Thursday, March 27, 2008

My reflection

Patty Keefe

Prof Cercone

LAI513- Book Group Reflection

27 March 2008

The Color Purple by Alice Walker was very well developed. It followed Celie’s life so beautifully while constantly representing her lifelong struggle. She was a survivor of her own life. Celie was very dynamic and went through a change from innocent and afraid to confident and determined. I related to Celie’s longing to see her sister again. It reminds me of my own longing to see my boyfriend who is a soldier stationed in South Korea. Our whole relationship was in letters for a long period of time. There is something therapeutic about writing about your life to someone who will read it with love and understanding. Hopefully students could learn about this through classroom letter activities.

One of my favorite quotes of the novel is, "I think it pisses God off if you walk by The Color Purple in a field and don't notice it." I think this book sends a message to its reader to enjoy your life while you are here. Also, it inspires its audience to notice the beauty that you have all around you.

Nettie tries to get Celie to stand up for herself against Mr. _____ and his mean children and Celie has this to say, "But I don't know how to fight. All I know how to do is stay alive" (Walker, 18). I think that this moment shows how her mental and physical abuse she has endured has beaten Celie down to her weakest self.

"The sheriff know how women is, anyhow" (Walker, 88). These comment made by almost every male. The novel represents woman as crazy, wild, and needing to be tamed. There are treated inferior and wrong. They are abused, strong women that are constantly open for judgment. One of my favorite moments was when Celie left Mr.______. Finally, Celie was ready to stand up and fight for herself.

I was excited to read with a small group of people. I thought that reading the book would have become a more social activity. Whenever I read by myself, I always wish that I had someone there to express my emotions or ask questions. I also wondered how others thought and related to the same novel I was reading. My group was very excellent at responding to my ideas and gave affirmative feedback often. I wish there was more questioning and personal reactions to feed off of from my group members. A lot of times, I felt that I was talking to myself and as a result it was not very useful. This activity was difficult for my group because technology was not readily available for the some of the members. Also, some of my group members had a difficult time with the technology portion of this exercise. I created the blog and sent my group members the usernames and password to sign into the blog, but it still seemed a little confusing for some. As a future teacher, I will have to make sure that there are alternatives available for students. Also, I would provide them with ample amounts of how-to lesson on the ins and outs of blogging. Teachers must never assume that students know everything, because they may fall without proper guidance and scaffolding.

Jago’s NCTE text on Alice Walker was very brief. I agreed with all of the philosophy’s and had a craving for more after I finished it. In class we had a professor come in who spoke about using clips of films to layer meaning in novels. Jago offered similar techniques. She suggests that the whole movie that Color purple must never be show in its entirety. That is too much time wasted. Students should watch a well represented clip of The Color Purple than exchange there ideas with a partner in the form of “paper ims” comparing the scene from the text and to their own lives. Our class discussions leaned more towards dissecting the modes used in the film clip. In the future, I would blend modal dissection while using Jago’s idea about “paper ims”.

I was disappointed that Jago did not speak on how to teach the very upsetting images of abuse that are present in the novel. She spoke more about how to fight against censorship, but not so much on how to teach many scenes which are very graphic. That is what I was hoping to find information on.

If I had a chance to teach A Color Purple, I would definitely work with the power of letter writing. Having a specific audience for your words changes how you write and would be interesting to play with in class. I would also use this as a novel to talk about gender and the problems caused by sexism.

This class project was different than the others I have done because it is preserved in time. I can always go back to our group blog and remember my ideas and thinking about my first impressions with the novel. Publishing work makes it so much more meaningful. Also, I was given a chance to read as a student first. I did not have to comb the novel for themes or vivid imagery. I felt the book. It was nice to not have the pressure to create lessons or ideas on how to teach it. I just read it for fun. I read it to actually get to know the characters and relate to it myself. It felt like a summer time read with no pressure. It was much more enjoyable.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

read alouds, reading rates, and socratic seminars, OH MY!

I agree with many ideas of Jago.

Teachers should not read aloud to students. Students should read aloud to each other to celebrate language.

I loved the reading rate experiment. I think that students would gain an interest in reading if they could figure out how a comfortable pace of reading for themselves. I often felt rushed through novels while in school. Having a deadline and a way to know how much time is needed to complete the novel would have been a lot more effective for me in school.

Socratic Seminars seems like an excellent goal for teachers to foster in their classroom. Isn't it our goal as teachers to help students communicate, question, and defend their ideas?


Patty

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Never Offer Your Heart to Someone who Eats Hearts

By: Alice Walker

Never offer your heart
to someone who eats hearts
who finds heartmeat
delicious
but not rare
who sucks the juices
drop by drop
and bloody-chinned
grins
like a God.

Never offer your heart
to a heart gravy lover.
Your stewed, overseasoned
heart consumed
he will sop up your grief
with bread
and send it shuttling
from side to side
in his mouth
like bubblegum.

If you find yourself
in love
with a person
who eats hearts
these things
you must do:

Freeze your heart
immediately.
Let him—next time
he examines your chest—
find your heart cold
flinty and unappetizing.

Refrain from kissing
lest he in revenge
dampen the spark
in your soul.

Now,
sail away to Africa
where holy women
await you
on the shore—
long having practiced the art
of replacing hearts
with God
and Song.

This poem was used in the NCTE book to give an example of writing from an example and this was their example. What an excellent poem, huh? The poem that the student wrote about stomping on hearts was just as good! This book has except ideas blended with pedagogy flawlessly. I am looking forward to the chapter on The Color Purple and how to teach it!

Patty

My view as a reader..what's yours?

I wanted to talk a little bit about the book as a reader before I switch gears and forget what it is like to be the reader because my teacher hat is on.

First off, I am having trouble relating to this book. It is set in a different era, and it is among a different culture that I am not a part of directly. I do understand the idea of longing to see someone again. My boyfriend has been away from ten months in Korea and that seems like forever. I can't imagine how Celie feels after decades have gone by without seeing her sister.

I really loved how Celie's father was not really her father. It was upsetting me that her children were being cast aside in Celie's heart because she was ashamed. I was glad to see Celie opened her heart for her children again.

Mister___ has certainly went through a transformation towards the end of the book. I think his isolation may have caused him to reflect on his life. If I were Celie though, I would never befriend a man who hit me! Ever!

"I think it pisses God off if you walk by The Color Purple in a field and don't notice it." I think this book sends a message to its reader to enjoy your life while you are here. Also, it inspires its audience to notice the beauty that you have all around you.

Patty


MySpace Graphics

Until we have our own connection to God we cannot possible be free!

Here is a look at what the author has to say about her novel The Color Purple. The book questions our traditional theology. This is so refreshing to see what the author was thinking as she read the novel. I LOVE IT!!! Ok I am going to stop playing on youtube and read some of the NCTE book on Alice Walker. I will let you know what I think about that ASAP. Please let me know what you think about my videos.

Patty

It was a Broadway Musical!


It was also a Broadway show for many years! Fantasia from American Idol played Cellie one year. This is a different version though. What do you girls think about this?

Patty

text to film?

I finished reading The Color Purple last week. I just mailed away for a film version of it because I was talking about it with my friend, and he said the movie is not very similar to the book, so I am interested. I will let you know what I think of the comparison from video to text when I get the movie in. Have either of you seen the movie? If so, what do you think?

Patty

I found the original trailer for the movie on youtube. I think the music already conflicts with the mood that I had while reading the book. It sounds almost uplifting, when a lot of the time I felt depressed and a constant struggle. Here it is!