Culture or Religion?

I went to the talk on culture or religion and the question of women’s roles in Islam. This was a really interesting talk for me because I am currently closing out a class in Women in Developing Countries and one thing we talked about was women and their role in Islam, whether it was at home or in the social world. The thing I found most intriguing about this talk was when they starting discussing Mohammad and how he came to be known as a prophet. What was really amazing to me was that I knew what they were talking about and I could actually think about their theories and how they related to the facts I knew about women and Islam.

When the panel was talking about Kadaicha, one thing I found really interesting was that they did not bring up the fact that she was widowed. I found this really interesting when I started to learn about Islam because Kadaicha had a lot of influence in Mohammad and his theories. When Islam started being talked about in the US, I always thought that women were oppressed and not allowed to do anything. To me, they had no rights and nothing they did was either seen as productive or important. As I started my class this semester, it was a real wake up call. To learn that Mohammad took no other wives until Kadaicha was dead was stunning. The panel took things that I already knew and applied them in ways that I had not thought about.

I also found it odd that there was not really opposition to what anyone said. When the panelists said something, most of the others just agreed and added on. This showed me that the Koran is something that is not as vague as what I thought it was. It is obvious to me now that the Koran is very specific and makes it clear what should be. I liked what Mr. Byrd said about the Koran being a guide and showing what a society should be. That made this seem a lot like the US to me. The Bible is supposed to be what a model society would be, which is exactly what the Koran is.

The panel also did a very good job at hammering the fact home that Islam and Mohammad were the first ones to really give women rights and let them own property. This was amazing to me; the society that we see now as oppressive to women was and is actually more progressive than the US.

I also enjoyed the part of the speech in which the panelists talked about women and politics. Specifically when they started to talk about how women, even when elected to office, did not really change the institution, but the institution actually only changed the women in those offices.

This talk was really beneficial to me because it allowed me to understand Islam a little better instead of just the surface stuff. It is also beneficial to me because it gives me a little bit better of a perspective on different religions and how they can be divided into and actually not what they seem on the outside.

Grammar Group

I loved this presentation. I liked how the group incorporated different strategies on how to teach grammar. I know when I was in high school we used sentence builing and I hated it. Actually, to this day I am still shaky on what all of the parts of a sentence are because I lost interest when I was being taught all I needed to know about grammar. It is hard to keep yourself involved in something tedious and boring. However, this group did a great job at giving me some ideas on how to teach grammar in an interesting light.

Also, I liked the recurring theme throughout the presentation! The France thing was awesome. Overall, you guys took a subject that a lot of people (including myself) and turned it into something that is interesting and not so freaking boring! Great job!

Gilmore - Chapter 7

I love reading fiction...not so good at writing it. However, I know that if we are going to continue to get quality writing that lasts throughout the ages, we have to make sure we are giving future writers all of the tools they need to keep us entertained when we are ninety and don't know how to use the remote anymore. Fiction is very hard to edit because you know where you want it to go, but how you get there holds so many possiblities that it takes about twenty years to get there.

Gilmore gives some really good strategies on how to revise and one thing that I will do in my classrooms that I never got to do in my English classes in high school is have my students write some creative pieces. I think this helps kids get stuff off of their minds and helps them learn to express what they are feeling. I will definately keep this book in my personal library to use when I am a teacher, whether it is English or government.

Gilmore - Chapter 6

I think that technology is a great tool because it has, yes, ruined most people's ability to spell, but it also helps use correct words and has cut down on then environmental impact of writing ten different versions of the same essay. Some people are perfectionists and will write something until it is perfect. For this person, trees cry for help. With technology comes a better way to communicate ideas and help to spread those ideas to large groups of people.

However, technology can be dangerous because not every student will have access to a computer or the abiltiy to get to the local library. It is hard, but if a teacher really wants something done with technology, they have to allow the amount of time they want involved on the project to be allocated to the students for the project in class. I don't know if that sentence really made sense, but think of this. What if we couldn't type papers? Teachers wouldn't be able to read my work and I think that technology is great, but too much of anything is bad for you.

Gilmore - Chapter 5

Essays on standardized tests suck, basically. They are sometimes about things that someone might not have experienced and I feel like I have to make something up on the fly. The standardized tests are just that, standard. You have to take something that can be so incredible general and try to write a scripted and detailed essay on it? It just doesn't seem right to me.

Also, I am not a fan of standardized tests at all. They are eltist and very slanted. If you didn't have the right people around you growing up, guess what, you aren't going to succeed. I don't like the fact that some people sit in an office and try to dictate what is important for our students to learn. I understand that everyone should know the basics, but shouldn't the basics be set by teachers and students, ont office personnel who are getting paid to write a test? Anyway...

Sorry about the rant, but I think it would be handy to have a checklist for revision, but it would be extremely hard for me to revise an essay I wrote in fifteen minutes and even expect it to be anywhere near my best writing. It is not feasible and the tests are not beneficial.

Gilmore - Chapter 4

Peer review is tricky for me. I love the idea of giving students the opportunity to read and give suggestions to others in the class. I know that it was really beneficial high school for me...if the other student was serious about it. I remember a few times where my paper turned out awesome because of the feedback that I got from other classmates. I also remember where I would read someones paper and you could tell that they didn't care about the assingment and when I got my paper back I had a comment like "Good paper" at the bottom. WHAT KIND OF HELP IS THAT?!!

Peer revision is not something that I like a lot because high school kids are mean. If someone writes something personal or they are trying to be funny in their paper, it opens the door for a student to be made fun of. I am not a fan of giving students others work to look at. I think that grading is a teachers job and I know that I never liked it when I had to hand my paper over to another student.

The teacher conferences are awesome. This is something that I intend to do with my students all of the time. Not only does it give the teacher a chance to sit down with the student and help try to mold the paper into what they really want, but it also lets the student know that you are willing to take time out of whatever you are doing and help them out. Also, teacher conferences, I think need to be done without work so that the teacher and the student can talk about what is going on...whether it be in their personal life or if there is something that they are worried about. Teacher conferences are a great tool...not just for revision, but so that teachers and students can get to know each other better.

Poetry Group

This group did an awesome job with the subject they had. Poetry, I feel, is the most feared part of English and this group tackled it. It was apparant that they loved poetry and had a passion for making others want to write and read poetry. The "I Am" poem with the outline was an amazing idea because I think it took something we had already done and put a new spin on it. We were all already comfortable with the "I Am" poem and they did something new.

The magazine activity was fun, however, I don't really know what it accomplished. It just seemed more like an art project than anything that had to do with poetry. But, for a fun activity, I could definately see myself using it.

As for the memory map activity, it was good, but I think some students would be kind of hesitant in putting something so personal on display for the rest of class to see. I guess that is my biggest issue with poetry, it is usually very personal and most of the time things that I would not want put into the public eye.

However, the poetry did a great job and gave me some pretty cool ideas for introducing poetry into my Political Science classes! Good job guys!