Teaching with Archives

Well I am going to stick with my background in History on this topic. I am also going to go along the theme of black history month. My idea is to use the American Memory site and pick 4 or 5 archives and have the students in groups where they will read the material, dicuss their reactions to those archives and to what they think the government should do to change the situation of the African American population. I will also have the students summarize their choice and present what they found shocking about their reading and what they think the government should do. Please remember this is an idea in progress and addtional ideas would be helpful. :)

What I think about the new class.

I am very excited about this class. When I started the semster I wasn't sure I was going to keep this class because of the amount of time that I would have to devote to it, but the amount of work is not bad and it is actually fun. The only problem I am still having (like in English 1100) is keeping up with the blogging outside of class. I am learning alot about myself as a person and a teacher through the reading. I am very eager to see where the semester takes me as a professional.

www.jennifermayou.net

The Tempest by William Shakespeare

I really enjoyed this play. During this semester I have read 5 different plays by W.S. and I would have to say this one is my favorite because of all the magic and twists and turns. When reading this play you get lost in all the action and tricks that are being played on the characters.

I would have to agree with most critics, that the play does take place in a far off island in the Barmuda area. I know that during this time the exploration of unknown worlds was at its peak and the stories that were coming back to England were filled with what most would call magic and strange people. W.S was a man who took from what was happening around him during the time and used it as insperation or would sneak little things in, to get you to think about what was happening in their world.

When I started my class about Shakespeare I didn't really like him or wanted to understand his plays. I thought they were boring but now that the semester is almost over I found I really enjoy reading the plays and thinking about them. I am finding that there is so much more to the language that he used then just that he was long winded.

Literary Theory: Feminist Criticism

When I thought about "An Island Like You" and the Feminist criticism I could not believe how much could fit under this category from this book. In many of the stories they talk about how the women attempt to find a man that was going to take care of them and that they would not have to work. But many of the older women in the book and tried that very thing and failed. There was one girl named Sandra who was not letting that be her plan. She wanted to go out and be able to care for herself instead of depending on a man like all the other women. The women are also holding small meaningless job, job that have something to do with their bodies, or they are a stay at home parent. All of these thing are stereo typical of a women.

Literary Theory: New Criticism

This semester I have had a lot of practice with this particular theory in my Shakespeare class. During this semester so far we have looked at and picked apart 4 major plays written by Shakespeare. We have looked at his word choice and tried to determine what points was he trying to get across to the audience at the time and how those same ideas changed at all. We just finished the play Othello and in this play there is a black man in a high position in the military. (Where it is assumed that most of the soldiers are white.) Othello marries a very prominent white woman. Othello then passes up one of his white soldiers for a promotion whom then decides to take revenge by ruining his marriage. In the end everyone is dead with the exception of the soldier who was passed up for the promotion. My professor raised the question of; did Shakespeare intended for this play to be about racism or was it just a second thought so to speak. In class we looked very closely to the language that was used such as moor, my black face, reference to magical powers, slavery, sooty bosom and many others. Without knowing a lot of background about Shakespeare or the time he was writing this play you would automatically assume that he intended this play to be about racism. Another question my professor brought up was is you were to cast this play would it be right to cast an all white cast without the use of makeup to make the person who played Othello look dark? Most of the class agreed that the play would not make sense because of the choice of words. My point to telling you all this is that it is important to look at the choice of words an author uses because if you don't then you very well are missing out on some important point. But I also think that you must combine some of these theories to really get the whole picture because with out the background information you could assume something that really was not intended. Such as when Shakespeare uses the term slave he is not using it in the same way as we know it to be today because back when the play was written slaves were soldiers captured in war and the African slave trade was just starting.

Iraqi War

Weapons of Mass Distruction
Saddam Hussein

Well, when I listened to the information given in class on Thursday I began to think that I needed to find out more about the background to the war. I picked these sites because they are usually factual with little political slanting. I am tired of not getting facts and being able to decide for myself what to believe. These sites help to clear up my confusion about the basic facts behind the war.

War Poetry

I have read many of the poems on all the sites. We all know war is a very ugly thing. We all know that men women and child all die. It is not something that any one is proud of and if they are then they are just messed in the head. But as I read many of these poems I became angry not only because of all the killing but because the poets, I felt, attacked the American people for the war. I also felt like they made the president sound like a man who does not have a heart. I don't believe that for one minute. I do believe he regrets the fact that many innocent men women and children where killed. I do not like all the killing but I would much rather have it be over there then here in my back yard. When (9/11 hit, I felt like it was in my backyard. I am glad that we took the war over there then waiting and having more attacks on us. None of us are really sure what is really taking place over there. We are constantly getting mixed messages or slated messages depending on what party you are for. It is very frustrating to me. I am never sure what to think. But I do know this after seeing the middle east including Iraq rejoice over what happened on 9/11 I would have to say that the number of innocent people lost still is nothing compared to how many we lost on that tragic day. I am not saying that losing soldiers is ok because I would love more than any thing to see every single one of our soldiers to come back alive but the reality of war is that some will die no mater how hard we work to reduce the number of causalities. I am sorry if the offends anyone that was not my intention just the emotions that came from reading the poetry.

War Poetry and Literature

I looked at “The war Prayer” by Mark Twain and Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell The War Prayer is one I like the most because there is so much that you can picture by reading just the first paragraph. Yet as I read this I thought of how ironic it is that a whole town will come out to see solders leave for war and even though the town is encouraging them to come home safe it is still a sad fact that many will not. Yet not a person present will speak of the possibility. I have read “Shooting an Elephant” before reading it today and every time I read it I am surprised by the ending because for just a short minute there when you think he will not shoot it but he eventually does do to the pressure of the crowed behind him.