Two days down, an interminable number left to go. I am exhausted. I am flabbergasted. I am living moment to moment. So much is said every single day. There is so much to remember, so much to think about, so much to say.
The first day I went hoarse from talking too much and thought I was going to pass out.
Today, I was getting a little faint after second hour (AFTER SECOND HOUR) and ate an apple to cool the nerves (which helped). Forcing myself to eat is very helpful. Oh, I have been drinking SO much water (from talking) that I have to go to the restroom constantly. The restroom is upstairs, and you get 5 minutes between classes to run through the literal herd of teenagers to use the bathroom. Then get back in time and collect your thoughts enough to actually say something meaningful to the kids.
If you do not know anything about modernism, giving a 50 minute presentation on modernism is not your best bet.
Someone threw a paper Chinese Star at the board today while I was talking. I did not see who so I just picked it up and went in the direction it came and gave my best scowl: "WHO... THREW....THIS" I asked . . . and waited until I could see them sweat.
There is one girl in my 11th grade class who acts like everything (EVERYTHING) that happens is the BIGGEST DEAL EVER. She sighs and groans and mopes and says "GOD!" and "UGH!" to just about everything. Seriously, wow.
It is past 5pm and I really don't want to think about this anymore, so sayonara.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Final Posting Final Class Final Destination: A New Beginning
Okay, so I could not help but think back to my Montessori days (side note, is it not odd that something that was once my entire life is now almost forgotten because I am so immersed in this program?) when I spent time EVERY DAY reading to little ones. Picture books: is it even possible to state their significance. I read a book about a little penguin named Pete to this adorable little girl named Emma. At one point in the story Pete is called "Pint Sized Pete," so I said to Emme: "Emma, you are Pint Sized Pete!" Not only did she love this, she called me "Pint Sized Pete" everyday after that and asked me to read the book to her quite often. When other children would come up and listen in and perhaps get scared when Pete loses his way, she would say: "Don't worry, he will be okay. . ." or inform the scared child that in the end, Pete makes it just fine.
What Emma learned from this story, what all the children learned from the stories I read to them, what every child learns from anyone who reads anything to them—even if they only look at the pictures—is immeasurable.
write this, all I want to do is go read The Watchmen (thanks Danger!) which is pretty much the coolest book I have read in forever. However, it is a graphic novel and therefore no where near as sacred as Crime and Punishment or The Crucible. Selfe adds that we continue to do non-visual texts because they are familiar. So, while the graphic novel sections of libraries and books shelves edge the musty classics into corners, we teachers keep denying areas of literacy because we are afraid of it or simple don't "get it." So, instead of taking the things youths are looking at head on (MTV, YouTube, MySpace) and integrating positive, educational and constructive aspects. . . we shy away in fear as the unmonitored shit storm grows.
I really hope that the above picture expands for all to see as it took me longer to figure out how to upload a Comic Life picture than it did to make said picture . . .
So it begins with my father reading to me (or this father reading to his daughter), my love of the spoken word and the written word meshed in the best possible way as far back as I can recall. I then spent years mowing cereal and catching up on Duck Tails, Little House on the Prairie and other TV shows that fascinated me with their characters, arcs and stories. I soon became addicted to comic books and found the Batman graphic novels to be the ultimate in story and depth of artistry. It was not long before Matt Povlony and I were racing through Boxcar Children books in school at Nativiy of Mary. Those tales lead me to dig deep into action and adventure novels like Jurassic Park. Soon after that I was ready for the ultimate adventure to Middle Earth with Frodo and the rest of the Fellowship. My love for reading and story lead me to my college education at the University of Minnesota. Enrolled there I was able to travel throughout Ireland and learn more about the literary giants that lived there and changed literature with their beautiful language. All of these (albeit small) glimpses into my literary journey bring me to who I am today: a man with mere days standing before him and his first High School classroom.
Thank you.
Now how amazing does this movie look?
What Emma learned from this story, what all the children learned from the stories I read to them, what every child learns from anyone who reads anything to them—even if they only look at the pictures—is immeasurable.
Selfe (2004) in Toward New Media Texts: Taking Up the Challenges of Visual Literacy that teachers in the past have "typically presented [new media text] as second-class texts: either as 'dumbed down' communications that serve as 'stimuli for writing by [...] no substitute for the complexity of language' or as texts related to, but certainly not on an equal footing with, the 'real' work of the course'"(71). To me, this is as absurd as it is super bogus (thanks Rick). As I 
write this, all I want to do is go read The Watchmen (thanks Danger!) which is pretty much the coolest book I have read in forever. However, it is a graphic novel and therefore no where near as sacred as Crime and Punishment or The Crucible. Selfe adds that we continue to do non-visual texts because they are familiar. So, while the graphic novel sections of libraries and books shelves edge the musty classics into corners, we teachers keep denying areas of literacy because we are afraid of it or simple don't "get it." So, instead of taking the things youths are looking at head on (MTV, YouTube, MySpace) and integrating positive, educational and constructive aspects. . . we shy away in fear as the unmonitored shit storm grows.
I really hope that the above picture expands for all to see as it took me longer to figure out how to upload a Comic Life picture than it did to make said picture . . .So it begins with my father reading to me (or this father reading to his daughter), my love of the spoken word and the written word meshed in the best possible way as far back as I can recall. I then spent years mowing cereal and catching up on Duck Tails, Little House on the Prairie and other TV shows that fascinated me with their characters, arcs and stories. I soon became addicted to comic books and found the Batman graphic novels to be the ultimate in story and depth of artistry. It was not long before Matt Povlony and I were racing through Boxcar Children books in school at Nativiy of Mary. Those tales lead me to dig deep into action and adventure novels like Jurassic Park. Soon after that I was ready for the ultimate adventure to Middle Earth with Frodo and the rest of the Fellowship. My love for reading and story lead me to my college education at the University of Minnesota. Enrolled there I was able to travel throughout Ireland and learn more about the literary giants that lived there and changed literature with their beautiful language. All of these (albeit small) glimpses into my literary journey bring me to who I am today: a man with mere days standing before him and his first High School classroom.
Thank you.
Now how amazing does this movie look?
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