Moon

“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” represents what people feel when they have a little treasure. In Wordsworth’s case: Daffodils were his treasure. If we start asking people what is something very special for them they will come up with the most strange and peculiar things. Therefore, I could draw to a conclusion: Daffodils were to Wordsworth what the moon is to me. Whenever I feel sad or happy or excited, I look at the moon and it sooths me. It is an enriching feeling which overcomes solitude, and I think it is how the poet felt when he gazed at the crowd of daffodils. It is clear that the poet had a very close relationship as well as all the other romantic poets with nature. In his poem, he mentions various elements of nature such as cloud, hills, daffodils, lake, trees, stars, Milky Way, bay and waves. Nature was a key element of all the romantic poets, and it is absolutely clear that Wordsworth rejoiced with it. I do enjoy staring at the moon as I think Wordsworth enjoyed gazing at the daffodils.

Fears

Having read Keats’ “When I Have Fears that I may Cease to Be”, I completely identified myself with its words because I do have feel fear when I think about my death. Also, I could immediately relate his poem with the desire of transcend after dying. Keep living in the world, not physically but by being remembered. That is why there is a saying that reads “Every man needs to have a son, plant a tree and write a book”. These three are ways of transcending in the Greek fashion. I am sharing my thoughts about death (written almost a year ago).

Thoughts...
I seriously have no idea of why this thought comes to me once in a while. Anyway, I don't like it, it makes me feel rotten. Actually, I just hate the way it makes me feel! This stupid thought is about death. When it comes to my mind I ask myself whether life is really worth the trouble of living it.
I have this restlessness desire to know what happens after death. Where do we go to? Is there any place to go? Why have I taken all the trouble to live my life and do my best doing it if I will day and that's it, it will be over? This thought really worries me, and when I am thinking about it I feel so cold and my stomach gets tense. I mean, Death frightens me. And it makes me feel scared of wasting my time in silly things. I really think we have to live our life and take the most of it without wasting any minute.

Today, I was in the bus and this stupid thought came to me... I said, I don't want to die, I don't want to! But you can't live forever, right? Eventually, we will all die. What right does death have over me that take away my possibility of living forever? For me, dying is the most horrible thing in life, but we all know it will happen, any day since your birth.
I hope to feel a bit more relaxed about this topic that is a big issue for me!

Just a question,
What do you feel when you think about dying?

Coleridge

“It is essential to poetry that it should be simple, and appeal to the elements and primary laws of nature; that it should be sensuous, and by its imagery elicit truth at a flash; that it should be impassioned, and be able to move our feelings and awaken affection”.

After reading some poems, we can see that nature is essential for the romantic poets. Kubla Khan by Coleridge is full or references to nature, but not any type of nature, nature that goes beyond concrete seeing. The above quotation relates to Kubla Khan because it describes poetry as appealing to the elements of nature and also the importance of imagination which undoubtedly is present at Coleridge’s poem. Can we read without portraying characters, settings and images? Imagination is indispensable for reading. As his description of nature does not involve reason, we need our imagination to depict the beauty of Xanadu while reading. He has taken me into a journey to a place that exists only in me because none of us could have seen the same place. We all have very singular images of Paradise.

The Little Black Boy

After reading “The Little Black Boy” by Blake, I felt he wanted me to feel we are all the same in Eternity. Thus, I was drawn to entitle the poem as “Equal”. Choosing a painting was effortless because Renoir’s “Mother and Daughter” is very explicit. It shows a tree which was an element in his poem. However, it presents a girl whereas his poem presents a boy. The words in Blake’s world are highly represented in the poem. For instance, the tangible is shown with the sun that gives his heat and light away so that every soul can feel it. The intangible is depicted with eternity. These two key elements in his poem constantly move, and the tangible becomes intangible and vice versa. Past is present also as it is continuously influencing the present and it portrays the fact that there has always been white and black.

Picture: http://k43.pbase.com/u34/selvin/upload/24572152.impressionist02.jpg

Bringing Literature to our Classroom

“Women need to be free and have the same rights as men”

This statement was constantly repeated in our literature class presentations. After reading The Tempest (Shakespeare), The wife of Bath (Chaucer), Sense and Sensibility (Austen) and seeing The Merchant of Venice (directed by Michael Radford), we have discovered that within literature we can find thousands of topics and current issues to discuss with our peers and students. Being in this class has shown us that literature is a must in our teaching. It can bring so many topics that can initiate discussion because these issues are somehow meaningful for us and our students and may develop critical thinking. In this essay, I will answer the question is it important to bring literature to the class? And why? After answering to these questions, I will present different techniques and strategies to include literature in my future planning. Throughout our literature class, I have discovered that written texts can be used not just for reading comprehension, but for speaking activities, debates, discussions, creating a sketch or a video and some written responses. Also, teachers can start developing students’ critical thinking by asking them to reflect and question the several reading passages. Consequently, we must include those activities in our daily planning: as Judy Richardson has stated, “Constructing lessons that are interesting and relevant should be every teacher’s goal. I will demonstrate how seamlessly teachers can add literature to a lesson” (2000). Apart from all these reasons, students can also learn English through reading by increasing their vocabulary, encountering new structures and writing styles. For all these reasons, literature is indispensable and must be brought to the classroom.

As we have to bring literature in the classroom, we ought to find different techniques and strategies, undoubtedly considering the context of your students, in order to make this possible. There are several strategies that we can use so as to bring literature to the classroom. For instance, you can ask your students to build mind maps with characters’ relationships; that will make reading more understandable. Moreover, you could also ask them to bring several interesting quotes from the different readings they have read, if necessary, depending on the level, in Spanish, for in-class discussions. These, among other strategies such as: story impressions, vocabulary overview guide, word family tree, follow the characters and brainstorming, can unquestionably bring literature to your classroom (Buehl, 2000).

Certainly, there are other techniques that can be used to include literature in our classes. As to exemplify, we could use story-telling with more basic levels as they will not have to read the complete book which could be overwhelming, but one or two chapters each student. After reading, they will report on their chapters to the class. They could also read a short story without reading its end and inventing their own end: later, compare their end to the real one. Another good technique is to bring read alouds to the class so as to give your students the first glance at a book, and they can later be engaged in reading the entire book. For instance, you could read a summary of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and make your pupils decide whether they would like to continue reading or not. This must be systematic process in which you bring different summaries every week (Richardson, 2000).

How can we include these in our planning? If you would like to have a conversation group to practice students speaking skills you could use some readings because “selected readings have great potential for stimulating conversation, because once students are exposed to a given reading, they have a new fund of information that can be used as a departure point for discussion” (Dobson, 2005). Another way of including books in your planning is having your students read abridged books or penguin books and later present written and oral reports. From the same extensive readings, they can keep a vocabulary notebook with words from the selected readings. Activities based on poems, short stories, essays and fables can be developed in about 30 minutes of your class while you integrate more skills than just the reading one. If you are a good reader, you must share your experience so as to motivate your students to start reading, learning and growing with literature. As Clifton Fadiman said, “When you re-read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did before. You see more in you than there was before.”

During this second semester in my school, I am trying to develop a project on bringing literature to the class. As I am a good reader, I am always buying books; therefore, I have many books I can lend to the students to do their extensive readings. Briefly, my idea is to have each student choose a different book and encourage them to write a book report in which they can write a summary, a comic, an interview, a piece of news or a dialogue. Thus, students will practice and develop their reading and writing skills. I am looking forward to executing this project at San Juan Evangelista’s school. Bringing literature to the classroom and everyday classes is of the utmost importance in order to create a more interactive environment based on the readings. It can also help students build and increase their vocabulary and command of English, as they will be constantly reading in and outside the classroom. Different techniques as the ones shown above can help us include, little by little, literary work in our teaching. Fortunately, there are several books on how to bring literature to the classroom such as: Teaching Reading with Literature by Gail Tompkins and Lea McGee, Read it Aloud by Judy Richardson, Reading Interaction (International Reading Association) and Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning by Doug Buehl. In this essay, I have briefly shown its relevance and, to some extent, how to do it.

"When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen. But if you have not a pen, I suppose you must scratch any way you can."- Samuel Lover

Work cited

Buehl, Doug. Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning. Delaware: International Reading Association, 2000.

Dobson, Julia. Effective Techniques for English Conversation Groups. Washington: United States Information Agency, 2005.

“Quotations About Literature.” Welcome to the Quote Garden. 14 October 2007. 9 July 2009 <http://www.quotegarden.com/literature.html>.

Richardson, Judy. Read it Aloud: Using Literature in the Secondary Content Classroom. Delaware: International Reading Association, 2000

Outline

Bringing Literature to the Classroom

1. Introduction: Reflection on our literature class
2. Is it important to bring literature to the class? Why?
3. How to do it?
   -Techniques
   -Strategies
   -Planning
4. Conclusion

What a woman!

As many other plays and novels, William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice became a movie under the eyes of director Michael Radford. The movie depicts the fine characters and points out all the complex relationships between characters Antonio, the Merchant of Venice, Bassanio, a gentleman, Shylock, a Jew, and Portia, a fair heiress.
In Venice, Jews were being extremely discriminated against. Shylock was a usurer Jew and incredibly offended by Antonio a Christian. Being Bassanio’s friend, Antonio had to put his Christian pride aside and ask Shylock for money so that Bassanio could go to Belmont and have an opportunity with fair Portia who was a beautiful heiress. She could not choose his husband because his father stated in his will that Portia should marry the man who chose the right casket among the gold, the silver and the lead ones. Shylock lent Antonio 3000 ducats for three months without interest and the bond was that if in the 3 months Antonio did not pay the money, the Jew would take a pound of Antonio’s flesh. Jessica, the usurer’s daughter, was in love with a Christian and she eloped with him, in the ship with Bassanio, taking some of Shylock’s money and leaving him hateful.
While Bassanio succeeded choosing the right casket, Antonio’s time has come. Losing his ships at sea, he did not have the money so as to pay Shylock; therefore Shylock asked for a trial in which he would be able to take Antonio’s pound of flesh. After hearing what happened, Bassanio told his future wife how great his friend was and what he did for him. Portia gave Bassanio 6000 ducats to save his beloved friend and asked him to marry before leaving. After his departure, Portia left to his uncle’s house where she asked for advice to defend Antonio. At the end, Bassanio asked Shylock to accept 6000 ducats but his revengeful spirit did not allow that. Antonio was judged by Portia dressed as a young lawyer and sentenced to pay his bound. When Shylock was about to cut Antonio’s chest, wise Portia stated that he could take nothing but an exact pound of flesh without any drop of blood. Shylock lost all his possessions except his religion even though Antonio demanded Shylock to become Christian his Jewish faith was greater than anything else. What must be pointed out about this film is the high quality cast. Actors Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Joseph Fiennes and actress Lynn Collins were able to depict and perfectly portray Shakespeare’s characters. Al Pacino performed Shylock outstandingly and his speech will certainly be remembered. Lynn Collins introduced a very strong and intelligent Portia, and also made her quite witty. Irons highlighted Antonio’s pride and Fiennes depicted Bassanio’s passion. As a whole, the cast was extraordinarily well chosen. Through their performances we were able to feel what the characters felt in every minute of the movie. The movie, as well as the actual play, gives you plenty of things to think and discuss about. The repeated questions Is it a tragedy or comedy? Who wins at the end? Certainly do not have a finite answer as they might be seen from various perspectives. Therefore, the movie is good in the sense that does not give you those answers.

Portia’s character; however, was, in my opinion, underappreciated in both the movie and the play. If we think about it, it was her who using her wit and intelligence could save Antonio’s life. Bassanio was not able to do anything and probably, without Portia’s existence, would have seen his most beloved and dearest friend die. Although I would like to encourage everybody to read books and Shakespeare’s plays, masterpieces like this movie make me agree that if you lack time you can watch a movie instead of reading. The merchant of Venice by director Michael Radford is 100% recommendable.