Class Reflection

As a whole, I think this class exhibited some really great ideas and strategies when it came to teaching. The fact that we participated in a writing workshop, not only allowed us to express ourselves and grow as writers, but it also allowed us to become better commentators of writing.
I think that the strategy demonstration activity was useful in that it allowed for us to exhibit a little bit of our own teaching style/methods to the rest of the class, and it provided ideas for the rest of us to use in our future classrooms.

I appreciate the Unit Plan and most of what it entails, however I felt like some elements, mainly the endless reflections, became rather redundant. There is only so much (and so many times) a person can reflect on the same occurrence of events before they begin to doubt their own sanity!
While I can see how the out of class readings with the blog posts is a way to motivate students outside of the classroom to read required texts, I did feel sort of jilted over spending times on things that did not hold any significance in our class meetings. I appreciate the fact that this blog is a tool to get our ideas out there and to communicate with one another. I see the value in this sort of open conversation, but I would have appreciated a stronger tie-in what is actually going on in our classroom.

I did enjoy the use of the wiki, especially as a collaborative online text. I think it is a great way to assemble a multitude of ideas by various people. I also liked using it for my writing portfolio. The fact that I could designate everything to its own specific page made fulfilling the assignment less hectic.

I really enjoyed this class, especially our group therapy sessions! Thank you everyone for helping me survive this semester!

Teaching Writing

I have really strong beliefs when it comes to teaching writing in the classroom. I think going into the English classroom I am going to be teaching two of the most fundamental skills that a person needs in order to succeed in life: to read and to write. Writing is a form of communication that is necessary to get a job (resume or application). It is necessary to function through everyday life. My dad is a mechanic...one would think that his job does not rely heavily on writing, however, one would be wrong. He has to fill out parts orders, work orders and bills, etc. I use this as an example because even on the most basic level writing is a necessity. Therefore, I think it is necessary to teach the fundamental mechanics of writing, so people can communicate effectively.

Perhaps more importantly, I think writing contains meaning, especially literature. I think students need to be able to express themselves through writing and to be able to write about other's writing. This is the dialogue of the intellectual. This is the dialogue of the human spirit. We are represented by what is written. Shakespeare is still relevant today because he wrote about human nature. Writing connects the present to the past and gives life meaning. Writing connects us as human beings.

How to Comic

I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of comics. Every once in a while, I enjoy the Sunday comics, but that is about the extent of my admiration. I do appreciate certain story lines that are derived from comics, most especially those that are brought on to the big screen. Despite the fact that I may not personally hold the appreciation for comics that I should, I do feel like they have a lot to offer the English classroom. I think that it is a type of text that many students are familiar with, which could help in aiding them deal with more difficult texts. I think it exhibits a relationship between words and pictures that often go unrepresented in more traditional texts. So when I started reading Making Comics, I tried to keep an open mind.
I think the book has a lot of great teaching tools in it. It gives great explanations to different concepts, types and terms regarding comics. I really like how the book explains things through the comic layout, so there is a visual representation through both text and pictures. I really like the face diagram on page 92 and 93. I never realized that by simply shading a face in different ways you could achieve so many facial expressions through drawing. I also like how later in the book McCloud explains how to gain distances through a grid. It really is a very educational book in terms of creating comics.
I do have to mention that like comics themselves, this book does have a few pictures that might not be entirely considered school appropriate. I think that as a teacher I would probably would not assign this entire book, but perhaps use it as a supplementary tool, only pulling certain aspects of the text that would allow students to learn some tricks of the comic trade.