Red

In Enriched English 11, we are reading Ethan Frome.  Although I've taught this book for years, this is the first quarter I really thought about all the other meanings for the color read in our society outside of the somewhat outdated meaning of the color as it is in the book. When we covered nonverbal communication, we talked about color as an example.  When it comes to color as symbolism in literature, it's a perfect complement to this idea.

Play?

Yesterday, Murphy and I went over to a family friend's house for lunch and board games.  The first game we played was called "Toss the Cookies."  After that, we took an ice cream break, and then we played a Disney Trivial Pursuit game.  Murphy was playing with some toys  in the other room after ice cream, and instead of asking if he was going to come play the Disney game, I simply asked "Murphs, are you going to play?" I meant play the board game, but he thought I meant stay and play with the toys he was currently playing with. It took me a couple times of asking the same question to understand that we were each interpreting the word "play" differently.  That's an example of miscommunication in words, or verbal miscommunication.

Awkward Interview

One kind of conversation that we covered this week was interviews.  In poking around online, I fell upon this really awkward interview. It doesn't really have a proper opening. Nor does it have a clear business. It just gets kind of stuck! Since it doesn't follow a clear pattern/process, there seems to be some confusion and tension.  Although the clip is near 3 minutes, it really only takes about 1 1/2 minutes to see things fall apart. 

Colbert and Affleck

Wearin' the Green

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day.  It's our families tradition to get all decked out in green and watch the St. Patrick's Day Parade at noon in St. Paul.  This is a tradition we treasure and enjoy. Every year is a little different, especially the weather, but there are things that keep it consistent, too.  This year, after our annual walk to Candyland to load up on some sweets, we ran some errands. One of those was to my favorite spice shop, Penzeys, which is in Apple Valley, not St. Paul. When I walked into the store, the woman working gave me a double take. Then, she commented that, "Oh yeah! It's St. Patrick's Day, isn't it."  You see, in St. Paul, it was completely normally to be dressed up for the holiday, even expected, but in this small store in Apple Valley, it was unexpected. This is an example of differing cultures.

Thanks Pixar: Nonverbal Communication Example

Chapter 6 has been all about the messages we send without using words.  This Pixar video does an outstanding job of that.

The baby's coming!

I'm dealing with some serious psychological noise today.  You see, my best friend of over 25 years is having her first baby today.  She was induce this morning and has been updating me constantly on her status.  I've been quite preoccupied by thoughts of her, concerns for her, and checking my phone for updates from here that I'm afraid I wasn't as focused as I should have been in my classes today.  The last message I got from her was about 50 minutes ago, so I'm getting really eager to be reassured  that everything is okay, to see a pic of her baby boy, and to know that it's time to celebrate rather than worry.  Here's hoping I am gifted with some good news, soon!

Electronic Communication Evolution

I'm really excited for class today. We are starting You've Got Mail since it shows the evolution and effects of electronic communication. I was telling this to another teacher in the media center today, and she was reminded of this movie, War Games, which shows an even earlier use of computers for communication!

War Games Clip 1

War Games Clip 2


That got us thinking to about American Online, and how much I DON'T miss this:

And it reminded me of all this excitement of early online communication:

Powerful Words

Chapter 5 is all about verbal language, the words that we use. What do YOU think is the most powerful word in the English language?  I'm sure what I would pick.  Maybe "No" because it has such finality to it? Here's an interesting website that has a list of what people thought the most powerful word was and why. Do you agree or disagree with what they wrote?  What would you add to the list?

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-powerful-word-in-the-English-language