Reflection Post

My Journey Grant, “Epic Research,” combined my interest of English and education.  The goal was to read nine epics, give summaries, and explain how and why these epics should be taught in the classroom to our modern students.  Over the nine weeks, I read The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, The Metamorphoses, Beowulf, The Divine Comedy, The Canterbury Tales, and Paradise Lost.  I chose to discuss these texts via blogging over nine weeks—devoting a week to each epic.  Over the course of nine weeks, every day, I blogged a synopses over chapters/books of the epic.  At the end of the week, I blogged over why to teach the particular epic in a classroom and why it was important for a modern student. 

The experience was an interesting one for me.  At first, I was a hesitant to do a Journey Grant.  I was not sure if I had time or energy to do it, especially over the summer.  When I finally decided to do a Journey Grant, it began the long process of picking what to do.  Many of my friends were doing the British Teachers’ Education Program, which I could not fit into my schedule.  I wanted to do something that encompassed my passion of literature and education.  Over the last three years at Jewell, I have combined my interests of globalization, modernity, English, and education.  I knew I wanted this project to be the same.  I asked around for help from professors as well as family and friends.  I ended up focusing on epic poetry.  I had only previously read a few of the epics I discussed, so it became an opportunity for me to read more (which is always helpful) and explore how to teach these texts to our students today.

This experience was beneficial for me as a reader and teacher.  I had to put myself into a career I have not started yet.  I had to think like a student and a teacher.  What would students find exciting about a text they were not familiar with?  How can I teach the relevancy and value of these ancient texts?  It was an enlightening experience.  I had the opportunity to read The Epic of Gilgamesh, which was written centuries ago, to Paradise Lost, which was written in the seventeenth-century.  As I wrote the synopses every day, I become the student, dissecting and analyzing language, plot, character, and theme.  At the end of the week, I morphed into the teacher.  I discussed allusions, relevancy, themes, characters, and how they all tie into our modern society.  This blogging experience, in the least, broadened my horizons as a reader and a teacher of readers.

Not only did this experience help me grow and gain new insight into my future career, but also it helped me become a better writer.  The old cliché is that to become a better writer, you must write every day.  Clichés are tried but true, and it is accurate in my case of blogging.  As I wrote every day, I noticed my own voice (as a writer) become stronger.  Throughout the first three years of college, being an English major, you are asked to write analytical papers over literature.  Critical thinking over literature that Jewell requires you to do is integral in becoming an excellent reader and writer, but blogging added a different dimension to my writing.  I blogged every day, probably over 500 words a day (although I never counted).  This experience inspired me to try my hand at writing, which I have done over the summer.  It has started a spark in me that might not be profitable in the future, but can help with future careers (if teaching does not pan out) as well as my own catharsis.

There were pros and cons of choosing this as my project.  I enjoyed the freedom blogging gives as well as making my own schedule.  With being involved in basketball for the college, I could work out and coach in camps, and blog every day.  Saying that, blogging was time consuming.  When I had vacation or had to work a residential basketball camp for an entire week, blogging became difficult.  It took me approximately three hours/day to blog, which does not include the reading I had to do every night so I could blog the following day.  It was not the experience I expected, because it was—at times—daunting.  It was time consuming, but that being said, I do not regret choosing this as my project and blogging as my forum. 

Strengths and weaknesses are revealed throughout anything in life.  As far as weaknesses, it all comes back to the time consuming aspect of this project and also the longevity of the project.  The blogging started the first of June and I finished at the beginning of August.  It took a lot of time and dedication to do it.  There were definitely days I grumbled about having to blog.  There were days when I complained the no one was actually benefitting from what I was saying.  There were days when I thought to myself, “Who cares?”  However, as with life, the good outweighed the bad.  My mom was my biggest advocate for the project.  She encouraged me when I was down.  She complimented my writing, and was truly impressed.  Since she was my biggest supporter, she spread my blog around.  She words for Landmark Company, a banking company out of Columbia, MO.  Her boss, Mark Landrum, came across my blog because of her.  He admired my blog, my cause, and my writing.  There were other instances where people praised my writing and what I was doing. 

As for the future, I am excited by what I have done so far.  I am going to attempt to see if I can get my final blog post, essentially a paper written about why epics should still be in curricula, published on a website devoted to education.  I also think, as a teacher, it helped me think about the importance of texts I will teach in the classroom.  It made me focus on the relevancy and value of a book, and how to give that message to modern students.  I would like to learn more on the actual teaching of these texts.  It would be interesting to see research and units done over each of these texts, as well as anecdotes about student responses.  It is nice to talk about the theory of teaching these texts, but I want to learn about the actual application of them in the classroom.  As for doing this project differently, I would focus on, perhaps, globalization, and how the growth of technology and modernity affects the teaching of these texts.  I would look at the teaching of them not only in our classrooms, but also around the world. 

In summary, the project was a success for me.  I learned about myself, new texts, and how to become a better teacher.  I appreciate William Jewell for allowing me the opportunity to enhance my educational experience.  I am not sure where else a student can have an opportunity to do what I did, as well as other students.  I would also like to thank the people who read my blog and helped me get to do what I love for an entire summer.    

Thank you all for everything,

Cassy

Epics Still Have to Be Taught in the Classroom

Young Adult literature is becoming more and more tangible and exciting for students.  With books like the Hunger Games trilogy, Harry Potter saga, books by Jodi Picoult such as My Sister’s Keeper, and other thrilling stories, it’s no wonder that students are enthralled and captured by these texts.  These grab students’ attention, with no surprise by teachers and parents.  Many responses from adults around students reading these books are something along the lines of, “Well, at least my kid (or student) is reading.  If these books weren’t around he/she wouldn’t even read.”  This is where I want to put my disclaimer in; I am not arguing that these texts should not be taught or read by students.  These books should be in a classroom or school library.  I am an advocate for students to read diverse texts and be enriched by various authors, styles, time periods, literary movements, and genres.  My argument coincides with this philosophy of teaching.  Epics must still be taught in the classroom to our modern students because they provide students opportunities to develop linguistic skills and vocabulary, building of background knowledge, and developing critical thinking skills.

One reason to read these epics is the elevated level of linguistics.  Recall The Epic of Gilgamesh or even the Odyssey.  These texts greet students with unfamiliar vocabulary and syntax.  By reading, analyzing, and evaluating the spectrum of the texts discussed in my blog, students are exposed to diverse punctuation trends, grammatical structures, point of views, voices, and styles force students to examine the history of language.  Dealing with different contexts of language allows students to analyze the social and historical context of language versus the time the epic was written and now.  This is important to our modern students because language is our current context.  Without language, our world and our lives cease to exist.  Without an understanding of language, students do not have an appreciation of the epic’s value. 

When it comes to vocabulary, there have been numerous studies done on the positive effects of a wide vocabulary.  Research shows a direct correlation between vocabulary and reading comprehension.  What that means is that if a student has a large vocabulary, he or she (more often than not) is very successful at reading comprehension.  A paper written by Shane Templeton and John J. Pikulski titled, "The Foundations of Literacy:  The Importance of Vocabulary and Spelling Development," cites research as well as actually teaching vocabulary.  It can be found at the following link:  The Foundations of Literacy.  In this paper, the authors note that, “Research that has investigated the learning and teaching of vocabulary and spelling suggests that we should think about vocabulary development as a process of elaborating and expanding these underlying concepts and the words that represent them.”  With reading epics, vocabulary development and linguistic analysis allows modern students to become better readers as well as aware of the social and historical contexts of language. 

Along with the building of linguistic skills and vocabulary, these epics allow for a building of background knowledge and connection to lives.  As I’ve said in previous blog posts, building background knowledge and making a connection is the number one reading strategy.  Research done over this is monumental.  ASCD’s website allows Internet users free access to the book by Robert Marzano (you really need to read him if you are interested in anything with education), titled Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement.  You can find it at the following link:  The Importance of Background Knowledge.  In it, Marzano offers research and commentary over the correlation between building background knowledge and academic achievement.  He writes, “Enhancing students' academic background knowledge, then, is a worthy goal of public education from a number of perspectives. In fact, given the relationship between academic background knowledge and academic achievement, one can make the case that it should be at the top of any list of interventions intended to enhance student achievement.”  By reading epic poetry, teachers are doing the students a service by providing them with integral background knowledge needed for academic achievement.    

Epic poetry is one of the most influential forms of literature in the entire world.  Few authors (besides Shakespeare—although he was influenced by many epics) can compare to the authors of epic literature.  There is Homer, Milton, Chaucer, Dante, and Virgil.  Their busts should be on the literary Mount Rushmore.  Their stories are the roots on the tree of literature.  These texts are the foundation to which our contemporary stories have grown from.  What would Harry Potter be without the influence of Homer?  As Marzano has said, background knowledge is crucial in academic achievement.  It would be a shame if students were not exposed to texts that can give them an academic advantage by building crucial background knowledge.

Finally, these epics can give students critical thinking skills needed.  For the past nine weeks, I have been preaching the relevance of these epics on modern students.  These stories contain themes of revenge, love, rebellion, and so on, as well as issues of gender, class, and equality.  Students can debate the moral issues found in the Odyssey or discuss the struggle between good and evil in Paradise Lost.  These texts can be used to look at their world and social contexts in a new light.  Students can do activities comparing political leaders and the epic heroes like Gilgamesh.  Is Gilgamesh a good leader in Mesopotamian society?  What about in our current, global society?  Does Dante struggle through the same political issues that someone like Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sherif, has gone through?  Looking at these texts through global contexts and making connections develops our students’ critical thinking skills.  By reading these epics, students critically think about contextual issues like gender politics or themes such as rebellion.  Critical thinking skills are honed and developed further by taking analyses of the texts and transferring them to students’ own historical and social conditions.  Examining diverse societies, through the eyes of a foreign author, nurtures understanding, acceptance, and compassion, capacities needed for competing in a global society today.  Analyzing the contexts of these texts creates an appreciation for how worldviews have changed.  This promotes a deeper understanding of why we are who we are today.

Katniss must not be overthrown for Achilles in our classrooms today.  Odysseus must share the bookshelf alongside Percy Jackson.  For our students to be competitive in our global society there must be a mingling of contemporary and classical literature.  What I am advocating for is an appreciation of classical literature and a spot for them in current curricula.  They can provide our students new avenues of understanding our world by showing them worlds of old.  Epics must be found in classrooms around the nation and even the world.  Without them, we are robbing students of chances for academic success. 

That's my argument, in a nutshell.  If you can call a nutshell a four-page paper with about 1,100 words long.  I'll finish with a final reflection post, but again, I want to thank you for your time and reading!

Cassy 

Why you should teach (and care about) Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost can really be epic (pun intended) for students.  The text becomes an epic story about characters familiar from Biblical stories (which, honestly, many students know about), and revitalize them into heroes that fight bloody battles, fall into temptation, and rise again.  It's different than many epics we've read, even including the Inferno, in that students are probably very familiar with who is in the text and the stories that come from these characters.  Without being focused on controversial topics that might get you in a little trouble if you teach it because of religious reasons, you can make this text really come alive for students.

One problem that does happen (take this as a warning), is that Milton's syntax can be difficult for students.  To be honest, most of these texts have difficult syntax and verbiage, but being challenged is a way to make yourself better, right?  Even though there are these speed bumps, there are ways to examine the text that will resonate for modern students.

Think of the debate that occurs at Pandemonium in Book 2.  Persuasion becomes king in this book.  Students can examine the rhetoric, and compare that to any political debate current world leaders have.  Along with this, Milton does well at revealing darkness that lurks in areas that are seemingly good, like agendas, programs, or plans of action.  

Think about Satan for a moment.  He's the underdog, the one who can't win.  It's not hard to imagine him through a sympathetic lens.  This happens all the time in Hollywood, and was even created in the Romantic era.  Satan is more than just a diabolical, evil being; he's more complex in that.  You could easily make a movie in your head where you can see the misunderstood Satan (not saying that anyone should change their religious/philosophical beliefs about Satan--just imagine the Satan that Milton portrayed) has his story told through a different light.  Milton does an extraordinary job of reexamining Genesis through Revelation through Satan's eyes, which hadn't happened before this text. 

Where themes are concerned, there's obviously areas of modern relevancy:  rebellion, revenge, and uprising are all common in literature, media, and even life today.  It's easy for all of these texts to be looked at and examined that way.  One can compare these themes to situations found around the globe today. 

That's it for Paradise Lost.  For my final post, it'll be cumulative.  There's no exact date, but certainly within the month.  Not to get mushy, but I've enjoyed going over these texts.  It's certainly opened my mind a little bit and expanded my education.  I want to thank everyone who has read these long (probably sometimes boring) summaries and examination of modern students.

Thank you,

Cassy

Paradise Lost: Books X-XII Summary

Book X:   Obviously, God sees what happens with his two creations.  All of Heaven is sad.  God tells everyone that it's okay, it was inevitable.  He explains the plan for His Son to go to earth, die, and give salvation to mankind.  The Son goes down to earth, and Adam and Eve hide when they hear his voice.  The Son asks Adam where he is.  They both appear.  Adam tells the Son that he was hiding because he was frightened and naked.  The Son is a little annoyed, and asks if they ate the fruit.  Adam tries to talk in generalizations, but eventually admits that Eve gave him the fruit and he ate it.  The Son says Adam should have resisted Eve, because he was given the power to rule, not Eve.  The Son curses the serpent, making him crawl on his belly for life.  He punishes Adam and Eve.  He tells Eve childbirth is going to be painful--thanks Eve.  She has to be submissive to her husband as well.  The ground will not be as fertile for Adam as it had been previously.  Let me note here, women get PAINFUL childbirth, while men can't grow as many crops as before.  Sweet.  The Son then gives them clothes and heads back to Heaven.  Meanwhile, Sin and Death are chatting it up, and Sin tells Death that she's pretty sure Satan has succeeded because he hasn't returned yet.  They decide to build a bridge from Hell to earth so Satan can easily find his way back.  Death says he can smell fresh prey on earth.  They start separating the elements of Chaos and build their bridge.  They travel the bridge and meet Satan.  He tells them he's succeeded.  They're all free to run rampant on Earth.  He tells Sin and Death to go to Eden, while he informs the rest of his minions.  Everyone is pumped when Satan returns.  But wait, he and his minions turn into snakes!  A nearby grove has sprung up with fruit the resembles the Forbidden Fruit.  All the snakes have become thirsty and try to eat the fruit.  Problem, it turns to ashes in their mouths.  They all eventually get back to their original shapes, but some make this change every year.  Back in Eden, Sin and Death run wild.  God sees, and blames Adam for these two being in Eden.  He says the Son will get rid of them eventually, but that's later.  The angels sing as God changes the seasons around and the orbits of the planets.  The animals in Eden no longer get along; they kill each other and run away from Adam.  Adam feels terrible.  He says his children will all be cursed.  He eagerly awaits the day he will die.  After a little tantrum, Adam realizes God is right in punishing them.  He still blames Eve.  Eve is upset by this.  She cries at Adam's feet and begs him not to leave her.  Adam says they've blamed each other enough.  Eve says they should now make babies to get back at Satan, and have mankind live on.  They both decide it could have been worse.  He says they should go pray to God.

Book XI:  Adam and Eve both pray.  The Son receives the prayers and presents them to God.  He asks God to forgive mankind.  God says that He will, but Adam and Eve have to leave Eden.  Death will be their punishment, but it will lead to a second birth.  God tells Michael to go banish the two, but be pleasant.  He tells Michael to tell Adam about their future.  Adam and Eve finish praying.  They go to work.  Michael and a few other angels come up to Adam.  Michael tells them they must leave Eden, which comes as a shock to the pair.  Adam worries he won't have access to God outside of Eden, but Michael says not to worry, God has everything taken care of.  Michael shows Adam his future.  Adam is shown the story of Cain and Abel.  Adam is frightened, asking Michael if that is what death is.  Michael says it's one form of death.  Adam sees disease run rampant.  Michael then shows men and women getting married.  Adam is excited by this, but Michael reels him back in, saying these people are descendants of  Cain, so they're actually evil.  He shows Adam a battle scene, caused by the previous marriage he saw.  He is shown many vices, just as lust and greed.  Adam is then shown Noah and the flood.  Adam doesn't want to see the future anymore.  Michael gives him a little hope with the story of Noah and his redemption of man.  Michael tells Adam that after the flood, God will never kill all of mankind until the end of times.

Book XII:  Michael stops for a moment to let Adam collect himself.  He resumes his story, saying that there will be peace after the flood, until a man named Nimrod comes.  He becomes a tyrant.  He will try to build a tower to rival Heaven.  God gets angry at this, and causes everyone to speak different languages so they can no longer understand each other.  God will eventually get so tired of everyone's evilness, that he will select one race to be his.  This new group will come from a man named Abraham, and he will take the people to the promise land of Canaan.  Abraham will leave everything he owns and knows, to be led by God to the Promise Land.  Abraham has many descendants.  Eventually, God's people will make it to Egypt, where they will be enslaved by a pharaoh.  Two brothers, Moses and Aaron, will lead God's people out of Egypt and back to the Promise Land.  The pharaoh and his people will suffer with ten plagues being sent to release God's people.  The pharaoh will follow his slaves, while Moses parts the Red Sea for God's people, the pharaoh and his men will drown.  God will give them the Ten Commandments.  They will get to the Promise Land, but not for long.  Adam asks why God gives so many laws.  There's going to be a lot of sin.  A second king--David--who comes from Abraham's line, will come and protect God's people.  Solomon builds a huge temple to house the Ark, where the Ten Commandments are kept.  Solomon screws it up and the Israelites (God's people) are captured and enslaved by the Babylonians for 70 years.  Everything is okay after the Babylonian imprisonment, until they allow a Roman to rule them.  Michael tells Adam that the Son will become a man--named Jesus--and will face a terrible death for man's sins.  He will rise after three days.  In this, Satan shall be defeated.  Jesus will be with his disciples on earth for a little, but then return to Heaven.  Jesus will come back later to judge the living and the dead.  Adam is happy that his mistakes will be made up for.  Michael says the future of God's people will be difficult.  Bad people will disguise themselves as good, and there will be more evil in the world until Jesus returns.  Adam understands everything.  Michael tells him to go and get Eve.  The angels lead Adam and Eve out of Eden.  They take each other's hands and walk through the garden, out the gates.

That's it, everyone.  Sunday will be my customary post about the text, then I'll have a final, cumulative post about all I've discussed.  I hope you've enjoyed it!

Cassy

Paradise Lost: Books VII-IX Summary

Book VII:  Adam and Eve have soaked up what Raphael has said.  Adam wants to know more, especially about the creation of the world.  He asks Raphael how and why God created the earth.  Raphael says he'll tell him, but it will be hard to explain.  He tells Adam that knowledge must be rationed like food, or else you could get sick.  Raphael starts his next story.  God saw Satan fall and tells JC he will create another world.  God said he will make one man to make the entire race, but he can't live in Heaven.  God lets His Son create the world.  He works around Chaos to create the earth.  He makes light--you know, "Let there be light," on the first day.  The second day he makes an atmosphere to go between earth and space.  The third day he creates land and sea, along with vegetation.  The fourth day he makes the sun, moon, and stars, as well as seasons.  On the fifth day, reptiles, whales, and birds are made as well as other animals which belong in the water.  The sixth day, land mammals are made, as well as insects and other vermin.  Finally, God says let's make man in our image.  He also makes Eve.  He puts them in Eden to do whatever they wish except eat from the Tree of Knowledge.  They all go back to Heaven, and on the seventh day, they rejoice.  Raphael finishes his story and says, Adam, are you done questioning me?

Book VIII:   Adam has one more question:  why do stars and planets move?  Eve gets up, not able to handle their conversation.  Raphael tells Adam that's really none of his business; God wills it that way so it is.  Adam is satisfied by this answer.  Now it's Adam's turn to tell some stories.  He's going to tell Raphael about his earliest memories.  Adam says he woke up and looked up to Heaven, then checked out his surroundings.  He walked around and found out he could speak and name things.  He didn't really know who he was though.  He fell asleep and had a dream.  A celestial being came to him and took him to Eden.  He awoke there.  The same celestial being came forward and told Adam he's the one who created everything.   He said the usual:  this place is all yours, just don't eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.  If you eat that, you'll be mortal and exiled from Eden.  After God finishes, the animals come up to Adam in pairs.  He names them.  He realizes he's alone.  God says, you have all of these animals, you're not alone.  They have a small chat about how perfect God is, then He creates Eve.  Adam instantly loves Eve.  Raphael tells Adam not to be too focused on her beauty.  Eve is worthy of Adam's love but not his "subjection."  Sweet, Raphael.  Adam says don't worry, Raphael.  He tells Adam it's time to go back to Heaven.  He reminds Adam to keep obeying God and resist temptation.  They say goodbye, and Raphael returns to Heaven.

Book IX:  Milton tells his readers that things are about to take a turn for the worse.  No more happy stories, but now we'll discuss tragedy.  The sun sets and at night, Satan comes, hell-bent (haha, pun intended) on destroying man.  There's a river that flows underground and comes to a fountain in Paradise.  This is how Satan gets back in.  He decides to be a snake to corrupt Adam and Eve.  Satan goes on a diatribe about how he can't enjoy earth, so he wants to make everyone else depressed.  He waits until dawn.  When the sun rises, Eve suggests they divide their labor.  Adam says you can take some time for yourself, Eve, but he feels a little trepidation.  He reminds Eve that Satan is lurking, and that they're better off hanging out together.  Eve is a little annoyed that Adam doubts her.  Eve says she can handle herself.  She says she'll come back by noon.  Satan is waiting for Eve, hoping she would be alone, and she is.  Satan is astonished by her beauty.  He moves toward Eve.  He talks to her.  She's surprised, thinking that animals couldn't talk.  He responds, flattering her, by saying he used to be dumb like other animals, but he saw a piece of fruit that looked delicious.  He ate some and now he can talk and critically think.  Eve is impressed.  She asks which tree is it, and he leads her to it.  Eve tells Satan, not knowing it's him, that she's not allowed to eat from it.  Satan has to be more persuasive.  He tells her that the fruit won't kill her.  God would never hurt her.  She's only forbidden to eat from it so God can keep her ignorant.  If she eats the fruit, Satan says, she'll become godlike.  Eve is tricked.  She's hungry and tempted.  She has a little bit of an internal dialogue, worried about eating the fruit, but she eats it.  She decides that Adam should eat it, too.  Adam actually has gone in search of Eve and finds her at the Tree.  Eve gives him the fruit, telling him to eat some of it.  Adam is none too happy.  He can't believe it, but he loves Eve too much to let her go down without him.  Eve uses the same mantra Satan used on her.  Adam eats it.  They now feel lust for the first time.  They have sex and fall asleep.  When they wakeup, they feel hungover.  They now realize they are naked.  They've lost their innocence.  They pick up some fig leaves to cover themselves up.  They sit and cry, while they feel emotions like anger and hate.  They spend the rest of the day bickering and blaming each other.

That's it for today.  Tomorrow will be the last summary!

Cassy