I must say, I had a few pleasant surprises while writing this blog. I think my two favorites were the the Wiki and LiveBinder blogs. The whole time I was doing those, I kept thinking about how much easier my Education 2100 class would have been had we known/been able to use them, and, if it makes college life easier, it's BOUND to make high school a breeze! It has really re-enforced what I knew already that there is always an easier way to do things. It just takes a little digging sometimes to find it. The only draw back to 23 Things was how tedious the work was. If there is any way to condense it down, I'm sure it would be. But, maybe this is the condensed version. Seeing as how it started out as 43 Things, It might very well be.
As far is helping me develop as a teacher, this exercise helped me to better understand that, while I will be the only teacher in my classroom, I'm not the only teacher WITH a classroom. There are other people out there that are writing about similar problems that I will need to address in my own class. Which is nice because, if other people are blogging about their own experiences, chances are that they are researching the same things I am. So, if nothing else, it helps give me a starting point for my own research. Knowing that it's ok to comment on other's blogs is nice too. It helps to establish an open dialog so that many different ideas can be filtered through all at once. It should be called Brainstorming 2.0, really.
Overall, this has been a great experience, and, I have enjoyed learning about all of these great new ways to convey ideas to students and other teachers. I'm excited to see how this turns out! So, to answer the question of is this the end or only the beginning, I will quote from the song "Closing Time" by Semisonic- "Every new beginning forms from some other beginnings end."
Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Sunday, April 28, 2013
thing 23
So, I did a little research, and found this brief history of 23 things. I found out that it was actually the brain child of Stephen Abram in 2005 which was when blogging was really starting to take off. His was called 43 things I (or you) might want to do this year. It was later adapted to fit the current 23 Things model for library employees as a continuing education exercise over the course of nine weeks in which there was a prize at the end of. Well, it just so happens that it's not exactly legal for teachers to give students gifts in any form other than a grade for completed work. So, there we have it! Dr. Wall's 23 Things was born. Thankfully, she was gracious enough to not require the original nine week deadline. *PHEW*
I'm sure there is a way to use the 23 Things model for a high school french class( and, trust me, if there is one, I'll find it). But, I don't think I would want to use it right out of the gate when I begin teaching. There will be a big adjustment period for me to get settled into my position, and, something tells me that adding a blog where I have to read upwards of 4,800 plus posts a year will be a bit of an overload for me (can you say meltdown? Sure, I knew you could). BUT, as far as using the Creative Commons law, as a teacher, I will almost be encouraged to carry that thing with me everywhere I go like a Knight carries his shield into battle!
When I was in high school, my French teacher showed us her copy of Cirque de Soliel and was most likely protected under Creative Commons. Really, I can't remember any any of my classes not showing a movie or something like that. So, it's inevitable. I'm going to use it at some point. I'm sure I'll end up using it in some shape, form, or fashion, but, I can't think of any other immediate ways that I will use it other than showing the occasional movie.
I'm sure there is a way to use the 23 Things model for a high school french class( and, trust me, if there is one, I'll find it). But, I don't think I would want to use it right out of the gate when I begin teaching. There will be a big adjustment period for me to get settled into my position, and, something tells me that adding a blog where I have to read upwards of 4,800 plus posts a year will be a bit of an overload for me (can you say meltdown? Sure, I knew you could). BUT, as far as using the Creative Commons law, as a teacher, I will almost be encouraged to carry that thing with me everywhere I go like a Knight carries his shield into battle!
When I was in high school, my French teacher showed us her copy of Cirque de Soliel and was most likely protected under Creative Commons. Really, I can't remember any any of my classes not showing a movie or something like that. So, it's inevitable. I'm going to use it at some point. I'm sure I'll end up using it in some shape, form, or fashion, but, I can't think of any other immediate ways that I will use it other than showing the occasional movie.
thing 22
<iframe src="http://livebinders.com/play/play?id=873882&present=true" height="500" width="100%">Your browser does not support iframes.</iframe>
Well, suffice it to say that either embedding doesn't work, or, I don't know how to do it. Here's a link.
The binders I made are pretty straight forward in their titles. One is called French Grammar (which is the one I shared in this post), another is French History, and the last one is The Influence of France. The one I like the most is the grammar one. I never sat down and looked up games for learning french until now, and, to be honest, I don't know why I haven't. I found one site that is really neat that has nineteen games for learning everything from vocabulary about vegetables to verb conjugations. I could have really used that site over the last year in my French class. We were using this site called "tell me more" that really couldn't have told me less. The speech recognition software was terrible most of the lessons had almost nothing to do with everyday life. I had a few things that were ok, but, there wasn't much in the way of supplementary material for the class.
Last semester in my Education 2100 class, we had to use RefWorks to put all of our references for our PBL assignment. Also, we had to write a paper which had to include and annotated bibliography with printed out sources. I thought that was a waste of time, paper, ink, money, and effort.
Now, RefWorks was free for us as university students, but, what about high school students? I'm not sure. But, I know that LiveBinders is free for anyone that wants to use it. And, it can serve a double purpose in that it is a great place to store all of your research sources AND it can act as your annotated reference portion of an assignment. Because of how it's set up, all you have to do is create a new binder for a set of sources and create a description for the binder that includes descriptions for each tab in the binder. I think I may have to mention this to Dr. Preston-Sabin next time I see her.
Well, suffice it to say that either embedding doesn't work, or, I don't know how to do it. Here's a link.
The binders I made are pretty straight forward in their titles. One is called French Grammar (which is the one I shared in this post), another is French History, and the last one is The Influence of France. The one I like the most is the grammar one. I never sat down and looked up games for learning french until now, and, to be honest, I don't know why I haven't. I found one site that is really neat that has nineteen games for learning everything from vocabulary about vegetables to verb conjugations. I could have really used that site over the last year in my French class. We were using this site called "tell me more" that really couldn't have told me less. The speech recognition software was terrible most of the lessons had almost nothing to do with everyday life. I had a few things that were ok, but, there wasn't much in the way of supplementary material for the class.
Last semester in my Education 2100 class, we had to use RefWorks to put all of our references for our PBL assignment. Also, we had to write a paper which had to include and annotated bibliography with printed out sources. I thought that was a waste of time, paper, ink, money, and effort.
Now, RefWorks was free for us as university students, but, what about high school students? I'm not sure. But, I know that LiveBinders is free for anyone that wants to use it. And, it can serve a double purpose in that it is a great place to store all of your research sources AND it can act as your annotated reference portion of an assignment. Because of how it's set up, all you have to do is create a new binder for a set of sources and create a description for the binder that includes descriptions for each tab in the binder. I think I may have to mention this to Dr. Preston-Sabin next time I see her.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
thing 21
Here is my clip. It may have been from operator error, but, Animoto wouldn't generate an embedding code and the "share to blogger" thing wouldn't work.
<object id="vp1ICI9Y" width="432" height="243" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000"><param name="movie" value="http://static.animoto.com/swf/w.swf?w=swf/vp1&e=1367123445&f=ICI9YLngNjHDEJuHE68gYA&d=0&m=b&r=360p&volume=100&start_res=360p&i=m&asset_domain=s3-p.animoto.com&animoto_domain=animoto.com&options="></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed id="vp1ICI9Y" src="http://static.animoto.com/swf/w.swf?w=swf/vp1&e=1367123445&f=ICI9YLngNjHDEJuHE68gYA&d=0&m=b&r=360p&volume=100&start_res=360p&i=m&asset_domain=s3-p.animoto.com&animoto_domain=animoto.com&options=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="432" height="243"></embed></object><p>Try our <a href='http://animoto.com'>slideshow maker</a> at Animoto.</p>
Well, maybe that'll work. If not, the link should do the trick.
Anyway, I thought Animoto was pretty easy to use. It was nice that I could sign in with my Facebook account seeing as how that's where ALL my pictures are. I had one consistent problem, though. When I tried to open my albums, they would sit there and try to load, but, they wouldn't. It may have been a problem with slow Wifi, but, still... Something else I kind of thought was annoying was that it wasn't clear on how to delete pictures. Thanks to the albums not opening right, I had to just post a whole album. My reasoning was that I would just delete what I didn't want and be done. Didn't happen. Thankfully, it took off the last two pictures and left what fit. So, I suppose I can't say too much bad about it.
Overall, I am pleased with the finished product. I chose to put pictures of my son, girlfriend, mom, dad, brother, car odometer, and a cheesecake my girlfriend and I made for this passed Easter. I chose those people and things (minus the cheesecake. I just wanted to put the cheesecake in it because it was AWESOME!) because those are the people and things hold very dear places in my heart, and, I would give anything to let them know what they have meant to me over the last seven years. Longer for my immediate family, and shorter for Lindsay, (my girlfriend) but, seven years ago was when my life really turned around and I realized what they all really meant to me.
On a side note, there is a picture of Lindsay and me standing in a pair of pants that used to fit me. That was an eye opening experience if ever there was one for me. So, that one made the final cut.
<object id="vp1ICI9Y" width="432" height="243" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000"><param name="movie" value="http://static.animoto.com/swf/w.swf?w=swf/vp1&e=1367123445&f=ICI9YLngNjHDEJuHE68gYA&d=0&m=b&r=360p&volume=100&start_res=360p&i=m&asset_domain=s3-p.animoto.com&animoto_domain=animoto.com&options="></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed id="vp1ICI9Y" src="http://static.animoto.com/swf/w.swf?w=swf/vp1&e=1367123445&f=ICI9YLngNjHDEJuHE68gYA&d=0&m=b&r=360p&volume=100&start_res=360p&i=m&asset_domain=s3-p.animoto.com&animoto_domain=animoto.com&options=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="432" height="243"></embed></object><p>Try our <a href='http://animoto.com'>slideshow maker</a> at Animoto.</p>
Well, maybe that'll work. If not, the link should do the trick.
Anyway, I thought Animoto was pretty easy to use. It was nice that I could sign in with my Facebook account seeing as how that's where ALL my pictures are. I had one consistent problem, though. When I tried to open my albums, they would sit there and try to load, but, they wouldn't. It may have been a problem with slow Wifi, but, still... Something else I kind of thought was annoying was that it wasn't clear on how to delete pictures. Thanks to the albums not opening right, I had to just post a whole album. My reasoning was that I would just delete what I didn't want and be done. Didn't happen. Thankfully, it took off the last two pictures and left what fit. So, I suppose I can't say too much bad about it.
Overall, I am pleased with the finished product. I chose to put pictures of my son, girlfriend, mom, dad, brother, car odometer, and a cheesecake my girlfriend and I made for this passed Easter. I chose those people and things (minus the cheesecake. I just wanted to put the cheesecake in it because it was AWESOME!) because those are the people and things hold very dear places in my heart, and, I would give anything to let them know what they have meant to me over the last seven years. Longer for my immediate family, and shorter for Lindsay, (my girlfriend) but, seven years ago was when my life really turned around and I realized what they all really meant to me.
On a side note, there is a picture of Lindsay and me standing in a pair of pants that used to fit me. That was an eye opening experience if ever there was one for me. So, that one made the final cut.
thing 20
To the young lady that brought this to class for her website of the day, THANK YOU!!! I love this video!
For those that aren't paying attention, I'm a French major. When I first saw this, I fell in love with it for several reasons. 1. I love it because it is a great guide for learning about the French Revolution and it makes learning fun. Most people I talk to despise history of any kind. Presenting it in this way makes it interesting. I think I would use this as a lead in to talking about the French Revolution and refer back to it as much as possible to keep my class's attention. 2. My Livetext project has a lot to do with French history, but, it has really focused on the Revolution. So, it's really a great resource. I even used this as the "reward" at the end of my interactive PowerPoint.
One really cool aspect of Youtube is that it's really easy to search. Even if you don't know the name of what you're looking for, if you type in what it might be called, it'll usually pop up. Plus, at the end of the videos, it gives you suggestions of things you might like based on what you just saw. That kind of makes life easier for educators because if we look up something like this video above, we might get a few others about similar subject matter that would be a great supplement. One thing about Youtube now is that there are a lot of ads these days. But, the longer ones have a built it skip option after a few seconds, so, it's really not that bad.
Something that would be nifty to add to the library website is the thing that give suggestions based on your browsing history. So, if I searched stuff like "how to teach French history" a lot, I would have a lot of suggestions on how to teach history or French, or both on the library website every time I got on. It would give it a more personalized feel.
Thing 19
Well, I'm waiting for my approval from TeacherPop as, I'm sure, the rest of you had to do, too. But, in the mean time, I was scrolling down through the list of other social sites and came across Tastykitchen.com. To this site I say, WIN!!! I love to cook, and, I'm always looking for new recipes because the ones I use right now get stale pretty quick (I hope you'll forgive the pun). I can be creative when I need to be. For example: just the other night, I made a dish I dubbed Italian Garbage. It had hamburger, red, green, and yellow bell peppers, onions, and mushrooms all sautéd (in the original spelling as opposed to the English sauteed) with garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper, mixed with spaghetti and topped with mozzarella and parmesan cheese. It was pretty epic if I do say so myself. to go with it, I made garlic cheese biscuits. You know, those things you get at Red Lobster? But mine are better. Anyway, for me, that kind of lightning doesn't strike me all that often especially while school is in session. So, Tastykitchen.com will really come in handy for me in my daily life.
As far as a professional application, part of my French class consist of a cooking project. I know a few things like quiche, bouillabaisse, and mousse, but, that's really about it as far as my French cuisine repertoire goes. So, later on, this site is really going to come in handy when I'm trying to come up with good culinary ideas for my class.
As far as a professional application, part of my French class consist of a cooking project. I know a few things like quiche, bouillabaisse, and mousse, but, that's really about it as far as my French cuisine repertoire goes. So, later on, this site is really going to come in handy when I'm trying to come up with good culinary ideas for my class.
Thing 18
Here it is. My Facebook profile is here for your pleasure. It's set mostly to private, so, if you want to see more send me a friend request. I'm not big on sending out requests myself. The way I see it, if someone wants to be my friend bad enough, they'll send me one. There are certain times I will send one, but, it's rare.
Anyway, to the blogging!
It's important for educators to know how to use social networking sites for what I would think are pretty obvious reasons. In the last thing we discussed tagging and using tagging as a means of sharing information. Well, on Facebook for example, you can create friend lists within your normal friend list.By making someone a "close friend" you will receive a notification every time they post something. So, if you are a science teacher and are friends with, oh, I don't know, Stephen Hawking, it might be a good idea to make him a "close friend" so that you can get a constant stream of awesome theoretical physics as soon as it becomes available. Likewise, on the more realistic side, you can stay in contact with other teachers in your specific field to gain insight into new ways of teaching a specific topic or handling a particular problem. You know all these reflections we keep having to do? What do you think good status updates are? I'm not talking about the "OMG! My bf jst tuk me2 da mol an bott me lyk a zillon pars ov shus!" That's not a reflection. That's what I like to call an ocular aneurysm waiting to happen.
One thing I really don't like about Facebook is that it keeps changing. I mean, change is great, but, if it's changing every couple months, that's just confusing. But, as with any change, it just takes a little getting used to. However, by the time you get used to the the last change, there is another one just around the corner. A really good feature of Facebook, though, is what I mentioned earlier about the "close friend" setting. Along with that setting, you can also make groups and get notifications from that group. As far as using this in the classroom, a group would be a great way for teachers to get up to date information from students in a "group classroom", and, that would be a good place to post assignments for students that maybe missed class. Think about D2L but more public and free. Plus, if students want to stay in the Facebook group even after they have left the class, they would be able to help those students that need a little more one on one time. There would of course be drawbacks (as with anything), but, how could this be a bad idea? I mean, who do you know that DOESN'T have a Facebook? Practically no one, I bet. So, why not use this free tool to our advantage?
Anyway, to the blogging!
It's important for educators to know how to use social networking sites for what I would think are pretty obvious reasons. In the last thing we discussed tagging and using tagging as a means of sharing information. Well, on Facebook for example, you can create friend lists within your normal friend list.By making someone a "close friend" you will receive a notification every time they post something. So, if you are a science teacher and are friends with, oh, I don't know, Stephen Hawking, it might be a good idea to make him a "close friend" so that you can get a constant stream of awesome theoretical physics as soon as it becomes available. Likewise, on the more realistic side, you can stay in contact with other teachers in your specific field to gain insight into new ways of teaching a specific topic or handling a particular problem. You know all these reflections we keep having to do? What do you think good status updates are? I'm not talking about the "OMG! My bf jst tuk me2 da mol an bott me lyk a zillon pars ov shus!" That's not a reflection. That's what I like to call an ocular aneurysm waiting to happen.
One thing I really don't like about Facebook is that it keeps changing. I mean, change is great, but, if it's changing every couple months, that's just confusing. But, as with any change, it just takes a little getting used to. However, by the time you get used to the the last change, there is another one just around the corner. A really good feature of Facebook, though, is what I mentioned earlier about the "close friend" setting. Along with that setting, you can also make groups and get notifications from that group. As far as using this in the classroom, a group would be a great way for teachers to get up to date information from students in a "group classroom", and, that would be a good place to post assignments for students that maybe missed class. Think about D2L but more public and free. Plus, if students want to stay in the Facebook group even after they have left the class, they would be able to help those students that need a little more one on one time. There would of course be drawbacks (as with anything), but, how could this be a bad idea? I mean, who do you know that DOESN'T have a Facebook? Practically no one, I bet. So, why not use this free tool to our advantage?
Thursday, April 18, 2013
thing 17
Tagging is really pretty cool. I can really see how it will help me in my education career. As a french teacher, I won't be able (most likely) to just walk across the hall and get advice from another french teacher. So, tagging and searching tags will probably be my new best friend in a few years. Seeing as how the tags can be accessed from anywhere, I will be able to easily find and use anything I (or someone else) have tagged. One thing I found was this site that focuses on learning French by way of using catchy songs. I remember when I was in high school French class (and even now) we would listen to songs. At the time, I thought it was just supposed to be a change of pace from the same old lecture. But, hearing the songs and trying to sometimes repeat them helped me remember the language and give me more confidence when speaking. The problem is that I only know of a few songs. Now, I'll be able to use social tagging to help me find about as many songs as I could ever want that range from learning body parts to learning the days of the week. And, if I forget the name of a website (which we all so easily do sometimes) all I have to do is search a tag and there it is so that I'm not wasting valuable class time on a search for something that should always be easily accessible but, for some reason, it isn't.
Thing 16
I chose iGoogle for my first ever personalized start page. It was pretty nifty and easy to use. I chose this one because I already have a Google account, but, I have never really explored it. I'm pretty sure that Google will one day rule the earth... either that or Amazon. Either one would be fine as long as it isn't Wal-mart. But, I digress. The gadgets were really easy to use. I just kind of looked at the page and knew how to use it. I browsed through and changed the background a few times, too, to make it stand out a little more. I did a search for some kind of link for 23 Things to put on there, but, there wasn't one which made me kind of sad. Seeing as how I'm almost done with it, though, I guess it doesn't really matter.
I don't normally make to-do lists or mark a calendar. But, I guess it would be a good habit to get into if I'm going to have to follow a written lesson plan. As far as my daily schedule goes, I'm going to keep that as loosey goosey as I can. But, I did make a to-do list with Remember The Milk. It was a little confusing at first because I started putting in my events for the day, and, it just put them all in alphabetical order. Well, it just so happens that French class doesn't come BEFORE philosophy class chronologically which is what matters. But, pretty quickly, I figured out how to set priorities which took care of that problem. It also had an easy to use "completed" feature so that I could mark off what I did as I did it. I am one of those "why waste paper?" people, but, as far as making things like grocery lists, I just use my phone's notepad. It's a little more practical.
Zamzar is AWESOME!!! I know there is a way to convert documents to different formats without using an outside source, but, it never works for me. Zamzar makes it easy! just upload the document, tell it what to convert to, and that's it. I kind of wish I had done this a few weeks ago, now. My mom was working and had to convert a file into another format. If I had known about Zamzar, I could have helped her more instead of feeling completely helpless. Furthermore, it will help later on in my teaching if I have students submitting anything electronically via Mac/PC that I may not be able to open depending on the system I'm using because it converts to/from any format for any hardware device! Kudos to you Zamzar! Jolly good show!
I don't normally make to-do lists or mark a calendar. But, I guess it would be a good habit to get into if I'm going to have to follow a written lesson plan. As far as my daily schedule goes, I'm going to keep that as loosey goosey as I can. But, I did make a to-do list with Remember The Milk. It was a little confusing at first because I started putting in my events for the day, and, it just put them all in alphabetical order. Well, it just so happens that French class doesn't come BEFORE philosophy class chronologically which is what matters. But, pretty quickly, I figured out how to set priorities which took care of that problem. It also had an easy to use "completed" feature so that I could mark off what I did as I did it. I am one of those "why waste paper?" people, but, as far as making things like grocery lists, I just use my phone's notepad. It's a little more practical.
Zamzar is AWESOME!!! I know there is a way to convert documents to different formats without using an outside source, but, it never works for me. Zamzar makes it easy! just upload the document, tell it what to convert to, and that's it. I kind of wish I had done this a few weeks ago, now. My mom was working and had to convert a file into another format. If I had known about Zamzar, I could have helped her more instead of feeling completely helpless. Furthermore, it will help later on in my teaching if I have students submitting anything electronically via Mac/PC that I may not be able to open depending on the system I'm using because it converts to/from any format for any hardware device! Kudos to you Zamzar! Jolly good show!
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Thing 15
As I was learning about wiki's, I was thinking about how I could use these as an instructional tool and it came to mind that the PBL project I took part in last semester was pretty much a wiki. The only difference is how it looks and how it is delivered. I got to thinking that maybe I could have all the students create their own wiki in the form of a massive research project due at the end of the semester that counts as 20% of their final exam grade. This particular "thing" really speaks to me because I wrestled in high school. How, you might ask, can I make such a leap? Wrestling is an individualized team sport. All the team points are scored by the individual in their respective matches, and, it is the only sport where, on paper, a team can lose, but, when the scores are fully interpreted and things that are out of the control of the team (like forfeits) out of the score, the losing team ends up winning.
Where am I going with all this?
What is interesting about wiki's is that it is one document that is the collective work of multiple people that are easily identified and verifiable. In other words, If the project suffers, it is easy to see who is to blame for the failure. So, the class can work on it as a group, but, it will be graded individually based on the quality of the information and the amount contributed. Is it possible to do the same thing in other formats, sure. But, using a wiki eliminates all the "he said, she said" and allows me to tell at a glance who did what and who didn't do anything, and, it would create a different dynamic as far as group projects go because the students wouldn't just be working in groups of three or four. They would be working as a class or, possibly, as a community. By using the wiki format, I could make a bigger project for more advanced students that crosses single classroom boundaries and allows all of my classes to work together. All of this might seem idealistic, but, I really think it could work!
Where am I going with all this?
What is interesting about wiki's is that it is one document that is the collective work of multiple people that are easily identified and verifiable. In other words, If the project suffers, it is easy to see who is to blame for the failure. So, the class can work on it as a group, but, it will be graded individually based on the quality of the information and the amount contributed. Is it possible to do the same thing in other formats, sure. But, using a wiki eliminates all the "he said, she said" and allows me to tell at a glance who did what and who didn't do anything, and, it would create a different dynamic as far as group projects go because the students wouldn't just be working in groups of three or four. They would be working as a class or, possibly, as a community. By using the wiki format, I could make a bigger project for more advanced students that crosses single classroom boundaries and allows all of my classes to work together. All of this might seem idealistic, but, I really think it could work!
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Thing 14
While it is sometimes necessary to describe certain portions of my life using a flowchart, I found actually creating one difficult to do with my original topic. Eventually, I dumbed it down a bit and made one about to pros and cons of pet ownership and whether or not someone should get a pet. That one turned out pretty good, I think.
What I'm most proud of is the mind map I made. Before getting more into this one, I'll say that it really is true that a mind map is more for the creator than it is for the reader, but, on the other hand, isn't what is good for the creator just as good for the reader as it is for the creator? Just some food for thought... Anyway, I am by no means a professional writer. But, I do like to write. I was even published in the annual creative journal "Perceptions" while I was at Columbia State. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, I'm just saying... ANYWAY, I started a book about a year ago. In my mind map, I mapped out a lot of the dimensions of the main character. Here, I'll show you...
Here you have Mason in a nutshell. By no means is this his entire story. But, this is a broad overview of his surface issues. I think this would be a great tool for an English class or any other class where there is being literature taught. I am only recently (within the last two years or so) really getting into reading. I don't know what came over me, but, one day, I just decided to pick it up. Now, I can't wait to get back to it. I think one reason I was never big into reading was because it was hard to see the symbolism and hidden meaning in what was really going on with the characters. A mind map helps to cut to the heart of what the story is really all about which would have really helped me in my earlier years. From the first grade class room talking about Corduroy Bear to the Senior English class talking about Beowulf, mind maps are awesome!
What I'm most proud of is the mind map I made. Before getting more into this one, I'll say that it really is true that a mind map is more for the creator than it is for the reader, but, on the other hand, isn't what is good for the creator just as good for the reader as it is for the creator? Just some food for thought... Anyway, I am by no means a professional writer. But, I do like to write. I was even published in the annual creative journal "Perceptions" while I was at Columbia State. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, I'm just saying... ANYWAY, I started a book about a year ago. In my mind map, I mapped out a lot of the dimensions of the main character. Here, I'll show you...
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