Pictures!

Here are a couple funny pictures of me and my fiance. He's the reason why I decided to pursue a career in Education. I can't thank him enough for his support, understanding and love while I go through the motions. So glad we're graduating soon!




Who or what has inspired you?

Blog.a log. a log.

I have always enjoying blogging. I plan to start a classroom blog when I start teaching. I think that blogging about specific discussions in class and allowing students to comment will help them practice self expression. I would encourage students to post about relevant topics. Did one of our readings confuse them? They could post about what confused them and other students could respond with their thoughts.
I would try to post links to youtube videos that related to books we read in class. By posting these videos, students could remember themes or elements that they liked in the stories. I think this could help them with essay writing. I’d also link to grammar websites that students could visit for practice. I really feel like class websites or blogs keep students on track with class. Absent students could go to the blog for information on any classes they might have missed.
And honestly, I love to write and communicate with others. I think having a classroom blog would help me as well. I would give myself deadlines for due dates and et cetera. This would help me keep on top of important projects for class. If enough students commented about being confused with a story, I’d know that it should be covered again.
Since students are usually more technically savvy than I am, I would ask for a few volunteers to help me start the blog. Volunteers would be in charge of naming the blog, creating a background image and teaching other students how to create profiles using a program like blogger or wordpress.

Advice from Kurt Vonnegut

This video made me think about our writing experiences in 495 :) Enjoy!

Writing fiction Blog #4

I love to read fiction. I have always enjoyed being able to relax with a good book. Writing about the fiction I've read has always helped me develop ideas. Sometimes writing about fiction makes me want to read a particular book again. I love seeing a book in a new light. Have any of you ever been inspired to reread a book after hearing another person's take on it? I have reread books several times and each time I discover something new. (Especially whenever I reread Harry Potter but that’s another story.)

Writing about fiction has been a similar experience for me. I like to get feedback from other people about what works and what doesn't. After having my short story read by my group, I was able to see my story from another point of view. I thought it was helpful to hear how other people interpreted certain aspects of my story. While editing, I tried to keep in mind how the story was received.

Reading fiction also helps with writing. I know what I like to read so I tend to try to incorporate that into my own writing. For example, I love reading in the first person narrative so I usually write stories from the first person. I think it’s fun to decipher whether or not the reader should trust the narrator or not. (Think about Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” the narrator is not very trustworthy!)

I definitely had fun writing and am looking forward to writing more creative pieces. It’s definitely been hard for me to be creative during this last semester! I have senioritis! Ha!

Blog #3- Myths

I was happy that we learned about the different types of myths in class because it helped me determine what kind of myth I wanted to create for my website. I think it is easier for me to be creative when I am given some guidelines to follow. I think I would have struggled with writing a myth if I had never learned about the various types. Once we started doing our presentations, I realized that I would really like to write a trickster myth because I could incorporate a little humor into the story. I would have felt restricted in my writing if I had never learned about how a creation myth differs from a trickster myth. I feel like before this class, I had only ever read about creation myths. I wanted my myth to be something different so knowing I had options allowed me to more creative.
This experience has taught me that I should give students examples before having them work on a creative assignment. I think it is beneficial for students to get an idea of what their teacher expects from them before they start working on a new project. I always appreciated it in high school when my teachers would show our class examples of projects from prior years. It gave us a chance to think about how we could improve on these projects and make them our own. Do you like when teachers show you an example of a creative project or would you rather come up with an idea on your own?

Poetry- Blog #2

Writing poetry has always been therapeutic for me. Writing helps me organize my thoughts and deal with my emotions. I like the freedom of free verse and the constraints of stylized poetry like sonnets or limericks. I have always enjoyed writing and experiencing the feeling of poetry. To me poetry is extremely revealing and personal while being slightly vague. I like that you have to work to find its meaning.

When I had to analyze another poet's work, I was able to sit and deconstruct my own work. I saw what worked in a poem and what needed more developing. I actually began to appreciate poetry more once I knew what to look for when reading it. When I begin to teach about poetry, I think I will have the students write their own poem before analyzing another poem.

In one of my classes, we had to take a famous poem and put our own spin on it by replacing key words with words that represented us. It was kind of similar to when we took Shakespeare’s sonnet and rearranged words; I enjoyed projects like these because they helped me find a poetic voice. I had the freedom to choose words or phrases that represented aspects of my personality while working in the confines of an existing poem. I would definitely use a project like this to get kids thinking about poetry and what it means to them. I’d also allow time to do a found poem.

Did you enjoy the poetry projects we did in class? Do you think they would work in a high-school classroom or not? Which project was your favorite?

First post!

Hello everyone!
My name is Amanda McGreevy and I’m 25 years old. I grew up in Southern California and have lived here my entire life. I’ve been an avid reader since I was very young. My parents used to get mad at me because I would stay up all night reading. I was the kid who read under the covers with a flashlight. I cannot start a book without finishing it. Even if the book is lame, I just have to finish! (I am dork and finished the 7th Harry Potter book in 2 days because I just had to know what happened!)

My love of reading has transported me here to the fabulous English Subject Matter program. I’m excited to start working on my teaching credential. I would love to have to the opportunity to reach out to people who do not share my love of reading. I think it would be beneficial to encourage more reading in the classroom. I was exposed to a lot of reading in my childhood and never got tired of it. I think it’s difficult to enjoy reading when you aren’t doing it for pleasure. My philosophy is: the more you practice, the better you get. This also applies to reading and students. I think students benefit from daily reading.

When I start teaching English, I would love to have my students read for ten minutes every day in class. I think it would help create a habit. (And hopefully it would help them discover a love for reading.) Did any of you use Electronic Bookshelf in high school? Are you familiar with that program? If so, what did you think of it?
I’m looking forward to getting to know all of you!