Always searching for inspiration…

Hello everyone! My name is Hilary and I’m a senior here at Grand Valley State. I’m also a senior nearing completion but still have some more work to do. I am of course an English major (with a particular enjoyment for Poe, Austen, Byron, Wilde, Barrie and the list goes on). As a little side note about me, I enjoy playing the violin and I’m a huge fan of the t.v. shows Lost and Heroes (with a long-time love for The X-Files) because they are quite simply great. I hope that this class will further my knowledge of how to encourage students to enjoy literature as we do while showing them that there is more than regurgitated what happened in what they read.

As for the topic or topics I would like to focus on for my blog’s entries, I have considered doing censorship because I think that as English teachers this is one of the most important if not most important topic to discuss. It is always important to focus on information that is useful to the public as well as your own personal needs. This topic will provide an update in what latest events have occurred within this issue because this is obviously something that has been around for many years (I stress the “many”). It is still questioned in classrooms today as well. Knowing what will be considered appropriate in our classrooms is important knowledge to have because as English teachers we are challenged with the task of getting students to abide to learning with some tradtional values being set by the government. At the same time providing lessons that are thought provoking concentrating on open-ended learning that produces more of a response that shows connection to what is being taught.

 I have also considered doing No Child Left Behind because this also an important subject amongst English teachers. As I have been told by many of my professors, statistics show that English education has been slipping and students will to learn and comprehend this subject has somewhat lessened recently. Who am I kidding? Most students don’t get too overly exited but I think that updating knowledge about this topic would be really fascinating to see where it has come as well as looking at what is has done in schools since established. While evaluating the affects of this act trying to continue a more traditional teaching style as opposed to providing more of a creative outlet. This would be interesting to look at.

I’ll be searching for resources with Google news as well as some major news sites including CNN.com and The New York Times and Washington Post to try and narrow the search for these topics. After reading an article or two I will hope that I have found something useful.

Anyway, this is my introduction to ENG 311. I hope to learn a lot and meet many of you as well! See you soon!