Disconnect to Connect/Feed

Seems like my week to forget things and to be forgotten.  The chaos of this semester and life in general is getting to me.  And so I'll do my final blog post on Feed .  Last week in our presentation I ended our class by discussing how we as teachers, in many ways, are the "feed" to our students... an awesome responsibility really.  Some days I wonder if I'm truly up to the task: am I patient enough? knowledgeable enough? hard-working enough? smart enough? unbiased enough? am I good enough?  do I care enough?  I just don't know.  I guess we'll see.  Through this class, I mean it when I say that I've become much more fully aware of the responsibility we have as teachers to be passionate about learning yet we/I need to learn to allow students to discover their own thinking.  I know that I'll need to work on tweaking my approach to engage the students fully to make decisions on their own.  I fully expect to learn from my colleagues and hope I get placed in the fall with teachers who are beyond excellent at showing me the way. 

As for the book Feed I find that I refer to it a lot.  I actually recommended it to several people lately: my soon-to-be-ex-husband who is obsessed with his social networking business and several people at the MAWCA conference I recently attended.  Although it's not a book that inspired me by its writing or fulfilled me through its characters, this book's message certainly resonates and strikes a chord with me personally.  My marriage became the world of Feed in many ways in its last 2 years.  As my husband aggressively pursued his world of creating his social networking software company and basically worked non-stop to "achieve" his life-long dream to make a lot of money, I retreated into myself and my young children and certainly out of the fast-paced career I had been in for almost 15 years.  Feed's dystopic world with its almost total reliance on technology and focus on consumerism, a world where human thoughts were controlled by the Feednet connection in brains, was fast-paced, exciting, savvy.  Yet, there was little connection amongst humans, little concern for the world around, and there was a void of unplanned time.  I didn't love the characters in Feed.  Titus was uncaring.  Violet was too intense.  The friends of Titus were superficial and lacked any depth.  As I said in class, I guess all of this is the point of the book.  To me the book is a warning that we all need to "disconnect" from the feeds of media, of social networking, of the Internet, of consumerism... and we need to remember what it means to think before we communicate, to make decisions alone, to truly connect, to truly care.  Time "disconnected" to "connect" is definitely time well-spent.  This allows us to see what is really happening in our lives and in the world around us. 

Do I dare disturb the universe? Onwards armed with new strategies

Do I dare disturb the universe?First of all, I’d like to thank all the students in the class.  You make me realize that, indeed, I am making the right choice by returning to teaching after such a long, long time away.  I am very impressed with all of you and have really enjoyed exploring the amazing books and articles we read this semester.  It has been a dynamic learning experience for me, one housed in a comfortable, safe, and supportive environment.   It’s hard for me to believe a few of you are freshmen.  It really gives me hope for our future (and I am not always an openly hopeful person).  Thanks especially to my team members on the group project.  It has been a real creative endeavor!  Even though we haven’t gone yet, I feel like I’ve learned a ton in the process already.

I do believe this class could transform my teaching approach.  Importantly, this class taught me strategies which could save me.  I’m not quite there yet in my study of teaching and strategy implementation, but I have certainly been armed with a bevy full of approaches I can utilize in my teaching.  I plan to at least try to take more of a guide-on-the side approach to teaching.  I and the students (I underline because I won’t be in the driver’s seat all the time) will explore literature and cultural and historical influences on thinking.  I mentioned before that what I’ve learned could save me:  I have a tendency to take on a lot and really have to watch burnout.  Through this class I’ve learned strategies to direct and support learning in such a way that gets students more engaged as they explore learning themselves. YET, did mention that I still have to monitor myself for burnout?  Quite frankly, I’m at a tipping point this semester with all the schoolwork, family life, part-time job, and other things.  So I know, burnout is something I need to sidestep.  At any rate, the real question is, “Do I dare disturb the universe.”   It’s funny that one of the first readings we did this semester asked Prufrock’s question?  Do I dare?  I’m still worried that when push comes to shove that I go back to my old, probably more lucrative career.  I hope I stay strong.

Strategies:

·         Literature circles:  I love this and really enjoyed the class we had focused on this.  This is a great way to keep students engaged in the material.  By giving them choice of books and flexibility with roles, you really give students strong teasers to get them into the reading.

·         Gallery:  What a great idea!  I can see this applied in many different ways.  I was surprised by how much I took in looking at other people’s write-ups.  It is a great, fun idea for many projects.

·         Very targeted supplemental reading:  The additional articles we had to read to accompany each of the books really enhanced the overall experience of the main book.  I realize that this is a key to furthering student understanding.

·         Graphic novels:  Use them: taps into a multi-modal reading experience.  I loved American-Born Chinese.  I’m on the fence with Manga Shakespeare but am much more open-minded then I was.

·         Ask and Answer:  good strategy to get students thinking about the literature and coming up with questions on their own.

·         Visuals:  I liked how we used pictures, drawings, videos, etc. to learn more about the content.  Seeing this really makes me realize what can be used in lessons to build access-ways to learning.

·         Perspectives:  give students different perspectives, e.g. study the Book Thief about a German girl and then Night about a Jewish man: both during WWII.

·         Drama:  I hope to create opportunities for using drama in lesson plans.  Clearly, in our class alone there are many budding actors on the verge of a breakthrough.  I loved when students had to vote for/against teaching books in the classroom.  Very funny.  Erin and Nate were so hilarious (oh wait, isn’t that Heidi’s word?).  Also enjoyed when we translated excerpts from Early Modern English into language used today.  Cassie encouraging me to use creative language;)  Also loved the stereotyping exercise we ran through Group 1’s presentation.  Fun.

·         Music:  I really enjoyed the narrating Shakespeare with music.  Great idea!

·         Blogging:  Didn’t think I’d be a fan.  I also wasn’t sure if folks would engage/read as much without more formal assignments.  I  was surprised at how effective it was.

·         Tweets:  Okay, so I haven’t been a fan of tweeting to date.  But, I was really glad to get an opportunity to try it out with a pseudonym.  The assignment was fun.

·         Creating own vignette:  Creative writing on vignettes really was a great way to get into the thinking of the writer and/or the time.

Other tips:

·         Be sure to use WAIT time.  Dr. Mortimore gave me a key piece of advice: when I ask a question and first don’t get a response… count to 5 in my head before continuing to see if students respond.  I need to do this!

·         Be careful with the homework you assign:  be sure it is directly related to the lesson’s objectives; make sure instructions are clear.

·         Use a website to keep assignments and reading materials in a single repository.  I have/have had other classes in which it can get confusing because assignments keep changing and/or materials are passed out.  Planning up front will help avoid this.

·         As YGBB mentioned, “learning is social.”  I need to ensure I engage students in meaningful social activity in the classroom.  Group work can be fun and extremely informative.

In teaching as in life, my motto is to play the ball where it lies.  In life there are many things I don’t have control over and the best I can do is develop a strategy to move forward.  In teaching literature I’ll have heterogeneous classrooms: students will have different needs, strengths, weaknesses, personalities, and supports at their disposal.  I will choose various methods, many of which I learned more about in this class.  I hope to inspire students to search for knowledge, be open to new ideas, and learn how to live in the modern ever-changing world.   Yes, it’s a world of “feeds.”  Sometimes it is a world in which it’s hard to know who is controlling my thoughts or whether I am thinking or am capable of thinking freely.  And I admit, I sometimes like to remember The Growing Tree without thinking, “Why is the tree a woman?”  And yes, I like to just sit and watch The Lion King without thinking Nala, you should have “stepped up.“  Undoubtedly, there’s so much about life I can learn from the study literature.  So onwards I hope to go…  Round 2 or 3 or 4 career-wise?  Who’s counting?

Feelings -- to -- No One is to Blame -- to -- Beat It... Oh my! Cheaper than therapy...

So, I need to choose 3 songs that at one point in my life I connected to.... so here goes.  Can't write too much 'cause I"m OVERLOADED by end-of-semester.

Ironically, the first song I'm going to choose is a super-cheesy song.  I'm only choosing it because I think the story is kind of ironic and funny really as to why I connected to it in one point in my life.  It's the cheesy song from the 70s?  called "Feelings."  I was living in Hong Kong at the time and had one of my first real jobs: teaching English in Hong Kong.  My boyfriend and I went to dinner at a revolving restaurant which at the time was super-posh for our shoestring budget.  I was wearing this horrible brown dress that I wore all the time in my classrooms...  my intern's budget didn't handle name brands.  At any rate, at one point my boyfriend waved over a Filipino band and then he got down on one knee and pulled out a ring.  The people at tables around us looked over... smiles abound.  And then the band started playing..... a romantic love song??  Nope.  They started playing, "You've lost that loving feeling."  My soon-to-be-husband started waving his hands and saying NOOOO not that song... something else.  So then they started playing the cheesy love song called "Feelings."  Not the most romantic choice for a marriage proposal.  But hey, sometimes you gotta roll with it:

Feelings lyrics
Feelings
Nothing more than feelings,
Trying to forget my feelings of love

Teardrops,
Rolling down on, my face
Trying to forget my, feelings of love

Feelings,
For all my life I'll feel it
I’ll wish I've never met you, girl
You'll never come again

Feelings,
Wo-o-o feelings
Wo-o-o feelings
Again in my heart

Okay, second song.  I'm choosing this just because I really used to love Howard Jones.  He actually came to Dickinson College in Carlisle and may have been one of my first real concerts?  I can't remember.  It may have been INXS.  At any rate, I love this song....  It's called "No One is to Blame."

No One Is To Blame lyrics
You can look at the menu
but you just can't eat
You can feel the cushion
but you can't have a seat
You can dip your foot in the pool
but you can't have a swim
You can feel the punishment
but you can't commit the sin

(chorus)
And you want her
And she wants you
We want everyone
And you want her
And she wants you
No one, no one
No one ever is to blame

You can build a mansion
but you just can't live in it
You're the fastest runner
but you're not allowed to win
Some break the rules
and live to count the cost
[- From :http://www.elyrics.net/read/h/howard-jones-lyrics/no-one-is-to-blame-lyrics.html -]
The insecurity is the
thing that won't get lost

(chorus)

You can see the summit
but you can't reach it
It's the last piece of the puzzle
but you just can't make it fit
Doctor says you're cured
but you still feel the pain
Aspirations in the clouds
but your hopes go down the drain

And you want her
And she wants you (wants you)
We want everyone
And you want her
And she wants you (wants you)
No one, no one
No one ever is to blame
No one ever is to blame
No one ever is to blame

Finally, I guess I have to put a song from the Thriller album.  I think that was the first record (yes "record"... not download and not CD) I purchased.  I must have been in 6th grade?  Again, not sure.  I do remember that my older brother had purchased it and wanted to be the ONLY one in the family who owned it.  So I had to hide the record between my mattress for fear that he might discover it.  I played it on my record player with my friends only when he wasn't home.

Beat It lyrics
Michael Jackson Cover

They told him don't you ever come around here
Don't wanna see your face, you better disappear
The fire's in their eyes and their words are really clear
So beat it, just beat it

You better run, you better do what you can
Don't wanna see no blood, don't be a macho man
You wanna be tough, better do what you can
So beat it, but you wanna be bad

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right
Just beat it, beat it
Just beat it, beat it
Just beat it, beat it
Just beat it, beat it

They're out to get you, better leave while you can
Don't wanna be a boy, you wanna be a man
You wanna stay alive, better do what you can
So beat it, just beat it

You have to show them that you're really not scared
You're playin' with your life, this ain't no truth or dare
They'll kick you, then they beat you,
Then they'll tell you it's fair
So beat it, but you wanna be bad

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right
{ From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/a/anoop-desai-lyrics/beat-it-lyrics.html }

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right
Just beat it, beat it
Beat it, beat it, beat it

Beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or who's right

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right
Just beat it, beat it
Beat it, beat it, beat it

Beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or who's right

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Just beat it, beat it
Beat it, beat it, beat it

 

 

So I wrote this pretty quickly but does it tell me something that I go from "Feelings," to "No one is to Blame," to "Beat It."  Maybe that's the true story!