Observations

I figured this week I would write about my observations. This semester I am in New Hyde Park Memorial High School. Let me just start by saying I would not mind student teaching there or getting a job there. This is an English Department that definitely has their stuff together. They are up-to-date with technology and with their teaching. For starters, I compare my experience here with that of last semesters observations. Last semester I observed at Mineola High School. Definitely a very different English Department. In Mineola HS the teachers I observed could have cared less that I was there or acted as if I was more of a nuisance. They were not very open to speaking with me and yet they gave me a mediocre review. First of all, I was there to observe and sit in on group work. Second of all, one word answers to my seemingly harmless questions did not help me in the least. What I do not understand, is why some schools even agree to allow student teachers or observers in their school if they have no plan to help us out? When I go into a school I do not want to waste their time let alone have them waste my time. Sorry I am ranting. To be honest, it was only two out of the five teachers I observed at Mineola that did not act how I expected them to act. The other three were pretty good.
Anyway, back to NHP High School. I love the teachers I am observing. They are all so forthcoming with suggestions and information. The are more than willing to show me different things and answer any questions I have. They treat me like a fellow teacher, with respect. From what I am told by some of my teachers, it seems that they all love the department and get along great. Their department head is great and helps out a lot but is not overpowering. They all feel comfortable in their positions and the students seem to love them as well. Bottom line, I am enjoying my learning at this high school very much.

Creative Writing Piece

Untitled for now. And unwritten for now. For starters I do not like to actually write creative writing pieces for the simple fact that I am not a creative writer. When I read I prefer nonfiction over fiction. So that is probably why I am not a very good creative writer. I have been thinking about what I want to write about and have come up with a pretty good idea of what I want to do. I have scribbles all over looseleaf and am still in the process of figuring out where I want to go with my character and story. I started writing a little and realized, that for me personally, I need to have it all figured out before I start to write. I do want to tell you all a little about it though, but since I do not know which of the three routes I want to take with it I can only tell you so much.
Basically my unnamed male character is in a famous rock band and is performing at a huge show. Throughout the night however he gets to meet and hang out with four of his rock idols. But during this night a few unusual things happen.
As you can see there are many holes in my story and mainly because I do not want to give away too much. In the top three routes I came up with they all have twists so that is why I am only sharing this little. By next weeks blog I will have my whole story to share with all of you.

Concerts

There is nothing I love more than concerts! Okay, maybe not my "absolute" favorite thing but I do love them very much. Let’s put it this way, I went to over 15 shows last year alone. Over this past summer I went to a bunch of shows and just recently I went to some and I must say they give me some of the greatest joy ever! I am a big music lover; especially rock music and by rock music I do not mean fake "rock groups" such as Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance, or The Starting Line. (No offense to anyone who does like bands like that. All I am saying is that they aren't hard rock.) I recently watched an interview with Dave Grohl and he was saying to the interviewer "Like rock is coming back. I am determined to bring it back. I have had enough of those sissy groups that call their music rock when it totally isn't. We need to bring back the real rock." And I must say I totally agree. But anyway, I am getting off topic a little. Concerts! What I love about concerts is the camaraderie. Everyone is there for the same reason. They are there to rock out and sing and just be in the moment. Nothing else matters when you are there surrounded by fellow fans and some of your favorite music. Especially some of the shows I go to. Recently in September I went to The Big 4. This show consisted of four of the heaviest rock groups still rocking out, Anthrax, Slayer, Megadeth, and (one of my top 3 groups) Metallica. Now here was a show that you definitely would not go to unless you were heavily into this kind of music. Granted, I can only handle so much of the screaming type rock music as that of Slayer but still as the show goes on, you look around and everyone is in the same mood and hype as the band playing. I love it! I also love concerts and music in general because of the self-expression. I love the self-expression of the bands and of the fans. Music lets people feel what they want to feel. At shows, music allows people to act however they want and jam however they want. Take me for instance. In class, I am sure most people notice that I am quiet and more of a listener than a hand raiser. In reality, I am a pretty outgoing person. All through my schooling years I have been a quiet student. My motto is, especially now in graduate school, get in get out. I come to class to do what I have to do to succeed. What I am getting at is the fact that I bet I am perceived as quiet when really I am outgoing and that person at a Metallica, Foo Fighters, Alice in Chains, Red Hot Chili Peppers concert that is in full worship of the band with my fellow people. I yell, chant, hoot, holler, and sing with the best of them. Bottom line, I think music is a great outlet for people. Whether they are writing the music or going to see the music live, it is a great form of self-expression and I highly recommend going to some of these shows and joining in on the world of rock.

Revised Critical Lens

Critical Lens Essay

“All literature shows us the power of emotion. It is emotion, not reason, that motivates characters in literature.”

-paraphrased from an interview with Duff Brenna

            According to Duff Brenna, “All literature shows us the power of emotion. It is emotion, not reason, that motivates characters in literature.” In other words literature is an expression of emotion and the emotion is what makes the characters real. Emotions not reason is what drives the characters. This is shown to be true in Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare and Into the Wild written by Jon Krakauer.

            Romeo in Romeo and Juliet bases all his decisions and motivations on his love for Juliet. The power of love conquers all in this tale. Romeo does not care that both their families have an intense hatred for each other. His love for her will triumph over everything else and one can see this through his characterization. From the very beginning of this tale, Romeo is portrayed as an emotional person who is spontaneous and enthusiastic as well as dramatic. He goes from being heart broken and lovesick over Rosaline to falling deeply madly in love with Juliet just from her first sighting.  He lives his life through his emotions with no reasoning. Another example of this would be when Romeo kills Tybalt. Tybalt not only threatens Romeo’s love for Juliet but kills Romeo’s best friend who he also loved. Romeo, now full of love and intense hatred for someone, kills Tybalt. He never stopped to think what this might do but just acted on his emotions.

            Chris McCandless in Into the Wild was another character who let his emotions motivate him. Although a very outgoing person, Chris longed and searched for what he thought was “ultimate freedom”, which is one of the main themes in this book. Chris did not care for money or material things and more than anything he refused to live life by rules of the man. Chris’ whole journey, especially to Alaska, is fueled by the idea of “ultimate freedom”. Everyone Chris comes across is told of how he has set out to “live in the wild” free from authority and rules and structure. This theme of “ultimate freedom” is so strongly set in Chris’ head through his past emotions of disconnect and disappointment of family, the corporate world, and the way in which people treated each other. At one point in the book, Wayne Westerberg recalls how Chris was very intelligent but thought “he spent too much time trying to make sense of the world to figure out why people were bad to each other too often”. Chris lived through his emotions and was not afraid to let people know.

            Both Romeo and Chris had extreme emotions that drove them to dive into what they were focused on without reasoning. While Romeo acted on love Chris acted on his love for nature and his disgust with authority. They both felt their emotions intensely and then had tunnel vision and went for it regardless of what the consequences may be. In both these stories, the main character is driven by emotions not reasoning.

            “All literature shows us the power of emotion. It is emotion, not reason, that motivates characters in literature.” This is shown to be true in Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare and Into the Wild written by Jon Krakauer. Both main characters in these stories are driven by their intense emotions. One is driven by love and the other through the theme of “ultimate freedom” through his emotions of love, disconnect, and disappointment. Through these examples one can see how emotion is what motivates characters in literature. It is what makes the audience feel that these characters are real and feel what we feel.

Critical Lens

Critical Lens Essay

“All literature shows us the power of emotion. It is emotion, not reason, that motivates characters in literature.”

                                                                                    -paraphrased from an interview with Duff Brenna

            According to Duff Brenna, “All literature shows us the power of emotion. It is emotion, not reason, that motivates characters in literature.” In other words literature is an expression of emotion and the emotion is what makes the characters real. Emotions not reason it is what drives the characters. This is shown to be true in Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare and Into the Wild written by Jon Krakauer.

            Romeo in Romeo and Juliet bases all his decisions and motivations on his love for Juliet. The power of love conquers all in this tale. Romeo does not care whether both their families have an intense hatred for each other. His love for her will triumph over everything else and one can see this through his characterization. From the very beginning of this tale, Romeo is portrayed as an emotional person who is spontaneous and enthusiastic as well as dramatic. He goes from being heart broken and lovesick over Rosaline to falling deeply madly in love with Juliet just from her first sighting.  He lives his life through his emotions with no reasoning. Another example of this would be when Romeo kills Tybalt. Tybalt not only threatens Romeo’s love for Juliet but kills Romeo’s best friend who he also loved. So Romeo, now full of love and intense hatred for someone, kills Tybalt. He never stopped to think what this might do but just acted on his emotions.

            Chris McCandless in Into the Wild was another character who let his emotions motivate him. Although a very outgoing person, Chris longed and searched for what he thought was “ultimate freedom”, which is one of the main themes in this book. Chris did not care for money or material things and more than anything he refused to live life by rules of the man. Chris’ whole journey especially to Alaska is fueled by the idea of “ultimate freedom”. Everyone Chris comes across is told of how he has set out to “live in the wild” free from authority and rules and structure. This theme of “ultimate freedom” is so strongly set in Chris’ head through his past emotions of disconnect and disappointment of family, the corporate world, and the way in which people treated each other. At one point in the book, Wayne Westerberg recalls how Chris was very intelligent but thought “he spent too much time trying to make sense of the world to figure out why people were bad to each other too often”. Chris lived through his emotions and was not afraid to let people know.

            Both Romeo and Chris had extreme emotions that drove them to dive into what they were focused on without reasoning. While Romeo acted on love Chris acted on his love for nature and his disgust with authority. They both felt their emotions intensely and then had tunnel vision and went for it regardless of what the consequences may be. In both these stories, the main character is driven by emotions not reasoning.

            “All literature shows us the power of emotion. It is emotion, not reason, that motivates characters in literature.” This is shown to be true in Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare and Into the Wild written by Jon Krakauer. Both main characters in these stories are driven by their intense emotions. One is driven by love and the other through the theme of “ultimate freedom” through his emotions of love, disconnect, and disappointment. Through these examples one can see how emotion is what motivates characters in literature. It is what makes the audience feel that these characters are real and feel what we feel.