Doesn't it feel good when you know that all of the hard work you're putting into something is going to pay off and turn into a spectacular final product?
That's kind of what it feels like to have my internship with the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. Right now I'm planning their summer Teacher Institute, which is basically five 1-week residential seminars where teachers can earn 45 professional development hours and learn new content to help them in the classroom. You can go to www.njch.org/teacher_seminars.html for more information about the program. It seems really worthwhile, and I definitely want to attend a seminar one day now that I've seen all the planning that goes into it.
Thus far, I have contacted publishing companies to order bulk quantities of all the free textbooks and novels that the teachers will receive. Each teacher receives about $80 worth of free materials, which is just amazing, since it only costs each teacher $100 to attend the seminar. I think that contacting the publishing companies has been my favorite activity so far. Right now I'm in the process of assembling other shorter reading packets, as well as planning the individual field trips for each seminar. I'm looking forward to my next project when I go back to work after Memorial Day.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Hyphen-Dash--Exclamation Point!
This semester I have experimented with punctuation in my writing. I never thought that at age 20, after more than 15 years of writing, I would be able to change my writing so significantly with such simple moves--punctuation marks! It's amazing how much power can be added to a sentence simply by rearranging the words--or even by adding a dash to off-set a phrase. Now, that's some powerful stuff!
All joking aside, I even incorporated unique punctuation style into my final paper for my LIT 499 class (see previous entry). Hopefully, by experimenting with punctuation--and by trying new punctuating techniques--my writing will sound more sophiscated. Imagine that! More sophiscated writing just by adding a few marks.
After this semester I will be sure to continue to include interesting punctuation into my writing--and you can bet that next semester while I'm student teaching, I will teach minilessons on using punctuation with my middle school students. Who knows what the future will have in store for punctuation in my life???
All joking aside, I even incorporated unique punctuation style into my final paper for my LIT 499 class (see previous entry). Hopefully, by experimenting with punctuation--and by trying new punctuating techniques--my writing will sound more sophiscated. Imagine that! More sophiscated writing just by adding a few marks.
After this semester I will be sure to continue to include interesting punctuation into my writing--and you can bet that next semester while I'm student teaching, I will teach minilessons on using punctuation with my middle school students. Who knows what the future will have in store for punctuation in my life???
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
I've Got a New Attitude
I have a newfound appreciation for people who can write 15+ pages about a single topic! I just wrote my first 15-page paper for my LIT 499 capstone, and it was a draining, yet rewarding, experience.
For those of you who aren't familiar with LIT 499 capstone classes at TCNJ, the culminating project is usually a 15-page research paper on a topic of our choosing. For all of my previous college courses, the maximum amount of pages I've written for literature papers have been limited to about eight pages--so needless to say, 15 pages was quite a change of pace for me.
My LIT 499 capstone class this semester is an Ecocritical class, with a focus on 19th century British texts. For my final research paper, I decided to read Jane Austen's Emma and connect the setting of Emma with Austen's theme of social class.
The most amazing part of this experience is that the last eleven pages I wrote with a fever, since I've been confined to bed for the past five days. Now that I look back at what I've written, I feel accomplished. Perhaps I have what it takes to be a literary scholar :)
Saturday, March 27, 2010
St. Louis
Recipe for an English Honor Society Conference: Mix 1 part Shakespeare with 2 parts Toni Morrison. Add in some Lee Young-Li and Chris Albani. Stir well.
My trip to St. Louis with Sigma Tau Delta was one of the most memorable experiences I've had, since being inducted into the Sigma Tau Delta organization in October 2008. The below picture is the view from our hotel, the Hyatt Regency. This trip constituted a great many firsts for me: first time on a jet, first time in St. Louis, first time seeing the Mississippi River, first time presenting an academic paper.
Below is the picture of the "Mills 4" room, in which I presented my paper, "Beyond Personification: Analyzing 124 Bluestone in Toni Morrison's Beloved." I was intimidated by the amount of chairs set up in the room, but the audience was actually very welcoming and I enjoyed the Question-and-Answer session, because the audience members asked thought-provoking questions that enhanced the discussion of my paper.
After attending two sessions on the first day, a small group of us explored the streets surrounding our hotel. We took scenic pictures, like the one I took below at Citygarden, an outdoor sculpture park. And of course, like the English majors that we are, we found an independent bookstore, and of course made a few purchases. I bought a fictional memoir called, After the Workshop by John McNally. I'll blog a review of that book after I finish reading it.
And lastly, of course, I cannot forget to include a picture of our lovely group with our lovely sponsors, without whom I never would have made it to St. Louis. In my opinion, unless you put your effort and energy into something, you can't expect to gain anything from the experience. The people I went to the conference with made the most of their time in St. Louis, and without them I would not have had as memorable an experience. I hope that our trip to next year's conference in Pittsburgh, PA is going to be even more rewarding.
My trip to St. Louis with Sigma Tau Delta was one of the most memorable experiences I've had, since being inducted into the Sigma Tau Delta organization in October 2008. The below picture is the view from our hotel, the Hyatt Regency. This trip constituted a great many firsts for me: first time on a jet, first time in St. Louis, first time seeing the Mississippi River, first time presenting an academic paper.
Below is the picture of the "Mills 4" room, in which I presented my paper, "Beyond Personification: Analyzing 124 Bluestone in Toni Morrison's Beloved." I was intimidated by the amount of chairs set up in the room, but the audience was actually very welcoming and I enjoyed the Question-and-Answer session, because the audience members asked thought-provoking questions that enhanced the discussion of my paper.
After attending two sessions on the first day, a small group of us explored the streets surrounding our hotel. We took scenic pictures, like the one I took below at Citygarden, an outdoor sculpture park. And of course, like the English majors that we are, we found an independent bookstore, and of course made a few purchases. I bought a fictional memoir called, After the Workshop by John McNally. I'll blog a review of that book after I finish reading it.
And lastly, of course, I cannot forget to include a picture of our lovely group with our lovely sponsors, without whom I never would have made it to St. Louis. In my opinion, unless you put your effort and energy into something, you can't expect to gain anything from the experience. The people I went to the conference with made the most of their time in St. Louis, and without them I would not have had as memorable an experience. I hope that our trip to next year's conference in Pittsburgh, PA is going to be even more rewarding.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Sigma Tau Delta Inspires
Last week I went to the Sigma Tau Delta annual convention in St. Louis, Missouri. In preparation for the trip, our chapter of Sigma Tau Delta blogged about chapter news, events, things of literary merit, and so forth, hoping we would win best chapter blog--and we did! You can read up on TCNJ's Sigma Tau Delta chapter at the following link: http://enghonor.blogspot.com
My chapter of Sigma Tau Delta has inspired me to begin writing my own blog, especially since I will be embarking on that wonderful topsy, turvy journey of student teaching in the fall. I feel as if a blog will be a catharsis after a long day of teaching and lesson plan-making. I'm probably going to look back on this post and laugh at my naivete, because chances are I will have very little free time to actually blog.
In my experience, a person only learns and matures and grows by actually participating in something. Hopefully my blog will be a way to track changes I have made, in regard to both my pedagogical mission and my morals in general.
So here I go! I'm casting my net, jumping out of the plane, diving into the water. Get from this blog what you may...happy reading :)
My chapter of Sigma Tau Delta has inspired me to begin writing my own blog, especially since I will be embarking on that wonderful topsy, turvy journey of student teaching in the fall. I feel as if a blog will be a catharsis after a long day of teaching and lesson plan-making. I'm probably going to look back on this post and laugh at my naivete, because chances are I will have very little free time to actually blog.
In my experience, a person only learns and matures and grows by actually participating in something. Hopefully my blog will be a way to track changes I have made, in regard to both my pedagogical mission and my morals in general.
So here I go! I'm casting my net, jumping out of the plane, diving into the water. Get from this blog what you may...happy reading :)
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