Literacy and Technology

I read this book back in the beginning of the semester, but I wanted to come back to it and respond to some of the questions that Professor Cole posed in her comment on my first post. The significance of the title is that Esther, the main character, feels as if she's trapped in a bell jar . She feels cut off from the outside world and starved for air. She feels trapped by her own mind and depression and she feels as if there's a world going on around her that she can't access. From what I've learned about depression through The Bell Jar , It's Kind of a Funny Story , and Shoot the Damn Dog: A Memoir of Depression , the bell jar metaphor is a pretty good metaphor for how people with depression often feel.  In regards to how I feel about the text beyond the story it tells, I enjoyed Plath's writing. It was poetic and subtle in its beauty. She didn't use overly big or impressive words, but her word choice always felt spot on. It was impactful writing without ...

Before I started writing this, I looked up Sally Brampton, the author of this memoir, to see what she was up to. I found out that she passed away in 2016 from what is thought to have been suicide.  This isn't what I originally  plan to write about, but after learning of her death, I was shocked. I think learning of her death really solidified for me that depression is a true disease. Sally did everything she was supposed to do when you have depression. I'm not quite done with the memoir, but so far she had tried countless medications, went to various therapists, and had worked hard to get better during her multiple stays in psychiatric hospitals. She was resisting using alcohol to numb her depression, had safety plans in place for when she felt bad, and  had close, supportive friends.  She talked about how she utilized meditation, exercise, and therapy to combat her depression. Despite doing everything "right," she still lost her battle. Depression is just like any o...

It's Kind of a Funny Story is a first-person narration from the point-of-view of Craig, a 16-year-old boy living in NYC. Craig is depressed, and it shows from the first line of the novel: "It's so hard to talk when you want to kill yourself."  One thing that really interested me about Craig as a character is that he oscillates between thinking that he is severely depressed, and worse off than everyone around him, and thinking that he's just inventing his own depression. I think this could be a symptom of the depression itself, or perhaps comes from who Craig is as a person, or perhaps it might have to do with his age.   The quotes below display Craig's tendency to have contrasting thoughts about his depression   On needing medication: "I don't know if they really need it. I really need it." When he starts improving in the psychiatric ward: "I'm not that much better, man." On others with depression: "I'...

For my mini-lesson, I showed the class how to use Piktochart . I chose to work with Piktochart because it is a tech tool that I use regularly in my life. I've used it to my cards, posters, newsletters, and more, and I also use it often for homework assignments.  Before my mini-lesson, I made a detailed plan that included  how and why  I wanted to teach my classmates to use Piktochart. I found that having a plan really helped, because during my mini-lesson I knew exactly how I wanted to use my time. My plan included steps that built on each other, so it was easy to move from one step to the next to make sure I talked about everything that I wanted to in my allotted time.  It was hard to keep my lesson to 10 minutes, but that was only because I wanted to include sufficient time for my classmates to play around with the program themselves.  Overall, I think my mini-lesson went well. I could have been a little more engaging, but I'm happy with the fac...