Appleman, Chapter 5

I believe that Appleman sums up the entire chapter with one quote, "As with Marxism, the point with feminist theory, of course, isn't to transform unsuspecting and largely apolitical high school students into feminists; the point is to help adolescent readers read texts and worlds more carefully as they become aware of the ideologies within which both are described." It is a necessity that students know this idea that they aren't being trained to conform to a certain idea or theory but to just open their minds to different kinds of writing and perspectives that are understood through reading a text in a certain way. The exercise that Martha did with her students regarding the character Gertrude and Ophelia in the play "Hamlet" were very interesting. I feel that she did get her students to understand the theory and wrote well thought out feminist statements. I have never read "A Room of One's Own" by Virginia Woolf, but it has now been mentioned in both books about how good of a book it is for dealing directly with feminist issues. Not only is it good to teach students about these different kinds of theories but it is vital for teachers to get the concept across that not only is it okay to disagree but it should be expected. These theories are different ways to look at literature, it is not an absolute meaning of the text that the students are reading.

Webb, Chapter 3

Webb makes a very good point when he states that studying gender can be very intimidating at times. I, personally have never taken a Women's Studies class, but how Webb describes it, is exactly how I picture one to be. I never had even touched on the Feminist theory, until my third year here at Western. In my view, it is not only important to include women authors but to actually study how their lives and how their lives influences their writing. Throughout my education, I have read several texts written by women, but never have I actually analyzed a text using the feminist theory. Although, Webb used some very good texts, some of them I found to be dry. One of these texts was "A Jury of her Peers" by Susan Glaspell. I have read this play, and I found it to be very almost boring in a sense, maybe because it is how we analyzed or how we really didn't, but I can see how some of these texts would not relate to students very well. Studying gender and feminist theory brings a new light to studying texts in the classroom, it can be very controversial and can relate to students in many ways.
Teaching Gay and Lesbian studies can be very controversial. Although I believe it is very important to cover themes such as these, it must be done in a certain. I found the exercise that the teacher Tisha used for the "Am I blue?" was very controversial, yet had a very large impact on the students. It is hard to say what I would do in the position if a student had asked if I were gay. I understand why she would answer the way she did, but I also wonder if I would have said something like "No, I am not gay, but it is okay if I was" or something along those lines. I wonder what other people would say? That is a tough call in my eyes.

Teachers Conference

The teacher's conference addressed a very important topic in todays education, which is technology. Technology is such a vital topic in today's society. I believe that the key is to find the right balance of technology in the classroom. Too little and too much can be very easy to do. The key note speaker had very good examples of technology and how big it's influence it is in today's society. Two sessions that stuck out for me the most were the first one, which first year teaching was talked about. This session was interesting but not too informational. Most of the topics talked about were almost common sense. On the other hand, there were some good strategies talked about regarding obsacles the first year. One of these included dealing with a mentor teacher and finding a good one, if you were given one that does not exactly mesh well with you.
The second one that I found very interesting was the session on digital storytelling. Digital storytelling seems like a great way to incorporate technology into a curriculum. Although this seems like a great idea, there is always the problem of technology not working or being troublesome. I didn't get to see an actual working one, because of technical difficulties, but the idea still seems good as a whole. This was a good experience to explore new ideas and meet new people.

Appleman, Chapter 4

I found this chapter a little dry. It made some good points, but I feel that this chapter could have been more interesting if we didn't always have to relate Marxist theory with works such as Macbeth. Appleman makes the point that the cannon in today's education is rapidly growing and it is a necessity to teach background knowledge, including cultural and historical aspects. I agree with Appleman, one the fact that Marxist theory "places the study of literature in the context of important social questions. Literary theories in general are very intimidating. Out of all theories, Marxist was always the scariest for myself. To teach this theory, it has to be broken down and made very obvious what the goal and objectives are. I believe that using the exercise of the students stating which character they relate to through class could be very controversial. This is especially because in this case of suburban upper class, some of the students who are not upper class could make them socially outcasted, even if responses are kept between the teacher and student.
On the other hand, a part that I did like was when the class reflected on Marxist theory through the text and then through themselves. In the end, Marxist theory is a challenge to teach, but I believe it can be done and can be very beneficial.

Webb, Chapter 6

I found this chapter to be the most interesting out all all that we have read so far. The issue of race in the classroom is something that should not be overlooked. Huckleberry Finn has caused several objections to the teaching of this novel. After reading this chapter, it seems that this book although over taught, when taught correctly, can make strong cultural connections. It all depends on how it is taught and who it is taught to. Also, through reading this chapter i became very concernedwhen Webb mentions that this novel "remains the only one of the most taught works in high school to treat slavery, to attempt representing a Black dialect, and to have a signifcant role for an African American character. Something that also stuck out in my mind, was the fact that Webb jumps back and forth between using the word "Black" and "African American", I was wondering if there was a purpose for this. After reading the account of a biracial man's account of reading this book in high school, this made me wonder. I questioned my biracial roommate on if she read Huckleberry Finn, and if so how the "n-word" was addressed and how reading this book in class made her feel. She explained how she knew her teacher very well, and knew that this specific teacher would never use this word personally. She also expressed how important it was to her that her teacher, before reading the book that the book did have racist views and the "n" word. The teacher made it clear that this word is unacceptable but still important when analyzing and reading the text. My roommate went on to say that if certain other teachers would have taught this book and used the word, it would have then made her feel uncomfortable. She was one of five students in her school that had an African American descent.
Another interesting point that I noticed while reading this chapter that the subject of race is very prominent in Mark Twain books. Injun Joe is another character that should be talked about when regarding classic American literature.

Webb, Chapter 2

Once again, I enjoyed Webb's straight forward approaches. Teaching about homelessness is a great cultural perspective to take when reading different texts. I agree with Webb when he points out that drawing on cultural studies is a "vital dialogue begins to emerge between issues in the world and the experiences and knowledge that my students were bringing to class." It gives the students an interesting goal to keep reaching for through reading. Students are sick of doing the usual plot, setting, character development analyzations. Focusing on a topic like homelessness gives the students meaning to their anlayzations. Also, as Webb says, his students also got to learn about stereotyping and how the two connect, this gives the students a chance to learn a wide range of topics in relation to their readings.
A topic such as homelessness can effect all different kinds of areas, as Webb points out in the begining of the chapter. Especially with teaching in more of the urban areas, students could be faced with homelessness everyday. With important controversial topics such as homelessness, it is easy for many different other topics to stem from this. Again as Webb points out that his students went further and from then followed the news and continues to be homeless advocates.

Webb, Chapter 5

First of all, I am so happy Webb wrote a chapter about how we can bring cultural studies to teaching Shakespeare. This chapter also made it clear how important it is for the teacher to be enthusiastic and keep an open mind when it comes to teaching not only literature, but teaching old dead white men literature. Like Webb has suggested, comparing a range of historical texts and materials with Shakespeare's plays opens up cultural studies possibilities. Making connections is the key to real understanding, especially connections between literature and history, this incorporates a real understanding of what is being taught. Developing cultural studies can make students use many different kinds of out of the ordinary assignments, such as role playing or persona writing. It is also very helpful when Webb describes each theory in detail at the end of each chapter.
The best part about Webb's book is at the end of each chapter there is a large detailed list of resources. I can really see myself in the future using this book to look for ideas for when I teach.

Webb, Chapter 1

From what I gathered from Chapter one, one of the most important factors that I saw that Webb implemented was using real audiences for his students assignments. He did this when he gave the assignment to write letters to Mr. Wiesel, who is the author of Night. What I really found interesting throughout the whole chapter was how his class didn't address literary genres or teminology, they focused on the bigger idea and understood the bigger picture. Although I enjoyed how Webb made his reading assignment for a real audience, I was somewhat cynical in the beginning of this chapter. This is because I've seen so many great units on the Holocaust. I feel as if the Holocaust is one of the easiest units to make interesting. I do however believe that Webb's ideas were very well thought out and effective. Im glad that Webb went more in depth to many different themes and literature that could connect to them. Showing how effective reader response can be was very informative. Another aspect that Webb pointed out that I liked was how he pointed the negative and positive aspects of Reader Response. It was helpful to see the downfalls that it could have. I also enjoy how Webb writes to us on our level, it is very straightforward and understanding.