ENG 4800 Reflection

I was a little unsure about this class and how it would be. I was pleasantly surprised about how much I actually learned. I wasn't used to a paperless class and wasn't suer how much I liked it. I turns out that I really enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed the blogs. I think this is a great tool and can't wait to incorporate it into my classroom. Another aspect that I was ended up enjoying was the books. Webb's Literature and Lives was an amazing book that I will keep and definitely use in the future. Especially, after this class, I realized how important incorporating technology into the classroom is. It was very interesting to see how much I learned about literary theories as well. Not only did I learn a lot about them but I am happy about how much I learned to incorporate them into the classroom. It was good to actually get something out of a class, because I feel that everything that we learned is extremely applicable to our future in teaching, which is a pleasant surprise. Something else that I throughouly enjoyed were the discussions that we got into. I felt that they were very beneficial and talked about great analytical themes and things that will definitely benefit me in the future. Thanks Todd for a great class!

Deconstruction

My Papa's Waltz

By:Theodore Roethke

The whiskey on your breath

Could make a small boy dizzy;

But I hung on like death:

Such waltzing was not easy.

We romped until the pans

Slid from the kitchen shelf;

My mother’s countenance

Could not unfrown itself.

The hand that held my wrist

Was battered on one knuckle;

At every step you missed

My right ear scraped a buckle.

You beat time on my head

With a palm caked hard by dirt,

Then waltzed me off to bed

Still clinging to your shirt

Starting to deconstruct this poem, the first thing that I feel I need to express is the fact of the title. Regarding the waltz, a graceful and beautiful dance. Relating it to a drunken battle between a father and child adds a certain edge and impact to the poem. Through this poem, it is inherihant that men are aggressive. This stereotype of men being a drunk and violent is very apparent. There is a distinction between man vs child and man vs wife in this poem. Man always ends up on top, and in control. This distinction is seen throughout society. By reversing the opposition, one could say that without having background knowledge of the waltz, this drunken play of events would not have been described the same. Without women being known as submissive and weak in society, the man would not have been the violent typical drunk man. A violent drunken father cannot exist with out a peaceful sober one. I realize now, that maybe I did not pick the best poem to deconstruct but I feel like I made some progress on the understanding of deconstrution.

The Giver Review

I surprisingly enjoyed this lesson. I remembered learning this in about book in I believe it was eighth grade. I just remember learning about basic plot and character development. The initial activity about the definition of perfect and exploring what a perfect society would look like was very good way to look at theme at it deductively. Another part that I really enjoyed about the lesson was when we got to act out a certain scene. That really helps the student visualize what exactly is going on. This is especially true in the scene when Jonah received his first memory. It was very interesting to actually see it played out and see the giver press his hands up again Jonah's back. I also enjoyed the different discussions that played out through the lesson, especially the ones including comparing Jonah to Jesus, the feminism lens applied to the text as well as talking about why the book is sometimes banned and if we ourselves would teach it. The culminating activity has always been an activity that I'm a fan of. It was also interesting to see an actual ending that someone made on YouTube. I definitely enjoyed reading this a lot more than I did in middle school. I got so much more out of it this time.