Be Resume Ready!

Be Resume Ready!

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The Economy Crisis

Click on the title above to view a short video or the paste the link below into your browser. Perhaps these two have the solution to the current problems facing our country. What do you think?

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=a7871c34a8b0acc522f4

Choices

In The Highest Tide, Florence tells Miles O’Malley, “This is your summer, Miles. This is the summer that defines you.” (47)

Assuming her prophecy is right, how has Miles defined himself by the end of the summer? Or, put another way, at the critical defining moments of the summer, Miles makes choices that can be viewed in terms of loyalties or betrayals. How do these critical choices indicate the person that he is choosing to become?

Imagine

Snowman and the Crakers...plus maybe 3 more people. What will he choose to do? At the end of the novel, is Snowman a phoenix rising from the ashes and is there a hope for rebirth? Can he "Imagine"?

Margaret Atwood was in the process of writing Oryx and Crake, had mapped out the novel and reached the end of Part 7 by September 11, 2001. She recalls, "It's deeply unsettling when you're writing about a fictional catastrophe and then a real one happens."

She classifies Oryx and Crake as "speculative fiction" rather than "science fiction," since it "invents nothing we haven't already invented or started to invent....It's not a question of our inventions - all human inventions are merely tools --but of what might be done with them; for no matter how high the tech, homo sapiens sapiens remains at heart what he's been for tens of thousands of years - the same emotions, the same preoccupations."

Ultimately, "We are betrayed by what is false within."

The novel ends with Chapter 15. Post in your response what you think Snowman will do and what will happen in the next chapters.

Sideman

Many of our novels tell the story of loyalty/betrayal between two close friends. This relationship is often quite complex, but frequently one person emerges as the leader, while the other is the "sideman." Listen to Paul Muldoon reading his poem "Sideman," and post your response about how this poem might shed light on the changing nature of the relationship of the dyad in "Absolutely True Diary" or even in our current novel. (I do not have the text of the poem at this point, so you may have to listen to it several times.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvnlgjsXJ28

Character Foils

In a literary work, a minor character, often known as a foil, possesses traits that emphasize, by contrast or comparison, distinctive characteristics and qualities of the main character. For example, the ideas or behavior of the minor character might be used to highlight the weaknesses or strengths of the main character.

In The Kite Runner, analyze the ways that the character Hassan functions as a foil to Amir, and the ways that their relationship illuminates the meaning of the work.

Opinionaire

Opinionaire

Identify whether your actions, present or past, are more likely to be similar (S) or dissimilar (D) with each of the following statements. Tally the results. Then read Baba’s statement from The Kite Runner (17-18) and post a comment about this passage, based from your own experience, as an interpretation of the meaning of the novel.

____ 1 Lie on your income taxes.

____ 2 Go over the posted speed limit while driving.

____ 3 Drink or smoke under age; use illegal substances.

____ 4 Cheat on a test or plagiarize a paper.

____ 5 Cheat on boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse, including casual flirtations.

____ 6 Lie about weight, age, or height.

____ 7 Lie to parents about school, grades, friends, what you were doing.

____ 8 Lie to your friends, boyfriend/girlfriend, teacher.

____ 9 Repeat a rumor, gossip.

____ 10 Take something from a store if you know you won’t get caught.

Total: Similar____ Dissimilar_____

from The Kite Runner: “There is only one sin…And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft….When you kill a man, you steal a life….When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness….There is no act more wretched than stealing.”

Love, loyalty, and betrayal

The novel, Shark Dialogues, asks the question: "When is love too much? When is it not enough?" (149) Is it possible to love someone too much? Do you think Pono was a good mother to her children? Was Duke a good father? What experiences from your life help you relate to these questions? to these characters and their issues of loyalty and betrayal?

Discrimination hurts us all

View the following video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7VbzzfMAuc.
First describe your initial reactions to it as a student. Then envision ways as a teacher you might use this video in your future classrooms to create powerful lessons.

Enactments

"People tend to replicate things they enjoy. Boredom inhibits learning. Enjoyment fosters creativity, a natural high." Csikszentmihalyi, Flow, 1990.

Watch these enactments on The Odyssey and answer the following questions:

1) Did the students seem to learn/comprehend the material as evidenced through their enactment?
2) Did they seem to be enjoying the learning experience, i.e. having "fun"?
3) Which video did you enjoy the most, and why?
4) As a future teacher, what did you learn from watching these videos?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RExpvv2zJo4
http://youtube.com/watch?v=chl3DZ8Ys2w
http://youtube.com/watch?v=965zTvxTcwI
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9xnHKrNIu-s
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YNnftI6bbnE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=C9E7uWzNYWY
and another one on "Gift of the Magi"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBT7GhiceWI

Toxic Lies--The Betrayal of Heroes

Have you ever been betrayed by someone you trusted? a best friend, teammate, colleague, fellow worker, even relative? How did you feel? What do you do about it? In some cases, how can you pick up the pieces of your life and go on? This is a topic that touches us all, at one time or other, in so many ways.

So what? On a more global scale, watch the following video and think how you might ask your students to respond. Challenge: weave these components into a powerful lesson.

It is a short video about the environmental catastrophe created by the aftermath of the collapse of the Twin Towers and Building 7. And about those who are now suffering tremendously as a result of Toxic Lies told to them about the air quality at Ground Zero.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GFPBWj_G9Zc

War and the world today

As this year's election heats up, the topic of the war in Iran will become even more prominant and controversial. Challenge your students to think deeply about their stand on this issue and not just parrot back what the media or a popular candidate espouses.

Read the link provided to Wildfred Owen's classic poem, "Dulce Est Decorum Est." http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/owen1.html Then respond to the following:

What does it mean to you to be patriotic? Should you be willing to die for your country? If you aren't, does that mean you aren't patriotic?

Voicethread.com

This is a really easy site to use for creating pod casts. Check out the "mash up" on Catcher In the Rye #69839 that was created this week and the podcast for "Love Poem" by Nims #68404 that currently is on page 16. Then post a response--or even better--create a voice thread yourself and tell us to go look at it!

Media Seduction

Please view the YouTube video at


http://youtube.com/watch?v=rMR9SfYjp8Q

and then post your comments as to how you will use this information on media seduction in your future English classes.

Violence in Our Schools

After the tragedy at Northern Illinois University this week, Governor Rod Blagojevich said, "If there is a way where this tragedy could have been anticipated, or stopped beforehand, we will find it."

Charles Steger, President of the University of Virginia, where a similar tragedy occurred less than a year ago, wrote in a letter to Northern's President Peters, "We would like to think that institutions of learning and of rational thought would be spared such madness. Sadly, this is not the case in today's world."

This is our reality as educators. What can we do about it? Please post your thoughts.

Shift Happens

Visit this blog and watch the You Tube "Did you Know?" Post your responses as to what this information means for you personally as a teacher. http://www.thefischbowl.blogspot.com/

Our Wiki

I have started a wiki page for us to collaborate in. The page is drmietlickiwiki (how could you ever forget that???) at wetpaint.com, and the password is worfie23 (named after in inimitable worfie himself). You might even try using the wiki this week as you are working on those portfolio documents.

A Digital Unit

Go to the link listed above and check out Miss Boeser's unit in which she involves her students in authentic writing activities, role play, creative dramatics, and Web 2.0 creativity. Follow the links to the articles she provides; analyze the scaffolding assignments in which she engages her students with the project and leads them to higher order critical thinking. As you work through this website, draw up for yourself an outline of its design so that you might be able to create one of your own on a future literature unit that you might teach. Post on this blog what you have learned about the value of such use of Web 2.0 in teaching English language arts. In case you lose the url, or want to check out other digital units, they can be found at the CEE Literature Resources page, http://constructingidentities.pbwiki.com/

Micro-teaching

What do you think could have been different about the Micro-teaching experience to make it more beneficial for you? How helpful was it in preparing you for student teaching? What changes should I make for next semester? What suggestions do you have for the new interns to help them get the most out of the experience?

Connie Mietlicki, Ph.D.: I-Movie

Connie Mietlicki, Ph.D.: I-Movie

This education movie serves a distinct purpose in creating awareness for educators to understand the importance in connecting learning with any student's life, regardless of age or grade level. Serving as a reminder that many, if not most, students will engage and entertain themselves if learning is not relevant to their lives. In creating learning connections, educators must get a message across that goes beyond the classroom and into their everyday lives in order to keep students wanting, needing, and yearning for more. Connection is the key to learning; without connection information often "goes in ear and out the other." ("My teacher says that I don't listen, at least I think that what she says.")

I-Movie

Please go to the following website:
http://cityvoicescityvisions.blogspot.com/
Scroll down until you get to the video on education. View this 4.44 minute You Tube video. It does take a few minutes to load. Then write a paragraph in this blog about the impact of this message on future teachers.

Then scroll down to view some of the i-movies on poems that the students have created. Consider how you might create an assignment in which, instead on the same old boring class discussion on a poem, students, working in small groups, might create their own i-movie (of under 2 minutes) to share their interpretation with the class. Then write a paragraph in this blog suggesting a specific poem for which this assignment might work.

Adding video to your blog

You can upload your videos directly to Blogger.

Student Blog Directions

Go to drmietlicki.blogspot.com

Click on the thread on which you wish to comment. You can do this by either scrolling down or by selecting the thread from the "blog archive" on the right hand side of the screen.

Once you have typed in your comment, you are ready to submit the comment to the thread. Sign in as a new user by clicking on the statement "No Google Account?" (you will have to create a new account for this project). Your login needs to be your email address. Write down your login and password in a safe place.

Click on "post a comment."

You can draft your comment in Microsoft Word, which will enable you to save it and spell check prior to posting.

We will only be using first names or pseudonyms. Please avoid giving any personal information about yourself.

Go to holtdiscussion.blogspot.com

Go to the postings of the Reading Groups and read what some of the students had to say about various novels that they had read and various literary critiques that the teacher, Mrs. Holt, had provided for them as she guided their out-of-class discussion.

Then post on this site your evaluation of the students' blogging. Your blog comments should also be a short paragraph (4-5 sentences). Make sure that you clearly make your point and provide examples when necessary. Comments are due by 12am, Midnight, on the given due date.