Three Film Versions of Jane Eyre

I started with the 1983 BBC mini-series. I remember watching it when I was fairly young: either in middle-school or highschool. I believe it was watching this version that I fell in love with the story.

Re-watching it now, I can see how artificial the sets look: they don't look like the interior of an English mansion, they look like sets. I also noticed the flat colors and the poor production quality. The mini-series is lengthy, broken up into eleven episodes, but it's the most faithful the storyline.

I also think it's most faithful to my imagining of what Jane Eyre looks like. Jane is not supposed to be pretty, nor is she meant to be ugly. She is described as 'plain', and Zelah Clarke has an innocent face that is young, but not overly girlish:

Timothy Dalton's Mr. Rochester looks a little too polished and handsome, but he does evoke the classic Byronic hero with his dark features, penetrating gaze and powerful presence:

After I finished watching the 1983 BBC mini-series (which took an entire day!) I switched over to the 2006 BBC mini-series. This adaptation was much more abbreviated than its predecessor, with the entire novel being compressed into four episodes.

Toby Stephens incarnation of Rochester seems truer to Bronte's characterization. Just as Jane is not beautiful, Rochester is not handsome. He is older than she is, with a craggy face and a moody temperament; Stephens kind of resembles Orson Welles, who portrayed Rochester in the 1943 version.  Ruth Wilson's sparkling blue eyes and dark hair give a Snow White-esque appearance, and although her performance was fine, her striking features did not ring true to Jane Eyre:

Lastly, I watched the 2011 feature film version. I've always had difficulty with this one because the chronology of it is not true to the text. It begins as Jane is leaving Thornfield, and the story is told in flashbacks. I don't like Michael Fassbender as Rochester because his proper demeanor and slight build reminds me of Leslie Howard's Ashley Wilkes in Gone With the Wind.

Mia Wasikowska stars as Jane, and although she looks more demure than Ruth Wilson, her ginger-tinted hair and English rose complexion make her look more like a Marc Jacobs run way model:

I also own the 1934 film, but I think I'm going to hold off, because I'd rather compare/contrast that one with the 1943 one.

Color and Space in the Library

We've been hard at work in the library lately. I finally managed to get ALL the VHS tapes withdrawn, and we have also been rearranging some of the areas and genres. Earlier this year, I made sure all the fairy tale books were together with a cute sign on the shelf that said Fairy Tales, instead of 398.2. But I started thinking recently about the amount of books that are inspired and influenced by classic fairy tales, so I started pulling those books, and made a bigger section called Fairy Tale Fiction. 

The picture books are on the bottom shelves (for small children to easily reach) and the chapter books, like ones by Gail Carson Levine or published by Disney, are on the upper shelves, so that older students can see that our fascination with fairy tales begins early.

I put the big, pink chair next to it, and I hope to get some fairy tale inspired decorations to put in the shelves, too.

Many of the students have signed the rocking chair, and my co-worker ordered this cute Alice in Wonderland pillow sham that says "Welcome to the Mad House- We're all mad here".

I moved the YA collection to a more noticeable place because I wanted to encourage the 7th and 8th graders to look at the collection more.

My crowning achievement this week was relocating the Graphic Novels. I took down the magazine racks and put the back issues into a compact cabinet, because they rarely get checked out. Then I used the extra space to spread the graphic novels out and display them more, and hung up some posters. It's our most popular section, so it deserves  a nice layout, and it will need room to grow.

One more day until February break begins!

Don't Take It Personal

I'm home today, using a personal day. John's daycare is closed for Presidents Day, but Eric's school and mine are both open, so one of us had to stay home with him. I was glad to take one though; this year has been busy and stressful and exhausting, so I don't feel like I've been spending alot of quality time with him lately. Today, we're going to relax, watch a movie together, bake some cookies, and go out to lunch.

I've gotten very bogged down with some report card stuff and my online graduate school course, so I was very happy this weekend that we trekked up to Goodwill Buy the Pound. I'm not usually looking for anything in particular when we go there, but I love finding odd things that inspire me.

I found this 'antique' radio. It's not really old, it's just meant to look like it. On its own, I would have thought it looked cool, but probably wouldn't have picked it up. However, it was missing the back panel, and the space inside is perfect for a little scene:

I wanted to cover up all the innards (and sharp things) so I cut some cardboard to size and covered the walls with 'wood' contact paper from Dollar Tree. I think it's going to become another mouse mouse because I think Millie, the little mouse who lives in the 'books' and has an impressive wine collection, needs a neighbor:

At Goodwill BTP, I also spotted a large Christmas music box decoration. It already looks like a dollhouse:

 

It had really cheap looking, resin figures inside that would move with the music. I ripped them out (you can see in the photo on the right that they left behind some plastic knobby bits) and made some new floors, utilizing the cardboard and 'wood' contact paper method again:

I know that some people would prefer real wood floors, but those are expensive and time-consuming. And honestly, once I fill the house up with furniture and accessories, the floors won't show very much anyways. 

I like to make my dollhouses as child-friendly as possible so that I can display them at school, libraries and other exhibitions. I wouldn't be comfortable doing that if I had to spend alot of money on this hobby, and what's the point of building dollhouses if you're not going to share them with the little people they're meant to inspire?

Checkpoint: Halfway Through the Year

I  heaved a big sigh of relief today; I finished a quarter with a very difficult group of students. All grades and classes come with their own personalities and challenges, but this group was the most difficult one I've ever had to deal with. I was so overwhelmed with trying to manage the constant behavior issues that I didn't even feel like I was teaching.

I tried to find comfort in the knowledge that a few of the students seemed to respond to me, but I wish I could have connected with more of them.

The quarter did produce one good thing, which happened today. One of the students from that class asked recently if he'd be able to help out in the library. Since I was able to develop a good rapport with him, and I trust him, I said it was okay with me, but his teachers have to agree to it first. He did clear it with his teachers, and helped out in the library today during a class. The kids enjoyed it, and he was very helpful in the activity we did, as my aide and I dashed around.

I made sure to tell him how well he did, and how much we appreciated his help, and I also made sure to tell his teacher how well it went.

Other than that, I am heading into my second half of the year- I've survived this far.

EBSCO Success

Just a quick post-

Today I taught my first lesson about database research in school.

I was pretty nervous- I've taught research methods before, as a college instructor. But I'd never taught this stuff to young students before, and I was worried that I would go too fast for them, or make assumptions about their knowledge and skills and we'd all end up in a sinking ship.

I even had anxiety nightmares about it last night.

But it looks like my planning yesterday, and patience today with the students paid off. I was in the classroom for almost an hour, and the students tried really hard to think about the keywords they needed to 'unlock' the answers.

As a final activity, I put 3 staements on the board, 2 were true and one was false. They had to figure out which statement was false. Several students found the exact article that disproved the false statement, and were able to read from it to show the rest of the class the correct information.

Tis afternoon, another teacher emailed me about setting up an EBSCO lesson, so I hope that one goes as well as this one did.

Snow Days and Sick Days

On Tuesday we had a two hour delay, which most of us expected.

 Wednesday's cancellation was kind of a surprise; it wasn't preceded by the usual rumors and speculations. It started out as a delay, but I wasn't too far down the road when my husband called to let me know the school had cancelled, and I was very grateful. The road conditions were terrible.

I tried to use the day well. As soon as I got back home, I baked some snowball cookies to celebrate.

 I planned an 'escape room' type of activity for the 5th graders, based on Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman.

I hung new curtains in my front room, in keeping with my New Year's Resolution. One pair I bought online, and I was excited that the total cost (including shipping) was less than $25. Then later that day, when the roads were clear, I found a pair of dusty pink velvet curtains at Salvation Army for $1.50. Whatever the price, they are brightening up the room.

I also worked on a few art projects. I have been really into altered tins, and I also made some matchbox scenes:

I was excited to see that Mr. Holland's Opus is streaming on Hulu; it's one of my favorite 'teacher' movies.

Thursday was a regular school day, and the escape room activity I planned went over really well. It was pretty challenging, so none of the students completed it yet, but I'm confident they will come in next week, aching to get started on it again.

Today, I am home using a sick day. I feel fine, but my son has had a fever over the past couple days and is in no shape to go to daycare, so he is at home resting.

I had a little panic yesterday afternoon; I received an email from my online course instructor that our first assignment was due at midnight, and she was concerned because I hadn't even logged in yet. I had misunderstood the academic calendar I guess, so as soon as I got home I had to set up an account, do the readings, and submit my first post. It wasn't really the way I was hoping to begin my 3rd round of graduate school. Maybe I should make another New Year's Resolution to concentrate on time management.

New Year's Resolution #1

I know a lot of people don't make resolutions, or they think it's a bogus idea, but I always do. I like the idea of beginning each year with hope and ideas, and a spirit of self-improvement.

My first resolution is to embrace my love for color and eclecticism. I recently asked social media friends and followers for recommendations on home decor. When we bought our home several years ago, I felt like I needed to decorate it in a very 'grown up' way, so it wouldn't feel like an over-sized college apartment. I got ideas from Pinterest and other sites. We got such a great deal on our house, and we love it and we want to make sure that we do everything possible to increase its value, so I didn't want to do anything that might decrease it, like paint walls funky colors. Our front room had ugly Brady Bunch era wood paneling. We painted it white, and filled the room the neutral colors, like this:

It looks okay, but we never spend any time in that room. It just doesn't feel like 'me.'

I like color. I like funky hand-painted furniture. I like vintage fabrics. I like musty-smelling books and time worn teddy bears filling my shelves. I like the things I've found at flea markets and thrift stores or on the side of the road. My living room should look more like this:

A mix of bohemian/gypsy/whimsical/granny chic, carefully curated from thrift stores and the side of the road.

I was afraid to decorate the inside of my home in such a bold, unique way because I was worried about people judging me as weird or unsophisticated or tacky.

But I don't care anymore. I love my house, and I love spending time in it with my friends and family. And if my home-made wind-chimes and antique Ouija board and dollhouses make people uncomfortable, then they have bigger problems than I do.

So my first New Year's resolution is to stop caring about other people's styles, and just love my own.

I've never particularly cared that all my pillow cases don't match, or that I've never set foot in IKEA.  And in the long run, it doesn't matter anyways. 

Why be bland if you can be bold?