Grease - We Go Together (Film Version)

Foot Grease

I just saw one of the best productions by the Kent State Drama Department today, GREASE!!!!!!
I really love the movie and have seen it in play form many times but have not yet seen one this good. I really enjoyed the entire experience and really wish I had seen it last weekend so I could get the word out sooner that you should see it if you can. Unfortunately tomorrow is the last showing in the Stump theater on campus. (If anyone doesn't know where that is I can give directions if you need/want.) Tickets are $8 for students $16 for the general public. The theater department puts on two plays a semester and they are almost always good. (So far I have seen Oklahoma!, Grapes of Wrath and Grease.) Hamlet is being performed this April if anyone would like to go. It really is great fun and it helps the theater department if you go see it. As future English teachers I think this opportunity to see another form of literature, especially since this is a multi-modal class, is a great one. Click the link to the theater department above to see what events are coming up if you are interested and explore the site I know many of my friends didn't even know KSU had a theater. And just for fun watch the video above to put you in a good mood with good memories, hopefully, of high school.

My First Project Medium

Vader Dances to Hammer You Can't Touch This Dance: Star Wars weekends 20...

Here something for Star Wars fans. Sorry I'm a total dork.

The Picard Video

I have to much of an obsession with Star Trek. If you like it too here's a great funny video!

Cory Doctorow: Show us your "Little Brother" HOWTOs (BBtv)

This is something I found on YouTube when searching for answers on possibilities for future technology like in Little Brother. Come to find out the author is a Co-Founder of Boing Boing Tv which is a whole series of vids on YouTube. It's interesting to hear the author challenge people to create his imaginings maybe someone could participate who enjoyed the book and its technology.

Foot Bi0

Well... I think this will be my last post tonight because I have to work on the very thing I am discussing, the multigenre autobiography. Mine is going well I have everything gathered and am enjoying the process of remembering all the things I loved and lived for as a kid. I am questioning how far to take my interpretation of the assignment though. We have talked a lot about what to include that has affected our lives such as music, plays, cartoons, tv shows, books, comics, etc. but what about things like sports do they count? Also I am having issues with making mine interesting to watch and easy to upload online. I really want to use a movie making or dvd making program but can't find a way to upload it. If anyone has done this already please help a little I'm sure I could figure it out but I am not sure I have the time to and I really want this to be more interesting than just a project that needs done.

Foot 1Nt3rN3T

After reading both articles involving the internet and Facebook and using both in class I am very interested to find more ways to use the internet and Facebook creatively in my class. I think both of these articles offered a great look into the true purpose of both of these additions to technology and what we as a culture have made it. i think both were made to allow easier and faster communication, luckily this is what we use it for even if it is for trivial daily updates on where we are and where we are going. I am interested to see if the movie The Social Network is anything like the Rolling Stones article. Hopefully I will be able to find out soon. I also found it interesting that both of these articles were in magazines, which are often thought to be simply entertaining. This is proof to me that everything can be used when teaching and that maybe we have been ignoring perhaps our best tools with which to teach.

Foot N3tw0rk3D

I am totally excited about reading Dr. Kist's The Socially Networked Classroom after having done some of his suggested activities in class. I love the new and inventive ways to form groups that we have done recently and will be using them in my classroom. My favorite activity was having us write down names of groups that are famously put together and form groups after figuring out what names go together. This allows the choosing of groups to be completely random and is fun. The other activity that we did on our opinions was a great way to start discussion but isn't very predicable or controllable until you really know your students. It is also a good way to show students how many different opinions there are on every topic. Sometimes it may be good to do this with students once everyone knows each other well to see if they know each other as well as they thought. His could help dispel rumors that are heard within the school or to simply show that people choose what to tell and show you and it isn't always the truth. This could be a useful way to lead into character analysis or a lesson on reading between the lines.

Foot Reading!!!!!

Okay... so... Little Brother... I know I am probably going to get slammed for this but I hated it. It just wasn't the type of relevant problem I am concerned with right now and would prefer not to concern myself with. This novel was well written and very inviting to read, I know because my fiance read it and he never reads anything that isn't Orson Scott Card or Shakespeare. But it simply wasn't me. I found a lot of the novel to be hard to wrap my mind around, such as parts regarding the school's surveillance. I also found it to be a very heavy topic and possibly a frightening topic to some readers. I think I may use this in the classroom but only as a choice read. I wouldn't force someone to read this.

On another note it really did a good job of illuminating some key issues in multi-modal literature. We are always trying to come up with new innovative ways to keep students entertained and learning but often it simply turns into them teaching us. When we want to use different formats to teach we need to make sure we know about the technology we use. In Little Brother the adults in the school seemed clueless when it came to the technology the students were using. This can't happen if we want to be multi-modal in our classrooms. On a good note this novel showed a good way to involve technology without using it, read a story about it!!! It's a great idea but I don't know that this was the best book for it. I have not had a good chance to look at Doctorow's blog and hope it offers some clarity on his writting. I would love to try another piece by him to see if I like it better.

Louis Armstrong - Hello Dolly Live

Foot HR

I almost forgot I've been listening and watching a lot of Harlem Renaissance music lately and found this vid of Louis Armstrong, one of the all time best and my favorite jazz musician, and found it very interesting what some of the comments were that accompanied the vid. Check it out here then look at it on youtube and see how far America has really come in acceptance with the comments people left.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmfeKUNDDYs

Foot {M3NtA1}

So illness, exhaustion and extreme homework overload have kept me from posting till now, (sorry to all of those following me and hoping to comment for our grades), but at least all of these things have given me plenty of time to do plenty of non-involvement in pop culture. I have been lucky enough to catch the final chapter in one of my favorite movie series, Saw, and that's about all and I totally suggest watching it. In the book department I have read a few interesting novels for my classes but nothing that really sticks out in my mind as great. The best thing I have read so far though was the story of Eminem (the rapper) in Rolling Stones this month. Nothing shocking in it but it was very interesting to see how things began with him especially knowing he is one of the best rappers out now in my opinion and has had a very interesting career. I'm hooked on Nikki Minaj right now and also find myself listening to a lot of 80s music, probably because of the autobiography we have been doing. In any case nothing terribly important or fun in this end of Kent.