Let's talk about English...

Hello students,

Welcome to your English class.  I am very excited for you to be in this class where you get to read a lot of exciting texts.

First off, I want to point out that English is not just reading books.  Do you guys like to read comics or magazines.  How about spending time on Facebook or Twitter?  How about listening to music?  I am sure we all have a favorite band or type of music?  What draws you to that music?  Is it just the beat or do you find yourself relating to the lyrics?  How about art?

Well everything that I just mentioned we will be talking about in our class.  That is why English is so awesome, it's so versatile.  The skills you'll learn in this class can be used anywhere.

I've always loved reading, I've got a list of about 35-40 books that are on my bookshelves waiting to be read.  There's a whole other world in those books; worlds I can escape to and worlds I can learn from.  The magic about books is that they are extremely versatile.  There are books out there that can help you cook and some that make you think.

Let's do a quick little exercise, not that hard, just a small exercise.

On a scrap of paper I want you to first list what you see in this picture.  Then, next to your list, quickly jot down a few words that come to mind when think of that word.  From your new words, and looking at this picture, quickly jot down what you think the the character is going to be like?  From that, guess what the premise of the movie is.

Did you do it?  What did you get?  How fast did that take you?  Not that long to analyze a photo huh?

Here's what I got when I did this exercise:

Beautiful woman- Porcelain white, like a doll, ideal features, 

Crack- Broken, crazy, disfigured, fractures

Contrast between black and white- pale white vs black background, standing out, she takes up most of the image, pushing the black behind her (wanting to be center of attention?)

I believe that this character is a ideological woman who has almost everything she wants, or she desires to be the center of attention.  However, there is either an internal or external force that is breaking this perfect image.  There is also something in her eyes that is slightly dangerous, it's not prominent but it's there.

Now do the same thing to the photo below:

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Did you know that you just predicted the story of Speak, or at least started profiling the main character.  Predicting a story by looking at clues a huge part of analyzing.  We do it when determining what a movie is going to be like from the previews or posters.  We do the same thing with books.  You know the phrase "Never judge a book by its cover"?  Well I do, I can learn a lot just from the cover of the book, I do it to comics and graphic novels as well.  With pages filled with images, there are tons of images and ideas presented.

Next time you are flipping through a magazine, stop and look at the adds and do this same exercise.  Then I want you to think about what ideas or images to advertiser are trying to get across.

English is not just about books.  The skills that I hope to impart on you are not just about reading one of Shakespeare's dramas or why you have to write a research paper (though we will be doing those too); English is about learning to read your world, your surroundings, and to help you make sense of it.