actually, this song is about me

I got a haircut.

straight-styled

curly

did you know that

Nebraska...
is the birthplace of Arbor day?
the headquarters of Cabela's?
has a museum of military vehicles?
has a Robert Henri museum?
's exit ramps are always lit, and that the exit sign has listed how many miles till the next one?

there is a splendid mural right next to the 24th street exit in Omaha. I wanted to stop and take pictures. It was 5 or six huge towers that looked like they had once been part of a factory (storage facility?) painted with bright colors and designs.

also, there is a wilderness safari you can take right outside of Omaha. I missed it. Life-long regret.

Desoto Iowa, is the birthplace of John Wayne?
there is a 'Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area' in Iowa?

fascinating. I love traveling.

illegality

When three sheriff SUV's came roaring down the highway in full police-mode
I passed them a minute or two later (after letting them go by)
they were cornering a semi-truck driver and his associate
the driver was belly-down (he had a big one) on the ground with his hands in the air
and his sidekick had just shot his hands up
I imagined someone had gestured at him with a very persuasive tool
there were actually five semi-trucks pulled over right in a row
I wondered what they were carrying

finals update

almost there.
one more
tomorrow

the last one.

woo hoo!

personal teaching philosophy

My personal philosophy of teaching comes from a poem by Taylor Mali titled Miracle Workers: All I do is give you what I know you need, before you know you need it. The question then becomes, what do students need to learn most? Organization? Creativity? Coping? Judgement? 

All of these skills can be taught through literature. Although all schooling teaches students to organize, to think critically, to evaluate, to synthesize, and the list goes on--teaching language arts enables students to learn how to express themselves, as well as connect with people around them, while making judgements about the experiences they encounter via text. I teach literature because I want to teach about life; literature and writing are just my vehicles.

First of all we must teach students to connect with our characters by asking questions like: Do you understand this character’s motivation? His or her reasons for acting this way? Do you agree with those reasons? Why or why not? If you opinion differs, why do you think that the character has come to a different conclusion than you? Are their values different than yours? What has influenced their values? What has influenced yours? How does this affect the choices you make? 

This form of questioning is much more intensive than normal processing questions, such as those dealing with plot or characterization--not that plot or characterization aren’t important, which I will deal with later. But by asking our students to connect with a character by evaluating their own life is a necessary skill for their future. If students cannot connect with other people, they will not be effective employees in whatever job they aspire to, not to mention socially disengaged and unsatisfied beings. 

But back to the much-maligned plot structure. Teaching plot structure is important, although not as important as the previously mentioned higher-level thinking strategies. Teaching plot structure implies the teaching of an aesthetic. That is to say, “There is a formula for making something beautiful.” Once we explicate this formula, we first enable students to recognize it, and then we enable them to critique it, and discuss--is one climax in a novel, really the best way to write? Would a certain novel be better if it incorporated more conflict? Or perhaps a different structure than the traditional single climax? These questions illustrate that if we teach students to first recognize and work within a literary structure, we then enable them to work outside of it in an informed and deliberate way. 

This same tactic can be applied to any literary tool. Once students learn a literary tool they are then informed users instead of passive consumers. They can use these cognitive skills in any written or oral forms of communication. 

Who has not succumbed to the movie quote “I’m disinclined to acquiesce to your request” (Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl). If one understands rhythm and meter, as well as phonetics, it is easy to break down this simple selection and see why it is so appealing: The stress on each of the lines is the same, “I’m disinclined to acquiesce to your request.”  Here is the pattern: un stress un un/ un stress un un/ un stress un un. There is also a leading string of similarity between the syllables of  dis and inclined, the hard k sound in clined/ac  and the last pairing is between qui in ‘acquiesce’ and ‘request,’ not to mention the near-rhyme at the end between ‘acquiesce’ and ‘request’ as well. 

Before you learn those patterns, a student could simply remember it as a good quote from a movie. But after a student learns about rhythm, and stress in poetry, and studies the effect of phonetics and repetition on writing that makes it memorable, they are able to realize that they can use these same tactics in their own writing.

These skills are important--analyzing the aesthetic--because they allow students to foster their own creativity. Instead of teaching students to mimic the accepted forms of communication, I would like to teach them to break down that communication and take the good parts, but leave the ineffective parts. This “take it if it works for you; leave it if it doesn’t” strategy promotes a shift in culture, where only the most effective methods for communicating survive.

Overall the parallels between skills you use in an english classroom, and the skills you use generally in a creative and professional life are undeniable. Learning how to evaluate people, to connect with them, to analyze your own experience, to understand a set pattern, and to then critique that pattern, to see if it is the most appropriate avenue for you to reach your communicative goals--which of these skills cannot be used in business, performing arts, education or science? Each of these professions clearly needs the abilities one first learns in a well-taught language arts classroom. Other classes may teach organizational ability, and some evaluative skills, but in literature, because our text is life and life’s challenges as written about by the human, we prepare students to connect, understand, and shift their actions to accommodate new situations.

**written for my final in "Teaching Literature and Reading"

finals

Monday: Prepped for one, finished one.
Bed: 1:30am
Tuesday
Awake: 6:00am
Final at 8am
flying colors
9am library
type up essay for 378
review classmate's excellently noted study guide
there's no way I can do a better job than she has
I'm embarrassed to send back my own
when  its clear she has so much already
11am
food/nap

final at 2:30

then I only have one more
its my hardest

things you might not know

about me:
1) i love drinking out of mason jars
2) my mom told me we have big feet because we are norwegian, but then i met a norwegian once and i found out that it wasn't true. they have small feet. i inquired.

that's all.

dietary concerns

A: So my sister has this big tub of candy on her desk and I was doing observations in her classroom yesterday, so guess what I had for lunch?
L: Candy?
A: Candy. What did I have for dinner?
Pizza.

What did I have for lunch today?

A fruit snack.

(Later in the class)

A: Oh, i forgot to tell you, that two nights ago

I had barbecue chips for dinner.

L: How many barbecue chips?

I am doing fine

I realize these last posts have kind of been downers,  and preoccupied with romance (but then again, what is new?). Sorry about that.

Betsy's current state:
Shoes: I have reticently returned to the skater shoes of 15-year-old-adolescents due to the snow and the fact that none of my professional, trendy, cute flats are waterproof. Fashion industry, how I loathe thee.
Face: I have lately started wearing makeup every day. Why? I don't know. Oh wait--I like looking pretty. Although, I overheard one of my friends say "I think sometimes girls confuse makeup with prettiness," the other day and it blew my mind. I may be changing my habits.
Brain: Worn out, above par. That is to say, my brain is still above par, although it feels worn out. Finals--I promise, I too shall pass.
Church: Joseph Smith was a prophet of God who restored the full and complete gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. He translated The Book of Mormon, a collection of scriptures from ancient America. It is truly the writings of prophets and apostles on the American continent. I know that Jesus Christ died, in order to grant me the opportunity to live with God again. God knows me individually, in the very specific and real sense.
Friends: I hate it when friends leave. It is hard.
Roommates: Awesome.
Major: Exhilarating. I love it.
Health: Happy, with a large helping of cheese pizza. Little Caesars is too close for self-control.
Music: Glee. I just can't get away.

Prince Philip

One of my friends took that silly quiz "What Disney Prince Is Right For You?!!!" Yes, Every Word Was Capitalized, And There Were Three Exclamation Points!!!

I usually don't bother with such things, because I think they are hokum. And ridiculous.
(Like I need any more time spent thinking about frogs and kissing. Or princes--I hear it turns out that way sometimes.)

I think all those quizzes are a waste of time. Quizzes aren't going to tell you about your life, facebook addicts. The fact that you are taking quizzes on facebook probably says a whole lot more about your life than that quiz ever will.  Not that one or two just for fun are too bad (What Basement Babe Are You?).

I read her headline though. Discussing the prince who was "Right For Her."


"Prince Philip--He would do anything for you. In fact, he probably already has."


Which caused me to think about what things I have done? For the (pardon the cheese) prince that's right for me? Cultivate healthy relationships. Be awesome. Expand my vocabulary so our children will be smart. Minimize my wardrobe so we have less to move. Read. Give up meat (even though I don't know if he will appreciate that). 


It is comforting to think about, the idea that someone is changing their life in anticipation of the event that will be me coming into his life. The glorious event. And knowing the kind of person I am, I think he is preparing now. Good luck, my dear friend. I don't know what you can really do, except to be as righteous as you can be. I mean, that is what I am trying...like I said, good luck. And thanks, in advance. 

more fluent: the gradient as opposed to the lack of achievement

"I promise I'll be more fluent tomorrow,"

one student said, his presentation in Spanish interrupted by the bell. 

Fluency. Isn't fluent something you either are or you're not? It is something you have reached, or you haven't. Instead of a spectrum. 

The way this student used it though, it was like he thought that it was a spectrum. But you can't be partially fluent, right? The whole connotation of fluent is that you've got it, you are completely competent in that arena. I think we misuse it when we say that someone is more fluent than we are, or we assign levels of fluency. But the very fact that the word 'fluency' (the degree to which one is fluent) exists DOES imply that there is a spectrum. 

Sometimes I don't realize that I could be on a spectrum, instead of just failing. 

 

echoes

love is like music

I have heard the song before

I think 

I am listening for something 

that resembles what I remember

from the last time

Perhaps I should just listen 

for the music

instead of a song has already played:

the echo

of what once was