Chapter 6: The Business of Fancydancing and Postmodern Native Amercia

            Goebel rounds out the book with Sherman Alexie’s collection of poetry entitled, The Business of Fancydancing.  Alexie appears to be the premiere Native author writing today.  No matter where I go in this country, when I mention that I live and teach on a reservation, at least one person asks if I have read any of his work.  Embarrassingly, I have not prior to this study, but he is on my ‘wish list’ on amazon.

            Alexie’s work would be a perfect read for students of any culture because, “…the book continually challenges stereotypes, both malevolent and benign, and complicates simple perspectives of Native peoples” (p. 143).  In some brief follow-up research after this chapter, I found that Alexie balances his work between traditional stories and contemporary issues.  He writes about what it is like growing up on a reservation in today’s world which many Native children can relate to.  But teens of all cultures can understand the struggles of freedom, impending life choices, and dedication to family.  One doesn’t have to grow up on a reservation to relate to the characters in Alexie’s poems and stories.

            To wrap up his study on how to teach Native American literature, Goebel provides a glaring look into how we view multicultural texts in our current educational system:

            “When we speak of Shakespeare or Hemingway, there is an implicit recognition of craft, or the                      artistry of the writer.  When we look at multicultural literature however, we often focus on issues                    of ethnicity to the exclusion of aesthetics.  Such an approach carries the hidden curricular                              message that, while worth of anthropological study, Native American literature is not really art.” 

             (p. 143)

Maybe I’m an idealist, a dreamer, a revolutionary, but I really hope that someday we can look at literature from all the cultural groups that have influenced our current society and read them as American literature and not separate them by cultural parameters. 

            All students should receive well rounded instruction in literature.  For groups that have been historically marginalized, it is vital that their literature is taught on par with literature with the culture of power.  We can’t make up for centuries of atrocities, but literature is a fine place to start.

Chapter 5: Ceremony and Healing Twentieth-Century America

     As I approach the end of the book, I realize that often times my perception of the book is sometimes misguided.  I often feel frustrated that what the author Bruce Goebel discusses is irrelevant to my needs.  He presents how to incorporate Native American literature to non-Native students.  In my frustration, I missed the overall value of the activities that he describes.

     In this chapter he maps out a read, paired selection, reread activity based around the novel Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko.  Unlike some of the other pieces of literature described in the book, this novel is set in modern times.  “Haunted by the sterile logic of Western society and tempted by the drunken escape of his fellow veterans [military], Tayo instead chooses to carry out his late uncle’s dreams of raising cattle that are crossbred or survival in the harsh Southwest” (p. 100).

     By blending historical and modern aspects, students are given a glimpse into real world issues that many Native American students face today.  Goebel makes a point that is so valuable, that I felt silly for not picking up on it before.  He stresses that along with the historical pieces of literature, teachers should also include these modern stories to show the balance between traditional and contemporary ways of life.

     Just when I think that I am getting the hang of this teaching thing…

Theory into Practice

     I was bad yesterday.  Ok, well, 'bad' in the sense that I actively engaged in a discussion that caused my students to question everything about our reading curriculum.

     Along with this course, I am taking LLSS 532, The Reading Process.  This past week we have been focusing on critical literacy and I found myself reflecting on Critical Race Theory.  This aligned with my students' reading selection of 'Go West!' an expository piece about how railroads helped settle the desolate southwest...

     We started a discussion about how inaccurate that statement is.  One student even pointed out that the events in the article occurred after their ancestors began settling near Abiquiu and Cimarron.  This then led to a search through our textbooks to take inventory of who is portrayed in the stories.  Sadly, the students were not surprised that none of our main selections contained Native American characters.  There was one paired selection, The Storytelling Stone, and that was it.

     This coming week we will be conducing research into pieces of literature that have Native characters that we could possibly read in place of the basal curriculum.  Our major hurdle is convincing the principal and the instructional coaches.

Chapter 4: Fools Crow and the Nineteenth-Century Blackfeet, pt. II

            Though indirectly, this chapter’s discussion of Fool’s Crow has brought up an issue that I have been struggling with since becoming a teacher in Dulce over four years ago.

            Fool’s Crow is a piece of literature that is historical fiction.  Though the characters and plot are made up, it is based on actual events.  One of these events is the Baker Massacre that occurred on January 23, 1870.  I have linked the Wikipedia page above because I feel it isn't appropriate at this time to review the events of that horrific day.

            The story, like many other pieces of Native American literature deal with issues of subjugation, assimilation, and many other atrocities committed by the culture of power since first contact in 1492.  These are topics that should never be ignored, nor glossed over, by teachers of students of any culture.  Here in lies my issue as a teacher of Native students.  Who am I?

            As many of you know, I am Anglo.  Born in Aspinwall and raised in the Borough of Etna along the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh, PA.  I come from a tight knit blue collar, Irish family.  My family came to this country at the start of the 1900's, well after the Jicarilla Reservation was established in 1887.  However, I am still perceived as a member of the culture that committed the acts briefly mentioned above.  That is not my issue.  This is something that I have accepted as an inevitability, and moved on from the perceptions of my background.  My issue is who am I?

            Though I do not associate with the culture of power, I am perceived to be, so who am I to teach literature that discusses these topics?  I have only been living on the reservation for four years so I only have a snapshot of the lives of my students, so who am I to lead a discussion about the hardships of reservation life?  I have had no family members that have struggled with addiction, so who am I to present poetry and literature that addresses these problems?

            These are highly sensitive topics that need to be addressed.  I would be doing my students a disservice if I ignored them.  But who am I to do so?  What right do I have?  Through the years I have made friends with and discussed my concerns with tribal members who understand my issue.  The most common answer I receive is that these things should be discussed at home, but not ignored in school.  There is no clear cut answer to this issue.  I will just continue to do the best that I can for my students and hopefully come to an understanding on my role as an educator.

Chapter 4: Fools Crow and the Nineteenth-Century Blackfeet, pt. I

            Due to the length of this chapter and the importance of the content that it contains, I have decided to split it up into two segments.

            The chapter begins with the author providing an example of a piece of Native American literature that he uses quite frequently, Fools Crow by James Welch.  This novel is a piece of historical fiction that provides a glimpse into how life was like for the Blackfeet and their neighboring tribes during the nineteenth century.  During Goebel’s summary of the book, I skipped a lot.  I plan on reading the book when the semester ends and I hate spoilers.  If you would like to read a summary, one can be found here.

            Instead of what the novel is about, I chose to focus on the novel’s intent.  The book reflected heavily on themes common throughout many Native American texts.  The most important portrayed is that, “…being an adult means accepting responsibility for one’s own actions, taking a role in civic leadership, and giving back to one’s community” (48).

            This is a notion that not many outsiders to Native communities may be familiar with.  The way Hollywood has portrayed Native communities and customs has been off the mark to say the least.  Goebel reminds the reader that they should discuss issues of masculinity and warfare in regards to Blackfoot traditions because of movies and television.  In fact, a point that was made that caught me by surprise was that except in extreme situations, individuals were not forced to bend to the opinion of the chief or the majority.  Coming from a culture where we elect our representatives and then are at their mercy, I found this to be fantastic while becoming overwhelmed with jealous rage.

            Goebel also reminds the reader that student’s should be allowed to apply their own understanding and experiences to Native American literature so as to draw comparisons.  To me, this reaffirms the point that Native literature should not be viewed as a separate entity that we read in November, but a piece of American literature.  Period.

            The author mentions that Fools Crow, like most Native literature, is a gateway to issues such as manifest destiny, racism and the (im)morality of warfare.  In my next post I will focus on how literature can and should be used to address sensitive subjects such as these. 

Chapter 3: Early Native American Poetry

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

            To start my post about early Native American poetry, I decided to share my all-time favorite poem by William Carlos Williams.  This poem frustrated so many of my friends in high school, yet I am as entranced, dumbfounded, and filled with excitement today as I was over a decade ago.

            I still cannot understand Williams’ intent, and I don’t think that I want to.  I tend to shy away from online analyses because I enjoy the mystery in trying to unravel the imagery.

            One of the reasons behind my adoration for this poem is because of the meaning I find each time I read it.  My understanding tends to vary depending on my mood, my surroundings and other factors.  Perhaps though, the most significant issue related to this poem is the memory I have of debating it with my mother.

            We are very similar my mother and I, but we sharply disagreed when it came to this poem.  I remember the satisfaction in flustering her with my interpretation and her walking away because for the first time, I felt like she viewed my as an intellectual adult.  Since then she has ‘schooled’ me multiple times on other poems and works of art, but the memory of that debate is what makes this poem special.  Early Native American poetry is rooted in meaning making events such as this but, “…no body of American literature receives less attention in our classrooms.” (29)

            Poems, like songs, carry spiritual, religious and cultural meanings. Particular tribal groups would create and use poems for specific purposes.  Goebel provides a list of categories that many of these poems fit into:

·       Religious songs

·       Hunting songs

·       Medicine songs

·       Dream songs

·       Lullabies

·       Gambling/game songs

·       Personal achievement songs

·       Love songs

·       War songs

·       Social dance songs

·       Honor songs (30)

The author then goes on to express various ideas on how to read Native American poetry for non-native classrooms. 

            As a teacher in a Jicarilla Apache school, introducing the meaning behind the poems may appear to be a task that carries little value as the students are well aware of what the poems are used for.

            An idea that I did take away from this section was an activity that looked into the elements found in Native American poetry.  Some of the elements listed below can be found independently or with others depending upon the meaning or the author’s intent.  The most common elements are:

·       Repetition and parallel structure

·       Concrete natural images

·       Conciseness of sentence length and length o song

·       Frequently reflect a spiritual commitment, even in humorous songs

·       Imply a tribal, public audience that already understands context

·       Avoid the personal intellectualizing of much European and American poetry (33).

            At this time, I must be completely honest.  Until this chapter, I was grossly unaware of culturally relevant poetry as a form of literature that could be used in my instruction; partly because I have little to no exposure to it and partly because of my ignorance to its existence.  The chapter ends with a quote that sums up my sheepish feelings, “If you have an idea in mind of what ‘Indian Literature’ is, I suggest you reconsider” – Wendy Rose (37)

Chapter 2 - First Encounters and the Language of Race

This chapter, as you can probably surmise from the title, deals with the ever controversial Christopher Columbus and his policy of eradication and subjugation. 

It’s true that his policies and the policies that followed directly influence my students today; however, I found that this chapter dealt more with the definition of ‘race’ and Columbus and his perception in society than impact on language and reading, so I have chosen not to spend too much time on it in this blog.  The notes I took from this section belong in a history blog more than a literacy-oriented web log.

The following chapter on Native American poetry is much more interesting and relevant, so I will focus more on that in the next posting.

Chapter 1 Teaching Native American Literature: Reflections and Responsibilities

In this chapter, Goebel presents a series of questions that all teachers must ask before they introduce Native American literature into their classroom.  The questions are grouped into sections such as, “Why do you want to teach Native American Literature?”, “How should I select appropriate Native American Literature for the classroom?”, and “What are my responsibilities in the classroom when teaching Native American Literature?”.

The most important piece I took from this chapter is the re emphasis on the idea that, “…educators need to do some serious self-reflection about their own motives and beliefs” (3).  If I were to start using Native texts just because my students are Jicarilla Apache, I would be way off the mark on what I could actually accomplish.  My motivations have always been rooted in exposing my students to the stories of their cultural ancestors as well as stories from other tribal groups in the area.

By introducing other tribes’ stories, a discussion could occur to show that though they are unique individuals growing up in Dulce, they are not alone on this reservation, and there are similar themes among the stories groups of people throughout the country.

An issue that I can see going forward with this book is its intended audience.  The author appears to be writing this guide for teachers of non-Native students, who want to introduce Native American literature into their classrooms.  In this first chapter, Goebel spent time reiterating the point that a teacher must first understand a culture before introducing their literature.  This is my 5th year in Dulce Elementary and I do not claim to be an expert on the cultural history on the tribe.  I do feel that through my interactions with the tribal elders and various community members that I may accurately align literature to the needs and beliefs of my students.

Introductions

     First, thank you for taking the time to read these entries.  I am looking forward to your comments, concerns, criticisms, whatever it is that you would like to share with me.  This is a blog that I have used for two previous courses.  I included a picture of the cover of the book as a guide point for you to know that anything below the picture is from another class.

     For the past five years, I have lived and worked on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation in Dulce, NM.  My first four years were spent as a first grade teacher and this year I have moved up to the 'big kids hallway' and am teaching third grade.  I am originally from Pittsburgh, PA and come from a family of Irish immigrants.  Though I have lived in the community for a number of years, I will always be a cultural outsider. 

     Part of my overreaching goals as a teacher is to try and include as much culturally relevant and appropriate materials into my reading instruction.  This has proved to be a difficult task to undertake.  As the author of my text Bruce A. Goebel states in the introduction, "...crossing cultures is not always easy" (xi).  It is difficult but I  feel that it is necessary.

     I chose this text in the hopes of gaining insight and understanding about how Native American literature can be viewed from an instructional standpoint not only for myself, but for y students own cultural understanding.

     As the reading teacher for three third grade classes, I have been struggling with meaning making this first 9 week period because we utilize what I consider to be inconsiderate texts (citation to follow).  Before I can even begin to introduce the Common Core skill of the instructional period, I must first activate background knowledge that doesn't always exist.

     It is my hope that at the end of this book I will have a better understanding of how to utilize Native texts  in my instruction as well as developing some tips and tricks as to introducing m students to the aesthetic side of reading.

LLSS 528 - Studies in Reading and Literature for Teachers

Conclusions

Afterword by Jeff Rovin

               This brief, two page, conclusion attempts to wrap up the major points made in the collection of essays about the Batman TV show.  I feel as if I must bring some closure, albeit brief, to this blog.  Looking back through my previous posts, I find one common theme jumping out at me, the influence that we allow digital media to have over us.  It is neither a positive, nor a negative issue, but when we sit down in front of the television, or log on to our favorite websites, we are looking to escape in some way the everyday hustle and bustle.  Though we submit to media repeatedly throughout the day, we have the choice to not let it consume or control us.  Our students who were born and raised in this era need direct instruction and modeling on how to separate the fantasy from reality while maintaining fluency in all aspects of their lives.

Jumping the Bat-Shark: The Demise of Batman and "Some Days You Just Can't Get Rid of a Bomb ": The Legacy of Batman

Jumping the Bat-Shark: The Demise of Batman by Will Murray

               At the completion of this essay I must inevitably file it under, ‘interesting for a Batman fan, irrelevant for the digital culture of today’.  The entire essay focuses on the last season of the TV show and how due to budget cuts, suffered a slow and painful descent into ridiculous obscurity.  At the writing of this blog post, I am having difficulties drawing parallels or similarities with digital texts that are available today.  As an outsider looking in on the digital natives culture, I have a difficult time seeing an end to the culture that has been created around digital texts and media.

"Some Days You Just Can’t Get Rid of a Bomb”: The Legacy of Batman by Paul Kupperberg

               In this final full essay, Kupperberg revisits a lot of the points stressed throughout the other 13 essays.  Batman, in all its forms, still manages to influence pop culture today just as much as it did almost 50 years ago.  While POW! WHAM! SMASH! has slowly been removed from our lexicon, some of the issues that the creators and producers of the show had to overcome are still around today.

               The greatest example was the debate over the influence of comic books on the youth of the time.  In the 1940s Senate hearings were held to determine whether the violence depicted in comic books were damaging to the youth of America, creating a generation of violent children who lack empathy and compassion for others.  Today, we are hearing a similar argument about violence in video games.

               The purpose of the campiness and slapstick in Batman was twofold.  It was to wow the children watching and to humor their parents.  No one ever complained that the Batman TV show was creating a generation of violent children.  Perhaps, and this is an argument I regularly stick behind, it is due to the fact that viewing the television show was a family event where certain situations and dialogues could be put into their proper contexts.  This is an issue that has been strangely absent throughout the entire book.  I feel the need to pursue this theory further in my ‘free time’.

Gotham City R & D: Gadgetry in Batman and Theatre of the Absurd: The 1966 Batman Movie

Gotham City R&D: Gadgetry in Batman by Michael Johnson

               All in all, this was a fun essay to read.  Michael Johnson explores the various bat-gadgets and how, surprisingly, they have become realities today.

               Johnson points out that the 1960s were a time of technological revolution with the Cold War an ongoing concern and the space race at the forefront of everyone’s minds; the TV show took this idea and ran with it.  Batman and Robin had a gadget that could serve any purpose depending upon their situation.  At the time, these seemed to be out of science fiction novels with the prefix bat- added to the beginning.  But over time, many of these devices became common place in modern society.  In one episode, the Dynamic Duo used a device that sent an electrical charge to escape the Black Widow’s web.  Today we call this a stun gun.  To escape a man-eating shark, they sprayed bat-shark repellant.  Such things do exist today, much to my surprise.  But instead of an aerosol concoction, it employs chemicals or electricity.

               The TV show made the utility belt famous which at times seems a little odd that Batman would carry so many things around in his belt.  But as Johnson points out, when we leave the house we grab our phones, wallets, keys, mp3 players and any other sundry items we may need.

               The main message that I was able to gather from this essay was that no matter how far-fetched something may be, we need to keep dreaming.  Someday, it may be a common household item.

Theatre of the Absurd: The 1966 Batman Movie by Robert G. Weiner

               Had I not watched the movie repeatedly as a child, I would have been quite upset with Robert Weiner’s essay.  Without so much as a warning, the first half is a spoiler filled synopsis of the movie with the second half being a critical view of the movie and its importance in pop culture today.

               As has been stated throughout this blog, the film, like the tv show, is still in the conscious and referenced throughout tv, movies and cartoons.  What was fascinating to me was how this movie was a reflection of society at the time.  In 1966 the United States was formally acknowledging their involvement in Vietnam and the Cold War began escalating to greater heights.  To combat the fear that most viewers lived with day in and day out, Batman became a symbol of a true American; thwarting evil and contributing to society at every turn.  This was also a time when James Bond’s popularity began to spread and like the rest of America, Batman was interested in gadgets, action, and beautiful women.

               Though intriguing and academically appealing to learn about the layers and intentions behind some of my favorite childhood TV shows and characters, sometimes ignorance is bliss.  Sometimes Batman should just be Batman.

“Holy Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor!”: Youth Culture in Batman by Michael D. Hamersky

               When I first opened this book on my Kindle Fire I began reading through the titles in the table of contents.  As a teacher, this essay caught my eye.  Robin had always been a favorite series to read and in working with children day in and day out, l can look back and see an accurate representation of how youth try to make sense of the world around them.  Though not many students, probably none at all, don a costume and fight crime, every student has aspects of their lives that contradict other parts and each day they struggle to make sense of it all.  The comics captured this perfectly with Jason Todd attempting to fill Dick Grayson’s shoes.  The TV show fell flat however.

               According to Hamersky, the dialogue and action was written by members of an older generation that portrayed the Boy Wonder in the image of what youth should be, not the counter-culture activists that so many youth were at the time.  Dick Grayson, when not fighting the likes of the Joker, was nose deep in a text book or another educational activity that Bruce Wayne has assigned to him.  In the show, successful people finished school and the villains were drop-outs.  Dick was the prime example of what a student should be: obedient, attentive, essentially a ‘square’.  Hamersky alludes to the fact that this was a ploy by the show’s creators to try to keep America’s youth in check and to keep sanity at home.

               Thankfully, many of the digital texts that our students are engaging in are self-created.  With guidance, hopefully, they are gaining a sense of what it is to carve a niche out for themselves in this great big world.  As parents and teachers, it is our job to ensure that this is done in a safe environment that promotes success and appropriate self-sufficiency that does not place the students’ futures in jeopardy.

The Best-Dressed Women in Gotham City by Jennifer K. Stuller

               As a young child enthralled with the bright colors, the ‘POW’s ‘WHAM’s and daring escapes of Batman, I never really look it to be more than just half an hour of fun about the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder.  I took it at face value and enjoyed the show.  Jennifer Stuller, the author of this essay, shed light onto a different purpose for the show, a way for social messages to be broadcasted.

               As can be inferred by the title of the essay, and following blog post, this essay addressed the issue of the role of women in Gotham City.  In the first two seasons, the only real female influence on the show was that of Catwoman.  Rather than falling into the normal role of arm candy for the male villain, Julie Newmar’s Catwoman turned perceptions of women’s roles in comics on their head.  Instead of being the trophy that stood idly by, Catwoman was able to accomplish what many male villains were not able to do, and ensnare Batman and achieve her goals independent of anyone else, though she sometimes employed henchmen.

               Later, in season 3, the creators of the show introduced Batgirl who at almost every turn saved Batman and Robin from yet another trap.  The Dynamic Duo were so often embarrassed, though not explicitly stated in the show, that they would often ‘thank’ her by saying, “We were just about to get out of that jam”.

               Though initially just an attempt to stay true to the comics and draw viewers back to a show that was hemorrhaging viewers, by bringing these two female characters in the fold, the creators were making a powerful societal statement.  When Catwoman would escape and Batgirl would ride in on her motorcycle and save the day, they were exhibiting that women could do exactly what men were doing, and often times better.  The show inadvertently used media to broadcast an important message to the viewing public.

               We find ourselves in a time when another form of media, the internet, is being used to inform the public of important issues.  From tweets, blogs, Skypes, TED talks and YouTube clips, information is being transmitted to millions of people around the world bringing issues to the consciousness of the people to inform anyone willing to listen.

Villainy in Batman and May I have this Batdance?

“Known Super-Criminals Still at Large”: Villainy in Batman by Chuck Dixon

               Chuck Dixon’s essay touched on a personal note that I will elaborate upon later.  His theory on Batman’s revolving door of villains goes well beyond just the costumed foes, and the personal attachment he had to the comics growing up.

               He begins the essay with an anecdote about punching a classmate because they were wearing a t-shirt based off of the tv show, which he himself despised.  To him, that wasn’t Batman.  Batman was the brooding dark figure that used his powers of deduction to solve the mysteries that his foes had created to throw him off the case.

               Dixon reveals that as he grew older, he began to appreciate the show for its two layers.  One that was colorful and campy intended to appeal to the younger viewers, and the more satirical level created for the adults who may be watching.  However, as an adolescent, he could not see the subtleties that the show presented. It was the way that he perceived things.

               In a similar way, that is how many of our digital native students go about their own online lives.  The world that they create in social media with their friends, photos, apps and taggings, they have a perception of the world that is unique to them.  When they arrive in school, their perception of the world and the reality do not match, thus creating a conflict for that student.  I feel that it is the role of parents and educators to help bridge a gap and to clearly define the discourses students participate in on a daily basis.  By creating ways of performing in different social areas of life, students can make the transition from digital life to real life more easily.

               Nostalgia plays a huge role in our perceptions of the world around us.  Students will look back on their time online with either elation or regret, depending upon their choices.  Incorporating the online discourse into classroom routines will help our digital natives see that their perception and reality can be the same thing.

               As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, nostalgia had a personal effect on me.  At the start of the essay, I was not all that interested in what Dixon had to say.  It is laundry day, I am feeling a little under the weather, and I’m just not interested in what another fanboy has to say.  Then Dixon mentioned that he wrote a short story arc for Robin in the early nineties.  I proceeded to my comic book-bookcase, yes I have a bookcase dedicated entirely to comic books, and pulled out one of my favorite storylines of all time, and there was Dixon’s name on the cover.  I returned to the essay with renewed purpose and enthusiasm.  Perception is not everything, but it sure influences a lot of our decisions.

May I Have this Batdance? By Michael S. Miller

               This brief essay discussed the influence that the now famous theme song had on popular culture.  Countless recordings of this song came out in 1966.  Some of the acts were Jan and Dean, The Who as well as other pop artists of the era.  Its influence did not end with the show’s cancellation  in 1992 R.E.M. recorded a version for their album, Automatic for the People.

               The overall theme of this essay is one that I have covered before.  Batman’s influence went well beyond just that of the tv show.  It spread to all mediums available at the time.  Genres and mediums blend and there is rarely any internet content, or tv content that sticks primarily to the form that it is created for.  In an effort to reach as many participants as possible, a creator of art, tv, movies and music must be willing to adapt their product to meet the demands of our digitally literate society.

POW! Batman’s Visual Punch by Bill Walko

     Walko begins his essay with an interesting thought, “Did Pop Art of the 1960's influence Batman, or did Batman influence Pop Art?”  Clearly the first part of that question is the correct answer, but it brings up an interesting point.  Does digital media influence our social habits and learning, or do we, by acknowledging digital media’s presence, influence the course that technology takes in our lives?

     There certainly is more information available to us than ever before, but is that because it’s been made available by technology, or as a collected group of people are we more open to pursuing the truth and shaking off the restraints of limited knowledge?  Whether we agree with, or use, technology in our classrooms, we as educators must be willing to allow our students to pursue the truth and find their own meaning in all that they do.

Until next time…same blog time…same blog channel…

Aunt Harriet’s Film Decency League by Becky Beard

               The entirety of this essay goes into great detail the acting background of all of the guest villains that appeared throughout the show’s three seasons.  I found it to be quite interesting because I had heard about all of the actors and actresses, but did not know a lot of their backstories.  Being asked to be on the show was an honor that few were fortunate enough to participate in.  The introduction to the essay included the fact that Robert Kennedy was turned down when he all but begged to be on the show.

               The writers, directors and producers knew exactly what they were doing when it came to casting well-known actors in the role of the villains.  By bringing such stars and Burgess Meredith and Vincent Price into people’s homes, it was almost a guarantee that viewers would tune in that week.  It was simple business; give the people what they want and they’ll keep coming back for more.  Similarly, I used a well-known character that my students adore in a lesson on character and setting just last week.

               We had been struggling on identifying character and setting with our basal reader’s story, ‘Gram and Me’.  It was a dry, inconsiderate text for my students and they were not able to identify a dock at the ocean as the setting for when the two characters were waving at the boat.  Rather than attempt to continue this act of futility, I reached for a book in the classroom library whose main character lives in a pineapple under the sea.  Stopping periodically to ask where the characters were and what they were doing there, it started to click.  When we returned to the story, the students were able to tell me that not only were they waving to boats on the ocean, they played chess on Gram’s front porch and began to relate by telling stories about what they do with their grandparents.

               Bringing a guest star into the classroom allowed pathways to open up in my students’ minds that aided in the acquisition, manipulation and production of a measured skill.

Notes on Bat Camp by Timothy Callahan

               The topic of this brief essay centers on how ‘campy’ Batman actually was.  The way it straddled the line between satire and silliness is a turning point for public perception, either you embrace it and accept it, or you reject it and speak out against it.  Half of the viewers loved it, half despised it.  Personally as someone who still reads Batman comics on a monthly basis, I straddle the fence.  I accept it because I used to watch it with my grandparents when it went into syndication, but I also don’t count it in the canon of Batman history.  But I digress.

               I found myself remembering the waning days of 2012 as they appeared on my facebook wall.  The majorities of posts were not reflections on the past year, nor were they eager predictions for 2013, but they were in reference to Psy’s Gangam Style…really.  That’s what flooded my facebook wall.  For the most part they were in jubilation that the year, in fact it was only a few months, of Psy were over.  So many of my facebook ‘friends’ hated the song with so much passion, it inspired them to post publicly about it in social media.  As I type this blog entry, the aforementioned video has been viewed 1,357,999,020 times.

               We are all inundated with trends and fads that originate in a digital form every day.  Fifty years ago it was a millionaire and his ward dressed in costumes fighting crime.  Today, it is a South Korean pop artist.  But just because it’s popular, doesn’t mean everyone enjoys it.  I have spent quite a bit of time discussing how important it is to tie in digital texts and resources into our classrooms, but in actuality, it may not work for all the students.  While teaching with digital resources is vital and critical in the coming decades, I must remember not to get wrapped up in the fast paced changes that are occurring.  My job is to ensure that each and every student learns to their fullest potential.  If this utilizes technology, great; if it doesn’t I will need to find another way that is fitting and suitable for that student.

Week 1

            At the start of the semester I was going through the Book and Blog list and came across Gotham City 14 Miles: 14 Essays On Why the 1960s Batman TV Series Matters.  I almost jumped out of my chair as I immediately downloaded the title to my kindle.  As a comic book reader for 25+ years now, I can give a first-hand glimpse into how media can influence a student’s life.  Today, our students are influenced by all things digital.  For some of the high-school students I tutor in the evenings, if it isn’t on their phone, they can’t be bothered with it.  Almost 50 years ago a generation was surrounded and influenced by a burgeoning new form of media, television.  Batman was one of those early serials that a majority of the population tuned into weekly to follow the escapades of the dynamic duo.  Throughout the course of this text, I will review the essays in regards to how the show influenced students of that era and attempt to draw comparisons to the various forms of media available today.

Giant Lighted Lucite Map of Gotham City: An Introduction by Jim Beard

            In the introduction to the book, Beard lays out his reasoning as to why Batman matters.  Rarely has a show been both adored and despised with the same amount of fervor.  He expressed an emotional response to someone criticizing the fight sequences as being “totally fake”.  To Beard, they were as real as everyday life.  Here is where I find my first parallel to digital natives.  Too many times have I seen students take what they see, hear, or read on the internet at face value and as being true.  This is scary as a teach when I think that my students can be so easily influenced and swayed because something was on the internet.  This is where adults and teachers need to step in and help to clarify the line between reality and fantasy to avoid disastrous results in our students’ thinking and life in general.

Bats in their Belfries: The Proliferation of “Batmania” by Robert Greenberger

            The first essay of the book deals with the sudden boom of Batmania.  This of course is a take of the term Beatlemania, which happened just a few years before.  When Batman debuted it was almost at the same time as the arrival of large color TVs.  Though Batman was not the polled public’s first choice, Superman was, the debut episodes took in 49% of the viewers in the top 50 U.S. TV markets.  Greenberger states, “Everyone watched it.  Then they came back the next night and watched it, and then they talked about it.”  The appeal of the show reached overseas to other countries and fizzled out in two years almost as soon as it came about.

            Greenberger offers a point that during this time, just a few years after the assassination of JFK and while the military was going deeper into Vietnam, people were looking to escape.  “Escape to Batman.”  Immediately I drew a connection to the increasing popularity and use of digital media with our students.  If they are constantly hearing about unemployment, a shaky economy, turmoil at home and the fear of school violence, perhaps they are escaping to the world of facebook and twitter just as earlier generations donned capes and fought the Joker in their back yard.

The 1960s Batman TV Series from Comics to Screen by Peter Sanderson

            Through the majority of this essay, Sanderson describes in great detail how despite being 27 years its junior, the Batman television series greatly influenced changes within the Batman comics themselves.  The reach that Batman was exhibiting by finding a new media was unlike anything anyone had seen before.  The influence spread across different mediums from tv to music and comic books.  Today, we are seeing internet memes pop up everywhere from news programs, to our very own classrooms.  Rather than pretending to be Batman, my students were singing the Harlem Shake today during recess.  The Batman television series set precedence for all mediums to follow in an effort to attract more participants.

Such a Character: A Dissection of Two Sup-Species of Chiropter homo sapiens by Jim Beard

            Unfortunately for the graduate student in me, this essay has little value to my academics.  But the life-long comic book fan appreciated the comparison between the television version of the caped crusader and the print version.

            Despite the dud in this last essay, the overall theme of the book still permeated the screen, digital media is a powerful force to be reckoned with whose reach extends far beyond its intended audience.

            Until next time…same blog-time, same blog-channel…

Module 4 Book and Blog