I just finished reading chapters 1, 6, 7, & 8 from Dr. Kist's book. I wanted to blog about one aspect of each chapter that I found interesting.
Chapter 1. On page three Dr. Kist takes readers back to a time before computers, cell phones, and DVR's. He mentioned that if he wanted to type a paper, it would have to be on a typewriter, or else written in long hand. This made me think of my 10th grade English teacher. She was not the type to integrate technology into the classroom. I'm not even sure we watched a movie in her class. Anyway, for our first paper of the semester she insisted that we write the paper out in long hand, and in cursive. This had been the first time we had been asked to do this in years, and many of us were not happy. Many doubted they even remembered how to write cursive. However, we all wrote our papers in cursive in blue or black ink. After this assignment my teacher allowed us to type the rest of our assignments She said that our handwriting was so poor that she could hardly read them. (I have to wonder if this is a result of technology.)
Chapter 8. On page 135/136 Dr. Kist includes som opinions aboutt he works that is involved in new literacy projects. Like Dr. Kist mentions Ialways had the belief that new literacy projects were easy. After reading about some of the assignments these students were doing, I realized that they were a lot more involved than anything I had done in high school. They are interpretting and analyzing movies just as they would do with a novel, and maybe even more so. When I watched movies in high school, it was mainly "OK now compare and contrast the book and the movie"...boring and obvious. All of the movies we watched were based on books, too. I think I would have enjoyed doing other types of lessons using movies, such as something to do with characterization or foreshadowing.
Chapter 7. I wanted to comment about the use of "fluff" projects in the classroom that are mentioned on page 123. Obviously, these are not fluff projects. A lot time, effort, and thinking go into the creation of new literacy projects. I had a teacher who always allowed us to repsond to literature using these types of projects. She hardly gave us regular quizzes or tests and I loved it. I felt that this was a way to better gage our understanding of the text. We were not simply memorizing and reciting, we getting involved with the literature.
Chapter 6. A student in this chapter talked about how he learned to "read movies" from the new literacy course he was taking. This made me think of my own experiences now that we have been analyzing films in class. When I attended the film festival I found myself looking at camera angles and different shots to see how they were affecting to picture. I have to say that I really saw the power that was created from the close up shots of peoples faces. I was even listening to the music in the background in relation to what was happening on the screen. I am ruined for movies now :) kidding kidding
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Film Festival
I went to the Film Festival on Saturday afternoon and I have to say I enjoyed it. My fiance and went to the 4:30 movie The Last Days of Shishmaref. It was a documentary about a village of about 500 Inupiaq Eskimos that live on an island in Northwest Alaska...brr. Unfortunately for this community, which has been on the island for 4,000 years, their home is sinking into the ocean. Because of global warming, the rising ocean is carrying away 5-10 feet of their island a year. It is estimated that in 15 years the island will disappear. This is very sad. Imagine if you had to leave your home of 4,000 years. The village does not have the resources to move to the Alaskan mainland without the assistance of the government, which they are not getting. It would cost over $100 million to move the village. The people of this community do not want to just move to other parts of the state, they want to remain together, as they always have been.
Before attending the Film Festival, I'm not sure I was looking forward to it that much. I did not want to go downtown to watch a movie that I had no interest in, and waste 12 dollars in the process. I am very glad that my initial feelings about the Festival were wrong. Don't get me wrong, I was having doubts as I stood in line with 500 other people that were at least 20 years older than me. My fiance and I were definitely the youngest ones there, and I was worried that this was not going to be something a person of my age was going to enjoy. I'm sure there could have been plenty of reasons for this audience though. It could have been the movies that were playing at the time.
We had a hard time choosing a movie. We wanted to see something in the afternoon, so we didn't have to be downtown all night. We ended up choosing The Last Days of Shishmaref because my fiance has family in Alaska and we thought we might learn something, and it got us out of town before dark. This film was very enlightening but also depressing.
I actually did not get lost on my way to Tower City, and I always do even though I go there a million times. So I was proud of myself. Also, I snagged the sweetest parking spot in the place, right next to the escalaters. I was also glad parking was free. The only thing that gave me a little anxiety was when the Cavs game let out (Yay for the win!!!). We were standing in line outside the theatre and a hundred million people were all shoving past on the Walkway.
Overall, I really had a good time at the Film Festival. Everyone who attended was eager and excited about these films, and I also got into the spirit of the festival. This is something that I would definitely consider attending in the future. There were other films I wanted to see, but could not because of the times they were being shown. My mother expressed interest in going, so maybe if she offers to pay, we might go check out a film later in the week. I am glad I had the opportunity to attend. I never knew this Film Festival even existed, but I will be looking for its dates in the future.
Thanks for this assignment!
Before attending the Film Festival, I'm not sure I was looking forward to it that much. I did not want to go downtown to watch a movie that I had no interest in, and waste 12 dollars in the process. I am very glad that my initial feelings about the Festival were wrong. Don't get me wrong, I was having doubts as I stood in line with 500 other people that were at least 20 years older than me. My fiance and I were definitely the youngest ones there, and I was worried that this was not going to be something a person of my age was going to enjoy. I'm sure there could have been plenty of reasons for this audience though. It could have been the movies that were playing at the time.
We had a hard time choosing a movie. We wanted to see something in the afternoon, so we didn't have to be downtown all night. We ended up choosing The Last Days of Shishmaref because my fiance has family in Alaska and we thought we might learn something, and it got us out of town before dark. This film was very enlightening but also depressing.
I actually did not get lost on my way to Tower City, and I always do even though I go there a million times. So I was proud of myself. Also, I snagged the sweetest parking spot in the place, right next to the escalaters. I was also glad parking was free. The only thing that gave me a little anxiety was when the Cavs game let out (Yay for the win!!!). We were standing in line outside the theatre and a hundred million people were all shoving past on the Walkway.
Overall, I really had a good time at the Film Festival. Everyone who attended was eager and excited about these films, and I also got into the spirit of the festival. This is something that I would definitely consider attending in the future. There were other films I wanted to see, but could not because of the times they were being shown. My mother expressed interest in going, so maybe if she offers to pay, we might go check out a film later in the week. I am glad I had the opportunity to attend. I never knew this Film Festival even existed, but I will be looking for its dates in the future.
Thanks for this assignment!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Film
Recently I have become a part of this phenomenon called "Renting movies at the libray." I don't know why I never considered this before because I rent movies all the time, but when you rent them at the librbary they are FREE. Given the current economy and my lack of income it was like a white light shined down on the library as I passed it a couple of weeks ago. My fiance is currently laid off work, so I've been seeing a lot of him, and over the past three weeks or so I would say we rented about 12 movies. We made a "nest" in the living room and watched a movie a night with a huge bowl of popcorn. I didn't really think about the movies much. Mostly, I was just glad to have a break from homework, but after last weeks class I really examined the films we watched this week.
If I remember correctly we watched 1408 (which we had to rent twice because the first time there was a different movie in the box), The Assasination of Jesse James, and September Dawn. You've probably never heard of the last two, but they are set in the old west type time period (those are my favorite kind of movies). I recommend all of them, except I fell asleep during The Assasination of Jesse James, even though Brad Pitt is in it, so I can't say much about that one.
Mostly, in this blog I wanted to comment on 1408. I'm sure a lot of you have seen this movie because it came out a litle while ago, but what really interested me was the camera angles in this movie. I don't remember a lot of specifics, but I know that at times when the main character would sort of withdraw into himself and try and get his bearings the camera would be angled below him, and it kinda distorted his proportion a little bit. The music also made the movie very suspenceful.
Some of the other movies we wathced were Black Snake Moan, American Gangster, March of the Penguins, Mr. Woodcock, The Illusionist, The Prestige, Mystery Alaska, and Rocketman (a childhood favorite). I just wanted to blog on this because this is really the first time this semster I actually took time out of my week for some viewing pleasure. This DOES NOT happen often, and even though it meant I had to spend more time doing homework I really felt a lot less stressed. Oh and I saw Taken on Five Dollar Movie Night in Solon last Monday. I love movies when people beat the crap out of each other.
This week it is back to reality and papers to write, so I really don't have time to watch movies. However, the next time I do rent a movie, it will not be from Blockbuster.
Hope everyone is enjoying the semester being half over
Stephanie Schmitt
If I remember correctly we watched 1408 (which we had to rent twice because the first time there was a different movie in the box), The Assasination of Jesse James, and September Dawn. You've probably never heard of the last two, but they are set in the old west type time period (those are my favorite kind of movies). I recommend all of them, except I fell asleep during The Assasination of Jesse James, even though Brad Pitt is in it, so I can't say much about that one.
Mostly, in this blog I wanted to comment on 1408. I'm sure a lot of you have seen this movie because it came out a litle while ago, but what really interested me was the camera angles in this movie. I don't remember a lot of specifics, but I know that at times when the main character would sort of withdraw into himself and try and get his bearings the camera would be angled below him, and it kinda distorted his proportion a little bit. The music also made the movie very suspenceful.
Some of the other movies we wathced were Black Snake Moan, American Gangster, March of the Penguins, Mr. Woodcock, The Illusionist, The Prestige, Mystery Alaska, and Rocketman (a childhood favorite). I just wanted to blog on this because this is really the first time this semster I actually took time out of my week for some viewing pleasure. This DOES NOT happen often, and even though it meant I had to spend more time doing homework I really felt a lot less stressed. Oh and I saw Taken on Five Dollar Movie Night in Solon last Monday. I love movies when people beat the crap out of each other.
This week it is back to reality and papers to write, so I really don't have time to watch movies. However, the next time I do rent a movie, it will not be from Blockbuster.
Hope everyone is enjoying the semester being half over
Stephanie Schmitt
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