Lexicon for Logophiles

Another Example of Pixton: A Midsummer – Shakespeare attempt 2 by imbryant

imbryant — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:33:46 +0000

This was a “Rewriting the Bard” assignment for another class of mine. It is a great way to get students engaged with Shakespeare. They can re-write it in any way that they want. I attempted to integrate some modern English into Shakespeare’s version of this scene from Midsummer Night’s Dream.

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The syllabus says we are required to…

imbryant — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:30:39 +0000

Blog? On the first day of class, in my second semester as a Master’s student I wasn’t surprised that we were required to participate in the blogging world. In the teaching and learning department, learning and instruction major and digital literacies concentration this blogging requirement didn’t phase me, but did slightly frustrate me. Blogs as part of class participation/class requirements in the past blurred the lines of helpful and painful. Frustrations ensued. Questions were soon to follow. How would this help our participation in class? In what ways would discussing what we were learning in the online world be any different than discussing in class? How is this not just busy work? It was hard for me to see beyond my questions. Honestly, I didn’t participate beyond our requirements because I have my own personal blog where I spent more time. Why would I willingly participate in my own blog and not this one? It gave me a break. I was able to discuss other things I love. I love what I do, I love what I am preparing myself to do (teach), but graduate school bombards you with so much information that sometimes you need a mental break from teacher blogs and multimedia requirements. Sometimes you just need to step back and remember why you enjoy it. My personal blog fulfilled those things that a class requirement did not. It wasn’t until near the end of our class, after exploring many different types of blogs, that I saw merit in this one. Seeing it less as a class requirement and more as a resource helped me realize the benefits of keeping a professional blog. I was boggled with questions of my goals for this blog and what I wanted to learn from creating and maintaining it. That is where the personal blog comes in to play; I learned a lot from exploring other avenues outside of teaching. I learned to write about things I enjoy doing, places I enjoy going, etc. Recently, I decided I would apply that to this blog – my professional blog. The key is to share the resources that I enjoy the most, share the resources that students enjoy; the key is to share, share…share. The benefits of keeping a professional blog go beyond what I imagined. Sharing resources with teachers from every part of the United States and every part of the world can only benefit my future students. It is a new way to develop ideas and support. My personal blog is called Embrace the Uncertainty. That is what I think I am just now starting to do with this blog. Embrace it. I want to maintain this blog as a professional blog. It connects me to my classmates and to other teachers. I am able to pull from a variety of resources, share those resources and gain feedback from other teachers.

Now, to share a resource… pixton.com is a great multimodal resource! Check out my post called “My thoughts on the blogging matter” to see an example!

My Thoughts on the Blogging Matter

imbryant — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:29:28 +0000

Make your own comic at Pixton.com, it’s click-and-drag easy!

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The History of Fanfiction

imbryant — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 00:58:15 +0000

Fan fiction began as early as the 17^th century with storytellers adding sequels to original works that were actually published by those who were not the original authors. Fan versions based on Jane Austen’s characters, Alice and Wonderland by Lewis Carrol, and Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle are all considered to be fan fiction.

The modern use of the term fan fiction originally referred to science fiction fans who published their works in semi-professional magazines known as fanzines. The first fanzine was Spockanalia; published in 1967, it contained fan fiction in the modern sense of the term based on Star Trek.

After 1965, the original type of fan fiction (creating sequels) fell to the wayside and the modern definition of fan fiction emerged. Writers began to use ideas, characters, situations, plot, and setting of original, published work to develop their own views of the story or an offshoot of the story (Wikipedia, 2010). The Internet has helped escalate the popularity of fan fiction. Entering the word “fan fiction” into any modern search engine on the Internet will return with an unbelievable number of results. Modern fan fiction websites allow anyone to upload content of their own; often, the writer will have to join the website in order to publish their work to the site. Due to its availability fan fiction lends itself to a variety of options in reading, writing, and social networking.

*All images provided by google image search.

You’re A Poet and You Didn’t Know It

imbryant — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:40:38 +0000

Since declaring my major in college I have wanted to pursue a career as a teacher and a coach. I remember my roommate driving me out to the Education Department (it was a HIKE from our dorm) and her waiting on me outside as I declared my major freshman year of college. When I told the advisor that I wanted to do secondary education she looked at me… paused… and said, “Are you sure about that?” I told her yes and haven’t looked back on that decision since. I am proud to say that it was my first and only major in college! I enjoy the challenges of the profession and the imagination necessary for planning lessons and reaching students on a daily basis. I want each of my students to feel that they have the ability to express their unique and independent ideas without fear of rejection. I hope to foster their independence by helping them explore a variety of topics, including their own thoughts and opinions, through reading and writing.

Speaking of writing…Below is a picture of me and a hopeful poet in Seattle, WA. I was with two other girls this day and we were a bit startled when he stopped us. He asked if he could recite one of his poems to us and of course, I said yes. I told him how much I appreciated him stopping us to share his thoughts. How brave! He gave me a copy of his poem and let me take a picture with him. Unfortunately, the copy of his poem does not have his name on it or I would credit him at this very moment. I am thankful that he let me have a copy and take a picture with him so I can share his dreams of being a poet with my students. (See below the picture for his poem.)

Truth

We are the truth.We will hold the stars fall, use every beat of our hearts as the levers to change the prisons, and the passion to help the systems. We will never be victim while this world is burning round. Helping us to forget the freedom and the free will to some times not have to care. As long as we find a wealth a subtitled stealth. Please be aware of the truth. All the money in the world of eternity will face fold value to the most beautiful soul that is printed, minted, and never counterfeited of you. It is just life’s lies and mysteries that keep bringing us to our knees for a peace in misery. Truly see who you will always be. Anything and everything. But how could we of ever stayed warm when ever since Zeus there has been a Desert Storm. Only now there are more than mourn from scorn and million of more wars that are born on our hope that wars make love become reborn. It is a rush as our years will slowly fight the battles to bones. What do we do to trust but to utterly trust to dust. For we are the generations the differences with the will to no longer die but to survive with all of our pride. Asking why are we lost like an electric kite in outer space. Is our race to erase the disgrace from every boys and girls face that we are with our sins as if they are our next of kin for love and life has begun. We are the princes and princesses’ of these suns of this United Universe. And when will this verse begin. When billions of people join in ink to quote we are all equal with soul forever destined free. WHEN HAPPIENESS [sic] IS THE ONLY INCOME OF ALL THOUGHTS THAT IS INTELLIGENCE. WHEN HAPPIENESS [sic] IS THE ONLY INCOME OF A THOUGHT THAT IS LOVE. HAPPIENESS [sic] MAKE IT HAPPEN.

Maybe this will inspire you to go write something, but that’s the hopeful English teacher in me! If you do … have fun with it! It can be very cathartic!

Fanfiction

imbryant — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:43:55 +0000

I’m going to do a series of posts on fanfiction. What it is, its history, and how it can be used in the classroom. Hope you enjoy!

New Media: Fan fiction

Wikipedia defines new media as “the emergence of digital, computerized, or networked information and communication technologies in the later part of the 20^th century” (Wikipedia, 2010). The characteristics of new media include the ability to be manipulated, networkable, dense, compressible, interactive and impartial (Wikipedia, 2010). Fan fiction is an example of this type of digital, networked information found on the Internet. Wikipedia defines fan fiction as “fan labor [defined as “the productive creative activities engaged in by fans”] regarding stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator” (Wikipedia, 2010). Fan fiction has many different foci. It is often closely related to a popular novel. Fan fiction authors take any number of ideas from an original work such as the subject, characters, setting, plot, or time period to create their own stories. The creators of fan fiction often will combine ideas form several stories that they have read to create their own.

Next up: History of Fanfiction

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

imbryant — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:29:28 +0000

I found three things that are interesting and would aid in teaching The Great Gatsby.

1. Companion Read: Jake, Reinvented by Gordon Korman. I have not read this book yet, but it is a high school version of Fitzgerald’s work. Korman sets the teenagers in F. Scott Fitzgerald High. I hope to read it soon and see how they are connected.

2. The English Companion Ning has some good resources.

3. Jay Gatsby and the Myth of American Origins – this video is a lecture by Leo Marx. It is more a resource for the teacher than something you would want to show a class merely because it might put some students to sleep as any video would. It is a very interesting lecture and brings up some good talking points. It’s up to you whether you show it to your students or use it as your own resource!

YA Lit. – Author Focus -Gordon Korman

imbryant — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 05:40:46 +0000

I am on the hunt for young adult literature to add to my classroom library. I want to have a variety of books available to my students to peak their interest in reading.

Recently, I have been researching a particular author who published his first book at fourteen, which is an amazing accomplishment and can serve as inspiration to aspiring writers. His name is Gordon Korman.

Korman has a significant online presence. Information online about the author and his books ranges from interviews to lesson plans.

Korman talking about how he became a writer: BookVideos.tv

- This is a helpful way to introduce students to Korman and his books. Students hearing that they, too, can write is often an encouragement and Korman explains when he started writing and how he creates his stories in a short, but very informative video.

Scholastic Author Study: Gordon Korman Author Study

-Helpful for teachers looking for some ‘dirt’ on Korman!

A series of interviews with Gordon Korman: Scholastic Videos

- These serve best as context for the teacher to gain some more knowledge of Korman as an author before introducing him to a class or an individual student.