Foot: Superlong Graphic Novel Comparison

I did actually enjoy reading these graphic novels, although I think it would be really hard to incorporate teaching these into my classrooms. If my students enjoy reading them, I will definitely encourage them to do so. On the other hand, unless I was doing a unit on different genres or was doing a unit on different versions of fairy tales, I don't know if I would actually teach these. While they are fun, there isn't really a whole lot of literary merit to these. Anyway, onto the comparison!


Text and Dialogue:
     Narration: Naruto and  Pinocchio are both told from outside narrators, although at the same time, each story is sort of through each character's eyes. Both Naruto and Pinocchio give the reader their opinions and reactions to other characters and the events that are happening.
     Balloons: Naruto definitely uses balloons. There are the standard circular balloons when a character is talking calmly and the balloons are more jagged to show excitement or anger. If a character is thinking, then the words are written write overtop, not in a balloon or anything. Pinocchio has square boxes when there is narration (mostly placing the scene) and there are the circular balloons for when characters are speaking.
     Captions: There weren’t really any captions in either of the graphic novels, but there are prologue type scenes where the setting is being set or a character is doing a flashback. I suppose these could be considered captions because there wasn’t dialogue or anything like that.
     Emanata: Naruto definitely had some emanata, usually to show some idea or thought the characters had. Pinocchio didn’t really have much emanata, at least not that I noticed.
     Labels/signs: there weren’t a whole lot of signs or labels, but there were a few. Naruto had some different pages that looked to be chapter dividers and there were also pages where Kishimoto would describe how the characters have evolved. Pinocchio had a sign for the carpentry shop, but beyond that I don’t think there was a whole lot.
     Lettering: Naruto-a computer font, but meant to look like someone could have written it. Pinocchio-pretty much the same
     Sound effects- both graphic novels use sound effects, Naruto more than Pinocchio. Both were used to emphasize what was going on in the scene

Visual Features:
     Characters: the characters in each are drawn differently. Pinocchio had more square-ish figures and it was easy to tell the difference between the characters because there weren’t a whole lot introduced throughout the novel. Naruto was more like the standard Japanese type characters, but a lot of them look alike, especially because some were introduced and then left the story quickly.
     Objects: Naruto would eat food and there were weapons and scrolls. It was mostly stuff that one wouldn’t see all the time, but were real objects. Pinocchio was much the same; his room looked like a real person could live there because the objects were life-like.
     Icons: I don’t think there were really any icons in either of the graphic novels. It was just mostly objects.
     Scenery: Pinocchio had simpler scenery, although it was not less effective than Naruto. Pinocchio mostly took place in a small town, but in different parts of the town. Naruto had a town, a school, wilderness, and so on, but the scenery was life like. However, there was a lot more going on in the scenery in Naruto than in Pinocchio.
     Depicted action: both novels had a ton of action going on. There was fighting, but there was also some mental action going on (Naruto struggling with himself against his destiny, Pinocchio lamenting his life and Geppetto’s “death)

General Layout and Design:
     Borders: there weren’t really any borders in either of the graphic novels, at least not that I noticed.
     Gutters: both novels used gutters, used to separate the boxes from each. A lot of times, the boxes with gutters were used to show different shots in the scene
     Panels: both novels had panels, both small and large. While a lot were horizontal, there were a few that were vertical
     Open Panel: while there weren’t a lot of open panels, there were a few. For example, Naruto has open panels for the demon fox guy and for some action shots. Pinocchio mostly has open spaces in the very beginning when the scene is being set, but also when an important character came on the show
     Splash: there were a couple of splashes in both. Pinocchio has it for setting the scene or for large action shots. Naruto has it for some of the “chapter introducations” and also when Naruto does his doppelganger trick a couple of different times.

Angles and Frame:
     Bleed: there were a few bleeds in Naruto, like when he is talking to the vampires. Also, a lot of times when his nose grows, it goes into the box next to that picture. Naruto didn’t really seem to have a lot of bleeds, at least not that I noticed.
     All of the different shots: (there are so many different shots, that I decided to combine this into one). Both of the texts utilize much of these shots. There are close-ups of characters, especially when something important is revealed that is shocking. Head shots are also used, although there are more close-ups. Head-shoulder shots are used, usually to show action that is going on. There are definitely full-figure shots, and long shots are often used to set the scene, same with extreme longshots.

Rhetorical techniques:
     Exaggeration: Pinocchio has bolded words that are usually meant to show excitement or sarcasm. The look on Pinocchio’s face whenever his nose grows is often comically shocked/angry. Naruto also has bolded words and the facial expressions are often exaggerated (tears literally streaming down a character’s face)
     Empathy/identification: in both graphic novels, it is pretty easy to sympathize with the characters. Pinocchio is sad when talking about his father and it is pretty believable. The reader wants Naruto to graduate and is happy when he does so
     Mood/tone: Pinocchio is a dark graphic novel and is pretty violent for a wooden puppet. Naruto is violent too, but it seems different than Pinocchio. Naruto can make the reader laugh, so it does have some comedy in it
     Simplicity/complexity: the dialogue and the plot are pretty simple for both. Pinocchio is simpler than Naruto in what is going on in the scenes.
     Irony/satire: I didn’t really think there is really any satire or irony in either of these novels. I think Pinocchio tries to be ironic when Geppetto turns out to be the leader of the vampires (his turning caused Pinocchio to seek revenge and then it turns out he is fighting his father) but this is a poor form of irony, so I wouldn’t really count it
     Realism: the characters are pretty real, once you get past the puppet and magical/ninja/demon thing, but the characters have feelings and they struggle. However, the worlds are realistic at all
     Order/disorder: the stories are orderly. There are flashbacks, but it is easy to tell when these begin and end so it’s not hard to read
     Juxtoposition: didn’t really notice it for either
     Relationships: the characters struggle with each other and with themselves in each graphic novel
     Point of view: outsider. Neither story is told from a character who is in the novel, but the p.o.v. does show the struggles, triumphs, and emotions that the characters go through, so the p.o.v. isn’t detached

Pytash: Final Reflection

I enjoyed our class this semester, although I think I like the fall's class better. I was surprised by how different Jago was from Beers and while I like Beers' approach to teaching better, Jago does definitely make some good points. I was all excited last semester, learning how to incorporate young adult lit into the classroom. Jago, for me, stressed the importance of making sure the y.a. lit is used accordingly. We can't just teach Y.A. lit to teach it; there has to be a purpose. However, I think Jago does need to be a little more easy about incorporating Y.A. lit in her classroom. From the way she wrote, it seemed like she thought Y.A. lit had no real place in an English classroom.

I think my favorite thing from this class is actually our final. I liked being able to pair a canonical text with a young adult book and creating a lesson plan for both of these in conjunction. I didn't really care so much about using literary theories, but I can recognize the benefits of introducing these to students. It helps students realize different perspectives and to think about texts in different ways.

Overall, I feel like this class was good experience. The only thing I would want to change is to have more practice writing lesson plans. While I wouldn't want to do one a week, I feel like we should have done more practice lessons.

Pytash: Jago, Chapter 7

On one hand, I do sort of agree with the thought that only future English majors (or INLA) really need to learn how to analyze a piece of literature. For other students who aren't planning on an English related career, these skills of interpreting and analyzing literature may seem like a waste of time. But I also know that it can help the mind grow.Maybe most students won't have to write a literary analysis for their careers. But this can teach them how to analyze different aspects besides which it also gives writing practice. Every person needs to know how to write; it doesn't matter whether you are an English major, a business major, or even a mechanic. Everyone has to be able to write up reports and whatnot and writing literary analyses can help with this skill.

I liked how Jago helps students connect to Julius Caesar, asking them to think about who they would elect as president. I never thought of that, but that would be a good way for students to get involved with a text, besides just reading it because this would help them decide what they look for in a leader.

Foot: Final Reflection

Last semester, our education classes were my two favorite classes and I was really hoping it would be the same way this semester. However, I did not really enjoy Multi-Modal Lit. A lot of the projects we did for M.M. lit, I cannot really see doing in my classroom and didn't really like doing as a student. There are a few I specifically would like to mention:

• Multi-genre autiobiography- I really liked the idea of this project at first. I thought it would be really interesting to look back on my reading history and see what texts have stuck with me and I did enjoy this. However, if I were to do it in my classroom, I feel like I would do it more as a introduction type project for the students, so I can get to know them and what they like. I wouldn't be as concerned with as many of the topics we had to cover for class and I would split it on multiple days (definitely if the class is only 50 minutes) so each student could take longer. I wouldn't really expect my students to describe how the texts have influenced them; I think seeing what they feel has stayed with them is good enough.
• Blogs- I, personally, am not a fan of blogging. I feel like we have to do all this work for the blogs and then we don't even really talk about them in class. We were required to read so many different articles but we never talked about them in class. We were required to blog about Little Brother, but barely spent any time on the novel in class. Really, I feel like the blogs were to check that we were reading and I think discussing in class is a much better way to do this. Also, I didn't like having to spread our posts out over the course. While I can understand why we were supposed to do this, I and so many of us had so much other stuff to do that it was hard to find the time to get on and post a blog, or read and respond to classmates. It just wasn't worth it to me and it seemed like busywork. I don't think I really go anything out of it. Also, while I get adding technology into our blogs because of the nature of the course, I didn't like doing it. I think of blogs as online journals and it's not like a person has a song playing in their journal (at least usually. It would be weird if they did), or pictures, links, and youtube videos.
• The Cleveland Film Festival and other related film analyses- Okay, I get that it can help students think about literature in a different way. For example, the activity we did with Lost could really help some students with identifying literary elements in the novel. It is, after all, usually easier to pick up the mood of a piece when you can hear it rather than read the words. But, a lot of the stuff we did with films I thought was a waste of time. I enjoyed going to the Film Festival, but I didn't like being required to go. I feel like, since we had the time off from class to do it, we should have gone as a class. Also, the activity we had to do with the film we saw could have been done quite as easily with a movie we owned or a Hollywood production we saw in a nearby theater. The shot by shot analysis isn't something I would do at all in an English classroom. I don't see how identifying what a shot is will help students understand literature better. I can see using it for identifying mood or using it to compare and contrast with the novel, but teachers have to be really careful and make sure they aren't show films just to show films. I firmly believe it should connect with the literature in some way and I don't feel (for the most part) that what we did in class was accomplishing this. 

     I enjoyed Little Brother, I just wished we had talked about it more. To be honest, I feel like the only worthwhile activities/projects we did was tutoring in Firestone and the Canonical Wiki. I don't know how much I really helped my student with the OGT but I can definitely see the benefits of going into a school and helping students prepare for the test. The Wiki will be a good resource for us to refer to when we are teaching and it helped me see the variety of lessons that can be done with a text.     I was disappointed with this class and I don't like saying that because I feel like my education classes should be my favorite. I do feel like I gained some valuable ideas, but on the whole, this class didn't really help me prepare as a teacher. Also, the university should consider getting rid of Ed. Tech since Multi-Modal covered (even if not always well) many of the same topics and other topics Ed. Tech. never even touched.

Foot: Chronicles of Narnia

I believe The Chronicles of Narnia was the first series I read as a child that I really enjoyed and it still has a place on my book shelves. Actually, I need to buy a new copy because mine is falling apart. A lot of times, I'm not a huge fan of film adaptation of books because I usually find think the book is better. However, I love the new Narnia movies that are being made and I almost like them better than the books. I re-read the series a few months ago and while I definitely still enjoy them, the movies just work better for me.

I bought the newest movie (Voyage of the Dawn Treader) when it came out and then put it aside because I had to get more homework done. Well, that worked for about a day and then I popped it in and instantly got swept into Narnia. I didn't really think that much of Ben Barnes in this movie, although I'm not really a fan of his character anyway so that's probably a part of it. I thought Eustace was amazingly well cast. Will Poulter did an amazing job starting off as a little, annoying boy and transforming into a mature young man. Skandar Keyens and Georgie Henley were really good, just like in the previous movies. I like being able to watch these two actors grow and mature as actors. I can't really explain it, but it's not the same (for me) as watching the Harry Potter actors grow up. I think it has something with how I feel that Keyens and Henley were already well on their way to being good actors when they started out. I watch the first HP movie and try not to laugh, but I don't do the same with the first Narnia movie. I don't think that really makes sense, but oh well. And I love that Carrie Underwood's song is in the credits.

Foot: Pleasure Reading???

I so wish I had the time to read for pleasure right now. I'm so bogged down with reading for school and other homework that even reading Deadline for the Facebook literature circle seems a chore. I look at all the novels to read on my to do list and I almost want to cry. Anyway, this blog isn't going to be about me complaining because I know I'm not the only one buried with school work (well, beyond these few sentences). We're all feeling it at the moment. No, I'd rather talk about the books I plan on reading before summer classes start.

I definitely want to read the Atwood books I bought a few months ago (Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood). I've read both of these books before, but it's been awhile and and I've been itching to read them again. Also, I feel that Atwood, while not easy, is pretty accessible for high school students, especially her novels that are dystopian in setting, like the mentioned novels and also The Handmaid's Tale. I read Oryx and Crake for an individual project in high school and loved it. The characters are engaging, the plot is creative and new; the whole concept is imaginative and I really feel like it would be a worthwhile book to teach in school. In many of my high school classes, we did some type of novel along the lines of dystopian novels and this was definitely my favorite. It also does deal with some of the same themes as Frankenstein as in it can be viewed as a comment on human advancements in science. This can always be connected with such topics as cloning or searching for cancer cures and a lot of students find these topics highly debatable. The Year of the Flood takes place before Oryx and Crake and is also a really good novel, but between the two (teaching wise) I would choose the latter.

At the same time, I want to finish the Percy Jackson series, re-read a ton of other books and I'm still working on my goal on reading all of Shakespeare's plays and a lot more classics that I can't even begin to list. I would also love to get the list of books my cooperating teacher plans on teaching next year and read those in preparation. Ideally, my whole summer would be spent on novels I want to read. However, I know this won't happen, but I will definitely try to read at least a few books for pleasure reading because I think that is highly important. Many students get turned off of reading because they are bored by what they read in class and think all books are like that. That's why I like summer reading; the lists can be mixed up and include books teenagers want to read, not just what we tell them to read.

Pytash: Jago, Chapter 6

Jago's mention of the importance of taking notes is important and worthwhile to keep in mind. While it might be easier to just make copies of handouts for our students, they aren't really learning. As she says "once you hand them a paper, they don't think they need to read it" (pg. 107). Not only won't they might not read but, but as a teacher, I may explain the notes in a way that makes perfect sense to me, but not so much to my students. If they are taking the notes themselves, then they are connecting to the information and are more likely to notice if something doesn't make sense and ask for clarification. I don't really like the Cornell Notes handout she uses; it looks sort of complicated to me. I would much rather just have bullet points or an outline, but if it works for her and her students, then it would be worth using.

When dealing with an epic or a novel with a lot of characters, it can be helpful to create a chart of the characters and the relationships between the two, especially when some of the characters share the same name such as in Hamlet. This doesn't have to be anything fancy; it could be like the list Jago presents or a family tree type thing. Either way, having charts like this helps students keep the characters straight.

Pytash: Jago, Chapter 4

I think what I liked most about this chapter was Jago's brief descriptions of literary elements and literary devices. Hopefully, as INLA majors, we know most of these terms already or at least have somewhat of an idea, many of our students might not know some of these terms or easily confuse them. I think posting brief definitions of words that can be used to discuss literature around the classroom would be a good idea and something I will try to remember. The more often a person sees something, the more likely it is that it will be remembered and easily recalled. If students see over and over Freytaq's Pyramid (while it might get boring after awhile), they may be more likely to identify elements from the pyramid as they are reading a piece of literature and not identify them after the reading is done.

While it seems obvious, approaching a text by discussing the elements or examining the literary devices within the text is often a simple but effective way of helping students comprehend the literature. As Jago illustrates with The Grapes of Wrath, the students are able to hint at several themes in the novel, simply by analyzing three different phrases from a few paragraphs in a chapter. Each student examines what the phrase makes them feel or think and what it might suggest about the novel or Steinbeck's novel overall.

Pytash: Jago, Chapter 2

I liked the idea Jago presents about using a bookmark to help students identify what words they struggle with. I know many times while I'm reading, I tend to just skip over the word, getting the gist of it through context clues. I do mean to look up the word, but I always forget too because it's not that important to me. But if I wrote them down on a bookmark, something that I would be seeing any time I opened the book, I would be more likely to look those unfamiliar words up. I also liked how she used a word the students struggled with (entombment) instead of using a word she thought they might have problems with. Breaking the word down to its root and then to the prefixes and suffixes really helped the students figure out what the word meant, without just being told the definition. This works really well with words that they can figure out; however, there are words like "miasma" that cannot be figured out this way, as Jago points out. Jago asked the students to figure out what the word meant out using the surrounding words.

I do like that Jago creates a distinction between having an idea of what a word means and actually being able to provide a definition. I often find myself struggling with this. I may know what a word means in pretty much any context and I can use the word effectively, but I cannot always come up with a definition for it.

Teaching our students vocabulary is important but there are different ways to do it than just having vocab lists or having students look up the definitions for a grade. Jago lists some good ideas in the chart on page 32, such as using personalized examples, encouraging students to use new words, and keeping lists of new words posted around the classroom.

Foot: Firestone Experience

While at Firestone, there was not a whole lot of opportunity to just talk with my student beyond anything other than the OGT. However, we did manage to work in a little bit of technology and other multi-modalities. For example, my student used his cell phone to calculate a math problem. This kind of worried me because I did not want him or me getting in trouble because this was before the school day was out and because Mr. Martin was in the library at the time, standing near us. I asked him if they were allowed cell phones and he said that they were not supposed to have them on them, but kept in lockers. He put his cell phone away after this, and I will admit, I felt a lot better. We also talked a little bit about T.V. shows, when it was applicable. For example, there was one reading passage about the differences between anthropologists and archeologists and how both of these professions can be used to help solve crimes. We talked a little bit about the T.V. show Bones because it is the same basis. Dr. Temperance Brenan and Special Agent Seeley Booth work together to solve crimes. I love this show and could have kept talking about it. My student said he knew the show and liked it, but I could tell he did not really want to talk about it. But beyond these two examples, I was so focused on working on the OGT making sure he was prepared, even though he did not really need the help, to talk about other stuff.

While I might not have infused many different modalities in our tutoring sessions, I can see how it would be helpful. One idea I had applies to the English section. I thought, if the school had them, a whole class could work on a reading selection or writing questions on a SmartBoard. For example, a class could read through a reading selection and use the SmartBoard tools to highlight important sections. Or, if in the writing section or even a short answer response in another section, students could draft a response on the SmartBoard.  I know we did similar activities in my high school classes. For one of my English classes, the teacher showed us how to formulate and write a thesis statement on a SmartBoard. While it is basically the same thing as an overhead or a chalk board, it was fun doing it on a SmartBoard because we could work in different colors and move around different segments of the sentence. I also think this could really help with math classes too. Since math can be difficult to comprehend and is sometimes easier to understand when an example is shown, this might help students understand different types of problems. It would be a lot easier to do this on a SmartBoard instead of an overhead or the chalk board, but those two can also work.

I think giving students multiple practice opportunities is a good idea too and the questions do not have to be just OGT sample questions, since that would sort of be like teaching to the test. However, I see no reason why teachers could not use what they are currently doing in the classroom to help students prepare for the test. For example, if a class is reading The Crucible, the teacher could formulate questions like the students might find on the test. There could be simple plot questions, questions about the tone of the passage or the author’s intent. There could be short answer responses that have students examine a theme or a certain passage in the text. These are all questions students could encounter in the test and would be different than just using OGT sample questions. This way teachers could still teach what they want (according to standards and whatnot), but still prepare their students for the test.

Also, while I am not going to post specific sites, there are a ton of resources out there we can use to help our students prepare for the OGT. There are grammar sites, answer analyses, practice tests, test taking strategies, and so many others. I simply Googled “OGT Prep” and got a ton of hits that teachers could just skim through and find what would work for his or her individual class.

I used to be totally against the OGT and other forms of standardized tests. It was not the tests so much, as that there is so much emphasis on passing them and I do not feel that not passing a state test is a good enough reason for a student not being able to graduate. They could simply be really poor test takers, but otherwise really good students. I feel that the OGT is good in theory. I think education should be standardized across the country and that we should seek to catch up with other countries, which is what the OGT and other state tests seek to do. But, it does not actually work in practice. I feel like the standards should be the same everywhere and it is up to each individual teacher and school district to meet those standards. While this would put a lot of work on teachers and administration, since we are the ones who are with our students, I feel that we are the best to determine if our students are meeting the standards and not some strangers that put together and grade a test.

I cannot say that literacy is really decreasing or not, but I do feel like people are reading less and many people are only reading because they have to.  For me, I think the best way to fix this is to get students hooked on reading earlier in their school careers. Teachers should show that reading can be fun by introducing a variety of texts and not just the classics. I feel like approaching the text with the right attitude is important as well. Someone should not approach a text with a negative attitude, even if they know that it will be hard and a struggle to get through.

I feel like preparing for the OGT could be merged with multi-modal literacies. Teachers could use a variety of texts, maybe even T.V. shows or movies as their “reading” selections for practice. Or, like one example from class, using music the student is interested to help them understand poetry.  However, while getting the students prepared is one of the most important jobs we have because the test is critical to graduating, I also feel students need to be prepared for the form the OGT is in. Using different methods to prepare them is great, but students also need to know how to deal with the way the test is worded and the type of questions found in the test.