Cyrano de Bergerac

Context

I found this Jose Ferrar scene of Cyrano de Bergerac on Youtube and thought how it compared to the play and the Depardieu version. The language has indefinitely been modernized.

How I could use this in class

I thought it might be fun to have students re-create this scene in a modern setting. What trite words would Christian say to Roxanne? "I think you're really cool?" How would they make "I love you" more eloquent?

Another idea I had was to shorten the long (58 lines) monologue in Act II. I would give them the scenario that they are screenwriters and must cut this scene to fit in the 2 hour length. I would have to show them some examples of screen plays to learn the format thenhave them partner and go to work.

It's Only 7:35 in the Morning!

Context
In a discussion with another English teacher today about teaching students critical theory (which he does with juniors) he mentioned that he wanted to show them a familiar film and assign groups "lenses" to view the film through. I suggested that he use a music video. At this point he got very excited and told me about this cool short Spanish video called 7:35 in the Morning. It won an Academy Award for short film. It is compelling!

How I could use it in class
Using short films is really important in teaching, as we have seen this semester. I guess it's like analyzing a short story -- you get the technique taught in a few minutes. This film lends itself top many teaching moments. It could be used in the following ways: practicing analyzing cinematic elements, teaching po-mo, teaching feminist theory, in a unit on love, looking at the "poetry" of the lyrics (or maybe not) or just plain literary analysis. I like that it is in Spanish since I have so many students that speak it and that I teach foreign literature to sophomores. I would probably give them the lyrics ahead of time so that could be familiar with them so they could concentrate on the actions.

So see for yourself and post your comments and suggestions on how this could be used in a high school classroom.

Can't a Cover be Just a Cover?

Context
On the Today Show this cover of Vogue is described as being very controversial. LeBron James, big hoops star and Gisele Bundchen, top model for the day, grace the cover which is being compared to the King Kong movie poster. Several people emailed Today with their comments. One asked, "Can't a cover be just a cover?" My response is, "No. Not when the cover is Vogue. Not when James is only the third man to be featured on the cover. Not when this cover shows the first black man to ever grace the cover of Vogue Magazine. Not when the photographer is Annie Leibovitz. Not when you understand the importance of a magazine's cover to grab an audience and sell the magazine's image. Many photos were taken that showed a silly side, athletic side and serious side of both celebrities. These are shown in the magazine, but this one introduces it. James declared, he was "just showing a little emotion." I think that the image is intentionally bigoted.

How I could use this in class
I will show this cover this week, since it is a hot topic, but in the future it will go into a unit on images. We will discuss the racial and gender implications and decide if they are in play in the image. We will then discuss why Vogue decided to use the cover. What was their agenda? Does this image encourage you to buy the magazine or pass on it? I think it will be lively discussion.

Do it Yourself Comics

Context
I know that Comic Life is an inexpensive program that comes on all our school's Macs. But using it to really a make a comic strip is another thing. You have to import pictures and then add balloons and text. Not really like a real comic strip. Well, welcome the free online program called Bitstrips. Created by a Canadian cartoonist, Bitstrips allows much more freedom in creating real comic strips. There are a queue of characters to choose from and you can give them different expressions, or you can create your own characters! There are so many options here that I had a great time creating myself and my husband. I want to create so many other characters that can live in my comics.

This is my first character - Honey Husband


How I can use this in my classroom
This is so fun that I almost stopped editing my doc just to create a bunch of characters and then stick them into funny situations. I know that my students will love this! One of the problems that I had with the comic strips we did in the past was lack of artistic talent. Now that problem is solved. I don't know if there are different backgrounds or props, but you can make your characters move into different positions. When I teach the conventions of comics, I have had my students create a comic strip from a story (usually a familiar fairy tale) with a partner. They had to draw it all, but this would help with that. I don't know if you can change camera angles or other cinematic techniques used in real comics, but I guess I'll just have to play with it some more. Maybe after the semester has ended...

My Crazy Decision

This is not a post for a classroom assignment, but I wanted to save this for posterity since I don't know how long it will last on YouTube. This is the wacky video my student took of me making a fool of myself for the poor children of Provo area for Sub-for-Santa, 2007.

Tromp l'oeil

What is real and what is constructed? This is a question all good media teachers must discuss.
Context
Today while teaching literary analysis, we discussed the phrase "willing suspension of disbelief" and how that is necessary in storytelling. The text book used a trompe l'oeil facade in a building in Cincinnati (see above) to visually illustrate this point. People walking in front of the building no doubt can see that it is just a flat brick wall, but are will to ignore that and see the stairs and plaza that is so realistically painted there. Several students pointed out the sidewalk chalk drawings that are so realistic as well. Here are a couple examples:
How could I use this in class
This images would be good anytime you want to discuss illusion versus reality, which is a common theme in literature, especially Shakespeare. Certainly talking about the constructed nature of film would be a good time to use these images. Discussions, of course, about the "willing suspension of disbelief" could incorporate these pictures.

One Digital Day

Context
I was in the English workroom waiting for some printing and started rummaging through a teacher's old stuff just laying ab out in there. I came across this very large book (like a coffee table book) and title interested me. The book is images and text from one day, July 11, 1997, from 100 photographers from around the world. Their task was to celebrate Intel's 30th birthday by taking photos of how the world has changed since the invention of microchip. There are some amazing pictures here! I will post the pics that go with the text tomorrow when I get to school where my cord to download onto my camera is.
This image shows a family in China eating dinner. The caption reveals that the family has no bathroom or cooking facilities , but they have a PC, cell phone, pager, TV, and VCR. Interesting set of priorities!
This photo shows a Zulu women placing her finger on a sensor. This is the South African way to pay pensioners their monthly allotment without fraud by using fingerprints. The caption points out that similar systems in the US have been met with skepticism. Fingerprints in the US are for capturing criminals.

How I could use this in class
I could have a media day. Each student would use a digital camera for one day and capture as many interesting uses of media which would then become a photo essay. We could publish the most interesting ones on our class website.