Mythbuilding

 

Today we're talking mythology here on Chris Can't Write Good. In class we spent the last few weeks learning about mythology, the history of its study, and how to create modern day myths. Creating my own myth was a huge headache for me. Myths are things that are traditionally made collaboratively over many generations. Each teller adds a little something to them before passing them down. However, making my own myth was challenging because even though I am a creative writer, the creative part is the hardest for me. My biggest hurdle is figuring out what to write about. Once I figure it out, then I have no issues bringing something to life with my words. I literally tried out probably six or seven different stories and protagonists before I settled on Robert and the God of Dreams. Initially, I was working with a story about a demon that haunted humanity. It's no secret that my myth is about substance abuse and recovery. I think changing my angle on how I viewed addiction really helped me create a good myth. I learned so much from this experience. I think number one is that I became adept at using the Wix website creation tool. This will allow me to create fun and engaging websites for my students to use in class. I also think it would be so cool to challenge my students to create their own websites. As digital natives, more so than me at least, I think this could prove valuable to their growth and potentially to their career prospects. Well, that about wraps it up for this post. I hope all of you have a great day! Do something mythic!

Hey World! Today we're talking poetry. We've spent the last few weeks not only writing and explicating on poetry, but we've also written and performed some as well. There are a few similarities that both share. There are differences between the two as well. As for similarities, you've still got to sit down and write. They both require you to collect your thoughts and really think about what you've got to say. I listen to music while writing both which helps me focus. However, that's where the similarities end. Explicating on poetry requires intense analysis of poetic elements. Its definitely a lot less fun to write about poetry than to write poetry. I love writing poetry and I used to do it all the time. I love the creative expression of it, and thats just something I don't feel when I write about poetry.


Writing about poetry did inform my own poetry for this week. In a way it was helpful to have a deeper understanding of the elements of poetry. Even though the paper I wrote was on Walt Whitman's poem "O Captain! My Captain!", which is known for lacking his free verse style, I still had to study his free verse techniques. Learning about these techniques helped me as I wrote a narrative free verse poem for class. I've only come to writing free verse very recently and I don't have much practice with it. I definitely love the freedom it allows and the fact I'm not pinned down on what I can say by chasing rhymes. 


I think what I've learned could be helpful in my future teaching practice. I've learned more about the basic elements of poetry. I learned much more about meter, rhyme, repetition, and extended metaphor through my explication on "O Captain! My Captain!". These base elements are important to impress upon our students during creative writing assignments. I'm looking forward to incorporating them into future lesson plans.


Well, that's about all I have to say. I hope you have a great day. Come back soon for the next exciting installment of Chris Can't Write Good! 

Hello World!
For my inaugural post, I’d like to tell you a little about myself. As you no doubt know, my name is Christopher Stewart. What many of you are unlikely to know is that I am a 13th year graduating senior here at CSUN. College has been an extremely long and arduous journey for me. I’ve dropped out completely several times. I’ve always been good at school and started my college career studying to be a doctor. It turns out that it’s really hard to be a doctor. After a demoralizing experience in Organic Chemistry, I decided it was not for me. I drifted aimlessly for a while, trying to figure out what I wanted to do, but nothing ever stuck. I ended up dropping out and entering the workforce. I’ve worked in many different industries, but mostly manufacturing as well as food service. I’ve slung pizzas, sandwiches, fried chicken, and a lot more. Most notably, I am a former professional Texas-style pitmaster. The rig I used to work on looked like this:

I’ve smoked hundreds of briskets, pork butts, turkey breasts, pastramis, racks of spareribs, pans of burnt ends, smoked sausage (my least favorite thing to make from scratch), and many more tasty treats. However, I knew that I wanted more from life. When I met my wife, she encouraged me to finish my education. I realized that I’d always had a passion for English and writing. I decided to head back to school and pursue a career in teaching. Currently, I’m anxiously waiting to hear back from several Creative Writing MFA programs. If that doesn’t work out, I will teach high school English in the LAUSD in the fall. 

Now, to get to the question at hand, I will give my opinion on the role media technology should play in teaching. Honestly, I hate social media. I think that one day, we’ll look back on it like smoking tobacco. It’s just so bad for mental health and self-worth. I have felt my own attention span plummet as I fell into the habit of doom-scrolling. 

That is not to say that it doesn’t have a place in the classroom. Whether I like it or not, these technologies are here to stay. I would be doing my students a disservice if I didn’t at least give some guidance on the subject and assign projects that encourage my students to take advantage of technology. I do not, however, think that this education should take place with the phone. Many school districts issue Chrome books to their students. I feel like this is the appropriate medium for tech education. 

I am older than most everyone taking this class. The first iPhone debuted while I was in high school. It is hard to remember a time before smartphones now. Another technological revolution that took place while I was in high school was the advent of YouTube and other user-generated content sites. I fondly remember the projects that incorporated it into education. I want this for my students. Short-form content is all the rage today, and I would like to find a way to get it into my lesson plans. I am calling for the use of products like Zigazoo, where we can keep our students safe while also teaching them to navigate the digital world. 

As school districts figure out ways to limit the use of phones during school hours, I believe that things will begin to improve. Obviously, we don’t have control over what happens at home, but if we can let our students be kids from the hours of 9am-3pm, things will get better.

Signing off,

Chris