NCTE Series Response # 2

As the book progresses, we find that each chapter can be used to guide us through teaching JLC through various means. Chapter 4 centers around meeting the challenges of teaching JLC. One writing prompt asks students to complete a well-developed essay on the conflict-filled connection between three mothers and their daughters. Although the prompt has students examining one of the major themes of the novel, how can we shape this question so that it also involves the personal experiences of the student? How does this help or hinder the reading of the novel? Would you change the prompt or keep it as is? Why or why not?

NCTE Series Response #1

The first few pages and chapters of the book have yet to offer us anything of real substance, but the writing assignment about Tan's "Five Writing Tips" is worth some attention. The authors explain that they gave their Advanced Placement and Creative Writing classes a final exam that required students to discuss Tan's "Five Writing Tips" and their own writing processes. Interesting to note that they never mentioned giving an exam focused on such a personal response to their regular English 10 or English 11 classes. How often do teachers give special privileges to advanced students? Where else do we see this outside of school? What do you think?

Uploading video...

If you are having trouble uploading your Vlog, or other videos, try first to upload them to YouTube. Your Google account can be linked to YouTube, therefore all you have to do is enter the website and upload your Vlog or video (you can even make the video private if you are worried about the world seeing you face-to-face). Once the video has been uploaded to YouTube, you will be provided with an embed code. Copy this code and paste it in your post using the "Edit HTML" tab in the corner of the text box. Easy to do, and very useful!

Joy Luck Club Post 7: Zines

Post 7: For our final response to The Joy Luck Club, we are going to create zines centered around issues and themes from the book that we think would fit into future units of inquiry.Go back into past responses and reread some of your favorite passages using the lenses discussed in class on Monday. This commentary or criticism (how the text is informing your inquiry) will be the basis for your zine. Use images, sound, text - whatever you want to get your message across.

This will give each of us an opportunity to explore other multimodal tools such as Glogster, Prezi, or even Comic Life.

Here is a Glog from LAI 517 (Tim)...

Joy Luck Club Post 6: Vlog

Post 6: (Before you start the end of the book) Pick a character from the story and create a piece of writing that they would write in their journal or diary. Start with a specific event in the story, but also add events, issues, characters that we were not told about. In your post try and address the issues you believe the character is thinking about and dealing with that we may not have been told about in the story. Record video of this piece as if the character were reading it and post it to the blog as a v-log. Your group members can comment on your post as characters from the story as well.

Schedule

Here is the schedule for the remainder of the book, responses due by midnight on the due date...


Post 4: pp. 102-165 Response due: 2/20/11

Post 5: pp. 166-214 Response due: 2/27/11

Post 6: Vlog Response due: 3/6/11

Post 7: pp. 215-END Response due: 3/13/11

***Don't forget that the mid-term is due 3/21/11

Joy Luck Club Post 5: Voice Thread

Post 5: (Chapters 8 – 10, pages 80-120) As you read the next three chapters, pick specific lines to respond to. What lines did you like or dislike the most from each chapter? Why? Do you think these lines are important to the overall development of the story? Do you have any problems with the way race, class or gender is being portrayed here? Do you think these lines relate at all to your life? Why did you pick them? What do they mean to you?

Use these lines to create a found poem you feel relates to the big critical issues in the story, post the poem to the blog – record it and upload it to the blog so blog members can listen to it as well. You should try using voice thread for this activity

Joy Luck Club Post 4: Wordle

Post 4: (7, pages 65-80) After reading one additional chapter: Pick a character you are interested in and spend some time writing about them. Who do they remind you of in your own life? Why? Try and use specific references to events in the book and your own life. What do you think of the decisions they have made up to this point? Do you like this person? What advice would you give them? Who else do they remind you of from other literature you have read or other characters in movies, television shows and other texts from popular media? Share some links to these things on the blog.

OR – Use all the dialogue this character has spoken or any narrative passage describing or related to the character and create a word cloud using wordle (http://www.wordle.net/). Post your cloud to the blog and describe what you think the cloud reveals about the character, the story and the larger ideas, themes and issues it is dealing with.

Joy Luck Club Post 3: Newsworthy connections

Post 3: (Chapters 5-6, pages 40-65) After reading two more chapters respond using these questions: What connections are you seeing between the book and current events? Be specific – include quotes from the book to help you convey your ideas. Find some news articles, video shots on youtube and other video hosting websites and post them to the blog. Explain the connections you see. Ask your group members to comment.

Joy Luck Club Post 2: Music Video

What do you think of the narrative up to this point? What intrigues you? What characters are interesting to you? What are you not sure about yet? What tensions are you noticing? Where do you think the story is headed? What specific quotes, lines or passages do you like? Why? Find a music video online that you feel connects to your writing and include it at the end of your post.

The Joy Luck Club Post 1: Initial Reactions

Look at the front cover, read the 1st line of the book, think about the title. What do you think this book will be about? Take some guesses and see where they lead you…