Studying a Myth vs. Creating a Myth: What’s the Difference?

 Hello friends (and haters)!

There’s a lot going on in the world right now, and most times, life feels like it is going by too fast. As my birthday approaches and I have almost completed another year of living, I cannot help but to be in a reflective mood lately. I feel as if I am constantly pondering. There’s no better way to slow time down than to create. 

For the past few weeks, I have been working on creating my own myth. Prior to this, I worked on studying the Female Divine myth with my group members from class. The latter felt more challenging than the former. My favorite part of this project was to find connections between the myth and real world issues, especially since making those types of connections was always my favorite part of my high school English classes. It is important to teach young students about important issues, such as how structures of power are enforced through gendered violence. Cycles of oppression can continue if lessons about patriarchal systems are not taught. This also increases empathy within students as they come across victims/survivors of oppressive systems throughout school, or even life.

While there’s value to every lesson, critically thinking about current events made me appreciate the assignments even more, which is how I felt for this particular project. It gave me the feeling that is vital for teachers: passion. Teachers learn, too. Every day can serve as a teaching moment for teachers, and there are so many ways to maintain or revive the passion of learning not only with students, but teachers as well. As a future teacher, I want to spark passion within my students. The first step is finding a flame within myself first.

Through the individual myth creation project, a flame was definitely sparked. While it definitely took awhile to come up with my own myth, the process ended up being very enjoyable. Throughout my time at CSUN, I have completed my assignments often throughout a queer lens, which should not be so surprising given that I am a Queer Studies minor. It makes me excited to be able to create assignments where students will be able to have similar creative freedom. I also want to incorporate a similar digital outlet, where students create websites to have a visual layout of their stories. It is definitely rewarding to see one’s creative efforts and hard work in front of their eyes. Storytelling can definitely be a difficult process, especially when writer’s block is present, but the skills that come out of the experience make it worth it. I cannot wait to read my future students’ stories; I will make them feel like they are the reincarnation of Shakespeare himself!

Thanks for reading! What’s your favorite myth? Or even least favorite? 

Writing Poetry Vs. Writing about Poetry

Hello friends (and haters)!

Poetry: a love language to a writer, a classic toxic relationship to me. I am on poetry’s good side when it comes to writing it; I am able to become vulnerable in ways my friends wish I would be. However, poetry gets on my nerves when I have to read and analyze it since I do not live inside the poet’s brain, which makes me fear that I am interpreting everything completely wrong. Although poetry is art and art allows unlimited room for interpretation, the mere act of not knowing something is unbearable. I live to know, but is that really living? 

I have to admit, reading and writing about Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” was a beautiful experience— maybe not as beautiful as the lover described, but close enough. Although, I was still hesitant to write about it. Analyzing poetry is one thing, having to construct a coherent, strong argument about it is a part of a whole different territory— a much more intimidating one. This experience, however, has filled me with pride. I started writing about poetry in academic settings since high school, and during that time, it had never occured to me to read it through a queer lens due to the simple fact that queerness was never a topic that was discussed in any of the poetry units, let alone my English classes. Now, here I am as an English major at a public university in California, who is studying to become an English teacher, and I am able to take a step back and ask: “Hey, why have we never questioned if the narrator in Shakespeare’s sonnets is queer?” Even better, I am able to write my own poetry, automatically making me a queer poet. I was able to share this moment with my class, where I opened up about the end of a queerplatonic friendship that shaped my life. That moment in itself is poetry.  

In my future teaching, I do not want to make poetry a dreadful experience while still acknowledging that I do not have control over my students’ individual experiences with poetry. Through my approach, I would make them write poetry first so they have familiarity with what the brain of a poet is like. I want them to experience it first hand before they write about poetry. I would make it a fun unit that hopefully will stick with them for a long time. Afterall, the art of poetry exists within everyone. 

Is Technology in the Classroom Worth It?

Hello friends (and haters)! 

I am very excited to have you here! For my first blogpost, let me give you a brief introduction of myself. My name is Chris Rodriguez, and I am a senior here at California State University, Northridge. I am majoring in English Subject Matter, as well as receiving a minor in Queer Studies.  

Education is very important to me, and as a student, it has been a very long journey so far. I plan on getting my Master’s Degree in English after I receive my B.A., so I am very excited to almost finish my education journey. However, as we all know, learning is an ongoing process that even exists for teachers— not only students. All I know is that my heart belongs in the classroom. 

Therefore, I am passionate about what has the power to affect my classroom. As a 21-year-old who falls under the Gen-Z spectrum, I have not only grown up with technology, but I have also witnessed the rise of social media right before my eyes, meaning that I have been on both ends of the spectrum. Due to my poor attention span, I have been in the shoes of the student who constantly goes on their phone. However, I am also a Supplemental Instruction leader at CSUN, where I have to constantly ask my own students to put their phones away to show respect.   

What’s my take on media technology within the classroom? I cannot deny that technology increases efficiency, which makes lesson planning smoother. Also, this usage is much more environmentally friendly. Students are not only able to take notes on their chrome books, but they can also fill out handouts through a Google Doc. There are digital textbooks now as well. However, the attention spans of students are rapidly decreasing, especially with such easy access to social media apps that produce rapid content, such as TikTok. As a result, school has become less about learning and more about classroom management.  

I have seen this result firsthand. This week, I spent time at Northridge Academy High School to complete my required classroom observations hours for my English Subject Matter major. In most classes, students are expected to place their phones in a box at the beginning of class. In other classes, there are less restrictions, causing me to only see heads facing down at their phones. Even with the stricter restrictions, however, students are still facing down at their chrome books as they watch YouTube while the teacher lectures. Due to this, students are barely processing information. Instead, they are repeatedly asking questions about the directions thastated at least ten times. In other cases, students are simply leaving their assignments blank since they are unsure of what to do due to missing the directions or lecture content.  

I love the usage of media technology, and I love classrooms, and I especially love combining both— especially during Kahoot time! However, due to how distracting technology can be, I strongly believe that there should be stricter restrictions on technology usage.  

Don’t make me sound like my Mexican mother. That phone is giving you depression!  

Anyway, that is all for my first of many blogs! Remember, you are never alone. I hope that this blog will feel like a comfort blanket, or like your older sibling. Thank you for reading, and have a nice self-care day!