Nothing. As Usual.

So once again, i have nothing to say.  Worked about 60 hours this week and still continue to be in a pretty rough part of a my life with who was my fiance now not sure.  Haven't really been doing much of the readings if any or going to many classes.  I am reading Eating Animals now by Jonathan Safran Foer which as far as I've gotten is a pretty interesting book.  Can't really think of much else to say so guess this will have to suffice.

Well... Shit

So i'm not sure where i stand in the blogs for class at this point but i figured what the hell, from now on i'm posting what i want when i want (along with the reading postings :(  ).  So i wanted to not comment but ask an opinion of something i read on CNN.com today because i have yet to make an opinion myself.  Some school somewhere i forget made a public apology concerning an assignment given to an English class by some teacher.  The students got a writing assignment in which they were instructed to prove their loyalty to Nazi Germany by arguing Jews are "evil" and the source of that government's problems.The assignment was designed to flex students' persuasive writing skills.  Now part of me sees this as an interesting, creative and honest (regarding history) activity for a grade level such as high school to not only practice persuasive writing (especially writing at the level where you don't agree with the argument that most individuals believe and see right because when that's the case the argument ends up best well written) but also to understand history (not just from the "good" or victors' side).  The other half of me wants to know, "when should morals be accountable as far as learning?" And, "when, considering the complexity and vastness of ideas and morals should they come into play?"  For me it always feels like pick and choose.  Depending on the area, the school district and the diversity, these always seem to decide.  Which i think is fucked up.  I just want to get some thoughts because i am just throwing ideas out there and i don't personally feel that i have enough information or knowledge to really ever know, but i'm trying to take make an opinion here.


P.S.
               I have been incredibly exhausted with work and other stuff so i do apologize for my rudeness and/or my brashness/rashness.

PB Works and Darfur

I checked out three of the sites from last weeks reading.  The first was Rebecca Blood's blog and i didn't take to much from that.  The second was the Darfur plan created by high school kids.  There hasn't been any activity with the site since 2009 so i'm not sure if it has been effective but as far as how the site is set up it actually is quite impressive and smooth.  I then checked out PBworks which appears very helpful educationally as far as setting up a safe site for a classroom to get together.

Making a Video for English

I don't have much to stay on this.  I knew making a video for an English class was possible and I knew that the process of how exactly that video will be made is numerous.  In high school we did similar projects multiple years.  The idea of using video to demonstrate learned knowledge about a certain literary author, genre, time period, story etc. has always been a method I planned to use when teaching.

Let's Make a Story!!

Just saying, while i was doing the readings, i think it would be a really fun idea for our class if we collaboratively used digital story telling and created a story made up by the whole class!  Either each group, or each individual contributed a piece to the story and we put it all together.  Kind of life how Daniel Tosh asked his viewer audience to come together to tweet his death, or was it just a story?  Anyways it was hilarious how parts jumped around because people just added whatever they wanted so i think it would be a ton of fun.  I'll leave it up to you to decide how we can make it educational in the classroom.

Using Nature as a Tool to Learn?

As I've probably stated before, i am in Literature of the Environment with Dr. Dimarco.  Today we just finished reading the novel Into the Wild which I will admit is now one of my favorite books.  I'm not going to get real specific here, I just wanted to know some of your thoughts about this idea.  I took a lot from the main character's (Chris McCandless) actions and motives and words.  I was wondering if taking a class actually outside, maybe on a field trip to a national park or reservation or something like that and have them write about the experience in any form they desire would be a good education tool.  I mean of course this field trip would take place around the same time the class might be reading about transcendentalism or reading literature concerning the environment.  I just feel like though to truly get a glimpse of the idea behind these stories they have to be physically experienced.

I really enjoy this site for some laughs and thoughts so i'm putting it up their if anyone wants to check it out.
9gag.com