Steampunk How-to-Guide

Steamapunk Presentation

Introduction to Profile

Included upon this blog in the November / December 2012 sections can be found the following pieces required for English 408. 

A) The Writer's Memoir

b) The Unfamiliar Genre Project (4/5) 

c) Profile of a School and Student 

d) Inquiry Project and Reflection

d) This Introduction 

The only piece missing is the “How-to Guide to Steampunk” from the Unknown Genre Project, which was written in the form of a powerpoint.  It was sent to the instructor via e-mail, and was also placed upon the Google file shared with the 408 class.  

I am a writer.  I have always been a writer, but this class and doing these pieces for this class made me more aware of my writer-ness than I generally am.   What does it mean to be a writer?  Being a writer means that you have… stuff, for lack of a better word, in your head that you have to get out and on paper.  It doesn’t matter what it is: poems, stories, essays, it’s all the same.  It doesn’t matter if you get paid for it (although that helps!), if anyone reads it, or how it gets out whether via pencil and paper or mouse and keyboard.  It doesn’t matter how it gets out as long as it does, and you are left with that cozy space in your brain where that idea used to be.  The only problem is, that cozy empty space seldom stays empty for long.  Some other idea moves in and starts kicking the walls and wiggling until it too, must be ejected.  And so the process continues.  

I enjoyed writing the pieces for this class, and in many ways (especially with the Unknown Genre Project) I wrote them as much for myself as for a class grade. I hope that you have as much pleasure reading them as I did in writing them.        

        

Inquiry Project / Final Reflections

Inquiry Project

For the Inquiry Project, I chose the topic of teaching Shakespeare to high school students.  For this project, I read the following three articles:  

Dulaney, M. “Using  a Prop Box to Create Emotional Memory and Creative Play for Teaching Shakespeare’s Othello.”  English Journal.  102.2 (2012).  27-43.  Print 

Paquette, M.  “Sex and Violence:  Words at Play in the Shakespeare Classroom.”  Writer’s Journal, 96:3 (2007).  40-45.  NCTE internet archive.

 

Desmet, C.  “Teaching Shakespeare with YouTube.”  Writer’s Journal, 99.1 (2009).  65-70.  NCTE Internet archive.  

Focus: why did I select this particular focus? 

When I was in high school, Shakespeare was something to be both dreaded and anticipated.  We dreaded it because of its rumored difficulty, but for those of us who enjoyed English, it was kind of a rite-of-passage of sorts.   Being able to “do” Shakespeare and do him well is the hallmark of an English major, after all.  In fact, I don’t remember what play we read in high school, or if I enjoyed it or not.  I do remember looking very forward to my university class on the subject, and being very disappointed by the teacher and the way he taught the subject.       

As a future English teacher, I want Shakespeare to be something that students don’t have to fear.  But how can Shakespeare be taught in ways that intrigue students and not throw them off the Elizabethan era forever?  That is what I sought when I picked this topic for my inquiry project.  

Before the articles (reflection) 

Before I read these articles, I was under the impression that teaching Shakespeare would be a difficulty akin to cleaning the Augean stables.  I would stand in front of unwilling, yawning students and pontificate, and they would dutifully scribble their notes: it would be a dusty, dry affair that smelt of desperation, boredom, and chalk dust.  The whole affair would be a chore, a major bother.  I would be required to teach it, and they would be required to both learn it and regurgitate a few relevant points on a test.  And then we could both get on with more relevant things in an English that is modern and understandable. 

After the articles (reflection) 

Apparently, I was wrong.  Shakespeare does not have to be boring after all.   

Ms. Dulaney suggests using props (skulls, candles, plastic daggers) to create wordless skits to introduce the themes of the play before the students read the text.  This creates emotion resonances and connections with the play before even a single word is read.  Ms. Paquette talks about using a physical activity such as tossing beach-balls to one another to understand the themes of the play, and also has several interesting ideas for introducing the text itself to the students.  Shakespeare, according to Ms. Paquette, should be a form of play.  As for Ms. Desmet, she suggests using the varied Shakespeare “productions” that one can find on YouTube to stimulate learning and discussion.  Shakespeare = fun?  Those are words I seldom hear, but ones I would like to.  I’d love to have a student tell me “I can’t wait until we do Othello!”  and I’d like to look forward to teaching it.  

Implications of these articles: 

I am still somewhat dubious of making Shakespeare relevant to high schools students.  It seems to me to be a very subjective event not just for students, but also for principals in these “teach to the test” days.  With the right students, yes, such ideas would work.  But generally?  I’m not sure, and I have to say I’m rather doubtful of a happy ending.  And what does that say about me?  Have my days of being a substitute teacher made me jaded when it comes to high-school students?  

   

What next?

In a perfect world, students would be attentive and eager to learn.  But it is not a perfect world, and we have to work with what we have.  I believe that any subject can be made interesting if you have the right teacher who knows the right method to teach it.  The key is finding those methods for making the subject relevant and interesting to the students, and for that research such as what I just finished is required.  While I admit that I was somewhat annoyed at having to buy a subscription to Writer's Journal for this class, I can see how such a large archive of research-based materials will be helpful to an inexperienced teacher.  Finding good ideas, trying them out, reflecting upon the results, and discarding or changing what doesn't work, that's how I plan to proceed in the future.  

 Shakespeare has lasted all these hundreds of years not just because he is always assigned to high schools students generation upon generation, but because his ideas still hold relevance today.  How to make the students see him for what he is, i.e. one the greatest writers in all of history?  That will be my job as an English teacher.  

Embedded Reflection 

 

Final Reflection: English 408

Teacher AS Writer

Engineers need to build things, artists need to create, and English teachers need to write.  They not only need to write, but they should be driven to write, to feel the need for it in their bones, to crave the feeling of a pencil in their hand or a keyboard beneath their fingers.  Writers should feel a desperate joy in what they do: it should be a life-long addiction, albeit an affirming one.  I have a confession: I have no sympathy or understanding for those who do not write.  Not everybody is a writer, of course, but everybody has forces that drive them, that push them from behind.  If you’re an English teacher, then writing should be something you are doing pretty much all the time.  Many of us write poetry when we are young, and we often seem to lose those inner drives of youth as we age.    Screw old age, being burnt out, and writer’s block!  Writers write, even if it’s only text-messages, Facebook posts, twits, haiku, pornography, or a blog be it ever so humble!  I say it again: writers write!  That is, quite simply, what we do.     

Teacher OF Writing

“Practice what you preach!”  It’s an old saying, yet there’s a reason why old sayings become well-worn and not just linguistic fads that fad quickly away: there are hard practical truths embedded within them.  

It is my intention to be a teacher of English at a secondary level.  I intend to tell my students that a) they can be good writers, b) that being able to write well is an important life skill for employment and further education, and c) that writing is valuable for one’s self as well.  They not believe me: they might be dubious or doubting or suspicious, and I don’t blame them: good writing is hard to do, and takes practice and time.  To do this, to make them believe that they can be good writers, I need to not only “talk the talk” but “walk the walk” as well, to use yet another old saying.  In other words, I need to not only talk about writing in a blah blah blah kind of way, a way that make a student’s eyes roll up in her head and set her hands to doodling, but to demonstrate writing skills not only in front of class, but in my own life as well.  I am reminded of the video we saw in class (I forget the name, and apparently, I did not write it down as well), where the teacher read her rather personal poem in front of the class.  She was not just standing in front of the class “well, first you have to do this, and then you have to do that”.  She showed them not only that it could be done, but that it was life-affirming and practical, that it takes courage to stand in front of others and read your text in the face of possible ridicule or criticism, and most importantly, that she can do herself what it is she is asking them to do. 

Learning, relearning, and practicing your skills, especially of writing, is something that never ends: thus, English teachers need to be teachers of writing not only to their students, but to themselves as well.       

Students AS Writers

Students are often reluctant writers (as are adults, for that matter!).  As an English teacher, it will be my job to motive them, to put ideas in their heads and pencils on their papers.  This will not always be easy: I think of Lincoln High School’s student Carl, whose unenthusiastic and lazy “sure” loudly bespoke his general lassitude towards academic subjects.

Many students enjoy writing and dive right in, as I did myself back in the day, and turn in very good prose.  Others, like Carl, require more finesses and demonstration.  I think here of Prof. Nick’s grammar lesson, which I thought was one of the most practical things taught this last semester.  I could see myself doing just such a lesson: for instance going over the list of the biggest grammar mistakes that students make, which, if taught well and learned correctly, would make a huge improvement in the writing my students turned in. 

Something else that was emphasized in this class was digital literacy: the usage of current technology for writing purposes, for instance the use of Google to share documents with one’s peers.  The practice of writing is going through a huge change right now, as big a change, I believe, as the invention of the printing press.  Digital literacy will be a huge thing in the future, even bigger than it is now.  Those students who cannot learn it are going to fall behind, and those teachers who can’t teach it are going to right there with them.  Being an English teacher in a digital world means not only keeping up with current technology, but accepting newer forms of writing as valid as well.               

Student Profile and observations

Observations at a Michigan High School, and a Student Profile

The school:

Lincoln High School [all names changed maintain anonymity] is in a small community on the outskirts of suburban Detroit.  Although the school itself sits alongside a sedate intersection with little in sight, it is but two or three miles from a major shopping area consisting of a large shopping mall, a multiplex, and other assorted venues.  The school appears new and well-kept up: there is no graffiti or any other sort of urban marking that I noticed.  There is a large glass front outside the cafeteria that makes the school appear both modernistic and novel, as well as a large dome upon the roof hinting at an indoor theater or swimming pool.  Inside, the school is both cavernous and labyrinthine, with monochromatic cinderblock walls filled with bustling students.   

The Classroom:       

This is obviously the classroom of an English teacher.  There are various posters attached to the walls such as an aid to correct punctuation and a reproduction of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”.  There are stacks of dictionaries stacked upon a counter, and sitting next to them, a copy of Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States.  The carpet is a dull utilitarian brown, and there is a single narrow window overlooking a wide roof.  The desks (solid, uncomfortable looking things) are set together in groups of four or six.  There is a smart board at one end of the class, and the large teacher’s desk sits in the corner.  A small table stacked with papers sits between the whiteboard and the door. 

The Students:

There are 20+ ninth-graders in a normal class.  They are almost all Caucasian with little racial diversity amongst them.  They are generally well behaved, but if the teacher’s attention wanders the slightest bit, the noise level in the class instantly rises.  As class proceeds, I see some students sneaking looks at their cell phones, a pair of boys kicking at each other under their desks, and others whispering to each other, but on the whole, they are attentive and disciplined. 

The Teacher

Ms. Smith is a young teacher, in her late 20s I would guess.  She has brown hair, an engaging manner, and wears “formally informal” clothes.  She is willing to engage the students and be friendly with them, for instance she tells them a funny story about seeing a movie, and talks about her sister-in-law’s vegetarian shepard's pie.   She does not hesitant to be stern, however, and tolerates nobody talking out of turn.  If there is chatter while she is talking, she will simply stop until it vanishes, and then resume her lesson.  If it becomes a dull roar during writing time, she will ring a bell to call attention back to her.  A couple of times, she reminded them to focus, and she also called attention to and reminded them of the classroom expectations list upon the wall.  To me, she was cheerful and happy to help in any way she could, and responded to both my emails and my questions quickly and helpfully.  She also made copies of writing samples and lesson plans, for which I am grateful. 

The Lessons

I observed ten hours: six of these hours were normal classroom observation times, and the other four were “essentials” classes.  The regular reading and writing classes generally something like this:   

 Ms. Smith started class with little or no preamble.  First, as a starter, the students copied down the information on the screen (or instance, the definition of “apocalyptic”) and wrote the answer to a question she had put on the board: for instance “The _______ in SF stories creates an apocalyptic tone”.  Then she drew Popsicle sticks for people to read from their sentences so many people got a chance to read at random.  She used the reading (for instance Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “If I forget thee O Earth” and Rachael Carson’s Silent Spring) to illustrate literary and writing points, and had the students write about it their notebooks.  There were also write-arounds, paragraph-writing, teacher demonstrations of various writing skills such as finding and using quotes, and exit slips (work to be done before class is ended).  Another topic she used for discussion was dominant and counter narratives, after which she had the students make t-charts (comparison charts).              

Essentials class

The students in the essential classes were considered to be a little lower in English / writing ability.  Here are some samples of their writing:

Soilders are so afraid of the war and anywar that they are putonleave.  Charlie will react to have therapeudic concilling  when the war is done because he was afraid when he saw death on the ground.

Soldier are affected by war and having to killother  people, get shot at and having to be away from family.  Another affect is the life risking.  Another one is having guilt when fellow soldiers die when your still alive.  Losing his friend.  Having fear of life. 

Soliders are affected by war cause they still think that will be called back.  They get bad dreams that cause depression, or suicide cause they don’t want to see that dream ever again.  They have guilt on killing a person that was forced on doing nothing at all.

 There were only six students total in the essentials class, two of whom were African-American girls and the other four were Caucasian boys.  Ms. Smith was quite friendly and intimate with all of them, and had obviously grown close to these students.  When talking to them, she spoke easily and comfortably with them, and gradually and skillfully led the students to the point she was making so that it was almost as if they discovered the knowledge together.  She also gave these students a little more leeway: they could listen to music as they worked, for instance.  Yet she could be sharp with them too, as when one student made a laughing comment concerning suicide, and she told him sternly that his language was inappropriate.  

A Student Profile 

Of the six students, one was of particular observational interest to me.  Carl first drew my attention when he was in the regular classes. To some questions Ms. Smith asked him, he appeared detached from class and apathetic.  Where other students gave detailed answers, or at least answered at length, he was mostly monosyllabic.  To each of her questions he simply answered a dull “sure”.   I was not surprised to find him in the essentials class.  

Ms. Smith put me with him to work on his Romeo and Juliet paper, telling me that his score was a three when the goal was to get him to a four at least.  We worked on his paper for about half an hour, and I showed him what he could better and how he could do it; we also used a “persuasion map” Ms. Smith had downloaded from the NCTE website.  He agreed with everything I said (“sure”) and while I was able to draw him out a little (he likes basketball), it was not much.  Ms. Smith told me it was good for him to hear words of advice concerning his writing from sources other than his regular teachers.  

From “Romeo and Juliet, Final Draft”

Enemys in any movie, book, or play are normally not good, they create downfalls.  In the play Romeo and Juliet there are enemys and downfalls.  The character most responsible for the outcome of the play was an enemy of the Montagues.  His name is Thybalt.  He was a kingsman, an angry dude that did not like the Montigues…  

My final observation hour, all of the students were working on their multi-genre project.  I asked some of them what they were doing for it: they answered that they were writing tall tales, a wedding invitation, some history, some song lyrics, and some poetry.  Carl was writing a newscast, and he graciously allowed me to make a copy of it. 

[The original was in all caps, I have reduced the text to normal size for ease of reading]

Carl: There were these explosions in the woods in front of my friends house, it was scary, I think it some kind of bottle that was filled with CO2 in it.  I thought the woods were burn down. 

Reporter: So you think it was a CO2 cartridge? 

Carl: Yes, it happened around 2:30 am, and then it was gone.  A few minutes later there were bright colors and I went to my friends window cause we were party and  me and a few friends spent the night and there were flames in the woods.  It freaked me out so I called 911.  

Reporter: So I can sum thid up a little, your friend had a party and there were a lot of people there I guess? 

Carl: Yes, there were about 100 kids here but none of us was aloud to go in the woods. 

Reporter: Thanks for interview.  We will keep in touch with you...

The students in the essential classes have good writing skills, but they are often hidden behind a thicket of bad word choices, incorrect punctuation, and awkward phrasing.  As an English teacher, it will be my job to help such students as those in the essential class to find their potential as writers, and I hope to have Ms. Smith’s patience and skill. 

Questions and / or recommendations :  

If I had a student like Carl (and I will have a student like Carl, no doubt), I would have to wonder why he has no interest in being a good (or at least competent) writer  It's such an essential skill, and one of the "Three Rs".  I am bothered by his lethargic and apathetic "sure". He doesn't seem to care.  But why not?  I will have to work hard at making bridges with such a student.  For instance Carl likes basketball, so I might recommend books on sports to read, or help him find ways to work sports topics into the papers he has to write.  All students are passionate about something, it's just a question of finding out what it is and figuring out how it can be written into a lesson plan.