I am a slacker. Yes, it has been far too long since I last blogged. No, I have no reasonable excuse that would forgive me. Sooo, I have decided to produce somewhat of a highlight reel of the past week instead.
Wednesday 9/28
I felt defeated after class on Monday. I was not going to let Wednesday defeat me too! Since we were discussing Berger today, I decided to also talk about perception, audience, and author's intention. I had the students start the class off by having them quick-write about the following three images that I put up on the projector: the Twilight novel, the Twilight comic, and the Twilight DVD. Twilight, in my opinion, always gets a conversation going. Intentionally, I left the prompt wide open for student interpretation: write about how each of these is seen differently. I gave them 5 minutes to write, then told them to discuss it with the person sitting next to them. Gradually, the classroom was buzzing with conversation. Bingo! I figured out how to get them to talk! I walked around to see what a few of them were chatting about and then opened up the paired conversations into a classroom discussion. As I did, I could hear a silence falling upon them. Nooooooo! Just when I thought that I had figured out how to get them to speak up in class! Wah wah. One by one, the students began to speak up, but I noticed that the only ones who were talking were the ones I had talked to while walking around. My plan to get the students to be more talkative in a group setting was a moderate success. I plan on using a similar premise in other class meetings.
Monday 10/3
Thanks to a few hours in a cat-owner's home on Sunday, my allergies were making me feel like crap on Monday. Although I had a lesson planned, I didn't know how I was going to manage through my fog of sinus congestion and sneezing. I decided to send my students on a scavenger hunt to the library. In 609, Rhodes had us work collaboratively to find books in the library and do other such library-related tasks. The end goal: Getting familiar with the workings of finding things you need using the library's resources. To be certain, I asked the students how many of them had been to the library. Only 3 students raised hands; 2 had only gone there to meet someone. The final task on the scavenger hunt was to find a book written by an author with the student's last name, check it out, and bring it to me in my office. The students said the activity was challenging, but that they were glad I had them do it.
Wednesday 10/5
Since we did not discuss Literacy like I had initially planned on Monday, I had to do double duty today. I wanted to show the students how it feels to be illiterate, so I wrote the quick-write prompt on the whiteboard in IPA. Only one student was able to identify the language, but I told her to keep quiet until further notice. The students were absolutely baffled. I told them to respond to the prompt or to write down how it feels to not know what the prompt says. After 5 minutes of allotted writing time, I gave permission for them to look up the letters and talk to each other to try to get some meaning out of it. After a minute or two, students started shouting out a few words at a time to see if their guesses were right. To my delight, they guessed what everything said! My plot to get them to see how it feels to be illiterate worked, according to my students.
From there, I highlighted the main points in Dale Spender's article, "The Politics of Naming." We made a list of things a person needs in order to become literate and discussed the underlying meanings that are embedded in language. I told them that today's class session was going to be more of a lecture-style delivery rather than a seminar like our past class meetings had been. Oddly enough, the students spoke up more and seemed to be more engaged the whole class session than they had been up to this point in the quarter. Maybe they felt like the pressure was taken off of their shoulders? Their attitude could have changed because I was so passionate about what I was teaching that they became intrigued too. I'm not sure, but all I know is that students came up to me after class saying how they really enjoyed what we were discussing today and that they hoped we did more things like it. Win!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Day 2: Stand-ups aren't the only ones who master improv
I'd much prefer to be lighthearted and friendly, but if I'm pushed, I have to do my best to keep my cool. This weekend was rather disastrous, which led to a less-than-stellar first day of class. First off, the students were letting me know that they couldn't get the book by Monday. Being the thinker I am, I decided that I would find a PDF version of Dillard (which was easily found) and email it to them. Problem solved!
Actually, though, it wasn't. I got to class on Monday and had the students move the desks into a circle. From personal experience as a student, I have noticed that it is easier to have conversations when everyone can SEE each other. I had just sat down when one student raised her hand to tell me that she didn't read because she was out of town all weekend, didn't have a book yet, and checked her email 10 minutes before class. Awesome. Not the end of the world though. One student out of 26 ain't bad.
I thanked the student for her honesty and asked if anyone else was having trouble getting a copy of the book. About half of the class raised their hands. I then asked how many of them did not get my email and 7 students raised their hands. Oy.
It was this moment that I had my first regret as a teacher: I should have asked for everyone's email address on the first day of class. If I had, then I may not have been in such a situation. Since there is no use dwelling on things I cannot change now, I asked the students to give me the email address that they check the most if it differs from their campus email.
The first item on my agenda was to explain to students that our class is not a lecture. To think about our class as a community. We need to talk to each other, feel comfortable, and share our thoughts. Yes, this is a seminar. The students, although quiet, seemed to like it. I think they are still getting past the whole stigma of high school.
With the email addresses in hand, and seminar speech complete, I opened up the floor to conversation about Dillard. There was a long moment of silence. As uncomfortable as it was to sit and gaze into the eyes of scared deer standing in the headlights, I remained silent. From my writing center data, I learned that silence really upsets hierarchy. Although it seemed like an entire minute of silence, I think it was only about 20 seconds. Then, from the left side of the room, a hand went up. Hallelujah.
The conversation was limited, but it was there. Yes, somewhere there like a kernel just waiting for the right conditions to turn into its potential. Just as I was bringing the conversation back to points that I wanted to make about the essay as a whole, one student started chatting and had a look of boredom on her face.
I felt the Hulk creeping out. Oh, no. I reasoned with myself and slipped into my "hard ass" persona and subdued my inner Hulk. I looked at the student and asked her if she had a question. She said she didn't read and she was sharing the news with the guy sitting next to her. I said, "Well, if you stop talking, then you will see that I'm about to tell you what you didn't read."
The rest of the class I spent asking questions to get students to talk. I don't like this approach at all. For tomorrow, I am going to start the students off with a quick write. Rhodes had us quick write in most of the classes I took with her (which is a total of 5 classes) so it must be a good thing. We shall see.
Actually, though, it wasn't. I got to class on Monday and had the students move the desks into a circle. From personal experience as a student, I have noticed that it is easier to have conversations when everyone can SEE each other. I had just sat down when one student raised her hand to tell me that she didn't read because she was out of town all weekend, didn't have a book yet, and checked her email 10 minutes before class. Awesome. Not the end of the world though. One student out of 26 ain't bad.
I thanked the student for her honesty and asked if anyone else was having trouble getting a copy of the book. About half of the class raised their hands. I then asked how many of them did not get my email and 7 students raised their hands. Oy.
It was this moment that I had my first regret as a teacher: I should have asked for everyone's email address on the first day of class. If I had, then I may not have been in such a situation. Since there is no use dwelling on things I cannot change now, I asked the students to give me the email address that they check the most if it differs from their campus email.
The first item on my agenda was to explain to students that our class is not a lecture. To think about our class as a community. We need to talk to each other, feel comfortable, and share our thoughts. Yes, this is a seminar. The students, although quiet, seemed to like it. I think they are still getting past the whole stigma of high school.
With the email addresses in hand, and seminar speech complete, I opened up the floor to conversation about Dillard. There was a long moment of silence. As uncomfortable as it was to sit and gaze into the eyes of scared deer standing in the headlights, I remained silent. From my writing center data, I learned that silence really upsets hierarchy. Although it seemed like an entire minute of silence, I think it was only about 20 seconds. Then, from the left side of the room, a hand went up. Hallelujah.
The conversation was limited, but it was there. Yes, somewhere there like a kernel just waiting for the right conditions to turn into its potential. Just as I was bringing the conversation back to points that I wanted to make about the essay as a whole, one student started chatting and had a look of boredom on her face.
I felt the Hulk creeping out. Oh, no. I reasoned with myself and slipped into my "hard ass" persona and subdued my inner Hulk. I looked at the student and asked her if she had a question. She said she didn't read and she was sharing the news with the guy sitting next to her. I said, "Well, if you stop talking, then you will see that I'm about to tell you what you didn't read."
The rest of the class I spent asking questions to get students to talk. I don't like this approach at all. For tomorrow, I am going to start the students off with a quick write. Rhodes had us quick write in most of the classes I took with her (which is a total of 5 classes) so it must be a good thing. We shall see.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
A Platypusless Day: Day 1
As I predicted, my first day of teaching approached with no nerves to be found. In fact, when I was sitting in my office and noticed that it was 9:20am (the very time that my class starts), I still didn't freak out. In true Jaclyn fashion, I felt the nerves upon me as I grabbed the door handle and entered the classroom.
The lights were off when I walked in, so I cracked some joke about learning in the dark--I can't remember. You see, when I get nervous, I become a standup comedian. It happens at doctor's appointments, during speeches, and while teaching. While most people seem to laugh and make me feel relaxed, my scared little students just looked at me. I saw a few smiles, but no laughter.
And the nerves got worse as a result.
With a shaky hand, I passed out the syllabus and started going over the key points. I made sure to explicitly say that this class is different from what they are used to in high school. That the 5 paragraph essay they have mastered is going to function like training wheels: you can't learn to ride a bike without them, but you also won't win any bicycle races at 18 years old if they are still riding with training wheels. The students were all making eye contact and engaged by what I was saying (or, they are excellent actors), so that helped me to relax a bit. After syllabus time was through, I had them play the baseball game that I learned from Karen.
After the class was divided into two sides, the students seemed uneasy and that scared the crap out of me. I would have welcomed a chorus of crickets rather than the silence that followed me asking the first team what they wanted their name to be. I named them Team Zebra.
Whaddaya know, they thought that was hilarious.
(I pat myself on the back there... mentally)
I asked what the second team wanted to be named and there was more silence. Sigh. So, I named them Team Ostrich. The game seemed forced for the first 3 minutes or so. I started getting scared, but figured I would chill out and let things happen naturally. Lucky for me, things really turned around a few minutes thereafter.
By the end of the class period, I had learned at least half of their names and they (for the most part) looked excited and happy. I hope I can say the same after the Berger reading on Monday.
Over all, I was very happy with how things unfolded and with the energy that was in the room. I feel good about this group of students and I think they feel very comfortable with me. Comfortable, but not so comfortable with me as to attempt to walk all over me. 'Cause I'm a hard ass. And a hard ass has gotta keep up that reputation somehow.
The lights were off when I walked in, so I cracked some joke about learning in the dark--I can't remember. You see, when I get nervous, I become a standup comedian. It happens at doctor's appointments, during speeches, and while teaching. While most people seem to laugh and make me feel relaxed, my scared little students just looked at me. I saw a few smiles, but no laughter.
And the nerves got worse as a result.
With a shaky hand, I passed out the syllabus and started going over the key points. I made sure to explicitly say that this class is different from what they are used to in high school. That the 5 paragraph essay they have mastered is going to function like training wheels: you can't learn to ride a bike without them, but you also won't win any bicycle races at 18 years old if they are still riding with training wheels. The students were all making eye contact and engaged by what I was saying (or, they are excellent actors), so that helped me to relax a bit. After syllabus time was through, I had them play the baseball game that I learned from Karen.
After the class was divided into two sides, the students seemed uneasy and that scared the crap out of me. I would have welcomed a chorus of crickets rather than the silence that followed me asking the first team what they wanted their name to be. I named them Team Zebra.
Whaddaya know, they thought that was hilarious.
(I pat myself on the back there... mentally)
I asked what the second team wanted to be named and there was more silence. Sigh. So, I named them Team Ostrich. The game seemed forced for the first 3 minutes or so. I started getting scared, but figured I would chill out and let things happen naturally. Lucky for me, things really turned around a few minutes thereafter.
By the end of the class period, I had learned at least half of their names and they (for the most part) looked excited and happy. I hope I can say the same after the Berger reading on Monday.
Over all, I was very happy with how things unfolded and with the energy that was in the room. I feel good about this group of students and I think they feel very comfortable with me. Comfortable, but not so comfortable with me as to attempt to walk all over me. 'Cause I'm a hard ass. And a hard ass has gotta keep up that reputation somehow.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Pie, Please. I'll Pass on the Hot Pockets!
Confused? You should be. It involves a conversation between me, Gin, Josh, Bryan, and Tom; I refuse to repeat it!
In other news, I long for Monday when we talked about remediation while eating Gin's delicious pies. I took some photos rather non-discretely, might I add. Here they are so you can remember how delicious the pies were!
.jpg)
I <3 Gin and her pies!
Elise is a fan of Gin's baking skills as well!
Steve, enjoying his pie. Thanks for having a birthday, Steve!
In other news, I long for Monday when we talked about remediation while eating Gin's delicious pies. I took some photos rather non-discretely, might I add. Here they are so you can remember how delicious the pies were!
.jpg)
I <3 Gin and her pies!
Elise is a fan of Gin's baking skills as well!
Steve, enjoying his pie. Thanks for having a birthday, Steve!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
A Link to the Past
I'm a slacker. Here's my response that was due Monday. YIKES!
.jpg)
My idea of vacation time: Drinking an excellent beer and playing excellent emulator games!
I recently downloaded a Super Nintendo emulator for my Mac; a remediation of my childhood video games, if you will. I have found that playing the SNES games on my computer just doesn't cut it for me. It makes me miss the feel of my old SNES controller in my hand and sitting too close to the TV screen while playing Zelda. I went so far as to finding an SNES controller that has a usb output so you can feel like you are playing on your old SNES console. I was just about to buy it when I realized that it was such an inconvenience for me to download emulators, roms, and purchase $20 replica controllers. I still own my SNES and a few games for it. It would be much cheaper for me to buy the SNES games that I want to play from Amazon.com and play them at home on my SNES than it would for me to recreate my SNES on my Mac (which is never as good as the original SNES).
A combination of video games and childhood nostalgia made me get the SNES emulator in the first place. In the time that I spent downloading games, I could have just as easily walked over to the next room, grabbed my SNES console, dusted it off, and plugged it into my TV. The necessity to remediate something from my childhood is mind boggling to me. I realized that I have been a sucker for remediation of my favorite video games for years now. When SNES was the latest in video game technology, I bought Super Mario All-Stars. The selling point of Super Mario All-Stars was that all of the previously released Mario Bros. games were included in one game. It was an excellent way for a new gamer to play catch up in the Mario games department. The problem with me buying the game was that I already owned all of the games that were included on it. I convinced my parents that I absolutely needed to get the All-Stars game because it was for the latest console and it was better. In all reality, the games were still in the old 8 and 16 bit fashion and nothing was different about them whatsoever.
New technology automatically assumes that it is better than the pre-existing technology. Toys and relics from our childhood will bring back that warm and toasty feeling and harkens back to a day when things were less complicated for us. The SNES emulator for my Mac and the All-Stars game are proof that I participate in this phenomena without being aware of it. I am eager to see if I continue to do so now that I am aware that I seek out remediated artifacts that take me back to my childhood memories. One thing is for certain, Gin and I are against this new version of the Lite-Brite and I will definitely not be purchasing one for myself or for any kids in my life!
.jpg)
My idea of vacation time: Drinking an excellent beer and playing excellent emulator games!
I recently downloaded a Super Nintendo emulator for my Mac; a remediation of my childhood video games, if you will. I have found that playing the SNES games on my computer just doesn't cut it for me. It makes me miss the feel of my old SNES controller in my hand and sitting too close to the TV screen while playing Zelda. I went so far as to finding an SNES controller that has a usb output so you can feel like you are playing on your old SNES console. I was just about to buy it when I realized that it was such an inconvenience for me to download emulators, roms, and purchase $20 replica controllers. I still own my SNES and a few games for it. It would be much cheaper for me to buy the SNES games that I want to play from Amazon.com and play them at home on my SNES than it would for me to recreate my SNES on my Mac (which is never as good as the original SNES).
A combination of video games and childhood nostalgia made me get the SNES emulator in the first place. In the time that I spent downloading games, I could have just as easily walked over to the next room, grabbed my SNES console, dusted it off, and plugged it into my TV. The necessity to remediate something from my childhood is mind boggling to me. I realized that I have been a sucker for remediation of my favorite video games for years now. When SNES was the latest in video game technology, I bought Super Mario All-Stars. The selling point of Super Mario All-Stars was that all of the previously released Mario Bros. games were included in one game. It was an excellent way for a new gamer to play catch up in the Mario games department. The problem with me buying the game was that I already owned all of the games that were included on it. I convinced my parents that I absolutely needed to get the All-Stars game because it was for the latest console and it was better. In all reality, the games were still in the old 8 and 16 bit fashion and nothing was different about them whatsoever.
New technology automatically assumes that it is better than the pre-existing technology. Toys and relics from our childhood will bring back that warm and toasty feeling and harkens back to a day when things were less complicated for us. The SNES emulator for my Mac and the All-Stars game are proof that I participate in this phenomena without being aware of it. I am eager to see if I continue to do so now that I am aware that I seek out remediated artifacts that take me back to my childhood memories. One thing is for certain, Gin and I are against this new version of the Lite-Brite and I will definitely not be purchasing one for myself or for any kids in my life!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
"Oppression Never Tasted So Good!"
That was a quote from Jackie Rhodes as she was eating one of Elise's Girl Scout cookies. For the record, Gin is against the Girl Scouts.
.jpg)
Thanks to Gin, half of our class (and Elizabeth) went to the Tunnel of Oppression in the student union. It was a very depressing and painful exhibit to be in, but I recommend that everyone go through it. Each room had a different type of oppression: Religious oppression, image of perfection, classism, sexism, racism, ignorance/prejudice, and heterosexism. The roughest part for me was the heterosexist room. I guess that's why they saved that one for the last room. Kudos to the CSUSB students who acted out scenes in each room. The fact that we were all silent made everything so much more emotional. After we spent today's class talking about being desensitized through remediation and video games, the tunnel shed light on a different type of desensitization: dehumanization and creating Otherness. Anyhoo, we decided to take pictures on our little class adventure and I will post the ones that I took on here. They are already up on my facebook if you would like to check them out there. As soon as Gin sends me the picture from the end of the night, I will post that one too!
.jpg)
Our ticket to enter the room, Gin's lovely nails.
.jpg)
Entering the tunnel.
.jpg)
The pledge that we recited after our tunnel experience. Afterward, we got free beverages and...
.jpg)
This super cool shirt!
To see the picture of us after the Tunnel of Oppression, go to Gin's Blog.
.jpg)
Thanks to Gin, half of our class (and Elizabeth) went to the Tunnel of Oppression in the student union. It was a very depressing and painful exhibit to be in, but I recommend that everyone go through it. Each room had a different type of oppression: Religious oppression, image of perfection, classism, sexism, racism, ignorance/prejudice, and heterosexism. The roughest part for me was the heterosexist room. I guess that's why they saved that one for the last room. Kudos to the CSUSB students who acted out scenes in each room. The fact that we were all silent made everything so much more emotional. After we spent today's class talking about being desensitized through remediation and video games, the tunnel shed light on a different type of desensitization: dehumanization and creating Otherness. Anyhoo, we decided to take pictures on our little class adventure and I will post the ones that I took on here. They are already up on my facebook if you would like to check them out there. As soon as Gin sends me the picture from the end of the night, I will post that one too!
.jpg)
Our ticket to enter the room, Gin's lovely nails.
.jpg)
Entering the tunnel.
.jpg)
The pledge that we recited after our tunnel experience. Afterward, we got free beverages and...
.jpg)
This super cool shirt!
To see the picture of us after the Tunnel of Oppression, go to Gin's Blog.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Spreading the Knowledge Like It's Contagious!
I went to my cousin's house on Monday night to celebrate her birthday with her. I showed her all of the cool stuff that we have been learning in class like Twitter, Skype, and making movies with xtranormal. My cousin is a Twitter nut, so I didn't teach her anything she didn't already know. I had her download Skype and now she is cursing me because she is obsessed with it! In return, she showed me how to use zamzar to convert youtube files to mp3 files. The group presentation in class today was very similar to that concept of getting music without downloading it through a p2p sharing network. All you have to do is search a song that you like on youtube. For example, I used Paramore's cover of "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon.
1. Under Step 1: Click URL. Copy and paste the url into the box provided.
2. Under Step 2: Select what type of file you want to make the file into. For example, I made the song into an MP3 format since that is the universal music file.
3. Enter your email address: Zamzar will convert your youtube selection into an MP3 file and they will email you when it's available for you to download.
As you may have noticed, this site is capable of converting files of all sorts. It's pretty handy and my cousin said she's never had any problems with it. Since I like to embed videos, here is the Paramore cover that I mentioned earlier:
1. Under Step 1: Click URL. Copy and paste the url into the box provided.
2. Under Step 2: Select what type of file you want to make the file into. For example, I made the song into an MP3 format since that is the universal music file.
3. Enter your email address: Zamzar will convert your youtube selection into an MP3 file and they will email you when it's available for you to download.
As you may have noticed, this site is capable of converting files of all sorts. It's pretty handy and my cousin said she's never had any problems with it. Since I like to embed videos, here is the Paramore cover that I mentioned earlier:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
