classroom? They are classics, and they are classics because they abound in timeless, universal themes. Looking at the Twilight series from that point of view one can see that the story holds universal truths. For example, death, relationships, and what it means to be a moral human.

If the thought of studying the Twilight series in your classroom makes you squimish, perhaps an accompanying text might be useful. For example, do a whole lesson plan on vampires. Read the Bram Stroker's classic "Dracula" or "Twilight and Philosophy: Vampires, Vegetarians, and the Pursuit of Immorality" . Also, when teaching either "Dracula" or "Twilight" your class can explore the different movies, adaptions, websites, and even video games spawned from these stories - it's certainly an easy way to introduce the power of different mediums into your classroom.

Another thing to consider when possible teaching "Twilight" is the way the Cullen family is portrayed. "Vampires were a largely untapped subject in teen fiction. Meyer capitalized on this by inventing a breed of vampire that hadn't existed before. Morally evolved and stunningly beautiful, her vampires are socially acceptable because they eat animals, rather than humans And they have the added benefit of looking like supermodels (Carpenter ¶ 10). Would the beauty of the vampires have any affect on teens with self-image issues? It's something to think about.

Finally, I found this blog called Twilight Series: For Pleasure & For Pedagogy which gives a few more interesting reasons to teach Twilight in your classroom.

At the end of the day, I don't really like "Twilight". It was alright, but I was never drawn into the books/movies and so I'm not sure if I would or wouldn't teach "Twilight" as I'm not vehemently for or against the books. I do however, find it very interesting how Myers used the world of social networking to connect with her fans and expand her popularity - just another example of the positives of technology.

Foot - So Totally, Digitally Close to You

Two things stood out to me in this article: 1) we are more connected now then we have ever been, and 2) we are losing our privacy and worries about privacy.

So Totally, Digitally Close to You by Clive Thompson was interesting and a certain idea really stood out to me, "they would just log into Facebook, and News Feed would appear: a single page that — like a social gazette from the 18th century" (Thomspon, ¶ 3). I love this idea that our social networks are a modernized variation of a "social gazette from the 18th century". Some people are against technology because they believe it separates people, and I am guilty of feeling this way too, but thinking of social networks in this way, it makes me realize how absolutely connected we really are.

Further into the article Zeynep Tufekci, a sociologist at the University of Maryland explains that social networking is, "just like living in a village, where it’s actually hard to lie because everybody knows the truth already,” Tufekci said. “The current generation is never unconnected. They’re never losing touch with their friends. So we’re going back to a more normal place, historically. If you look at human history, the idea that you would drift through life, going from new relation to new relation, that’s very new. It’s just the 20th century.” (Tufekci ¶ 40). But is living in this virtual "village" where every tid bit about our friends, family, co-workers, that kid we met at the bar, etc. is instantly available, slowly causing us to become immune to any worries about privacy?

The issue of privacy is further discussed in the article when Thompson describes how iPhones introduced a built-in tracking device called Loopt. This, "piece of software...automatically tells all your friends exactly where you are" (Thompson, ¶ 10). One million people began using Loopt...one million people! In the article Mark Zuckerberg describes the initial outrage that surrounded the introduction of News Feed, but soon, "Users’ worries about their privacy seemed to vanish within days, boiled away by their excitement at being so much more connected to their friends. (Very few people stopped using Facebook, and most people kept on publishing most of their information through News Feed)" ( Zuckerberg ¶ 7). The constant information provided to us through News Feed and other social networks or technologies has hardened us to the idea of privacy. And we are quickly becoming addicted to "ambient awareness" (Thompson ¶ 10).

Ambient awareness is the incessant need to have information. This ambient awareness - Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks - is either bringing us back to a social closeness previously only found in small towns or it is turning us into a society hungry for an information fix and sacrificing our privacy to fulfill our ravenous appetite. It will be interesting to see where technology and social networking will take us in the future.

I found this article, Social networking through the ages by Stephen Fry, and it was a pretty interesting read about social networking 15 or 20 yrs ago.