jay's museum of college writing

Jay's BACK-to-the-FUTURE Post - Spring 2024 English 105 Takes a Research Trip to the Sixties

Last semester I encouraged my English 105 students to SHARE their ideas on JAMBOARD, PADLET, and FACEBOOK.   For me, INCREASED collaboration, leads to INCREASED performance.  That's good for THEM.  And that's good for ME.  Often, students who work in isolation just lose interest in their writing.  WE DON'T WANT THAT.  The say they don't have anything to write about - They don't really know anything about their subject - This assignment is BORING - They are CONFUSED - They don't know where to START.   So, I have created these PRE-WRITING ACTIVITIES to RAISE THEIR INTEREST LEVEL in their  RESEARCH TOPICS.   How do they  expect to write a 5-7 page research paper if they  don't care or know anything about their  topic?   Sharing with your classmates will help!

We read a SIXTIES novel  -  Motorcycle on the Sea of Tranquilty -   so, I thought it would be COOL to  develop a SIXTIES research paper.  Students in the past classes have enjoyed writing about this pivotal time period in our nation's history.  On a daily basis, I will help helpt them learn important  reading and writing strategies that will elevate your academic perfomance level .  Here is the First Thing we do – Select a Sixties Topic.

• It can be a Person – Muhammed Ali, Marilyn Monroe, John Glen, Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez, John Lennon, Charles Manson, Dolores Huerta.
• It can be a Movement – Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, Gay Rights, Black Power, The Hippie Movement, The Farmworkers Movement, Sexual Revolution, Anti-War Movement
• It can be an Event – The Moonlanding, The Assassination of John F. Kennedy, The Arrival of the Beatles, Woodstock, Vietnam, The Cold War, The Summer of Love,   Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King Jr. gives his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.  Student Massacre at 1968 Mexico Olympics.
• It can be a “Thing” that changed the world – LSD, The Birth Control Pill, The 1964 Ford Mustang, The first episode of the popular television show "Star Trek" airs.
• It can be a Lifestyle or an Idea – Surfing, Hippies, Fashion

PRE-WRITING activities are important to me.  We take a week or so to share our ideas.  At the top of this page I share Jay's DID YOU KNOW assignment on Padlet.   I ask my students to SEEK OUT A GOLDEN NUGGET OF INFORMATION TO SHARE WITH THEIR CLASSMATES - It could be something they already know.  It could be something  that a family member has shared with them.  It might come from YOUTUBE.  But, their topic should be SERIOUS and INTERESTING.  Don't Worry!  I'll tell them if their topic is BORING.  It's because I want to reduce the frustration level before it starts.  Below, I ask students to share  FAST THREE on our classroom Jamboard.  This means they will all have a back-up plan when things go SOUR.   Our First-Week Jamboard looks like this:

I didn't think about it until now, but for their research project they  might want to compare a PROTEST MOVEMENT from the SIXTIES with a PROTEST MOVEMENT from TODAY! They are living in a time of CHANGE.

* Do they  know  about the Watts Riots in 1965?  It all started when white policemen mistreated a black motorist. Sound familiar?  An aggravated argument escalated into six days of violence and brutality.  When is all this going to change?

* Do any of them  want to write about Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement.  Could they  take a look at how Mexican  farmworkers were treated in the sixties.  Could they discuss our government's policies toward Mexican immigrants today?

* A few of my students have written about the 1969 Stonewall Uprising.   Police, with their riot clubs out,  raided a small gay bar in New York City.  They didn't expect any confrontation, but that's exactly what they got.  Patrons of the bar weren't doing anything wrong.  They  felt they were being hassled for being gay.  The whole neighborhood fought back.  This riot began a Gay Liberation Movement.  Do you know, it was only this week, until the Supreme Court ruled that you can't fire someone for being gay?  For the last 50 years, discrimination against gays has been perfectly legal.  Can they  compare what was happening THEN and NOW?

*  Do they  know of the BLACK POWER protest in the 1968 Olympics?   Two African-American  sprinters were sent home from Mexico City after they raised their black-gloved fists in the air during the medals ceremony.  Compare that one with Colin Kaepernick taking a knee. 

*  Do any of them know about the EAST L.A. BLOW-OUTS of the sixties - Thousands of Mexican American high school students walked out of their classes in protest of unfair educational opportunities.  This walkout inspired the Chicano Movement!

Here are some other strategies I hope to see them utilize:

* ANECDOTE - None of them lived during the sixties, but many of them  will  have parents and  grandparents that have great stories to tell - Were any of them here in Imperal Valley at the time of Cesar Chavez and the UFW strike?  That type of personal information would look GREAT in research research paper. Of course, I will  teachthem  how to document your resources.

* DEFINITION - I hope some of them will write about the Feminist Movement.  I want to read their  history and information.  But, I also want them  to define "Feminism."  Does everyone agree what it means?  Does everyone support a women's  right for equality.  Who doesn't?   WHAT IS GOING ON IN THIS COUNTRY?  Who can they  think of today who best represents the ideals of feminism.

* VISUAL ANALYSIS - I will ask them  to supplement they writing with meaningful imagery.  If they are writing about the Kennedy assassination, can they  find a picture that reveals a conspiracy behind his murder.  Willthey  be able to provide the description and details to prove they  point. If you they writing about Tiggy, the famous Sixties fashion model, will they be able to identify the striking characteristics of her hairstyle, make-up, and clothing choices?

Above and to the right, I share an image of Carlos Gonzalez presenting on our Last-Day-of-the-Semester Student News Conference.  His research paper focused upon the Boston Strangler.  For more detailed description about the conference I encourage you to SCROLL UP a little bit until you find  Jay's STUDENT NEWS CONFERENCE Post - We Call It a CELEBRATION OF STUDENT WRITING - Students Share Their Best Work In Front of a Live Audience.   Or, you can just click here:  JAY'S ENGLISH 105 STUDENT NEWS CONFERENCE

Most of my students will now recognize the Grateful Dead song, "What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been."  We worked really hard to get to the last day, but we all returned safely from the trip. Following this post, I will provide excerpts of student writing.  If you have any questions, I suggest you attend next semesters Student News Conference.

Jay's COLLAGE IN PARADISE Post - Introduction to New Novel-Reading Project - For the Love of Books

Whenever I’m reading, I’m undelining.  I use highlighters, rulers, and colored gel pens.  Often friends get confused when I reject their offers to lend  me a favorite book of theirs.  It’s kind of like second nature.  I can’t stop myself.  I don’t even realize when or why I’m doing it. I start highlighting the books I’m reading before I even know it.   Even if they are not mine.   Isn’t that ironic?   I know better not to deface anyone else’s book.  I mean, I’m a Book Lover.

Growing up in a house full of books was the best preparation for my profession. My father was a college professor and an avid reader, so I went to school with a huge advantage. I knew of Shakespeare and Jack London  before I was ever assigned to read them.  They had all been sitting on the living room shelves.  For me , reading became a natural part of life.  For example,  while my friends hung out together in front or inside their garages, I’m sure I fell asleep many a night with a book over my face.  When the time came for intense, heavy reading in college, I was more than ready.  I don’t think I can say I had a really happy childhood, but it was an intelligent one.  In fact, I still have many of the books I read as a child – they are sitting on my shelves in Mexicali.

That’s why I’m writing this:  This fall I will introduce one of my favorite books off my shelves here in Mexicali - Paradise Travel by Colombian writer Jorge Franco.    I’ve now read this novel both in English and Spanish, like three-four times.  If another teacher asks me why I have chosen this book as a basis for my course curriculum, I wouldn’t tell them the truth – It’s not about language, ideas, or course standards;  it’s the amount of underlining I see in my copy of the book! Jaja.  The pages are full of scribbles and rainbows.  I look forward to sharing this book with my students for what it is.  A FUN READ. There will be NO discussion about author’s intention in my class.  No symbolism.  I encourage all of my students to find their way on their own.  In Paradise Travel, different readers will discover different ideas.  It’s about an American Dream that we all know something about.

Today I put up my class banner on Canvas.  I’m calling it Jay’s Paradise Travel Semester – Fall 2024.  It’s a collage of Paradise Travel imagery.  Some of it comes from inside the book.  A lot of it from inside my head. Usually the creation of my collages are time-consuming and laborious.  I’m 65 and I still haven’t learned to work with graphics and images on my computer. I’m always thinking that the time I spend copying and pasting, I should be reading and writing.   But, I just finished my multiple-choice quizzes for Pardise Travel.  At the top of each quiz, I took the time to insert an image to introduce my students to the chapter of the day.  Thirty-Four Chapters.  – Thirty-Four Quizzes – Thirty-Four Images.  And I got this idea:  That’s a good start for a collage.

Do you see a young woman’s eyes at the top of the collage?  That’s Reina.  I’m not sure if you will be able to tell, but she has different-colored eyes. That’s the first thing characters in the novel will notice about her – Maybe, the second.  She’s beautiful and seventeen,  if you know what I mean. Description of her eyes seems like a recurring theme in the novel, but up until now, I have avoided any deep analysis.  I probably highlighted the lines that the author describes Reina’s eyes, but I didn’t look anything up on the internet about symbolism, metaphor, allusion.  I’m  too busy enjoying the book. Critical analysis has always killed my love of reading.  In this class, I don’t want that to happen to any of my students.  Maybe Reina’s eyes say she’s bipolar.  Schizophrenic.  I’ll let my students decide.   In another class we read about David Bowie’s chameleon-like nature.  In English, Reina translates to Queen.  For Marlon, she just might be his "Moonage Daydream."  She is his  Psychedelic Queen of New York City.

In my head, I see Marlon and Reyna like the couple sitting in the black an white image in the bottom right-hand corner of the collage. Here, they are probably sitting off to the side of the road in some far-off place like Guatemala waiting for the next bus that goes north.  I like how close they are sitting together, but at the same time they are staring off in different directions. If I remember right, I googled images of teen-age breakups.  You don’t have to travel thousands of miles with your lover to know things aren’t going to work out.   Marlon and Reina have sacrificed everything they had to make this trip.  They may be more than halfway to the states.  At this point, they don’t have the money, knowledge or experience to have much control over anytning they are doing, but there is no turning back.  They know that.  All they have, really, is each other.

  Most of this book is about Marlon and Reina. I  want to avoid any spoilers here, but they are committed to making their dreams happen. From the beginning we know from where they are coming and why they are making this trip.  They seem like teenagers we all knew back in high school, but they will surprise you when they turn their backs on their families. My students will recognize the tension in their relationship.  They will also recognize how bad they wanted to change their lives.Caleña appears in just a few chapters, but she makes her presence felt.  She’s a young prostitute from Cali, not that “Cali” from the LL Cool Jay song, but the “Cali” from the southwest region of Colombia.  That’s why she is called “Caleña.”  Marlon and Reina rely on the support of eachother, but Caleña is all on her own for the most part.  The three of them join forces with a group of other desperate Colombians to make this dangerous  trip to the U.S.   The author doesn’t give us much background on Caleña’s story, but if she is a streetwalker, we kind of know she has been through enough dangerous situations in her life.  She’s tough.  You could tell by just looking at her face. I magine Caleña looking like the woman leaning back against the bar in the color foto in the left-hand corner of my collage.  Here is a spoiler for you:  Caleña and Reina aren’t going to get along on this trip. You can count on that.  But look closely at the way they treat each other.  It’s good way to find out who they really are and what they are all about.

I don’t know of any other teachers that assign Paradise Travel in their college English courses, but that is fine with me.  This means our discussions in class we’ll be dictated by student experience and perspective, not by any ludicrous literary website. I’m writing this a few days after Trump's rant at the RNC convention.  In his accepting the Republican Party’s nomination for the 2024 election, the former president said immigrants “spread misery, crime, poverty, disease, and destruction to communities all across our land.”  If elected, he has promised to initiate the greatest deportation program in this nation’s history.  Reina, Marlon, Caleña, and all the other people of color you see on my collage came to America just like Trump’s family did – to make a better future for themselves.  WE ARE A NATION OF IMMIGRANTS.

Reading Paradise Travel will give us all the opporunity to reflect where we have come from in this country, and where we are going.  My students are the same age as Marlon and Reina.  For this reason I see them connecting with the characters and developing a better understanding for the people around them.  That’s called empathy – the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Trump is now promising to UNITE the country.  That’s not going to happen as long as his followers applaud his overt racism.  It’s young people in this country who want to make a difference that will unify this country.  They need to VOTE.  And, they need to READ.

Jay's STUDENT NEWS CONFERENCE Post - We Call It a CELEBRATION OF STUDENT WRITING - Students Share Their Best Work In Front of a Live Audience

  This idea came to me a few years back when I bumped into one of my students on campus before class.  He was dressed in button-down shirt and a nice pair of slacks – like he was heading to an interview in a café, restaurant, or retail store.  But he wasn’t.  He was coming from a communications class where he presented a three-minute speech to his teacher and classmates. I commend his instructor’s lesson plans.  Inside the classroom, beyond the reading and writing, students can benefit by presenting themselves as professional, mature, and serious enough to commit to a job. I wish when I was his age, I had taken this class.

This may have been at the beginning of theTrump presidency:  I mean, we were all watching news clips of Trump, Nancy Pelosi, Sara Saunders, Rod Rosenstein, presenting important information to a roomful of reporters.   And taking questions!   I thought what a great format to generate and perpetuate student engagement at semester's end.   The communication goes two ways.  Everyone wins!

My Spring 2024 students shared their best writing of the semester in front of a live audience in the library patio.  We brought in a professional podium.  We reserved a large screen for students to support their discussion with meaningful visuals.  In a brief three to five minutes, they highlight the most interesting aspects of their writing projects and writing experience.  This past spring, we read a sixties novel and researched a sixties topic.  In the foreground of the picture above is English 105 student Cassandra Macias. In the background ( on the big screen) is her sixties research topic, Charles Manson.  

I can't imagine how I would of fared in this type of class when I was the age my students are right now.  Probably not too good.  I was very shy, fearful of speaking in front of strangers.  But the memory I maintain of those expereinces make me a much stronger teacher today.  I understand what it takes to overcome these types of anxieties before they happen. I do my best to help each student prepare for the Big Day.

To prepare my students  for the BEST PERFORMANCE/BEST GRADES on their FINAL EXAM PRESENTATION - I ask them to prepare SIX NOTECARDS for their presentation.  They will be required to share their props:  Research Binders, Display Boards, Mind Maps.  These visuals will help them get through THREE MINUTES.  I encourage THEM to step up to the podium PREPARED and CONFIDENT.   Let's Get Focused - LET'S WORK TOGETHER!  We practice in groups in our classroom workshops. The goal is  to engage their audience through thought-provoking questions, revealing anecdotes, interesting details, and effective visuals.  This is where we work on a  HOOK! - How are they going to introduce their Topic in a way that their  audience will PAY ATTENTION - Don't Be Boring - I ask them to Write their HOOK on their FIRST NOTECARD ( See my Marilyn Monroe example a little father down this page.) 

Jay's Tip:  DON'T BE ONE OF THOSE GUYS - THAT DOESN'T PREPARE.  Have something to say.  So now, I recommend they spend some time looking at their research inside your binder.  Notes.  Annotations.  Freewrites.  Look at their Mind Map.  No one expects them to report on everything.  1-2 things would be NICE.  

THIS IS HOW WE DO IT - Below I practice with notecards for a Final Exam Presentation on the Life and Death of Marilyn Monroe:

Step One - RESEARCH - This is your HOOK - Why did you choose this topic - Where did you first hear of your subject - Why do you care - You must have read something or seen something somewhere. What inspired you to learn more.

(Jay's Sample for Marilyn Monroe:) On the first day of class,  Mr. Lewenstein showed us a video about the Death of Marilyn Monroe.  She died of a drug overdose at age 37.  At the time, she was the most famous woman in the world.  This would be like today finding Taylor Swift dead, alone in bed - EMPTY PILL BOTTLES on her nightstand.  There were a lot of questions but few answers about how and why Marilyn  died.  I wanted to find out more about her life.  This became the basis of my research paper

Step Two - CONTENTION - This is your THESIS - What's your most important point? - Why should your audience care about your project?

Of the hundreds of  thousands of beautiful young women that came to Hollywood with dreams of becoming a star, Marilyn rose to the top like no one else.  Yes she was beautiful, but so were the others.   She was determined to do whatever it took to become a serious actress. Unfortunately, the movie studios didn't take her seriously.  They realized they could make a lot of money SELLING her as a SEX SYMBOL.  They didn't care what she thought.  She had no control over her career.  She was USED and ABUSED.  She was treated like a CASH COW.  This is what may have led her to DRUG and ALCOHOL abuse.

Step Three - KEY ARGUMENTS - These might be the KEY ideas that make your topic so INTERESTING.

Marilyn grew up in a life of poverty - This was during the Great Depression - Marilyn's mother was mentally ill - She was committed to a mental institution - She spent her childhood in a series of orphanages and foster homes.  Later in her adult life, Marilyn would show signs of bipolar personality disorder - She was always frightened that mental illness ran in the family. Acting made Marilyn feel like she could be somebody - Maybe that's what DROVE her to work so hard - It's all she had.

Step Four - KEY INFORMATION - Come on! - What can you tell your audience so they will want to read your essay?

During World War II - Marilyn's husband was shipped overseas - This left Marilyn to fend for herself - She became A ROSIE THE RIVETER - She worked a traditional man's job in an aircraft plant - because there were no MEN - this was WAR TIME - This gave her a sense of INDEPENDENCE It was in this aircraft plant where a photographer asked if he could take pictures of the women working - When he developed Marilyn's picture, he saw something he had never seen before - She SPARKLED before the camera - This inspired her to do modeling work - and later become a movie actress. In the fifties, beautiful women were often forced into sex by powerful studio executives - Marilyn was a prime candidate - She wanted so desperately to be an actress that she was willing to do  most anything they told her to do - Later, Marilyn would have the courage to share her story of sexual abuse and harrassment with the rest of the world - You can say she was the "ME" in the "ME TOO MOVEMENT

Step  Five - LANGUAGE - Here is where you can bring up your DEFINITION PARAGRAPH - This will be STRONG

Sadly, Marilyn was LABELED early on as a SEX SYMBOL - This made her a lot of money - It also may have KILLED her - She was marketed as a SEX BOMB! Marilyn wanted to be regarded a serious actress, but she couldn't get serious roles. No one cared about how she thought or felt - All they seemed to care about was how she looked. It wasn't until she had the power and the money to create her own production company that she was able play a serious role - The movie is called Bus Stop - Mr. Lewenstein reads the stage version in his English 110 class - Most critics agree it was her greatest role and best performance.

Step Six - WRITING - Share a SNEAK-PREVIEW of your Research Project - How does it start - How does it end - What did you learn?

* My Marilyn Monroe research paper begins with a Quote Sandwich -  “I knew how third rate I was,” Marilyn once said in an interview. “I could actually feel my lack of talent, as if it were cheap clothes, I was wearing inside.  But, my God, how I wanted to learn!  To change, to improve!  I didn’t want anything else.  Not men, not money, not love, but the ability to act. With the arc lights on me and the camera pointed at me, I suddenly knew myself” (Steinem 69). My Marilyn Monroe essay ends with drugs, alcohol and distress - As a woman who fought her way to the top, she confronted forces would bring her down. Sixty years later, we are not sure what led to her death.

Jay's Friendly Reminder:  Student Presentation of their Research Project  Is Their Final Exam Project -They are to  BRING all PROJECT BINDER FOR DISPLAY PURPOSES!

      They will be graded on the following:

• Professional behavior and preparation - effective use of time during presentation.
• Knowledge of subject matter - Ability to share 2-3 SIGNIFICANT elements of research
• Postive attention and feeback directed towards classmate presentations

Here are few suggestions/requirements for their class presentation:

• Their presentation must last SIX minutes - THREE for the presentation - THREE for ANSWERING QUESTIONS
• They  must display and discuss a visual that you made to accompany your presentation - Your Mind Map
• They may  explain what they made in a logical way -  They should think back to their  SELF-REFLECTION exercise - WHAT DID THEY LEARN?  - WHAT WAS THE CHALLENGE?
• They  should offer supporting evidence and alternative viewpoints from their own RESEARCH. 
• They must maintain eye contact with your audience while they present.
• They must speak in an appropriate volume of voice so that everyone can hear you, and you must speak clearly.
• They must be prepared for your presentation and speak with confidence.
• They  must use language that is appropriate for a class presentation.

For the last two weeks of the semester, it becomes LESS OF ME and MORE OF THEM.  Students work together to exchange their best ideas and writing to represent on their Group Display Boards (see the example above).  They copy and paste a digital version of their writing for submission on Canvas Group Pages.They also interview each other in our classroom workshops about their experience.  The ask and answer questions like these:

* What do people need to know most about your topic? * What are some of the misconceptions people may have about your topic? * What is your personal involvement in the topic?   * What was a challenge to putting this project together?  * Imagining your life ahead (not strictly academic), what elements of these projects can you see helping you the most?  Explain and give examples to illustrate.  * Has this class changed the way your approach or view your life in any way?  How?  * Imagining your future studies here or elsewhere, which of our writing strategies or study skills do you thing might help you succeed in those courses.   Explain and give examples. We've all WORKED SO HARD to GET TO THIS POINT.  Everyone should have something to say.  THREE TO FIVE MINUTES WILL JUST FLY RIGHT BY!

For our Semester-Ending Student News Conference, I do all I can to reduce any sense of PRESSURE.  I’m happy with the hard work and  engagement that leads up to the event. I envision our Student News Conference as an exciting, non-threatening collaborative atmosphere to reinforce our semester learning and motivate my future students to do the same.  Thats why I call it a “Celebration of Student Writing.”

Jay's FALL 2024 SOUNDTRACK OF OUR READING Post - Frank Sinatra - The Statue of Liberty - The American Dream - in Paradise Travel

  In the fall I will introduce a new novel-reading project to my classes. I have pulled the book off my shelves here in Mexicali, and I think it is going to work.  The English version is called Paradise Travel.  The writer’s name is Jorge Franco.  I now have read several of his novels in both Spanish in English.  One of them, my students may be familiar with: Franco’s Rosario Tijeras has been converted into a popular series on Netflix.  It’s about a young woman from Medellín, Colombia, who rises to power in the violent Narco-Traficante world that has enveloped her country. The theme of the  American Dream runs through Paradise Travel.  Not so much violence!    This story is  about two teen-age lovers who dream of a better life in New York City.  It’s like the The Great Gatsby but for Colombians.

For our final research and writing project in my English classes, I will ask my students to select their MVP – Most Valuable Part – of the novel.  They will need to think back to the ideas, characters, scenes in Paradise Travel. Their ARGUMENT for their MVP will make up a healthy part of their semester grade.   I emphasize there is no right or wrong position in a student’s vote for MVP.  There is no concrete definition for “valuable.”  It can be the best part.  It can be the worst part. ( I tell my students Time Magazine once put Donald Trump on their cover under the title “Man of the Year.”)  Maybe, it’s a character the novel could not do without.  Maybe, it’s an event that changed everything.  Maybe, it’s an idea no one speaks about in class, but it may be most important to us all.  I’m most happy with the diversity of choices my students make.

Wait!  Here is where the Soundtrack comes in:  In addition to defending thier ARGUMENT, students will be required to contribute a song to our classroom soundtrack. When they summarize their idea for their final submission, I want them to explain what song do they hear in the background.  This is what I will say to them: When you read, do you ever tap your foot? Does music ever spark an idea in your head? Can you come up with a song or an artist that blends music and literature? Joyce Carol Oates wrote one of her most enduring works of short fiction after hearing Bob Dylan on the radio.  There are no specific rules to making your choice. There is no right or wrong. I want you to reach back into your musical archives, and choose a song that brings our textbook to our ears.

This summer, I'm creating these assignments for my Canvas curriculum.  I'm happy for the time to prepare in advance.  This way I can eliminate or reduce obstacles to student success before they happen.  For each assignment, I give a trial run-through with my own instructions, and then, I submit what I have on Canvas - in the same way the students do.  I really enjoy this book.  If I didn't, I wouldn't assign it.  I'm drawn to the AMBITION of the main characters.  In my mind, Reina may look like a young Jenni Rivera (see above.)  She wants to get out of Colombia in the worst way, and she's taking Marlon along with her - again in the worst way. For these two lovers, failure is not an option. On the first pages, Reina tells Marlon:  "In this placed we haven't done anything, wer aren't doing anything, ad we aren't going to do anything."  For Reina, staying in Colombia is a fate worse than death.  For Marlon, life without Reina would be pretty much the same thing. They will do whatever it takes to make their dreams come true. 

I don't want to spoil anything here for my students; that's why my Paradise Travel MVP and Soundtrack Selection is based on the first chapter. In my Canvas submission, I will paint a picture of Reina's American Dream. I myself have gone back and read the first chapter several times.   By teaching my students  to pay attention to details, to judge which information is objective, such as dialogue or characters actions, and which is subjective, such as characters’ feelings or descriptions, this exercise also will also make them stronger readers. For Reina, it's important that you never settle; you always  strive for something better.  Through hard work, you can achieve anything you want. In the first chapter, she talks about New York City like she's already been there.  She describes for Marlon, "a freshly painted apartment with a view of the rive and the Satue of Liberty, on the top floor with a small terrace and a little garden, two chairs where we can sit and watch the sun set over New York City..."  Reina brings the image to life, like only she can.  I mean, she's probably visualized it for the last five or sex years since she has reached adolescence. For Reina, the benefits of working hard to obtain a goal outweigh the costs.

Below I share my brainstorming process for selecting my song. By the time we reach this point in the semester, by students will be well-practiced in their annotations skills. I want them to read and re-read the context of their lyrics before they begin forming their argument.  When I read about Reina ambition, it didn't take  me long to think about Frank Sinatra's (Theme from) New York, New York."  It came out with the movie when I was in high school.   Robert DeNiro plays the role of a saxaphone player who is obsessed with making it in New York jazz scene.  He could have been playing the life story of Frank Sinatra.  When I read the lyrics and checked the background of the song, and I became very happy with my Paradise Travel MVP and Soundtrack Selection.

As I do in my classroom research projects, I found my annotations deepened my understanding of what I read.  I feel like if I don't write anything down, I'm not learning. I expect my students to use  the patterns of development and writing strategies we have practiced this semester: cause and effect, definition, compare and contrast, argument.They will need to document their sources. 

• Will they be able to capture and explain a key quote?
• Can they define an interesting term used in the novel?
• Do they want to create a character analysis?

I‘ve provided them with specific formats, outlines, and models for their writing. I encourage them to make their presence felt – to find their own way of saying things –  to share their own personal perspective and experience. My goal is for my students is to reflect on the coursework for the semester.  I require them to use the same strategies and writing techniques that we have covered in my lessons. Will they be able to recognize their own cognitive growth?  Well, show us what you got:

• Find a few words, lines, phrases, passages from the song that could match up with something from the novel 
•  Make a table  - I suggest 4 rows, 2 columns.  
• On the left side, arranged the lyrics
• On the right side, arrange a passage from from your research ( at the end, put the page number in parentheses).

Jay's Note:  I had fun using my Frank Sinatra books from my shelves here in Mexicali. Below, I tried to follow my own instructions in the best way I could.  Jaja.  Here is how I connected what I hear in my head to what I reaed on the page:

(Theme from) New York, New York By Frank Sinatra	(Dream from) Paradise Travel By Jorge Franco
I wanna to wake up, in a city that doesn't sleep And find I'm king of the hill Top of the heap	It’s a freshly painted apartment with a view of the river and the Statue of Liberty, on the top floor with a small terrace and a little garden, two chairs where we can sit and watch the sun set over New York City (6).
Start spreadin' the news, I'm leavin' today I want to be a part of it New York, New York	It’s New York City; and then she repeated in a quiter voice: My New York.  With my mouth hanging open, I look around at the promessory landscape of twinkling lights and skyscrapers ( 78).
In old New York If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere	I’m going there to work, get ahead, have a child ( 81).
These little town blues, are melting away I'm gonna make a brand new start of it In old New York	She breathed warm air out through her nose; she wasn’t angry, just determined, and she pushed her breasts into my chest with each breath she took, so I could feel exactly what I’d be missing if I stayed (5).

Frank Sinatra was the TAYLOR SWIFT of his genreation.  In previoius classes I have used a number of TAYLOR SWIFT songs to model this assignment.  I have also used a number of Spanish-Language songs to inject important meaning into my discussion. LOS TIGRES DEL NORTE works.  They are know for their songs about immigrant struggle.  Musica Norteña.  But I have also used heavy metal: BLACK SABBATH'S "Paranoid."  Hip-hop.  Movie soundtracks.  Children's songs.  In 1980, Frank was 64 years old - THE AGE I AM NOW.  He was still belting out his old hits in Las Vegas, but at this stage of his life, HE WANTED MORE.  For him, ambition was a way of life.   Born in Hoboken, New Jersey,  he always knew that if he ever want to be somebody, he would have to do it in New York. At age 64, he cracked the Billboard Top 40.  The number one song that year was FUNKY TOWN. Jaja.   Isn't that ironic?  If anyone could sing FUNKY TOWN, it was Frank Sinatra.

 

Jay's COMMUNITY PROFILE Post - Fall 2024 Research Project - Nurses - Farmworkers - Single Mothers - Immigration Stories

  This fall, I will ask my students to look around their Valley (Imperial and/or Coachella)  for someone to interview for a Community Profile.  This will be the basis of our semester writing project, a combination of PERSONAL and ONLINE RESEARCH.   Their profile could come right from their past, present, family, job, school, or reading. Their goal will be to convey how the subject of their interview represents a larger idea.

Here are a few of the topics my students came up in previous semesters: Sex Trafficking, PTSD, Standardized Instruction in Public Schools, Drug Smuggling, Vegetarian Lifestyle, Eating Disorders, Bullying, Binge Drinking, Gangs,  Gender Identification, Mental Illness, Deportation...

Many of my students are close to family members that have worked in the fields surrounding our campuses. These students are able to research first-hand sources regarding the hardships and complexities of the job.  I've read several essays that detail the history of the UFW, and the "lucha" that continues to this day to protect worker rights. My students interview friends and family members who know the TRUTH. 

Over the years I have been teaching, the rate of teen pregancy has shown a steady decline, but the number of single mothers grows every year.  The last statistic I read reveals that more than half of all babies are born to  single mothers.  I encourage my students to  write about the causes and effects of single parenthood.  Like  Bob Dylan once said, "The Times They Are a-Changin'."   I see students write with intimate knowledge about a stigma around single parents. Each semester I recognize I have several single mothers in each class.  They write about how raising a child on their own may be the best thing that could have ever happened to them. Their knowldege is acutely aware. Their writing is expectantly STRONG. 

My Nursing and Administration of Justice students always elevate their performance on this project. Most often they have a clear idea for what inspired them to join the profession?  Their essays define the attitude and sacrifice necessary to succeed on the job. Their interview subjects have great stories. 

In Jay’s Community Profiles, we strive to open a greater discussion of social and political import.   With first-hand research of an uncle’s minimum-wage job experience in the fields, for example, a student can better address the issue of worker rights.  An interview with a former teacher can lead nicely into an insightful paper about educational reform.   Here is our goal: to provide our own commentary, questions, interpretations, clarifications or even feelings of what we have read and heard.  In other words, we take possession of our source and establish our presence in our papers.  I want to deepen my students’ involvement in their own education.  I want to give them their voice and a larger audience.  I want them to feel more a part of this campus.  The writing here reflects the diversity of student interest and concern regarding important issues in our community.

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When I was close to the age my students are now - this was a long, long time ago - I knew a girl whose parents pulled her out of high school when she became pregnant. It was a different world back then.  Teen moms experienced more than their share of guilt and shame.  Of course they dropped out.  There were no programs to support them.  Although many teen parents struggle with the responsibility, my friend Suzy found the appropriate resources to return to school and raise her child.  Sadly, teen pregnancy often comes with a stigma. The first things that come to mind when we see a pregnant teenager is drop-out, government assistance, single motherhood, promiscuity.   Because of the rampant stereotyping, we blame the young women for their choices. As a result, teen moms experience more than their share of guilt and shame.  In my current research, I found that does not have to be the case. Families, schools, and communities can join together to to provide support for teen mothers. It’s important they have access to resources to raise their children in a safe and positive environment.  By restoring dignity and reducing discrimination, we can all strengthen the futures of both mother and child.

  I'm writing this here because Suzy became a successful elementary school teacher and leader in her community.  I mean, if I was ever assigned a Community Profile project, I would contact Suzy.  She could share with me the fear and misunderstanding that surrounded her pregnancy in high school.  She would also explain to me how this experience shaped her decision to become a teacher.  Below I model a possible anedote to include in my essay. I push my students to consider their audience.  What type of imagery will capture the imagination of their readers?

Before Suzy became pregnant,  we used to sit together in the back of the room in many of our classes.  Suzy always used to take the spot next to the window and draw pictures in her notebook.  She was a dreamer.  She was also a runner.  She was on the cross country team.  She spent a lot of her time in class drawing pictures of running shoes she liked in her notebook.  She was good with the Nike and Puma symbols.  They covered her pages.  Her teachers didn’t seem to mind.  They said she was very talented.  Suzy planned to continue running and drawing in college.  She was going to study art.  "My pregnancy turned my life inside out," she told me. "Nothing I had ever done in my life prepared me for the life I would now lead.  When she told me she was pregnant, she  cried.  We both knew she wouldn’t be able to go to college any time soon.  Suzy had to drop out for a while.  I was the one who sat by the window.   While I was able to go to college, Suzy worked to take care of her family.  She had different priorities now.   I missed her.   With our crazy schedules, we didn't see each other very often.  Soon after she had her baby, however, I saw she was  running again.  I saw  her in her Nikes pushing her stroller along the side of the road when I was going to school.  She didn't look like your typical drop-out.  She looks determined and full of life. It’s just that she has a whole new set of goals.  

Jay's GIFT to MYSELF Post - New Novel Reading Project for Fall - Colombian Writer Jorge Franco's Novel - Paradise Travel

This Fall 2024, I plan to read a novel with my classes I recently plucked off myshelf here in Mexicali. It's called Paradise Travel, and it is written by Jorge Franco.  I'm not giving any spoiler alerts, but it focuses upon the American Dream - two teen-age lovers, Marlon and Reina from Medellín, Colombia, who successfully make the long, ardous journey to New York City but learn tough, life-changing lessons along the way.   I like this novel, for the CHANGE in characters that happens right before our eyes.  Both Marlon and Reina become Hard and Knowing.  They are entirely different people at the end of the novel.  Did their journey to the U.S. change the way they saw each other? How did their struggle to fit in, to find their place, to define their identities...Affect Their Love?

Why do I call this a GIFT to MYSELF?  Over the years,I have enjoyed reading and re-reading this novel in both English and Spanish.  I mean reading for enjoyment is the best thing I can share with my students.  I just completed thirty-three online quizzes over the past month to upload to my Canvas curriculums.  That took me thirty-three days.  When I'm reading a book I love, I'm astonished by the amount of time and energy I can put into it.  I know.  I know Paradise Travel will not show up on many suggested reading lists or class syllabi, but that's pretty much why I have chosen it.  It's a gift to myself.   I'm going to tell my students that reading doesn't have to be a grind.  They  are not going to get much out of the book if each page is like tramping through the mud.  I'm confident my students will identify with bits and pieces of Marlon and Reina. Paradise Travel will push them to understand more about themselves. 

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Most of my students in class have their roots in Mexico.  My  grandparents came to the U.S to escape Jewish persecution in Eastern Europe.  In previoius semesters we read a novel,The Tortilla Curtain, with a similar theme. Author T.C. Boyle chose to show both sides of the immigration debate. He found a formula to share the perspective or rich, upper-class residents of a gated community - with the struggle of a poor and desperate Mexican couple who have illegally crossed into the U.S.  All they want is the chance of a better life.  Delaney, the novel's main character, pushes back at his racist neighbors when they plan to build a wall around their community to keep people of color out: “Everybody’s an immigrant from somewhere,” he says.  From reading this novel, I encouraged my students research their own family immigration experience.  We'll do the same thing in the fall.  If my students feel uncomfortable writing about their families, they can write about other immigrants they know or have read about. I call the project, "Jay's Community Profile."   I feel the writing is valuable.  I see in their research, my students touch upon important historical an political issues regarding the places where they live.    In their family interviews, they draw out raw emotion. Their writing documents the impact of social movements in their lives.  Many of them have become the first college students in their family.  In their essays, they give their family members a voice where previously there wasn't.

Marlon and Reina must feel "atrapados" between two worlds.   Lost and alone.  They saw little future in their native Colombia, and they are surprised to find their prospects not much brighter in New York.  Man, they gave everything up to get there.  There's no going back.  My students are very close to the age of the characters. They will understand why I chose this book.    Everyone comes from somewhere. We are a nation of immigrants.  I can envision my students putthing themselves in the shoes of the characters they read about.  For this reason, everyone will have something to write. For an English teacher, what could be a better gift than that?

Jay's NEW CLASSROOM BLOG Post - Writer's Paradise - Jimmy Buffett - Jorge Franco - Vegetarian in Mexicali

  When I was the age most of my students are now Jimmy Buffett came out with hit song called “Cheeseburger in Paradise”  which he had started writing on his sailboat in the middle of some very rough weather on a trip across the Carribean Sea.  The boat was taking on water.  Supplies were dwindling.  The crew survived on peanut butter sandwiches.  As they were struggling to make it to port,  it was the image of a juicy cheeseburger that Jimmy focused upon in his mind to distract himself from his fears.  When they finally made it to dry land, Jimmy kissed the ground he stood on and ordered a cheeseburger in the first bar/restauarant he could find.   I mean, his safety was something to celebrate.  This was up the Sir Francis Drake Channel on on the small island of Tortola.  Unfortunately, because of a language problem, the cooks and waiters didn’t really understand the way Jimmy wanted his burger cooked.  They overcooked the meat and burned the buns Instead of serving the burger with MUENSTER cheese, they spread MUSTARD on top.  Who eats a hamburger with mustard? But, it didn’t matter to Jimmy afTer all he had endured on his boat -  It was the best burger he ever tasted.  In the end, it inspired one of his most popular songs.   

I don’t eat meat or cheese.  In the fall, I plan to read a novel called Paradise Travel with my students. It's about two Colombian teen-age lovers that follow their dreams to New York City to make a better life for themselves.    I don’t travel either.   I live in Mexicali, so every day I feel like I wake up in another country.  I can't say I'm anything like Jimmy - I'm not sure if i was evern much of a fan -  but when I get sad or frightened or happy, I like to write.  I take a journal with me everywhere I go.  I write anything or everything, whether it's good or bad.   I mean, you never know until you put pen to the paper, or your fingers to the keyboard.  I don't know what I would do with myself if I went a day without writing.    I hope my enthusiasm reaches my students.  In Jay’s Writer’s Paradise, I will  publish  their best work.

Jay's MUSICAL ANNOTATION Post - David Bowie - Taylor Swift - Marilyn Monroe - Fun (EFFECTIVE) Way to Deepen Our Research Skills

       This week I provide my students with THREE annotation assignments to help them identify meaningful ideas in their research.

As they work with their  text, I ask them to consider all of the ways that they can connect with what they are reading. Here are some suggestions that will help them with their annotations:

• Re-write, paraphrase, or summarize a particularly difficult passage or moment.
• Make meaningful connections to your own life experiences.
• Describe a new perspective you may now have.
• Explain the historical context or traditions/social customs that are used in the passage.
• Offer an analysis or interpretation of what is happening in the text.
• Point out and discuss literary techniques that the author is using.

At the top of this page, I practice with David Bowie. Currently we are writing sixties research papers. David Bowie began releasing singles as early as 1964; that's when he was known as Davie Jones. In July 1969, David Bowie got a hit with “Space Oddity.”  Next to my annotations of  his most famous hit, "Changes," I inserted an image of David appearing as Ziggy Stardust.  In my research paper, I'm not going to spend a lot of time writing about his songs, but I look forward to analyzing his chameleon-like nature.

I'm not sure my students know so much about David Bowie, but they know a lot about Lana del Rey, Rihanna, and of course, TAYLOR SWIFT.

So, Here is Jay’s Extra Credit Practice Musical Annotation Assignment:

• Choose a SONG. Any Song.  For ANNOTATION purposes.
• Jay’s Tip: Find something with interesting lyrics, phrases, or words that you can respond to. If you know something about the artist, that will be cool!  (For example, I know Taylor Swift was bullied in high school.  I was able to recognize a line in her song that may have reflected a form of bullying.  I made a note of it!
• Is there a part of the song that connects with you? UNDERLINE IT!  Explain in the margins.
• What’s the song about? Can you identify key clues that tell the listener part of a story?
• Is there a Message? Where?  Circle it?  Explain in the margins.
• Is there a Deeper Meaning – Will some people hear part of this song differently?
• Do you have any feeling for Word Choice – Why do you think the artist chose this word or words for this song?
• Comparison – Can you compare any part of this song with anything else you have heard or read?
• YOU DECIDE ON WHAT IS INTERESTING – but make your notes legible/logical/meaningful.
• Create SIX Annotations in the margins.

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Taylor Swift takes a lot of abuse from critics because she writes with such emotion, but a lot of the argument seems so unfair. I mean, when she began to make a name for herself in Nashville at age 14, she was so young and inexperienced.  Many writers just can’t let that go.  I say so what?  She writes about what she knows.  She writes about the ups and downs of her relationships.  She was nominated for a Grammy at age 19.   I can forget the QUANTITY of life, and look to the QUALITY of the writing.  Although few of her relationships appear to have lasted very long, the vivid details in her songs make them intensely personal.

In her song “Mean,” Taylor - or the narrator of the song - feels DEEPLY HURT by someone's words.  At first I thought they came from her LOVER, but as I read on, they may be coming from ONE of her CRITICS. She says, “You, with your words like knives and swords and weapons that you use against me.  You have knocked me off my feet again.”  It’s like they are killing her.  They are robbing her of all her confidence. Taylor might be saying it's EASY to write Bad Reviews, but it is Hard to write a Good Song.  Most of these critics “JUST DON'T KNOW.”  They can't play.  They can’t sing. That's why they write for newspapers

Many people who listen to this song may see a little bit of hypocrisy in Taylor’s lyrics.  In writing this song, is she showing a “mean” side of herself?  I don’t think so.  Many of these writers think MORE about themselves and LESS about the artists they cover.  Their reviews reach a large audience. Maybe, Taylor is reaching out to her fans who have been BULLIED.  Things change.  People grow.  It's the BULLIES that stay the same. 

When she sings “Someday I'll be big enough so you can't hit me,” she’s not attacking anyone.  She’s rising above it all.  Her lyrics send a message to all of us who want to move ahead with our lives.

    

I hope this works.  I’m looking forward to see my students share their music and thoughts on the class discussion board.  For me, much of the work they submit from textbook writing prompts look eerily the same.  Here we have a chance to engage in a meaningful, diverse conversation about things that matter to us.  I know little about Taylor Swift.  Here in Mexicali, I’ve never heard her music blaring out of a car window.  I’ve never danced to it in a club or a bar.   Jaja.  But, analyzing her lyrics through my annotation exercise inspired me to write this.  Taylor appears to me a strong female role model for the young women in my classes.  That’s probably where a lot of her criticism comes from.  She probably intimidates a lot of the men who write about her.

This semester, we are reading a lot about Marilyn Monroe. I found an anthology of fiction and poetry created by authors who write about Marilyn and for Marilyn.  They feel inspired in one way or another by her life and her death.  Their reasons are different.  Their connections run deep.  Maybe, one day, a group of writers  will  do  the same for Taylor.  In the fifties, Marilyn was one of the first to speak publicly about being sexually assaulted as a child.  Before her, there was few women were willing to talk about similar experiences.  There was dead silence about the subject of abuse.   Like Marilyn, Taylor has stood up where others don’t. In the case of her  song ”Mean,” she provides her fans with a voice against bullying.  Both of these courageous women tell us we don’t have to ever feel alone.

 

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In my  David Bowie research paper I will define Bowie's "Chameleon Nature."

A chameleon is a lizard that changes the colors of its skin.  People who like to change their looks are often referred to as chameleons.  They are never satisfied with just looking “hot”;  they change whatever they need to look “cool” at the moment.  Rock star David Bowie’s career was based on innovation and experimentation. He was a master of reinventing himself. In 1969, he appeared on the scene with an astral hippie ‘Space Oddity’ song.  He wrote about his sense of being adrift after a crushing breakup with is long-time girl-friend Hermione Farthingale.   A few years later, he rocked the world with his new band Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.  His new look and sound changed rock forever.   He was glam rock.  No, he was a soul singer.  No, he was punk.  You never knew what to expect with David Bowie.  When he died earlier this year, we lost a true legend.  He marked his 69^th birthday with the release of his 25^th album.  This time it was a jazz inspired work called “Blackstar.”  Many critics call it his most experimental, different album to date.  Two days following the release, his family announced that he succumbed to two-year battle with cancer.  He wasn’t your typical rock star.  He was never satisfied to live in the past.   He would always be someone  looking for “Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes” (Get it?) 

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Usually, I provide an in-class workshop to help my students with their annotations, but in our asynchronous format, that is not going to happen anytime soon. I realize some of them may not have access to the same softward (Word) I use to make my annotations.  So,  I provide my students with the next best thing: If they prefer, they can submit images of their hand-written notes on Canvas. Below I practice with my Marilyn Monroe research from a previous class.

WHY DO WE DO THIS?  I hope my students will find that their annotations will RAISE THEIR FOCUS and TAKE THEM DEEPER into their topics - EVERYBODY WINS!

• I find the students who make the BEST annotations, write the BEST research papers.  Funny how that works!