There are many ways you could incorporate agents in the English curriculum-a few examples have been included below:
Students could create an agent to welcome members to their blog sites or websites. This would be an interesting way for students to personalize these sites without disclosing numerous personal facts. One of the many administration concerns about publishing student work on the internet is the privacy protection-an agent would be a nice touch without jeopardizing the students' privacy.
Introduction to this Blog Site:
Students could also use agents in the place of paper proposals, writing workshops, or other peer reviews. After writting a comment, students could have their agents deliver this message (via email video) to other individuals using these agents. Instead of a paper proposal, students could have their agent present their suggestions for papers, projects, or literature circles. This software would also promote a degree of novelty that would motivate and encourage students to complete these activities.
Teachers would be able to use agents in a variety of ways. First, it would be an interesting experiment to have your agent deliver a short grammar lesson to your students, then test the students' recall of this material. Would students pay more attention to the agent, or would they still comprehend the material?
Another interesting use of a teaching agent would be to deliver sub plans. You could have your agent direct the students in their daily activities on days when a sub was in the classroom. This would ensure each class received the same instructions regarding assignments, projects, or expectations for that day.
Finally, your agent could deliver the seemingly monotonous task of classroom syllabuses, rules, and expectations. This would be a novel, unique way to introduce this material to your class. It would also be a good introduction to the use of media in your classroom.
In English education, critical approaches are often referred to as “critical literacies”. It is crucial to introduce these critical viewpoints in a high school setting; educators have the responsibility to create informed, critical consumers in an age driven by media. Five approaches are highlighted below, followed by an example of each analysis in a freshman English course using the text “House on Mango Street”.
Semiotic Analysis: An examination of the cultural and social implications of signs; this includes images, objects, words, or practices found in a variety of texts. In literature, semiotic analysis is often mirrored by the concept of symbolism. In “The House on Mango Street”, the author refers to shoes numerous times in her vignettes High heels, flats, loafers, and “click” shoes become symbols that reflect personality traits. Students would watch “Famous Footwear” and “Payless Shoes” commercials. After viewing these clips, students would dissect the social stereotypes associated with styles of shoes- linking these meanings to “Mango Street” character personalities.
Poststructuralist Analysis: An examination of language used to generate categories; these categories greatly influence human perceptions. Often, these categories revolve around paradoxes; good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, and love vs. hate are all examples of categories examined with poststructuralist analysis. Students reading “Mango Street” would examine “male vs. female” using this analysis. The author has very strong assumptions regarding gender; postructuralist analysis would illustrate the gray area located between these paradoxes. First, students would read a segment of “Mango Street”. After this, a scene from “Will and Grace” would be shown, followed by a discussion about the categories of male and female. Poststructuralist analysis would also highlight perceptions made about breaking through these paradoxes- if a man is feminine, he's gay. Students would finish this lesson with a free write regarding the use of paradoxes in our society, and the advantages/disadvantages of having categories.
Critical Discourse Analysis: An examination of larger ideologies that identify, shape, evaluate, and control a large degree of human interactions. These ideologies, or discourses, include laws, class, race, and religion. Ultimately, these discourses define what is considered “normal”. The issue of class is a reoccurring power structure in “Mango Street”. Students would be assigned a racial group (African American, Asian, African, Mexican, and Caucasian) to profile using sitcom characters. Examining popular sitcoms, students will discover assumed stereotypes, or “normalcies” associated with each group. The findings would be presented to the class for a large group discussion regarding race and the discourse analysis produced by these popular sitcoms.
Feminist Analysis: An examination of the definition, characteristics, roles, and expectations of gender in our changing society. Traditionally, feminist analysis has focused on women. However, examining male perceptions of gender is also a critical perspective in feminist analysis. In “Mango Street”, the character of Sally begs for feminist analysis. After reading her story, students would view Disney's “Little Mermaid”; a comparison would be made between Arielle, the Sea Witch, and Sally. The expectations and assumptions of the “good” and “evil” woman would be highlighted to show stereotypes associated with the female gender. Ultimately, students would be asked to make arguments for which Disney character Sally most represents based upon the feminist analysis.
Psychoanalytic Theories: An examination of the subconscious desires, beliefs, and perceptions of one's identity. In “Mango Street”, this theory can be applied when examining the cousin's theft of the big yellow car. Students would begin by watching the new series of Lexus ads- presenting vehicles as a privilege and concrete desire of human nature. Feelings of fulfillment, success, and pride would be discussed. Following this, students would read the “Cousin” vignette in “Mango Street”. A comparison between the cousin's feelings and innate human desires would be addressed. Finally, students would decide whether they wanted the cousin to be caught with the car, or if they thought he deserved to keep the vehicle. These opinions would be discussed in terms of what is “right” (legally) vs. what “feels right” (internally).
-Shot One: establishing shot of man presenting in front of a white board Establishes him as the speaker
-Shot Two: 4 shot over the shoulder of audience as he presents the thinking behind his new Doritos flavor Shows the audience and the speaker's physical relationship and office surroundings
-Shot Three: medium shot of man presenting at the white board Focuses viewer's attention to writing/pictures on the board- “Doritos new flavor beverage”
-Shot Four: 3 shot medium of audience members Attention is drawn to the audiences first reaction to presenter- woman smiling, two men smirking
-Shot Five: medium shot of man presenting at the white board Accelerated gestures of speaker become apparent as he gets excited, generates excitement in the viewer
-Shot Six: close up shot of presenter holding Doritos bag Highlights product – Doritos Beer flavor
-Shot Seven: 3 shot medium of audience members Shows their change in reaction to speaker- looks of awkwardness become humorous to viewer
-Shot Eight: 4 shot over the shoulder of audience See audience shifting
-Shot Nine: close up shot of presenter eating chips Eating fast, viewers anticipate what upcoming audience reaction shot will look like
-Shot Ten: 3 shot of audience Members are confused and grossed out by presenter's fast, incessant eating
-Shot Eleven: medium shot of presenter Shows product again and man's continued eating
-Shot Twelve: close up shot of one male audience member First time audience speaks, man's facial features highlighted when he says, “truly a horrible idea”, seriousness of man adds to humor
-Shot Thirteen: 3 shot over the shoulder of audience, presenter and two audience members Presenter, now drunk from beer chips and in his underwear, becoming focal point of the humorous shot
-Shot Fourteen: close up shot of product Product placement
-Shot Fifteen: product slogan shot “eat responsibly” slogan with a loud snoring sound in the background
-Shot Sixteen: 2 shot close up of presenter on male audience member's shoulder Highlights effectiveness of new beer chips, closes commercial with humor
1. “Blind Ambition”, Family Guy episode, Season 4. Viewable at http://www.familyguy.com/ Animated series are an important part of our popular culture. In this episode of Family Guy, the sequence opens at the Quahog bowling alley. Lois is watching the boys bowl, and proceeds to announce her need “to tinkle”.
(Description) The chosen scene begins with an establishing shot of Lois walking through the ladies room and entering a stall. The bathroom is absolutely quiet; the sound of the stall door closing is magnified to highlight the lack of background noise. A solid shot of Lois placing toilet paper on the seat is shown for a few seconds. Breaking the silence, audiences hear the “Gigidy, Gigidy” noise closely associated with Quagmire. Lois stops and listens closely, but no one has entered the scene. As she continues to cover the seat, another “Gigidy, Gigidy” is heard in the background. Lois stops again for a few moments, starts to cover the seat again, and hears, “Will you just sit down already?” She makes a large gasp, followed by a low angle shot of a smiling Quagmire in the ceiling above the bathroom stall. A medium shot of Lois is shown for about half a second, quickly replaced with a close up shot of Lois screaming. As soon as this close up shot appears, the “Dant Dant Dah” suspense melody is played loudly to end the scene. Immediately following this scene, the sequence continues with a cameo shot of the newscast announcing the arrest of a “peeper in the local pee'er”.
(Purpose) In this specific scene, the lighting does not change at all. However, sound has a significant impact in the humor associated with this scene. Similar to Hitchcock's shower scene in Psycho, the audience knows something is going to happen. However, the silence works to build suspense and the familiar climax music helps to close the scene. Additionally, the low angle shot of Quagmire highlights Lois' perspective while adding to the “awkward creapiness” of Quagmire's position in the women's bathroom. This “awkward creapiness” carries the humor in the scene, coupled with the ongoing perverted personality of Quagmire (fans of the show expect this type of behavior from Quagmire). His location (hanging on to the top of the ceiling) also establishes a polar relationship associated with a man in the women's bathroom.
2. Teaching film/media editing techniques would help to highlight the reactions/emotions deeply associated with media products. Each type of shot has a distinct purpose (establishing shot gives an overarching visual, close up centers the audiences' focus) in the scene. Examining these shots will help to identify the creators' purpose and intended reactions. In English literature, we often ask “What was the author's purpose?” This is mirrored in film studies when we ask, “Why does the creator present this shot?” Additionally, we often ask, “Why did the author choose these words?” and could also question, “Why did the creator pick this music?” Learning, identifying, and evaluating film techniques is simply an extension of perspective and author intent in an English classroom.
The media mogule million dollar weekend has just occurred- SuperBowl commercials run anywhere from one to three million dollars for a sweet thirty second piece of the pie. Below are my personal top three of the 2009 SuperBowl (media) game within the game.
1. Etrade Baby Golfer: This character will always be funny!
I grew up on a dairy farm in St. Francis, Minnesota (it's okay if you don't know where that is). I have one younger brother who I swear is telepathic. I graduated high school in 2001, completed an Associates of Arts degree from Anoka Ramsey in 2004, graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2008 with a B.A. in English and a B.A. in Communication Studies, and am currently in the Masters of Education program at the University of Minnesota. When I grow up, I want to teach high school or college courses in the English / Speech departments.
