Jay's Bloggin' in the Wind

Message Post 3

Many of my classes are asynchronous – online – no class meetings. This makes it HARD to develop any relationship with my students. But, I believe ongoing communication is the key to success. So each week, I load up my Canvas Announcements with informational posts to help my students raise their performance. I provide Tips, Tricks, Graphs, Step-by-Step Instructions, Teacher’s Writing Models. Often it takes me longer to develop my announcements than it does to teach the class in real time. Jaja. It’s a lot of work. Mucho Jale! But the result becomes Jay’s Bloggin in the Wind. Below, I share what’s going on. My students will never need to wonder, “What are we doing today?” Read more →

Jay's BEYOND CANVAS Post - Padlet to Facebook to Essay

This semester I encourage my students to SHARE their ideas on PADLET and FACEBOOK before they begin developing their essays/ research papers on CANVAS. For me, INCREASED collaboration, leads to INCREASED performance. That's good for them. And that's good for ME. Often, students who work in isolation just lose interest in their writing. WE DON'T WANT THAT. Let's Work Together! On the first day, I have them submit an ABOUT ME assignment on Padlet. It's COOL to know who you're WRITING with. Here is the METHOD to my MADNESS: Often students voice their frustration to me when I introduce my writing assignments. - They say they don't have anything to write about - They don't really know anything about their subject - This assignment is BORING - They are CONFUSED - They don't know where to START. This is what I tell them: Estén tranquilos. No pasa nada. On Padlet,... Read more →

Jay's POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE Post - Greetings from New York - Introductory Research Assignment for Novel-Reading Project

To introduce my Spring 2025 students to their assigned novel, Paradise Travel. I ask them to use their research skills to familiarize themselves with the setting of New York City. Of course, few of us will have little understanding for NYC, but that's why we want to dig in before we start the serious reading. There is point where one of the main characters, Marlon, refers to the city as "The Beast." Many of my classes are online. This makes it difficult to work in groups and/or share idea From my personal expeience, talking about what I read, or for that matter writing about it, leads to greater personal understanding and enjoyment. I chose Paradise Travel off my shelves here in Mexicali. It's about two young lovers, Marlon and Reina, from Colombia that journey to New York City in search of a better life. I've read the novel now four... Read more →

Jay's MIND MAP Post - Marilyn Monroe - Bonnie and Clyde - Students Create Visual Outlines for Their Research Papers

JAY'S MIND MAPS: To organize our research, I ask my students to create MIND MAPS of their writing. They like this assignment. The Mind Map helps them focus on the Big Picture of of their research projects. Some use HEADINGS in their MLA OUTLINES to divide their maps - That Works! Branches, lines, arrows, and colors can be used to show connections and relationships between ideas. The best part, of course, is the opportunity to share both our knowledge and creativity on classroom discussion boards. BUT, WHY DO WE DO THIS? I often feel students lose SIGHT of their best ideas. I mean, it's a lot of work. The Mind Maps bring the best parts of the essay together. It makes it easier for us to discuss what we have done this semester - We will want to REMEMBER the STEPS and STRATEGIES we learned for FUTURE USE! AND HERE... Read more →

Jay's JOYCE CAROL OATES Post - Marilyn Monroe - Bringing the Big Guns to the Classroom

SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS: Joyce Carol Oates wrote "Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?" after hearing Bob Dylan on the radio. This short story we read in many of my classes is all about a young and pretty high school girl named Connie. Everything is about Connie's selfishness. Connie loves her music and her mirror; she doesn't seem to care about anyone or anything else. JCO touches our hearts. We all have known Connies in our lives. We all know what's going to happen to Connie. The only one who doesn't see what's coming is Connie herself. Spoiler Alert: The results are sad and tragic. “Where Have You Been, Where Are You Going?” is about a naïve high-school girl caught up in her own beauty. Everywhere she goes, she is flicking her hair back and checking her lipstick. She’s obsessed with her image to the distraction of everything else. I... Read more →

Jay's THE LOVE OF MY LIFE POST - The Writing BOMB! - Everyone Has Something to Say - MVP Frontrunner

“THE LOVE OF MY LIFE” depicts a pure, unadulterated teen-age love affair that goes horribly bad. In the beginning, it’s real. Jeremy lives for China, China lives for Jeremy, and author T.C. Boyle writes, “They wore each other like socks.” They both are highly intelligent, compassionate, respectful high school seniors with bright futures, that is until China becomes pregnant. On a romantic camping trip, the two star-crossed lovers forgot to bring enough condoms, and nine months later, China’s pregnancy leads to a disastrous decision when in a moment of fear and desperation, she pleads Jeremy to abandon the newborn baby in a motel dumpster. This act changes everything, for upon their subsequent arrests, the two lovers are separated and turn on each other. China agrees to testify against Jeremy in a murder trial. From that point on, they would forever be strangers. (paraphrase:) Any time Jeremy tried to picture his... Read more →

Jay's GREEN PANTS Post - Sandra Cisneros - "Geraldo No Last Name" - In-Class Annotation Workshop

Here is the sentence that resonates with me this semester: “Geraldo in his shiny shirt and green pants.” I love this story by Sandra Cisneros because she says so much with so little. What do we know about the young boy who died? What do the characters know? Not much except the color of Geraldo’s pants. But, I mean what does Sandra have to tell us? All of us already know Geraldo or people like him who comes to this country to make a better life. They work long hours and live in shabby apartments. They get up early and come home late. They have little free time for us to get to know them. But every so often, they are able to escape from their rat race, and we might see them at a party or a dance. They are human lest we forget. “Just another wetback,” Sandra writes.... Read more →

Jay's CRIME SCENE Post - Death of Marilyn Monroe - Summary of Research Article - 60 Years Later - We Stil Don't Know What Happened

In Tortured Artists, we learn the sordid details of Marilyn Monroe’s untimely death. When she first began living the life a Hollywood legend, she of all people probably knew she would soon become a dead one. As a famous star, Marilyn lived her life under enormous scrutiny and criticism. Drugs became an avenue of escape. Sadly, she already had a history of mental illness in her family. The combination of pressure, drugs, and anxiety took her down a dark road for which there was no return. For example, at the age of four, Marilyn’s mother was placed in an asylum. Marilyn grew up in an orphanage. Later she found out her own grandmother had committed suicide. She must have thought mental illness ran in her genes. At age thirty six, when she felt herself losing her looks, she intensified her drug use. She didn’t know who she was anymore. She... Read more →

Jay's QUOTE SANDWICHES FOR ALL Post - Tips for Integration Quotations into Essays and Research Papers

I begin most of my semesters with a confidence-building activity that will prepare my students to succeed on their research papers. I call it the QUOTE SANDWICH. Their job will be to give the quote context. Describe where it came from. What was going on at the time the words were spoken. Who said “it”? Why? Why would these words be important to their readers? Explain! How do these words connect? I TELL THEM THIS: look through your reading for an EYE-OPENING quote. It could be something someone said. It could be something someone wrote. It could be something you saw on TV. It be something you heard on the radio. But, it should be something INTERESTING. Integrating quotations to support main ideas is an important standard of the course. In classroom workshops, we elevate our research, punctuation, MLA documentation. We learn to identify the most INTERESTING passages in our... Read more →

Jay's JANIS JOPLIN DEFINITION Post - Leonard Cohen - Kris Kristofferson - Patti Smith - OD at Age 27

A beatnik was a fifties person who was creative, poetic and/or intellectual. Janis Joplin was a beatnik before she was a hippie. This was 1958, around the same time John Lennon and Paul McCartney were putting the "Beat" in the "Beatles." Beatniks wore dark glasses and dark clothes. They smoked a lot of cigarettes and listened to weird music. Be-Bop. Jazz. They developed their own language. Beatniks didn't care about being popular; in fact, they often sought the opposite because they considered themselves rebels against conformity. Janis read a lot of books and sang a lot of songs by black artists. Her friends and family in Texas didn't like that. I just read a very cool anecdote about Janis the other day in a book of anecdotes called One on One, written by Craig Brown. Previously I had read a similar book by Mr. Brown about the Beatles in which... Read more →

Jay's HAIR YEAH! Post - The Beatles Appearance on Ed Sullivan - They Changed the World! - Summary of Research Article Below

In The Dead Straight Guide to the Beatles, author Chris Ingham explains how the Beatles appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in in February 1964 changed world forever. Before Ed Sullivan, few people in this country had ever seen or heard the Beatles. This was before the internet. Television at the time offered maybe three to four channels. Ed Sullivan was a variety show. Every Sunday night, families gathered around the television set to watch Ed Sullivan introduce his comedians, juggling acts, tap dancers, stuff like that. But, on this night, more than 73 million people were tuned into the show, the largest audience of all time. This was New York City. Many call this place "the media capital" of the world. This is where you can find some of the most important newspapers, largest publishing houses, biggest record companies, and most prolific television studios in the world. The Beatles... Read more →

Jay's RESEARCH PARTY Post - Open-Ended Questions - Meaningful, Unique, Research-Driven Conversation - Oranges - Water Bottles - Mexicali (Mi Pueblo!) - Food - Drink - Marilyn Monroe - The Beatles - Let's PARTY Like It's 2025!!

The second week of the semester means RESEARCH PARTY. We've already chosen our topics and learned how to navigate the campus databases. It's time to narrow our focus and map our course for our Community Profiles. I teach my students to develop effective RESEARCH QUESTIONS. I’ve developed the most exciting research activity - SAYS ME. I provide FOOD and DRINK. My students work in GROUPS - That's why I call it a PARTY. Their OPEN-ENDED research questions lead to extended discussions. No YES or NO questions ALLOWED. How FUN is that? Where would you rather be? Usually, I come to class with charts, images, and other materials to help students jump-start their research papers. For the first hour, I hope for students to work in groups to create EFFECTIVE research questions. The activity is designed to help them look below the surface at a topic. There is no such thing... Read more →

Jay's PROOFREADING PARTY Post - Community Profiles - Student Collaboration - Making English Class Fun Again!

Writing for enjoyment is something we should all be doing in the classroom; like, I don’t mean we should dumb anything down to make writing EAZY, but we should look for ways to make writing FUN. This semester, I have this queazy feeling in my stomach that many of my students not only hate writing, but they fear it. I can see them shiver when I introduce my assignments – like a cold wind suddenly blows through the room and across their faces. As a teacher, I try not to let their reactions scare me. If they see frustration on my face, things are only going to get worse. I mean, we are all in this TOGETHER. How can I convince them of that? It came to me this morning, maybe at 4:00 or so. I was out on the streets for my daily walk in Mexicali (I can’t run... Read more →

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

This idea came to me a few years back when I bumped into one of my students on campus before class. He was dressed in button-down shirt and a nice pair of slacks – like he was heading to an interview in a café, restaurant, or retail store. But he wasn’t. He was coming from a communications class where he presented a three-minute speech to his teacher and classmates. I commend his instructor’s lesson plans. Inside the classroom, beyond the reading and writing, students can benefit by presenting themselves as professional, mature, and serious enough to commit to a job. I wish when I was his age, I had taken this class. This may have been at the beginning of theTrump presidency: I mean, we were all watching news clips of Trump, Nancy Pelosi, Sara Saunders, Rod Rosenstein, presenting important information to a roomful of reporters. And taking questions! I... Read more →

Jay's BACK-to-the-FUTURE Post - Spring 2025 - English 105 Takes a Research Trip to the Sixties

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