Pam Webb

a writer's journey as a reader

Archive for the category “education”

22 Jul 2013
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Why We Say: #4


Animated sequence of a race horse galloping. P...

Animated sequence of a race horse galloping. Photos taken by Eadweard Muybridge (died 1904), first published in 1887 at Philadelphia (Animal Locomotion). (Photo credit: Wikipedia) This horse could not gallop so smoothly if it were all balled up.

“Calm down. Don’t yourself  all balled up.”

If this is not in your lexicon of sayings, then think about those situations when you get yourself so stressed out you can’t cope anymore. I definitely get there from time to time.

This round of Why We Say is #4:  Just what does it mean to get ” all balled up?”

History

Back in the day when people relied on horses for transportation there could be some real downsides. Never mind feeding them, grooming them, stabling them and such. One real problem was winter travel. Horses  had to be stopped now and then to attend to the ice that would form in their hooves. Balls of ice would gather in the hoof hollows and this would cause them to lose traction. Having your horse slip on an icy road is much like your car going into a skid–unexpected, unpleasant results could occur.

Story

“Poppa why are we stopping?”

“No worries, Sugar. I just gotta flick out them ice balls so old Thunder can get us on home through on this snow and such. He can’t go no further if he can’t keep his feet under him.”

“Do they hurt him?”

“Nah, but he can’t hardly get where he needs to ifn he’s all balled up.  Just snuggle under that quilt and we’ll be back home where your momma is waiting with a nice bowl of porcupine stew for us.”

Application

image: http://www.demo.palma-jo.com

Getting yourself in a place where there is frustration, confusion, and some tough stuff which prevents you from getting where you’d like to go can get you all balled up. Now, to be honest, I wasn’t thinking horse hooves when I first  heard the expressions. I was thinking more about this critter:

We called them roly-polys when I was a kid because they rolled themselves up in a tight little ball when they got in a fret, looking a lot like little grey BBs. Now, to my shame, we kids liked to flick them to watch them roll. But they’re tough little guys and would wait out the perceived threat to eventually unfurl and go their merry buggy way. So when I hear all balled up I think about drawing myself inward to protect myself until the stress passes and then I go to my merry way.

My Thoughts

I think it ‘s a personal choice of wanting to approach life as a horse or a bug.

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Posted in education, Expressions, Reflections, Uncategorized, Words and tagged ,
13 Jul 2013
13 Comments

From SparkNotes to Sparky Sweet, PhD


Read the Sparknotes

Read the Sparknotes (Photo credit: kevin dooley)

There are two basic reasons for reading classics:
1. Pressure
2. Enjoyment

Reason One:

Pressure comes from teachers assigning novels that no one wants to read, but students must read in order to complete the course. Mark Twain hit that one spot on:

Classic–a book which people praise and don’t read- Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New
Calendar

I am THAT teacher who literally pressures students into reading. Granted, I get my own pressure from the curriculum powers that be. Certain novels must be taught, which means I must find ways to entice students to read them. Over the years I have gathered up sources I point out to students so that they may better understand the stories, poems, and novels I toss out to them. Some teachers promote the erroneous idea that to utilize a resource like Sparknotes is cheating. Huh? That’s like me handing out To Kill a Mockingbird to my ninth graders, instructing them to sit down in a closet, and I shut the door. They might as well read in the dark if they don’t understand what they are reading. I know some students who never read assigned books and only Sparknote them (an AP student admitted this to his teacher, tsk 2 honesty 1). My thoughts on this are: a)it’s not like Sparknotes are contraband or are damaging to young minds b)at least he is familiar with the novel now. Some reading, even if it’s through summary, is better than no reading.

The other kind of pressure comes after we have left school and feel the need to fill in the holes of our education by reading all those classics we weren’t assigned or assigned and didn’t read. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Crime and Punishment, Robinson Crusoe, the list goes on. Just because we are in college or are college graduated, older, smarter, more aware, yada yada, that doesn’t mean we understand Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, any better. We can also get by with a little help from our friends, those marvelous lit aide sites:

Sparknotes.com–the go-to site for understanding a novel. It covers content, facts, chapter summary, characters, theme, major quotes, all the biggies. There are even quizzes to test comprehension plus videos (major spoilers though).

PinkMonkey.com–never mind the name, it delivers the same sort of information in a somewhat different style.

Cliffnotes.com–if you are as old as me then you remember those wonderful little yellow and black booklets (anyone else think they resembled bees?–and if a teacher caught you with them you got stung?) that helped shed light on Hamlet, Huckleberry Finn, etc. They are now adding videos to their venue. Mmm, I’d say the videos are at about middle school level in approach, although most of my ninth graders liked the silly humor.

Novelguide.com–I used to rely on this site for my insights when preparing a unit, but then I discovered…

Shmoop.com–a most excellent and diverse site for pulling in understanding for both contemporary (mainly prevalent bestsellers) and classics. Prepared by smartypants PhD students (so they say) there is a break down of overview, analysis, theme, essay questions, characters, and a roundup of the best of the net. Videos are often a part of the lineup which are designed to evoke discussion (great for Socratic seminars) and are crafted with cunning.

Cummingsstudyguide.net–another site when needing deeper analysis needs. While basic, it nevertheless provides great insights.

Thugnotes.com–new to the scene, it’s difficult to know what to do with this venue. Sparky Sweets, PhD, is an erudite street talking armchair lit critic. The paradox of foul-mouthed summary offset with finely constructed analysis makes this video series a conundrum. I know the students would appreciate how he brings literature to an understandable level, yet there is need for more beeps or I would be answering to the admin. For a bit of entertainment and enlightenment I present as a choice with caution to those who prefer to not have their classics fouled.

There are more sites out there, and I would appreciate hearing your faves.

Reason Two

If you read the classics for pleasure then you will still appreciate the above-mentioned sites as they add to the reading experience.

Read the classics, no matter if you have to or want to, for they are the foundation of all we read today!

"To be successful at reading comprehensio...

“To be successful at reading comprehension, students need to …” (Photo credit: Ken Whytock)

 

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08 Jul 2013
2 Comments

A Woolf in Read’s Clothing


photo: imdb.com

My first vague acquaintance with Virginia Woolf is associated with Elizabeth Taylor. Both are pivotal influences in their chosen professions.  As a last wave baby boomer cI recall a bit of a fuss when the movie Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? came out.  Not being a Disney-generated flick my parents did not take me to see it.  In my childhood bliss of perceptual naiveté I believed Elizabeth Taylor to be Virginia Woolf and from the TV trailers she appeared to be a daunting person.  I could see why some might be afraid of her.

image: aroom.org

My second encounter with Virginia Woolf came way later when I began teaching high school English. Woolf’s essay “A Room of Her Own” was part of the senior lit curriculum, a prelude to a brief study in feminist writing.  Still getting my bearings about Shakespeare, I discovered through Woolf’s essay Shakespeare had a sister! I thought him to be like Atlantis, known but unknown, shrouded in mystery, waiting to be actually proven.  A sister?  It sent me scurrying to dedicated research and though Woolf got it all wrong about Willie’s sis, I now know much more about the Bard.

image: etsy.com

The third encounter came way of Meryl Streep.  She’s a fave, so I couldn’t resist picking up The Hours at the library.  Fascinating film (I admit some parts tweaked my comfort zone and my daughter squeaked, “you watched The Hours!”–my prudery is too well-pegged by family members). What truly fascinated me was Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf.  No wonder she received the Academy Award for her performance. A tortured artist always leaves me wondering  the why/what behind the reason of taking his or her  life instead of living it.

image: notreciinema.com

Finding Virginia a bit overwhelming I didn’t do my usual research and read on her. To be honest, although she intrigued me,she also made me nervous, much like James Joyce.  So much, almost too much in their writing for me to comprehend and absorb.  I felt unprepared to read her works.

At present I am a tiny bit more confident having an AP Institute training and one year of AP Senior Lit and Comp seated firmly on the resume.  I thought, “Okay, Ginny, let’s give it a whirl.”  I pulled down Orlando off the shelf and settled in for my summer chaise in the shade read.

Sigh.

I wonder if her writing would have been published if her husband had not set up Hogarth Press expressly for that purpose? Her writing is amazing, this is true. It’s rich, masterful, and paradigm pushing. Deemed ahead of its time, both Virginia and her writing nevertheless appeared to be respected and applauded.  Overall, I will have to pass on Virginia Woolf and her modernist approach to literature.  She and James Joyce are just enough of a different cup of tea to not be on my reread list.

I followed through on my research since I did not do my read on her.  I will definitely include her in my overviews on modernists. Virginia Woolf  may not be among my chosen authors; however, I do acknowledge her place in the literary hall of fame.

image: standrewsrarebooks.wordpress.com

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11 May 2013
4 Comments

Spirit Week or Been There and Did the Denim


image

Where’s Fonzie when I need him for fashion advice?

It’s Spirit Week next week, which gives a bit of a break to the countdown tedium of stuffy classrooms. Rumor has it we have AC. Thanks, I’ll get back to you on that.

I’m one of those wacky teachers that likes to dress up, yet not so much I don’t regret it by third period. Wearing silly gets thin after about two hours for me.

Here is the venue: I am so open to suggestions

Monday: 90’s–denim?

Tuesday: 80’s–legwarmers workout spandex?

Wednesday: 70’s –Flashdance?

Thursday: 60’s–I got the overalls and love beads (peace  out)

Friday: lost in the fifties (I own saddle shoes)

This will be a nice respite from the dress code violations of tube tops and short shorts. “But everyone else wears them!”

I don’t get into countdown mode until after Memorial Day weekend. But I’m reconsidering it after this week.

Posted in America, education, Teachers, Uncategorized
07 May 2013
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Why We Say: #1


The Word Geek in me is rising forth once again.

Having loaned out a book so long ago I thought I had inadvertently donated to Somewhere (Friends of the Library book sale, Goodwill, who knows), I did a happy dance to have it once again returned to me.  I gleaned it long ago when deleting old and dilapidated items from the school library.  Only a Word Geek would appreciate this title:

Why we say: A guidebook to current idioms…

It’s full of idioms and the background of why we say what we say.  Published in 1953, it’s actually older than I am; however, when I do utter some of these expressions now and then my students do that sideways eye glance at each other, and I will know they haven’t a clue what I am talking about.  This book, now back in my possession, helps me explain why we say what we say.

For instance:

“His excuse about not reading the assignment was above board.”

>What’s she talking about?<

>I dunno.  It’s one of her odd things she says<

Well, it’s not that odd when you think about it.  Sailors deal with the water in two ways: what goes on below, and thus unseen, and what goes on above, which is most easily seen.  When things could be seen easily, clearly, straightforward, and even honestly it was considered above board, or above the water line.

Hence, the student’s excuse about not reading the assigned homework was honest.  I believed the reason.

>Why didn’t she say that in the first place?<

>I dunno.  She says stuff like that all the time.<

Has anyone got an idiom you say but haven’t the foggiest what it means?  Betcha my lil book explains it.  Send ’em my way.

 

Posted in education, Libraries, Teachers, Uncategorized and tagged , ,
26 Apr 2013
2 Comments

Poetry Workshop: #2 Definition Poems


DEFINITION POETRY

Take any word or concept or topic and define through a mix or poetical flow and concrete definition to better understand what it is all about, especially on a personal level.

 So It Is With Language

Grammar is the spine

Of prose and all we know

That is called language,

Which is can be spoken

Or written down.

And all those nouns

And verbs

And prepositions

And modifiers that often dangle

And nominative clauses that

Sometimes tangle

Up

Our understanding

Are the vertebrae

And without our vertebrae

There would be not spine

To stand us up

So it is with language

CM-2012

 Childhood

Childhood is that momentary suspense

of disbelief and discovery

That happens all too quickly

Yet,

that eye blink lasts a goodly twelve years by the book

Or quicker

depending on the generation

And for a lucky few

childhood remains

only hidden in discretion

likely to pop out

as the sun peeps behind

the seriousness of gray skies

to offset the dour day

CM-2012

What I appreciate most about definition poetry is how it allows flexibility of perspective.  It captures connotation and denotation without being all textbookish.  And isn’t it oh so clever to sneak in a vocabulary lesson whilst having fun creating wordplay?

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25 Apr 2013
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Poetry Workshop: #1 Repetition Poems


I take seriously the celebration of poetry (understatement–AP terms #179).I took on the personal challenge of posting once a day some poetically inclined muse about poetry and as we wrap up the month I shall share some workshop poems from my creative writing class.

Poetry Workshop Poem #1: Repetition Poems

REPETITION POETRY

  1. Pick a word or short phrase for the first line
  2. Add a word or phrase to it for the second line
  3. Take the ending line to create the consecutive lines, adding a new word or phrase each time until poem reaches a satisfactory conclusion

In the garden there is a tree

And in that tree is thinking spot

And in that thinking spot are my daydreams

And in my daydreams are pathways

And on those pathways are choices to make

And from those choices to make I will decide

And from those decisions will become my destiny

And from that destiny I will live my life

And I will live my life always dreaming, always thinking

And I am thankful for trees

CM–2012

tree.jpg

 

Repetition poems are perfect for those students who lament how they can’t get into the poem groove and get something on paper.  It’s also perfect for those who can take its simplicity and play with it.  And yes, I create poems along with my students.  Who can resist coaxing a poem onto the page?

Happy Poetry Month!!

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20 Apr 2013
3 Comments

Forming Poetry: Terse Verse


Terse: short or brief

Verse: associated with poetry, as in a line that rhymes

Terse Verse: a short poem in which the answer is a two-word rhyme definition of the presented word

Examples:

Kleenex–sneeze please
Perfume-swell smell
Bib–drool tool
Binder–holder folder
Pencil–school tool
Baker–flour power
Candy–sweet treat
Shakespeare–stage sage
Turkey–absurd bird

Submit your best (or worst–PG, please) Terse Verse.

Over the years I’ve collected quite a few, and the students keep amazing me with their ingenuity.

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Posted in education, Poetry, Uncategorized and tagged , ,
15 Apr 2013
3 Comments

Spoken Poetry


Poetry is an...

Poetry is an… (Photo credit: liber(the poet);)

Have you ever attended a Poetry Slam?  This  is where poetry gets to break out of its stuffy stereotypical silently read and reflected mode.  A Poetry Slam is where poets perform their poetry.  Recitation is accompanied by dramatics and the audience gets in on the action through rating the performance.  It’s amazing.  It will forever change your opinion that poetry can only be recited in dull monotones from a podium in front of barely stirring, half-asleep listeners.

One of my favorite Spoken Poetry artists is Taylor Mali. Not only was he formerly a teacher, he is one of the few poets who is actually making a living as a poet.  Go to his website or type in his name on YouTube for any number of his videos.  Much of his poetry deals with his experiences, opinions, and outlook as a teacher.  I can definitely relate to the subject matter–yet, his words reach to a wider audience as well.

His most repeated poem is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuBmSbiVXo0

We held a poetry slam at our local library a few years ago.  One of my students performed her work and left the audience, mainly middle-schoolers with a smattering of high schoolers, cheering and clapping.  She was supposed to go on the regionals and couldn’t due to her age (16). Who would have thought talent could be hemmed in by being too young?

Check out Poetry Slams and next time someone says poetry is boring you can plug in a Taylor Mali and then ask for their revised opinion.

Happy Poetry Month!

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11 Apr 2013

The Epicness of Poetry part two


Today we look at Homer.

This one:

Not this one:

Homer wrote The Iliad and The Odyssey, but you knew that.

These are both considered epic poems and boy, oh boy are they epic in the sense of BIG.  They are big in size (The Iliad is nearly 16,000 lines and The Odyssey is about 12,000), big on adventure, and have big heroes as well.  These two poems have also made a big impact on literature, culture, and on Hollywood.

Quick rundown:
The Iliad is mainly about Achilles and his fighting in the Trojan War (yes, think Brad Pitt in Troy), while The Odyssey is mainly about Odysseus and his adventures trying to get home from the Trojan War.

Cover of "Troy - The Director's Cut [Blu-...

Cover of Troy – The Director’s Cut [Blu-ray]

Why should you care about these really, really old poems (besides them being so incredibly epic)?  I’ll let the PhD expert analysis people at Shmoop explain all that:

The Iliad
You want large scale clashing armies? You’ve come to the right place. Even matched duels or obviously unmatched duels? Check out the long one-on-one combat descriptions, or that crazy nonsense between Paris and Menelaus. Spy thriller? Odysseus’s nighttime raid totally fits the bill. Nail-biting special ops missions? The Trojan Horse ruse has your name written all over it. Swords-and-sorcerers magic adventure? Try anything with the gods busting in on the action, like, say, that whole Laocoon fiasco. Snakes—yikes. In short, anything exciting you’ve ever seen or heard or read started right here.But that’s not all. Not only does the Iliad put the act into action, but it puts the philosophy in there, too. This isn’t just a reductive Good Guys versus Bad Guys bit of disposable nothing. Instead, what’s behind all that fighting is a whole lot of thinking about what the fighting means.
The Odyssey
Do you like stories full of adventure, danger, and suspense? How about stories set in fantastic worlds full of strange creatures like Cyclopses, witches, sirens, and gods? If so, then you’re in luck, because Homer’s Odyssey is Western literature’s original adventure story, and its first foray into the fantasy genre. If you need any proof of how much Homer’s poem defined this genre, just consider the fact that we now use the word “odyssey” simply to mean adventure.

Beowulf, The Iliad, and The Odyssey are old, or classic, epic poems.  We now move on to contemporary, or considerably younger epic poems.

Next Post: Lost in Paradise is not the same thing as Paradise Lost

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