Because we had time and availability issues, I dropped the use of Spilling Ink and just wanted Jo to engage with Myers' stories. I assigned the following assignments without being too detailed with criteria because I wanted to first see how she handles the work on her own. Because I am not her regular teacher, and the nature of the project changed due to the aformentioned issues, I decided to assess where she is and not what strategies she necessarily learned in the process.
Before I go on to the assignments, I want to discuss the change of this project. Though this project's start has become more of a reflective one, it is not at all a failure. This is my first experience using blogging as an educational venue and tool (my first experience with blogging at all) and using it in a collaborative effort with a 'distant' student. Though we did have the benefit of three in-person visits at the start, all we really have available to us is the computer and phone. This presented its own challenge for a novice online educator and a novice online student. As with any teaching/learning endeavor, good planning is vital and this is where I must bear the brunt of criticism. Though internet and blogging is a fast technology, it doesn't change the need for good, thorough, planning. It in some ways complicates it, especially since it becomes harder for the novice online educator to model strategies. Another dominating aspect is scheduling. For distance education to really work, I feel it helps to have a clear and strict schedule for various reasons, one simple one is to keep the importance of the work and experience. Self-discpline is also needed, and it keeps the importance and intregrity of the epxerience intact. Though internet technology is cosidered easy and fast, it is most often used casually which may remove it from an equal standing when compared to other traditional venues.
Having said all this, this experience has given me an opportunity to become acquainted with this technology and build upon my 'other' literacies. Also, Blogging is quite popular and is becoming an engaging project/activity in the ELA classroom. Just today, a colleague mentioned adding blogging to our first unit and I was more comfortable to explore this possibility rather than hesitant and rejecting of the idea because of my unfamiliarity and limited availability to learn 'new' things. But now because of this blogging experience, I will have the opportunity to access and engage my incoming students' other literacies in a different way. This will vary the work and activity in the classroom, add interest, and perhaps another level of comfort with the subject matter.
From Jo's perspective, she has finished reading her first multicultural work which alone is progress and a beginning to joining multicultural literature discussions in the future. And if she is not offered many opportunities to read multicultural literature in her Honors English class this year, she may be more aware of its absence and use the point for further inquiry into what that absence states about her school's curriculum philosophy. What does it say about her, or anyone's, immediate culture and society when they are grooming their children in a multicultural nation without providing any multicultural experience and inquiry outside of standard foreign language classes. If her curriculum is homogenous, you never know, she may want to set a friendly challenge for her teacher to see how multicultural literature could be fit into the year's curriculum.
Overall for Jo though, this multicultural literature blogging project adds to her schema, her experience and fund of knowledge, and enables her to make connections she may not have considered before. It can also add another layer of reflection on various cultural perspectives on life in America.
What follows are Jo's original Assignments. I did end up dropping Spilling Ink and I asked her only to respond to those stories she liked best in Walter Dean Myers' book, 145th Street: Short Stories. Her work is already published on the blog. You can access it by clicking on the blog page links to the right of the page.
Short Story # 3, "Fighter"
1. Read "Fighter"
2. List his character traits
3.Summarize the story.
Definition of Summarize: give a shortened version of something that has been said or written, stating its main points. 2. To give a recapitulation of the salient (prominent, worthy of note, pertinent, or relevant) facts; to recapitulate (repeat in a concise form), or review.
Definition found on www.encyclo.co.uk/define/summarize
4. Write a letter to Billy Giles as if you were his wife Johnnie Mae. What do you think she would write to him?
Short Story #4, "Angela's Eyes"
1. Read "Angela's Eyes"
2. Write a poem describing how Angela was affected in this story.
3. Reflection: would people in your community behave the way people in Angela's community behave? Why or why not?
#5: "The Streak"
In your Reading notebook:
From which point-of-view (P.O.V) is this story written?
Why do you think the author chose to write from this perspective?
Writing Activity 1:
Write an ad advertizing Froggy as a friend. Write a reflection saying why you advertize him the way you do. Give at least three examples from the story supporting your ideas.
Write an ad advertizing one of your friends.
Write a refelction stating why you advertize him or her the way you do.
From Spilling Ink.
Read pgs., 33-45
In your WNB, answer this question:
Where do you get your ideas for your writing?
Writing Activity 2: Take a line from "The Streak" and write your own story from it. Underline the line that you used from the text. This line can be used at the beginnin, middle, or end of your own story.
#6: "Monkeyman"
1. Read the story
2. In your RNB, state why you think "Monkeyman" brought his grandfather and his godmother to the fight?
3. Write a reflection stating what you learned from the story.
4. Write a tale of Monkeyman that will be retold to children. The title, "The Tale of Monkeyman"
#7: "Kitty and Mack: A Love Story"
In your RNB, answer question:
What does Kitty teach the reader about love?
In your WNB, write a love poem to Kitty as if you were Mack.
#8: "A Christmas Story"
1. Read the story
2. Reread the last paragraph, and in your RNB, state what you think this story is about.
3. In your RNB, comment on the following quotes:
a. "There are times, Kathy, when you don't give direct answers to questions. It's a way of dealing with people. you don't reject them and you don't get yourself involved
in a whole scene..."
b. "You working here all week and then coming back on a holiday. But it's good for you to see we have holidays here, too. You see the people in the street all wishing each
other Merry Christmas and dressed up in their churchgoing clothes. You see them in this frame and you get a different picture of them. Don't you think so, Officer?"
#9: "A Story in Three Parts"
Read Story
List character traits fro Big Time
In your RNB: The story is told in three parts. What's the importance of Part I to the overall story of Big Time?
What's the importance of the quote,"'Cause I didn't know how scared I was before," Big time said. "Now I know just how I feel. C'mon, the fire's getting closer."
#10 "Block Party--145th Street Style"
1. Read story
2. In your RNB, answer the following questions:
Why was Peaches so rotten to J.T.?
How would you characterize the friendship between Peaches and her best friend, the narrator?
What was J.T.s situation?
Do you know anyone like Big Joe?
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