The second draft for research paper

20th October 2009

Today, I got my second draft research paper from Miss Dzeelfa. Miss Dzeelfa is my supervisor for research paper. My research paper title is “Paul’s Case” by Willa Cather. The reason I choose this research paper is single parent children are common nowadays and some of them face emotional and behavior problems due to the loss of a parent. This issue may not affect all students who are single-parent. As a future teacher, there are surely students who are from single-parent family background and I would like to do this research so that I can understand these people better and I hope the knowledge I gained from this research will be very helpful for my future students.

I have been meeting up with Miss Dzeelfa for research paper discussion such as the outline, first draft and now the second draft. The process of writing the research paper is tough, not easy, but I learned a lot through the process of writing especially have a clearer picture about the story of Paul's Case, Paul's family background, his struggles and coping strategies to overcome his problems.
Before writing this research paper, I read Paul's Case several times and was able to put myself into Paul's shoes. I understand that some children who are from single-parent family do face problems like Paul. As for my situation, I am also from a single-parent family and there are struggles with my own emotion and behaviour as well. In doing this single-parent topic, I will have the opportunity to read up more on children from single-parent family in relation to their emotions and behaviour. The references that i use for this research paper are:

1. Dusek, Jerome B. (1996). Adolescent Development and Behaviour Third Edition. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 28-29.
2. Kissman, K. & Allen, J.A. (1993). Single-Parent Families. Sage Publications, Inc. 109-123.
3. Vethamani, A.P.D.M.E. EDU 3214 Teaching The Language Of Short Stories, Paul’s Case by Willa Cather, 500-513.
4. McEntire, N. (2003). Children and Grief, http://www.athealth.com/.
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde

Before I end this blog, I would like to give thanks to Miss Dzeelfa for her guidance, ideas and the patience of reading all my research papers from outline to first draft, second draft and finally final draft. Thank you very much, Miss Dzeelfa. (",)

References:

Lesson plan presentation

15th October 2009

Today, we had our lesson plan presentation based on songs. My group which was the same group members presented our lesson based on the song “Hot and Cold” by Katy Perry. Our lesson was “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. The reason we took this song was based on the theme uncertainty in making decision. We were exposing to students to the main idea of the song:
You can sing along with the song. (“,)

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After listening to the song, students will be given the poem.

“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.



Basically, the song and the poem have similar theme that is uncertainty in making decisions. The use of songs in English literature teaching will be very fun and interesting as students will be exposed to the lyrics and listen to the songs which at the same time the songs are contemporary. Contemporary songs play an important role when using it to teach because it is a set induction to gain students’ interest, attention and open their background knowledge which can relate it to the songs they listen and link to the lesson that will be conducted.
In class, I discovered something very interesting that was song lyrics and video were available. It would be very interesting as students can listen and watch the video. Meanwhile, it also has a set back where the video may draw away students’ attention from reading and listening to the song words. Therefore, appropriate use of teaching aids have to put into careful consideration.

Parody group presentation

15th September 2009


Our class had parody group presentation at DK FPP 2 classroom. My group members were Rachel, Shamini, Mala, Manesha, Yin Chean, Fei Ying and me, Joyce. Our group presentation was a parody of the story Beauty and the Beast. We did it in the Hindustan version and it was very funny and interesting. The characters were Yin Chean as the handsome prince, Mala as the Beast, Shamini as the old lady who gave the beast a spell rose, Manesha as Belle, Fei Ying as the candle, Rachel as the narrator and I as Belle’s old father. The storyline was the same as Beauty and the Beast, but a parody.
In the presentation, I learned some Indian language such as “pia” means love. When the beast was dying, Manesha who was the beautiful Belle said to the beast “I Love you” in Indian language. Then, Mala (the beast) said “pia?” “pia?”…then she was alive again and turned into the prince charming who was Yin Chean. I laughed a lot as I saw her response of saying the word “pia?”..”pia?”. Her facial expression was so surprise and full of wonder. As for Yin Chean, I saw that she had a “handsome” appearance of a prince as she wore the Punjabi suit with a shawl around her neck. Besides that, I saw Fei Ying put in a great effort in doing props for the candle character. There was a mask for the flame and two little flame coverings on her hands which were very carefully made and suitable for flame prop. I would grade her as a very well done effort in her props.
As a reflection, I changed my point of view where previously I said I disliked parody because by reading and acting out was a total different. Even though parody may have an internal message of an issue, as I read, I could only imagine the story in my mind and felt irritated about the twist and illogical portrayal of the story where the villain survived or the protagonist was killed. However, when the parody was acted out, I could see that it was totally different. The characters were funny in the form of facial expressions, use of language, actions and tone.
In my opinion, parody is necessary to introduce to the class in a literature lesson because it is a type of literary work that carries some messages where students can be exposed to different views such as feminism. It would be even more interesting and meaningful lesson if we ask the students to act or role play the whole parody. Students will have a fun time of acting and laugh at the characters. From here, they can also have a clearer picture of what is parody and how is it being conveyed to the readers.

Parody

10th September 2009


Parody is a literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule or something so bad as to be equivalent to intentional mockery. Caricature is another word which is similar to parody which is use to make fun or ridicule a literary work.
In today’s lesson, we learned different kinds of parody in some famous classical stories, such as Cinderella, Goldilocks, Snow White, The Frog Prince,Little Red Riding Hood, The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Three Little Pigs, Rumpelstiltskin, The Three Codependent Goats Gruff and Rapunzel. I enjoyed reading the parody stories because they were short and simple as they were in a summary.
I noticed in parody, the stories were all in a twist. For example, in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs story, the drafts were supposed to save Snow White from death. However, they sold Snow White’s body when she was fainted for the prince to have sex so that they could earn more money. Other than that, Snow White and the queen were supposed to be enemy but became friends instead and both agreed to throw the dwarfs out of the forest. It was absolutely absurd.
Although parody is considered as a type of literary component and may be fun in reading, I dislike reading it. It is because the story has turned upside down and is illogical. In parody, the protagonist has to face the bad outcome of the antagonist such as being exiled, killed or villain and protagonist became good friends. In my opinion, parody is just a type of literary work which is for entertainment and amusement. It is a literary work that is absurd, but somehow, it has an intended meaning which need readers to discover.
For example, the parody in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, it may want to portray a message about feminism where women are always on the weaker side where they are seen as a sex object for men to earn money. In the story, there were Snow White and the queen. However, the dwarfs decided to sell Snow White’s body for the prince to have sex in order to earn more money. Besides that, in Little Red Riding Hood, the word “women” was replaced by “womyn”. It could be seen that women are being emphasized again. There was a woodsman in the story and was being labeled as “sexist” and “speciesist”. Again, men were related to sexist when the women were in the story. This was to show that women once again were portrayed as sex objects for men. Thus, from reading the parody, there is a message which actually wanted to voice out by the writer.
In conclusion, parody is a literary work that is to make fun, ridicule or to mock on something which is an ongoing issue indirectly. Although I dislike reading it, I feel that it is necessary to read sometimes because it has an internal message which carries out an issue by the writer.

Position Paper presentation

1st September 2009, Tuesday


The topic that I do for position paper is a play entitled “Thirty Days in September” by Mahesh Dattani. The reason I choose this play is I am interested and is easy for me to come up with my position that is Shanta’s silence about the sexual abuse brought harm to her life. This play is prominent about sexual abuse issue that has been occurred from one generation to the next that is the sexual abuse from Shanta, the mother to Mala, her own daughter by Vinay Bhaiya, Shanta’s eldest brother and Mala’s uncle. The same man had continuously sexual abusing his own sister and his niece. It is very terrible.
My position is focused on Shanta’s silence about the sexual abuse issue, the reason of her silence and the harm that entails from this silence. The main ideas to support my position are Shanta’s pride made her silence, Shanta’a silence made her failure as a wife and marriage and Shanta’s silence is an open door to Vinay Bhaiya, her eldest brother to gain more threat to her life.
Initially, my main ideas were not written in such a way but only focused on the outcome of Shanta’s silence such as bad mother and daughter relationship, failure and a wife and marriage and Vinay Bhaiya continuously dominating Shanta’s life. I was focusing on the outcome of Shanta’s silence but did not think about the other side that is the reason of Shanta’s silence. After Miss Dzeelfa’s comments on my position paper presentation, I did some edition and wrote about the reason of Shanta’s silence is due to pride, failure as a wife and marriage and due to her brother’s threat.
In my opinion, position paper is not an easy assignment because the position has to be refutable or arguable. I am not good to state an argumentative topic. Therefore, I am not really satisfied about my position paper. Shanta’s silence about the sexual abuse issue is obviously bad for herself and to her daughter. If to think of the refutable points, it can be her silence can maintain her pride and earn respect from her daughter, continue to enjoy her brother’s secure of providence and the paying for her apartment. These are the refutable points that I thought about if it is based on my position of Shanta’s silence about her sexual abuse issue brought harm to her life.
In the position paper class, I learned that the position that we made has to be arguable. Therefore, the position is not necessarily in line with the common thinking. For example, someone can come out with a position such as abortion is good for women to maintain their pride in the society even though the common thinking disagrees with this position. However, this is one way to throw out a refutable topic. I hope I can improve on my position writing and come out with a stronger refutable statement.

Letters and Diaries

13th August 2009, Thursday


Between letters and diaries, I prefer to read diaries because diaries are personal and it reflects about a person’s thought about himself or herself where as letters are communicative and is addressing to a recipient based on a particular purpose. I like to read on other’s thoughts and views on themselves or issues they encounter because it can be applicable to me as well. I am a person who writes diaries. I write diary to express my thoughts and feelings of different issues on different days whether it is intrapersonal or interpersonal. It is a record that I would like to keep tract so that I can see the progress of the issue, to learn from it or to capture it as a very memorable event that I had encountered.
Even though “The Andy Warhol Diaries” that we learned in class seemed interesting, I am not drawn to it because I am not interested in diaries that talk about famous actors and actresses and the critiques about them. Instead, I am interested in Kafka’s diaries. I am curious to know why a person is miserable in his life and the struggles they are going through. From Kafka’s diary, I learned that education is a threat for certain people. Kafka kept on complaining about education has made him to be a miserable person and had spoiled him. I feel that it is really terrible and sad after reading his diary because I thought education is very important.
However, from Kafka’s diary, I learned to be more alert in teaching my future students. I will use different approaches to teach different people and be aware of their feedback in the learning process so that education will not be a threat to my students.

Autobiographies

11^th August 2009, Tuesday

Autobiographies are one of the literature works that I like besides reading novels. Autobiographies are the story of a person’s life written by that person where as biographies are the story of a person’s life written by someone else. In class, I learned that “auto” which is the prefix for biography means “I”. In my opinion, autobiography will be more authentic compared to biography and is very valuable because it is first hand written by the particular person. As for biography, it may not be as reliable as autobiography because it is a writer’s narration of a person. It can be bias or not so well expressed.

In class, we learned about part of Nelson Mandela’s autobiography during apartheid regulations entitled “Robben Island: The Dark Years”. Nelson Mandela is the State President of South Africa on 10 May 1994 - June 1999. Even though State President is a person of authority and respect, Nelson Mandela’s autobiography reflected his turmoil and sufferings due to apartheid regulations such as being locked in isolated stone building old jail, given plain khaki uniforms and short trousers except an Indian who could get an insubstantial jersey, canvas jacket and long pants.

After reading Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, I am inspired by his courage and determination to pursue on in hardships. Nelson Mandela’s autobiography enables me to visualize the events of Apartheid regulations and how hard he has to suffer. Besides that, makes me reflect on a moral value that is learning to understand about the difficulties faced by others. They have been ill treated by others whether is in physically or mentally but still standing strong to face the hardships. I will ask myself, “What are the hardships I am facing today? Assignments and the bad habit of last minute. Can this be compared to Nelson Mandela? He is worse that you.” So, if compare my problems to his, my problem is nothing.

Nelson Rolihlahla MANDELA

Mandela's words, "The struggle is my life," are not to be taken lightly.

Nelson Mandela personifies struggle. He is still leading the fight against apartheid with extraordinary vigour and resilience after spending nearly three decades of his life behind bars. He has sacrificed his private life and his youth for his people, and remains South Africa's best known and loved hero.

(Taken from: http://www.anc.org.za/people/mandela.html)