Tagxedo- My Brother Sam is Dead

This is a Tagxedo that is a response to My Brother Sam is Dead. 

Technology Centers

We have been talking a lot about communication and collaboration in my EDIT 2000 class at UGA. There are infinite amounts of ways to connect with other professionals as well as students in order to become a better teacher. Online communication is becoming more and more utilized in the classroom, and it is allowing for authentic and engaging learning to take place. Students no longer question the relevancy of the learning material, as they are given the opportunity to publish their work on blogs and other various outlets. In a transition to another unit, we took one class to study various sorts of technologies that don't necessarily fit into any of our units. For this activity, we were seperated into groups and given various technologies to study.

Our group was assigned the online newspaper and the mobile quiz app, Socrative.
Both of these technologies were fun to learn about in the short time we were allotted. As a future teacher, these technologies pose endless uses in the classroom.

The online newspaper (you can find the one our group made here!) could be used as a sort of module in which students see relevant information for the particular class. Texts, videos, pictures, forums, polls, etc. can be posted to the class newspaper to provide easy access to materials other than a text book. Such material is usually more current and interesting to students, thus, making the material more meaningful. Students are more likely to check out the newspaper and its potential updates rather than read a monotonous text book. Furthermore, students can create their own newspaper. it would be interesting for students to do this for a project on current events, perhaps in a social studies classroom.

Out of the two, I most liked the Socrative app. In order to use it, the teacher would simply create a "classroom" online. Students can then access the classroom from any device or laptop. The technology is similar to clicker technology, used for quizzes. Teachers can easily create quizzes for their students. After questions are completed, they are instantly uploaded for student-access. Following each question, students are notified whether or not they answered the question correctly. Teachers are immediately given the result after completion. The immediacy creates convenience that is essentially free. The quiz app could be used in a number of different ways. Teachers could use it for attendance purposes; teachers could use it to gain initial knowledge; teachers could use it for formative grades; teachers could use it for "Ticket-Out-The-Door" purposes.

It's amazing how many different technologies are out there that are easily accessible and mostly free. Teachers have amazing resources to create an effective and engaging learning environment that promotes authentic learning and critical thinking.

Lots of Reading and an "Indian"

So this semester, I am taking three LLED courses. For those of you who don't attend the best school in the world, UGA, and for those of you who aren't education majors, LLED classes are basically classes the teach students how to teach Literacy, Language Arts, and READING.

It's just now February, and I have read more than ten books... Oh, and I've also written responses and reflections on each of them. It is more time consuming than I can even begin to explain, but hey, I'll be a well-read individual after all is said and done. The funny thing about all of this reading? A great deal of it is composed of children's books and young-adult literature.

To my surprise, most of the books have been really amazing. I absolutely enjoy reading them. Here is one of my responses to one of my favorite books thus far,

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

It sounds cheesy and kind of ridiculous- but this book made me laugh; it made me cry; it made me blush; most importantly, it made me think. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian might very well be banned in some schools and challenged in others, and I can understand why. However, this book encompasses the very essence of being human. Despite his young age, Arnold has a lot of “life experience”. He sees so many aspects of life throughout the book, some positive and some negative: death, poverty, friendship, drunkenness, betrayal, revenge… His journey in creating an identity for himself is truly moving- Through the struggles and triumphs, he becomes a man. He begins to understand the world around him as well as understand his place in that world. So many students can relate to such a journey- or at least some aspects of it.

            Though I could never completely understand the perspective a hormonal, Native American, teenage boy, I definitely can relate to him in different ways. His unscripted, comical account of the events in his life captivated me throughout the entire book- I was immediately hooked with his unguarded humor. I loved his candid honesty in both his writing and his drawings. Although I have never experienced the kind of disownment that Arnold experiences in the book, I have experienced a great deal of death in my twenty years. I really identified with Arnold when he is first speaking to the new reported before his final game against his previous team. On page eighty-five, he says, “… I’ve had to grow up really fast, too fast, and… I’ve come to realize every single moment of my life is important...” I thought this same thought when I was about his age, maybe a year older. This line actually made me cry, even though Arnold was really just mocking the camera guy at that point.

            So many students have such complex struggles in their lives. I believe the vast majority of students would experience the same sort of connection with Arnold as I did- whether it be  death, whether it be drunkenness, whether it be losing a friend, whether it be trying to figure out his or her place in the world... Students can grasp one aspect of this book and make much deeper connections. The basketball game, for example, can represent much deeper elements instead of just a competitive basketball game. There is one drawing in which Arnold draws his own self in two places: the Wellpoint Gym and the Reardan Gym. In each picture, he questions himself, “Who am I?”

            The basketball experience represents his quest to discover himself. Along the way, he is aided with some advice from his grandmother, his sister, Roger, Penelope, Coach, Eugene, Gordy, and even Rowdy. Each character provides a different realization for Arnold as he searches for truth and acceptance. I think my favorite part of the book is when Mrs. Jeremy asks Arnold where he has been over the past couple of days. Of course, Arnold has been dealing with grief, and everyone knows it. The entire class defends Arnold. They don’t even use words; they simply stand up and drop their textbooks, one by one. Then, they leave the classroom. This courageous defense for Arnold, a student who “didn’t belong”, brought me to tears.

            I would love to use this book in my future classroom, if it is permitted. I think once students get past some of the mature elements of this book, they will really identify with and take valuable lessons from Arnold’s compelling diary. Each entry allows for much more critical understandings than just the surface meaning. I believe this book would certainly challenge students to think about their identities and why they define themselves in that way. What struggles and triumphs have they gone through to become who they are now?

Alexie, S. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian. New York: Little, Brown, and Company.