Changes

So this week I am working on "structural" changes to the TLS program.  First off I plan to change the graphic organizer.  It needs to incorporate more about Conflict and Monster of the Week (recording research data, essentially).  There also needs to be additional information about Quid Pro Quo (also called flipped teaching where the kids do more passive work at home so we can actually work and discuss in class) and reducing class anxiety.  This is the biggest surprise and now, IMO, best feature of the TLS approach.  My kids want to work, want to learn, want to be in class and are more active and less anxious about the process.  I have also spent some time talking to some friends in Special Education.  It is my hope to add more thoughts on SpEd modifications to the new addition.  It's a brand new year, TLS!

You Tube

It's funny considering that I am a teacher specializing in using visual media to teach literature but I don't much care to be on film myself...  Between my tall stature (I'm just over 6'3 barefoot) and broad shoulders (my good Scottish and German ancestry is sort of apparent in my build) and general self consciousness film is not my favorite conveyance.  I'll give speeches in front of thousands...  I have even, a time or two (a long time ago, mind) but don't make me sit in front of a camera.

That said, a new friend of mine, a Mary Moline, interviewed me for her blog: ilovehatemycity.com.  The videos are also accessible on youtube.  Just type Teaching Literature Supernaturally in the search engine on the main site.

So, granted only from the waist up, you can see me discussing my experiences with TLS so far.  Feel free to check me out there. (I watch and pretend it's a greatly similar looking cousin talking who sounds just like me... )

We are on break this week, so that's about all I have to offer...

Oh, and I was officially invited this morning to present at the NCTE conference in Nashville this November.  I will be presenting a post conference workshop called Moodle:From Scratch about, (oddly enough) Moodles.  I will be using my TLS Moodle as the example for the workshop.

Why I teach "This Stuff."

This is an exerpt from the introduction of Teaching Literature Supernaturally.  It is an organized compilation of what I have been telling my students for the past eleven years.

I need to explain why I teach English (Or Language Arts, or Literature or whatever you call it).  My reasons speak to the heart of what I want to help accomplish in this group of ideas.  Every year the first “lecture” I give is titled, “Why do I have to take this class and why do we study this ‘Stuff.’”  When I pose the question to the class, my favorite answer is usually some derivative of “Soes we can write good?”  I suppose that is an easy answer, but a really imperfect one. I feel strongly that if I can’t explain why they need to know it, I won’t need to teach it.   Sometimes the reason is, “because it is on a standardized test,” …but at least that is still a reason.  Therefore I need to explain the rationale behind this course, or more generally the whole series of Language Arts courses that make up the elementary, middle and high school canon of education, in my opinion anyway.  I mean, Language Arts in all its carnations is the only course that is required at every grade level regardless of school, state, or rigor of program.  Math and Science change and are not always required past a certain point, Social Studies has several different forms, but Language Arts is Language Arts, every year.  

                My favorite movie when I was a kid was Jim Henson’s “The Dark Crystal.”  There is a great scene where the main characters are in a city park/square of sorts and notice marks on the wall.  The girl, Kira, says to the boy, Jen, “What is that?” and he replies “This is writing.”  She then asks, “What is writing?” and he answers, “Words that stay.”  I loved that definition.  At the time, I also remember learning that dolphins and apes, depending on your definition and criteria of intelligence, were as smart as humans and capable of abstract thought.  I found myself fascinated by what makes us different, superior, dominant or more prolific.  And in pondering that question, I began to understand why literature (and by extension Art and now Media) are so important.  

                When a dolphin dies, it sinks to the bottom of the ocean and ceases to affect the world around it.  When I die, because I am a writer (artist, or involved in media) even after my death I continue to affect others on an intellectual/emotional level beyond my geographical and chronological scope.  My words stay.  My influence remains.  This is how civilization exists; this is how we transcend being animals.  In my opinion (and it may be a bit grandiose) it is the epitome of humanity, the proof of our soul.  Oral tradition accomplished that at the beginning of time and over time Literature has EVOLVED to encompass many forms to this end.  Our words stay and we stay with them.  This is why I teach Language Arts.  It is the essence of our humanity.

That, kids, is why I teach, "This Stuff" and why I so desperately want you to learn it.