Behind The Scenes Of The Yawm-isoff Presentation/ Final Thoughts

Week 7

Yikes!!! Thank heavens this week is done! Let me just tell you how stressful it is to be the first group for T.A. for the day assignment. Do to my need to go above and beyond in everything I do (and my competitive nature… thanks dad) I felt compelled to try to really stand out. I wanted to make my mark especially because Erica and I were the first group. Is wrong for me to want to make it more difficult for the groups following us to present?

What did I learn?

Where to start… where to start…
I learned a very important lesson in this week. Teaching is NOT as easy as it looks. I have a new respect all of my past teachers. I applaud those who take so much of their time to make their classroom fun, creative, different, interesting, and exciting. I learned that it takes a special kind of person with a special gift to teach to be able to communicate well with their students. I also learned how to do a close reading on a poem, texture was one of the elements of the 12 that I really didn’t know anything about before reading. Diction, structure, figurative language, style, characterization, ect. All of those elements I have learned about in AP lit and AP comp. Texture refers to those features of a work of literature which contribute to its meaning or significant as distinguished from that signification itself. I just want to mention one more thing, a little side not. This week I believe the one thing that had the biggest impact on me is that I realized you can’t receive helped if you don’t ask for it.

What did I do?

It was Thursday afternoon around 5 o’clock I got a phone call from my group partner Erica. Since our T.A. for the day thingy was due on Monday we decided it was best to meet up today and get it done. Since I had this soccer event to go to I said I would call her once I was done and we would hit the books. It was 9 o’clock by the time we got started on our project. We were freaking out; we had never taught a class before and had no idea where to begin. 4 ½ hours later (1:30 am) we had our lesson plan, in class activity, quiz, journal free write prompt, and power point all done. Four days later we had our scheduled meeting with our professor to finalize our teaching experience for October 12th. Our scheduled meeting time was from 3:30 to 4:30 I think we left around 5, maybe 5:30 ish…. Professor Bolduc-Simpson should have known when it comes to Erica and me…. Well let’s just say we need a little extra time to make sure things are perfect, we can’t help ourselves. All in all I think we did a pretty good job. What I do know we worked our butts off to do it well and make sure we set the bar really high.

How did I feel about what I learned, what I did and how I felt about what I learned and did?

WOW! 7 weeks, and it is midterm already! I just would like to say so far it has been an adventurous ride. Even though it may seem as though I complain a lot about this class it is only because I am generally a “freak out” kind of person when it comes to school work ( thanks mom). I am a perfectionist; I’m competitive, and determined. It is a very humbling experience to sit here with a B+ after analyzing the amount of work I put into all of my assignments. I sure have learned a lot so far. I learned to not let the little things upset me like…. Receiving a 13 out of 25 (for all of you who don’t know it is calculated out to be a 52%) on my rough draft, in which I totally forgot to do the self assessment and annotation which counted for ½ of that assignment. My initial reaction was OMG I am going to fail this class because of this grade. When in actuality I was informed by my professor (after I e-mailed her so I could redo my assignment) that only amounted to 2.5 % of my final grade…. Now that I look back that was a lot of worrying over nothing!
Even though these 7 weeks have not always been fun I know when I am old and think back to these years of my life I will have forgotten all of the tears and hard weeks when I would think to myself how am I going to get through this!! I will only remember the fun I had with those who went through it with me. I know for a fact I won’t forget that crazy =) literature teacher I had who kicked my butt and pushed to a level I didn’t even know was there.
Moral of the story is you can only learn from the past not change it. As for now, I think I will just work my hardest to follow directions and hopefully that leads to an A in this class. If not at least I will know in my heart I did everything to the best of my abilities. In the end when it is all said and done and the fat lady is singing I will feel victorious because I will have no regrets.





* HEY DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT MY VIDEO LINK ....just follow the arrow ;) *

Yes! Class Is Cancelled

Week 6

“Dear Literary Laureates, Class on Monday 9/28 will be cancelled”

YEAAAHHH! Boy no class Monday!!!
Ohhhh wait…Bolduc-Simpson would never let us off the hook that easy. I believe it was Tuesday morning I was just getting out of my bio class and I got a text from Erica Renisoff saying “ Did you get the e-mail professor, be prepared it is over whelming” I thought to myself oh no what next. Week 6 the week of assignments out the ying-yang!!! Hey at least I was prepared to the e-mail for poor Erica it was like she was hit by a truck… even worse mike never got the e-mail hahah! So when I facebooked him to meet up with some of our classmates for our online class session he was like “what the heck is going on!!!!!!”

What did I learn?

Where to begin. ……Pages 421-451 had a lot of useful information, there was a whole bunch of stuff on language of poetry, figurative language, allegory & symbol, tone of voice, repetition, sounds & schemes, meter & rhythm, free verse & open form, stanza forms, fixed forms and literary history and poetic conventions. Whoooohw that was a mouth full! Needless to say it helped with the online session that was held instead of class. It was very helpful to be able to read other responses to poems, as I stated before sometimes I don’t quite get what is going on. My group leader was awesome! Krista Hinton lead group 2 and helped create some questions that I think everyone wanted answered. It was great to be able to read others answers in comparison to your own. You learn a lot about your classmates when you are continuously subjected to their writing.

What did I do?

When I got home that day to read my e-mails I freaked out, as did everyone else I’m sure. I started looking at my schedule and organizing my time because I was notified that I would be teaching the class on the 12th of October and I would have to have my lesson plan completed by the 5th. Now I understood Erica’s reaction. For me stress makes me more productive so I downloaded the T.A. for the day materials and started to brain storm ideas for the project. I came up with a few good ones but I don’t want to spoil it now you will just have to wait for class on the 12th! ;) I’ll only say we tried to make learning about “An Enemy of the People” as fun and funny as possible.

How did I feel about what I learned, what I did and how I felt about what I learned and did?

Time to discuss the gem for the week! Relax, organize, get stuff done, ask questions if unsure. At the beginning of the week I was pretty overwhelmed but as the weekend drew near the stress levels went down. I figure class could be worse….. it could be some old mean grumpy lady making our lives miserable. I consider myself lucky that we have a teacher that takes so much time out of her day to make sure her assignments are clear and responds to e-mails as quickly as possible. I’ve been in classes where I never even spoke to the professor once. Yall are probable thinking to yourself COOL! Sign me up…..but let me tell ya it’s not that great. At the end of the day I finished my assignments to the best of my abilities with the instructions I was given and I can only hope it meets the criteria.

A New Respect For Poetry!

Week 5

Poetry poetry poetry! This is week 5 the week of poetry Monday’s class professor had us all make a video documentation of what we think about when we think about poetry. I said I think of weird people who are socially awkward reading poems that make you uncomfortable. I guess I just had a bad experience with poets… I have no valid explanation for this judgment. Sorry all you poets! I also disliked poems I didn’t understand and that were challenging to read or comprehend its intended meaning.

What did I learn?

I learned I can relate my life to poetry more than I thought
I learned just how many literary elements take part in creating a unique poem (idiom, coinage, inversion, ellipsis, syntax, transferred epithet) I could go on for days.
I learned that I don’t really understand the different rhyme schemes ( AABB, ABAB, ect.)
I learned to have fun creating a ballad even though it didn’t fit a proper rhyme scheme
I learned to relate poetry to the poet’s life not just analyze their work based on my own experiences.
MOST IMPORTANTLY I learned to look at poetry in a different light

What did I do?

I read poems… I reread the poems…I read them again and again. Still nothing sometimes you just never fully get the raw meaning of a poem. BUT I found out that is half the fun of making your own poem no one ever has to know what is truly on your mind. So in our in class activity to create a poem from a news paper article, I took a chance and created a poem that was deeper much deeper then the words written. Best of all I actually enjoyed it. Imagine that I had fun in class=) just kidding professor I always have fun in lit class!

How did I feel about what I learned, what I did and how I felt about what I learned and did?

After week 5 I felt great! I had a new respect for poetry, I enjoyed the in class activity, and I even didn’t mind writing my own ballad. I generally feel leaning about poetry is dreadful....because I don’t understand it. After the free write journal entry in which a poem was read to us that talked about humanity disliking things “we” don’t understand. Luckily the drop box was not working that day so I had to e-mail my assignment and I found it under my sent box so I would like to share my initial reactions instead of trying to recall them like I have been doing in the past blog posts.
....Here it is enjoy!
­_The poem read aloud involved disliking things we (humanity) don’t understand. I find that to be so true in every aspect of life. If one stops to think about the origin of their thoughts most times you would be surprised as to how you got to the end result. Not understanding something I feel irritates us because we I feel were created to learn and try to figure out why things are the way they are. We are designed to ask questions and to conclude or find an ending point. “Raw” that word can describe so many aspects of life as well. I find that the act of being raw means to me to have endless opportunities. It can be shaped experimented with or changed.

The Time Sure Does Fly By Doesn’t It?

Week 4

Wait…we have already been in school for a month?!?! Seems like just yester day I was in Orlando doing some last minute packing before the 3 hours drive to Gulf Coast.
WHY CAN'T IT BE SUMMER AGAIN!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUOHz6clCis&feature=player_embedded

Style && symbols my favorite elements in literature so far. Week four was probably the easiest week for me when it came to assignments and all that good stuff.

What did I learn?

“Party Down at the Square” is a hateful story. I can’t even begin to fathom treating another human being the way those individuals treated that man who was burned at the stake. I was shocked to read such terrible things happing not long ago. When I think back to the time of the civil war it just seems like a life time ago African Americans were persecuted for the color of their skin. When I hear or read about instances similar to “Party down at the square” it really hits home that to this day there are so many terrible people in this world doing terrible things to one another. This passage reminded me of a small chilly bar located on highway 44 in New Smyrna Beach. Outside of this run down shack looking restaurant was a sign that says in big bold letters you can see clear as day from the road “NO shoes, NO shirt, NO COLORDS, NO ATTITUDE, NO service.” I was dumbfounded that still people are so set in their racist ways. On the flip side of things the youtube clips we were assigned to watch entitled “Smoke signals How Do We Forgive Our Fathers” conveyed a more positive spiritual type of symbolism. Coming from a Christian family I could easily pick out when the clips would elude to biblical references. For instance when one clip clearly eluded to when Jesus fed thousands of people with just 2 fish and 5 loafs of bread.

What did I do?

This week was somewhat of a blur to me as I think back. I remember rushing to complete all of my assigned reading for Monday that week in the library only hours before class time. When it comes to lit reading I always have good intentions of trying to get it done early but with all of the other home work I have it seems to always end up as the last item on my list. I guess it doesn’t really matter all too much as long as I get it done. For me it usually just comes down to doing what ya gotta do to get stuff done.

How did I feel about what I learned, what I did and how I felt about what I learned and did?

I felt like this week was the week of good and evil.. you know like in the movies when someone has to make a hard decision and then the angel and devil characters show up on your shoulders. Their arguing back and forth representing both sides or your subconscious. They both symbolize very different paths, in every aspect of life there is always bad and good, and it’s up to you to make to best decision. “In party down at the square” I know the angel on those individuals shoulders missed a cab or something that night because he was nowhere to be found. Even though the series of events that took place that night were awful, and all who read that passage will judge those individuals. I know I have done things in my life that when I look back on I had wished my “shoulder angle” would have been there to stop me. I feel that you should live by others examples, learn from their mistakes, and attempt to create something positive from something negative.

The Theme Of My Life Is LIT!

Week 3

Learning about theme+ rough drafts + bio test = the death of me! Week three oh boy where to start…. guess we will start with learning about theme “The Red Convertible” I actually enjoyed reading this passage. I could really relate to it because my cousin went to war and when he came back he wasn’t the same. My rough draft was not pretty; hopefully my next paper will turn out a little better, and I won’t have to rewrite it 20 times=/

What did I learn?

Well where to start… mainly I learned the most when it came to composing a paper and following directions. Since the Wednesday was when our first draft was due I decided to do it early because I had a HUGE bio test to study for the day before. So the day we got the assignment I started my paper. When I first read the assignment I thought, great I can write it on my grandfather and his life’s work as a trauma surgeon. Then I over analyzed what the assignment was looking for and changed my topic to Clara Barton after I wrote my outline and everything. Moral of the story is… once again READ CAREFULLY!!!

What did I do?

Where to start with this week! After I wrote my outline I realized I did the assignment wrong, so I thought when in actuality I could have just written about my grandpa. So what I ended up doing was changing my topic to Clara Barton. Then I proceeded to research her life’s story, and compose a research paper that was pretty much like a detailed time line. Once I had completed my entire paper in one night I then received an email a few days later from professor Bolduc-Simpson letting me know that she loved my idea BUT….. I needed to choose one of Clara’s stories and create a paper that had a creative plot with rising, falling action, climax, and resolution; my paper lacked all of these elements. I didn’t have time to revise it before the due date, did I mention I forgot to complete the self assessment. Needless to say my grade on my rough draft was not so hot…

How did I feel about what I learned, what I did and how I felt about what I learned and did?

This week I felt miserable that I literally did not do anything right! I was so worn out from the previous weekends study session (for my bio exam) I was unable to comprehend any sort of written directions. Next time around I will defiantly ask if I am unsure of anything and wait for verbal instructions if I don’t understand something before trying to get it out of the way. I need to schedule my time better so I don’t feel pressured to complete an assignment. I thought that by getting it done early would give me extra time to fix any mistakes, but really it in the end screwed me over.

Starting To Figure Things Out

Week 2

So everything we need to know is nicely organized in Angel, this makes it real easy to know what is expected for class each week. Even though I am still pretty frazzled with all of my new classes and with trying to get into a good rhythm I am starting to figure out how everything works. Lets just say my first experience with the Vokie was quite comical.

What did I learn?

It didn’t take much time for me to realize in order to understand everything in Bolduc-Simpsons presentations via Vokie I needed to watch them more than one time, jotting down new things every time I listened. Also I learned that week in class a very important lesson. READ CAREFULLY!!! If you don’t read carefully you can’t pass the in class quizzes. I learned how to characterize a passage characters. “Died and gone to Vegas” supplied a variety of character that supported our assigned reading for that week. My favorite was Raynelle she seemed to be the “boss woman” of the oiler when it came to playing cards she knew it all.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAtD2Y6zTAI&feature=player_embedded

What did I do?

Week 2… missed one of the readings OOPPSS! “The tale of the Wife of Bath” totally forgot to read that passage for class. It just slipped my mind I printed it out and everything and just completely forgot about it. Forum 2 was fun, and easy. Professor gave the class a choice of assignments between a wordle and I think a paragraph summary on “how to tell a true war story.” Funny thing is not one person picked the paragraph over the wordle hahah! Kids and their work ethics today it amuses me how we all think the same even though we may be VERY different in other ways.

How did I feel about what I learned, what I did and how I felt about what I learned and did?

Hmmm what did I learn? I think it was that if you give kids a choice they will always take the easy way out. But don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the break. Most of the time teachers never have leeway built into a lesson. Assignments are always work! work! work! and no fun. In the event that a professor would happen to give an “enjoyable assignment” calls for a celebration! This class is definitely work but lots of fun. I hope I haven’t spoken to soon=)

Initial Reaction

Week 1

AHHHHHHH!!! Was all I could think about sitting in that class room on the first day of Intro to lit. Stating that this class is a little unorthodox is an understatement. Professor Bolduc-Simpson (not what I expected by the way) jumped right into getting to know us and making sure we knew each other. She also made it very clear that over the course of the semester we would become very familiar with technology and how to use it. I thought to myself…..ohhh boy I will surly fail this class.

What did I learn?

Fist week, I quickly found out I needed a “study buddy” for this class. The only difference was that it instead of finding a study buddy, it was more of a lets get together to do assignments because we have no idea what is going on buddy!!

What did I do?

First day of class we were put into alphabetical order… it just so happened that the girl next to me (Erica Renisoff) was just as helpless when it came to technology as I was, maybe even worse. I figured two helpless people are better than one helpless person.
I believe that the 1st week one of the objectives were to familiarize yourself with at least 5 classmates. At the end of the class I had 2 phone numbers, not quite 5 but I told myself I would eventually get there.

How did I feel about what I learned, what I did and how I felt about what I learned and did?

I was most defiantly overwhelmed! I went into class thinking it would be like every other BS writing class I’ve taken. I hate writing and I hate reading when it comes to completing the GRW prerequisites for college. But within the next week I learned this lit class will be nothing like the classes I’ve taken in the past. I knew I would have to work hard to get the grades I wanted and that Bolduc-Simpson wasn’t gonna take crap from any one… especially mike Mcginn, poor guy. I just told myself I need to do what I’m asked and do it to the best of my abilities.