Judging a Book by its Cover

I started reading Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition. One concept reminded me of a mini-lesson I teach in my English 12 class.

Wysocki states when referring to written text, “our texts most often will default to being efficient, and they will be efficient not only in production and distribution but also in the visual layouts and other material choices that help us read through them…” (13).

When I begin teaching the first novel in the course I pull out four different published editions of the same novel (Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe)- spanning throughout several decades of publication. We talk about how we judge books by their covers- and even though the old adage tells us not to, we do, and publishers know this, so they plan accordingly.

I have the students look and peruse each copy, then vote for which book they would choose- and it’s fun to hear their different rationale. This leads to the discussion of how book publishers study psychology to help make decisions regarding book covers, size of book, type of font, size of font, thickness of pages, etc.

Which to me connects to Wysocki in that as readers we aren’t necessarily consciously aware of those elements (font, size, covers), but yet it all factors into our readability. Now throw in the new media, and a whole other level is added!

Thoughts of Facebook

I’ve discovered that a student from my speech team has created an Annandale Cardinals Speech Team Facebook page. I created a second Facebook character for myself so that I can join the group with this “safe” teacher FB persona. Not that my Jennifer Alishia Barry Kulm FB persona has inappropriate stuff on it, but in light of what one hears in the media regarding negative fall-out from personal FB pages, I don’t want to risk my students finding anything personal about me.

I’ve been on our speech Facebook page, and it’s neat to see how students who graduated years ago have joined our page. It’s a great way for graduates to connect with current students- my speech members can see some “intergenerational” connection to what they do- awesome!

Unfortunately I find myself spending a fair amount of time connecting with people on Facebook now. I thought the novelty would wear off by now, but it’s still there so far. I told my Mom that statistically, she is in the age group that has the most growing numbers of people dabbling in Facebook. Since my parents don’t even own a computer or a cell phone, she assured me that she will not be one of those statistics!! Ha-ha!

From 12th Grade to 9th Grade

I just found out a few days ago that due to decreasing class sizes and budget cuts, we are losing one of the English teaching positions at Annandale. My first thought was my concern for my friend/co-worker Molly, who has the least experience and will now be cut. She’s a fantastic teacher and she will be sorely missed… both personally and professionally. She taught all of the 9th grade English classes, and has done a great job with them.

My next thought, selfishly, went to myself- who will now be the new 9th grade English teacher. I have taught 12th grade for 13 years, so this will be quite an adjustment. Those outside of education probably wouldn’t see the significance to this- high school kids are high school kids. Anyone in education would know that this is completely not true. I will need to not only create an entirely new curriculum; but I will need to review how to communicate, organize, teach, etc. to a whole new age group.

Which brings me to my technology connection. Thus far in this course I have been gearing all of my thoughts and ideas toward my seniors. However, I need to change how I’ve been thinking about implementing blogs, wiki, etc. I’ll certainly still be able to add new and great ideas, but my thought process needs to think differently.

Entering the 21st Century

We’ve officially joined the 21st century! Last night we got Horizon’s Broadband wireless connection! Yep- internet at home. I greatly look forward to not spending hours on Saturday and Sunday doing my homework in my classroom!

I’ve also created a Facebook page and have connected with friends from junior high and high school. I can see how FB is addicting. However, I’m figuring that the novelty will wear off after a bit (I kind of hope!).

Not only that, but I finally got to use my I-Tunes card while shopping at the I-Tunes store. I got an I-Pod two years ago, an I-Tunes care last Valentine’s, and now I can finally use it! (Go figure- I was looking up 80’s tunes!!! I’m such a dork!)

Old Fashioned English Teaching

I spent Saturday at a speech meet where I re-connected with the teacher whom I student taught with. He’s very near retiring, so I had an interesting conversation with him regarding his take on technology in the English classroom.

At his high school, many English teachers have class laptops in which kids compose in the classroom. The kids admit to him that they spend a lot of time on games, but know how to quickly hide it when the teacher walks by.
So when they got to his English class, they initially whined, “what, we don’t get computers in this room?!?!” Nope, he replied. He does it the old fashioned way. However, it’s interesting how students’ comments have changed greatly over time. Now he hears, “I like this class. We actually talk about stuff and get to know the teacher and have neat conversations.” Or “I feel so detached in classes with computers.” Hmm… something to think about with all of our advancements in technology.

English Dept Conversation

I had a conversation with my English department regarding Blogging and Facebook. They knew I was taking this grad class, and were very interested in hearing what I’ve been learning. They are intrigued by using blogging as a way of book discussion. However, they echoed my hesitation with using this medium as a way of not having in-class discussions. I, too, firmly believe we need to continue to teach kids how to speak and compose their thoughts effectively verbally. It’s a nice idea to communicate with kids in other classes or across districts, state or world.

Talking about Literature Across the Country

My mind has been brainstorming different ways in which I can use blogging in my College Literature class effectively.

One idea I’d love to pursue is finding teachers from other districts or states who read the same novels as my students. Then I’d like to create a community blog site in which students from these different locations can start commenting and sharing opinions about the literature.

Looking at characters from different perspectives is a theme I talk about with great zeal in my literature courses. What an awesome chance for my kids to get diverse perspectives on the literature they are reading. Certainly, my Caucasian, rural, homogeneous group of students who are very familiar with their peers could gleam some unique insight from a student who lives in poorer, urban area of New York, for example.

I just have to figure out how to do it… how to get connected with other teachers. I guess I need to play some more on the internet!!