First meeting with Dr.Nooreen( My Supervisor)

Today I went to meet my supervisor which is Dr. Nooreen. As this was my first meeting a few of my friends went to meet her to introduce ourselves and seek her guidance to start the research paper. It was quite comforting to know that Dr Nooreen had a fixed particular way of how she wants the research paper to be. She told us about what she is looking for in a good research paper and basically gave us an outline on what she wants. We asked for examples of research paper which she gladly gave us a few. She asked us to include the biography of the writers, a summary and most importantly the analysis and the implication on education. She gave us the freedom to choose our texts and the thesis statement that should be developed. I think the meeting with Dr. Nooreen went well. I got most of the information needed to start off my research paper. I think I will meet her in a week or so to discuss about my thesis statement. Till then...

My attempt on the position paper....

Today I started to actually think of my position paper. I choose “Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro. Okay there many reasons behind choosing this literature text. One it was the easiest of all the given text and because it was a familiar text it made to choose this text even more. I always liked stories revolving female stereotype and story that relate to female empowering so to speak. I stated of by coming up with a statement so that I could have a staring point in completing my paper. I came up with:

The unnamed female protagonist’s hardship on the rites of passage into
adulthood was significantly caused by the unfairness of sex-role stereotyping.

My first draft was not a great one. I had limited points to talk about and constantly experiencing “writers block”. But I guess it happens when we deal with first drafts. I tried looking at the element of hardship through the use of names and the narrator’s action and responses. I think I will consult Mr Omid on making my paper better. I have a long way to go. Till then…I’m off.

All about Icarus...

Today we read this short story called “Daedalus and Icarus”. Before discussing it in class I sort of had few assignments on what to do before the reading process. Okay I start by surfing the net to get this painting titled “The Fall of Icarus”. Finding the picture was not difficult at all but finding the correct picture was a struggle I must say. But finally I manage to find the correct painting. Then I went on searching for a poem by W.H Auden. I had no idea what was the relevancy of the painting and the poem to the story that was about to be studied. I read it once before class and saw how the painting and the poem could help in understanding the text better.
During the discussion in class I was asked to identify the story of Icarus in particular. I was surprised to find out how it was easy to imagine the story with the help of other materials like the painting and the poem. Even thought there were some differences from the painting but the painting helps in many ways. I also had an assignment where I had to create a lesson using the picture and a rewritten story of “Icarus”

I teamed up with Soon Mun to create a lesson to teach the story of Icarus. Firstly we rewrote the story. Soon Mun came up with this great idea of rewriting the story from Daedalus's point of view. After completing it we came up with an idea of using the painting as a set induction lesson. We edited the painting by erasing the action of Icarus in the water. Our objective was for the students to guess the possible topic of the lesson. It helps in tapping the correct schemata. In general i enjoyed reading this with the help of visual aids like the painting.

Tutorial with Mr. Omid

Today I had my 1^st tutorial session with Mr. Omid. He was not very easy to be understood as he had a thick Iranian accent but I managed some how. After introducing himself he worked on the story of Ovid’s metamorphosis “Pyramus and Thisbe”. As I had already worked on the story with Dr. Edwin during lecture it was quite easy to detect the major points discussed in the story. We were given a task to generate a thesis statement for the story “Pyramus and Thisbe”. To tell the truth I had so much of difficulty in writing the thesis statement. Not knowing how exactly a thesis statement should sound like is not a good situation to be at. After “extensive” question and answer session I finally manage to produce one thesis statement.

“The causes of obsessive desire will bring about suffering which leads to death”

I came up this statement as i felt there few many circumstances/situation that foreshadowed DEATH. So I took that into my advantage and produced a thesis statement. I then joined the class discussion on making every one's thesis statement better. Lucky or unlucky me i had to present first. To my surprise it was okay. Mr.Omid said it was a good thesis statements clear and specific. So I returned to my place with a wide smile. In general i think everyone faced similar problem in creating their statement specific. Most of us had a problem where the statement was too general. The discussion should continue for few more weeks to come as there are 60 of us to present our thesis statement. It was quite boring BUT i did learn from others mistakes. Maybe it could help me in my position paper and not forgetting the research paper.

Reading...

Today I started off reading some of the reading texts that i was assigned to do. I started off by reading " The Mahabharata".It was quite a simple story with not too many difficult words. Because it was a religious text I was able to make connections of the cultural references. The names, the strong desire to uphold promises, the "mystery" was similar to other stories that i have read. I then went on to read "The Son of the Turtle Spirit" It was simple with of a lot of super natural elements.Because the were quite a number of pre-reading questions to answer so it was not just about reading but understanding and making a lot of connection.

My first class

I started my 1st class for EDU3234 Reading and Project Work for Teaching Literature In ESL context. I knew from the start that this course needs a lot of work. Even during the 1st class I was already given tasks to do. I had to read a compilation of reading texts. It was interesting reading them because one they are short and there are from different genres of stories like tales, autobiography,texts of painting and plenty more.It was a good start as i have a clear view on what is my responsibility for this paper.