"Computer time"

When I was in high school, we didn't get computer time very often besides the one or two classes I took in that subject area. But my English teacher did provide some computer time when we were researching for a paper coming up. I know my times in the computer lab were not that useful for me because I spent the whole time on AIM or checking my e-mail and talking to my friends around me. Because he wanted to allow us to talk to our neighbors if we needed help, we spent the whole time talking about what we were doing later that night rather than actually getting any research in. I knew I had a computer at home that I would be able to find all of my research with later so I used my school computer time for fun and put off my research until a later day.
Even in my computer classes, we spent the entire time on AIM and I knew my friend sat in my seat before me so we always left notes for each other on the computer. I did not use my computer time the way the teachers planned.

Technology and Education

I can't imagine living without the technology we have today. I know we take it for granted because even a few years ago we didn't have access to computers and internet available like it is today. I go crazy when my internet is down and I think everything is going wrong in the world.

Technology is really helpful in the classroom for some of the obvious reasons such as showing a video clip to the class to give them a better understanding of what you are teaching them or an easier way for teachers to keep an organized file of their student's records. It is also helpful for teachers when they have a student that has horrible handwriting; my friend from high school had to type everything he turned in because the teachers could never read his writing.

While technology is a very useful tool, it can also distract students and it can not work like you plan. Technology does not always work with you and that can change your lesson drastically so it is important to always plan for the worst and be prepared to finish your lesson without the technology in case it doesn't work out.

Deadly reactions

A shitty fantasy, complex allegory
destroying my fantastically seared fajitas.

Why are we different colors?
But what the question may answer is the heartache of man

I grew up white
with magical dust and polar bears.

America is here to stay
in order to make a home for myself.

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come.
Failed.

Letter to a Friend

Josie---------

Hey whats up??? What did you do this weekend? i went to chicago with jules to visit her family and it was a lot of fun. we went downtown on saturday night and went to a few bars in wrigleyville. we went to bar louie, sluggers, a comedy show and some bar down the street from there. I was pretty drunk by this time so i don't know what it was called. we stayed at her friends apartment and we slept on this tiny twin bed together so it wasn't very comfortable but we went back to sleep when we got back to her parents. there was sooo much drama at her house, julie fought with her mom and sister almost the entire weekend so i sat there very quietly because it was so awkward. while they were fighting we went to woodfield.....i love woodfield!!!! by the time we got back everyone had cooled down so they could talk normally and it made me feel more comfortable. well hope you had a good weekend too, we need to hang out soon!!

SEE YA

THE FORMAT LYRICS

"The First Single"

I can't stand to think about a heart so big it hurts like hell
Oh my god I gave my best but for three whole years to end like this
Well do you want to fall apart? I can't stop if you cant start
Do you want to fall apart? I could if you can try to fix what I've undone
Cause I hate what I've become

[Chorus]
You know me, oh you think you do you just don't seem to see
I've been waiting all this time to be, something I can't define
So let's cause a scene, clap our hands and stomp our feet or something,
yeah something I've just got to get myself over me

I could stand to do without, all the people I have left behind
What's the point in going around when it's a straight line baby, a straight line down
So let's make a list of who we need and it's not much if anything
Let's make a list of who we need and we'll throw it away
'Cause we don't need anyone, no we don't need anyone

[Chorus]

And I hate what I've become.

You know the night life is just not for me
'Cause all you really need are a few good friends
I don't want to go out and be on my own,
You know they started something I can't stand
You leave for the city,
Well count me out
'Cause all this time is wasted on everything I've done

[Chorus x2]

Yeah
Over me
Yeah
Over me

Why do stars shine?

Why do stars shine? Some will say that stars are our ancestors watching over us at night and others think they are fireflies that got stuck in the air. But I think stars are the moon's diamonds. The moon is extremely rich. He used to be very greedy and wanted to keep all of his diamonds to himself. One day he fell in love with a woman on Earth and wanted to share his beautiful diamonds with her. He threw them down towards the earth but he realized that they weren't getting to the earth and his love so he threw more and more.
After throwing all of his diamonds into the air around him he was very disappointed that he still couldn't give them to his love and he started to cry. As he cried the tears reflected the sun's light onto the diamonds and made them shine magnificently. The moon then saw his love look up at them and smile. He knew then that his diamonds would make her happy just the way they are.

More About ME....

So we know by now, that my name is Stacey. I'm from South Haven and I've recently realized that this makes me very odd. I'm still really close with all of my friends from high school basically we all moved from SH to Kalamazoo together. I'm 22 years old and really anxious to be done with school. I love watching movies, usually my friends and I go see at least one movie a week. I went to see "Dan In Real Life" and it was really funny. I plan on moving to California when I'm done with school and I'm really excited but also terrified about it. It really scares me because I still live so close to home that I go home every single weekend (I'm basically a loser) and I won't be able to do this after I move.

Ahh...I have to publish it now so I can let others read it.

Marian's Voice

Marian's voice
opened hearts when minds were closed.
Marian's voice
went beyond the stars and the moon.
Marian's voice
is so loud,
it broke down the walls of Injustice.
Marian's voice
was beautiful,
and captured thousands outside her own world.
Marian's voice
overcame the color of her skin,
broke the bonds of prejudice.
and will be heard by many, for years to come.
Marian's voice inspired,
inspired a nation to change,
and became her weapon.
Marian's voice
moved crowds to a thoughtful silence,
and broke through the barrier of racism.
Marian's voice
is smooth like twilight,
made the whole world take notice,
moved men and countries alike.
Marian's voice LIVES ON!


By: English 479 Class

Picture book---

When Marian Sang
Written by Pam Munoz Ryan and Pictures by Brian Selznick

Reading Don't Fix No Chevys

As an older sister that constantly got beat up by my little brother, I can think of many times that I would rather have been a boy so I could beat him up. Although he was smaller than I was until the past few years (now he's 6'3''), he was always much stronger than I was. He is really good at sports and that is something that I have always been jealous of. He is the athletic one of the family and my parents have always loved watching him play baseball, golf, basketball, and even bowling. Scott is a very talented athlete and since I never was able to play sports well I was jealous of him. There are many pictures of my dad trying to teach me how to hit a baseball or golf ball and my brother in the background looking extremely annoyed, and honestly my dad did too.
Since then I have accepted being the weakling and the not athletic one that I am and love watching my brother pitch in his baseball games and love playing golf with him.

Multi-Genre Papers

Multi-genre papers are so cool. I think they are a great way to get students excited about writing and helps them learn a lot as well. This chapter was really interesting because it talks about how people are afraid that students won't learn everything that they are "supposed" to without writing the traditional research paper. But students will still need to research and learn to write a well put together paper. This allows creativity and differences between everyone's own particular writing. I also thought it was really interesting that they brought in the issue of plagiarism and I really think this could help avoid that issue. If we can get students excited about their own creative writing, they won't be as willing to go and find something off of the internet.
I think this is a really interesting topic and would really like to bring Multi-Genre projects into my classroom!

Grammar in the Classroom

When looking for articles about grammar, I found a lot of articles that were focused on how the parents didn't approve of the teaching methods. I thought that was very interesting because as much as many parents complain about the way they were taught grammar and other areas in school they don't like the idea of their kids being taught in other ways. I guess it scares the parents to not have the "correct" grammar rules being set out for their students in black and white but they have to let the students learn in other ways.
The article says, "Students learn to write best by writing." I think this is really important for all of us to understand because simply having students fill out grammar worksheets probably will not teach them how to combine all of the rules and create a good piece of writing. Of course, students do need to be taught the correct grammar rules but they will be more beneficial to them if they can use it correctly. Students need to be allowed to think for themselves and be able to put it all down on paper. We have to let the students write without attacking them with red pens.

Indy Teach Lesson Plan

Book: Rethinking Our Classrooms: Teaching for Equity and Justice- A collection of articles and teaching ideas from many different teachers and researchers. (Pages 4-5, 38, 75)

Essential Question: How can we make our schools and classrooms to be “laboratories for a more just society that we live in now?”

Main Idea: The main purpose of this book is to show the students what they can do to make a difference. We want the students to not only study the progressive social movements and the current social problems but, to encourage the students to really think about what is going on around them and want to take charge and do something about it. It is important for the children “to see themselves as actors in the world, not just things acted upon.” (Rethinking Our Classrooms)

This lesson is to help students understand how our language can affect the ideas that we think about regarding different people. It is supposed to help us look at the different connotations and see how some of our phrases can be very harmful to prejudices.

Activity: First of all we would separate our class into groups or 4 or 5 and tell them that we are going to examine language. Have the groups think together of different phrases and words that contain the words black and white. And after 10 minutes or so have the groups go through their lists and mark each phrase or word as a positive, negative, or neutral connotation. Once they go through their lists, come back together as a class in a big circle and have the groups all share their lists. Then, I will have different definitions for the words black and white and share those with the class. After the definitions, we will have an open discussion with a few questions and finally we can have the students think about any other phrases or words that have prejudices lied within them and share those. As a homework or in-class assignment depending on how long the activity takes, you can assign a free-write about how the activity made the class feel about the prejudices that are everywhere.

The English Teacher's Red Pen

I actually have very mixed feelings about this article. I understand why they believe the "red pen" is evil but I see the other side too and am not exactly sure which side I stand on.
We know that we have had papers returned to us covered in red marks and how that makes us feel. When this happens, I'm sure some of us have just thrown the paper away never to look at it again and some have looked it over to see what we did wrong. And as crappy as this can make us feel, I also hate the feeling when I get a paper back with just a grade and nothing else. When this happens I feel like the teacher didn't even care enough to really read my paper and I can't learn what I did wrong when they don't tell me.
I'm curious to learn other ways to go about explaining to the students where they need to spend more time but I don't think the answer is to not circle the rough spots. I also really dislike red pens so to start I don't believe that we should use them for anything.
Practice makes perfect. So we must have our students write as much as possible but how do we teach our students how to write and help them grow in the writing process? How do we let them know what they did wrong without discouraging them from wanting to write again?

Useful Websites

teaching tolerance

effective teaching

I am from...

I am from beaches and sunshine
to ice and snow.
I am from a place that is mine
and others know.

I am from family and friends
and little dogs too.
I am from comfy couches
and pictures in every room.

I am from antiques and candles
and coffee every morning.
I am from a small town
where everyone knows each other.

I am from Andy Griffith in the living room
and my younger brother running in and out.
I am from calm nights under the moon
to feelings of chaos.

I am from a place that I love
and can't wait to go home.

The Need to Write

"Write what you need to write. Write to explore what you don't know and want to know. Write about what makes you laugh or cry, angry or happy, surprised or puzzled, worried or satisfied."
-Murray
You can write about anything and by getting out what you are feeling, one can get to know themselves better. There are times when things are just sitting in your brain and wanting so badly to be thought about and since you don't know where to start they just sit there until you finally go crazy and have to figure out the situation. I think if you could just deal with issues before that by writing about them, you could be relieved so you don't have to deal with those things anymore.

"During our read-arounds, we socialize together and create community, but we also teach and learn from each other."
-Christensen
In all of our education classes so far, we have heard how important it is to have a save environment for our students. So by getting to know each other on a more personal level we can create the connections and the community that will allow new friendships. I think the read-alouds are a great idea because you can always learn something new and by hearing other people's writing you can find things to bring into your own. Also by getting to know each other by what they write, you can create new friendships and new relationships between yourself and all of your students.

Best Practice Teaching

Best practice teaching is basically good teaching and caring about the people that you are teaching and using these feelings to help the students. It calls for classrooms that are student-centered, experimental, reflective, authentic, holistic, social, collaborative, democratic, cognitive, developmental, constructivist, and, challenging. When you bring all of these into a classroom, it should be successful because it allows the students to learn and know how to learn without being forced to just memorize facts. A teacher that stands up in front of the class and lectures everyday, has you copy notes, and read a textbook does not really teach you. Without discussion about the topic, students will forget everything you say to them and most likely not listen when you are talking anyways.
I think having group projects and obviously class discussions on a daily basis will be a normal part of my classroom. But also talking to other teachers at the school and bringing what the students are learning in other classes at that time as well will be really important. I want the students to tell me what they think and let me know what they like and what they dislike because it is much easier to want to learn and pay attention if you are talking about something that they know they can share their opinions about and have opinions that they would want to share.

Express Yourself

Writing is a way to find out who you are. By writing down your thoughts, you get to create yourself, your life, and affect many lives around you. You get to discover who you actually are by putting words down onto paper instead of just keeping it all bunched up inside. Writing makes it real and allows you to really figure out who you are and what you are wanting to do with this information.

"Blank pages as well as the written pages are a testimony to how we live our lives."
-Donald M. Murray
A life without writing is basically a life without understanding who you are. You must write down your thoughts and your experiences to truly see what happened and live through them again.

"Writing, I think, is not apart from living. Writing is a kind of double living. The writer experiences everything twice. Once in reality and once in the mirror which waits always before or behind him."
-Catherine Drinker Bowen
Life with writing and literature, allows you to relive your own life as well as experiencing other people's lives. You would be horribly bored if you just went from day to day with only your own experiences. I think it is really important to look at your life and create and discover it fresh everyday.