Please reflection on your experience of The Arrival Literature Cyberlesson in light of the following questions:
What was your overall reader response to the book The Arrival.
Please write about your experience of engaging in The Arrival Literature Cybereslesson. Please reflect on your experience Before, During , After and Beyond the reading components.
How might your experiences of the book been different if you had not engaged in the Literature Cyberlesson?
What were the benefits of the cyberlesson?
What were the drawbacks of the cyberlesson?
What was the most evocative part if the cyberlesson for you?
What was the least valuable part of it?
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6 comments:
Even before I opened the book The Arrival by Shaun Tan I felt a sense of nostalgia. The book has the appearance of an album that had been passed on from generation to generation with its worn edges and scratches. My initial response when I first opened the book was ‘where is this book taking me’. As I was reading this wordless graphic novel, my emotions ranged from confusion to sadness and then joy in the end with the immigrant’s reunion with his family.
The cyberlesson allowed me to interact with The Arrival on a “deeper” level. As I reflect back on the before, during and after reading activities I found myself engaging with the text on an emotional level. I was able to make connections not only to other texts but to movies, websites, and the past. Most importantly I was able to connect to other peoples’ personal experiences.
The literature cyberlesson allowed me to experience The Arrival in a way that I may not have had, had I just read it. One of the after reading activities, interviewing an immigrant, allowed me to make a text to self connection through the experience of another person; one of the after reading activities was to interview an immigrant. I interviewed a friend who immigrated to America from Portugal with her parents when she was six. Her interview was so powerful and heartfelt. Sharing this courageous and scary time in her life allowed me to connect to the immigrants in The Arrival in a way that allowed me to view life from their perspective.
Engaging in the cyberlesson provided me, the reader, to connect with the characters on a ‘deeper level’ and also to think critically about the life of an immigrant. While I am knowledgeable about what an immigrant is, and that part of their journey was going through Ellis Island, I was not able to make a text to self connection. I was not able to connect with the character in that in that I have never experienced leaving everything familiar to me to endure harsh conditions and to travel thousands of miles not knowing if I was going to be turned away with the American dream in sight. My heart jumped for those who made it and broke for those who did not.
The cyberlesson was engaging and provided for critical thinking. I thought it was very beneficial and did not feel there were any drawbacks for me. However I feel the cyberlesson can be overwhelming emotionally for individuals who have had personal experiences with immigration. Even so the cyberlesson is very valuable in that it allows for the sharing of experiences with peers and colleagues. In addition the cyberlesson can be used with older elementary school students and older yet modified for younger students.
Overall, I really enjoyed this unique graphic novel. I thought that Tan did a thoughtful job combining experiences of an immigrant coming into Ellis Island with surreal images that depict realistic experiences with fantastical experiences. There is a science fiction- like quality presented in The Arrival, however, the theme of stranger in a strange land is timeless. I felt emotionally invested in the main character as he went through the frustrations of being in a new land. This wordless story’s images moved me as I connected to the main character, as I thought of my own family’s immigration to the United States fifty years ago. After reading The Arrival, I felt that it could easily integrate with and enhance poetry and immigration units.
Reflecting on my predictions before reading The Arrival:
My Prediction:
I predict that this will be an immigration story, about a man adjusting to life in a new land, without his family. I predict that it will have a science fiction twist, based on some of the images in the novel. I predict that the illustrator’s choice of graphics at the start of the story (long, alien like tentacles) symbolize the oppression that is the reason for the man leaving to make a new life for his wife and child. I believe that he man will eventually meet up with his wife and child, and I predict that although the setting may be futuristic, the message will still be timeless, adapting to new life
During Reading, I kept track of realistic images and surreal images using a T chart
Realistic Images
In line, waiting
On the boat, getting off the boat
Inspection
Man’s confused expressions- feelings of frustration, despair
Papers being issued
Surreal Images
View of inside hall
Big window
Different writing characters
Inspection labels
Zoom out, man appears to be in balloon
Zoom out, of previous image
Balloons floating
During reading, I made inferences:
Based on the images seen in The Arrival, I can infer that:
• The man is scared and lonely
• The man is frustrated, looking for a place to stay, get work (?)
• The man is surprised to the new creatures, does not know how to react to the new, strange creatures
• The man is immigrating to a new planet, based on the creatures; characters in the writing indicate language barriers; new planet is indicated through the use of balloon traveling through the clouds and other surreal images
• The story is adapted based on the experiences of hardships and challenges of immigrants- symbolized through the surreal images, science- fiction- like
• I am guessing that the man and his family decided that he is to go to the ‘new land’ first, as many heads of households did, to secure a place to live and work before having rest of family come over to the new land
• The family was able to join him, and the child adapted to new life, and was able to help another new immigrant, build connections and relationships to other immigrants, support and help each other
After reading, I reflected on stereotypes and other text connections
Stereotypes depicted:
The three books, along with The Arrival: Maggie’s Amerikay, letters to Rifka, and The Memory Coat portray main characters as objects of oppression. The characters in these narrative accounts leave a homeland in order to free themselves from religious persecution, or war time dangers. Although it is unclear as to what specifically the man in The Arrival is ‘running from’, the images clearly show an invasion of foreign beings. The stereotypes of these main characters depict individuals and families that must suffer hardships in order to come to a new land
Connections/ Knowledge of The Arrival:
Maggie’s Amerikay, The Memory Coat, and Letters to Rifka all tell a tale of immigration of young children and families to a new home. In The Arrival, a man comes to a new land to set up a home for his family before sending for them. Just as in the other books, the main characters feel homesick for their native land or families. The characters experience frustrations with the immigration process, as well as certain discriminations. The characters develop a sense of ‘settling’ at the end of the stories as they accept their new homes and new lives.
In my Beyond Reading activity, we wrote a Two Voices poem. This was incredibly emotional and moving, as we took on the voice of an immigrant or someone new to a country.
Without engaging in the cyberlesson, I would have been able to make connections to the character’s experiences, however, I would not have taken the time to think as critically and as in- depth as we did. The Arrival stimulated intriguing conversation, and used alone, no doubt would have been a meaningful and worthwhile lesson. However, The Arrival was made into an experience through the completion of a cyberlesson, one that has stuck with me weeks after its completion.
The benefit of this cyberlesson was having the opportunity to take an in- depth look at Immigration. By using The Arrival and other related texts, students would be engaged in worthwhile and MEANINGFUL activities that engulfs them into the theme. The students would be able to analyze fictional characters feelings based on historical events, as well as being afforded the opportunity to interview an immigrant. Students would respond to these meaningful connections in a way that is relevant to their own lives. The use of technology gives the students an easier, “hands on” way to get information and put together and present information using New Literacies. The students would be able to read Internet text, which in today’s changing world, there are many new and changing faces of Literacy. Another benefit was that every participant’s electronic cyberlesson was different, based on own personal connections. It was interesting to see each individual’s interpretations of this graphic novel, when we all read the same book.
In going through this cyberlesson for the first time, the main drawback encountered was that fact that it was so easy to go off on tangents related to personal connections to the them, and having to limit personal connections for time constraints. There are not many drawbacks to this because this cyberlesson is easily modifiable and adaptable to grade level and curricular needs.
The most evocative part of the cyberlesson was the creation of the Electronic Scrapbook. I chose to create my scrapbook based on my father’s immigration to the United States from Sicily in the 1950s. The scrapbook gave me the opportunity to interview my father and take his personal experiences of being new to a new and “strange” land and translate them into connections to The Arrival. I valued the chance to take photographs and his personal memories and create a special artifact for myself and my father.
It is difficult to identify parts that were not valuable. Through the use of New Literacies, and integration of themes and genres, we were immersed in a valuable experience using this wonderful new novel.
What was your overall reader response to the book The Arrival?
The Arrival is feast for the eyes and one of my favorite aspects of the book is the fact that there are no words. Sean Tan took us on a surreal journey via images to portray not only one man’s journey to a new land but to all immigrants journey. I loved it so much that I recommended it to the store manager at Borders Books and Music in Farmington and she made it her staff pick. This increased the exposure of the book and sold a number of copies that may not have been sold had she not been aware of it. I was very excited about the book and the message it was sending to students. It is not your average look at immigration and offers the student the opportunity to have the students place thoughts into the main characters head and connect with the character on a situation that may have been new to the student. A lot of my students have come from other countries and it would be interesting to draw parallels between their experiences and that of the main character in the story. I also see The Arrival as an added artistic piece and a way to expose the students to the art of the graphic novel.
Please write about your experience of engaging in The Arrival Literature Cybereslesson. Please reflect on your experience Before, During, After and Beyond the reading components.
Integrating the use of technology with a book such as The Arrival allowed me the opportunity to not just read the book but also take a journey just like the main character did. By taking sneak peek into the novel on The Vulture website, it allowed me time to predict what might happen and wonder about the story and it’s impact on me as a reader. Graphic novels are one of my favorite genres not only for the artistry but also for the visual images a regular novel doesn’t allow me. I feel that the students who have a hard time with visualization really latch onto this genre and by giving them a taste of what the story is about would only pique their interests. As for the activity connected with During the Story, reading literature that ties into the theme of the book offered up a different and perhaps more connected view of the immigration process. Letters from Rifka was a moving story that I had always wanted to read and am very glad I did. Should immigration have been a topic of instruction for my 6th graders, I would have used that novel along with Maggie’s Amerikay as food for thought. There was also the added benefit of creating a double entry journal on the artistry of the novel which I know my students would enjoy. The After reading activity was probably the most personal for all of us in the class. It was great being able to talk to my parents about their journey to America and how difficult it was for them. By reading the During Story selections and then interviewing immigrants, I was able to get a full view of what the immigration process was and how hard it was for many people. I believe the process is easier today but still fraught with sadness and difficulty.
How might your experiences of the book been different if you had not engaged in the Literature Cyberlesson?
By not completing the Cyberlesson I don’t think I would have had the breadth of knowledge I gained by participation in the various activities. As mentioned above, I was able to learn things about my parents arrival that I had not previously known nor would have ever thought to ask. Letters from Rifka was a novel I enjoyed so much and learned a lot about. When visiting the Immigration website, I was able to connect everything that happened in The Arrival and the Rifka novel and make connections I may not have been able to make had I read The Arrival alone. I think that not only was this cyberlesson valuable but all cyberlessons should be incorporated into teacher instruction whenever possible.
What were the benefits of the cyberlesson?
The first benefit was the additional learning I had and the connections I was able to make back to the story. I was able to read about actual immigrants and their stories and see authentic photographs that Sean Tan integrated into his wonderful story. I know that my students would be thrilled to spend time on the computer and not see it as just added work but view it as a different way to learn about a new topic.
What were the drawbacks of the cyberlesson?
A drawback I have at my school is the availability of the computer lab and the high readability of some of the websites. This would be something I would change when I have my students complete the cyberlesson.
What was the most evocative part if the cyberlesson for you?
I think creating the scrapbook was the most emotional part for me. My parents both left countries that had violent pasts and to decided to leave their families with the possibility of never seeing them again made me very sad. It took my father 40 years to have the opportunity to return to his homeland and my mother never returned even upon the death of her adoptive parents. To be able to read about the multitude of immigrants that decided to leave with so few belongings and possibly never return to their families leaves me in awe and full of respect for those people that made such a difficult decision.
What was the least valuable part of it?
I really can’t say any part of it was not valuable as a learner.
While I have read numerous historical fiction novels on the challenges of the immigration experience, the format of the wordless graphic novel, The Arrival, was surprisingly powerful. Every image seems to carry important meaning, from surreal creatures and fantastical settings to subtle facial expressions. While I was reading this, my first wordless graphic novel, I was surprisingly moved by the power of the quiet, wordless images in the book. The absence of dialogue creates a “quiet” that is almost unnerving at times, and serves to accentuate the immigrant’s inability to verbally communicate with others. This, combined with the surreal imagery, put me squarely in the shoes of the lost, lonely and confused immigrant who doesn’t understand his or her surroundings, and helped me “feel” this experience in a way I hadn’t previously. While the images were bizarre, Tan appears to tell the story of Ellis Island; yet exactly because of its surreal and symbolic imagery, it is also telling the universal and timeless story of any immigrant, rendering The Arrival itself universal and timeless.
I am an adult with a teaching certification in both English and reading; yet, I greatly benefited from the structure of this cyberlesson which helped me negotiate this wordless graphic novel, likely written for a younger audience. I especially enjoyed the “Before Reading” activities, particularly the opportunity to “picture walk” through the first few pages with partner. The cyberlesson also led me to the informative Ellis Island Internet website, which prepared me to better understand, and make connections to, many of the images deeper in The Arrival; this was an especially valuable component. “During reading” forced me to revisit the surreal imagery and consider its symbolism. The Arrival then set the stage for a rich “After reading” experience by bringing new meaning to several young adult novels about young immigrants. “Beyond reading” activities offered opportunities to then make authentic and relevant connections to real people in my life: creating a “scrapbook” of a family member and interviewing a friend.
I suspect that I might not have read The Arrival with the appreciation and depth of understanding that is required. I may have underestimated the richness and complexities of the graphic wordless novel for children. I’ve since witnessed other adults read my copy of the book, marveling at the illustrations, yet moving quickly through it. There are so many details and symbolic meaning, that this “children’s” book is deceiving. It must be read slowly, contemplated, scrutinized. Simply put, I might have missed a lot. This cyberlesson ensured that I gave The Arrival the attention it requires.
The cyberlesson encouraged a slower, more contemplative reading of the book; the cyberlesson’s structure of before, during, after and beyond reading activities are suited to the recursive nature of reading, asking (and thus forcing) the reader to activate schema and predict (before), think, rethink, adjust predictions, build on existing schemata (during and after) and connect to real life situations (beyond). Also, the cyberlesson puts Internet links related to The Arrival at my fingertips for quick viewing. In other words, the creator of the cyberlesson does a lot of the legwork for the reader. The cyberlesson also allowed me to work independently, at my own pace, by offering all activities upfront and again, at my fingertips. There was a great convenience for me. I also enjoy working on a computer, preferring to typing to laborious handwriting, so I found the work fun and was thus motivated to stay on task.
Both the concept and design of this cyberlesson worked well for me. The only drawback was the occasional nonworking hyperlink. I understand that sometimes this is unavoidable and unanticipated (incompatible computer, or link that had suddenly been rendered defunct). When I refer to other drawbacks of the cyberlesson, I speak mostly as a teacher, not as a reader and direct user of this cyberlesson. As a teacher, however, I understand that the cyberlesson requires access to computers, and this requirement could preclude the use of cyberlessons in school districts that have too few computers. Additionally, cyberlessons require a good degree of independence on the part of students, but this drawback can be alleviated with some modifications of the cyberlesson’s design (see more on this point in the next section on teacher modifications).
The most evocative part of this cyberlesson was making personal connections to the immigration experience by creating an immigrant’s scrapbook based (though loosely) on my grandmother’s experience as she traveled alone – while only in her early twenties – to America in the 1920’s. The combination of feeling the loneliness and alienation in The Arrival, and recalling my grandmother’s difficulties was powerful. After reading The Arrival, I felt I better understood my grandmother, and better appreciated her courage. I also enjoyed hearing others in the class present their scrapbook stories; I was very moved by these stories.
The least valuable part of the cyberlesson for me was the “beyond reading” interview of my friend David. While I enjoyed asking him about his immigration experience, it was so different from the experiences portrayed in The Arrival and the “beyond reading” additional reading, Letters from Rifka and The Memory Coat. While my interview did illuminate that fact that not every immigrant suffers indignities and extreme challenges, it was so far removed from the other stories that it did not seem relevant to their common themes. On the other hand, this is an activity I would not remove from the cyberlesson, because while it was not as valuable for me as the scrapbook, it was very valuable for others. As a teacher making modifications for my students, I would make this one of two options in “beyond reading” for students who have family or friends to interview.
I found the experiencing of Shaun Tan’s book, The Arrival, to be an emotional one for many reasons. It became, for me, a book where every time I picked it up and began to “read” it I found myself drawn into the picture on the page. Sometimes it wasn’t the picture as a whole but a detail in the picture. However, the emotional connection began when I first saw the drawing of the great hall and all the thoughts and ideas that had been swirling around the concept of immigration came to fruition. Not only was this a story about immigration but Shaun Tan used photos of American immigration to base some of his drawings on and that is when the story became more emotional for me. The root of this emotion came from my own roots because we are all related to someone who immigrated to this country unless we are Native American. For me the story became personal through the immigration of my mother’s parents, my grandparents. It led me to devote a lot of time that I really did not have into finding my grandmother’s path through Ellis Island to New Britain, Connecticut. The emotion has not ended yet as I plan to continue my search for my grandfather’s arrival to this country in the future.
Initially, in the before reading activity, a partner and I talked about the pictures we saw from the Vulture website. We discussed the lack of color in the “photos”, the way the people were dressed, the great numbers of people, and the range of emotions that passed over the main character’s face. In reviewing my response journal I discussed the great numbers of people gathered in one place, either the lack of emotion on faces or looks of fear, nervousness, or sadness. I wrote about a process I saw was happening in the sequence of pictures. I predicted the man was going to try and make a new life for himself.
In viewing the Ellis Island site I was able to record comments make by immigrants who had arrived, telling about their fears of being sent back to where they had come from, separating families because of filled quotas, and the fear of people who distrusted anyone in a uniform. I had always thought that the process of coming to America was a happy, hope-filled one but I was wrong. How foolish of me. The during reading activity and after reading activity reinforced the concept of foreignness, through the use of surrealism, to me. The idea of non communication in speech or the written word was overwhelmingly heavy in my thoughts but threaded within was a thin filament of real images captured during the during reading activity which kept hope alive for the main character, and allowed me to view the elemental components of humanity which unite all of us-a clock upon a mantel, a child’s drawing posted on a wall in a kitchen, creating a counter balance for the surrealism which temporarily surrounded the arrival and, therefore, anyone caught in an entirely new situation.
Now I must bring this full circle and take these thoughts and extend them to my grandmother. How surreal were her thoughts and reactions to this country? This was a loving person who never learned to speak the language, could never communicate with me because I could not speak her language. Could she have had some of the same emotions? Most surely, and, in making this connection, because I love her, I have connected to any one of the countless individuals who had the same kind of experience. My after reading writing speaks of the following:
Resilience is the strength and abilities people acquire to withstand, adjust to, or recover from adverse environmental circumstances
1. Competency (feeling successful)
2. Belonging (feeling valued)
3. Usefulness (feeling needed)
4. Potency (feeling empowered)
5. Optimism (feeling encouraged and hopeful)
What theme do I see for The Arrival? The unbelievable resilience of the thousands of individuals, who, like the character in the book and my grandmother had the ability to adjust to or recover from misfortune or change in order to obtain “a better life”, that better life being one which encompasses the above five traits.
Finally, the Beyond Reading Activities allow us to expand upon the immigrant experience where we read about Maggie McCrary’s immigration trip to New Orleans, to live in America and the drawbacks she sees in her new life until she makes a friend in a young black boy who plays jazz and wants to become a musician, of twelve year old Rivka who leaves Russia with her family and is separated from her family in Antwerp because of ringworm. Rivka has been given a book of poems by Pushkin from her cousin Tovah. It is on the empty pages of the book that she writes letters back to her cousin about what has happened to her. When she is finally healed enough to board the ship and arrives at Ellis Island she is in danger of being sent back because her hare has not grown in yet, and finally, we read of Rachel and Grisha, who, with their family have fled Russia in order to escape the roundup of Jews into Progroms. Upon their arrival at Ellis Island, Grisha is almost sent back because of an injury to his eye. A large X is placed on the back of his old coat made by his mother. His cousin Rachel thinks to turn the coat inside out and Grisha is allowed to leave Ellis Island. These books give the reader a deeper grasp of the immigration process but what is more important is the window they create into the thoughts and actions of ordinary people who did something extraordinary.
Not engaging in the cyberlesson would leave the “reader” guessing about the connection between Shaun Tan’s book and the immigration experience. Allowing the reader to discover Shaun Tan’s intent and personal experience with immigration through his family allows the reader to have a more personal experience. The cyberlesson helped me to experience the book at a deeper level allowing me to connect the arrival’s view of the new place he had come to, the language barrier, the complete foreignness of the city, his struggle to connect to other people with the things my grandparents may have experienced when they came to this country. One drawback of the cyberlesson might be the Beyond Reading activity when the reader is asked to interview a friend or family member about their immigration. Some students may find this activity hard to fulfill depending upon their access to family or friends who have immigrated. I think the reading of the three books in the Beyond Reading Activity to help make more connections is very good since Tan’s book is a visual representation of the immigration experience. The connection of the reader to the thoughts, words, and actions of the characters in the other three books can only enhance and reinforce the themes of immigration. The most evocative portion of the cyberlesson for me was the “interview” with my grandmother because it helped me revisit the memories of my grandmother and gave me a brand new view of her as a young girl, mother of twelve, and grandmother to fourteen. In my opinion I found the Book Review of the Arrival, Review and Blog, and Tan’s Website on the third slide to be the least valuable part of the the cyberlesson but I think it could have had more value if it was not placed after the Introduction slide but after the Before Reading Activity. I think the reader should make their own connections without being exposed to the book reivew, review and blog, and Tan’s website.
What was your overall reader response to the book The Arrival.
I enjoyed Shaun Tan's wordless graphic novel, The Arrival. I found it to be cleverly and magnificently illustrated. Tan's use of intricate realistic illustrations juxtaposed with his fantastic surrealistic images forced me to relate to the emotions felt by someone from another culture with a different oral and written language coming to a fast paced American city. I felt the immigrant's confusion and frustration as I had to carefully examine the surreal images that Tan included to represent the obstacles in the main character's way as he negotiated this new world. The very addition of the surreal images and his use of white to make these images pop magnified the protagonist’s emotions, causing me to relate to his feelings as a nonimmigrant reading this book. I could not simply flip through the pages and comfortably read this story of immigration, but I needed to stop and ponder each picture looking for the meaning in what Tan was trying to communicate.
Please write about your experience of engaging in The Arrival Literature Cyberlesson. Please reflect on your experience Before,
*I found the before reading exercise where I previewed the pictures from the Arrival on the Vulture website with a partner very helpful. Talking over each picture with a partner helped me gain a different perspective and caused me to examine each picture and its meaning more closely. This set me up for my independent task of reading the story in its entirety.
*Looking at the Ellis Island websites helped me activate my background knowledge and helped me question and think about the possible reasons the protagonist had for coming to America. Looking at the timelines explaining the waves of immigration and the historical reasons immigrants of various countries had for coming to America made me examine some of the pictures more carefully to see if I could find clues within Tan’s pictures for the protagonist’s arrival to the USA, both the reason and timeline.
*My prediction was based on my preview of the book’s illustrations and the discussion of these illustrations with my partner as well as the information I gathered by viewing the Ellis Island websites. This act of writing my prediction helped me organize what I knew before reading and helped me set a purpose for reading.
During ,
*The use of the “Double Entry Journal” as a reading response tool was appropriate for this book. The fact that this is a wordless book created the need to examine each illustration carefully to interpret the author’s meaning. By focusing on the realistic and the surrealistic images together and then separately, I was able to gain a deeper understanding. Had it not been for the double entry journal, I would not have examined each illustration as carefully and I would have missed much of the meaning of the story- especially the information I gained by thinking about why Tan choose to include the surrealistic images when and where he did.
After
and Beyond the reading components.
I would not use Barbara Timberlake Russell’s book, Maggie’s Amerikay, because I did not personally enjoy it. I did enjoy Letters from Rifka and The Memory Coat and was interested in both stories because we had some families in my childhood neighborhood who came to this country to avoid religious persecution.
I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the author, Sean Tan. It intrigued me to learn that this story was based on immigration to America through Ellis Island, yet he had never been to New York before or during the writing of this story and he actually resided in Australia. I found it interesting to learn that this was loosely based on his father’s immigration to Australia. It was very interesting to learn how he went about staging the props and life models to create each picture and series of pictures. I was more engaged in rereading the story once I heard Sean Tan’s podcast, read through his website and saw his other wonderful illustrations.
I enjoyed having the opportunity to interview my mother, my aunt and my uncle regarding their immigration to the United States. It was interesting to learn how different the experience was for my uncle as a man coming only two years earlier compared to the experiences of my mother and aunt.
How might your experiences of the book been different if you had not engaged in the Literature Cyberlesson?
I certainly would not have read this story in the same depth without engaging in the cyber lesson which would have resulted in a superficial understanding of Tan’s intended message. As I said earlier, creating the double entry journal forced me to examine the realistic and surrealistic illustrations more closely enabling me to gain a deeper understanding of Tan’s message. Browsing through the various Ellis Island websites also enabled me to set a more meaningful purpose for me to read the book more carefully. After reading Letters from Rifka and The Memory Coat I went back to beginning sections of The Arrival again to reexamine some of Tan’s illustrations because some of the events from those stories helped me gain a greater understanding of some of Tan’s illustrations.
What were the benefits of the cyber lesson?
The cyber lesson was novel and engaging.
Listening to Tan’s podcast and going to his website helped me connect with the author as a real person and made me want to reexamine the illustrations.
Reading is a social activity. Previewing the book with a partner gave me a different perspective and allowed me to examine the illustrations and the meaning of the book with a more open mind. Knowing that my classmates would all be engaging in this activity allowed me to wonder more while reading and develop questions that I wanted to discuss with my classmates to get their points of view. Reading the Blog allowed me immediate access to the opinions and thinking of my classmates without waiting for our assigned class time. Their thinking caused me to reexamine my thinking and deepened my comprehension of this book and also encouraged me to make more connections. Additionally, knowing we would discuss this book as a class caused me to find or think about supporting evidence to rationalize and support my interpretation of the story.
Another benefit of engaging in this cyber lesson was that I gained more practice using some of the new literacies. I learned how to access, read and post a Blog; access and listen to a podcast; study the webpage of the author/illustrator - which my inner artist found quite engaging; and gain more experience in searching for and utilizing interactive websites with video and audio clips.
What were the drawbacks of the cyber lesson?
The drawback of the cyber lesson was responding to the cyber lesson questions while creating a double entry journal on a word document on the same computer that I was using to look at the online pictures, interviews, book reviews, podcasts and websites. It was awkward at times to negotiate all of the windows at the same time due to the age of my computer and the quality of my internet access. If my computer truly had the capability to display two or more windows at the same time on the screen, it would have eliminated this difficulty.
Also, I like to work while waiting for appointments and traveling. Access to the internet was necessary which limited my ability to complete this assignment anywhere other than home or at the university.
Even considering these drawbacks, I feel the cyber lesson was a worthwhile, meaningful, engaging task and would recommend using it again.
What was the most evocative part if the cyberlesson for you?
The surrealistic illustrations were quite evocative causing me to examine my schema for an explanation of what Tan wanted to communicate through these images.
The interview with my mother was also evocative for both of us.
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