American Author Search.

I'm in need of some help.

My culminating project in my American Literature classes is a research unit (we introduce them to the skills as sophomores and as juniors they write a full research paper). The first year I did it, I did it on a current event or "problem" that existed in the U.S. It went smoothly, but really didn't connect to the content of the class. Then we switched it over to focusing on American authors. With another teacher, we came up with a list of "classic" American authors that we hadn't studied over the course of the year. As part of the requirement, we had the students read a set of poems or a short story by the author first, then launched into research.

Last year (my first year as an official teacher), I revamped the project yet again and required the students to find a social issue from the time period and connect it to the story they read (I got rid of the poets...it was too difficult helping them analyze the poems on their own and I found that the short stories worked better overall). I really liked the addition of the social issues, especially considering that I always relate the literature we read to what is going on in America at the time of publication. Literature reflects life, right? The projects were excellent last year, but the biggest problem I had was when their chosen social issue wasn't evident in the piece I gave them to read.

This year, I want to revamp the project, yet again. First, I'm including more writing into their final product, and more creativity. I'm actually turning the project (which usually consists of an outline, works cited page, powerpoint, and presentation) into a blended genre study of their author and chosen social issue. I'm still requiring the same pieces (have to because it's a common assessment for the district), but they also have to find/create other pieces that reflect their research-pieces of art, photographs, original pieces they wrote, etc (you can find more info about blended genre projects here if you're interested).

So, here is where I need your help.

First, I'm looking for a more comprehensive list of contemporary American authors. I have a lot of "classic" writers down (for example, Twain), but I really want some newer writers for the kids to research. In particular, I'm looking for writers that definitely talk about social issues and ideas prevalent in modern-day American society. If you have some names for me, that would be lovely.

Second, I'm trying to decide how I should approach the issue of each author's work. In the past, I assigned the kids their author based on interest, then found a story for them, copied it, etc. All they did with it was read and summarize-seemed a touch pointless to the final project. But I think it would be difficult for them to find their own piece. We have limited time...so do I bother? I'm not sure how to tackle that issue.

Third, I'm open to any other ideas on how to increase the creativity for this project. If you have any ideas for other products they can produced for their genres, I would love more ideas. I want to give them plenty of options and examples-they are sophomores and some of them struggle with the whole self-motivation business. Some of the ideas I already have include:

• newspaper articles about their authors
• letters
• pictures (that they drew or that they found)
• "Found" poems that they create from a piece of text by their author
• a short biography of their writer (I think I'm making this a requirement)
• journal entries
• song lyrics that might connect to their writer or social issue

As you can see, the products can be varied-both things that are "found" in their research and things that are created based on their research (I'll be setting a limit for how much they "find" versus how much they "create").

If you have any ideas or suggestions, please leave them below! And please leave author names!

Thank you in advance!

Classroom Tour.

I thought it would be fun to give you all a tour of my classroom. Since starting a new semester, I changed some things around and out up some new displays. And while my classroom isn't perfect (you'll see some clutter in some pictures), it is far more comfortable than it was first semester. 

Enjoy!

  

This is the view when you come in through the door of my room. My room is almost in the middle of our building, and was a room that was added on in recent renovations (it was a courtyard, or some such before). You'll see on the far left side a paneled wall-it moves so that my room and the one next door can be combined into one big room, but it's obviously closed during school hours. You can see my front board in the distance, as well as the sign language teacher's desk in the distance.

 

 

On the left-hand side of the door, you'll find our storage cabinet. With the exception of our filing cabinets and desks, this is the only storage we have in the room. Sadly, those boxes on the top were "inherited" from the teacher who retired at the end of last year, and we have yet to go through them. There are a ton of boxes and books in the cabinet I need to go through as well. Not being in my room during a prep hour kills my organization! Anyway, the genre posters are new! They're fashioned after old movie posters, and the kids really like them!

 

When you walk in the door, this is what is along the right wall. It is a huge whiteboard that is semi-useless (the projection screen is on the other wall, or I would use this as the front of my room). So, I've turned it into a display wall. Right now I have my display on The Great Gatsby, which I am really a fan of. :) To the left of the display is the "Schedule" area, where I write down our tasks for the day. At the time I took this picture, I had grades from first semester taped up. Above the board are a couple of banners-one with the presidents, and the other is a timeline of important events in U.S. History. They go along this wall, then curve around the corner to go above the door.

If you go straight into the room (the view above was at an angle), you'll find the "big desk," aka my desk. Since I am in the room for hours 1-4 (the sign language teacher is in here during 5 and 6-I travel to 2 other rooms those hours), the big desk houses a lot of my supplies and personal effects. There is my big (wrinkly) State flag, as well as a white board full of reminders, memos, and student art work. The upper left corner of the whiteboard is a collection of mythological coloring pages from my students last semester. You can also see my big filing cabinets, our TV, and a a bunch of my junk. I usually keep a pretty clean desk, but I have a ton of stuff to file and put away!

Right behind my desk and next to my filing cabinets is our storage space for the laptop and projector (my overhead projector is currently hiding on the bottom. I am using the cart for it to move my Maus books between classrooms). This is one of the many student areas I have. Both of my classes have a set of folders for absent work. This is also where I store papers to be passed back, etc. On the board are where I put BIG reminder dates, etc. You'll also see some lingering books and folders kids have left in my room. 

One of my favorite poster sets is above the board...a big bookshelf with titles of classics. :)

 This just shows the rest of the front of the room. The table in front is where I keep copies for the week and other things for the kids. I will often have kids come work at the table with me if they need extra help, or if we're editing a paper together. The bulletin board on this side of the whiteboard is a student info board. We post announcements for them, the lunch schedule, etc. Everything on the bookshelf is for them-supplies in the bins, and books. You'll also see Angela's desk (sign language teacher). She comes in about halfway through 4th hour, so she sets up shop there until I leave. :)

More of the partition wall. We put up student artwork on the panels as much as possible. Right now the wall is home to some of my mythology students' maps of Greek and Norse geography from last semester. You'll also see one of the 2 skylights in my room (the other is near the door). I don't have a window, so I have these...it's interesting, not having a window, and when it is dark outside, so is my room!

 

This is a new addition to the room-my grammar guide wall! I found inspiration for this on Pinterest, so I started pulling it together a couple weekends ago. It covers a lot of the silly errors students make-like affect v. effect. 

 Next to the grammar wall is a set of literary and figurative language terms. This is another new addition. I had been eying these posters with these terms and definitions online, and when I started looking into them, I realized that it would make more sense to just type them and make them myself (the posters online were like...$50. No thank you). And here we are!

 This was taken from the front of the room-just to show you our seating arrangement. The desks were in some kind of horseshoe last semester, and it worked okay for a while. We tried moving the desks into groups of four, but we just don't have enough room, so this works for now. Anyway, you can see the big back bulletin board. The right side is for Angela and the sign language classes. The left is for me, and right now it has World War II things up. I also have two more posters sets along the top-one on Parts of Speech and the other has quotes from women.

 And here is a close-up of the World War II wall. I still have some pictures to laminate and put up, but it's coming together! My Rosie the Riveter poster is a favorite, so once we're done with WWII, she'll find a home elsewhere in the room. I'll also keep the atom bomb picture up through our Cold War unit as well.

Well, that's my classroom! Like I said, it is a work in progress, but it is cozy and bright. :)

The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman.

About a month into the school year, I was talking to our media specialist about wanting to some fun and creative projects with my U.S. history classes. So, in the midst of discussing slang dictionaries for the 1920s, a Great Depression simulation I have, and various web related ideas, she said, "Why not teach that book Maus?"

She had never read it (but knew quite a bit about it), and it had been years since I had read it, so I decided to pick up a copy, read it, and then decide whether it was something worth pursuing. After all, teaching a book in a history class? Teaching a graphic novel? It was something to think about.

I went out and bought a copy of The Complete Maus, so I would have volumes 1 and 2. I sat down, read both straight through, and decided I needed to pursue the opportunity. To make the story shorter, I approached my principal, told him why I thought it would be a good idea, and he okayed it. The school purchased 36 copies of Maus Volume I, and I will be teaching it in late January.

As I sat down and reread the book, I was blown away by the story and the imagery. First, the story. I think that any story of a Holocaust survivor is mind-boggling. I am sure that I am not alone in saying that I honor and respect the people who were sent to Concentration camps and survived. If I am being perfectly honest with myself, I don't think I would be that strong, that resilient. I would be the person who gave up on the train heading to the camps.

But there is something incredibly moving about this story in particular. I think the juxtaposition between the "present" and the "past" of the story pulls at my heartstrings just a bit more. From the beginning, we know who survives and who doesn't, and that Vladek has lived to an age where telling his story is both painful and liberating. I actually think that the passages in the "present," where Art is trying to record his father's story, say far more about the effects of the Holocaust than the text related to Vladek's story. And I don't say that to diminish the power or struggle of what Vladek went through, but to say that this is more than a story about surviving the Holocaust-it is about a man surviving his memories.

I also love the imagery in the book, like the picture at left. I think that taking the time to pour over the pictures says a lot about Art Spiegelman's skill. Each image is crafted carefully and shows the heart he put into his father's story. Because in addition to hearing the story and helping Vladek come to terms with his own experiences, the story is also about Art accepting his father and they way he is. The constant bickering about money, saving, and keeping memories is something I know I am going to discuss with my students at length.

I think that I am very lucky-to be in a school that is supporting something "outside the box." I am excited and anxious to share this experience with my students. To read a book in history class. To read a graphic novel, a form of literature that is sometimes looked down on. But I have a strong feeling my students are going to be excited and moved by the story, much like I was.

And if you haven't read Maus, you need to. It is a book (books, really) that you can't be whole without. I think I learned far more about the effects of the Holocaust from this than all my years of schooling. 

Mythology Books.

Part of the reason I haven't been making much progress on my project lists is that I have been absorbed in reading for the mythology course I am teaching this fall. I have two sections of the class (it will be all juniors and seniors), and I'm really excited about it! While I consider myself decently versed in Greek myths, I'm not as comfortable with myths from other regions and cultures. Since finding out I had the class, I've been trying to dabble a bit in everything. I do have a course outline, courtesy of another teacher, so I should be okay if I stumble onto something I am unsure of!

In any case, I've been purchasing books left and right that I think might help me gain a little more knowledge. I'd like to share them all with you to see if you have any further suggestions and, well, to maybe get you to add one or two to your TBR pile. :) Hey, what are friends for, right?

Mythology by Edith Hamilton

This is actually the only "textbook" we have for the class, but it is a pretty standard overview of mythology, particularly the Greeks. I think Hamilton's book is pretty well-known and revered, so I'm excited to use it with the kids. There is a lot of great stuff in here, and most of it is pretty approachable, so it should be a great fit with the class (which should be a big mix of students and skill levels).

I have some easier activities planned for the first two weeks of school which revolve around the book and easing the kids back into a "school" frame of mind, so this will be a great place for us to start!

American Indian Myths and Legends edited by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz

I really wanted to supplement the materials I was given, so I thought that pulling in some stories from the Americas would be a great way to do so. This book kept popping up in my searches online, so I caved and ordered it. It is pretty extensive and covers multiple tribes. Some of the stories are pretty similar to one another, but I found some great stories that I'm going to pull in to my units (a great flood story and one about the trickster Coyote).

I will say that a couple of the stories shocked me in regards to their sexuality and content. Needless to say, those stories won't be read in class, and this is a book I won't lend out to students.

World Mythology edited by Donna Rosenberg

When I asked on twitter a few weeks ago for book recommendations, Sarah suggested this as a title to check out. I found a copy and ordered it, thinking this would be a great way to get myths from a variety of places.

Needless to say, I really like this volume. The myths are diverse in origin and I think they are written in a way that my high schoolers will enjoy them. There have been a few I haven't been a fan of, but I have marked quite a few to share with my students. There is great background information here!

The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland

This was another title that kept popping up when I was searching for books. While there are some Norse myths that are already in the material I was given, I figured why not have more to look at! :)

I really enjoyed the introduction of this book. Of all the sources I've looked at, I think this one had the easiest terminology to understand (yep, will definitely be using it). I also really enjoy the stories. Loki is a favorite of mine, so whenever he pops up, you know it'll be a fun story. :) I will say, however, that you need a bit more background to understanding who the gods/goddesses are before you begin reading. If you had no prior knowledge of any Norse gods/goddesses, you might be a bit confused at first.

World Mythology edited by Roy Willis

I stumbled on this book yesterday when I was strolling through Barnes and Noble. I'll admit it was the green that grabbed me at first. :) After flipping through it in the store, I knew I had to get it. Unlike the other books I've mentioned, this is more of a reference book. There is some great information about myths and themes between cultures that I really liked. It also has a very broad and diverse range of myths and information. I see this more as a book I will use than something I will share with my students.

I'm also a big fan of the images in this book, as well as the biographical sketches of different people.

Mythology (Visual Reference Guide) edited by Philip Wilkinson and Neil Philip

This last title is another that jumped out at me in the bookstore yesterday. What I really liked about this one is the condensed version of the information and the fabulous layout of the pages (summaries and images intermingled). This will be an invaluable reference book for me since it is easy to find information about all of the myths, as well as bright images to share with my classes. I can see myself turning to this one when a kid asks me a random question I don't know the answer to! :) I also think the summarized stories will be a great resource for those kids who need the story to be reinforced a bit more!

There you have it! The mythology books I am using to guide my way in this class. As always, I would love to hear recommendations for more sources and stories that I could use. Right now the class is set up rather thematically-creation, heroes, the underworld, floods, etc-but I am open to suggestions. I am also thinking of having the students look at modern mythology in connection with super and comic book heroes. Any help anyone could give would be much appreciated!

Independent Novel Projects and Catch-22.

With my seniors finishing yesterday, the 8 juniors remaining in my elective "Exploring Literature" class have been hounding me to let them watch movies for the rest of the year.

Ahem. No.

Instead, we compromised on a project to take us through to June 15 (my last day of school). With about 3 1/2 weeks to work with, I didn't want to read the remaining novel that was designated for the class (Alas, Babylon. No, I haven't read it). And since some of them had already gone and read Catching Fire, that was out as well.

So, we decided to do an independent novel project, with almost all of the work being done in class. I managed to get 8 laptops from the Media Center to use in the classroom each day, so that the students can post on a private forum in response to questions, prompts, etc about their novels. They're also being required to respond to each others' posts, so it should be a nice, interactive way to read their novels of choice-like mini book blogs!

The requirements for their novels is that it needed to be something of a reasonable length. Since the writing and posting portion of the daily work will only take half the hour or so, they will be getting almost 30 minutes of reading time per class period. That's a lot! I also pointed out to them that we read The Hunger Games in three weeks, and Ender's Game in 3 1/2. Their books must be fiction and can be in any genre. We've read a pretty heavy science-fiction diet in class, so I am assuming they're going to branch out from there.

The last few days will be spent creating a Photo Story using a program by the same name. The program allows you to integrate images, music, narration, etc to create a mini-movie. On the day of their final, we'll eat breakfast and watch everyone's reports on their books. :) It should be a wonderful day and a great way to end the year.

I have also decided to participate with them. I very much believe in modeling for my students. I usually bring a book with me to school...even though I never read it, to show them that hey, I really DO read outside of school. I also update my back whiteboard with the titles and authors of books I am reading, or recommendations.

Anyway, to model the project for them, I've decided to read Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. I've been meaning to read it for awhile now, and since it is on some of my challenge lists, I was going to get to it anyway. I already planned out my reading schedule, so it should be a fun experience to read a book with my kids. :)

I'm hoping that by the end of this, they all walk about with a few more books to read in the future, and the knowledge that no matter how old you get, reading and exploring literature is important.

Thoughts on Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

“Because never in my entire childhood did I feel like a child. I felt like a person all along--the same person that I am today," (from the 1991 introduction to the novel)

This past week I decided to reread Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card in preparation for a unit I am doing with one of my classes (the same class that just finished The Hunger Games). It had been a few years since reading the novel, so I wanted to do a quick reread before reading it once again with my class.

When I was in the eighth grade, heading into ninth grade, I was preparing for my Honors English class. We had some summer reading to complete before the new school year. Everyone had to read My Antonia and The Count of Monte Cristo. We were given a choice on whether to read David Copperfield or Ender's Game. Since the Dickens title looked scary, I chose this title.

I had been reading fantasy for about year at that point and really loved it, so I assumed that Ender's Game and it's science-fiction angle wouldn't be too far off (although, the two genres are pretty different. I still don't understand why they are grouped together in bookstores). I ended up LOVING the book, and it sparked an obsession with science-fiction.

I have always claimed this as a favorite novel. While I was a big reader before reading this title, there was something about this book that sparked an obsession. I was curious to see whether the book would hold up in comparison to all of the heavy classics I have read since starting my blog.

It did. While there were bits and pieces I thought were different than they actually were, I was almost surprised to see the depths of the novel were still there. The book is a great conversation piece, and I am sure my students will have a lot to say about it.

The novel follows the story of Ender Wiggin, a young boy and commissioned Third child of the Wiggin family. In a futuristic world where there are strict regulations to control population, Ender was "ordered" by the government after his older brother and sister failed to meet the requirements for Battle School. The Battle School, run by the International Fleet, is a school for genius children to go and train. All them will spend their childhoods training for war, and almost all of them will end up as commanders by the time they are 16+.

Ender, a super-genius, is thrust into this environment. From the beginning, he is seen as the best hope in the upcoming Third Invasion by the Buggers, a super-advanced alien race that has already attacked twice. Some of the other children love him, others hate him, and the adults manipulate him.

I love this novel. While it certainly has some faults, I think the issues and ideas it brings forward are worthy of conversation. The idea that children are better candidates for military leaders is one that I can't wait to discuss with my class, as well as the manipulation of Ender by the adults in his life. I know that they'll question it as much as I did when I was their age.

There is also a lot of controversy surrounding the book and the author, Orson Scott Card. I don't want to talk too much about it, and no, I won't be sharing it with my students. But it is worth mentioning here so that you can make up your own mind.

What did you think of this one? Any particular scene I should hammer home to my students?

Weekly Wrap-up for March 18, 2012.

I am surrounded by piles of essays on Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men (96 to be exact), so I know I will need to cut my blogging time down this morning. While it isn't possible to finish all those essays today, I do need to get through a full class set by Tuesday morning. But after just a few, my mind wanders in a million directions and I see images of Lennie and George everywhere.

School is finally starting to settle into a routine. My body is still adjusting to the sleeping schedule, as well as being a little more intense in my actions each day. After being off work for 3 1/2 months, it is a little tough to be mentally "with" it. I know it is just a phase and once I am used to everything, it'll be fine. I'm sure that transition will be this week. It also didn't help that in my first two weeks we had conferences twice, as well as all the state testing. Another teacher said that the weather is throwing everyone off. We've had a week of 60 and 70 degree weather, making it feel like May. It has made the teachers and students anxious...even though we have months of school left. :)

In my classes, I did a project all week with my junior English class on Night. It was a preparatory step for their essay they are starting tomorrow, so I hope it helped them think about theme. My sophomores spent the first three days of the week revising their essays. THAT was a fun experience. I met with each of them for a few minutes to talk about some of their issues, so I HOPE that this pile of essays are improved from what I saw.

And my elective class started the unit on The Hunger Games. We read Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" as a way to get into the idea of utopia vs. dystopia. They really liked the creepiness of the story, so that was good. We also spent a day discussing the background of the novel-setting, main characters, etc. as a way to get them used to some of the ides. We started it on Monday and they have to have part 1 finished by tomorrow's class, as they have a quiz. They're enjoying it so far. I have a few who are hesitant about it, but I think my own excitement about teaching it is inspiring them at least a little. We also started the game I created on Friday, so I will make sure to share a bit more about it later this week.

So, with all that school stuff going on, I haven't had much time for reading OR blogging. I think I logged into blogspot twice all week because I simply didn't have time. Now that things are calming down, I'm going to reinforce the idea of having balance to get back into blogging and reading on my own on a regular basis. That being said, if you have an awesome post from this past week, please link it for me below so I make sure to go visit. My reader is a little insane with the number of posts to read!

I did manage to finish A Clockwork Orange on Friday night (my thoughts will be up tomorrow), and I started Verne's A Journey to the Center of the Earth yesterday morning. I'm really liking it, but I figured I would since I loved 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea so darn much. I've set aside Nicholas Nickleby for a couple months. I don't have the focus to get back into it, so I think picking it back up in May or June is a better idea.

Lastly, I announced two big events taking place. One, the Clarissa readalong, it coming up rather soon. If you missed the post, you can read it here. Basically, Jillian, Adam, and myself are going to try reading the entire novel in the month of April (thus why I am putting off the Dickens title). We have a few other people who might be joining in as well.

The other big event is "A Victorian Celebration," taking place in June and July. I know it was early to announce, but I was a bit excited about it, so I wanted to spring it on everyone early. :) I have great plans for stuff during the event, as well as some prizes, etc. There is no minimum number of books to read for it, so if you are thinking of tackling a Bronte, or Trollope, or Collins, that is the time to do it!

I am also joining in on an event hosted by O at Delaisse. We e-mailed a bit over the last week or so, and she announced this week a readathon of Joyce's Ulysses this Bloomsday (June 16). She is far more eloquent than I could hope to be in her explanation of the event, so traipse over to her blog if you are curious about the event. Basically we will be attempting to read all of Ulysses that day in celebration of Joyce.

This week my plans are merely to finish the Verne title, as well as starting one of the other novels I had selected for Adam's Magical March Event. I'm leaning towards the Wells, simply because I haven't read something by him in a long time, but I might change my mind. ;)

Happy reading everyone!

Weekly Wrap-up for March 11, 2012: Big Breath.

I have a million and a half things to do today, so I am probably going to cut this short. This week has been crazy busy, and this is really the first time I feel like I can take a big breath and relax!

I successfully finished my first week back at school, and considered everything, it went really well. The juniors had ACT and MME testing for three days, so I was proctoring the exam two mornings. We also had conferences on Thursday night, so that was a fun time. They were actually the easiest conferences I've ever had since I had only seen the kids a couple of days!

I've been working hard trying to get everything set up and ready. I'm starting The Hunger Games this week with one of my classes, so I had to plan and prep the whole unit last week. I only have a couple of things left to do for it, but I'm confident the unit is going to be awesome. :)

I got in a little bit of reading. Since I was prepping for the unit, I read through The Hunger Games real quick. It was my third read of the novel, but I was still addicted. :) I also got through a bit of A Clockwork Orange yesterday, and I am going to finish it today (I'm only allowing myself to do a few necessary items for school so that I can actually relax a bit). It is an interesting read, and I had to read the first two chapters a couple of time to get into the flow and vibe of the novel, but now I am hooked. :)

The only other big news for the week is The Classics Club, started by Jillian. It seems to have blown up, which makes my classics-loving heart so happy. :) You can see my own list on the designated page on my blog, or by clicking here. I had a hard time trying to decide how many books to list for it, so I decided to combine the remaining 114 titles from my original list to any that came to mind. Altogether, I have 450 classics on the new list. I'm going to keep adding to it as I stumble across more titles I want to get to. If you haven't joined in on the fun, you should!

Anyway, I'm going to go do a few hours of school work while Matt is gone (he's working this morning), then I am settling in with A Clockwork Orange before doing some cleaning.

Have a great week and happy reading!

Thoughts on The Girl Who Was on Fire edited by Leah Wilson.

*If you haven't read The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay, please don't read this post, as there will be spoilers*

I feel a lot of pressure to make my unit on The Hunger Games the best unit ever. There is so much that I can discuss with this book that I feel like I have to do it all! Last week, I asked you for some suggestions for the unit, and your comments were amazing. I am definitely mulling them all over as I plan out my unit. A couple of you suggested I read The Girl Who Was On Fire as a place to gather some ideas about the novel. I actually bought a copy at a Border's sale over the summer, so my copy was already on my nightstand as a resource.

I wasn't sure what to think going into this book. Basically, the book is a collection of essays by various authors on different aspects of the series. I was hoping to walk away with one or two essays to share with my class, but I ended up with a LOT of information about the series in general!

The essays were diverse enough to keep my attention the whole way through the collection. I thought I would be bored of reading about the series by the third essay, but I was surprised to find myself interested in each one. In particular, I thought I would hate the essays on the reality and fashion aspects of the series, since I started to dislike those sections so much in Mockingjay, but I was surprised that I really loved those two essays! Considering the fact that I am teaching The Hunger Games to high school juniors and seniors, I think those aspects of the book will really appeal to them. I already have a discussion planned around the ideas of reality, reality TV, and false appearances. I hope we can have great discussions about how Katniss and Peeta chose to act while "live" on camera. The essay "Smoke and Mirrors" really focused on those ideas, and since the first chunk of the essay stays true to just the first book, I am going to use that section in class.

One of my other favorite essays in the collection was the third, titled "Your Heart is a Weapon the Size of your Fist" by Mary Borsellino. This essay focused on the weapons in the series-those of the Capitol and District 13. But I also liked the idea that Katniss and a few others fight with emotion-with love. It reminded me a bit of Harry Potter in that love can conquer evil, you know? The author brings up what happens with Rue in The Hunger Games as a prime example:

"The effect of this tiny, humanizing act-singing to a dying child-has immediate and far reaching consequences," (34).

When I read that statement, I had to stop for a moment and think about that word choice-"child." While I obviously know that all of the tributes in the Games are children, there was something different about Rue, right? And the fact that Katniss holds on to her humanity and honors her death as a child, well, that IS powerful. Her choice to share her love has a profound impact on what happens afterward in the novel-Rue's district sending her bread, gaining other supplies from other districts and sponsors, and the choice she makes at the end of the novel with Peeta. Because rather than always resorting to violence, Katniss chooses another route. And it works. Because without that symbol of love towards Rue, would the districts have banded together to fight back? Who knows.

The one essay I wish I could share with my class but can't is "Bent, Shattered, and Mended" by Blythe Woolston. The essay focuses on the mental side effects of what happened to Katniss, Peeta, and others throughout the three books (since I don't want to spoil the second and third books, I can't use this one in class, but I will talk about the mental effects of the Games in general terms). I know that there are some who weren't happy with the ending in Mockingjay-that Katniss seemed to have lost her mind and that the ending was unsatisfying. As I said in my review,

"There is no way a young girl of 17 can handle the amount of death and destruction she sees..."

Woolston expands on this a great deal in her own essay, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much. The fact is, Katniss is a battered and bruised war veteran by the time Mockingjay comes to an end. And she is younger than those we allow to enlist in the U.S. Military! That should say something about her psyche! Because as tough and as strong as you think you are, I don't think anyone is prepared to kill another human being-especially in the circumstances Katniss was subjected to.

I am sure that this will be something we'll talk about in class-how Katniss must feel. There is that section in The Hunger Games where she talks about her first human kill, and I am sure that my class will have questions about it. I'm also hoping we'll talk a bit about Haymitch, since he is another example of the PTSD that all Hunger Games Champions seem to suffer from.

In all, I would say that this is a great collection of essays on the series. I was interested in all of them in some way, and I found a lot of interesting tidbits to use as discussion starters in my class. I am also looking forward to my own reading of the book with these ideas in mind. My only wish is that there was one essay without spoilers for the last two books, since I would love to expose these kids to a bit of criticism on a modern book. I will certainly let you all know how they feel about it!

A List of Great American Authors: I Need your Help Again!

The sophomore English class I am teaching focuses on American literature. The ending project for the course is a mini-research presentation. Last year, we had the kids research current event topics, which jarred the focus away from the rest of the course. This year, another teacher wanted to try focusing the research on American writers we don't cover in the course. I thought it was a great idea, so we're going to be planning the new unit together.

One of the things we are trying to do is develop a BIG list of American authors for the students to choose from. Ideally, we'd like to have 100 writers for the students to choose from (I have 93 sophomores, and I don't want any doubles between classes). For each author, we'd like to have a number of shorter pieces for the students to choose from. This could be a short novella, a play, a couple of short stories, or a whole slew of poems. The main goal is to get the kids to explore a new author and become relatively knowledgeable about that author's life and works.

Here is where I am hoping you can help me. Below is my starting list (she is creating one as well and we are going to compare when we start planning). We decided to go through the textbook to pull those authors we don't get to during our planned units as viable options for students (you'll see those titles listed sometimes as excerpts). After plowing through the textbook, we are now trying to branch out into other authors so the kids will have a broad range of ethnicities, time periods, etc.

I have already started to list authors off the top of my head, as well as other stories/pieces I think might work for this age group. If there is an author I forgot, or a story I should add to an author, please let me know! Any help you can give me will be MUCH appreciated!

• Henry W. Longfellow: "Cross of Snow," "Ropewalk"
• Ralph W. Emerson: "Nature and Self Reliancy"
• Henry D. Thoreau: Excerpt from "Walden" and "Civil Disobedience"
• Herman Melville: Excerpt from "Moby Dick" and Piazza Tales?
• Walt Whitman: "Song of Myself," "Sight at Camp," and "O Captain, My Captain"
• Emily Dickinson: poems
• Kate Chopin: "Pair of Silk Stockings" and The Awakening (maybe too difficult?)
• Mark Twain: "Life on the Mississippi"
• Lorraine Hansberry: A Raisin in the Sun
• Jack London: "To Build a Fire"
• Robert Frost: poetry...
• Edgar Lee Masters: "Spoon River" Anthology
• William Faulkner: "A Rose for Emily"
• Allen Ginsberg: "Homework"
• John Updike:
• Alice Walker: "Everyday Use"
• Amy Tan: Except from Joy Luck Club
• Sylvia Plath: Poems...maybe The Bell Jar
• Sandra Cisneros: House on Mango Street
• Ray Bradbury: short stories (not "Sound of Thunder" since I teach that one)
• Truman Capote:
• Kurt Vonnegut: short stories (not "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" since I teach that one too!)
• Jack Kerouac:
• Stephen King: short stories
• Maya Angelou: poetry?
• Edith Wharton: "Roman Fever," other stories
• Henry James: "Turn of the Screw"
• Stephen Crane:
• Benjamin Franklin: excerpts from autobiography
• Thomas Paine: Common Sense
• Edgar Allen Poe: short stories and poetry (have to make sure they don't double up)
• Frederick Douglass: Narrative of a Slave
• Harriet Tubman: speeches-"Ain't I a Woman?"
• Nathaniel Hawthorne:
• T.S. Eliot: "The Waste Land"
• Langston Hughes:
• Ezra Pound:
• e e cummings:
• Ernest Hemingway:
• Tennessee Williams: (not allowed to do Streetcar)
• J.D. Salinger: short stories (No "Catcher in the Rye")
• Flannery O'Connor: short stories (might be a more difficult choice)
• Jhumpa Lahari: stories?
• Martin Luther King Jr: speeches (not "I have a Dream"), maybe Letter from a Birmingham Jail?

What/Who else do I need to add?

Weekly Wrap-up for March 4, 2012: Thoughts on School.

I'm feeling very tired this morning. I think part of it is because I stayed up a little too late last night. That threw off my plans to try and get get into a decent sleeping schedule before going back to school. With working only a couple days a week for the last three and a half months, my whole schedule got messed up. I would stay up way too late and sleep in. Not good. I'm sure I am going to be tired tomorrow, but hopefully my body will straighten itself out.

Today I'm going to be working on a few things for the placement. This week at the school is odd, since the juniors are going to be testing in the morning 3 days, and the other kids coming in just for the afternoon. Tuesday is just a testing day, so I won't even see my classes. Hopefully I can get back into it and get to know my kids relatively quick, since I also have conferences Thursday afternoon. Odd, right? It should be interesting.

Anyway, lots of planning to do today. I did want to say thank you to everyone who commented with ideas for The Hunger Games. I've been brainstorming all week, and I think I finally have some solid ideas. I'm going to be outlining and starting the plan today, so we'll see how it goes. I also have a few other things to get ready for tomorrow and such, so hopefully I can get everything ready so tomorrow will go smoothly.

I was a bit of a reading machine this past week. Knowing that I was going to be finishing up the very end of two units, I decided to read the books again. I flew through both Night and Kindred. I won't be doing too much with the kids on either of them except reviewing before a test, but I feel better with having them fresh in my memory. I also pulled The Girl who was on Fire off my shelf to read, even before you all suggested it. :) For those who don't know, it's a collection of essays on The Hunger Games. I was considering using one in class and reading it with the kids, but since all of them talk about the entire series, I can't do that (don't want to spoil the other two). I did find a lot of interesting passages I might use, as well as some quotes I think we're going to discuss in class.

So even though I didn't even touch Nicholas Nickleby or any of the books I am planning on getting to this month, I still think I had a good reading week.

I am going to cut this short, since I just seem to be rambling anyway. There will be another post going up later for Weekend Cooking. I tried to get it up yesterday, but I got sidetracked. And I'm sure it'll be much more interesting than this was. :)

Happy Reading!

Thoughts on Kindred by Octavia Butler.

“...I realized that I knew less about loneliness than I had thought - and much less than I would know when he went away.”

I'm trying to get myself as prepared as possible for my new teaching assignment, and since I am jumping into the middle of a couple units on books I haven't read in ages. I managed to read all of Night by Elie Wiesel on Monday, and I spent Tuesday reading Kindred. It has been a busy week, so if my thoughts are a little scrambled, that's why. :)

I've read Kindred once before-in high school! When I was a student, this book was taught in a different class, so I was a little surprised, and excited to get the opportunity to teach it (I should note that I am teaching in the same district I graduated from).

Kindred is a novel that is hard to classify. I think it is often labeled as science-fiction, but I don't consider it under that genre. There is time travel in the novel, but since that isn't based on science, you technically can't classify it as such. :) But, it does have that other-wordly vibe and that one element takes the power of the story to another level.

The main character, Dana, lives in the 1970s with her new husband Kevin. It is important to the story to keep in mind that Dana is a black woman and Kevin is white. On her 26th birthday, she is suddenly overcome with dizziness and finds herself on a riverbank watching a young boy drown. Instincts kicking in, she pulls him out, administers CPR, and finds a gun pointed directly on her head. Again, she is overcome by dizziness and she finds herself back with her husband...but on the other side of the room.

Unsure of what happened to her, she tries to explain the experience to Kevin. Only a few hours later, she is again transported. This time she finds herself in a boy's bedroom as he sets his curtains on fire. It is only during this second experience that she realizes she has not only gone to a different place, but a different time. By asking the right questions, she learns that the boy she has saved this time was the same, and that he is her many times great-grandfather. She has been sent back to the antebellum south and to a plantation owned by the boy's father.

Butler does a marvelous job of developing the purpose for Dana to time travel. The boy, Rufus, needs her help to stay alive. Whenever his life is threatened, she appears to save him from danger. At different points in his life, Dana reappears just in time to save his life. She knows that to let him die before he fathers her own distant relative condemns her to an "nonexistence" of sorts (think the grandfather paradox-you can't change the past without harming your own future). So after she saves dear Rufus from whatever idiotic thing he did, she has to wait to return to her own time, and that only happens when her own life is threatened.

It is an interesting novel and one filled with so much that I'm going to discuss with the kids (I will be discussing the last portion of the novel with them, as they've read the rest with the teacher I'm replacing). Besides discussing the time travel, the relationship Dana has with Kevin, and Dana's connection to Rufus, there is also the huge issue of race-in both the 70s era of Dana and Kevin and the era of slavery. Because of the role Dana plays in Rufus' life, she is given different privileges from the other slaves. It was a stark contrast to my recent reading of Roots. Dana also has some interesting insights about how quickly people can fall into acceptance of slavery because the system works to insure that. I think that will be an enlightening discussion to have with my students.

I'm looking forward to talking about this one with the kids, and I can't wait to talk about the end of the novel. And if you've put this one off because you thought it was a science-fiction, don't be scared of it. The author once said she considered it historical fiction, so give it a try. :)

“Better to stay alive," I said. "At least while there's a chance to get free." I thought of the sleeping pills in my bag and wondered just how great a hypocrite I was. It was so easy to advise other people to live with their pain.”

Thoughts on Night by Elie Wiesel.

“To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.”

I'm taking a short break from my other reading this week to read a couple of the books I'm going to be teaching starting on Monday. And while I won't be doing a lot with Night, I will be finishing up the discussion and having the kids write a paper about the book. Since it has been a few years since reading it, I knew it would be in my best interests to read it.

I sat down last night, rather late, to read a few pages before bed. And, like many other books, I was sucked into the story. Since the book is short, I managed to finish it before bed. Then I was up a little too late thinking about what I had read.

It reminded me a bit of something Matt and I had watched on TV a couple weeks ago. There was a Band of Brothers marathon on, so we snuggled into the couch to watch (the series is about a group of soldiers during World War II). Matt had seen the whole series before, but I had only seen 1 or 2 episodes. Anyway, there is an episode where the soldiers discover a camp, and those images were hard to watch. While my brain knew that they were actors and that they were pretending to be in such misery, a very real part of myself only saw the people on screen as those who really suffered during World War II.

As someone who has taught U.S. history, and who hopes to teach a history course again in the future, I always struggle with how to approach talking about the Holocaust with students. One of the things that I always push for as a teacher is the complete understanding of what history means for us today-that we learn about history to prevent those same tragedies in the future. I always want my kids to feel that and to acknowledge that we do have a dark past.

But with the Holocaust, I just try and show them. I wish I would have known about that Band of Brothers episode last year. I think seeing it would have changed a lot of my students' minds about the death camps. And I also wish they had the opportunity to read an account as honest and as open as Wiesel's Night. I do believe that reading an account makes it come alive.

What is special about Wiesel's book is that it is not just about his experiences in the camps. It is also about being human in a time where he was treated like an animal. The narrative is simple in that it never bogs down in language. Instead, Wiesel simply explains what happened to his family, how he felt, and what it meant to lose hope in everything.

I think that this approach is what makes his book so powerful. It is about his family-how they are broken apart. He never has the chance to say goodbye to his mother and younger sister. Instead, they are sorted and taken away from each other without a chance to speak a word. Elie, a young teenager, has to face the horrors of this world alone, since his father seems to disappear into himself from the beginning.

One of the most disturbing scenes is near the beginning-when they arrive at the camp. They are walking and Wiesel describes pits of fire where soldiers are tossing children and babies. Worried that they will also be tossed into the flames, Wiesel writes,

"I told him that I did not believe that they could burn people in our age, that humanity would never tolerate it . . ."

That line says a lot about the horrors of the camps and the feelings of disbelief that those sent to be in the camps must have felt. When I tried to close my own eyes last night, I also tried to picture what that must have been like. Denial must have been one of the only ways to cope with that kind of image.

Night is definitely a book worth discussing. Being that it comes from Wiesel's memories, it's powerful. It doesn't gloss over what happened in the many camps in Nazi Germany, but it explains how those captured lost their sense of self. Under the shadow of the chimneys and crematoriums, it was just a fight until the next meal.

I think Wiesel says it best...

"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed....Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never."

Weekly Wrap-up for February 26, 2012: Playing Catch-up and Teaching Texts.

I'm trying to wrap my head around the idea that this month is almost gone. While I haven't been busy doing too many things, I still feel like I am far behind on getting anything accomplished. I guess I will reevaluate that when I get to March 1, right?

I ended up going to see a movie with my mom on Thursday night, which we haven't done in a long time! We went and saw One for the Money, based on the Stephanie Plum series. I read the first ten a real long time ago, and my mom, I think, it caught up on the series, so it was fun to see the movie. It was definitely a good choice-funny with cute guys-and we had a good time.

On Friday, our district had a snow day. We were supposed to get 8+ inches of snow. We got maybe 1. But, Matt had the day off, so we took advantage of it and went to see an early movie. We figured that by going early, we would miss a lot of the crowd (the movie was at 4:30), but we walked into a theater that happened to have a large group of my old students. They all said hi, stared at Matt a bit, and made it that much more fun. :) We saw Wanderlust, which was a little more...extreme than I had planned on (don't get me wrong, it was funny, but a little over the top in regards to the humor). After, we hit up a local seafood place for dinner. It was a good date night and we both needed it, since we never go out anymore.

I've also been doing a lot of reading this week. I knew I had my third Roots post to read for, but I swore not to touch the book until I finished David Copperfield. I managed to finish it Tuesday so I could read Roots all day Wednesday. I finished both books, which was exciting since it doubled my monthly book number. :)

So while I managed to read a lot this week, I didn't read as much as I wanted to. I would have liked to be done with a few more titles (maybe a challenge book or two), but I can't help it that the chunky books are calling to me. My next read is Nicholas Nickleby, so I suppose I just do these things to myself, right? I doubt I will finish Nicholas Nickleby by the end of the month like I want to, but hopefully I can hit the halfway point.

The only other exciting thing to happen this month was my meeting to learn more about my long-term placement on Thursday morning. I'm starting on the 5th, just over a week away, and I will be there until the end of the school year. I'm really excited to get back into it, especially because of all the wonderful books pictured below:

The only two books that are new to me are The Color of Water and Alas, Babylon. I don't know much about either, so if you've read them, please give me some pointers. I do think Alas, Babylon will fit into Adam's Challenge for March, so I'm glad it will serve double duty.

I've read everything else at least once. I probably won't read The Crucible again until we're reading it in class since I am fairly familiar with it (so excited to teach it again), but I want to read through everything else before we get to it in class. Two of the classes are in the middle of two books, Night and Kindred, so I have to finish up the units on each. I'm planning on reading both this week (I read Kindred when I was a high schooler and Night a few years ago).

And can I tell you how stoked I am to teach Ender's Game and The Hunger Games? Card's novel got me hooked on science-fiction, so I have a soft spot for it. And The Hunger Games is just going to be fun. :) They just bought the books and no one has used them yet, so I can't wait to develop a unit for the book. I'm going to be reading that one with the class for the non-readers, so it should be a fun time.

So, my last week before teaching is going to be full of reading, don't you think? In addition to making some good progress with the Dickens title, I need to get through those other two titles. We'll see how that goes. :)

Well, I am spending the rest of my morning and afternoon reading, writing, and doing a little lesson-planning.

Hope you all have a happy reading week!

Weekly Wrap-up for February 19, 2012: Productivity, Good News, and Reading Plans.

This has been a cuh-razy week. I mean CRAZY. It finally hit me that the month was slipping away and I had made no progress on any of the plans I had to get things in order around here, so I told myself that by today, I had to get something done.

I tackled a couple of big projects this week. The first thing I did was organize my recipe binder (also jump started by the fact that Matt knocked my card box off the counter and broke it. After watching the cats bat my recipe cards everywhere-including under the fridge (that was fun to retrieve)-I decided to tackle this project this month instead of next). While doing my laundry at my mom's on Friday, I also tore through her recipes and wrote down the ones I wanted. I am still waiting for my specialty page protectors to come in the mail. As soon as they do and everything is perfect, I'll show you what I did. I foresee lots of cooking in the future. :)

My new goal of trying one new recipe a week is still completely successful. :) We've liked everything I've made so far, but the trick is going to be keeping this up as we get busier!

I also went on a cleaning/organizing RAMPAGE yesterday. We've been dealing with some clutter and mess in our second bedroom, so I finally decided to tackle it. Most of it was just tossing old magazines, filing bills and paperwork, and putting things away. I also cleaned out my desk and put some of the things away that have been out for no reason (like our Christmas wrapping paper. It was still out). From there, I got into a zone and tackled our bedroom. I did laundry on Friday, so I started organizing and putting clothes away. But then I was digging in my drawers and closet and wound up with a bag full of clothes to donate. THEN, I noticed my jewelry was a certified mess, so I spent 2 hours sorting out my jewelry, re-arranging, and setting aside a PILE of old jewelry for my nieces. I figured they would appreciate some new sparkles. :)

By the time I finished everything, I had a small pile of stuff to donate (I'm taking it all this afternoon), two bags of garbage, and it was 10:00 PM. I told you I was productive. But the apartment looks awesome and I feel really good about getting that all taken care of so I don't have it lingering over my head.


It also comes at the perfect time because I got some good news on Friday afternoon. If you were on twitter, you probably saw, but I got a long-term subbing position for the rest of the school year! :) I interviewed for the job on Tuesday morning, and they called to tell me Wednesday that they wanted a second interview next week. I was incredibly surprised to see the school calling me Friday afternoon, and the principal offered me the job! My mom and I did a happy dance.

I'm really excited to be going back into a classroom. The last 3 or 4 months have been hard with nothing to do. I'm even MORE excited that I'm going to be back in the school I worked in LAST year. It was a great environment, so I can't wait to be returning.

I'll be teaching sophomore English again (I get to teach The Crucible again! Yay!), a section of eleventh grade English (research papers), and a class called Exploring Literature. I'm really excited for the last class, since it is geared for students who don't like reading. I think it'll be a great avenue to push some books on kids and test my own abilities to engage non-readers. :) I'll know more about what I'm doing after our meeting Thursday morning.

But I am stoked. :)

I'm celebrating by reading all day today (and since I failed to read anything yesterday). I'm going to join in on the readathon going on with Literary Stars. Having other people reading today is good motivation, and since Matt has to work on homework, I know he'll leave me alone. ;)

Goals for today:
-Finish David Copperfield
-Read the third section of Roots for my post due Wednesday!

I hope you all had a marvelous week-Happy Reading!

Weekly Wrap-up for November 13, 2011: Grading Day.

For my very first long-term sub job out of college, I had a ritual every week on Sundays. I was only teaching history, and since history was my secondary degree, I didn't take teaching methods courses for it. So, in agony, I would spend every Sunday at the kitchen table in my parents' house, grading papers and creating lessons, worksheets, etc for the next week.

On one hand, I liked the idea of getting it all done in one day. But usually by Wednesday, plans would change, or I would have a better idea, and I would have to change everything anyway. I also hated the amount of grading I would do. As a new teacher, I had a really hard time with understanding that I didn't have to grade everything. So I collected EVERYTHING-notes, handouts, reactions to lessons, etc. It was ridiculous.

Now that I am older and wiser, I know better. I am pretty good at getting papers back to kids on a regular basis. I don't stress out as much about lessons since I have a few tricks up my sleeve if I wind up with an extra ten minutes.

But, every once in awhile, I need a grading marathon, and today is going to be one of those days. Because while I really want to read The Portrait of a Lady all afternoon, my grading pile is a little on the large side, and I have a stack of rhetorical analysis essays to grade (eek). I can suck it up for one Sunday, considering the fact that in 7 short school days, I won't be teaching anymore.

Those are my plans for the day, but I hope yours includes more reading. :)

There will be an informational post going up this afternoon about the Shakespeare event I am hosting in January (I know that I am putting it up SUPER early, but I am kind of excited about it). There will also be a sign-up post for December Group Reads going up tomorrow (including Paradiso), so be excited for that. An Austen title is the other choice!

I hope you all have a wonderful reading week!

Weekly Wrap-up for September 18, 2011: Bits on School, Sicknesses, and the Book Buying Ban.

I am finding it hard to believe that I have been back at school for two weeks already! But I am kind of glad the first two weeks are over. It was stressful starting in a new place, with new kids, and a new routine, but things are settling firmly into place. We are finally moving into some heavier content this week in both of the English classes I am teaching, and we're moving into fun documents with the Government kids.

My sophomores are starting their "What is an American?" unit this week by reading the Declaration of Independence. I am hoping we are going to have good conversations about the ideals the U.S. was founded on, as well as their rights and privileges (it could be interesting). At the end of the week, they are writing me a "break-up" letter to show they understand it all...should be a fun assignment.

The seniors are in the midst of the memoir unit. Those of you around last winter might remember that I had to teach The Glass Castle. I am teaching it again and they were given their first big reading assignment due Wednesday (I have more kids who work at this school, so I decided giving them big reading assignments over the course of a few days would be better than reading every night-we'll see how it works). I also modified their memoir writing assignment. They are doing 4 short in-class vignettes before I assign them a longer (3-4 page) assignment. They're going to compile the whole thing into a blended genre/memoir paper. So far it is working out, but they are whining a bit about all the writing. It IS a composition class, so I guess they better get used to it. :)

I started to feel a bit off on Thursday night. It was a really long week, with a couple of before/after school meetings, curriculum night with the parents, and Homecoming activities gearing up-our game and dance is this week, so we have spirit days and shenanigans all week. Should be a riot.... Anyway, I woke up feeling like knives were stabbing my throat on Friday, toughed it out, and went to the doctor that afternoon. Turns out I have a case of strep. So, it has been a good weekend of sleeping, reading, and cuddling with my cats, who have been feeling rather neglected since I went back to school.

My father-in-law started his chemo treatment on Wednesday. It sounds like he had a rough couple of days after, but at least his treatment has started (I can't come in contact with anyone who will see him, so as not to pass on my germs). They finally staged his lymphoma at stage 2, which was good news (they thought it was more advanced than that to begin with). We're all hopeful the chemo knocks it out of his system.

The only other exciting news is that I bought books. Again.

Yeah yeah, I know. It all started when Matt came home on Wednesday and told me that our local Borders was officially closed. I was surprised to hear this because it was scheduled to close today. I was bummed, since he promised me one more book excursion before putting a ban in place. He decided to let me buy a few books on Amazon and be done with it.

So, I did order 3 books on Amazon and they'll be here sometime this week. I'll include them in next week's post.

But then, I got a coupon for Barnes and Noble, FOUND an old gift card that hadn't been quite used up, and discovered that all of their classics are on sale (buy 2 get 1 free). So I went (you all knew I would). I found some great things, even scouring their used department for some AMAZING deals (yes, our B & N has a used department, does yours?). So, I promise that the damage wasn't too bad-it just looks bad. Here is what I got:



From top to bottom:

1. Night and Day by Virginia Woolf
2. The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf
3. The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
4. Henry V by William Shakespeare
5. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
6. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

All of these were part of the classics sale, so two of them were completely free! The Woolf titles make me especially happy, since the other publishers who have these titles charge an arm and a leg. I was also excited to finish my set of B and N Shakespeare (I really love these editions. They are WELL done). Now I have all the available B and N editions-the rest of my Shakespeare is Folger's...sometime I should take a picture of my Shakespeare collection...remind me. I really wanted these so I could have them for the readathon next month.

Also, ALL of these are list books. So that's super-duper.



From top to bottom:

1. Plays by George Bernard Shaw (contains "Mrs. Warren's Profession" which is on my list).
2. The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman
3. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
4. A Mercy by Toni Morrison
5. The Trial by Franz Kafka
6. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
7. Nana by Emile Zola
8. The Ambassadors by Henry James
9. The Bostonians by Henry James

The top five books were all found in the used section of the store. I was kind of geeked out by The Oregon Trail since I loved the game as a kid. I was also happy to find the O'Brien, since I have been meaning to replace my copy ever since I lent it out in college and never got it back (LOVE that book). The copies of A Mercy and The Trial were amazing finds, since both of them are brand new, but were in the used section. They seriously look like no one has opened them (score). But the best part is that I got more classics at a really good deal. Of this pile, the Kafka, Forster, and Shaw are the only list books....but who really cares? The others were a great deal!

BUT, I am done. The book buying ban has been put into place. From now until January 1, I am not allowed to buy any more books. If I win a book in a giveaway, get a giftcard, download free ebooks, or receive books for Christmas, I am okay. But I am not allowed to purchase anything. I'm not even allowed in the bookstore. I am slightly sad, but I honestly don't need to buy any more books (obviously). I have more than enough reading material to last me a few years. So, we'll see how I do. I still get to look forward to my amazon package.

Anyway, this turned out to be much longer than I wanted it to be! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Happy reading!!

Reading with Teenagers.

I just finished my second week at my new placement. If you recall, I am at a different high school from last year, but in the same district. I am actually teaching at MY old high school, which is a bit trippy and odd. But since most of the teachers I had as a student have since retired, there is a new staff to learn.

Anyway, I am teaching two of the same classes I taught last year-senior English and sophomore English. This is great, because I already have experience in what worked and bombed with my classes last year. I have some good lessons on standby, and I am familiar with the content.

But I am amazed at how different the two schools are. And how different this school is from the time I graduated 8ish years ago. It has been a lot of work adjusting to a new set of kids with different needs than the kids I had last year. Don't get me wrong-both groups of kids are great, but these kids, in my current placement, need a lot of help.

We had a discussion in class yesterday during our grammar warm-up about parts of speech. We are working through a grammar program that the teacher I am covering for came up with (It is a pretty awesome intro to basic grammar and I really like it). The first concept is reviewing parts of speech. We have been talking about this for over a week. Cue yesterday when my kids got into an argument with me about how "English is the only language with parts of speech" after they didn't believe me that "have" or "is" were verbs. I had to pull out some (very rusty) Spanish skills to conjugate a verb to show them that YES, all languages have parts of speech.

These are things you would think 15 and 16 year-old kids would know, but don't. A junior in my Government class asked me if Japan was a country or just part of China.

It is hard to understand how they can't understand these things, but rather than continuing to be frustrated by it, I know I have to reteach them things they already/should have learned. That's okay since teaching is my job!

But with all the struggles, you also get some great moments. I am instituting a "reading day" on Fridays for the kids in my sophomore English classes. They have to read a 250 page novel of choice by the end of October, so giving them time in class is the best way to make sure that they actually read the book rather than find summaries and notes online.

Yesterday, I had our media specialist come up with a huge cart of books to give them a book talk and check out books for reading. She set up books all over the room, discussed some of her favorites (I joined in), then we let the kids "go shopping." When someone found a book they liked, she checked it out to them, complete with a scratch and sniff bookmark (I, sadly, did not get one. And the apple pie one smelled delicious). Walking around the room yesterday was an interesting experience. There were some kids who looked for books that were exactly 250 pages. They didn't care what it was about, just that it was short. Others were looking for the titles we had recommended (The Hunger Games disappeared in seconds). Others asked me to help them.

It was fun to guide some students to YA titles I love, like Sarah Dessen and Suzanne Collins. I also convinced one girl to try The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, since she has that sense of humor to appreciate it. I steered another girl to Looking for Alaska. Another boy selected 1984. Yet another selected Ender's Game. It was just reassuring to see them thinking about their reading choices. And I stressed to them, I want you to enjoy what you read. So pick something you WANT to read.

Today they brought in their books and got to reading right away. Some were more into it than others, but I was surprised by how absorbed many of them were without me even telling them to begin. After taking attendance, I grabbed my own book, Moby-Dick, moved to an open desk, and started reading with them. This alarmed them and a few students asked, "Why are you reading? You don't have to!"

So I told them, "I'm not reading because I have to. I'm reading because I want to. I told you, I won't make you guys do anything I'm not willing to do myself."

So we read together for a half hour. And when I called time, they asked for ten more minutes.

I gave it to them.

It is moments like today that make me grateful for my choice to go into education, even after this week and the conversations I have had with my students. I see a lot of things wrong with our educational system (how someone can get to 11th grade and not know that Japan is a country is beyond me), and I know that there are a lot of things that need to be fixed. But while we were reading today, it didn't matter.

It didn't matter that I had a sore throat and wanted to rip my throat out, or that I would have a rough time with one of my seniors later that afternoon, or that my password for my e-mail still wasn't working, or that my father-in-law started his chemo the other day and is having a rough time, or that I would have a pile of papers to take home and grade, or that I have a pile of clothes to wash this weekend and chores to complete. It didn't matter.

What mattered is that a classroom filled with teenagers were reading, and they were amazed I was reading with them. How can that not be one of the best moments? It was. And I'll remember it always.

On Teaching Literature.

One of the hardest things to do as a teacher is lead a discussion. I still struggle to find a great balance in my classroom with mixed activities and that includes leading discussions. Where my seniors were able to lead their own discussion a couple months ago on Jeannette Walls' The Glass Castle, I know that my sophomore classes would melt down into chaos within a few minutes (I prefer my classes on the brink of chaos if you must know).

But discussing literature is a HUGE part of English classes, so discuss we must. There are times when I almost kind of dread it. Sometimes the kids don't get into it and I have to wait uncomfortably through awkward silences until a brave student raises their hand. Other times, they're shouting to get their points across because suddenly, they all have a lot to say.

Discussions are beneficial, however, so I must shove any discomfort I have in leading them aside and well...lead. And lead I do. Because after all, don't I discuss books here on a regular basis?

(Granted, most of you LIKE books and LIKE discussing them, so it is fairly easy to do so in this place).

Anyway, today my sophomore English classes were continuing on in their unit of Civil Rights Era literature. We started to read a speech by Malcolm X on Thursday, and they had to finish it over the weekend and respond to a couple questions:

"Do you think Malcolm X was racist? Why or why not? Do you think his views were justified in light of what he went through?"

In their responses, they had to use textual evidence (still hammering home the idea of "plagiarism") and well thought out answers. I figured we would discuss it for a few minutes and move on to discussing the beginning of A Raisin in the Sun and starting the first Act. But if you know anything about teenagers, it is that they do their own thing.

Both of my sophomore English classes had a LOT to say on the subject of Malcolm X, racism, and the literature we have been reading. And their discussion was insightful and meaningful. So even though they had to take a lot of reading home tonight, they still benefited from our discussion of the literature we're reading.

It was a day like today that I needed, in light of struggles with my other classes. It is when I get to discuss the details and intricacies of literature with my students that I am in my glory. Today was one of those days. They were pulling evidence from the text, analyzing the specific diction that Malcolm X used in this speech, and adding their own background knowledge. It was an English teacher's dream.

More than anything, it made me wish that I could always discuss literature in that way with them. That I could always give them things to read that would engage them, get them riled up, and make them passionate about the words that have been indelibly set in ink for them to read. I would love just to talk to them about the literature they love, add more for them to read, and run the class like a workshop-each student adding knowledge where they WANT to add knowledge, and all of it through reading.

I suppose that might be the dream of many an English teacher. I know I would, after a while, miss the writing portion. I love going through the process of crafting essays, of getting my students to put power and passion in their writing. So, I suppose I would miss that.

But discussing literature on an open stage like that would never get boring. Each and every one of them had an opinion, and you would never cease to hear something new, some connection they've made to their own lives. THAT is the power of literature.

As I sat there and listened to my classes discussing Malcolm X's words and comparing them to Dr. King's, I was again reminded of this place. I know that many of my students will stop discussing literature at some point in the future. For some of them, literature and the world of writing is not something that they will be insanely passionate about. But some? They might be other people out there, writing book blogs and continuing to discuss their love of the written word. And that made me so happy this afternoon, in light of everything else going on.

Because even with all the other "stuff" going on in the world-new gadgets and technology and strife-there is still literature for us to turn to. It is an art form that won't die out as much as people might think it will because it still offers us so much. We still feel the need to make connections to it, to understand the human condition before our time and during our time. I feel reassured knowing that some of my students will carry it on, and so on, and so on.

And while there continues to be people listening, I will continue to do my best to "teach" it in the best way I can-by discussing it even when it scares me.