Thursday, July 22, 2010

Welcome!

Welcome to my new URL!! I hope you got here without becoming frustrated. I found it interesting that blogger did not have a way to change the URL by linking it from the last. So I took matters into my own hands and 'kept' both URL's-with this one being the active one. Happy Reading!

Friday, July 9, 2010

Book to Movie

Let me begin the post by saying I love the idea of taking books and turning them into movies. In theory it would give extended life to the story, plot and characters. The problem lies when Hollywood's reproduction does not follow the storyline of the book.

A few months ago I viewed a movie tailor for the motion picture Percy Jackson and the Olympians The Lightning Thief. It looked like an exciting adventure. When I discovered that it was first a book, I decided to read the book prior to watching the movie. I like to read the book first, because, obviously, the author's tale was the inspiration behind the movie to begin with. I purchased the book, thinking my future students might enjoy it as well.

I thoroughly enjoyed Mr Riordan's masterpiece. The book was unpredictable and held twists and turns in the plot that kept me up one night long past the time I normally retire. I liked how I got to grow with Percy and learn things about the half-bloods as he did. I will not give away the plot line to anyone who has not read it, but it is certainly worth reading.

The movie, in itself, was a good movie. The problem was when it did not follow the storyline of the novel. The basic idea of the book was present in the movie, but the plotline and events that led to the ending were scarce. A couple of funny parts that were present in the novel were left out, and multiple fights were left out. Some characters (important ones at that) were left out of the movie. It almost appears as if the filmmakers asked a forgetful person who had read the book what it was about, and wrote the script on that, rather than the novel. Needless to say, I was disappointed with the movie.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Running to Learn

Since getting married, my husband has been encouraging me to run with him. Running has never been something I have been inclined to do, nor is it something I particularly enjoy, but I have been keeping up an intense schedule of going three miles and gradually working on running more and more of it. Currently I am at the halfway point.

While I was out the other day, I began thinking about how running is like learning, especially for students who begrudgingly learn (as I run). As well as getting in better shape, I am also getting a better perspective of how students sometimes think.

For students to whom learning does not come naturally, going to school each day is a struggle. Just as rolling out of bed can be a challenge when I am not motivated to run. Blake encourages me when my motivation is low, just as a teacher and other peers need to support each student in the classroom.

The classroom, then, should be a safe zone, where students can feel free to "fall while running" and know that they will be supported by the rest of the classroom. The classroom should be a place where students can help others grow and push themselves to reach places in which they feel are unreachable. But that task is much more difficult, if not impossible, without all students knowing that the classroom is a safe zone where we can be free to grow as learners and as individuals.