Saturday, October 20, 2012

The Cutdown


An excerpt from an old Shakespeare paper:


In the most popular love story in history, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the story of their love is not one of simplicity and happiness and it most certainly does not run smoothly. The two families dislike one another, which on the surface could be relatable to lovers’ families in present day America, but to the violent extent it is not likely. Romeo and Juliet decide that they love each other so much they would rather die than not be together. Readers consider this a famous romantic play, but it was properly placed in the tragedy section of Shakespeare’s plays. He did not write it as a sweet, smooth love story. The two main characters kill themselves, in the name of love, which is a satirical spin on romance. In the end they do not get the opportunity to be together anyways because they themselves take that from each other. It would have been more loving to let the other live, even if it meant with someone else whom his or her family approved. Shakespeare’s look on love seems to be quite sarcastic in this play.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the feelings of love are tossed around, and tangled like fishing wire. With the help of magic, it appears that no one knows whom they truly love, and so they chase after multiple people proclaiming their strong love. The characters look like ridiculous fools.  It is entertaining to watch, but Shakespeare could be touching on more than complete fictional themes. Many children begin dating when they are young teens and profess to love countless romantic partners at different times in their lives. Divorce rates in America are high as well. Oftentimes, people tend to have feeble relationships and flit about between lovers. They fight hard for love with one person, but in a matter of time they are chasing after another victim. Shakespeare lets characters appear to be victims of love in this play. Bottom, the ass, gets wooed by the fairy queen but it is only because the queen’s emotions and vision have been disturbed by magic. Also, the two fine gentlemen, Demetrius and Lysander, pursue the self-pitying Helena. The magic in the play creates a humorous show, but in life people do not need magic to run from one lover to the next, making bold declarations. They look like fools on their own. 


The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is not a happy, simple love story. The two families dislike one another, to the extent of using violence. Romeo and Juliet love each other so much they would rather die than be apart. Readers consider this a romantic play, but it was properly placed in the tragedy section of Shakespeare’s plays. He did not write it as a sweet, love story. The two main characters kill themselves- in the name of love -giving a satirical spin on romance. [entire sentence deleted] It would have been more loving to let the other live, even if it meant with someone else whom his or her family approved. Shakespeare’s look on love seems to be quite sarcastic in this play.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the feelings of love are tossed around, and tangled. Because of magic the character don’t know whom they truly love, so they proclaim a strong love to multiple people. They all look like ridiculous fools.  It is entertaining to watch, but Shakespeare could be touching on more than fictional themes. Many children begin dating when they are young teens and profess to love countless romantic partners at different times in their lives. Divorce rates in America are high as well.  People tend to have feeble relationships, constantly changing lovers. They fight for love with one person,  but soon are are chasing after another victim. Shakespeare’s characters appear to be victims of love in this play. Bottom, the ass, gets wooed by the fairy queen but it is only because the queen’s emotions and vision have been disturbed by magic. Also, the two fine gentlemen, Demetrius and Lysander, pursue the self-pitying Helena. The magic in the play creates a humorous show, but in life people do not need magic to run from one lover to the next. They look like fools on their own. 
 

Sunday, October 14, 2012

That Darn Passive Voice...


-4 Brushstrokes: painting with participles, absolutes, appositives, adjectives out of order
transitive verb in passive voice,  T.V. in active voice

This week, in 326, was a little more difficult than it has been. We had to find transitive verbs in the passive and active voice written in articles or journals. The active voice was found more frequently.  However, students struggled with the passive voice. Remembering that voice only applies to S-V-O transitive verbs, students often called Barbara over to check a sentence and were disappointed when it was incorrect.
“Oh! I think I found a passive voice! (Leans toward peer at the same table) Is this one?”
The other student’s eyebrows shoot up across their forehead, eyes wide, shoulders shift up and down, “I don’t know.”
First student calls over the professor and asks about her passive voice.
“No that’s not correct because…”
The student slumps in her seat, with a defeated look, ready to give up.
The form of a be-verb plus a past participle creates a passive voice. It seems pretty simple, but when applying it to writing, and trying to point it out in others’ writing, it is challenging. For the most part, the students finally caught the hang of it, but did not leave with absolutely solid confidence. Sentence highlighted, question marks written, shoulders shrugged, the students’ minds were semi-confused. The brushstrokes became a piece of pie though. Spotting those in someone’s writing was a lot simpler. Perhaps the fact that it was Thursday of a long week attributed to the struggle with passive voice. But I believe it cannot be blamed on that fact fully. The concept was just difficult for most of the students. Writing sentences with a passive voice and active voice are easier than finding them though.
The car was driven.
John drove the car.
When the sentences are longer, and meshed into a longer piece of writing, it is more complicated to instantly point out the two different voices.

It will be a challenge to teach all these different sentence styles and tools to future students, without scaring them away from writing. Obviously we wouldn’t teach them all of these at once, and they wouldn’t be the main point like they are in this course, because it is meant for us to learn all of them in order to help us incorporate them into our teaching of English and writing. Our students, a young group of beginning writers, would be overwhelmed if we shoved all of this information at them. They would sit in their seats, confused and hopeless, and probably hate school, especially English class.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Brush Strokes, Mind Wanderings, and Intellectual Interests?


Sometimes I feel like these blogs are tricky to write because while I’m trying to write on a topic, I also have the grammatical patterns of the week running through my mind, trying to figure out how to correctly insert them. Strumming on the keyboard, my fingers try to create the right words. The week before, long and rigorous, has left my mind collapsed. I do not know what to say, or even what to think sometimes. I want to sleep or relax. It is not a difficult assignment, sometimes it can be enjoyable, but still there are times when I simply stare at the computer screen, at the whiteness, at the emptiness. My few sentences taunt me. Where are all the words? Where are my brilliant ideas? The weekend laughs at me, pouring a drowsiness over my head. Heart beating slowly, eyelids drooping, limbs relaxed, I begin to doze off only to jolt myself awake when I realize what is happening. My bed, a warm and welcoming mound of blankets, calls out to me. But no, I must resist the desire to sleep. I must push through and finish my homework.

Everything else I could be doing comes to mind. Anything not related to school. My friends are reading a magazine laughing at the funny stories. My puppy, sweet and adorable, curls up next to me. At least he’ll sit with me while I studiously do my homework.

I sound like I am complaining a lot, but I really do enjoy this class. A week full of classes, daily shifts at work, multiple tutoring hours, and loads of homework completely wear me out mentally. My mind needs a little vacation. In grammar class though, during the week, I find the topics interesting. It’s great review to relearn old grammar tools and rules. It will be fresher in my mind for when I teach my own classroom of students. I think a lot of professional adults still struggle with grammar and writing. Sometimes they are never given proper instruction in school, and sometimes they just never tried to learn while they were being taught. I hope that I can help my students actually remember and apply grammar and writing tools to their lives beyond highs school, and college even. With correct grammar in their writing pieces, they will sound more intelligent and trustworthy. I know I will look back on this class and be grateful.