Selected SCC English Tweets

The weekly selection. We're on an Exodus break from this afternoon until next Thursday morning, March 18th, so posting will resume then as we head into the last 9 days of term.

1. Irish Blog Awards: few education blogs, but have a look at lit blogs from @eoinpurcell, @jenblogsbooks, @davidmaybury
   
2. 2010 Irish Blog Awards 'short'list: http://bit.ly/9aaGdC.
   
3. Handling all that reading: "my evolution into schizophrenic multimedia literature butterfly " in the Guardian: http://bit.ly/at8ndN
4. Dominic Dromgoole of @The_Globe interviewed in Irish Times on new production of Friel's 'Philadelphia, Here I Come!' http://bit.ly/bu9QI0
5. Skippy Dies by Paul Murray: review - "this gigantic, marvellous, witty, heartbreaking novel". http://bit.ly/cTcfR8.
   
6. National Tree Week in Ireland- http://bit.ly/b7SQLs. Poem of the Week - 'Binsey Poplars' by Gerard Manley Hopkins- http://bit.ly/cDnT4h
7. Well worth reading from today's Guardian, by Phil Beadle: the benefits of Twitter for teachers: http://bit.ly/936b9w
   
8. 'Echo and Narcissus'- another poem in our Images in Poetry series:- http://bit.ly/aD9955. http://bit.ly/aD9955.
9. First of a series reviewing #iPhone #apps of use in school/English teaching and learning. Starting with the obvious: http://bit.ly/cqhH79

iPhone/iPod Touch Apps

We're going to start reviewing and recommending apps for use on the iPhone/iPodTouch platform (henceforth, just 'iPhone', for neatness), in tandem with our science friends over on the Frog Blog. Obviously, we may overlap at times, especially about general educational utilities: read their post today on 'My Homework' - "This excellent, easy to use, iPhone application is useful for everyone, pupils and teachers alike and at all levels, from primary to third level." (We may have to have a high-level secret summit meeting to discuss pooling recommendations in one place. Coffee later, lads?)

But mainly we'll be looking for apps of particular use in English learning and teaching.

First up, and of course of general educational use, is the distinctly obvious, but no less useful, Google Mobile App (free), which gives you easy access to many Google services. This school, like many others, now uses Google Apps on its own domain, and here's a simple way to get to your online Gmail, Reader, Tasks and so on. In school, perhaps the greatest use is Google Docs - access those essays, notes, revision material...

Download it (free) from iTunes here.

Irish Blog Awards 2010

We're delighted to be in the mix after the first round of judging in the 2010 Irish Blog Awards, which has produced a short (actually, medium) list; there's another round now to select the finalists. We're in the Best Group category.

There's lots of good reading in the overall list. There aren't many education blogs, but still, vaguely in our area, have a look at Eoin Purcell (publishing), David Maybury (writing and children's books), The Lady Loves Books (er, books).

National Tree Week poem

This is National Tree Week, and Mr Swift's IIIb CSPE set have planted a mountain ash as their Action Project; see a report on the College site here. So it's appropriate to have as our 61st Poem of the Week one of the great poems about trees, Gerard Manley Hopkins's 'Binsey Poplars'.

As in his poem 'God's Grandeur' (on the Leaving Cert course), Hopkins was well ahead of his time in his concern for our environment (for him, of course, a manifestation of God's presence). He wrote this poem after seeing that trees near Oxford had disappeared. In the words of the biographer Robert Bernard Martin, 'the destruction seemed an emblem of the loss that man inflicts on the planet.'

Poster (above) by Lily Guinness.


'Binsey Poplars', by Gerard Manley Hopkins
felled 1879

My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled,
Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun,
All felled, felled, are all felled;
Of a fresh and following folded rank
Not spared, not one
That dandled a sandalled
Shadow that swam or sank
On meadow and river and wind-wandering weed-winding bank.

O if we but knew what we do
When we delve or hew—
Hack and rack the growing green!
Since country is so tender
To touch, her being so slender,
That, like this sleek and seeing ball
But a prick will make no eye at all,
Where we, even where we mean
To mend her we end her,
When we hew or delve:
After-comers cannot guess the beauty been.
Ten or twelve, only ten or twelve
Strokes of havoc unselve
The sweet especial scene,
Rural scene, a rural scene,
Sweet especial rural scene.

'Echo and Narcissus' - a poem

The latest poem in our Transition Year Images in Poetry series is by Max Kavanagh, and is based on the painting 'Echo and Narcissus' by John William Waterhouse (1903).



Echo and Narcissus, by Max Kavanagh

They stand and stare. At me, of course.
Gazing upon my gorgeous likeness.
I don’t care.
My thoughts are far away thinking of her; the lady
Far more beautiful than I could ever be: the lady of the pool.
Why do you ignore me, oh lady?
Why do you rebuke me, oh lady?
Oh lady, I’ll stay here beside thee.

Reduced to a shadow, licking the tips of reality,
This is all I am now, forced to sit and watch.
I hope, I pray: Oh Narcissus please see me.
Why do you ignore me, oh Narcissus?
Why do you rebuke me, oh Narcissus?
Oh Narcissus I’ll stay here beside thee.

Selected SCC English Tweets

A selection of our tweets from the last week:

1. Interesting article on future of books at http://bit.ly/aCgESr
2. Hamlet at the Helix Theatre: reviews - http://bit.ly/cnaEPN
3. Nice clean easy web-app - @teuxdeux - now a mobile app that would sync would be really good... http://bit.ly/9geM3n
4. 'Medusa' - new poem by TY pupil based on Caravaggio's painting: http://bit.ly/cfQMXS
5. Funny review by Julian Clary of Sharon Osbourne's first novel: http://bit.ly/c5fqpC
6. List of SCC English book recommendations: http://bit.ly/d0wWsD
7. Terrific example of combative commentary by @andrewrawnsley in the Observer: http://bit.ly/cNxJty
8. Dublin-based software co. developing multimedia versions of Shakespeare, starting w Romeo & Juliet: http://bit.ly/bhNcDH
9. Have a look at @poetrychannel - lots of good video resources and interesting 'watching': http://bit.ly/cqbpUy
10. 'Christ Deliver Us!' @abbeytheatre- well worth seeing; big ambitious production, terrific main perfs, esp Aoife Duffin. http://bit.ly/cAJonm
11. Hamlet: the earliest copies online: http://bit.ly/a0LkH1
12. Jimmy Fay, director of forthcoming 'Macbeth' @abbeytheatre, on the production (we'll see it next term). http://bit.ly/97nnw0
13. Well worth reading for all teachers/administrators- RT @englishcomp: When saying "No" means saying "Yes": Latest blog. http://bit.ly/c6bxsf
14. Literary masterpieces: the LRB personal ads - http://bit.ly/bfVyj4.
15. Great photos to prompt creative writing: Sony World Photography Awards 2010: http://bit.ly/cjjAzZ
16. Recommending Conor Galvin's thoughtful webinar: Digital Elephants and Flying Penguins; technology-mediated T & L': http://bit.ly/9isDrL

Ghostly Encounter 3

The third and final 'Ghostly Encounter' from Mr Jameson's I form set is by Antonia Esses:-

The wind was howling and the rain slashed against our faces as we left the college. There was a blanket of fog engulfing the city. 'I am so annoyed that Mr Barnes kept us late,' said Mandy.

'Now we've missed the bus!'

'It'll take us at least an hour to walk home!' I said.

'I know,' said Mandy. 'Let's take a short-cut through the woods...'

Read Antonia's full piece here.

'Hamlet' by Second Age

Last week all our V form went to the Helix Theatre to see Hamlet (their single text choice for the Leaving Cert in 2011) in a Second Age production. This was one of the most effective schools' productions we've seen from Second Age, being pacy right from the start, and with mostly strong central performances. The considerable rake emphasised an intimacy with the characters, and Marty Rea delivered the famous soliloquies with intelligence. Stephen Brennan as Polonius, Garret Keogh as Claudius, and Barbara Brennan as Gertrude also delivered.

Read here Emer O'Kelly's review in the Irish Independent, and Peter Crawley's in the Irish Times here: both are positive about the production.

'Medusa' - a poem

The latest poem in our 'Images in Poetry' series is 'Medusa' by Oyinda Onabanjo. This is based on Caravaggio's famous painting of the same name from 1598. You can read a Guardian article about it here.


'Medusa' by Oyinda Onabanjo

I walk into the gallery
Immediately feeling a chill, despite
The mass of people.
I see it and Stop. Still.
Petrified by this sinister, severed head.

I look into her eyes, imagining
The fear of her victims pulsating through
Their veins.
Then I am gone,
Sucked into the vortex
That is the ancient world.
The gorgon herself, there she is, with Perseus.
Her body writhing on the floor
As he takes her head from her,
Holding it up like a trophy.
I hear sweet whisperings of approval,
See a spirit hand caress him.
Perseus then flies off on the horse Pegasus;
Beautiful just as it is, born out of hideousness.

A drop of Medusa’s blood falls:
Creating a snake.
It slithers, and bites me, and I’m thrown
Back into the room, staring at my mother,
Who, uncannily, resembles Medusa.

Transition Year Academic Prize

Last night there was the annual TY Academic Prize evening in the BSR, this time judged by scientist and TY presenter Miranda Krestovnikoff. The standard was surely the highest yet, and the winner was deservedly Lingfan Gao for his most impressive presentation on The Organ.

From an English Literature perspective here, however, congratulations to Emma Moore, who was awarded second place (the first time this has been given) for her fine presentation on the London of Charles Dickens. She gave a vivid portrait of the city in Dickens's time, explaining clearly its influence on his writing, particularly in David Copperfield, and was complimented by the judge on the clarity of her delivery.

World Book Day 2010

Since Mock exams are on, and other forms are about to start their College exams, World Book Day here today will be marked fairly quietly. However, we'll still be giving out WBD book-tokens, and the annual Library survey on the College's favourite book, results of which we'll post here in due course.

Meanwhile, take some time out of the busy day to read...

Shakespeare in Bits (Romeo and Juliet)

A Dublin-based company, Mindconnex Learning Limited, has set up a software project, 'Shakespeare in Bits', the first fruit of their work being a multi-media version of Romeo and Juliet. We've had a look at this, and it's well-worth considering for both individual study and classroom work.

A particularly welcome feature of the text is that it includes the full text, which synchronises with an excellent audio version of the play from Naxos featuring Kate Beckinsale and Michael Sheen. The actors' words are picked out in highlighted colour as they scroll through the text. On the left, there is a simple animation of the story. There are also annotations on themes and language, character analyses and a map of the relationships between characters.

Our own Transition Year pupils thought that it would be a good way to introduce yourself to the play, as well as a refresher during revision for pupils at Junior Cert/GCSE level. Also, it could be particularly helpful for anyone with learning difficulties, or who appreciates more visual and aural stimulus. Helpfully, there's a trial version which uses the opening scene, so you can easily assess it before buying.

On the Shakespeare in Bits website, you can read more details. Macbeth is next in the pipeline. Meanwhile, good luck to Michael Cordner and the team on their venture.

Second Bell A-Ringin'

Mr Jameson calls on new and previous contributors to gather tomorrow at 11.10am in Kennedy to plan another Second Bell magazine...

The Poetry Channel

Worth checking out by teachers, as well as general readers: The Poetry Channel is a new "freely accessible web-based video channel and portal for poetry" from the excellent English and Media Centre. You can search by poet, title and topic (such as Love, Grief, Fathers...). And there's a Poem for Today. Have a look here at Greg Wise reading Marvell's 'To His Coy Mistress' (most of the site features contemporary poets). We've only just started to look at it, but it's certainly a good way to start a lesson.

The aims are to

• exploit the potential of the web to create a rich multi-sensory experience of poetry which includes music, film, and animation, as well as readings by actors and authors.
• bring together diverse and eclectic poetry worlds – from the unpublished world of slams, live events and song writing, to the published, literary and classic traditions of poetry.
• appeal to a really wide audience, from committed poetry readers to those who have felt excluded or haven’t thought poetry is for them.
  

Happy 500th Birthday to the Frog Blog

Congrats to our amphibian science friends over at the Frog Blog, who today mark their 500th posting (and thanks for the nods over here too).

As HJ points out today, it's grown and grown, and, similar to SCC English, has friends and visitors all over the world now. And we scientifically-ignorant long-haired arty poetry types have learnt lots of fascinating science from it, too. So we encourage our own regular visitors to hop on over there and see how good it is.

Ghostly Encounter 2

The second 'Ghostly Encounter' from Mr Jameson's I form set is by Peter Quigley:-

It was a dark night. The wind howled and the rain battered the ground. I shivered in my bed as I lay there pulling the duvet over me. The wind whistled through the fire escape. Flashes of light occasionally flickered through the room and lit up the place.

My eyes grew accustomed to the dark and I began to be able to spot things in the dark like shoes on the floor. Shivers came over me and the curtains began to move as if a demon possessed them. I could hear the floorboards creak and my heart began to pound but I quickly realised it was just one of the monitors coming back in. I tried to close my eyes and count sheep to get to sleep but it wasn't working.

Suddenly, things began to shake and stuff started to fall off lockers. There was a howling noise louder than the wind and the sound of feet dragging across the floor. I curled up into a ball. I was so scared. The sounds were getting closer and closer and I was getting more and more frightened.

A white glow appeared on the wall but this presence was still hidden. Fingers - all white as snow - started appearing through the wall. I shouted, 'This isn't real!' I thought my eyes were tricking me.

But still more body features appeared, all as white as snow. Then its head appeared. It stuck in my mind forever. How weird it was! It was my own face!

It came towards me - I was horrified. It leaned over me and looked into my eyes. Closer and closer its hands came until they were inches away from my face and then...

'Hamlet' Quartos site

There's fascinating material on the Shakespeare Quartos site. To quote the site:-

The Shakespeare Quartos Archive is a digital collection of pre-1642 editions of William Shakespeare's plays. A cross-Atlantic collaboration has also produced an interactive interface for the detailed study of these geographically distant quartos, with full functionality for all thirty-two quarto copies of Hamlet held by participating institutions.

Here you can view full cover-to-cover digital reproductions and transcriptions of thirty-two copies of the five earliest editions of the play Hamlet. You can view quartos separately, or alongside any number of copies. You can search, annotate, make public or private sets of annotations, create exhibits or character cue line lists, and download and print text and images.

Under Umbrellas

Last year we posted some poems that originated in Ms Smith's Transition Year module on Images in Poetry, which she wrote about here. The module continues this year, and we'll be posting more poems prompted by paintings and photographs. First, here is Patrick Tice's poem based on Bruno Barbey's photo 'Umbrellas', about which Ms Smith writes:-

When one closely inspects this image, snow-covered umbrellas and huddled figures reveal themselves. Barbey took this photograph in Poland in 1982 when the country was under strict Communist rule. This gathering took place, despite the weather, to commemorate the Stations of the Cross; religious pilgrimages were the only events the Government could not stop.


'Under Umbrellas' by Patrick Tice

The pull factor:
Faith.
The push factor:
Oppression.
Gathering together-
Passive rebellion.
Brothers in suffering
Sisters in action
Standing in the snow,
White belief.

Violence, no.
Statement, yes.
A common cause,
Camaraderie on show.