Before the first page is turned in Invisible Man, the title portrays a core theme. Readers are quick to understand that the narrator is not actually invisible, just invisible in society due to his skin color. Also, the narrator experienced concealed themes as he was a part of many instances of subconscious racial prejudice. He also saw how time and time again the characters he met along the way fit into their classic racial roles, dominated by racial prejudice and oppression against African Americans. These ideas can be found throughout the book within instances of strong white and black imagery that further the major theme: prejudice and racism in America.
The idea becomes quickly apparent that the narrator is living in a world that has been completely dominated by whites. He lives in a basement of an all white building, with bright white lights illuminating his room. he remarks that these bright white lights “confirms my reality, gives birth to my form,” in regards to the narrator being invisible. The white lights show he is human, “a man of substance, of flesh, and bone, fiber and liquids.” The bright white lights serve as white imagery that provides a metaphor to how his life and future experiences will only come under the white race’s power and authority.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Grammar Blog #7
After elementary school breezed by, I thought I was an excellent student, a math wiz, and on my way to play professional basketball. Similar to many students entering junior high, I quickly found my new school’s experiences to be eye opening. I was not going to play professional basketball, but this was not the high on the list of concerns. My grades were low, and for the first time I saw an F on my report card. This F was also followed by D’s and C’s. To say the least, my parents were not pleased. I just thought that since these grades did not count, there was not very much to worry about, but they did affect me in a more dramatic way than I imagined.
Midway through my seventh grade year the school held basketball tryouts, and despite being just as skilled as the best players, I failed to make the basketball team. In seventh grade, the first year of junior high, not making the basketball team was devastating. The damage of not making the team had very little to do with learning basketball skills, but rather the thought of being shunned from my fellow classmates and friends in a new school. Throughout this unhappy experience, I felt very little support or compassion from my teachers, as the six teachers I had did not have a clue about what was happening in my life. They never took the time to get to know me, or to understand my actions.
Brushstrokes:
I thought I was an excellent student, a math wiz, and on my way to play professional basketball, after elementary school breezed by. [Participle] Similar to many students entering junior high, I quickly found my new school’s experiences, horrifying and torturous, to be eye opening. [Absolute]. I was not going to play professional basketball, but this was not the high on the list of concerns. My grades were low and for the first time I saw an F on my report card. This F was also followed by D’s and C’s. To say the least, my parents, the masters graduates, were not pleased. [Appositive] I just thought that since these grades did not count, there was not very much to worry about, but they did affect me in a way, more dramatic than I imagined.
Midway through my seventh grade year the school held basketball tryouts, and despite being just as skilled as the best players, I failed to make the basketball team. [Participle]. In seventh grade, the first year of junior high, not making the basketball team was devastating. [Appositive] The damage of not making the team had very little to do with learning basketball skills, but rather the thought of being shunned from my fellow classmates and friends in a new school. Throughout this ult experience, difficult and unhappy, I felt very little support or compassion from my teachers, as the six teachers I had did not have a clue about what was happening in my life. [Adjectives Out of Order]. Never taking the time to get to know me, or to understand my actions, is how my teachers behaved. [Participle]
*I did not know how to get bold to work, but I put the brushstroke at the end of the sentence.
Midway through my seventh grade year the school held basketball tryouts, and despite being just as skilled as the best players, I failed to make the basketball team. In seventh grade, the first year of junior high, not making the basketball team was devastating. The damage of not making the team had very little to do with learning basketball skills, but rather the thought of being shunned from my fellow classmates and friends in a new school. Throughout this unhappy experience, I felt very little support or compassion from my teachers, as the six teachers I had did not have a clue about what was happening in my life. They never took the time to get to know me, or to understand my actions.
Brushstrokes:
I thought I was an excellent student, a math wiz, and on my way to play professional basketball, after elementary school breezed by. [Participle] Similar to many students entering junior high, I quickly found my new school’s experiences, horrifying and torturous, to be eye opening. [Absolute]. I was not going to play professional basketball, but this was not the high on the list of concerns. My grades were low and for the first time I saw an F on my report card. This F was also followed by D’s and C’s. To say the least, my parents, the masters graduates, were not pleased. [Appositive] I just thought that since these grades did not count, there was not very much to worry about, but they did affect me in a way, more dramatic than I imagined.
Midway through my seventh grade year the school held basketball tryouts, and despite being just as skilled as the best players, I failed to make the basketball team. [Participle]. In seventh grade, the first year of junior high, not making the basketball team was devastating. [Appositive] The damage of not making the team had very little to do with learning basketball skills, but rather the thought of being shunned from my fellow classmates and friends in a new school. Throughout this ult experience, difficult and unhappy, I felt very little support or compassion from my teachers, as the six teachers I had did not have a clue about what was happening in my life. [Adjectives Out of Order]. Never taking the time to get to know me, or to understand my actions, is how my teachers behaved. [Participle]
*I did not know how to get bold to work, but I put the brushstroke at the end of the sentence.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Grammar Blog #6
So, I just got the email that professor Monroe had found several errors in recent newspaper articles. This information excites me as it would help me out tremendously with me scrap book which is lacking material right now. But, this email was also discouraging. Although I feel that I am learning about grammar rules, I still have so much trouble finding them.
The problem I am having isn’t that I do not know the rules, it is that I tend to look for one grammar rule and I do not end up finding it. Meanwhile, I overlook all many of the other potential errors that may be in the article or story.
I enjoyed the mini lesson on Wednesday, and I have noticed myself looking for opening clauses. The lesson was great because it showed examples in printed writing along with showing the correct punctuation for the rule. This made it very easy to see what the rule was. I hope in the future that mini lessons like this help me to look for specific grammar errors in print.
As of right now, I am having trouble finding more than one or two errors in the Daily Evergreen. Our class gives the Daily Evergreen a lot of grief, but in my opinion they actually do a pretty good job, especially if the Evergreen is compared to the publication Lana showed us.
Although I am having some difficulties, I am sure that if I give my self enough time that I will be able to get the scrapbook done, (even though it may not look very pretty).
What kind of strategies do you use to find grammar mistakes and errors?
The problem I am having isn’t that I do not know the rules, it is that I tend to look for one grammar rule and I do not end up finding it. Meanwhile, I overlook all many of the other potential errors that may be in the article or story.
I enjoyed the mini lesson on Wednesday, and I have noticed myself looking for opening clauses. The lesson was great because it showed examples in printed writing along with showing the correct punctuation for the rule. This made it very easy to see what the rule was. I hope in the future that mini lessons like this help me to look for specific grammar errors in print.
As of right now, I am having trouble finding more than one or two errors in the Daily Evergreen. Our class gives the Daily Evergreen a lot of grief, but in my opinion they actually do a pretty good job, especially if the Evergreen is compared to the publication Lana showed us.
Although I am having some difficulties, I am sure that if I give my self enough time that I will be able to get the scrapbook done, (even though it may not look very pretty).
What kind of strategies do you use to find grammar mistakes and errors?
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Grammar Blog #5
We had quite the discussion this week in English 326. Of course it was about grammar, but what made it interesting was the idea of not teaching grammar, instead teach writing first. Although this idea does work on paper, it would be interesting to see it in a major educational system. I also am partial to the way I was taught because I feel it has worked pretty well so far. When I write I think about grammar very little, and I usually allow the punctuation come to me. But, I do know that several times I can be incorrect when I do punctuate, but I rely on Microsoft Word and my decent punctuating skills to get me through my papers.
Another reason one might argue that their punctuation is correct is because we see a trend of poor punctuation everywhere. While texting or on facebook, twitter, and myspace, poor punctuating and grammar is looked at as ok, and even cool sometimes.
But it’s not just social networking or texting that we see poor grammar, it’s also in articles and stories that we read everyday. This proves that many of the rules that we see being broken are no necessarily rules, but rather guidelines. Many professional writers chose to break these guidelines to make their writing more enjoyable to read and I like it. Also, I rarely feel that I notice these rules being broken to the point where it takes away my enjoyment to what I am reading. But, I can understand that students would have trouble learning the correct rules because the writing they see does not typically follow theses rules.
Do you think that the idea of not teaching punctuation till later can be translated into secondary education?
Another reason one might argue that their punctuation is correct is because we see a trend of poor punctuation everywhere. While texting or on facebook, twitter, and myspace, poor punctuating and grammar is looked at as ok, and even cool sometimes.
But it’s not just social networking or texting that we see poor grammar, it’s also in articles and stories that we read everyday. This proves that many of the rules that we see being broken are no necessarily rules, but rather guidelines. Many professional writers chose to break these guidelines to make their writing more enjoyable to read and I like it. Also, I rarely feel that I notice these rules being broken to the point where it takes away my enjoyment to what I am reading. But, I can understand that students would have trouble learning the correct rules because the writing they see does not typically follow theses rules.
Do you think that the idea of not teaching punctuation till later can be translated into secondary education?
Friday, September 25, 2009
Grammar Blog #4
So ends another week of school, and of two meetings of English 326. I am enjoying the pace that the class is going so far, but I feel that harder times and larger workloads (from this class and others) are just around the corner. This week’s work load was very moderate, with only a few readings, but the two classes were both important.
On Monday we went over prepositional phrases and transitive and intransitive verbs. Prepositional phrases have always been easy for me, as I feel they are for most people, because it only requires looking for a key word such as: out, over, behind, etc. Intransitive and transitive verbs are still giving me a few problems, because they don’t always follow the examples that we have on our sheets. I feel like I can get them right about 75% of the time, but I think I understand them more and more every day.
The Socratic Circle was more important event of the week as we are trying to figure out what works best. Last week we tried the two circles where one circle still couldn’t talk, and this week we tried one big circle with open discussion. I found this to be an improvement over the two circles because it forced me to pay attention most of the time, but I still had several problems with it. My first problem was that although we are supposed to be having a conversation with the whole class I felt it was generally half the class talking and half listening and only making one or two comments. I know this because I was one of the students only making one or two comments, and yes, I did have more to say. I feel that students like me like to wait until they can speak without being interrupted, but this can be very difficult to do with big groups.
Another issue that makes the whole class discussion difficult is the long pauses after someone speaks. These pauses are caused because students feel they have something to say, but they also know that at least five other students want to speak, so they wait, awkwardly, not sure if they should speak.
The last problem I had with the discussion was that although Professor Monore was not speaking she sat in the front of the classroom with no students around her. Now, this is not a criticism towards Professor Monore, I am only mentioning it because I noticed this completely changed the way I went about saying things. When I commented I wanted to say things that would make the professor happy, and I also noticed I was looking directly at Professor Monore when I spoke, and I failed to look around the room. I doubt this was a problem with other students, but it did cause me to act differently.
I like discussions of any sort, even big group discussions as they are so much better than many of my other classes where the teacher lectures about the most irrelevant topics. The big group discussion does work, it does allow everyone to talk and allows everyone to listen and understand each other as a group.
On Monday we went over prepositional phrases and transitive and intransitive verbs. Prepositional phrases have always been easy for me, as I feel they are for most people, because it only requires looking for a key word such as: out, over, behind, etc. Intransitive and transitive verbs are still giving me a few problems, because they don’t always follow the examples that we have on our sheets. I feel like I can get them right about 75% of the time, but I think I understand them more and more every day.
The Socratic Circle was more important event of the week as we are trying to figure out what works best. Last week we tried the two circles where one circle still couldn’t talk, and this week we tried one big circle with open discussion. I found this to be an improvement over the two circles because it forced me to pay attention most of the time, but I still had several problems with it. My first problem was that although we are supposed to be having a conversation with the whole class I felt it was generally half the class talking and half listening and only making one or two comments. I know this because I was one of the students only making one or two comments, and yes, I did have more to say. I feel that students like me like to wait until they can speak without being interrupted, but this can be very difficult to do with big groups.
Another issue that makes the whole class discussion difficult is the long pauses after someone speaks. These pauses are caused because students feel they have something to say, but they also know that at least five other students want to speak, so they wait, awkwardly, not sure if they should speak.
The last problem I had with the discussion was that although Professor Monore was not speaking she sat in the front of the classroom with no students around her. Now, this is not a criticism towards Professor Monore, I am only mentioning it because I noticed this completely changed the way I went about saying things. When I commented I wanted to say things that would make the professor happy, and I also noticed I was looking directly at Professor Monore when I spoke, and I failed to look around the room. I doubt this was a problem with other students, but it did cause me to act differently.
I like discussions of any sort, even big group discussions as they are so much better than many of my other classes where the teacher lectures about the most irrelevant topics. The big group discussion does work, it does allow everyone to talk and allows everyone to listen and understand each other as a group.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Grammar Blog #3
It’s already the fifth week of school, and I am so happy. Mostly happy because I am an English major and that means I don’t have any tests! Anyway, the last week we have done several new things in grammar class including the Socratic Circle and sentence structure exercises.
Although the Socratic Circle was not as exciting as the uses of the F- word, it was still a good learning lesson. I learned that I didn’t like it. When I sat on the outside I felt like I had important things to say, but by the time I was on the inside my incredibly short attention span forced me to stop paying attention. The Socrates Circle is sometimes referred to as a fish bowl, unfortunately the fish bowl allowed my short attention span to resemble a gold fish. I also found that the other problem with the Socrates Circle was that sometimes a few students can take over the group and not allow others to talk. This is why I have always preferred small groups. I find that small groups give students more face to face interaction and forces students to pay attention.
Also the last week we worked with poetry magnets to learn about sentence structure. I must say this is one of the most entertaining English exercises I have ever done, and it will be used frequently in my classroom. Although my experience may have been more fun then other classmates as me and Carley made a country song that included entertaining lines such as, “Ugly woman are the reason I kill myself.” Overall along with being entertaining the learning experience was excellent as well. I feel like I understand direct objects, transitive verbs, and intransitive verbs a little better, and with practice I think I can completely understand them.
Although I said that I am beginning to understand direct objects, intransitive verbs, and transitive verbs a little better, I am still not confident enough to try to explain them in this blog (plus our last class was on Wednesday, and I tend to not think about school over the weekend), but does anyone have any methods they use to help memorize these and other grammar rules?
Although the Socratic Circle was not as exciting as the uses of the F- word, it was still a good learning lesson. I learned that I didn’t like it. When I sat on the outside I felt like I had important things to say, but by the time I was on the inside my incredibly short attention span forced me to stop paying attention. The Socrates Circle is sometimes referred to as a fish bowl, unfortunately the fish bowl allowed my short attention span to resemble a gold fish. I also found that the other problem with the Socrates Circle was that sometimes a few students can take over the group and not allow others to talk. This is why I have always preferred small groups. I find that small groups give students more face to face interaction and forces students to pay attention.
Also the last week we worked with poetry magnets to learn about sentence structure. I must say this is one of the most entertaining English exercises I have ever done, and it will be used frequently in my classroom. Although my experience may have been more fun then other classmates as me and Carley made a country song that included entertaining lines such as, “Ugly woman are the reason I kill myself.” Overall along with being entertaining the learning experience was excellent as well. I feel like I understand direct objects, transitive verbs, and intransitive verbs a little better, and with practice I think I can completely understand them.
Although I said that I am beginning to understand direct objects, intransitive verbs, and transitive verbs a little better, I am still not confident enough to try to explain them in this blog (plus our last class was on Wednesday, and I tend to not think about school over the weekend), but does anyone have any methods they use to help memorize these and other grammar rules?
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Blog #2
Grammar has always been something I have wanted to, and needed to know more of in order to be a decent English major when I graduate. It’s almost scary for me to think that in a year I will be teaching. The fear does not come from any lack of confidence in my teaching, but comes from my lack of grammar knowledge. At this point I am fearful that although I know what is correct, I still have difficulty explaining the reasons behind the rule. So, after three weeks of grammar class what have I learned? Well to be honest I feel it is still too soon to ask that question in a fifteen week semester, but there are a few new pieces of grammar I have picked up.
My biggest issue has always been commas. One rule we have discussed is: when in doubt, leave it out. I like this rule as it helps my papers flow smoother with fewer commas. But, like many English rules this rule is not really a rule, it’s just a guideline. This is where I and many high school students become very confused.
Apostrophes that show possession are also an area in which I have always struggled. Just by doing the house style assignment I feel like I have learned and noticed things that I have not noticed before regarded apostrophes. Again, I noticed that although there are rules, clearly people follow them differently. In Road & Track I found many inconsistencies with the apostrophes. With the many incorrect grammar mistakes with apostrophes, it’s obvious why someone would have a difficult time understand apostrophes.
Overall, by the end of the semester I hope to be able to explain grammar rules to my students efficiently enough that they understand me. I also hope to find rules that are concrete rules. This class is important for me and my future job, so I hope to learn as much as I can about grammar.
Question: Does Microsoft Word help or hinder grammar learning?
My biggest issue has always been commas. One rule we have discussed is: when in doubt, leave it out. I like this rule as it helps my papers flow smoother with fewer commas. But, like many English rules this rule is not really a rule, it’s just a guideline. This is where I and many high school students become very confused.
Apostrophes that show possession are also an area in which I have always struggled. Just by doing the house style assignment I feel like I have learned and noticed things that I have not noticed before regarded apostrophes. Again, I noticed that although there are rules, clearly people follow them differently. In Road & Track I found many inconsistencies with the apostrophes. With the many incorrect grammar mistakes with apostrophes, it’s obvious why someone would have a difficult time understand apostrophes.
Overall, by the end of the semester I hope to be able to explain grammar rules to my students efficiently enough that they understand me. I also hope to find rules that are concrete rules. This class is important for me and my future job, so I hope to learn as much as I can about grammar.
Question: Does Microsoft Word help or hinder grammar learning?
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