I've always thought that myths were extremely interesting. I love that a lot of myths have similarity in theme, yet depending on the culture that it's from there are new interesting changes. I like the fact that in many myths you get to know a little bit about a culture and their beliefs and values. I had a lot of fun writing my own myth especially the one for the presentation I did with my group. Since it was a trickster myth there was a lot of room to have fun with it. I mean where else can you read about a bear punking a turtle? I think that myths really give you the change to be as creative as your mind can go. There is no preoccupation with realism and whether or not the content is convincing. It's not supposed to make complete sense. It gives you a different perspective on something you've heard before. Like creation myths, many people have heard about the 7 days that it took God to create earth, or about Adam and Eve being made from God, but not many people know the story about people rising from corn and being created that way.
I think when it comes to teaching I really want to have my students read all about myths because it is a great way to learn about cultures from around the world. They'll learn about different countries and the different cultures with in those countries. I also think it would be fun to have them write their own myth and maybe give it a contemporary twist. They can create the new urban legend or something. Or, they can bring in myths that they have heard from their own cultures. That way the can also see where their classmates are coming from.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Poetry
I have to be honest. I hated poetry. I know that's a horrible thing to say especially as an English major. I've always hated writing it and writing about it. I just don't get it. However, I have to say that these assignments helped move hate to dislike.
For my poetry analysis essay, I decided to write about a Lupe Fiasco song and I appreciated it so much more than before I wrote the paper. When it came to the song, listening to it made me like it, but taking the time to break it down and dissect it, made me love it. I had a friend tell me that the song was very cliche and that I should choice something else. However, the more I looked at it, the more I saw that it wasn't cliche at all. The song has no real chorus, and in compared to a lot of the hip hop songs on the radio today, it's pretty unique. The form of his song is very complex and his repetition is the weapon that he uses to drive the message home. He truly is a poet.
So, when it came to writing my own poetry, I decided to do the same. In my Found Poem I decided to use a lot of repetition of the phrase "Saul sk8ting..." because that was my message. That was the point that I wanted to drive home. It's not political, social, historical, or even important to popular awareness. That poem was personal and about the one little kid that rules my life, my brother Saul. That was my message to bring introduce my readers to what my brother loves the most, skateboarding. So although I probably didn't do it as well as Fiasco did, I just took some pointers and did my best.
Writing about poetry makes you see all the work that the writer used to make the poem as great as it is. They take time to pick where the repetition, personification, alliteration, or other things go. Then, writing poetry puts you in charge, and you realize it's not as easy as it seems.
As a student, I never liked poetry because the poems we studied were presented in a language that I couldn't grasp. I know it was English, but it was flowery and hard and I never felt like it spoke to me. I'm from South Central L.A., so I never cared about learning about loving nature or admiring a mountain I have never seen. So as a teacher, I think I would want to do the songs first. I want to teach in inner city schools, so I know that those kids are growing up around the same things I am. I would want to bring in songs and have them break it down using literary terms. Once they can do that comfortably, I want to slowly start pulling them away and giving them the literature that they are suppose to read. That way hopefully they can appreciate it because they already have the tools. They won't be learning how to do something while working with something they don't understand or don't want to understand.
For my poetry analysis essay, I decided to write about a Lupe Fiasco song and I appreciated it so much more than before I wrote the paper. When it came to the song, listening to it made me like it, but taking the time to break it down and dissect it, made me love it. I had a friend tell me that the song was very cliche and that I should choice something else. However, the more I looked at it, the more I saw that it wasn't cliche at all. The song has no real chorus, and in compared to a lot of the hip hop songs on the radio today, it's pretty unique. The form of his song is very complex and his repetition is the weapon that he uses to drive the message home. He truly is a poet.
So, when it came to writing my own poetry, I decided to do the same. In my Found Poem I decided to use a lot of repetition of the phrase "Saul sk8ting..." because that was my message. That was the point that I wanted to drive home. It's not political, social, historical, or even important to popular awareness. That poem was personal and about the one little kid that rules my life, my brother Saul. That was my message to bring introduce my readers to what my brother loves the most, skateboarding. So although I probably didn't do it as well as Fiasco did, I just took some pointers and did my best.
Writing about poetry makes you see all the work that the writer used to make the poem as great as it is. They take time to pick where the repetition, personification, alliteration, or other things go. Then, writing poetry puts you in charge, and you realize it's not as easy as it seems.
As a student, I never liked poetry because the poems we studied were presented in a language that I couldn't grasp. I know it was English, but it was flowery and hard and I never felt like it spoke to me. I'm from South Central L.A., so I never cared about learning about loving nature or admiring a mountain I have never seen. So as a teacher, I think I would want to do the songs first. I want to teach in inner city schools, so I know that those kids are growing up around the same things I am. I would want to bring in songs and have them break it down using literary terms. Once they can do that comfortably, I want to slowly start pulling them away and giving them the literature that they are suppose to read. That way hopefully they can appreciate it because they already have the tools. They won't be learning how to do something while working with something they don't understand or don't want to understand.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Blog Number Uno!
Hey, Hello, and Hola! I am Robin Alfaro and I pretty sure that if you're an English Subject Matter major, you've had me for a class or two. I'm an English Subject Matter major of course and a Central American Studies Major. I have a great passion for both subjects. English because ever since I was a little girl l'd rather spend time reading a book than infront of a T.V. screen, and Central American Studies because I am Central American (Salvadoran) and I love learning about my own history. I have the most horrible grammar if you can't already tell. I guess that's one of my fears when it comes to being a teacher. I'm sure one day a student will ask me why something is wrong and I'll stand there with a blank face and shrug. However, I will work towards fixing that. Another thing I guess is that I am going to get punked around by the high school kids. I was such a jerk to some of my teachers that I'm sure that karma will have to run it's course. However, I hope to be able, not to just teach kids about literature and writing but help them build a passion for it. I want my class to be an open forum where we learn about ideas and world issues. Then I want to trick them into writing and responding to readings using those same ideas. I'm probably not making much sense but I had a teacher that got us into literature and writing that way.
The reason that I want to become a teacher is because growing up in LAUSD I had way way way too many crappy teachers. Teachers didn't care about us and they were always mean and bitter. So after years of being horrible at math (because no math teacher wanted to deal with me) and being horrible at writing (because every teacher claimed that we should know how to do this already), I decided that no kid deserved such bad teachers and therefore I would try my hardest to be a great one.
How will technology play a role? Hmmm... besides having kids talk bad about me on MySpace? Well, I guess things like YouTube have opened up a lot of doors. Videos of poets reading their work can be streamed, that way you get a sense of the way the poem is really suppose to sound. Homework can now be posted online so that you can't say "I forgot to write it down". Power Point makes lecturing and presentations much more interesting. I'm not sure but the possibilities today are endless.
It's sad to hear about the buget cuts and pink slips that are harming LAUSD. I'm just hoping that by the time I am ready to get in there all this is cleared up. The good thing about being a teacher is that I guess you can move around and most likley you'll find a job. But I really want to stay in L.A because this is where I was born and raised and I really wouldn't be who I am with out it.
The reason that I want to become a teacher is because growing up in LAUSD I had way way way too many crappy teachers. Teachers didn't care about us and they were always mean and bitter. So after years of being horrible at math (because no math teacher wanted to deal with me) and being horrible at writing (because every teacher claimed that we should know how to do this already), I decided that no kid deserved such bad teachers and therefore I would try my hardest to be a great one.
How will technology play a role? Hmmm... besides having kids talk bad about me on MySpace? Well, I guess things like YouTube have opened up a lot of doors. Videos of poets reading their work can be streamed, that way you get a sense of the way the poem is really suppose to sound. Homework can now be posted online so that you can't say "I forgot to write it down". Power Point makes lecturing and presentations much more interesting. I'm not sure but the possibilities today are endless.
It's sad to hear about the buget cuts and pink slips that are harming LAUSD. I'm just hoping that by the time I am ready to get in there all this is cleared up. The good thing about being a teacher is that I guess you can move around and most likley you'll find a job. But I really want to stay in L.A because this is where I was born and raised and I really wouldn't be who I am with out it.
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