scotts blog project

Jan10th

2006-01-10T11:35:00.000+09:00

Welcome back.

1. I really hope everyone remembers where we are at today... Oh well. I want you to come up to the board, pick up a pen and write down some ideas/topics you have thought of over the break. Write your name and a couple (more than one, less than 5). Don't worry so much if your ideas are repeated by others. Once you have finished writing your ideas, go back to your computer and find our forum. You might take a few minutes familiarizing yourself with it (if you haven't been here before) or reading the comments since you last visited. This assignment should take no longer than 10minutes.

2. Ok now the forum. If you haven't done so, now you must. Open a new window with this URL (right-click it and select 'open in a new window'

http://www.j-talk.com/community/kansaigaidai/forum/

Write down this url, you will be visiting it over the next couple weeks. I grade your participation on this forum, so you should visit and participate (by reading and commenting) frequently. On the top bar, you will see many buttons. You will have to click some, fill out some cells so you can become a member, and then we will move on.

First, click the ENGLISH button to switch to English. In class, we will always use this.
Next, click "LOG IN," if you are already a member, or "CLICK HERE TO JOIN THIS COMMUNITY" if you haven't become a member over the break.
Finally, if you did not log in and comment over the vacation, do so now. Please make sure you are logged in and comment in the "welcome to the winter forum" topic, and write something short, like 'hello,' just to show me you can do it. If you have already commented on the forum (if you commented over vacation) you do not need to comment now.
If you did comment ov

3. Discussing the brainstorm on the board.

4. Important. We have one week until presentations begin, so you will have to do some work outside of class, using the forum. I did say that ifyou chose not to participate in the conversation over the break that you would have to catch up when we got back. I was not kidding. By the end of class today, you will need to have a group and a topic/text/focus, or, barring a specific topic/text/focus, you will at least need to have a short list of possible topics.

5. Today's assignment: Each group will need to talk with me (briefly) about their possible topic and then should create a topic on the forum with a team name... (not all the members of your group, that will be in your first post). Make it something catchy or fun, something that tells others what your topic is about. Some examples might be "Subject 28" for a group working on Akira -- is that too deep? or "Team Ghost" for a group working on Oshii's Ghost in the Shell, "Catbus Stop" for a team working on Totoro which is not, technically, SF but you get the idea: that cool looking Catbus is an important character in the film, so this title... yeah. Think about it.
Once your group has decided and one ofyou has created a forum topic, teammates (and others as well who want to help, offer advice, etc.) will share their findings, questions, comments, thoughts, strategies, links, etc. in the forum. Use the forum to communicated with each other. If you find something cool like a URL or other piece(s) of information, or thought of something when you watched the text, post it, write about it. (Did you notice what I did there? check it out, if you did, it might be helpful). Discuss your topic, students. Do so outside of class. Your presentation will be underdeveloped if you think you can just work on this in class -- that simply isnt enough time.
Use the forum to create specific a specfici focus or list of tasks for each student so you can all participate in the presentation. Once you have found a topic your group should decide how you will go about finding out about it from the primary and (if necessary) secondary texts. Brainstorm on where to look. Assign students to specific tasks. Get to work, and use the forum as a way to track what you have done and comment on what others have done.

6. The rest of class today is a work-in-class day. You have a lot to do. If you have questions, or comments, ask, or post them here in our forum's new question post.

Tomorrow we will have more time to work in the lab, and share ideas. I will also (maybe) demonstrate a presentation. You will (hopefully) help me create criteria I can use to grade this assignment -- specifically the presentation.

And starting tomorrow, we will switch to the forum for computer lab assignments as well -- why not. That is where you will be posting, why not get right on it and cut out the class blog.

12/14 Working on U4 assignment

2005-12-14T10:24:00.000+09:00

Hello. Not a lot to say today but you should read it all becuase there are specific instructions. Your choice.

I am guessing many of you could use some more time and guidance on this assignment, I'm hip, I understand. The problem is those of you who probably need help the most are often the least likely to ask. Thus today, I have made no specific plan, beyond a short (5-10minute) writing assignment, due before you leave class. If you wish to speak with me in class, please write your name on the board. I will spend a maximum of 5 minutes with any student if there are others waiting to talk with me. I will try to see everyone who wants to talk with me. If I have seen you early in the class and you want to talk again, you may write your name on the board again.

In class, I will allow you to work on whatever you wish, but suggest you spend your class developing your outlines (the finished assignment-thing that will be turned in Friday). By now, you should have seen your film/show and have begun to do some research, finding articles and other information online or in books. By the end of today, you must have a research question and a thesis developed, and should have begun to read and take notes on your research. By friday you need an outline with a thesis, a work cited page (MLA format) that lists the materials you used in your research, and copies of the sources you used. I am expecting you to use four or more sources, and prefer that most (if not all) are in English.

In-class writing assignment: Please answer the following two questions.

What is your research question ? What are you specifically looking for?
What is your 'best guess' answer to your question? What do you expect to find? What specifically do you think you will find in your research? BTW (by the way), this 'best guess' answer to your research question is often times your thesis. Notice I said specific? I mean it.

Notes on writing a strong, useful thesis. You might want to look at the OWL site (or here, if you are confused about what a thesis/research question is) about helping you write a thesis. Notice the site makes a distinction between reasearch question and thesis? I want you to ask a question and then answer it. That makes this an analytical reasearch paper, I beleive.

Example Thesis. A thesis that says, "The characters of Film X tells us various things about women" is empty and is not a good thesis.
so too a thesis similar to "Many things have changed for women over time" while better, again expresses almost no specific information.
Make your thesis strong and relevant: make sure it clearly states something important, something memorable.
"The character in Film X depict women as ____ and this tells us that women are ____"

"The role of women in society has changed dramatically over the past ___ years, especially in regards to ___"
You would of course, need to fill in the blanks with SPECIFIC information, not VAGUE statements that require interpretation by the reader.

Links for outlines (from OWL -- i love OWL!). Here are some more. A link to MLA formatting (for work cited page) AND how to use quotations in text. There is even something on alphabetizing your work cited, something I know some of you need to work on.

I think that is it for now. Good luck, and please ask questions!

researching our friday film

2005-12-07T13:26:00.000+09:00

Not a lot on the forum today. By midnight tonight, I would like you to do as Eribou has done and post a comment about this Friday's film and your choice on which we should watch. Below I have given you the names of the films, as well as their length. One thing to note about the film The Brother from Another Planet is that there are NO Subtitles.

In class, I hope there will be a little time for you to do some reading and discussion of these two films in small groups. I will aslo try to show the trailers for both films so you can get a feel for them. Places to look for information about these films. Obviously, I expect you to be able to do your own research, but to give you some other options beyond IMDB.com (which is a good place to look, especially in their forums). You are free to do your own research as well, and I encourage you to look at more sites than just the ones I mentioned, I offer these if you are feeling a bit lazy, or need a place to begin.

Contact (1997) 153minutes.
Rottentomatoes.com -- many quoteable reviews here. High rating (76% of critics like it)
Here is a link for the plot of the film.
trailer might work, this one should work.
In IMDb.com, I suggest looking at the forums to see what other, regular viewers have said about these films. It can be fun. Be careful: sometimes these forums contain 'spoliers' information that gives away what happens in the film. Some people don't like to know so much about what they will watch.

Brother from Another Planet (1984) 110minutes.
Rottentomatoes.com -- lots of review quotes on this film. Notice it's very high rating (100% of reviewers gave it a positive rating)
Synopsis (plot) of the film is interesting to read as well.
Yahoo overview and links
Online Trailer -- don't know if this will work.
There are far fewer forum threads on Brother at IMDb.com, but they might still be useful.

Notice, we will not hae time to finish either in class, but we will see most of them and I will probably run them all the way through (you can leave at the end of class just like with 12Monkeys, if you want/need to go).

Please post on the previous forum NOT this one. Please post on Monday's forum.

12/05 room5204

2005-12-05T13:34:00.000+09:00

In today's class, I will hand back your most recent papers on Sarah Connor and the Terminator films. I want you to read the comments, we will be using them in our conversation about Tank Girl. My hope is we will spend about 30-40minutes on Tank Girl, but be warned, if there is no participation, we will spend longer (meaning less time to work on your presentations).

Tank Girl:
I hope our conversation will be weighty, useful, and to the point and based on your comments in your papers, I can see that you are quite capable of finding and discussing interesting, salient issues in the films. Now I would like to see you share these ideas in class. The other choice is a short writing. I will make this clear. If you have nothing to say in class, you will have a writing assignment about this film. Period. End of discussion. With that not-so-subtle threat hanging there, let me assure you that this is not a discussion where there is a 'right' answer. There is however, a 'wrong' answer -- silence and lack of effort which to me are equated and similar. You have had time to think about it, you have had time to discuss it, now is a chance to share your ideas. If you won't (I don't say can't since most of you show the ability in writing) you will write about it. Some of the issues I want us to think about in class are to consider more fully:

The role of the Tank in this film. I asked Friday 'what is the tank?' It is a symbol but a symbol of what?
The role of Rebecca and her qualities -- masculine, feminine, or 'other.' (and what the heck does 'other' mean.
The motivation for Rebecca and the similarities/differences between her motivation and that of other women in films we have watched.
The character off Kesslee. How would you describe him? How long did it take you to figure out he was the bad guy?
This film we have viewed during this unit should highlight the differences between sex (male or female) and gender. Can you explain these terms, how they are connected as well as how they are different?

Presentations:
Tomorrow we will hopefully finish three presentations. As you should know, each presentation should take between 15-20 minutes and should inform the class about the subject your group has chosen, what you were looking to find, what you found and why it is relevant/important to study. I would like to have each person in the group add to the presentation. Furthermore audience (listeners) you have a job as well. Your job is to comment on the presentation, asking questions, sharing your thoughts, your feelings your 'take' or misunderstandings of the presentation/subject/etc. Participation is very important, it will keep you more awake and alert as well as prepare you for the assessment (read: test) on your retention of information from these presentations. So suggestion to audience: take notes, and ask questions. For further incentive, I grade you individually on:

your group's content and if you met the requirements of the assignment (50%)
your contribution to your group's presentation and (25%)
if you comment during at least one other presentation per day. (25%)

Groups should feel free to use whatever visual aides they desire: we will present in the CompLabs on Wed. and on Tues., you can use my computer to present, or access websites if you wish. Send the infor to yourself by email, we will access it in class. You might also consider handouts or posters as well. Anything to help get your information across to your audience.

Additionally, remember if you don't speak in your group's presentation (you miss the presentation, are shy, or have nothing to add, I will require you to write a 2-3 page paper (due Friday 12/09) on your topic in general, and specifically what you found during your research. This is not a simple recital of your groups' presentation but what you personally found. Much easier to participate, I would think.

Friday's Film:
Finally, I want to offer you a choice of films for this Friday, give you a chance to think about, research and hopefully develop an opinion on which we should watch. Here they are, Contact (1997) or The Brother from Another Planet (1984). These two films are very different in style and content. One is a big-budget film with a super-star female lead (Jodi Foster) the other is an Independent Film with less-well known (although he was in Terminator2) black actor (Joe Morton) as the lead character. Both are excellent films, (153 & 108) and either would make for a good final film for the unit. We will make a decision on our next film by Wednesday.

Feel free to post comments, ask questions and generally post information you have found on these films and your recommendation on which to watch (and why) on this blog.

11/30 Mini-research project

2005-11-30T09:40:00.000+09:00

In today's class, you will be working in groups, to do some mini-research projects on our new topic: gender & equality. I am going to throw a lot of information at you, you will get to do some research.
First, you might need to do some brushing up on the terms we will be discussing. I would suggest a trip to "Wikipedia" my favorite online encyclopedia.
A couple of starter pages to look at, to familiarize yourself with.
"Gender Studies" a fairly short and bland read on a very general topic.
One more. In this reading on Feminism, you will be introduced to early feminist theory and the name Mary Wollstonecraft who

"... is one of the few writer[s] before the 19th century that can be called [a] feminist. By modern standards, her metaphor of women as nobility, the elite of society, coddled, fragile and in danger of intellectual and moral sloth, does not sound like a feminist argument. Wollstonecraft believed that both sexes contributed to this situation and took it for granted that women had considerable power over men."

Lots to see, plenty of potential topics of discussion in the above idea alone.
Another interesting section is the "feminism in many forms" and it might be fun to browse the "major sub-types of feminism" as well. Take a look.

Neither of these is the final word on the subject, you can and I suggest that you should do your own further research on either or both of these fields. There are links at the bottom of these pages to help you along.
You will have about 10-15minutes to familiarize yourself with this information. Talk with your classmates, discuss what you read/skimmed and then we will move on. You will probably need to do some further reading on your own.

at the end of the 15minutes, we will briefly discuss as a class.

Second, a general overview of the topic and it's relation to film. The site is called "media matters." This is a non-profit Canadian group that creates a lot of media awareness and educational materials. The information we will look at is fairly basic, but again, it is meant only to give you a general background in the subject, or to remind you of what you already know. The idea is for you to do your own research and learn more on the subject on your own.

"stereotyping in the movies" is actually a site for parents to teach their kids about these issues. I am sure there are similar sites here in Japan and if you know of any, I would love to learn about them. It is basic, but informative, as are the exercises.

and

"Media Stereotyping" Is a good starting point for researching about specific groups and their portrayal on TV and in film.

You might also look at this: "A panel on strong women characters in SF" which is a transcript of four authors discussing this specific topic in a written, online chat format. It is very conversational and informative and since the panel are writers and scientists, it makes an intersting read. Take a look and feel free to discuss what you are reading with your partner.

You will have about 30minutes to look over these three sites. I don't expect you to get through all of it, but I expect you will have made some significant progress. You will want to finish reading them on your own later. We will again, briefly discuss as a class, (asking questions is good).

Finally before we leave today, I want you to decide which reading your will be working on for next week. post your group and your topic to the this topic along with any questions you have. The readings below will lead to a blogger assignment due by next Wednesday. Here, you will work in groups and focus on one of these read it, and do further reasearch. If your group decides it does not wish to work on the topic chosen in class, present other options and I will be willing to change your group's focus. Below are some possible directions for your assignment. These assignments all require group work and further research.

Your job is to break into 5 groups of 5 and working together, create a forum topic by next week about the information you researched, and the new information you found.
Your goal is to present the information your group has found to the class. you will have time to share information on Monday in class (after we have discussed Friday's film). Presentations will be given on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. The group will create a topic on the forum and each student will need to post some information that helps the rest of the students understand your groups' specific topic. The presenations are short, but I expect everyone to participate. Non-participants, (no speaking, abasent, or little added information) will get to present what they have learned from this assignment in written form. This will entail a 3page writing assignment, or receiving a zero on this (one of two) presentation assignments -- a very very bad thing for your grades.

Below are some possible places to start your group's research, mostly done on your own, outside of class, and discussed on this blog ( details in class). Again, you do not need to focus on these specific topics, but they are a good starting point.

Possible starting points for Gender. You do not need to use any of these, however, they would be good places to begin.
"Feminist Utopia" is a good place to start for a group(s) thinking of doing a detailed report on some of the different forms of Feminism. Notice that there are many forms of Feminism and there is no possible way a group could do justice to this topic in 15minutes. Your group will want to focus on one (or maybe two similar/contrasting) form(s) of feminisim. Your group members will want to research and focus your research....

Some further articles and readings.
"These chicks kick butt" for a short glance at some strong female characters and
"Construction of a female heroine" for a longer, more in-depth look.
"Gender through the eyes of Disney"

"Fluffy Feminism" The new '21st Century' form of feminism is discussed. It will probably sound very appealing to some. Like the text above, this article should be summarized and developed by the group. They will want to learn more about the different types of feminism that are mentioned in the article, and might mention those as well in their research. You might want to look at "theories defined" which will give you some other sub-categories of feminism to compare with. Also the site at Wikipedia also has a bunch of definition links under the "sub-types" heading.

"Space babe Leia flaunts a rare feminist flair" an article about a middle of the road female character, one with some very strong and atypical characteristics for females and some more common traits too. It is a good read. Here is one article on a popular feminist character. Your groups job will be to read this, summarize the points and then find more information to support the topic online. You want to do more than just summarize the text though, if would be nice if you could expand upon it and show us similar or contradictory images and examples to help us better understand this text. I have some thoughts on further research, if you are interested, ask. As for now, you might want to check out these two link as well to learn more about tough leading women characters. Still, some would object that they are still being objectified. Is this an accurate claim?

Starting points for a presentation exploring race & ethnicity.
"Asian Stereotypes" a website devoted to the portrayal of Asians in film and on TV. The Asian-Americans are a large and influential group in America with a voice. They have often protested stereotypes directed at other asians, here is a brief look at the issue. You might do further research later, using some of their keywords in a search engine. You might look for infromation about this group and how they fight against racial stereotypes in the states. you might also wish to browse the Anti Defamation League's website for more information, or maybe even focus your research on women and men stereotypes in Japanese media (you could look at stereotypes about foreigners or, maybe more interestingly, about stereotypes about Japanese men and women and the way their roles are portrayed in the media).

"Race & Ethnicity" is a website from Washington State University with lots of articles and links to other bits of information. This is a large site that contains a lot of information. It will take some research to use effectively, but it is a gold mine (very valuable) to a group focused on this topic.

"Disney's Portrayal of Culture & Race" Builds on the information given on the Media Matters website (from the second section today). Its a bit light, with not a lot of academic weight, but it could be a good article to get a group focused on a more specific direction.

So there you have it; a rather large assignment and an agenda for the class over the week. I realize there is a lot of information here. Please ask questions if you are confused.
Have a good one, folks.
SP

Stepford v. Alien

2005-11-26T10:32:00.000+09:00

Okay, which will it be? Your assignment here is to state clearly your preference. You will get credit for this assignment by indicating your choice and your reasoning behind your selection. You can choose either film; The Stepford Wives (1975) or Alien (1979) or choose not to participate in the decision -- any three of these decsions will be fine, as long as you explain why you feel this way. I will count votes before I go to bed Sunday night, around midnight (12:00), so let's make the posting time prior to midnight Sunday.

Good luck!

11/16

2005-11-16T11:15:00.000+09:00

First a vote backed up with your reasons why.
Sleeper or 12 Monkeys

Which one do you want to watch on Friday? Why? I will give you about 15minutes to discuss, research, and write up your answer before we move on to our current class assignment. Before you vote, you might want to check the imdb write-up on both, or the script (all linked above) for 12monkeys. Here are some other facts about the films.
Sleeper (1973) Director Woody Allen. Performers Allen, Woody; Keaton, Diane. Length 89minutes.
12 Monkeys (1995) Director Terry Gilliam. Performers Willis, Bruce; Pitt, Brad; Stowe Madeline. Length 129minutes.

Both are good, but for very different reasons. You will notice that 12 Monkeys is considerably longer than our class. If this is the film we choose, I will run it through to the end on Friday (finish around 4:40pm) and would be willing to re-screen it (show it again) on Saturday. I will reserve a room, hopefully our regular classroom to allow us to watch it again. We would need to set a time to do this on Saturday. I am willing to show Sleeper again on Saturday as well. Again, we need to establish 1) if people want to do this and 2) if so, what time.

In class today, we will work on developing our ideas for this next paper (paper 3). Most of you are ready to start developing your ideas about Gattaca if that is the film you want to write about. If it isn't, you are welcome to write about Soylent Green or either off the two films we might watch on Friday. If you choose one of these two films, you will need to be responsible for watching it and developing your thoughts on it. You can bounce them off me, but it will require more work on your part. Easier to continue developing your thougths on Gattaca. If you are going to conitnue with the Gattaca writing, here is the process and the steps for today.

Read my comments on your theme and summary.
Develop your ideas through discussion, research, and outlining your developed idea (you should have time to do some of all three things in class).

If you are planning on writing on one of the other films, you should plan to follow the same process but add the step of talking with me first. Let me know if you aren't planning on discussing Gattaca in your paper. This is fine, but I want to know.

So today is a chance to work on your ideas and doing this means being responsible and focused on task. If your are lost, or if at any time in class, you can ask me for advice, or bouce ideas off of me. You will have to manage your time, discuss your ideas with a friend (or in a small group) is a greatway to clarify your idea and share thoughts. If you feel you work better on your own, you can use the time to research, or if you feel you are ready to start outlining your paper, work on that. I will expect you to have some sort of outline ready for class Monday. And I am planning on working on your drafts in class next Wednesday, so bring what you have written by then to class as a hard copy and on disk too!

Ok I think that is it. Use your time wisely! Ask questions, discuss, think, write, work on this paper!

11/09 Gattaca & Ch6

2005-11-09T10:42:00.000+09:00

Today's class is going to be a mix of different things. Lot's to acomplish, not a lot of time to do it. I love the vacation time, but it does require us to be more focused, sorry.

We will start by finishing Gattaca. At the end of class, I will ask you to post questions/comments about the film we watched. Please finish this post before the end of the week (by Saturday would be good).

We will have a few minutes between the end of the film to discuss chapter6. Chapter6 is good stuff for any researched writing assignments you will have. As it is applicable to all your current and future writing work, and thus very valuable to you, I will not be assessing your understanding of it. Still, if you have questions about the content I do suggest you ask.

After about 10minutes to discuss the book, we will begin our lecture.

After the lecture, there should be some time for questions, then I will hand out the Unit3 (future-time) writing assignment. This is in addition to the writing assignment due next Tuesday on Gattaca (the Tuesday assignment is discussed on the Gattaca running sheet I gave you before we watched the film. I hope that isn't too confusing.

Ok, that's the plan. Let's get to work!

11/03 Next week's film

2005-11-02T23:01:00.000+09:00

Hello. Next Tuesday, we will watch another film set in 'the near future.' Just as we saw (and you were able to effectively name in our previous two classes) these SF films often give us a better understanding of some of the issues of concern to people at the time of the creation. If you have the time and the desire, I invite you to help decide which film we will watch. I have narrowed the film choice down to two films:

Gattaca (1997)
Logan's Run (1973)

If you are interested in helping decide on a film, I would suggest you find out a little bit about both these movies and then post a comment on the blog that explains why you would prefer to watch one over the other. Again, that's a post on your choice and your reasoining for choosing one over the other. I am curious to know your thought process on choosing a film and also by explaining your choice, you might be able to convince others to select your film as well. (You should read other students' comments before you vote -- assuming others have made comments....). See you Tuesday!

wed 11/02

2005-11-02T09:14:00.000+09:00

Today's class is a writing workshop, focused on writing more than workshopping. I am willing to discuss and help people with any part of their paper that they need, but i think more than anything, you just need to work on the paper. So here is the plan.

First, i will ask you to do a short writing (10-15minutes) about Soylent Green describe (two or more) of the additional themes you see in this film. Please do not list the ones we talked about in class (Rich v. Poor, Power & Corruption, Women as Objects) that we discussed in class -- these are great themes, but I want to see what else you noticed. After listing a couple more themes and how/where you saw them, I'd like you to decide which one you think you would write about , if you had to write a paper on this film and why. Whole writing assignment no more than 15minutes.
Next, I want you to open your draft, and if you have the hard copy I made comments on, get that out too. Decide what you need to work on today in class. What do you need to do to make your paper better? Once you have decided on a focus, work on that. If you need help from me, if you want me to explain or give advice, ask. I do offer this link to OWL... which has good information on all aspects of paper writing. Take about a half hour to work on one askpect of your paper.
At about 3:15, I want you to take a break from working on the paper and take a look at look at a classmate's work. Exchange papers, do a bit of peer editing. The idea is that your writing will be made a lot better if you have another set of eyes looking at it. When editing, focus on content and ideas, not grammar. If you focus on one person's paper, you should be able to give it a through go over in about 15 minutes. Discuss your comments, then, if there is time, make corrections. Remember, you can turn in your paper today or next Tuesday.
Reemember to save a copy of your work today. Save and then send it back to yourself, or save to your Z drive, or your disk, whatever, just make sure you don't lose the work you do today in class.

That is all. Good luck and please I am here to help, if you need anything, just ask.

vote it here!

2005-10-26T14:56:00.000+09:00

Take My Poll

Take My Poll

10/26 Directions and Focus

2005-10-25T21:25:00.000+09:00

We shall start class discussing the focus of the remainder of the semester.
My thought is either to (A.) focus on two (or three) categories, each for about three weeks, or (B.) focus on more categories, each for a week. If we focus on fewer categories, we will watch more films from each category and you may gain a deeper understanding of the sub-genre. If we watch want to encounter more categories, we will watch a single film from each. You will see more different types of films, but have a limited chance to compare them to other similar films. Which would you prefer? Your final choice (C.) is to leave the decision up to me, and force me to choose our categories and our class focus. Voting. There is more voting to be done. The first is right here and is mandatory for all students, (even Chihiro!)

Current results

The second poll box (at the bottom of today's post) should be filled out only if you wish to help choose our class content. So we all remember our choices, here is the liist of categories. You are welcome to ask questions about them if you wish.

Science & Technology: Nature versus technology
Gender & Equality: Why should men have all the fun?
Cyberpunk: The future looks… a lot like here; only it’s more poorly lit.
Man & Their Machines: Who’s ruling who?
Close Encounters With E.T.s: Is there anybody out there?
Horror!: Why are so many extraterrestrials nasty, scary, and… deadly?
Action Blockbusters: SF action films – lots of bang, not so much thought, plenty to write about.
The Human Condition: Philosophy 101 – Questions like; who we are, and what does it all mean?
The Human Mind: Stories about our grey matter.
Space Opera: Adventure stories in spaaaaaaaaace!
Comparative SF: But… what about Japan?
Anime: Cartoons are for kids, aren’t they?
Natural Disasters: The end is nigh!
Disease: Films about sickness.
The State of Government: Law and social order under review.
Possible Near-Futures: views of the future reflect the ever-changing present
Time Travelers: The future (or the past) are both just a film away.
Super Heroes: Real heroes wear brightly colored spandex.
Remakes & Serials: It’s a lot easier (and less risky) to remake an idea, adding new pretty effects.
Satire: With all this SF being made, you just know someone is making fun of it.

More On Dr. Strangelove
After we discuss (and write) about our thoughts, we will return to our focus on the film Dr. Strangelove. In class, i hope to give you a chance to share ideas about your possible focus, in the hopes you will refine, and develop your ideas through discussion. I have given you some comments, now it is time to see what others say, think, are curious about when you tell them your ideas. Try to share information and listen to others. Help each other improve our ideas. At the end of the class, I will ask you to fill out the back side of the sheet you turned in yesterday, describing

your planned focus for our paper (due Friday),
your 'next step' and
any other questions comments or concerns you have at this time.

quotes from Dr. Strangelove. Some of you mentioned doing research on humor or specific characters, but most expressed concern over the difficulty of understanding the characters. Maybe this URL address will help. It has numerous quotes from the film.

If you have voted to help choose our course content, please also complete this poll below.

If given a choice, what focus would you like for the rest of our SF Film class?
Fewer topics, more depth
More Variety in sub-topics, less depth
Whatever you think is best, Scott

If you want to help choose the course content, please select your choices for our focus. You may choose as many as you want, but less than 10 is best.
	Science & Technology
	Gender & Equality
	Cyberpunk
	Man & Their Machines
	Close Encounters with E.T.
	Horror!
	Action Blockbusters
	The Human Condition
	The Human Mind
	Space Opera
	Comparative SF
	Anime (only a choice option if you chose 'more variety')
	Natural Disaster
	Disease
	The State of Government
	Possible Near Futures
	Time Travelers
	Super Heroes
	Remakes & Serials
	Satire

Free polls from Pollhost.com

10/19 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

2005-10-19T12:45:00.000+09:00

“a satire on the dangers of atomic weapons”

Today's class will be another research and share information about our Friday Film. You will work in 4groups (of 6people each)

5minutes to read through 'brief film overview,' organize, and get situated
40minutes to research & read
30minutes to share info (and take notes)
10-15minutes to comment about their expectations for the film and what they will (probably) be watching for.

There are three different research veins, I would have two people work on each category. There will be a lot of overlapping information, but that will be good in small group conversations.

1960's overview
Terms to know
Characters & film

Brief Film overview and comments on it.
As we learned last week, this film is yet another SF film that deals with the conflict between the Soviets and the US in the post-WWII world. This one however is slightly different in that it is considered a “Black Comedy” or in the words of one critic a “the story is a ‘nightmare comedy’ using the lethal paradoxes of accidental was as the big joke.” According to the director Stanley Kubrick, “After all, what could be more absurd than the very idea of two megapowers willing to wipe out all human life because of an accident, spiced up by political differences that will seem as meaningless to people a hundred years from now as the theological conflicts of the Middle Ages appear to us today?”

Overview of the 1960's. To fully appreciate to better appreciate this film (and to help us with our final paper for this unit) here are some links. I would focus on the years leading up to 1964 -- when our movie was made.
“1960-1969 World History”
The 60’s
Am Cultural History
Wikipedia – 1960s decade

Terms to know: Lots of words and terms to think about that will help with our understanding of this film.

US/USSR relations

NATO Warsaw Pact

Berlin Wall

Space Race

John F. Kennedy “defending freedom from its hour of maximum danger.”

Nikita S. Krushchev “We will bury you”

Kennedy Doctrine

Vietnam War

Hawks v Doves

Pinko, Reds, Commies

imperialist stooges/lackeys

capitalist imperialism

Cuba

Fidel Castro

Bay of Pigs

Cuban Missile Crisis

Sci&Tech

Hydrogen bomb

Nuclear Winter

‘Doomsday’

“Fluoridation Conspiracy”

Characters & Cast: In your writing on this film, you will explore some of the themes from this film, large and small. Some are quite obvious from the narrative itself, but others might be a bit more difficult to find at first. Let us look at one specifically: Sexuality. Many of the absurd, omnipresent names of the male, military characters (caricatures) have sexual connotations or allegorical references that suggest the connection between war, sexual obsession and the male sex drive. Let’s do a bit of looking and searching to see what we find, or can guess about these characters’ names.

Group Captain (G/C) Lionel Mandrake
President Merkin Muffley
Dr. Strangelove (all by Peter Sellers)
Gen. 'Buck' Turgidson (George C. Scott)
Brig. Gen. Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden)
Col. 'Bat' Guano (Keenan Wynn)
Maj. T.J. 'King' Kong (Slim Pickens)
Ambassador Desadeski (Peter Bull)
Premier Dimitri Kissof (Not shown, but on the phone)

Lt. Lothar Zogg (James Earl Jones - do you know his name?)

Film for the final two of unit2

2005-10-12T21:18:00.000+09:00

So here's a funny thing... the vote came out tied. Very strange. Because the lowest number was your first choice, I added the numbers of all the votes together. I then subtracted one point for each vote of '1' for each film... to reward first choices.

The votes totals came out as:

Dr Strangelove (58)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (60)
Forbidden Planet (107)
Them! (80-something)
War of the Worlds (60)

who would have thought watching a 30sec short on bunnies (its a cartoon, not connected in anyway with the film except as a spoof -- a joke, making fun of the actual film) could be so influential (many of you mentioned that as a reason for wanting to watch War of the Worlds). who would have thought.... oh wait. i live in Japan... hee hee! Anyway. All five films are fine, and any of them were worth watching for varied reasons so.... we have to have a vote off, but we will watch either The Day the Earth Stood Still or War of the Worlds on Friday. Come early, as I will call a vote just before the start of class.

klattu_promises_peace
Originally uploaded by skawt_p.

gort_likes_da_ladies
Originally uploaded by skawt_p.

2 images from The Day the Earth Stood Still

flying_martians!
Originally uploaded by skawt_p.

martian_eye_beam
Originally uploaded by skawt_p.

2 images from War of the Worlds (1953)

I still want you to do your assignment -- predicting/mentioning what you plan to watch for and regardless of the film, you will have to do the same assignment from the book (Ch3 #2, p78) for class. Do it on the film you would most like to watch. Or better yet, do a short writing on both films. Short short ¶ about each. Not much discussion of why, more focused on what you will be looking for.

K see you in class, and hey, I am proud of you all for participating in the voting process, very important part of being a responsible adult is expressing your opinion and being counted!

10/11 Class catch-up, moving forward

2005-10-11T16:44:00.000+09:00

In today's class, we will discuss our final two films in this second unit (first full film unit). If there is time, we will discuss the idea of 'sequence' again, as well as finish up on our conversation about the first part of Chapter3. If we don't finish the mini-presentations, you can read a bit more about 'sequence' below, and should save your Ch3 questions for next Monday.

By Friday's class, you should check the blog once more, and bring a short ¶ to class (can be hand written) with expectations of the film we will watch ( like last week's Friday assignment).

In class mini-research/presentation
For our final two films for the unit, I have chosen The Day the Earth Stood Still and Dr. Strangelove. However, I am willing to change my choice, if you wish, but I will need to be convinced. My question to you is in which order would you like to watch them and/or which other film would you suggest we watch instead and why. Let me explain. The next writing assignment (due next Wednesday) is #2 from the end of Chapter 3 (p78). You will write an answer to #2 about the film we watch on Friday: either The Day the Earth Stood Still or Dr. Strangelove or possible a different film entirely. My question for you is which would you rather watch? Before you answer this question, you might have some questions:

what are these movies about,
why did I choose them as opposed to other films from the 50's
what other films from the 50s did I not select and why
etc.

I want to give you a chance to ask questions and find out some information on your own, then we will have a short conversation and then make a decision. We can acomplish all of this in class, if we work hard and share information. Here is how

Forming Groups, beginning research.
7groups of 3-4. no more, no less
1 typist ( computer input names and information for your group. pick someone who can type!)
1-2 researchers/readers (find & evaluate information, take notes, speak to class).
1 helper (if group of 4) (for collecting & exchanging information between research and typist, understanding/explaining assignment -- very important this last bit)

Once you have formed your group, come write your typist's name next to one of the films listed below. A maximum of two groups per film, so decide quickly.

Dr. Strangelove (1964) good message, 'interesting' delivery
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) good message, counterpoint to previous films
War of the Worlds (1953) more alien invaders, color!
Them (1955) more monsters! possible message
Forbidden Planet (1956) revolutionary special effects- 1950’s, 1st true sf blockbuster

Each group will have 20 minutes to do some research and an extra 5 minutes to post information (forum would work best, but we will survive)
After research and post, we will do a quick 4-minute presentation & Q&A from each group. Groups, you don't have a lot of time, so please focus your research and presentation. We want to know about the movie,

what information did you find about the basic story,
possible message/meaning/relevance to this unit,
other comments about this film that seemed interesting
recommendation, graded for your recommendation on watchability (high, medium, low).

I will grade your presentations on information found, explanation for recommendation (is it clear why you recommend we watch/avoid watching this film) At the end, we will have a chance to vote on what we will watch this Friday for our next short writing and finally the following week for our final film of the unit. I will post the results of the winning film on the blog tonight.

Good luck!

Information on Sequence: A sequence is '...a series of scenes or shots unified by a shared action or motif' (p176). The example I showed last week was of a sequence of shots in one sceen, but notice that from the definition, we can also create a sequence of shots that are not one right after another. It is equally possible to choose four or five shots of Captain Hendry as a sequence -- they would be 'unified by a shared motif' or four shots of people offering coffee to others -- unified by shared action. Notice too that a sequence is not necessarily long, nor is it necessarily short: it can be as large or as small as is necessary (beyond one shot -- that would be a 'singular moment' and not a sequence), as long as the shots that are included are 'unified by action or motif.' Now. if you are still unclear on terms like 'shot,' or 'sequence', or 'scene' you should ask now.

Chapter3 first half (p35-55): I don't feel like we finished our discussion, or that we probably got to all our questions yesterday, so if you have further questions, or want more clarification, now is the time to ask. I thought yesterday's questions about narrative and POV were very insightful and direct. I hope my answers and clarifications were helpful. Please, if you have more questions, let's take a look at them.

developing preliminary questions

2005-10-05T12:23:00.000+09:00

invasion_of_bs_56
Originally uploaded by skawt_p.

We will finish up our discussion on The Thing from Another World and then begin to do some pre-viewing preperationg for our next film, pictured here (10minutes, promise --one more repetition to point out).

ok. your main assignment for the day is to research our next film. We all know how to do online research, so I won't explain more, but remember to work as a group. decide who will look at/for what, collect data, bring back to group and discuss. You will have about forty-five minutes to research and discuss, make copies if you wish, whatever. Should be about 15minutes to type up your assignment.

To start you on your research,I offer you this from imdb.com here is the plot summary of the film.

Dr Miles Bennel returns his small town practice to find several of his patients suffering the paranoid delusion that their friends or relatives are impostors. He is initially sceptical, especially when the alleged dopplegangers are able to answer detailed questions about their victim's life, but he is eventually persuaded that something odd has happened, and determines to find out what. This film can be seen as a paranoid 1950s warning against those Damn Commies, or conversely as a metaphor for the tyranny of McCarthy-ism (or the totalitarian system of Your Choice) and has a pro- and epilogue forced upon Siegel by the studio to "lighten the tone"

with this plot summary as a starting point, what sorts of things do you think your group should research? Find out more about? In a group of four, find two or three focused topics of research, have each person do one, search, read and report back. Share information. Then discuss what the writing assignment, then work individually to write it.

List of today's assignment:

do some research in a group
share information that you found with each other
write a short answer to the first exercise assignment form chapter2 from our book (copied below) to develop preliminary questions/feelings abou tthe film we will view Friday.

Exercise 1. Before you have seen a particular film, write one or two paragraphs pinpointing your expectations about it. What do you already know about it? The country and histroical period of its origin? About the director? What will probably be the most important features of the film? Specific characters? The sound? Do these expectations lead you to look for certain themese or types of stories?

This writing should be typed in word and turned in before class Friday. You might have time to finish it in class today if you work in groups, share information and stay on task.

Upcoming assignments:

Friday, watch Invasion of the Body Snatchers take notes (limited during, more after), watch for themes -- was your pre-write guess accurate or not? Did you find evidence or not? What was it? Be watching for what you think are important sequences/shots in the film.
Tuesday Chapter 3 (pg 35-55 only, the rest will be the reading for the following week)
Wednesday exercise 2 from chapter 2 (pg34) due. We will (hopefully have time to watch a couple important scenes a few times in class on Tuesday, but you must have an idea of which scenes you want to see again -- will re-watch two or three. If noone has an opinion about which scenes they want to watch on Tuesday we will watch no scenes at all. So. On Friday, take notes, you might want to do a short writing after the film (just notes) and pick a scene or two from teh movie, try to describe the action in it, so in class you will have an opinion to offer.

9/28 An overview of the 1950s

2005-09-28T11:53:00.000+09:00

Hello! A couple reminders at the start of class ( a class with a lot of reading, and some discussion -- what more can we expect from a research-oriented computer class day? ). Good luck on today's assignment and remember, I expect talking and discussion today, asking questions, being interactive with your assignment, you computer, and your classmates.

Please sit with your mini-groups that we created yesterday.
If you were not in class yesterday, join one of the groups, (no more than 5 people to a group).
Please try to change the language settings on your computer.

Finished?
Okay, now let's get started. In today's class, I want us to take some time exchanging information about the 50's. Why do you think we are doing this? Please, this is a question I want you to guess at. Please please PLEASE don't take 20minutes thinking about it. Take your best guess, answer it and lets have a conversation. I refuse to give the answer and if noone is willing to volunteer, I will make it a writing assigment due Friday. So, discuss if you must, but be ready to guess at an answer: why do you think we should do research on the 1950s before we watch films from the 1950's?

After we have guessed (and I predict this will take a short amount of time) lets move on to the actual work in class.
From the handout, given in class on Tuesday, I asked you to research some of the terms associated with the 1950's that you found. This is not even close to a complete overview of the 1950's (in terms of US history or the world) but it is a good starting place and with a bit of thought and research should have lead to a bit of information. Today, you will get a chance to share this.

But before you do, I want your groups to take these two quizzes. Using two computers, (one for each link below) right-click and open the two quizzes, in a new window. Your group has 15 minutes to answer the 20 questions (total) on the two quizzes. Work together. After 15minutes, I will collect the scores from each group. Good luck!

Pop-Culture Quiz of the 1950's

Political Events of Import (from a US perspective)

After the quiz, I will give you some time to share information that you found with your partners. Hopefully, with everyone's help you will have a better understand of the key words and phrases from the sheet and how they relate to films of the 1950's. Take about twenty or thirty minutes to share information. You can research links together, report on what you found, give each other copies, whatever, but sharing information is what I want you to do.

After this, we will do a bit more reading online (lots of reading today, fight on)!

Here are a few very helpful general overviews on the 1950s in the US.

50s Pop History ( a link of inventions, famous people, tv shows, etc.)

A list of some important events. Ok this site rocks (it is very very good)! I was looking for a list of important events. I googled (did an internet search using) "1950s important events famous people" and found this site from "Kingwood College Library," apparently a college in Texas. The list was great, as was the overview of the decade. I included the list of dates of important people and places (I am curious if the links work). Check it out.

Important Historic and Cultural Events

1950 - President Harry Truman ( 'til 1952) approves production of the hydrogen bomb and Sends air force and navy to Korea in June.
1951 - Transcontinental television begins with a speech by Pres. Truman.
Dwight D. Eisenhower is president from 1953 until 1961
1952 - The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952 is signed, removing racial and ethnic barriers to becoming a U.S. citizen.
1953 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are electrocuted for their part in W.W.II espionage.
1953 - Fighting ends in Korea.
1954 - U. S. Senator Joseph McCarthy begins televised hearings into alleged Communists in the army.
1954 - Racial segregation is ruled unconstitutional in public schools by the U.S. Supreme Court.
1955 - Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
1955 - The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge making the new AFL-CIO an organization with 15 million members.
also in 1955 Dr. Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for polio
1956 - The Federal Highway Act is signed, marking the beginning of work on the interstate highway system.
1958 - Explorer I, the first U.S. satellite, successfully orbits the earth.
December 10, 1958 - The first domestic jet-airline passenger service is begun by National Airlines between New York City and Miami.
1959 - Alaska and Hawaii become the forty-ninth and fiftieth states.

I also read through the overview of the 1950s on Wikipedia. It compliments the information from Kingwood very nicely. Together, these two lists have covered some of the major events you should probably be passingly familiar with in order to better appreciate the films we will watch. Here is the begining of the entry from wiki...

The 1950s in Western society was marked with a sharp rise in the economy for the first time in almost 30 years and return to the 1920s-type consumer society built on credit and boom-times, as well as the height of the baby-boom from returning GIs who went to college under the Montgomery GI Bill and settled in Suburbia America. Most of the internal conflicts that had developed in earlier decades like women's rights, civil rights, imperialism, and war were relatively suppressed or neglected during this time as a returning world from the brink hoped to see a more consistent way of life as opposed to liberalism and radicalism. The effect of suppressing social problems in the 50s would backfire in the 60s with the counter-culture movement.

The 1950s were also marked with a rapid rise in conflict with the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union that would heighten the Cold War to an unprecedented level which would include the Arms Race, Space Race, McCarthyism, and Korean War. The rise of Suburbia as well as the growing conflict with the East are the two generally accepted reasons for the Conservative domination of this decade.

again, I will give you a some time to do some reading with your partners (or on your own, but I suggest discussing it with partners).

I do think you should spend a bit of time reading both of these over the next few days. I would hope that by the end of the weekend, you will have spent a few hours (two-four) reading some of these pages, clicking the links, doing your own background research. It isn't a equirement, but it will help your understanding of the films we will watch (and in your reading I gaurantee you will encounter the names of some of the films). Background research like this is helpful for you and will help you immensely over the next four weeks. It is your choice.

After we finish this part, I will give you some time to do a short comment on our blog talking about what you found/learned/discovered from your own research, from discussion in class, and from the reading you did today. It can be short, it doesn't have to be overly detailed, but just some general comments, about 15minutes of writing.

If we have any remaining time, we will discuss something else, perhaps a bit more fun!

Week1 - new blog!

2005-09-25T18:53:00.000+09:00

To make my posting responsbilities more manageable and to better separate the in-class work from the more personal journaling, I have created a new blog. This blog will be where I make my weekly posting for class, a journal of life this semester at KGU. Please feel free to check it out at your convinience and don't forget to add this new blog's URL to your own blog. Assuming you want to read and would care to comment on what I have put up.

Enjoy.

And here is.... liveinjapan

the address is http://scottsotherblog.blogspot.com/

Sept 21st Defining SF

2005-09-21T12:26:00.000+09:00

Today's class is designed to get you more used to defining and explaining your terms. Defining what it is we are talking about allows us to more accurately explain how and why we feel a certain way about something. If you say I like/dislike SF, it would be helpful to first know what you understand SF to be before you tell us your feelings about it. So. The first part of class is to work in small groups (3-4 people) to share information and explanations on what this genre is, from what you have seen, what you have read in the handouts, what you have found online on your own. Homework for the past two classes was to read the handouts I gave (friday) and find other sources to help define SF, and now is your chance to share. If you didn't find anything, it is fortunate that you have computers and helpful friends in your group to help you out. You will have to work fast. in about 20 minutes, I will ask you to begin posting a comment that explains your own personal definition of this genre. Use this time to discuss and share ideas, for it is through communication and discussion that our ideas will become more clear and understandable.

After about 20minutes, I will ask you to work on answering the following question:
What is your definition of Sceince Fiction? Based on what you have read, seen, & discussed, how would you define this genre in your own words?
Remember the goal here is not to define it as Scott or any one other source has defined (I don't want you to copy what someone else has written), rather the idea here is to come up with your own personal working definition. This definition will probably change over the course of the semester, so nothing is set forever. You can change, ammend, or even recant (take back) the statement as the semester goes on, but for now, I would like to see what your definition is.

I will give you about a half-hour to write, edit and post this comment. I am expecting a decent sized paragraph (more than a couple sentences). My suggestion is that you take a few minutes and brainstorm some ideas, maybe write down a few notes and then sit down for twenty or thirty minutes and just type what you think. Take a break, then come back and do some editing. If you are feeling really enthusiastic, or lost, you might try talking with a friend from class first before you try to write something up. Sometimes that helps clarify what you think.

After we have posted, we will take the remainder of the class to discuss SF, the handouts you have, the information you have found and (maybe) the reasons why this genre is appropriate for your studies.

This weekend's homework explained. Obviously, we all need to do our first blog post, if you haven't done so already. Hmmm, I wonder what you might write about as a first post back from summer vacation? I will take a look at your posts on SF, and will try to finish a write up commenting on your ideas, your thought process and your definitions in general.

If you have a hard time with this assignment, I would suggest as follow up that you do a bit more looking and thinking about how you would define this genre, because it is important for us to have a decent working definintion before we truly start the work. Your only other homework for the weekend is to read Chapter 1 of your Textbook A Short Guide to Writing about Film. Give yourself some time on the reading, it might take you a couple hours. Come to class Monday with questions, I expect a lot of questions, (and hopefully other thoughts as well).

The sample reading

2005-07-13T10:52:00.000+09:00

So for yesterday's class, you were supposed to read the pages from our second semester taxt book A Short Guide to Writing about Film. I am wanting to get your reaction to the reading, your thoughts feelings, and questions. I am looking for a a lot more than 'it was too difficult' or 'i like movies,' both answers are fine, but you will need to expand and explain more about your reaction to this assignment than that. Above, I have put a link to the book's homepage at Longman. Check the link out. It has the table of contents, features, and other interesting information about the book.

I would like you to take a few minutes and discuss the reading with a small group before we write about it. I will give you about 15-20 minutes to do this. I want you to share your ideas about the reading. In general, I want to know specifically what problems you had with the reading, if any and (again, if any) questions you had. Below are a list of questions you might want to discuss, or think about as I will ask you to answer some or all of them in your writing (which should be in a paragraph form, not just question answers.)

Questions to help you focus. You don't need to answer all of these, or any of them really, but this is the sort of information I am looking for. It is not about total comprehension, I am curious if you can engage with the text, find something meaningful, and/or make statements about the reading you have read, a reading that is basically 1st or 2nd year college material. I think you can, and I want you to try. I hope discussing it with others will help.

How was the reading?
Why? What specifically made you react to it as you did?
How much time did you spend reading it? Do you think it would be easier if y ou had spent more time on reading it?
Based on your reading assignment, what advice could you give other people to help them comprehend this book more easily? What activities or study skills might help you understand this material more clearly and easily?
What questions do you have about the reading? What was interesting or confusing to you?
What did you like about this reading? / What did you not like about it? Why?
Did you look at the two end of chapter questions on page 34? You should but if you didn't look at them now. What did you think about them? Do you think you could answer these? Do you think it might be helpful to be able to answer these?

Discuss these questions and your own thoughts about the book in groups, but quickly get beyond 'Too Difficult!' and explore why or how. Share what you did understand with your group. I think you will find that together, you understood a lot more than you think! Use the discussion to organize your thoughts and share ideas with others so you are more capable of writing about your feelings in a meaningful way. At the end of this activity, I will give you about 15 minutes to type your feelings.

Good luck.

Mukade -- nasty but apparently seductive as well

2005-07-11T21:09:00.000+09:00

05-07-10 10cm "Mukade"
Originally uploaded by skawt_p.

I think i have the name correct. This is what I found in the woods in Japan. Here I thought this country was safe: that yoour borders were protected, that your people praised the way of non-violence and ultra-strict gun-control, that you had killed the only really dangerous predator (the wolf) long ago, and even your only posionous land-based snake the mamushi is not really all that dangerous since it's teeth are small and it doesn't put out a lot of venom. Here I thought I was pretty safe as long as I wore a bell in the woods, and stuck to the path. Boy how little did I know. These incredibly fascinating critters, are very fast, as is evidenced by the fact I couldn't get him in my photo frame, nor could I get my boot in there for a size comparison, run in packs of two and grow up to about 15cms. Why on earth did no one tell me about these crazy killer centipedes that leap out at you and, from what I read, are very aggressive. My students tell me they are called "mukade" and since i know no better, I am willing to beleive them. By the way, the scientific name for these nasty critters is Scolopendra subspinipes japonica

Funny, it seems that the information on them is a bit scattered. One student says, very dangerous one says not dangerous, one says, 'only if they bite you three times.' everyone who asks says that it hurts if they bite you and thus I suspect it the chances are pretty remote I will get bit more than once. Besides, I learned to check my shoes and boots in Tucson, and usually pay close attention to where I am stepping, so I sincerely doubt i will get bit at all (knock on wood) but man, I wish someone would have warned me before I went around rooting in the bushes in the damp, sticky forests!

Don't get me started on the big hairy spiders.... ooooo give me cold cool Aomori with its general dirth of icky crawly bugs. Bears I can handle, they are big and you know to be afraid of them, don't touch the big toothy hairy thing, but small little scuttling bugs that hide and bite ya when you aren't looking, that is just uncool!

Thanks for the information, Stephen

Wednesday July6th editing

2005-07-05T21:43:00.000+09:00

Well not much of an assigmnment here for you really, but I will tell you what I want you to do in class. You should work in groups of three (if you are not in a group of three you should tell me so). Exchange your two copies of your draft with your partners and decide who will be keeping track of the time, as time is important. Editor, write your name on the bottom of the papers you read, I will grade editors on this, so make sure you write your name and that your partnerr doesn't lose this edit before Friday! You should be able to read through and comment on each others' drafts in about 15minutes per paper, so I think you should take the first 30 minutes or so and make corrections and edits. Then, as a group you should discuss each paper in turn. Discussing each paper should take about 10 minutes per paper.

What are you looking for? What should you be making comments on? Throughout the semester, we have done numerous peer-edits that should give you a sense of what we are looking for, but briefly, I will spell out some of the most important things you should be doing on this draft for your partner.

First, use a pen, not a pencil. Your comments will be easier to see if you use color. Penciled comments are just too easy to overlook and ignore.
Editors, write your name on the top of their draft.
write down their topic on the top of the page.
underline their thesis, and circle their specific comments, observations, or claims about the topic. remember, 'the story tells us 'various things' is not specific. If their ideas aren't spelled out clearly in their thesis, you need to alert them to this problem.
Looking for arguments that support the thesis. You should number the main arguments they give to support or develop their thesis.
after reading the entire paper, check the title. Is it appropriate?

The last five points are in fact questions you might want to answer in your own words at the end of their writing.

Answer the question 'are their supporting claims given enough illustration (examples and/or understandably thought processes) to make them beleivable and understandable? If they are, write a yes next to the ¶, if they aren't you should try to advise your writer on how they can improve them.
Have the supporting points been related to the thesis clearly with through explanation of their importance and significance? This is the 'E' in pie, and it basically asks has the writer made it clear what we are supposed to think about this supporting point? have they related the point to the topic/thesis/context clearly, or are they expecting the reader to guess and assume things that might be added to make their thoughts more clear?
Has the writer explained enough about the context and/or defined the key terms and/or ideas that are necessary for their readers to understand?
Has the writer used spell check? have they worked to reduce their grammar mistakes? can you help them with these at all?
How is the organization of the paper? do the ideas flow together, or coudl they be organized in a different order to make them more effective? are some ¶ in need or breaking up into more self-contained ideas?

This is a long list, but not exhaustive and if you see other things that need to be commented on, feel free to do so. If you see somethign that you are not sure about, you can ask me or the writer for further explanation. Editors should take the time to look over their writers' papers and make the comments on the draft as well as try to briefly answer the questions after you finish reading. These comments will help your writer re-write their essay for the second draft due Friday.
good luck.

naomi-puddle-stomper

2005-07-03T20:03:00.000+09:00

naomi-puddle-stomper
Originally uploaded by skawt_p.

Whew, now this is more like it! I was worried that the hot weather of June meant it was going to be outrageously sticky and icky in July, August and September but this breif respite of rain has given me hope. Yes it is overly humid and wet but it is cooler and much more bearable. Thank you Weather Gods, you have heard my unsaid prayers, made the rain fall, and slashed 10 degrees C off the temperature. Not bad work. And as for me, I found the weather most helpful in motivating me to do my work too. Got most of your papers graded, and should be able to hand them back by Tuesday, baring unforseen problems. This is good cause looking at our older work will help us with editing our current writing as well, so this is actually perfect timing... yeah. Uh, the rain also helped me to catch up on my sleep! When it is hot, i tend to stay up too late, since that is the only time I feel I can get anything done without sweating to death. The last two nights have allowed me to sleep a bit, and so the complaint now is that I am too hyper... uh oh, i will try to control myself for classes this week, promise. Back tot he safer topic of the weather.... now sacred storm lords, if only you could do something about these darn mosquitoes and the tragically inadequate screen doors we have that allow all but the very largest of these tiny blood suckers into the house. Ack! Oh well I can live with a little itching I suppose, as long as the heat holds off.

So how long does one of these rainy seasons last anyway?

June 30th research question/focus

2005-06-29T00:00:00.000+09:00

Homework for today was to think about a possible focus for your short research project. I hope you came up with something. Remember in class I said simply summarizing the story and repeating back what was briefly mentioned in class is not going to earn a passing grade. Instead I want you to focus your thoughts on a specific feature or 'thing' in the story that you want to find out more about. Also recall from class my suggestion is that you try to look for ideas and issues that seem interesting to you or that make you curious becuase these will probably be the easiest for you to talk about. If you have done so, great, now lets do a short writing about it. IN a sentence or two, please describe your focus for this research. Then you might include some of your ideas on how you will go about your research. What do you think is the next step? What will you be looking for specifically? Where will you be looking specificially? Also feel free to include any questions you have about your assignment and/or more specifically your research.

After you have posted, about your topic and your ideas for your next step, you should start working on finding information. I will start reading your posts and offer what advice I can in class. If you have specific questions, you might ask me, or read the information on the link below, it is very helpful in writing papers.

After about thirty minutes I will ask for a volunteer, we will look at a student's direction and work on helping tailor their topic, offer suggestions about research, and begin to cull through the inoformation they find... hopefully through participating and watchig this process, you too will be able to focus and collect important and relevant information for your own topics.

If you are stuck:
Here is a page that has some more information on developing a research topic/question/thesis that might be helpful to you if you are stuck.

June 22nd Brother's Grimm

2005-06-21T23:26:00.000+09:00

Hello! I thought yesterday's class was very productive with many people sharing ideas and I heard a lot of conversations in the small groups too, so I am guessing you all had things to say. I want to encourage those of you who haven't been sharing your ideas, thoughts, questions, comments, and observations to please feel free to participate. By adding your voice to the conversation, you will 1) find time moves more quickly, 2) you get to practice and using your English, 3) add to the overall learning of the class. I encourage everyone to share your thoughts.

As for class today, I want to acomplish two things, one is comparing the Brothers' Grimm version of "Aschenputtel" to the more well-known French version of "Cinderella."
I want us to do a short bit of reading on other versions of "Cinderella" and be prepared to discuss the reasons why we find so many varieties of this story in the world.
You will also want to find a version of the next story we will read in class "The Juniper Tree" online and make a copy, and read for class tomorrow.
Finally, I will also ask you to do a short writing about class focused on 1) the Brothers Grimm and/or 2) the story we looked at I will tell you which one based on what we acomplish in class today.

If we are unable to finish any of these goals in class, they should be considered as homework that should be done before the next class. More instructions to follow.

Versions of Cinderella
A bibliography of different versions of Cinderella
Politically correct re-telling of Cinderella

extra reading, for those who are interested in the 'why' behind the stories and their rise in popularity AND the reason for the changes in Europe all taking place around the time these stories and the others we have looked at were first written down.
"The Age of Reason"
"The Age of Enlightenment"
These are by no means definitive explanations, but they do add some cultural context for the reasons all these stories started to be written down at the same time in all these countries. Enjoy.

Sunday 6/19

2005-06-19T22:31:00.000+09:00

Today is Father's Day and I am not feeling much like writing. Apart from reading Beauty and the Beast for the second time, I acomplished very little actual school work this weekend. I hope you will all forgive me. I did, however get to check out some of the dance 'thingy' that happened on Sunday at school. I had a few students from one class who were in a couple different groups, so I felt like going. We went. It was fun to watch in a way, interesting more like it. I enjoyed what I saw, but sadly, we weren't lucky enough to see any of my students (or any of the groups in army camos) perform. Naomi is pretty finicky: she can't stand being in a dark, hot room for long and quite frankly neither can her father. Seeing as how it was 'my day' and she wasn't happy, we didn't stay long. Oh, I did see Yuka Mori when I was on the way to Indian food. There is a new restaurant down under the tracks behind tsutaya and it is pretty good. Yeah, we saw Yuka as we were getting on the bus. It is fun to see students out in the 'real world.'

Anyway, apologies for not getting my work done, hope you had equally relaxing weekends!

06-15-05 Hans Christian Andersen

2005-06-15T11:06:00.000+09:00

Today's class will be a research-oriented class. We will find out information about the author of this story as well as the story. The overall goal is to develop a resource of information about Hans Christian Andersen, his fairy tales in general and of course, "The Emperor's New Suit" in specific. You will have 45minutes to research, then we will have about 40minutes to discuss and share information, and 5minutes to discuss tomorrow's assigment: "The Little Mermaid."

For reasearch-groups. Read quickly, I will not repeat this in class. I want you to quickly organize yourselves into groups of three (writer + 2 researchers), and decide the focus of your research:

The writer and his body of work (all his tales together) 2groups
This text ("The Emperor's New Suit") and it's possible message. 2 groups
The next text ("The Little Mermaid") and it's possible message. 2groups
Other texts ("The Ugly Duckling" "The Brave Tin Soldier") 2 groups (1 each)

As for what information you give us, that is up to you, but the idea is to help us understand the meaning and imagery in the story.

Once your group has decided on a text, the writer should come write it on the board, so we can track it. All groups should write a comment to the blog below, telling the name of the group members, and on whose page you will be making your post (writers will post the information for their group on their own blogs, with links). While you are doing all this writing, yoru researchers will be finding new information for you. IF they don't have things for you to write, you too might do some research.

While the writer is busy, researchers will spend their time finding information online, reading it and summarizing, including their own interpretations and reactions. depending on your focused topic, researchers will have to perform diffferent tasks: researching, reading, summarizing, compiling links and assessing their value. Your job is to feed information to your writer, to give them links, to help them gather information. How you get the information to them is up to you, but maybe you could use your blog or their blog (comment) windows. You are experts at this by now, you guys will have to figure out how to make it work!

A couple of helpful sites for everyone.
Pages of Shades This is the site I used for the text for today's fairy tale. It might be helpful. I also found this page to be a good resource, but be warned the readings are long and will need to be summarized, if used at all.
Hans C. Andersen's Works This is a great, through resource. All his works are listed, many of them hyper-text linked.

There are lots more sites, you will have to find them on your own. I am hear and would be happy to help, but a lot of this is reasearch you should be able to do on your own.

As for our conversation, i don't expect perfection, but your group should be able to find somev information, interpret it, and add your work and thoughts to the conversation.

I look forward to seeing what we found out. Good Luck!

Team Tanuki Execution Force - consulting the map

2005-06-12T23:51:00.000+09:00

Team Tanuki Execution Force - consulting the map
Originally uploaded by skawt_p.

Well this weekend, I followed my baser instincts, returned to the woods, and hunted my friends with paint. Yes, yes, my truly gross American nature came out. I guess I felt the need to bond with other manly folks by shooting them with big wads of paint. As embarassed as I am to admit it, It was stupid fun, meaning I had a great time. Today I am sore -running and crouching and yes, getting shot takes it's toll on the body, I sure am glad I don't have to do this sort of thing for a living, or for real. By the way, ask me, and i will show you my 'war wounds' (paint balls bruise leave marks when they hit, and yes it hurts ALOT, so you try really hard not to get hit!)

One more thing: you know it is funny, while we were out there to do simulated violence to each other, i actually found most of the time, I was sitting in silence waiting and listening to the forest. It was very peacful in the quietly dripping woods, very green and very wet. The green wetness was punctuated by short bursts of activity, and in those bursts, I usually shot all my friends, but good. Ah, yes it was a good day.

Honestly, I was almost too embarassed to share this, but felt I might as well, since although I feel a bit guilty, I must admit, I did enjoy myself throughly. Also worth noting: the best player out there with us was a woman: her and her team (who didn't come this weekend) are supposedly one of the most feared regular teams that plays this course, so the game isn't just for Americans, nor is it all male. Yes, it is still a bit barbaric, but then so are any number of organized sports. The key to this and any other competitive game is to realize this is just a game: play by the rules, and leave the game when you leave the field. A couple pictures...

Team TEF makes a bold stand

2005-06-12T23:49:00.000+09:00

Team TEF makes a bold stand
Originally uploaded by skawt_p.

June10th "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

2005-06-08T12:06:00.000+09:00

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, online book

Another online version of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow

A great site that explores the legend and its importance in 19th Centure American Literature. It is said that the writer Washington Irving is the originator of the American Short Story and that much of the narratives from the US follow the patterns that he created in his two most famous 'Legends' of Sleepy Hollow and another famous legend called "Rip Van Winkle."

Wikipedia site on Sleepy Hollow. Ah Wikipedia, my good friend. This can give you a brief overview of the story and while this is a good place to start, this is the minimal amount of work. I would expect students to look at this, check out some of the links and explore at least the history surrounding the story, (the author, location, -- click on af ew of th elinks in the text or at the end of the article) if not actually trying to read the story iteslf on some fo the other sites.

Sleepy Hollow Home Page A site to help tourists explore the real physical place depicted in this famous setting from American Literature.

A Language Arts lesson for American students on Sleepy Hollow.

June 8th John Henry

2005-06-07T16:53:00.000+09:00

Today we will look at another folk hero from the US, John Henry. For class today, you should have read the handout with the short story of John Henry as well as the short definitions of the terms "Legend" and "Tall Tales." My question to you is what category would you place today's story?

Here are some further materials.

The Steel Driving Man
The first one is a full website with numerous articles, on J. Henry, all trying to discern where this man and the story come from. Take a look, maybe view a few pages and read a bit.

"Present at the Creation" NPR piece on Henry
The Next one is a radio piece done by National Public Radio. It is a good piece, and the site has some interesting links to give more back ground information.

John Henry Folk song Lyrics
Next, we have a link that has a version of the John Henry ballad's song lyrics. It is said that the folk song John Henry is the most popular folk song in America, but what is meant by 'popular' is not clearly defined. Still it is well known and there are many versions of the song, this is one of them.

John Henry Story (Hand out)
Finally we have a link to a copy of the article I gave you to read for homework, so if you misplaced your hand out, you can still be prepared for class.

My suggestion for you is that before class tomorrow, (and to some extent in class, but you will need to spend time outside of class as well) you might want to look at these sites, explore them and find out a bit more information about John Henry. In class, I will again put you in groups to discuss your story and this folk hero John Henry.

To help your discussion, you might try focusing on a specific element of the story, for example

subject/topic
diction/style
imagery
setting
ideas/message

Near the middle of class, I will ask you about 20minutes to write a comment about what you focused on in your group's discussion and what questions came up. I will also ask you to think about the next step. Keep in mind that you will write about one or more of these topics and narratives, what more information would you like to have and where might you start to look? How might you conduct a search for more information? Details on this are important since I doubt I can get you to share them verbally in class without first getting you to write about it.

So that is a brief summary of the assigment for tomorrow (today, if you are just looking at it in class). Good luck.

June5th Live from the CALL conference

2005-06-05T10:01:00.000+09:00

So I am sitting in ... wow I don't even konw where I am today, at Squirrel Something University (Ritsumeikan University Biwako Campus) at a CALL conference. CALL is the term for using computers to help teach language. (Computer Assisted Language Learning). It is fun to attend this conference in that I am getting to see what other people are doing in their classes. Basically, it seems like a lot of students are blogging now in Japan, so you are all on the 'cutting edge' of Language Learning, so congratulations!

While I did get a few new ideas, but mostly I learned that not many people really know what to do with the technology they have. THere doesn't seem to be a specific way to use computers in general (or blogs specifically) and most people are just sort of trying a lot of things. One thing I did like was the sharing. I saw a lot of people sharing ideas on the blogs they like the most. Here are a couple I was introduced to. A couple different ideas for blogs, for your consideration.

Mikan Moblog
This is a "mobile blog" a mo-blog where the writer is taking a picture a day of different things in Hiroshima. Its pretty fun and could be useful if you wanted to go visit Hiroshima.

Fatman-Seoul Blog
Another interesting blog writen by a person living in Korea who likes to eat. A good outsider's perspective on eating in Korea.

As interesting as looking at these were, I was most interested in seeing other student's blogs. I wasn't given any urls for other students, but I will try to find them. Okay, well I have to go back and listen now. If I find Japanese blogs of others students at other universities I will pass them along.

June 1st

2005-06-01T14:18:00.000+09:00

First off I want to say how impressed I am with you and your blogs. Many of you are commenting a lot on other people's blogs, that is great! If you have received comments from others, I really hope you will take the time to read what they are writing as well. This is the best way to pracitce and utilize your English skills and as I have said before, the more you write, the better your skills will become.

In today's class, I want you to work in small groups discussing the story "The Tiger's Whiskers." Summarize the story, discuss the meaning and be ready to discuss it with the whole class. We will talk about the story and how to use the book.

Next we will disucuss the handouts. "Defining Fairy Tales" &"Motif & Tale Type"

Finally, if there is enough time, you will have a chance to work on your paper that is due on Friday.

A quiet weekend

2005-05-30T00:42:00.000+09:00

Nothing much to report this weekend, so this will be a brief post. As some of you noticed in class, I was feeling 'a bit under the weather' (a euphemism for 'sick'), and so I was able to acomplish very little this weekend. I went home after class, took a couple hour nap, helped with dinner, played with Naomi a bit, and then.... I think we watched a movie. Oh yeah! The first half of Star Wars3. Pretty sad: We are so old and tired we can't make it through an entire movie anymore... Saturday, I graded papers and blogs and such. It was a work day. We went out for dinner that night at a mexican restaurant in Makino called "El Moustache" It was pretty good, all things considered. I felt pretty bad that night so I had to take some sinus medicine. Naomi is also sick and she had a rough night sleeps, with lots of coughing so Temre didn't get a lot of sleep. Poor Temre. Sunday is today. I think I worked all day, grading more papers and stuff. I still feel terrible with a headache and stuffed up head and sore throat. No fair: I worked all weekend, took it easy and I am still sick! Hope you all had better times than I did.

Wednesday May 25th

2005-05-25T12:25:00.000+09:00

In class today, meet with your story groups and continue sharing information about the stories. You will want to discuss as a group the possible meanings of the different stories. This does NOT mean that the story teller tells you the meaning of the story. This means as a group, after you have heard the story, you brainstorm and discuss possible interpretations of the overall text, and the message for the listener. Original story-teller, your job is to lead the discussion, to ask qeustion to help your group find the meaning, not for you to simple tell them the meaning. Help them create and find meaning as a group. Take notes. You will have about a half-hour to discuss this.

The remaining class time is for you to work on writing assignments. You have a paper due today, You had one returned to you last Friday. And if you hadn't guessed already, I am going to ask you to write yet another paper about this latest round of stories as well.

Japanese Fairy Tales Analysis, Final Assignment: Please choose one of the stories to write about. I want you to write a paper, at least two full pages of analysis of this latest story you chose that interprets the story and places it in context (explaining the meaning of the story and discusses why this meaning was important, helpful, useful, in teaching traditional cultural values to Japanese societies. You might also mention if these values discussed in the story are still relevant (necessary) in today's modern Japan. This assignment might require some research. We will have time to work on this in class, discuss your ideas with others, and even (hopefully) get to research and/or write a little on it. I will ask that by Monday you bring two copies of your writing to class for editing and that the final version of your writing will be due the following Friday. This is the final writing for this unit, so I am giving you time to work on it. I expect this to be a very finished piece of writing, with well explained ideas and understandable connections to traditional societal values. I believe that you will need a full two pages, maybe more (hopefully not more than 4) to do this.

Your paper should have an intro that briefly summarizes the story for your reader, a clear thesis that shows the message to society. This thesis will be explained in the body of your paper. Finally, you should also include at least a paragraph of explanation of the teachings value to traditional societies and possibly even a mention of the relevance (necessity) of these teachings for today's society as well. We will need a paragraph that wraps all this up as well. That sounds like at least a five paragraph essay! As second year college students, I assume you know how to write a paper like this, but if you do not, you should ask questions to get clariffication. We will have time on Friday to ask qeustions about the assignment. If there are no questions, we will being our new unit then. Please bring your other text book, World Folktales to class then.

05-05-21yodogawapark

2005-05-23T13:51:00.000+09:00

05-05-21yodogawapark
Originally uploaded by skawt_p.

When i was at University in Arizona, there were quite a few Japanese students there. Most of the time, they would always be in a big group on their own, speaking Japanese and generally failing to mix with the other students, but there were a few who were very outgoing and curious to meet other people. I became friends with quite a few of these students, and still keep in contact with a couple of them. One of them brought her family to visit this weekend.

We had a nice visit.

Homework for Monday

2005-05-20T15:49:00.000+09:00

You want to make a list of the teachings/messages form each of the five stories, then pick one of the stories you heard (not the one you read) and Analyze it, and write a short 1-2 page analysis of it, interpreting the story, it’s message, etc. Just like we did on our first paper. Bring your draft with your five teachings and one focused analysis to class on Monday. Remember your analysis should focus on analyzing the message of the story and discuss how this message was relevant to it’s intended audience of traditional Japanese society members (or you might choose to describe how it is/is not relevant to today’s audience).

Read the comments on your paper. Try to use my suggestions and comments to make your next analytical writing better, more focused and directed.

5/18 class post.

2005-05-18T11:50:00.000+09:00

Please write a short paragraph that tells us your groups decision and the details of how you made your decision. What were the factors involved in your choice? How did you come to an agreement? What was the deciding factor in choosing this one over another? Finally, I want you to guess what will happen. Predict what you think you will find and why.

This writing should take you 10 minutes at the most and is due by the end of the day.

GL

may 15th: am i a torakichi?

2005-05-15T10:17:00.000+09:00

Yesterday, some friends and I went down to Koshien Stadium to see the Tigers play. I should explain that I am not the biggest baseball fan, but I do enjoy a game, especially if the weather is nice and the stadium is appropriate (baseball should never be played in a dome). It was a beautiful day and the closer we got to the stadium, the more right the situation felt: lots of fans in their Tigers gear, lots of street vendors hawking their wares, it was a pretty site and reminded me of my visits to the handful of parks I have visited in the States. I was excited. My friends told me a bit about the history of Koshien. Built in the early 20's (completed in Taisho 13, aka 1924, I think) it is the oldest park in Japan. In 1934, Babe Ruth played in Koshien. Wow, now that is some interesting bona fides, that is. Unfortunately, the game was sold out, but I still had a great day getting lost in Osaka.

The stadium itself is... quaint in comparisson to the monster-sized venues now in fashion in the States and I was surprised to learn it could hold 55ooo people. My friend tells me the seats are very small. From the outside, Koshien is short, only about four stories tall with sliding windows lining the outside walls. These windows must open straight onto the seats, because there were plenty of fans hanging out of them as we walked around the stadium. I hear it is one of the few actual grass fields in all of Japanese baseball. If i wasn't a fan of the Tigers before, the fact that they play on grass would have been enough to convince me. Playing in covered domes, playing on astroturf... yuck! Baseball belongs outside. Because of it's age, Koshien shows a real lack of security. I think there were two or three places where a determined fellow coluld scale the wall, and hop a fence in under a minute. Not that I condone this sort of behavior, but it seems very possible. Also, the supply/storage rooms and entrance was open and only had a couple young people sitting around inside, chatting to themselves. Again, I think a determined fan could easily sneak in if they so desired. Good thing in Japan people would never do such things. :) As we walked aorund, we had been hoping to see people selling tickets (called scalping) but no such luck. We saw some shady people who seemed to be good candidates for illegal activities, but they brushed us off when we approached them. Maybe in Japan there are no scalpers, but I can't really beleive that is the case. It seems more likely that there is some sort of plan or ritual you have to follow to find the sellers and obtain tickets and chances are we just arent going to know how to do that. Anyway, walking around the stadium was fun. It seems that not many foreigners find their ways to Koshien though, since a few people expressed their surprise in seeing 'gaijin' near the stadium. ha, hearing people say 'oh look, foreigners! in Japan seemed very normal in the country, out in small towns in say, Aomori, Akita, or Toyama, but in a big city like Osaka, it seemed a bit strange to hear that.

After walking around the stadium. I don't really know what to think of Osaka. I have very infrequently walked around on the surface of it. It seems that everyone rushes to and from the subways to dash across town and pop up in a new area, which all looks way to alike. Because we are always bouncing from one subway to another, I can never get my bearings and thus the city feels mysterious and unnavigatable for me. I wish i had more time to explore it. When I am on the surface (Osaka really feels like a subteranean city or at least that much of the time we are underground, undercovered walkways, or indoors) I like the feel of the city, but I don't have th eopportunity to go often enough so I might never know.

HW for Friday's class

2005-05-11T15:48:00.000+09:00

For class Friday, you want to bring at least something similar to what i have below. You should be able to discuss your idea, to explain what you are looking at, where you found it in the story and how it is connected to Japanese culture (traditional or modern).
you will need a copy of your focused topic along with a list of links with commespecifci comments to class. This copy can be as simple as what I have below, or as elaborate as what I showed you in class on Tuesday. Be prepared to discuss your focus in class
Also, be prepared to discuss the concept of giri and its importance in Japanese society in class friday ( you don't have to research this concept, but you should be able to explain it a little bit and be able to add to the conversation in class. if you can't you might look at the links below!)
GL

example of the paper you bring to class:

I focused on the concept of duty and responsiblity in the story. Urashima seems to be very honest and duty bound and I wonder why. His choices are all 'good' but i am not sure i would make the same choices in his situation and I wonder why he chose to do what he did.

Giri http://www.rcrinc.com/tanaka/ch1-2.html interesting info on samurai class and their role in the tokugawa period
http://www.hi-ho.ne.jp/taku77/papers/thes595.htm importance of social obligation to parents… somewhere in this reading
http://countrystudies.us/japan/58.htm explanation of giri http://academic.csuohio.edu/makelaa/history/courses/his373/giri.html giri a japanese indigenous concept – interesting.
http://www.japancorner.com/etiquette-manners.asp giri and its importance in society.

Filial Piety
http://academic.csuohio.edu/makelaa/history/courses/his373/giri.html The Hidden Relevance of Japanese Historical Influences

HW for friday

2005-05-11T14:40:00.000+09:00

http://faerymists.tripod.com/fytales/urataro.htm "Urashima Taro and the Turtle "

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/U/Ur/Urashima_Taro.htm Dictionary-like version of the story and protagonist, with a link to a longer version of the story.

http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/folk/urashimataro/urashima.html Short storybook like version of UT with pictures.

http://www.geocities.co.jp/HeartLand-Gaien/7211/urashima.html short version of the story with pictures. kind of cute and fun.

http://indo.to/english/netnihon/fairy/urashima.htm "Japanese Fairy Tales" Short version of the story -- not very helpful.

http://www.gonzaga.edu/Academics/Colleges+and+Schools/College+of+Arts+and+Sciences/Communication+Arts/Theatre+Arts/Russell+Theatre+Photo+Archive/The+Honorable+Urashima+Taro.htm Urashima Taro as a play -- photos here.

Wednesday May 11th

2005-05-11T11:37:00.000+09:00

“urashima-taro”

HW: Note down what you already know about the story.
Read p. 26-42 in Japanese Fairy Book

In class: Students will make two blog posts (one to our class blog, one to their own blog, They will share ideas with other students, they will do a short research project to collect information. Here are the steps in today’s class. You can work at your own speed, or follow along with class.

1. Free write on our class blog (15-20minutes)

“Summarize the story. Make note of any differences between your own version and the version you just read.” This writing should be a few sentences in length, 4-8 should be enough.

2. Discussion of story, differences, possible overall message and specific interpretations of meaning. (15minutes)
3. Ss should brainstorm (and take notes) on possible overall meaning AND on possible specific areas of focus (similar to what we did over the last two days with “The Tongue-cut Sparrow”) where you find something about the story that is interesting or intriguing that can be connected with culture/society of Japan. You are looking for an aspect of the story that might have deeper implication / meaning and relevance on Japanese society, or in other words: look for other messages and lessons about how to succeed, explanations of good and bad behavior or general commentary on society. You might find these sorts of ideas by looking deeply at one aspect of the story; a character, a specific action, or a common element found in many stories that you also see here. By focusing on this, you should then be able to focus on the commentary on society, as well as the story. (15minutes)
4. Pick one of these foci (one area of focus) and we will then do some simple online research, looking for information about it. (20minutes)
5. On your blog, make a new entry about Urashima-taro. In the post, you want to explain (briefly) what you will focus – what aspect of the story and how you will tie it to society in general. Add research you have found. Copy the URL links you find online into your blog post, along with a title for the link and any other comments you have about the specific URL (address). Comments will help you remember what the links are about later. (20minutes)

Good Luck! Ask for help, if you feel you need it, that's what I am there for!

Creating Links

2005-04-27T11:31:00.000+09:00

Today's class is about writing/editing code, specifically we will add links to our blog that allow us to access other peoples blog. Writing code is not necessarily easy, but it is very doable for this class, and should take about an hour, giving us some time to work on our other assignment as well. You just have to pay attention, follow instructions AND ask questions if you need help. You will need to access your email, download and open the word document I have sent you AND have two browser windows open: one on this post and one on your blog's template page. Ready? Let's begin by checking your email, saving the document I sent, opening it, the getting signed into your blog.

Today's Events:

Adding a link to our class Blog
Adding other blog links.
TODAY's GRADED ASSIGNMENT/QUIZ: Adding additional, useful Links.
For additional practice

Finally...
Once you have finished all of this, I would like you to post a short comment to this assignment, and let me know any questions or problems you had today so I can make this lesson better and more valuable.

Assignment for Monday

2005-04-24T10:27:00.000+09:00

Hello, I don't know how many of you are checking this blog, but in case you are, I just wanted to clarify the assignment for Monday which is to read those three tales and write a short paragraph of desciption about each of them. At the end of this assignment, you should have three paragraphs (¶ ), each will most likely be shorter than 8 sentences. Your summary will be typed, double-spaced. Below I will explain a bit more in detail; summary as a skill, what makes for good summary; and what is meant by short.

Summary writing is an exercise to get students able to quickly report the main ideas of a text, to look for and quickly mention the gist (the central idea/ideas) in your own words. Summary is not a list of copied sentences from the text, it is a writing that condenses the main ideas of the text into short, compact units which usually means you have to write it yourself. There is room for borrowing well-written or well-worded ideas from the text in your writing, but you should mostly aim to use your own words. Summary is a condensed version of the original, you need not add your thoughts or interpretations, nor do you need to mention every action or occurence in the story -- you need to only mention the most important stuff, but what is the most 'important stuff?' That is what you have to decide. Think of a well-known story, like "Momotaro" how would you summarize this story in a few sentences? If you mention every action and every character, it will take too long to write. If you don't give enough details, it will be rather meaningless.

An old man and old woman with no children found a baby inside a peach who they raised as their own son.
'Peach Boy' grew up very strong and brave.
One day he heard of a group of evil ogres threatening people and he decided to do something about it so he traveled to their base.
On the way, he made friends with a dog, a monkey, and a pheasant who all agreed to help Momotaro defeat the ogres.
Momotaro & his friends fought the ogres in their lair and beat them.
After their victory, Momotaro and his friends found great treasures and riches that the ogres had stolen.
The friends took the treasure and the king ogre as a prisoner and returned to Momotaro's home, where he and his parents lived rich and happily ever after.

7 main ideas to re-tell Momotaro. Is this the only way to tell the story? No. It isn't, there is no one right way, but it is a way that meets the assignment goals of being short, concise and touching on the main points of the story. Now with my notes from above, I need to write a paragraph.

I hope this helps. If you have any questions, please feel free to write to me, or better yet, post them here. See you Monday.

2005-04-20T15:02:00.000+09:00

http://scottsblogproject.blogspot.com/

Wednesday April 20th

2005-04-20T13:20:00.000+09:00

So you have to write a post, at least one a week. How will you acomplish this? What will you write about? Here is a good oportunity to brainstorm some writing topics for our group.

A good place to start looking for ideas to write about are your own interests, so you might suggest people write about things you like, enjoy talking with your friends about. Keep in mind these are open journals so you want to focus on topics that you don't mind other people reading.

As a short exercise, and as a way to teach people how to make comments on other people's blogs, I want you to try and come up with a list of as many topics as you can think of in the next 10 minutes. Once we are finished, we will take a look at the posts. We should have quite a list to work with.

A couple things to keep in mind:

Although we only have 16 weeks in the semester, you don't have to stop your list once you think of 16 topics. I mean one post a week is the minimum requirement.
This list is to help you think of many ideas, not restrict your ideas and topics. You don't have to write about the topics we have brainstormed. You can write about anything: you can use another person's idea, or if something during the week gets you excited, write about that instead.
Feel free to ask questions during the brainstorm posting.

Vocabulary

2005-04-18T14:21:00.000+09:00

There are a lot of terms and words you need to understand and be able to use in order to discuss literature, indeed to discuss most subjects at the University level. As such, I strongly encourage you to keep a vocab list of the new words you encounter in class and to ask questions or for definintions of these words when I use them. Please stop me in the lecture, ask for definitions look up the words outsiide of class. It is important for your education. As I mentioned in class, I will periodically ask to see your list of words so don't lose them.

In our first couple classes you have been subjected to many lectures with what I assume is many new terms. Are you all okay with these words and terms? Are you comforable and able to use them? I hope so, but if you want help on these words and terms, you might try posting your questions here. What words are you not clear about? When you post your vocab, I expect you to make an attempt to guess or try to define the term on your own as well. It lets others see your thoughts and know where you are coming from, your base of knowledge that they have to work with, it helps make the definition more useful and focused.
good luck!

Wednesday April 13th Class

2005-04-12T08:55:00.000+09:00

So I have been reading the emails you all have sent me and instead of answering each and every question individually, I figured it would be helpful to list them here and take a whack at them all as a group. Your questions are in red, my answers are in black.

How old is your daughter?
As of today (wednesday) she is 16months old. Her name is Naomi which is one of the only names common in both Japanese and Western societies. I figured it was a good name since she was born here.
If I am late for the class because of train accidents, will it be tardiness?
Hmmmm.... No that sounds like a good excuse: if you are in a train accident I won't mark you tardy, but please try to contact me as soon as possible to let me know you are alive!
Why did you decide to teach English in Japan?
Why did you decide to teach English in Japan? What was the prompt?Why did you come to Japan?
I am from Seattle and there is a lot of contact between that city and Japan: many of the students in high school were san-sei, my grand parents had hosted many Japanese exchange students, food, culture, arts, etc. I guess I was interested in Japan. And it didn't hurt that your country pays a lot more for teaching than most other countries in Asia.
How was our class's first impression?? If you were not a teacher, what do you want to be??
My first impression was good: you seemed to be a happy enthusiastic class. If not a teacher? hmmmm.... Well I wanted to be a Vetrinanrian waaaaaaay back when I was first entering University, and I wanted to be an Anthropologist for a while as well.
Please tell me what is the most atrractive point of your country.
Where to begin, there is so much that is attractive about the US! First of all is the diversity: it has everything in terms of people and natural settings. I guess that to me is the most attractive aspect of the US: its large size makes for a very diverse and varied place, which means that your expereinces there can be so very very different depending on where you are and the people you meet.
Please tell me what is good point of studying abrord.
Its a great experience that helps you mature as a person. Studying abroad exposes you to new cultures and new peoples and if you approach it with an open attitude, you will learn a lot, grow as a person and probably meet some very interesting new people. Studying abroad is not simply fun though, it can also be challenging, but I think challenge is good for people. In short, if you approach it with an open mind, and see it as a learning esperience, then it can be a wonderful, if sometimes challenging expereince.
Are there any other thing to do when I send Email to you except to sign my name at the bottom? Don't I have to write in MLA style in Email?
I don't know if there is an MLA-style for email and if there is, i am not going to make us learn it. Still there are a couple things i would like you to do and this is an important question (so I hope everyone is reading this). The most important thing to remember is to use the subject line. For emails you send to me, I want you to being them with IES-H and then you can write whatever else you want. This IES-H in the subject line will help me track your emails better, and allow me to answer them quickly. If you don't add IES-H to the subject line, I might not respond or even find your email for a while.
Are we going to do presentation in this class?
I think so, yes.
When you sudy foreign language, what skill do you improve for communicating at first? And what do you do for improving your speaking skill of foreign language?
Must we write blog everyday?
Nope, at a [i]minimum[/i], you must post to your blog once a week, but i hope you will want to do more (and students who want to improve their english skills will certainly do more). I hope that once you start blogging you will find you actually enjoy this sort of homework, and will want to write more on your own blog and on other student's blogs too.
Additionally, along with your own blog, I will sometimes ask you to respond to questions I place on my blog as well. These questions will be related to assignments in class and answering them should help you prepare for our class.
Why did you decide to be a teacher?
A: There is an old addage "those who can't do teach" and beleive me, I thought it was true for a while in high school, but when i got to college, I found people who enjoyed their work and made it fun and interesting to think and discuss. I enjoyed school and enjoyed thinking and discussing things and helping new students learn to
Finally, I want to ask you how many times do we have to
write essays?
Uh, I don't really know, to tell the truth. To me an essay is a long, finished writing, somethign you would turn in and have graded on grammar [i]and[/i] content. We won't have a lot of long, finished writings, but we will have quite a few shorter writings where i ask you to write a page or two and grade you mostly on ideas. If I had to guess, I'd say probably 2-3 'essays'
You said you have been in Japan for five years. What is the most favorite city in Japan?
Beffore moving to Hirakata-shi, I have lived in very 'country' cities of Japan; Aomori and Kanazawa. I liked both of them a lot, I especially liked Aomori in the winter because I love to snowboard, but Aomori is so small and far from stuff and my internet access there was TERRIBLE! I liked Kanazawa a lot as well -- they had all the seasons especially the rainy one and the food was very good, but again it felt very far from everything. I like Hirakata since it is close to Osaka and Kyoto, but here the food is SO expensive and it is TOO HOT in the summer and NO SNOW in the winter. So I like all the places I have lived, but haven't yet found a perfect one. Favorite city? Sapporo or Sendai.
What is traditional food in our hometown?
Seafood, coffee, apples and beer are all foods and drinks that Seattle is known for.
Where do you like Japan?
I enjoy visiting the big cities of Japan and the mountains too. My favorite places in Japan have to be Shiritoko-hanto, (NE tip of Hokaido) Mt Hakoda (Aomori Ken) and Fushimi-Inari (Kyoto). There is also this yakitori place in Kanazawa called Kagadaiko which we named 'the home of the dancing cockroach' and that too is one of my favorite places.
Why phone mail is not good? I don't have real one so I have to come
far school to send E-mail. It is un convenient for me. I have cell
phone always so I want to communicate with you with my cell phone.
I am sorry that using real email is inconvienient, but you still have to do it. I know that sounds mean, but I don't have another solution. I do know that students take less than 10 koma a week and that means there are at least another 5 koma (that is 7-1/2 hours) during the weekdays (not including Saturday) where the school is open and you are not in class. My suggestion is that you find time in those hours to visit the computer labs. The problem with cell phones is first they don't allow for really long messages, I can't send text file attachments, and you dont improve your typing skills ( a very very useful skill) when you are typing with only your thumb. No, I am sorry: cell phone email just doesn't work.
I want to see your blog. How do I have to do to see your blog?
Well you are here now, so this is how you do it!
Have you ever taken part in class party?
Class party? No, I don't think I have done that. Maybe if you tell me more about it; what it is, what you do, and the other details I will understand this 'class party' thing better.
Do you have a good way to improve my listening skill?
Yes I do! I call it 'get involved in conversations.' the best way to improve your listening skills is to use them. put yourself in a situation where you have to use the skills and they will improve.

whew, that was a long post and now my fingers need a break. See you soon!
SP

2005-04-06T16:58:00.000+09:00

hello

2005-04-01T10:31:00.000+09:00

there is a very good reason i have never created a blog in the past, the blank page is always so daunting. oh sure if someone is talking, i like to spice up the conversation with comments and thougths, but just typing into cyberspace, these important thoughts, weighty comments that start a thread, that seems a bit more challenging, and i guess without a bit of coffee, i am simply not up for it. oh well. we shall see if things change as we move forward.

1st entry

2005-03-31T21:38:00.000+09:00

this is a test and only a test. does it work, and how does it look when it does work? one must consider this sort of thing when one decides whether or not to use a this sort of technology... will 'they' approve?