Weekly Wrap-up for April 21, 2013: Drained.

I am sure I'm not alone when I say I am feeling drained from the events of the past week. It has been a very emotional week from the events in Boston and Texas, and I'm hoping we all get some good news this week. :)

I've also had a lot going on at school, so perhaps that is adding to my feelings of being drained. While my kids have been working pretty independently on their research projects, I haven't gotten nearly as much done as I planned. I've been trying to concentrate on prepping the remainder of my history lessons for the rest of the year, but now I'm behind on grading...it's a never ending cycle of paperwork! I have managed to create the notes sheets for my history class through almost the last chapter-only 3 sections to go (I use column notes-first column has questions, the second is for students to fill in as they read the sections on their own, the third column is for them to add additional information when I lecture or when we have class discussions. They work really well and the kids like them). That's a big relief, but now I need to finish my lecture powerpoints and find some creative things for them to do!

I'm also digging around to find some new stories and material for my American lit units through the end of the year: Post-Modernism, Science Fiction, and contemporary lit. If you have any ideas, please share!

In reading news...well, let's be honest. There is no reading news. This Side of Paradise and Anna Karenina are still sitting on my nightstand. I simply don't have the time right now to read...I've resigned myself to being okay with not finishing anything else this month. I probably won't have spare time until the middle of May (when all my english class projects are done) to dive into some reading. Oh well. I have enough of a backlog of books to post about that it should be fine. :)

It is also looking more and more like I won't be working a traditional job this summer. I had originally planned on going back to the park part-time, but I don't think my health is going to let me. I think I might be working for our Summer Music Theater through the end of June and the first week of July, so that will be enough to get me through the summer. :) I'm really just looking forward to some time off. I have a writing project knocking around in my head that I would like to finish by the time school restarts in September, and of course, lots and lots of books.

Anyway, I need to edit some posts for this week, and then I have piles of grading and planning to do. Have a lovely week!

Words Cannot Say Enough.

One of the things I love most about the subjects I teach is how broad they are. In teaching literature, writing, and history, I have the opportunity to teach my kids things that they otherwise wouldn't be exposed to. We can explore new topics, have debates, and learn together to appreciate and represent the world around us in a way that is positive and uplifting.

I think it is also safe to say that literature and history classes help children learn how to think. I try to challenge that as much as possible by exposing my classes to everything I can. When we began our year, my history classes did an exploration of the Pocahontas story and determined, based on evidence (primary documents and historical adaptations), whether she actually "saved" John Smith. Since then, I have tried to teach them to form their own opinions, find their own evidence and form an opinion based on that evidence.

In my literature classes, I try to get my kids to explain meaning and theme, rather than saying, "when the author uses this color, he means ______." I want them to find depth and heart in their reading, rather than having them listen to my own ideas and meaning.

I really just want them to think.

But with events like the last week, it is hard for anyone to seek out the pure truth and form an opinion for their own. Instead, the media has hyper-focused on the events in Boston. Social media sites have exploded with anger and hate. Mouths spew forth intolerance and injustice.

It leaves my heart feeling very hollow. It makes me sad, to see people I love, respect, and admire saying things without truth, without evidence. Rather than sitting back and just taking it in, I see many jumping to conclusions and assuming the worst. And what has happened is that those judgments and anger have formed into widespread hate-misdirected at those who had nothing to do with what's going on in our world.

I will never be able to understand the jump from blaming an individual, who made personal and hard decisions to act in such a way, to blaming a group because they share some trait with those who are being accused. It happened with 9/11, it happened with Columbine and Sandy Hook, and I see the same anger coming from the events that have happened in Boston.

I have to wonder, as I watch people say things with such anger and hate in their words, if they were ever taught to think. Did they have someone who tried to tell them to think before speaking? I wonder if my own students will forget what I have tried to teach them and will utter words without thinking.

I'm not sure what my purpose was in writing this. I suppose I can see this as therapeutic-a way for me to get out my own uneasiness about the things I have seen and heard this week. Just know that my heart is sad. Everytime I see misplaced blame and anger, my heart breaks a little more. For now, my thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims in Boston (and Texas-they are also suffering).

I hope, that for everyone's peace, we get the answers we need.

On Teaching The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

“Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.” 

I know that a large number of people are reading and rereading Gatsby in anticipation of the new movie coming out in May. I actually reread the novel twice back in late January/early February as a prepped for and began teaching a unit on the novel to my sophomore English classes.

I'm going to be honest and say that teaching The Great Gatsby was one of the highlights of teaching this year. I loved this novel before, but each time I reread it, I find more and more to love. I feel like I can pull more depth from it with each reading, and I see more and more to love in the language.

And being able to teach it? To talk about all of the lush descriptions and the characters and the symbolism? I was in heaven. I loved every minute of it, and I loved seeing my kids grasp the deeper themes.

We talked so much about the hopelessness that pervades the novel-how Nick escapes to the East in hopes of changing his fortune, but ultimately returns home because of the events surrounding his time in the East. We talked about Gatsby and his belief in love, his hope that by becoming a different man he can erase time and win Daisy's heart...

“Can’t repeat the past?…Why of course you can!” 

However, one of our biggest conversations (at least in one of my classes) surrounded Daisy and the fact that you aren't supposed to like her. She is spoiled, selfish, and uncaring to those around her. she lives in the moment and grasps what seems easier. My students were very vocal about her and their distaste for her throughout the whole novel. And then we talked about the fact that she feels trapped in her life...what would it be like to be trapped in a life you didn't want? Their answers were so deep. I loved it.

I love this new cover by Alma Books.

We also talked about the very end as I read them the last chapter out loud-how sad it is that so many would use Gatsby for his wealth and parties, but when he passed, no one could take the time to pay their respects at his funeral. I posed to them this; how would Gatsby have felt seeing the turnout at his funeral? Again, their answers were deep and meaningful. Some of them expressed that Gatsby's funeral is proof of how popularity isn't always positive, that just because you have lots of "friends" doesn't mean that those people love you or honor you.

“Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.” 

In all, reading The Great Gatsby again, and teaching it to my students, allowed me to see more depth and pull more from it. I wish I could teach every novel I read. :)

We ended our unit with a formal essay, but I also assigned a short writing assignment immediately after we finished the novel. We watched the two videos from John Green's Crash Course on Youtube (first video and second video) and I had the students answer the question Green poses, "Was Gatsby truly great?"

Even now, I'm not sure of my own answer, but I do know that the novel is great, and that I love it.

And if you haven't read it, you need to.

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

Top Ten Tuesday: Rewind (Books at the Top of my TBR).

It's Top Ten Tuesday! Today's topic was to do a "rewind" of a past topic, and I'm very excited about that. Just a couple of weeks ago, the folks at The Broke and the Bookish had a topic for books on our Spring TBR. This was in the midst of my absence, and I was bummed I missed it. To be honest, the TBR posts are my favorites to read and write!

So, I thought it would be fitting to talk about the ten books at the top of my TBR pile for the coming months. A couple I have started and need to return to, but all are titles I want to read as soon as I can. :)

Let me know what books you're planning to read!

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: I started this WAY back in January. I've picked it up here and there, but I'm still only 200 or so pages into it (I know I finished the first and second part). I really like it, but I have a hard time diving into it. This is definitely one I want to finish!
2. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Another one I have started and need to finish. This is a good one (very different from Gatsby, which I LOVE).
3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck: I've been craving a really thick, American novel. I've never read this (!) and I think it would be the perfect fit right now. I do love some Steinbeck...
4. The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather: This will be the 6th book for my Willa Cather Project! I read the first few pages a month ago, but I set it aside and haven't touched it. I really want to finish my Cather exploration by the end of the year, so I need to kick it up a notch.
5. Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien: We're approaching the Vietnam unit in my history classes, so I think this would be the perfect fit for me as I teach that unit. I loved The Things They Carried, so I have high hopes. This will also count for my TBR Pile Challenge!
6. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott: I just got a pretty new Penguin English Library (PEL) edition of this last week and boy, the pretty cover makes me want to dive in! It seems like such a fun story, so perhaps I'll grab this one soon! And again, another title for my TBR Challenge!
7. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe: I put this one on my nightstand in February, but its been lingering there ever since. I think it's one I need to read sooner rather than later, so hopefully I get to this one soon. This will count towards my Back to the Classics Challenge!
8. Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy: I adore Hardy, and since I know this one is a favorite of many, I keep meaning to read it. I just got this in the PEL edition, so the pretty cover is sucking me in, just like Ivanhoe. This is another for the Back to the Classics Challenge!
9. Bitterblue by Kristen Cashore: I flew through Graceling and Fire, so I know I'll feel the same way about this one. Cashore is talented and can write an EPIC fantasy. But this is one I need to sink into in one long sitting (perhaps for the readathon coming up?).
10. On the Road by Jack Kerouac: This is another one that I can't believe I haven't read yet. I had Kerouac as an extra credit MVP for my history classes a week ago, and since then, I've been eying this on my bookshelf. :) Yet another for my TBR Challenge!

This Side of Paradise Winner!

I'm here to announce the winner of This Side of Paradise! The publisher has donated a copy and will be sending it to my lucky winner...

Congrats to Lori of The Coffee Girl!

I will be e-mailing you shortly to get your mailing information.

Thank you to everyone for entering!