Blogging is the Way to GO!

Before I took English 495 ESM, I have had previous experience in blogging.  I started blogging in middle school with Xanga and then converted to LiveJournal in high school.  One of the biggest reasons why I started blogging was expression and identity building .  Back in middle school, all my friends had Xangas where they wrote just about anything and everything they did, thought, and felt.  When it came time to high school, LiveJournal became the new and maybe even more adult form of Xanga.  But, the purpose and the reasons were still there.  For me, I had always kept a journal/diary where I wrote down anything I thought would be important for me to remember. Now with blogging, I was able to communicate who I was more publicly with friends.  It was a way for me to share experiences without the awkwardness and self judgements.  

Taking this class and rediscovering blogging as a tool for engaging students was really an eye-opener for me.  I definitely will be using blogging in the K-12 class because I think blogging is just an effective way of not only channeling student experiences, but also (for teachers) meeting them halfway in terms of education.  Like we've learned in class, the media and technology is here to stay.  Because children and teenagers are so involved in the media and in technology, education should also adapt and utilize the relationship in order to teach.  Like Dr. Clark had us blog about our experiences in the classroom, so will I with my students.  Instead of having them write journal entries in class, I will have my students blog about a given question as part of next day's homework and discussion.  In addition, I will also require that my students create and manage a blog profile to not only learn more about them, but also get them to share and write in a way that is applicable to their lives outside of the classroom.  Overall, blogging is the way to go mainly because it encapsulates a more modern view of writing and communicating that is just as relatable and expressive.     

Fiction versus Fiction

During our fiction unit, we not only analyzed  a work of fiction, but we also wrote our own pieces of fiction.  The opportunity to do both has been pretty compelling especially since we, as English Subject Matter majors, must be able to find inspiration, passion, and value in all aspects of this wonderful discipline in order to educate others.  Like with our poetry and myth units, there are certain things about creating a piece of fiction that differ and yet coincide with analyzing another's work of fiction.  

 

First, I believe writing fiction is a work of one's creative imagination.  However, writing fiction requires that one's imagination work collaboratively with one's understanding of literary elements and rhetorical strategies that are oftentimes utilized in analysis.  This awareness of literary principles is not necessarily inclusive, but rather extensive in influence so as to engage a deeper sense of meaning and impact onto one's readers.  It is not enough that one writes a story wholly reliant on a single foundation such as plot.  Rather, one must involve and apply a variety of other elements and strategies to not only engage readers, but sustain them throughout.  A story only becomes classic and timeless when it incorporates diversity and invention at the same time that it appreciates its readers' capacity to grasp meanings and complexity.  This is why analysis of works of fiction is vitally important to fiction writers.

Analyzing fiction demands the same attention and effort as with writing a piece of fiction.  However, fiction analysis is more expository and explicit than writing one's own fiction.  This requirement does not devalue analysis of the work, but in essence, it exposes the piece of work for all its significance and merits.  In other words, analyzing fiction appraises not only the author's abilities, but also the critic's adeptness at recognizing certain functions and strategies, and how their uses succeeds or fails in producing particular effects.  Analyzing fiction, in this sense, is valuable and redeeming to fiction writers because it becomes not only feedback, but knowledge that is applicable in their future endeavors.  

In my own experience, I definitely found myself recalling elements of fiction and applying them in my fiction pieces.  Ultimately, my utility of literary elements in my own fiction helped develop and enhance my story because I was able to establish my ideas through a variety of avenues.  I was not left on a single path from start to finish, but was able to diverge and explore and still be comprehensible.  Likewise, fiction writing strengthened my ability to analyze fiction because in many ways, it was an opportunity to solidify and model the many strategies others writers have used.  In a way, writing fiction allowed me to apply theory to practice and as a result, when it came to evaluating the practice, theory and assessment became almost second nature.  

 

In terms of using my experiences in the classroom, I think the idea of analyzing and creating fiction would be very helpful for my students in better understanding the fundamentals of literature.  I will also allow my students to workshop their fiction pieces with their classmates as a way of not only motivating them, but also giving them a chance at revising and improving their pieces.  Overall, I think fiction is an important element the English genre that holds potential in engaging students and developing their critical thinking skills.   

        

 

Study and Creation of Myths

From my experiences, creating a myth was much more difficult than actually studying it.  However, much to the same effect as my arguments in my poetry blog, the study of myths and the creation of it are, in many ways, entwined.  

Studying myths, as we had done in class for our myth unit, was engaging and very much fun!  I had always loved reading folklore and mythology as a child and as a young student, but researching more about its structure, origins, and even its relevance to our societies and histories have undoubtedly enhanced by appreciation and interest in myths.  However, when it was actually time to create my own myth, I felt assuredly lost.  Reflecting on my difficulties, I realized that it was partly my fears and insecurities in writing that gave me writer's block.  I somehow felt that because I admired myths and folklore so much, the high standards I placed upon them now seemed way above my capacities.  Another reason for why I found myth creating so hard was my stubborn belief that all the great ones have already been thought of and written.  There are a plethora of myths already in existence that have explained the whys and hows of the earth, humans, and the universe.  Fatalistically, I felt my myth would simply be unoriginal.  How WRONG I was!  In class, the Trickster myth group asked us to create our own trickster myths.  In about 20 minutes, my group collaborated on a trickster myth that although seemed completely inane, was actually very clever and unique.  That activity reinvigorated my creativity and hopes that there are still more myths yet to be told.  

Ultimately, I learned that studying myths and creating one influence each other respectively.  One cannot simply create a myth without understanding the mechanisms and characteristics of myths.  In addition, I think creating a myth is, in a way, a reflection of our comprehension of mythology.  By studying the various genres of myths as well as the different needs and requirements each genre demands, creating one's own myth become much more involved and substantial as a result.  This understanding and our expression of it via our myths elevate our stories from the genre of fiction to mythology.  Thus, the study of myths and the creation of it impact each other in a significant way in terms of understanding and appreciation.           

Blog #2: Say what about Poetry?

I've heard it before, writing poetry and writing about poetry are two different things.  To some degree they are.  While writing poetry can be liberating and intimate, writing about poetry tends to have negative connotations.  

Writing about poetry is formalistic, it's daunting, it's oftentimes obligatory, and more often than not, it isn’t fun!  From my own experiences, I've tended to favor writing poetry than writing about it.  This is mainly because I've always felt writing poetry, my own poetry, was the best form of selfishness.  I wrote poetry for ME, ME, and ME.  Poetry is therapeutic, poetry is like an imaginary friend talking back to me.  Now I'm not claiming any of my poetry is award-winning, and I'd turn extremely red if someone ever read my more private poems (they're all very silly, I promise), but the function of poetry for me has always been to entertain myself.  This is why I enjoy writing poetry and why I like reading poems from far more renowned poets--they express and convey lives (no matter how silly).  

On the other hand, writing about poetry requires the same set of skills as with writing poetry but with more structure and guidelines.  Writing about poetry requires more analysis than creative expression.  To write about poetry demands one to be attuned to the other writer's designs and devices and how those factors play in the poem's overall message, theme or development.  Writing about poetry requires explanations and judgements while writing poetry conveys, illuminates, and expresses through images.   

I know these differences make the two seem irreconcilable, but in truth, they aren't.  Truth be told, learning the hard way (I'm quite stubborn) I realized that writing about poetry can actually improve my own poetry.  For one thing, analyzing poetry and becoming aware of other writers' strategies have helped me become more rounded or dimensional in my own writing.  The fact that I can identify successful or more effective rhetorical devices to illustrate ideas have made me more daring and experimental in terms of poetry topics and structure.  In addition, because writing about poetry demands more critical analysis from me, it has become somewhat difficult to turn off the analytical side of me when I do write.  As a result, my poems tend to be more ambiguous in meaning because of my playing around with my images, words, and structure.  I’ve since seen my poetry mature, moving outwards from myself to the world around me etc.    

In a sense writing about poetry has opened me up to opportunities or perspectives that I never would have arrived at alone.  As a result, writing about poetry and writing poetry are connected through one’s understanding of universal human conditions and the modes by which they are manifested in writing.  

From our class’s series of poetry assignments, I’ve learned that poetry is so versatile and powerful.  Although I’ve written poetry in private, poetry spoken to the public can be an amazing, uplifting experience.  Poetry mimics life, and listening to everyone else’s poems have truly inspired me to reach out, play around, and share.  As an aspiring teacher, the experience of writing poetry and sharing them to the class is something I definitely want to incorporate in my own classroom.  I think students will find such activity challenging, exciting, and motivational.  It gives students not only the opportunity to share their abilities and thoughts, but also connects them to their classmates that in many ways cultivates a trusting, safe, and productive classroom atmosphere.  

Blog #1: An Introduction

Hello potential blog readers!

My name is Hasel, and I am a graduating senior here at CSUN.  Hooray!  I am 22 years old, and have plans of becoming an English teacher.  English has always been a favorite subject of mine, and it is the subject I've always felt comfortable with throughout my education.  Suffice it to say, I love reading and books rank very high on my list of greatest things ever made.  Haha. This past winter break, I had the pleasure of reading Madame Bovary and the entire Twilight saga.  Yes, the entire saga and, yes, I said Twilight was a pleasure to read.  Despite the obvious reason of relating to the student population I hope to one day work with, I read Twilight because I thought it would be a breath of fresh air after a semester of reading pretty tough literature.  For all its melodrama and fairytale romance, Twilight really did make me giggle like a 13 year old girl, and frankly, for a book to bring that out of me deserves just a little something.  So here's me recommending that you, my blog readers, read Twilight with an open mind.  Also, save your money and don't watch the movie version.  It wasn't very good in my opinion. 

I apologize for going off tangent, but if I'm going to introduce myself, I might as well be honest and say that I can be a little scatterbrained.  I'm also pretty responsible, which brings me to my other occupation other than the full-time student status I have here at CSUN.  Currently, I work at Canoga Park Elementary as a teacher's assistant.  When I say teacher's assistant, I don't mean office slave or coffee girl whose duties, unfortunately, have been given to some T.A friends I know and who resent.  Luckily, my position, although part time, is primarily literacy based.  Because Canoga Park is  considered a program improving school, T.A's were hired specifically to help certain students (considered strategic) from grades k-5 become more proficient readers.  I happily took this job partly because of this goal, and partly because I wanted to see whether or not I'd like teaching at an elementary school as opposed to middle or high school.  Although, I love my job and the students I work with, my experience in primary education has assured me that I'm still looking for something more in the English discipline that middle and high school could provide me. 

Becoming a teacher wasn't the first career I had in mind.  I've fluctuated with becoming a doctor, a nurse, a dentist, and at one point, a very desperate, angry adolescent point, I fooled around with the idea of becoming a temp or a modern day gypsy just to get back at my parents for expecting too much out of me when I was younger.  I've matured since then, but what brought me to wanting to become a teacher was not only the influence of certain special teachers I've had the fortune of having, but also my affinity for reading and writing that I feel compelled to share with others especially kids.  I'm not sure if I can consider that a calling to the profession, but it's something, and I'm willing to see through to it until I'm sure.  

Other than wanting to become a teacher, I also want to travel.  You know, see the world kind of thing like everyone else.  It is something I've promised myself to do before "settling" down if settling down meant having a career, a husband, and kids.  I can't think that far ahead, and I'm not sure if I want to just yet.  I also want a dog.  I couldn't have pets when I was younger because BOTH my parents were allergic to animal dander.  My boyfriend of almost three years is a complete animal lover, and has utterly sold me on the Jack-White Fang relationship :)  So, besides graduating this May, and hopefully getting into graduate school, my goal for this sumer is getting my own White Fang and not failing at raising him.  Wish me LUCK!