While creating this blog for my Multi-Modal class is my first experience of actually writing on a blog, I was introduced to the "blog-sphere" a while ago. My high school English teacher (my mentor, my inspiration for becoming a high school English teacher, and since I have graduated high school, my friend) introduced me to the blogging world. Her sister-in-law, Leslie, was diagnosed with cancer, and so (to my understanding) Leslie and Tyson (her husband) decided to update family and friends via Myspace blogging. That Myspace blog was then "mirrored" to a blogger site entitled "Leslie's Journey." With an intimate look into Leslie and Tyson's marriage, their love for God, their love for their son, and the battle of disease, I found myself inspired, moved, and devoted in prayer for this family. While reading it, I was constantly taken back by the beauty of the emotion put into Leslie's blog. The quality of writing was amazing. I found myself emailing and calling my English teacher asking the question: "So seriously, is there a book deal, yet?"
While Leslie's life on earth has ended, her testimony and legacy lives on through her blog. Her husband, Tyson, continues to write on his own blog entitled "Another Chapter," where he again (or maybe more properly said, still) shares his emotions openly with his witty and heart-wrenching writing.
Much to my, and the hundred-thousand plus (and no I am not exaggerating) of other dedicated readers delight, Leslie's Journey the blog has started its own journey towards becoming Leslie's Journey the book. As a future educator, this stands as yet another example of the blending of technology and literature, and the significance that technology will hold in our and our students' personal and professional lives. And what an amazingly motivational tool to get students writing: a guy sharing his life on a blog is on his way to becoming a published author.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Watching Movies...
Every Wednesday afternoon this semester, my roommate and I head to the movie theatre. It is a great way to break up the school week, to spend some time together, and apparently, it is also a great way for me to prepare for my Multi-Modal centered career. I, as I have stated to my Multi-Modal class through my Multi genre Autobiography, am very eclectic when it comes to watching movies. I love to watch just about everything. So my roommate and I went to see movies that range from Underworld: Rise of the Lycans to He's Just Not That Into You to Slumdog Millionaire. And this week, we decided to go see The Watchmen.
Now, I am not really a person who reads comic books/graphic novels. I don't have anything against them, it is just something that I never really got into, but I think that they can be a valuable tool in a classroom for getting students interested in reading. I also think that by getting students interested in how literature such as graphic novels can be transformed into cartoons and movies they can better understand the importance of written literature as a medium. So when I heard that yet another movie was being made from a comic book/graphic novel, in my mind I was imagining a film along the lines of the X-Men/United/Last Stand, Spiderman/2/3, Fantastic Four/Rise of the Silver Surfer, etc. Needless to say, this movie was nothing like I expected. I am not suggesting that The Watchmen is a horrible movie or that no one should see it (because quite frankly I am still trying to decide if I like it or not), but I do think that it might be important to say that if you are a parent, big brother/sister, babysitter, etc. who has let a child go see any of the X-Men or Spiderman movies, The Watchmen is one I think you should seriously consider letting the kids skip. I do not believe in censorship or telling people what is right and wrong, but as a future educator if I tried to show this film to a high school class I would most likely loose my job. Okay, I am now getting off my soapbox...
Since movies seems to be the topic of the day, in Multi-Modal, we are reading from William V. Costanzo's Great Films and How to Teach Them. For one of my class assignments I have to watch and review one of the thirteen movies featured in Costanzo's text. These titles include: Casablanca, North by Northwest, To Kill a Mockingbird, Romeo and Juliet, The Godfather, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Glory, Mississippi Masala, Schindler's List, The Shawshank Redemption, Run Lola Run, The Matrix, Bend it Like Beckham, and Whale Rider. After reading this list myself, I was confronted with just how much time I spend watching movies: I personally own 9 of the 13 titles! (Meaning this text will be a great asset to my future classroom!) What interested me most was how Costanzo included the classics such as Casablanca and One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest with more popular and modern titles such as The Matrix and Bend it Like Beckham. I think this text really explores a lot of ways for teachers to get students to understand fundamental parts of film and film making, as well as giving them a well-rounded introduction to types of films.
Now, I am not really a person who reads comic books/graphic novels. I don't have anything against them, it is just something that I never really got into, but I think that they can be a valuable tool in a classroom for getting students interested in reading. I also think that by getting students interested in how literature such as graphic novels can be transformed into cartoons and movies they can better understand the importance of written literature as a medium. So when I heard that yet another movie was being made from a comic book/graphic novel, in my mind I was imagining a film along the lines of the X-Men/United/Last Stand, Spiderman/2/3, Fantastic Four/Rise of the Silver Surfer, etc. Needless to say, this movie was nothing like I expected. I am not suggesting that The Watchmen is a horrible movie or that no one should see it (because quite frankly I am still trying to decide if I like it or not), but I do think that it might be important to say that if you are a parent, big brother/sister, babysitter, etc. who has let a child go see any of the X-Men or Spiderman movies, The Watchmen is one I think you should seriously consider letting the kids skip. I do not believe in censorship or telling people what is right and wrong, but as a future educator if I tried to show this film to a high school class I would most likely loose my job. Okay, I am now getting off my soapbox...
Since movies seems to be the topic of the day, in Multi-Modal, we are reading from William V. Costanzo's Great Films and How to Teach Them. For one of my class assignments I have to watch and review one of the thirteen movies featured in Costanzo's text. These titles include: Casablanca, North by Northwest, To Kill a Mockingbird, Romeo and Juliet, The Godfather, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Glory, Mississippi Masala, Schindler's List, The Shawshank Redemption, Run Lola Run, The Matrix, Bend it Like Beckham, and Whale Rider. After reading this list myself, I was confronted with just how much time I spend watching movies: I personally own 9 of the 13 titles! (Meaning this text will be a great asset to my future classroom!) What interested me most was how Costanzo included the classics such as Casablanca and One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest with more popular and modern titles such as The Matrix and Bend it Like Beckham. I think this text really explores a lot of ways for teachers to get students to understand fundamental parts of film and film making, as well as giving them a well-rounded introduction to types of films.
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