Peer Review

1)

https://twitter.com/Yo_itsSeuss - Dr. Seuss’s best quotes

2)

Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, has influenced literature immensely for people of all ages.  His hypothesis on why kids were not able to read well was because of the books.  He felt the books were boring and didn’t catch their interest.  That’s why you can pick up any of the Dr. Seuss books and instantly be amused.  The way he catches the readers attention is by the fun colors, the catchy rhymes, and the goofy characters.  Doing this, especially for the kids, makes it fun to read.  In everyone of his books there is a message or a moral about the story it goes with.  He teaches children to use their imagination like in the book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.  When kids cannot go outside and play because of the weather, he gives them something exciting to do inside, like in the well-known book, The Cat in the Hat.  Geisel not only teaches people ways to learn, he taught us life long lessons as well.  In the book,How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, he teaches us that if you are nice and accept people that are rude and crude, they will end up with a bigger heart.  

His books give kids or anyone really, that are moving on to something bigger and better a sense of motivation.  The book, Oh, The Places You'll Go, helps you move on with your life, or at least makes it a little bit easier. One quote that really stands out, “You're off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So . . . get on your way!" If this doesn’t motivate you to try and succeed in your future then who knows what would.  

Compared to other children book series, Dr. Seuss is the most influential.  Other book classics like Berenstain Bears, The Magic School Bus, or any other books teach kids how to learn and in a fun way, but do not teach as much as the Dr. Seuss books.  Like I said before, Dr. Seuss books teach more than reading and writing, they shape kids by showing them many different ways to help others or act toward each other.  

All these facts are relevant to learning because growing up involves more than just a good education.  Don’t get me wrong, a good education is a huge part of growing up but there are other things that matter as well.  For instance: how to treat people whether you’re friends or not, helping the environment, using your imagination, and even the different places you can go with your life.  Dr. Seuss mastered his way of teaching people the important things in life and made it a fun and exciting way to learn.

                                                                                       

3)

Dr. Seuss Survey Analysis

“How did/has Dr. Seuss affect literacy”

Out of 61 participants in the survey, here were the results:

1.       Have you ever read a book written by Dr. Seuss?

Yes- 57 (93.4%)

No- 5 (8.2%)

2.       If yes, did you enjoy it?

Yes-  50 (82%)

No- 1 (1.6%)

Some What- 8 (13.1%)

Never Read a Dr. Seuss book- 5 (8.2%)

3.       When is the last time you read a Dr. Seuss book?

Within the past month- 8 (13.1%)

Within the past 6 months- 15 (22.6%)

Between 6 months and a year- 11 (18%)

Over a year ago- 25 (32.6%)

Don’t Know-  10 (16.4%)

Never Read a Dr. Seuss Book- 5 (8.2%)

4.       Could you pick out an underlying message in the books?

Yes- 41 (67.2%)

No- 8 (13.1%)

Don’t Know 12 (19.7%)

Never Read a Dr. Seuss Book- 5 (8.2%)

5.       Have Dr. Seuss books impacted you in any way? If so, how?

Best Responses:

-          “The last time I read one it was to a two year old I was babysitting and just the excitment he had as I read to him made me want to work with kids! So now I want to teach kids.”

-          “They've taught me how to see lessons and morals from different perspectives.”

-          “No they were just fun to read.”

-          “I think it's impacted my love for reading, and Dr. Seuss was basically a part of my childhood”

-          “They always remind me how simple life can be even though it seems so complicated.”

-          “Yes, they promote creativity”

-          “They present a new way of looking at life and difficulties in life. They have made me more aware of the way I live life”

-          “They taught me to be accepting of other people, try new things, and how to count.”

-          “Yes I think they're creative and help you think outside of the box. Nonsense wakes up the brain cells”

-          “Dr. Seuss sends messages that are creative and meaningful at the same time.”

Basically, from the results that we’ve gathered, most people have read, and enjoyed at least one of Dr. Seuss’s works.  Even though Dr. Seuss’s books were published back between the 50’s and 70’s, his books are still being read by recent generations. By the responses we received about the impact that Dr. Seuss’s books had on the participant allows us to draw the conclusion that his books and writing are so popular because they are simple, the rhyme scheme is catchy, and he incorporates simple messages and morals in his books that can be applied to anyone, which allows his books to stay popular even in a new generation.   These simple morals and his format of expressing them acts as a great literacy sponsor in the molding and shaping of our literacy as we’ve matured and grown up.

4) (Each individual response on how Dr. Seuss and his novels acted as a literary sponsor for us) (there will be 3 other responses / one per each group member)

Greg's response:
For our project, we defined how Dr. Seuss, in all his simplicity, helped to become a large influence in the development of our literacy as we've grown and matured.  Dr. Seuss created simple works but in those silly rhymes and goofy stories, he always managed to open up one's imagination, causing you to delve into his fun, fantasy creations all while he was presenting an underlying message about morals or equality that for me, has had a lasting impact on not only my literacy, but my life and how I live it and view the world around me. Because of his great influence on me, I would definitely recommend his books to anyone; tiny and small, or big and tall.  The underlying themes in his books apply to anyone and continues to apply even though times are changing.

Marc's response:
I was introduced to Seuss at a very young age. It probably started much earlier than I can actually remember, but the defining moment came when I was three and it was around Christmas time. My mom showed me the red and green cover of the book How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I have seen the 30 minute show before and loved it, but now I have the book to reference. After my mom read it to me, I began noticing the plethora of Seuss books we actually owned (which turned out to be a lot, actually). Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, Oh, the Places You Will Go, and many more; I grew up reading those books with my parents. I moved from Seuss to Shel Silverstein around the time I was eight and from there started reading short chapter books like Scooby-Doo and Captain Underpants. I will always remember that I started reading with rhyme and that it started with a green Who who didn’t like Christmas. The books taught me many things about literacy using many tools, such as repetition and theme. All the stories had a neat and unique theme to them. Green Eggs and Ham teaches you to try new things, while The Lorax has a deeper meaning behind it, such as protecting the environment. Not only did Dr, Seuss help my literacy, he also brought up simple life lessons and pseudo-social change.

Alex's Response:
Dr. Seuss’s way of writing and style of writing has affected so many different people.  The way he uses the rhyming and different colors and pictures makes it almost fun to read.  Dr. Seuss does more than make it fun, you just have to look passed all of the silly things.  He gives the reader a new way to learn and think.  It is hard to figure that out at a young age, but now as a college student and by doing research on him, I have found other meanings in his writing.  It showed me to look more into the readings and find out what the author is really trying to get across.  There are many of his books if not all of them that have more than one meaning. Oh, The Places You Will Go was given to me for graduation and I was sure why.  I read it a few times to reminisce own my child years and I understood why it was a gift.  Not only to remind me of the book but to tell me I can do anything I want with my life and that I will make my own path.  I strongly recommend his series of books not only to children but all ages.  You can never be to old for a Dr. Seuss book.

C.R.A.P Assignment

      This picture of a billboard caught my attention immediately, for fairly obvious reasons.  The way the girl has position her finger(s), your mind automatically comprehends it as the middle finger. After a few seconds, you realize that it's not actually her middle finger, but instead, it's her ring finger. After reading the text "she's tired of waiting," the humor sets in. "I'm not flipping you off, I'm just making it known that my ring finger is ringless!" Basically, she's flipping you off, without actually flipping you off. I really like this ad because of the blunt and clever attempt to trick your eyes and mind. As for the C.R.A.P aspect of the billboard, the contrast of the darker background and the light color of the skin cause emphasis of attention to be directed towards the hand. For the repetition, "Robbins Diamonds" can be found twice: under the face of what I'm assuming is their company logo, and in their website name. The alignment of the middle finger is directly in the middle of the billboard, causing it to be the center of attention and the first thing seen.  For proximity, the blurriness of the face and the clarity of the hand and finger cause attention to be drawn to the hand and finger first.

Synthesis:
      Wysocki's article exposes the idea of looking more into the visual aspects of a text and the formatting of the writing as to gain better feedback from the audience. This idea of visualizing the text to be better comprehended can be related to the argument McCloud makes about his cartoon character.  It's better to use the 4 simple concepts of CRAP to protrude your message to your audience than to create an elaborate design, just as a simple comic character is better than a realist being. 

Literacy Narrative

Greg Warman   

10-2-12

English 1510

Literacy Narrative

                The first point in my life that started to mold my literacy was in 8^th grade when my 60 year old teacher, Mrs. James taught me how to diagram sentences.  She would stand there in front of the class in a floral dress that ranged from pink, to purple, to blue, to red, and back to pink.  She had your typical white, poofy/curly “old-lady-hair.”  Mrs. James always seemed to have an intimidating smile on her face that was accompanied by two grey glaring eyes; two eyes that gawked directly into your soul if you were to ever act up. The combination of her smile and eyes turned her into a villain-like being.  Every day, we all dreaded going over our homework.  Person after person would get called on to go up to the chalkboard to diagram the sentence she had assigned you.  Everyone knew to work diligently and effectively, setting off the subject and verb with the correct line.  At the same time, everyone feared screwing up.  Anyone who would mess up would face the heart-sinking, face-melting, degrading noise from Mrs. James: “Uh, uh, uhh… Something’s not right there…” As soon as you would turn around from the board, your eyes would meet hers.  The room would be screaming with absolute silence. Her eyes laughed in your face at the mistake you had just made, no matter how trivial it might have been.  The worst part about the confrontation about to take place was not only that you made a mistake, not only were those soul-less eyes staring at you, but that deviant smile was always on her face, almost as if it was the only thing that kept her from chewing off your face.  She would then go on to correct your mistake in an almost ridiculously polite way, but her voice was devastating and shrill.

                Basically, I learned how to diagram sentences out of pure fear of making a mistake and dealing with the wrath of Mrs. Fels. 

bell hooks Assignment

Greg Warman

10-3-12

English 1510

Bell hooks Assignment

QDJ Answers

1)      Bell says she wanted to kill herself through her writing.  This was expression she had made to make it known the reader that she wanted to rid herself of the past she had created.

2)      Bio-mythography is not necessarily the truth-be-told happenings of an event but instead, it’s how you remember it to have happened.  This can be skewed based on emotions felt at the time, causing you to remember things differently. Bell’s work is definitely a great example because she’s explaining how she remembered it, which quite possibly isn’t exactly how everything happened.

3)      Hook uses the image from the get-go right out of the gates by telling the reader how she “wants to kill herself.” This is a very powerful thing to just come out and say, especially in the very beginning of the text.  This was an effective hook thought because it drew me to become curious as to why she would say this.  I, too, would come up with some sort of controversial and powerful way to grab my audience’s attention for my texts.

AEI Answer:

2) Identity is something that we can change through text.  If we conceal our true identity, changing our identity can bring about new lights in our writings by, for lack of a better word, “fooling” the audience into thinking something had happened that maybe really didn’t. Or that you’re a different person than what you actually are. Many things can cause a shift in identity in a text but no matter the cause or reason, it can be done.

Brandt Assignment

Greg Warman

10-1-12

Eng 1510

Brandt Assignment

                Brandt argues the changes in literacy over the course of 1895 to 1985.  In this argument she uses examples from the lives of a few people.  The example she uses of Raymond Branch and Dora Lopez really was an eye opener for me.  I can relate to the literacy journey that Raymond had: being born into a well-off family, having an expectation from everyone around me (family, friends, etc.)  to become educated by using all the new technology and learning tools that surround me in the community.  His story really made me think of myself and really see how education and literacy came about not so much because I yearned to acquire a better understanding and knowledge of language, but because it’s what everyone else did, what my parents wanted me to do, and what I was expected to do.  After reading about Dora’s story and how she had taught herself how to read and write and then went so far as to teach her family also, it opened my eyes to how much of a blessing and necessity it is to be literate.  For some people, like myself, I really overlooked the underlining reasoning of literacy.  I thought everyone was literate and going through the same processes as me.  After reading Dora’s story, I am now aware of how lucky I was to receive the education I did and developing my literacy.