Sight-seeing in Washington DC!!!!

      Currently I am up in our nation's capital, Washington DC, for the NCAA tournament. Today we got the opportunity to go sight seeing. There are a lot of different places that I didn't even know were of existence in the U.S.; many of them made my love for America grow even more. From afar I saw the Washington Monument, we will hopefully get to see it more up close tomorrow during some down time. 
       I toured the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It was very touching and moving to actually see really life pictures from the time period. The new exhibit featured in the museum was all about Propaganda. Did you know that in about 25 years Nazi Propaganda took over Germany? It was crazy to see power journalism had over the country while Hitler was in control. Also learned a lot about the education that was given to non-jew students during the time period. There was a timeline that was used in classrooms, more like forced, that only contained knowledge and information regarding Nazi historical figures. I thought it was extremely interesting to see how Hitler truly took over Germany; kind of the background behind his plan. 
       I also got to tour the Space and Aircraft museum. Only got to see the first floor of things because we were kind of rushed on time. Found out that during the 50's women were wanted to be stewardesses. However, you had to be 'one step below hollywood' looking. This meaning, you had to be between 5' 2 and 5'6, you had to be a pretty woman, had to be single ( I thought this was an interesting fact), and needed to be friendly. Interesting.... 
    Very excited to get to explore new places tomorrow outside. Hopefully the weather will be warmer. 

Thoughts on 'Basement New Literacies:Dialogue with a First-Year Teacher'

"We are rapidly morphing from a page-based society to a screen-based society." (Kress) 

       I found this quote to be really interesting. As teachers should we begin to focus more on using technology in the classroom when it come to writing? I believe technology is starting to become such a large part of our society that as teachers we should use it to our advantage. But when do you draw the line? Should we begin to throw out spelling within literacy units, because you know you can just use spell check on the computer. Should we begin teaching more typing classes instead of handwriting techniques, because when typing on the computer handwriting techniques won't really help. Where is the line where technology should start to take the backseat? 

"In class, we had talked about and students had practiced everything from desktop video editing to blogging to writing texts embedded with hyperlinks." 

       I found this quote really relate-able because we have been working on these type of lessons in my current literacy course at MU. At first I didn't understand why we were creating a blog and doing box-logic videos, but now I truly appreciate it. Our world is evolving each and everyday to a technology based world that us as teachers need to begin learning all of these new techniques. Being able to relate with students in the classroom helps create relationships between the teacher and the students. 

Overall I really enjoyed reading this article. It kept me interested the entire time while reading it especially since sometimes articles can become really boring after awhile.  







      

Changes...

I changed the wording of my Found poem. After reading it a couple of times I realized I could use a different subject to make it mean more to me. Because the original poem did have the word dance within it I decided to change the subject to dance. This made the poem more personal to me because dance is such a large part of my life. 

For those who have loved

For those who have loved 

and the small things surrounding it 

deep down in you soul

you know you need it 

The diamonds and rings 

still don't mean a thing 

with out the love 

Together or apart 

the cracks will get filled in 

Dried-up and rusty 

but your eyes meet again 

You share that moment 

and the pieces fall back together 

picture perfect once again 

Things may not be patched-up 

however

for those who have loved 

you know it will all happen again

Found

How sad the first tries. 

And the rejections. 

The rejection becomes the reason for dancing. 

The same kind of dance. 

A different love jumps from the stage. 

Your life, your work, your hopes and thoughts and songs and breath. 

Nothing would be better, sweeter than that moment. 

I would tell you, to make the hair go up on the back of your neck. 

Dancing is... everything... to me. 

Spent most of it starving. 

And if somebody had told me back then that I would come to love it. 

Love the whole dance of it. 

The way the stories dance. 

The thing that pushes me to dance;

I dance from my life. 

A feeling of wonderful newness and expectations. 

So much of dancing is so tenuous, 

so fragile, 

that in my own work I try not to pick at it

for fear of damaging it. 

The unending thrill of being a part of this dance. 

I come from...

Four different states, all growing corn tall 

a warm home with cherry wood covering the wall 

bikes, skateboards, and ramps cluttering the lawn

laying by the pool with a good book hiding a yawn 

dinner at the kitchen table

where a couple of little brothers are usually telling a fable 

an unspoken love growing more each day 

support and comfort no matter what I say 

reading, teaching, and learning 

always wanting to be dancing 

honesty, courage, and being loud

working to make them proud 

My parents, my brothers, and myself 

a family cherishing a different kind of wealth