My View From Here

Writing Circles

2011-11-30T10:52:00.001-07:00

It's that time of year when my students and I participate in writing circles. I do it along with my students. Here is some of my work from this year:

Back to School Night, Take 2

2011-08-18T21:50:00.003-06:00

Here's my new Animoto for back to school night, reflecting my new changed up curriculum for the year.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

2011-08-10T22:09:00.004-06:00

Frank Baker, who is a regular on the EC Ning, just brought my attention to this wonderful collection of documentaries: http://current.com/shows/fifty-documentaries/.

He also has an amazing website, Using Documentaries in the Classroom, which is a great resource for teachers wanting to use documentaries.

Thank you, Frank!

Kelly Gallagher Workshop

2011-02-21T00:31:00.003-07:00

The Kelly Gallagher writing/modeling workshop sponsored by CUWP this Saturday was, literally, amazing. I left feeling so energized!

I took copious notes, but for now I'll just leave you with a favorite story. Kelly sat by the CEO of a "big computer company" on a recent flight. The CEO mentioned that they strive to hire the best and the brightest--graduates of Harvard, MIT, etc., but they have a hard time finding candidates. Kelly asked why, and the CEO said, "Because it's really easy to find really smart people, but it's hard to find smart people who know how to think."

Wow. That kind of sums up my job in a nutshell. I (try my darnedest to) teach kids how to think! That's why I think my job is so rewarding.

Inquiry Based Classroom

2011-02-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

Webinar with Jeff Wilhelm:

Holocaust Webinar

2011-02-13T15:58:00.003-07:00

This is going on over at the EC Ning. I haven't had time to join in, but I hope to look over the available things later this summer.

Less is More?

2011-02-12T08:00:00.001-07:00

Fellow EC Ninger Keith Schoch recently posted an interesting blog about getting students to write more precisely--quality over quantity. I've tried some of these ideas, and they really do get students thinking and working. Here's his post.

Teaching Nonfiction Writing - A Practical Guide

2011-01-28T20:21:00.002-07:00

This was the latest read for the CUWP Book group. It proved to live up to its name--practical! Although it felt like it was geared towards kids from about fourth grade through junior high, I still found a lot of things in it that I put to immediate use in the classroom. I used a genre exploration (bringing in about 40 nonfiction books, biographies, magazines, etc.) before I assigned my students to do their Chaucer presentations. Because the kids had a better idea of what I was looking for (illustrations, things that could go in a sidebar, definitions, quotes, headings, etc.) I had the best Chaucer presentations I've ever had.

This book has a great little section on leads that many of us were talking about at the book group last night. I can't wait to try it out.

I've already noticed that I am more aware of pointing out the various techniques in the nonfiction pieces that we've read recently. For example, I always have the students read "The Man in the Water" in conjunction with Beowulf and our talk about heroes. This time when we read it, I made sure that the students noticed the craft Rosenblatt uses, i.e. when he uses imagery in the first paragraph: The jets from Washington National Airport that normally swoop around the presidential monuments like famished gulls are, for the moment, emblemized by the one that fell.

Speaking of book group, we had an incredible turnout last night. We are going to need a bigger room next time.

New Year Goals

2011-01-01T13:47:00.002-07:00

I was going to list my goals here, but then I saw this little gem:

Now I guess I'll just work on them in secret. Of course, they involve writing and reading--because what else is there in life?

Slogans, Logos and Iconic Images

2010-12-07T02:19:00.001-07:00

I'm having my students try to sell their version of the American dream as a Gatsby product. This little video is to help them understand what an icon and slogan are.

Six-Word Memoirs

2010-11-28T09:47:00.007-07:00

While we were working on memoirs this year, I had the students write six word memoirs.

One of my CUWP colleagues, Andrea R., had previously said something about having her students write something in sidewalk chalk. I decided to try that with the six word memoirs -- I thought they turned out great. Here are some:

(This one was written down incorrectly - it was supposed to be "Life's illuminated...")

You Are What You Read - My Bookprint

2010-11-15T21:46:00.010-07:00

My good friend, Clix, on the EC Ning encouraged me to do this on the Scholastic Site, so I did it. It's pretty hard to narrow a lifetime of reading down to five books, but this is the list I came up with:

The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien

"I will take the Ring," he said, "though I do not know the way."

We all have a time when we will have the choice to stand up and do the right and the hard thing. Will we do it? Can we do it? And when we do it, can we choose the right people to stand beside us?

Man's Search for Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl

"Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips."

I read this when I want to remember why I am here.

The Hiding Place
Corrie Ten Boom

"Even as the angry vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him....Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness....And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives along with the command, the love itself."

I need these words every day of my life.

The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck

"Whenever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Whenever they's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there . . . . I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad an'--I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry an' they know supper's ready. An' when our folks eat the stuff they raise an' live in the houses they build--why, I'll be there.

Everyone is my brother, and I am my brother's keeper.

The Giver
Lois Lowry

"For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard people singing. Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps, it was only an echo."

I re-read this book again immediately after I first read it, and then I got up at 5 o'clock in the morning and took a two hour walk to think about it. It disturbed me, it shook me, it made me think. Even with all the painful memories I have -- particularly the death of my infant son -- I would never want to give up my memories -- they are just too precious.

Shakespeare Zombie Haiku for Halloween

2010-10-31T17:08:00.002-06:00

The first one is by Dr. Chris Crowe, the second by Deon Youd, the rest are my own evil creations. Enjoy!

Zombie of Venice

skulks in shadows, hungry for a

juicy pound of flesh

Henry the Fifth speaks,
calling his zombies to arms.
No guts, no glory.

A brain! A brain! My
kingdom for a brain! Richard
revealed as zombie . . .

Macbeth moans, “Is this

a brain I see before me?

Come, let me eat thee!”

“What’s in a brain?” Come

hither, sweetest Romeo,

and let me find out.

“Alas, poor Yorick!

I ate him, a fellow of

infinite brain mass.”

Come not between King

Lear and his brain, while so young
and yet so tender.

Scribblish

2010-10-30T16:59:00.001-06:00

I am always on the lookout for games that I can add to my classroom. My criteria is that they have to involve writing and interaction, support 20 to 30 students playing at once, and take about 20 minutes - the amount of time we usually have when we have an occasional party day (Halloween, the half day before Christmas and the last day of school). It's very hard to find a game that a whole classroom can participate in and have fun with.

We had recently played Scribblish with our married kids, and I thought that it might be a fun game to try in the classroom. Working in groups of 6-8 students, students each write a phrase, then the next person draws the phrase, then the next person describes the drawing, etc., until you have 4 phrases and 3 drawings. Like any telephone game (each person only sees what the person before them drew/wrote) the end result is miles away from the beginning and very entertaining to boot. There is a timer element involved, so the action is fast and furious. I obviously didn't have enough purple rollers to go around, so we used long strips of paper (11x14 cut into 4 strips) that we folded over.

We tried this game at the end of class yesterday (the first 1/2 hour was spent sharing Zombie Haiku and 55 Fiction). It went over great. Add in a little homemade root beer to the mix, and all my students were saying it was the best party ever!

Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum

2010-10-13T09:26:00.003-06:00

There is a very interesting article in today's NY Times about a huge school with a large number of free and reduced lunch students that has dramatically improved it's test scores by focusing on teaching reading and writing (Their terminology is "reading, writing, speaking, and reasoning.") in every class -- including PE and math.

It's interesting that instead of teaching to the test, they got the best results by doing what they call "getting back to basics."

"The committee put together a rubric to help teachers understand what good writing looks like, and began devoting faculty meetings to teaching department heads how to use it. The school’s 300 teachers were then trained in small groups.

Writing exercises took many forms, but encouraged students to think methodically. A science teacher, for example, had her students write out, step by step, how to make a sandwich, starting with opening the cupboard to fetch the peanut butter, through washing the knife once the sandwich was made. Other writing exercises, of course, were much more sophisticated."

Animoto - Civil Disobedience

2010-10-10T10:54:00.005-06:00

Okay, this is my second try at Animoto. I am going to use this as part of my unit on American Transcendentalism - Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman. This is obviously what I'm going to use to introduce Thoreau.

In the past I've just had the kids listen to the song while I showed the lyrics. I'm hoping that the combination of selected lyrics, pictures, and quotes in the movie with the music will make it a more meaningful experience.

Creating my own Mentor Text

2010-10-08T22:44:00.007-06:00

Drawing on the superb example of Penny Kittle, here is an alternate point of view piece. (This is the story of my son's piñata breaking injury episode from the point of view of the piñata.)

The Short, Brief Life of a Cub Scout Piñata
(alternate point of view)

Denée Tyler

My life began simply enough as a pile of paper pulp in a factory somewhere in Mexico. One day the craftsman took the pulp, wet it down, formed it around a mold, covered it with crepe paper, and voila, I came into being, a small blue boy with a strange-looking blue cap and a garish smile. I hung with several hundred of my brothers as I dried and contemplated my purpose in life.

Before I was able to complete my meditations, I was abruptly packed into a close, dark box with others of my kind. There wasn’t enough room to speak and scarcely air to breathe, and we really thought that this was the end.

Just when I had given up all hope, the box was opened, and several pimply young men wearing shirts that said “Macey’s Groceries” pulled all of us out and hung us crookedly from a flimsy string. I had to endure the staring, pointing, and jeering of many until a large, jovial man abruptly pulled me down from my precarious perch and said, “This would be perfect for our Blue and Gold Banquet.” Then, to complete the insult, he summarily stuffed me with tootsie rolls. Of all the candy in the world . . .

The man took me to a place called a “cultural hall.” This was obviously a cruel misuse of the name, as there was no culture in sight. Instead, a rope was tied around my neck, the rope was thrown over a basketball standard, and I was raised and lowered over a group of rather unscrupulous looking eight-, nine-, ten-, and eleven-year-olds in blindfolds. I could only continue to smile my vapid, painted-on smile as these same children proceeded to hit me all about the head and body with a four-foot length of PVC pipe. Oh, the cruelty of man to man!

I endured their blows for at least a half an hour while the parents and leaders of these little heathen stood around the circle and cheered them on. Despite the fact that I was only made of paper, I held firm and determined not to let them break me. Even as a piece of my foot and a part of my sweet, sugary innards fell, I remained strong.

Unfortunately, once the small torturers lost interest, the adults around the circle took over. A brawny man, who professed to be the parent of one of the yapping children, declared that he would finish me off. He took hold of the PVC pipe and gave a mighty swing.

I could feel the force of the blow coming, and although I tried to brace myself, my strength was spent at last. I could only stare and smile in amazement as my neck separated from my head, and my blue-clad body dropped on the savage crowd below. They fell on my sad remains like a flock of ravening vultures, snarling and grabbing with abandon and extreme bad manners.

But what was this? Could it be? As I gasped out my last, I felt the glory of sweet revenge. As the deathblow was struck, the PVC object of my pain broke in two, and the severed end flew forth like the arrow of justice and took out two of my tormentors. One was merely grazed, but the other, one Caleb Tyler, received the force of the pipe full on in the middle of his forehead, causing a huge ruckus, raising an enormous goose egg, and resulting in a trip to the emergency room. And thus, my glorious end is a lesson to all who would meddle with . . . Cub Scout piñatas!

Secondary Language Arts Textbook Evaluation

2010-10-05T09:07:00.001-06:00

I've been asked to serve on the Secondary Language Arts Textbook Evaluation board for the next session. I will be up in Salt Lake on October 19th and possibly 20th doing this. I'm hoping it will be a good networking opportunity for me, and since it's something that I've never done before--I'm also hoping that it will be fun and educational at the same time. Has anyone ever done this before? What can I expect from the experience?

The Theme of the Day . . .

2010-09-15T21:37:00.001-06:00

Well, I haven't even thought of English for the past few days as I've been serving on a jury. It was NOT fun, and there's no way to spin that. It was, however, a great chance to see logos, ethos, and pathos in action in the real world.

It other news, I ran across a fantastic Prezi by Nicole Kronzer over at the EC Ning. This one is on teaching students to create themes:

At Last!!!

2010-09-08T22:02:00.004-06:00

So, I mentioned in a previous post that I had submitted an article for publication. At the time, the editors indicated that they would be getting back in touch with me mid-August. Not so. I finally got an email back today saying that they were recommending my article for inclusion in the Utah English Journal, but they would like me to make a few changes to it. I am pretty excited about it, but it's going to be a bit of work to do the editing, as I only have five days to do it. (I get the feeling that somebody somewhere procrastinated a bit.)

Animoto-My First Try

2010-09-06T17:29:00.001-06:00

The EC Ning has been buzzing about Animoto in the last few weeks. Many teachers used the free online video creator to make "trailers" about their class for the first day of school. I didn't get my Animoto teacher membership in time to create one for the first day of school, but I did make one for Back to School Night. Here is the sneak peek the parents got of our upcoming semester:

A word of warning: Animoto is addicting.

Film Literacy

2010-08-08T19:26:00.001-06:00

Frank Baker, the Film Literacy Guru over at ECNing, recently posted this great list of ideas for teaching film terms using the bonus materials on DVDs. Unfortunately, many of them are R-rated, so I wouldn't be able to use them, but it is still a great resource.

He also brought my attention to another great new site with screen education resources. Generator is a Web 2.0 enabled site that provides students and teachers with a wealth of resources to support the teaching of screen based content. Featured are: Video Gallery; Educational Themes; Learn From the Makers; Free Media Library; Explore Production Resources. In addition, there is a Storyboard Generator. and a Teachers Lounge. Other features are on Approaches to Alice in Wonderland and other works of director Tim Burton: The Fantastical Imaginings of Tim Burton

Writing Circles

2010-08-04T22:28:00.004-06:00

So, this is my latest read. I actually picked this book up at NCTE, but I never read it until just barely. I am actually pretty excited about trying this in my class this year. This is what fellow ECNinger Glenda Funk had to say about it:

Hi, Denee~

Mardie alerted me to your discussion since I've been AWOL from the Ning lately. I have read Jim Vopat's book and love it. I used a combination of Writing Circles, quick writes (thanks, Penny Kittle), and formal essay assignments last year. My students really like the writing circle approach since it allows them so much choice. Our circles met once a week, and I assigned quick writes twice a week. I like Vopat's ideas for responding to one another's writing but need more, which I'll be working on next year. I think students aren't as familiar w/ the various genres as we might think they are. Many students default to what they think the teacher wants. I'll be working on that, especially since I assign a multigenre research paper. I also think it's really important to continue introducing students to good mentor texts, which I'm planning to connect more to writing circles. I also think I need to do more to help my students find topics. Some groups had trouble thinking about topics, which is really my fault for not reminding them to come to class w/ a topic.

I collected the writing notebooks (w/ writing circle responses and quick writes) at the end of the trimester. Next year I'm collecting them twice each tri. Those students who come unprepared need an immediate consequence; they can really bog things down. One of the fantastic benefits of the circles for me was joining into the student conversation and relinquishing control of their circles to them, which they found more difficult than I.

I'm also toying w/ the idea of extending the WC's to blogging. I think this would offer an excellent platform for revision.

Last year was one of the best of my long career. It was so good, in fact, that I'm worried that next year will be a big let down. Giving students choice via writing circles and Gallagher's 50/50 approach to reading increased student writing and reading in my classroom significantly. It's a win-win for students and for myself. And did I mention how easy the grading is?

Basic WC format:
1. Students meet to choose a topic, choose a first reader, and choose a timekeeper.
2. On day WCs meet, students share their writing by reading aloud to the group. Afterward, group members respond according to a predetermined response starter. For example, "I'd like to hear more about..." or "Choose a 'Golden Sentence' from each members' response." Vopat offers suggestions.
3. Choose a new topic for the next WC. Each member writes on the same topic but may choose any genre.
4. Members complete a "Writing Circle Think-Back," which Vopat provides. This is a self-reflection as well as a group reflection form. These go into the WC notebooks.

Cheers,
Glenda

I can't wait to try this in my own classroom!!

Mrs. Tyler Takes a Plunge

2010-07-30T21:10:00.001-06:00

I did something completely out of character for me this week. I've been getting emails from the leaders of CUWP urging us to submit to the Utah English Journal for publication. Normally I would be too shy, but I decided to give it a try. I've submitted a paper detailing how I combine Sherman Alexie and memoir to start off my American Literature class. I won't find out for about a week or so if they have accepted my paper or not. Whew. I am actually nervous about it. It's like sending a baby out into the cold cruel world.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

2010-07-30T21:06:00.000-06:00

This book by Anne Lamott is the next CUWP Reading Group Choice. We will be meeting October 7th at 5:30 at the Provo Brick Oven. I am really looking forward to reading and discussing it.

Structures for Conversation

2010-07-13T22:41:00.000-06:00

A fellow EC NINGer posted this great link to a demonstration of many different classroom conversation styles. I think this will be a great resource.

EC Ning Websitute

2010-07-12T06:55:00.003-06:00

An idea for project based learning.

Literary Ladies Book Group Ideas

2010-07-10T09:09:00.001-06:00

Camp Yearbook Wrapup

2010-06-25T16:58:00.003-06:00

I just spent three days at Josten's Camp Yearbook at the Cliff Resort at Snowbird. Wow - I learned so much my brain fills like it is going to explode. I had two students with me, and we were all energized and excited about our next year's theme: Shift_.

I am most excited about the switch (shift) we plan to do in making our book more of a story telling experience. I am still processing everything I learned, but I will probably do a brain dump here in the near future.

So why did I choose a picture of a zip line to post here? Because I freaking did this!!! Actually, the tram ride to the zip line tower was WAY scarier than the zip line itself. Long, slow, high rides are my worst nightmare - think Ferris wheels - yuck. The zip line itself was pretty exhilarating and fast. WOOT!!!!!

New York Times Lessons

2010-06-25T16:51:00.000-06:00

I frequently use articles and lessons from this source. Now they have made it even easier to use with this link: Teaching Topics from The Times.

Reading Ladders: Leading Students from Where They Are to Where We'd Like Them to Be

2010-06-15T09:17:00.002-06:00

This is the latest book club from the EC Ning. I am really enjoying both the book and the conversation on the Ning. Lots of good ideas floating around there. More to come...

Thank You Donors Choose, Wells Fargo, Eccles Foundation, and Bing

2010-06-09T09:07:00.004-06:00

So, I have been extremely blessed in the last few months to have three! projects funded through Donors Choose. I've received (or will receive next year): two classroom sets of books and a flip video camera. I am so excited. This is how it all happened:

On the first project, the Eccles Foundation matched my donors, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation covered the rest. The project was funded in one day, and I got a set of The Poisonwood Bible and some classroom library texts.

The next project was languishing for a while until I got an email from Donors Choose about a promotion that the site called Bing was doing. All you had to do was go to their site, fill out a quick form, and they would send you a $5 gift card for a Donors Choose Donation. Well, I filled out the forms for every person in my family, and Mike and Alison did their part, too, and I quickly had the 2nd project (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and more class library novels) funded, thanks to another match from the Eccles Foundation.

I was on a roll, so I submitted a third project, a flip camcorder, and with the help of more Bing donations and others, and the Eccles match, that was funded.

I just submitted a fourth project today for a class set of 1984. That match money is too good to pass up.

I've learned some things while doing this.

Proposals with matching funds are more likely to get funded.
Once you get within 50 dollars of your goal, people are more likely to donate to your proposal
I love Bing, the Eccles Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Zombie Haiku

2010-05-16T08:39:00.005-06:00

We had so much fun doing Zombie Haiku at CUWP that I had my students do some in October. They loved it! (Maybe a little too much)
Here is the PowerPoint I used to introduce it. I actually embedded the things I link to into the presentation.

Not "Were" Wolves

2010-05-14T20:04:00.010-06:00

So, I guess I'll be reading this for a while. From the blurbs on the cover, it sounds good. This is the next book that the Literary Ladies will be reading for our book group.

This book was written by my neighbor, Kristen Chandler! I just picked up three signed copies.

Here is Kris, posing with her book at her house (photo credit).

A Little Chinglish, Anyone?

2010-05-13T19:16:00.004-06:00

The New York Times ran an article on Chinglish, and then they invited their readers to submit examples. I laughed so hard I started crying. Enjoy!

Sensory Writing

2010-05-10T14:36:00.002-06:00

I've been trying to do a little more with sensory writing this semester. In addition to writing about art, I've had the kids eat a Rice Krispy treat while writing about how they would describe it to someone from another planet, and I've had them compare a character from The Importance of Being Earnest to a tootsie roll pop. The kids seem to like it (and the treats don't hurt their engagement, either).

Digital Memoir

2010-05-09T17:24:00.006-06:00

So, this week I am having my students use Windows Movie Maker (or I-movie if they have a Mac) to create a PSA. Next year I may want to use something like this in my memoir/tell my own story unit, just to shake things up. It won't be the only thing I do, but I think it would create interest in what they are doing.

For My Next NCTE Trip!

2010-05-08T09:48:00.008-06:00

This flight attendant packs all of this into one carry-on bag. And, she doesn't even have to sit on the suitcase to close it!!

Now if they can figure out how to roll up ARCs and other books, I won't have to pay the $25 dollars and up I had to fork over in Philadelphia.

I'll have to practice this technique when we head up to Camp Yearbook this summer. I wonder if I can get all that and a laptop and printer in one bag? Hmmm. . .

Ideas for Poetry Portfolio

2010-04-27T22:22:00.024-06:00

I used these ideas with my students to get their minds wrapped around poetry, but also to get their minds thinking that words are everywhere. These exercises helped them get ready for our Poetry Out Loud competition.

1. Ekphrastic Poetry:

2. Cento: From the Latin word for "patchwork," the cento is a poetic form made up of lines from poems by other poets.

3. Road Sign Poetry

4. Word Ticket/Paint Chip Poem

First-Time Yearbook Teacher Has Success!

2010-04-26T21:27:00.013-06:00

As some of you may know, I took on my school's yearbook class this year in addition to teaching my other classes. It has been both a fun and frustrating experience. I know I've learned a lot--probably more than my students, actually!

Anyway, our yearbook is almost finished (we just have one more file that a senior editor needs to upload on Monday), and I am experiencing a great feeling of accomplishment and pride for my little staff. Our theme was Technically Speaking, and we really took that theme and ran with it. Here's our cover--it looks like a computer hybrid between a Mac and a PC:

The actual cover looks way cooler than this--this is just a small file drawing of it.

Our pages themselves look like internet sites, except for our first and last pages, which look like a computer desktop and the infamous "blue screen of death." Here are some examples (if you click on them you can see a larger version, I think):

It's been a ton of fun making UCAS themed near copies of various websites. (I hope you recognize Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, and Youtube.)

Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words

2010-04-26T08:48:00.012-06:00

I was first introduced to this book at CUWP. I've been wanting to use it ever since, and now that we are doing Poetry Out Loud, this is my big chance. We spent about half of a class period making word tickets. Word tickets means that the students had a big pile of magazines and newspapers from which they were supposed to choose interesting words. After they got their words, they cut them out and glued them onto carnival-type tickets.

I had every student choose ten nouns, ten verbs, and ten "others," so we had around 900 words or so by the time they had finished. Then everyone got 10-15 random words and used as many as they wanted to create phrases and images to inspire poetry. My students had a fantastic time choosing words (and it was very educational, too, as they spent a lot of time arguing and teaching each other which words were and were not nouns and verbs). I will post some of their best works here after I've gone over all of their portfolios.

The Secret Knowledge of Grownups

2010-04-15T19:23:00.002-06:00

I bought this book at CUWP, and I've been meaning to use it all year as a Scribble. I finally found a time when I thought it would work well, since my students were learning about Romanticism. Romanticism privileged children and childhood, right? So--what better time to write from a child's perspective.

In the book, the author takes those basic nagging rules that all parents have: don't pick your nose, eat your vegetables, etc., and comes up with a wacky secret reason behind them. For example, you shouldn't pick your nose because you might accidentally deflate your brain.

My students took the ball and ran with it. They came up with some great secrets--about everything from aiming urine to talking to strangers. I gave them a 17 x 11 piece of paper and had them fold it like a book. They put their rule and the supposed reason (Eat Your Vegetables - Because they are good for you.) on the outside and then they put the real secret reason and optional illustrations on the inside. As a culminating activity, I had the students pass their completed booklets around the class. That way everyone got to see what their peers had come up with, and we all got to have a few laughs.

A New Resource. . .

2010-04-04T22:59:00.005-06:00

I just discovered a really great site: http://comp2reflections.blogspot.com/. I think this same blogging lady has a couple of other sites, too. I think there is some stuff here that I can use. Yippee!!!

CUWP Reading Group

2010-03-15T22:54:00.000-06:00

Well, due to my general insanity, I've taken on yet another project. I volunteered to be in charge of the reading groups for CUWP. The last book we read was The Digital Writing Workshop by Troy Hicks. Our next book choice is Penny Kittle's Write Beside Them. We will meet on the 3rd of June and discuss the book. So far it has been a lot of fun. I sometimes get a little over my head with book groups for professional books. I've purchased all the books for the EC NING groups, but I've only ever finished three of them: Jim Burke's What's the Big Idea?, Tom Newkird's Holding on to Good Ideas and Kelly Gallagher's Readicide. Anyway, here is looking forward to a new month of school - only 33 days of instruction and 3 days of testing until the last day of school. Yikes!!!

Digital Writing Workshop

2010-02-20T11:55:00.005-07:00

I had a great time at this conference today. I was introduced to an online writing site called youthvoices.net. My mind is running with all the possibilities. I tried something similar to this earlier this year, but it fizzled out. This site looks to be much more user friendly, and it has a lot more student writers on it.

The opportunities for peer review and peer editing with this format are amazing--I can't wait to give it a try!

Why we need stories

2010-02-12T07:59:00.009-07:00

I just finished my Chaucer unit. I had my students read/experience some of Chaucer's tales (The Knight's Tale, The Miller's Tale, The Reeve's Tale, The Nun's Priest's Tale, The Pardoner's Tale, and The Wife of Bath's Tale). I had my students write tales similar to Chaucer's after we read some of the tales: a beast fable for Chaunticleer (NPT), an urban legend for the Pardoner's Tale (cautionary), and a riddle or question tale for TWOBT. Then we spent one day telling each other our newly created tales. I think next year I will write a tale so I can be one of the tellers, but this year I played The Host and drew their names out of a cup. Anyway, the story telling -- especially in sixth period -- went so well. One of my students told a story deriding conservative Utah County, and that led to rebuttals (manufactured on the fly with the epilogues they were supposed to have for their stories) from several students. It was eerily reminiscent of the Miller/Reeve and made for a great day.
In the past I've had students find and tell a story -- it was a much more meaningful assignment when they had to write and tell a story.

Next year I think I'll try having the students write an original fairy tale rather than a riddle tale. That one was much too hard for them to grasp.

Thoughts on Beowulf and Chaucer

2010-02-08T09:07:00.004-07:00

1. I liked using the chapter from Grendel, but I need to edit it for length.
2. Using the Star Trek Beowulf was fun - I need to edit it.
3. Add the part where the Pardoner and Summoner talk to Chaucer after the first tournament to my Chaucer Clips Movie.
4. Get more info on urban legends and riddle tales - give students more time.

The Things They Carried

2010-01-18T13:25:00.007-07:00

I just ran across this article and photo essay from Time Magazine that would go so well with this novel.

In his classic story collection about the Vietnam War, Tim O'Brien wrote that what G.I.'s carried into battle was determined by necessity, specialty and rank, and "to some extent by superstition." Three decades later, the 145,000 Americans serving in Iraq rely on their own talismans to protect them from the barrage of sniper bullets, mortar fire and roadside bombs that have claimed the lives of more than 2,700 of their comrades. The Marines of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment spent much of this year deployed in Ramadi, the heart of the Sunni Triangle and one of the most dangerous outposts in Iraq. The things they carry are often emblems of love or faith, reminders of home and a higher purpose. PFC Phillip Busenlehner's good-luck charm is an angel pendant given to him by his best friend's mother last year before Busenlehner left for boot camp. The case it came in reads, "An angel to give you strength to overcome any challenge." The pendant has been blessed by three priests and the Pope.

Lance Corporal Richard Caseltine wears a dog tag that belonged to his grandfather, who fought in the Korean War. "It is older than I am and means the world to me," he says. "I haven't taken it off since I got it." He was wearing it on April 8 when a bullet hit him in the head. He survived and returned to duty. "God was with me and so was my grandfather," he says.

Corporal Michael Compton carries a plastic bag containing a pair of his wife's underwear. She gave it to him before his first deployment to Iraq, when they were still dating. "She said that she would stick by me," he says. But on a patrol outside Fallujah, the bag fell out of his pocket and blew away. "I thought it was long gone," he says. A week later, while "out in the middle of nowhere," he noticed a plastic bag and picked it up. The underwear was inside. "I couldn't believe it. I guess it was a sign because, sure enough, when I got back, me and my wife got married. I deployed again to Iraq, and I figured I should bring it with me. After all, if it found its way back to me, maybe it could guide me back to her."

Other Ideas:

I love this book, and my students typically do too. I try to prepare them for the structure of the book, as well as the idea that this is a book about truth and storytelling as much as it is a book about war. We spend time discussing the idea of story-truth vs. happening-truth, etc.

One activity I did with my students which worked nicely was character interviews, an idea I got from Carol Jago. Students were assigned a character, and then came up in front of the class (typically in groups of three or four) and were asked questions by the rest of the class as though they were the character. The students really enjoyed the activity, and it had them thinking deeply about character relationships and motivations, as well as using the text for questions and support. As I recall, we did it after reading, but you could really do it at any point(s) throughout the novel.

One thing that could add relevancy is comparing the book and the things/feelings the characters are going through and feeling to the current wars in the Middle East. Is there a soldier that you could have come to the class to discuss with students what being a soldier, etc. is like? I think tying it in with the wars that are going on now, making the things the read and see on the news more real, is a great way to show how literature reflects life.

Friendly Letter

2010-01-08T22:03:00.006-07:00

I found this great friendly letter example that I want to share with my students. Right click on it to go full screen.

Jim Burke at NCTE 2009

2009-11-24T18:40:00.002-07:00

Penny Kittle's Britton Award Speech

2009-11-24T18:32:00.001-07:00

I got to talk to Penny at NCTE; she is as nice as can be.

Stories and Standards

2009-11-23T22:43:00.002-07:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Stories and Standards

Reader's Choice

2009-09-15T07:23:00.005-06:00

There's been a big hullabaloo over reader's choice of late in academic circles. Many teachers feel like they HAVE to only have their students reading the classics or they are somehow depriving them of a mainstay of their education. Heinemann has a forum and a video up by Nancie Atwell that reply to those critics. As I am advocating for reader's choice in my classroom this year, it is nice to have a validation of what I am doing from the leaders in the field.

CUWP How-To Examples

2009-07-15T07:33:00.005-06:00

Cat Bathing as a Martial Art
Beginner Crochet Block
How to Look like a Real Zombie
How to plan the perfect Twilight trip to Forks, Washington
How to Moonwalk like Michael Jackson

CUWP Demonstration Lesson

2009-06-27T14:32:00.010-06:00

Complete lesson plan with links
Handout
PowerPoint
Student examples

Thoughts on the CUWP

2009-06-24T22:30:00.005-06:00

Wow!!

I have enjoyed this group so much. It is invigorating and inspiring to be with a bunch of people who all love to write and want to learn more about writing. The freewrite responses every morning have been fantastic. Today was the first time we had a chance to share our writing with our immediate writing group. We each had a very different style of writing that we brought to review. Mine was very personal in nature, Janette's was humorous, Serena had employed a unique point of view, and Eric, our resident mathematician, had an informative piece that proved both challenging and interesting to review. We also had our first demonstration lesson (dl) today. Amy did a great job at teaching us some of the pre-writing strategies she used with Pride and Prejudice this year. Our only regret as a group was that she didn't have any of us write. We were all ready to go after hearing her activities. After listening to the response of the group, I think that everyone wants to write as part of the dl. Chris, one of our facilitators said something like we can't really own a piece and know how we would use it until we write it ourselves. Anyway, even though we didn't get to write I came away with some good ideas. She used some sensory experiences and had us rate them as good or bad. Then she talked about why some of us loved cinnamon bears, and some of us hated them. This led into talk about prejudices. It was especially nice that it opens up the full realm of prejudices and goes beyond just racial ones. She also had an interesting writing prompt where she asked her students to compare a tootsie roll pop to a character in P&P. I immediately thought of how I could use that with Gatsby this year. What a fun (and exhausting) week!

Conventions and Conferences

2009-06-19T14:20:00.012-06:00

Next week I will be attending the CUWP. I am still finishing up my lesson idea that I am supposed to present. I think I have a pretty good idea - I just need to get the ideas down on paper. My goal is to blog about my experience every night (or at least every other night), so I will remember what I learned and thought about.

Speaking of thinking and learning, earlier this week I attended the Utah Charter School Convention. I actually enjoyed most of the classes that I attended - they seemed to be a lot more helpful this year than in years past. The first class I went to talked about effective class room management. Probably the biggest idea I came away with from that session was the need to recommit to bellwork as a way to get my students minds focused and ready for English.

Ideas for getting class off to a good start:

Have the class set up and ready to go (Hard for my since I am a floater; I'll have to adapt)
Personally greet as many students as I can as they come in
Ask about how the student is doing - create rapor and commonality
Call students by their names
Be at the door
Give assignment immediately - bellwork
Give instructions for those who finish early (when the whispering starts)

Three Point Preventative Structure for Classroom Management
1. Entry Activity (bellwork)
2. Diversity of Instructional Techniques
3. Procedural Consistency

Either you are in my classroom ready to start - or you are not.

Strategies for Designing Entry Activities:

Every entry activity should have two main objectives: FOCUS student attention to your subject and provide a positive experience wherein the student can SUCCEED at the beginning of class.

The entry activity should be posted somewhere where all students can see it IMMEDIATELY upon entering into the classroom.

Be wary of allowing students to talk during this activity-it will result in loss of focus for the students. The purpose of an entry activity is to promote this focus.

All entry activites should have simple instructions that can be read or implied by the students.

ALWAYS BE IN THE CLASSROOM GREETING STUDENTS WHEN THE BELL RINGS OR YOU WILL STRUGGLE THE REST OF THE HOUR FOR CONTROL.

Start instructions on minute or two before the bell rings; since students are trained you won't need to repeat them, but those who have arrived will already be on task by the time the bell rings.

If you intend to split students into groups, assign them as they enter or have a pre-existing procedure that students may invoke themselves.

Remember that you must train your students to respond to these activities. Students are creatures of habit, so teach them the habits you want them to perform!

Sample Entry Activity Ideas:
* Always alternate the type of activity or your students will become bored.

Open ended question leading into today's subject matter

Open ended question reviewing previous subject matter

Discovery activity leading into the lesson

Simple knowledge questions (1-5)

Code switching activity (changing text from one mode (formal, etc.) to another (cell text, twitter, etc.)
Prior knowledge/preassessment questions

SAT Vocabulary to define and form sentences about

Prompts from standardized tests (BSCT, CRT, or ACT)

Ask for assessment of previous activities

Have students self assess how they are doing in class

Analize a poem, picture, music, short video clip

Correct homework and have student re-do two problems that they missed

Post a short reading assignment from a text, novel, or free reading book

Listing and brainstorming

Respond to current events

Have students review and respond to yesterday's notes

Have students think of questions they have (Stump the Teacher)

Use ideas from Why We Must Run With Scissors

Editing practice (from Everyday Editing)

Modes of Instruction:

Direct Instruction
Guided Discussion
Manipulatives (Magnetic Poetry, Found Poetry, Word Strips)
Socratic Seminar
Discovery (Inquiry) Activity
List and Categorize
Group Activities
Synthesis
Synectics
Concept Development
Concept Attainment
Cause and Effect
Vocabulary Acquisition
Resolution of Conflict
Values Development
Cooperative Learning
Entertainment as Education (media, music, TV, Etc.)
Fishbowl
Expert Groups
Jigsaw
Code Switching
Alternate Genre

I've Made the Newspaper!

2009-02-22T14:55:00.005-07:00

About a week ago, I got an email from someone who writes for the local newspaper about writing a book review. I gave him one and then kind of forgot about it. Apparently, a lot of my colleagues and students read that newspaper, because I started to hear a lot of comments about it on Wednesday. So, I went and checked it out, and I was amazed to see the stellar company I was in. Here's a link to the article:
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/300129/149/

This Is Why I Do What I Do

2009-02-21T20:03:00.002-07:00

By the end of last semester I was feeling a little burned out. I had one class in particular that was driving me insane and making me feel like a failure at teaching. So, I have been more than a little thankful for a few teaching compliments that have been thrown my way lately. I have found out that at least a few of my students do appreciate all the effort I make to have even things like Chaucer and Shakespeare fresh and relevant for them. I've heard feedback about three different events that let me know that I have made a difference, at least for three of my students. I guess that will be enough to keep me going for 3 more months now!

Oh my, is it August already?

2008-08-03T17:47:00.002-06:00

Well, this summer has certainly flown by. It's hard to believe that I'll be headed back to school in two weeks. I am actually kind of excited about it. I just hope my foot has healed up by then so I can walk.

Till We Have Faces . . . Or Not?

2008-07-30T09:27:00.005-06:00

I've been looking at adding another work to my British literature class. I came across this novel published by C. S. Lewis in the 1950's. It reminds me of the modern fascination with retold fairy tales with some more philosophy and a bit of Lewis' lecturing thrown in. I think we could have some good discussion about the true motivations of all of our behaviors, based on the choices of the "ugly stepsister." Anyway, I am intrigued and would like to try it out this year. The only thing holding me back? Getting 30 copies of the book. I'm not sure I will have the funds for it. But, I would sure like to give it a try.

Finishing off my UEN class

2008-07-21T23:49:00.010-06:00

I've been taking one UEN (Utah Education Network) class every three or four months in order to get a lane change (pay raise) eventually. I just finished my assignment for the latest class I've taken on Webquests. So, here is my first webquest ever.

It's on Victorian England, and I hope to use it with my reading of The Importance of Being Earnest next year.

I have two essential questions connected with the Webquest:

Why is the face we show the world different from our real face?
Why is it so important to "keep up appearances"?

I hope this will spark some interest with my high school aged students, as keeping up appearances is obviously a very important subject for them.

The Twilight Phenomenom

2008-07-12T10:58:00.008-06:00

As the mother of two young women and the teacher of many more, it was inevitable that I would pick up and read Stephanie Meyer's Twilight. I don't mean to knock the books too much; I think she is obviously talented as a writer. I don't particularly like the message that her books send to young women, i.e., if you don't have a boyfriend your life isn't worth living.

I came across an interesting article about the book that brings up some interesting questions. One of them is that in a world where young men are increasingly unable to relate to "real" women due to the influence of pornography, is it a only a recipe for disaster to encourage a generation of young women who feel like the ideal boyfriend is one who won't take advantage of them sexually?

On a whole different note, I recently finished Stephanie's newest novel, The Host. I liked this one better than the Twilight series, perhaps because I am so much more comfortable reading sci-fi than gothic romance.

What can I do with this?

2008-07-08T11:01:00.003-06:00

I came across this video on you tube. I love it, and I am trying to think of some way my students could do something similar.

It has a companion article in the New York Times. I think it's just kind of interesting to see some one doing something just to have fun with it.

Hallelujah!

2008-06-18T09:46:00.017-06:00

Yesterday Janmarie and I presented at the Utah Charter Schools Convention. Our presentation was titled: Engaging Modern Students in Classic Literature. I created both the handout and the blog site for the presentation. I worked very hard coming up with ideas to share that I thought would benefit my fellow teachers. Janmarie mentioned that teachers don't really want to hear theory; they want ideas they can take and use it their classrooms. This is what I came up with:

Music

Music Test – Romanticism and The Enlightenment
Music and Transcendentalism
Music and Satire – Phil Otts

Essential Questions

Essential questions allow us to explore what knowledge is, how it came to be, and how it has changed through human history. Exploring essential question together gives students a sense of community and broadens their views.
(Chaucer, Ballads, etc) Is there still a real purpose for storytelling in our modern world? Why and how do the stories we tell reflect ourselves and our values? (Wife of Bath)
The Crucible "Why is power such a powerful motivator for people?"

Creation and Performance

Occupation Romeo
Beowulf Virus Movie
Singing and performing ballads
Snowbound Storytelling - Chaucer

Art - Viewing and Creating

Picture Review – Symbols – Save the Last Word for Me
Cartoons - Transcendentalism

Pairing Young Adult Literature with Classics

R. E. Probst - Literature “should not be approached with awe and handled with kid gloves. Most secondary English programs require students to read difficult classic texts that have little to do with adolescent life, and as a result, many students are “turned off” of reading. Unless the students are able to relate to the texts on a more personal level, they will not get much out of the reading.”
Fairytales
Enter Three Witches with Macbeth
Journey stories such as The True Adventure of Charlotte Doyle with The Odyssey
Sherman Alexie’s “Leaving Phoenix, AZ” pairing with Native American literature
Best thing – it allows you to introduce women, multiculturalism, and modern interest into the world of mostly dead white men.

Writing

Dramatic Monologues
Script Writing
Blog – Pros and Cons
We need to use this technology before we have our students try it, so we will know what it is capable of.

I was incredibly nervous about presenting, but it seemed to go over pretty well, and the people who came to the workshop seemed to enjoy it. I did forget to mention some things that I was going to talk about (dramatic monologues and scripting).

Of course, there were some bumps along the way. We were a little shaky about the agenda, and I had a few technical glitches. I couldn't play a student produced movie, and some of my sound files didn't work. My husband says this is due to "The Law of Demos" which is that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, most likely one minute before the presentation starts.

Anyway, I think that this experience has stretched me as both an educator and as a person. After the workshop, Janmarie and I had to fill out an evaluation. One of the questions was whether we would be willing to present again next year. I told Janmarie that that was like asking a mother if she wants to have another baby minutes after giving birth.

Eureka!

2008-06-15T07:45:00.012-06:00

As I have spent the last month preparing to present with Janmarie at the Charter School Conference, I have thought a lot about improving the clarity and validity of some of my assignments. I have had some great ideas.

For my interview project at the beginning of the year, I have decided to tie it in more completely with the storytelling/oral tradition feel of the unit by having the students write and perform it as an introduction with an anecdote rather than as a newspaper article. We will see how it goes.

I loved my American Transcendentalism mini-unit last year, but Walt felt like he was a tag-a-long to the party. I have decided to add him to the free writes by opening with the question, "What does it mean to be an American?" Then after we read "I Hear America Singing" and whatever else I am in the mood for, I will have the students freewrite a page on the prompt:
Considering all that we have read and talked about transcendentalism, why do you think that it is such a uniquely American phenomenon?

Thoughts on my Cry, The Beloved Country unit

2008-05-04T08:39:00.133-06:00

This is my second year of teaching this novel. I don't know if I will teach it again for a while; next year I am going to try something different if I can round up enough copies.

Anyway, here are my thoughts. I began my unit by showing the students just the first ten minutes or so of The Gods Must be Crazy. After talking about the two different pictures of Africa (actually Botswana) it presents, we read the first chapter and talked about its two different pictures of Africa. For the remainder of that first day, the students completed a webquest about the history of apartheid in South Africa.

Fear engenders hatred, and only through love can fear be cast out.

Having laid the framework, we preceded at a leisurely pace through the novel. I learned my lesson from last year, when we had to rush through it, so this year we are taking it slow. On Fridays we are doing something different (Fractured Fairytale Friday), so the students don't get too burned out on the novel.

The second day we read chapters 2-4, and I reintroduced the heroic quest elements from way back at the beginning of the year when we did Beowulf because the letter Kumalo receives is a "call," and he will gain mentors, fight obstacles, enter the abyss, and experience a return in the novel. I also introduced the essential questions we would be thinking about throughout the novel and posted them on the board:

What does it mean to be a family?
Why are familial relationships so important to the well being of a country?
What happens to a country when its basic unit, the family, is destroyed?
What can a country, its leaders, and even everyday citizens do to rebuild and strengthen families?
Why do we fear the things we do not understand?
Does anything good ever come from fear?
How can we prevent fear from controlling us?

Basically, I wanted to have the students focused on the ideas of of social disintegration and moral restoration.
Before we read chapters five and six, I had the students read the parable of the Prodigal Son. This allusion appears throughout the book, so I thought it was important for the students to be familiar with it.

Then, before they read chapters seven and eight, I had them read the story of Absalom. I constantly referred back to these two different father/son stories, as there are many allusions to both throughout the book. Because we watched a movie about the Atlanta bus boycott while we were studying Henry David Thoreau, I had the students compare the two bus boycotts.

Since chapter nine introduces a whole new point of view, I had the students review the different points of view (first person, objective, third person, limited omniscient, omniscient) before we read it. After the reading, I had the students draw a picture that symbolized some feeling they got out of reading the chapter. I posted the pictures on the board following a sharing session modeled on "Save the Last Word for Me." Because this chapter is full of strong imagery, this activity worked particularly well.

One of the surest ways to remain superior to another group is to remove the means for the subjugated to acquire knowledge and literacy. ~ Paolo Freire

I used a story from the Peace Corps lesson plans, "A Single Lucid Moment" before we read chapters 10 and 11 to focus the students thoughts on the ideas that action is necessary to solve problems in this world, that our view of the world is not the only view, and to demonstrate the cultural differences. This went over very well, especially because the story emphasized that the break up of the tribe meant that this safety net of caring people who were willing to share with everyone was gone.

Before reading chapter 12, which is another different point of view chapter, we read
"A South African Storm". This was another Peace Corps lesson. I used this story to teach the students that racial prejudice has deep roots and may linger after official policies that condoned it have changed and that adapting to another culture requires one not only to speak the language but also to follow some of the simplest local routines. This story also brought up some nice essential questions:

What are effective ways of fighting prejudice that is based on race or ethnicity?
How do we effectively fit in when living among cultures different from our own?

After reading chapter 12, I had the students prepare a dramatic monologue of about a half a page about any character in the story, from major to minor. They have done this once before, so they were familiar with it. Some of them chose very minor characters, like the young man who robbed Kumalo at the bus station. Here is one student's submission about Absalom:

"What did I do? I see the white man falling, blood forcing its way into the world it was never meant to see. The gun, hot in my hand, stings. Then everything stings, everything is so clear and sharp, my body aches with sudden exhaustion, physically rejecting what it just witnessed. My mind burns, I see it happening again, the white man jumps out yelling, then he starts screaming, and everything hurts. The guilt sears my head with the image. White, chemical, smoke blurs everything, but it’s sharp smoke, painful smoke, a signal to the world, visible to only a few. I hurt, I seek comfort within, father what did I do? All the pain vanishes, except the pain in my heart, it amplifies a hundred fold, the shame I brought my father hurts more than anything, what will he say? What did I do? The whole city must be listening to this pain in my chest, this silent pain. And inside I hear my voice taken from me, my soul lost in the shambles of who I once was, and now, am no more. All the good in the world has been locked away, all that I loved is tainted with the image of this terrible weight I now carry. All happiness is now a silent reminder of how much I no longer deserve to feel warmth in my cold soul.
Reach out to me, please beg for me, allow me to grow once more. I’ve sold myself without a price, I have served a master who despises all else. There I see the shame running across my hands like a lake of fire and brimstone. Oh forgive me, Oh Father, what have I done?"

Keeping up with our theme of family and fear, we read the following poem, Sestina of Youth and Age, before reading chapters 13 and 14. We focused on the disconnect and misunderstandings different generations feel toward each other.

Sestina of Youth and Age
by Frank Gelett Burgess

My father died when I was all too young,
And he too old, too crowded with his care,
For me to know he knew my hot fierce hopes;
Youth sees wide chasms between itself and
Age—How could I think he, too, had lived my life?
My dreams were all of war, and his of rest.
And so he sleeps (please God), at last at rest,
And, it may be, with soul refreshed, more young
Than when he left me, for that other life—
Free, for a while, at least, from that old Care,
The hard, relentless torturer of his age,
That cooled his youth, and bridled all his hopes.
For now I know he had the longing hopes,
The wild desires of youth, and all the rest
Of my ambition ere he came to age;
He, too, was bold, when he was free and young—
Had I but known that he could feel, and care!
How could I know the secret of his life?
In my own youth I see his early life
So reckless, and so full of flaming hopes—
I see him jubilant, without a care,
The days too short, and grudging time for rest;
He knew the wild delight of being young—
Shall I, too, know the calmer joys of age?
His words come back, to mind me of that age
When, lovingly, he watched my broadening life—
And, dreaming of the days when he was young,
Smiled at my joys, and shared my fears and hopes.
His words still live, for in my heart they rest,
Too few not to be kept with jealous care!
Ah, little did I know how he could care!
That, in my youth, lay joys to comfort age!
Not in this world, for him, was granted rest,
But as he lived, in me, a happier life,
He prayed more earnestly to win my hopes
Then ever his own, when he was young!

Envoy
He once was young; I too must fight with
Care; He knew my hopes, and I must share his age;
God grant my life be worthy, too, of rest!

After reading chapters 15 and 16, I decided that because the book is a little slow moving, the students needed something entirely different for a day to give their minds a break and let them refocus when we returned to it. So, I introduced "Fairy Tale Friday." I'm always monitoring and adjusting! I gave my students an assignment to work in pairs and complete and publish a fractured fairy tale in four weeks. I shared a few of my favorites with them before they got started.

Before we read chapters 17-19, I shared a recent news article with the students. After reading the article, we discussed elements of a new term we have coined called "differentism" here in the US. We focused on people's fears of anyone different from them, using the current election for president (Obama, H. R. Clinton, Romney, Huckabee, etc.) as a nice springboard.

We also noticed that chapter 18 is the beginning of a new book, and we noted that book 1 is about Kumalo, and book 2 is about Jarvis. Books 1 and 2 deal with the social disintegration theme.

Before reading chapters 20-21, we had some students perform monologues. I have been having a few students do it everyday. It is fun to see all the different takes they have on what is happening. I made sure that the students knew that the writings that Jarvis reads from his son are actually the life writings of Alan Paton. We also read "On Children" to further clarify the family questions we have been talking about throughout the novel. I made sure to point out that Jarvis and Kumalo both have no control over what their sons do-children follow their own path. It does help to have good parents, obviously, as the poem says:

For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

I also brought out the following questions:

Exactly what does the following line mean? Can parents raise their children without giving them their thoughts?
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
Is it important for parents to instill values in their children? If so, when should such education cease? Can parents really seek to be like their children?
You may seek to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
What does the following line mean? Is the past a burden? Is it necessary to understand the past?
For life goes not forward nor tarries with yesterday.

Finally, I read the students the Gettysburg Address, so they would understand the significance of James Jarvis' fascination with it. I particularly highlighted the following section, which seems to issue a "call" (back to the heroic quest) to Jarvis to finish what his son has started:
"The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom..."
Now, although I had carefully planned my unit so that we read just one or two chapters a day, with plenty of time for enrichment, I lost a day here to testing, which frequently happens in May. So, I had to have the students take a reading day to read the next four chapters, 22-25.

I posted an enlarged think chart for each chapter on the white board. The students were supposed to read the chapter silently to themselves, and then answer the following questions. We talked about all of them at the end of class. This actually worked pretty well, because my read ahead group took the day to do personal reading, while the people who were a little behind got to catch up, then we all got together at the end.

Chapter 22 - What do you think about the trial? Is it a fair trial? Do you think Absalom will be found guilty or not? Note that in South Africa, the judges are treated with great respect by all races, but though they are just, they often enforce unjust laws created by the white people. How does this trial compare to the trial in To Kill a Mockingbird, if you are familiar with that book?

Chapter 23 - Does anything in this chapter remind anyone of some of the scandals that have happened recently in the US? Today, many companies in the US have stock sharing, so that employees get shares of stock and an ownership in the profit (and tanking) of their companies. After reading this chapter, why would this be a good thing? Note that the news of these new gold mines completely eclipses news of the Arthur Jarvis murder trial, demonstrating that white South Africa, in general, cares much more about wealth than about its dire race problems.

Chapter 24 - Do you think Arthur Jarvis was correct in what he says about his upbringing? Was James Jarvis justified in his reaction? Pay particular attention to the things Arthur says about his children and his expectations for them.

Chapter 25 - Does this unexpected meeting with Kumalo and Jarvis go as you would expect it to? In what ways does Jarvis show compassion for Kumalo? Because this meeting is told from Jarvis’s point of view, it gives us a new perspective on the story. When Jarvis answers the door and finds Kumalo, he sees only a frail black parson, although we immediately realize that it is Kumalo. This disconnect between the two characters mirrors the distance between South Africa’s white and black populations. It may even be said that by seeing Kumalo through Jarvis's eyes, we finally really SEE him. We realize that the search for Absalom, its horrible conclusion, and the trial are taking a horrible toll on Kumalo. Paton makes these two stories intersect in a manner that reinforces not only the distance between whites and blacks but also the nature of their conflict—that blacks are weak and powerless whereas whites are strong and powerful.

The next day we read chapters 26 and 27. Chapter 26 is a meditation on the complicated relationship between words and social change. Stephen's brother,John Kumalo, speaks beautifully, but he does not demand radical change in the circumstances facing the black population. As Msimangu explains, John is too attached to his own possessions and social position to put himself in real danger. We spent a lot of time talking about some of history's greatest orators (Hitler came up quite a bit) and talking about the merits of words versus action. We talked about what is necessary beyond words to bring about social change. We came to a consensus that social protest does not have meaning without the good intentions and methodical planning necessary to see it through. Our focus for chapter 27 was foreshadowing. I told the class that Gertrude and Mrs. Lethbe's conversation foreshadows something that will happen later in the book. I had the students free write about what they thought that it would be.

At this point I gave the students a new assignment. They had to do a thoughtful analysis of a character from the novel and design (or find) a mask based on that analysis. I also had them make one for themselves. This turned out to be a really fun and interesting assignment. I loved reading what the students came up with about both the characters and themselves.

"Absalom Kumalo:

...As a young child, Absalom was taught strong principles which represent the metal aspect of the mask. But, metal can be bent to create an entirely different object, which is what happened to Absalom when he went to Johannesburg. Due to the cutting and bending of the metal, or his principles, Absalom is now vulnerable...The two dragons on top represent Absalom’s past and what he has now become. I mentioned before that the dragons act as though they are enemies; this is because Absalom’s present state is basically the complete opposite of Absalom’s past."

We next read chapters 28 and 29. Chapter 28 is the verdict chapter. We mainly focused on the unfairness of the judges justice. He could have given Absalom mercy, but because of fear and prejudice, he does not.

Chapter 29 has several more images from the story of Absalom and the Prodigal Son that we discussed earlier, i.e., Absalom pleading on his knees and John Kumalo's reference to the fatted calf. We also spent a lot of time discussing the two monetary gifts at the end of this chapter and the significance of each. The students had a lot of opinions about which gift was the most valuable, despite the great disparity in their sizes.

We finished off chapters 30-36 with a lot of talk about the changes that both sides have to be willing to make for real change to happen in society. We had a very good class discussion about compromise and what it really means. We also talked a lot about Jarvis' grandson being a "bridge" between the two communities. During the final chapter, we pulled out all of the biblical allusions from Kumalo going up in the mountain and sacrificing his son. To finish off the unit, I gave my students this essay test, which most of them did amazingly well on. The following is one student's essay:

"There are a few ways in which his political views are reflected in Cry the Beloved Country (CTBC). The first way is his hatred of crime. It is reflected in the book because the whole plot revolves around Kumalo’s son and the murder he committed. It is very emotional at times, and is quite thought provoking about how many people crime affects. The second way is in the degradation of native society. He talks mainly of how people are going to the slums more and more, and how sometimes people just leave each other, and never come back. It is perfectly represented by his entire chapter on the slum life, and how Gertrude became what she became, and left her brother when they were going to return. The final view that is reflected is on how to change it. He talks of how people must work together, or change will never come. Like in the book, when Jarvis and Kumalo work together to make a better life for the village, he stresses the importance of worthy goals that arise when working together. Overall this article reflects the entire nature and goal of CTBC.
I think that it compares quite nicely with the final chapters. In the final chapters, the reader sees that Jarvis has become an advocate of the black people, and now is doing his best to care for them. The reader sees Kumalo on the road to recovery by teaching Zulu to the young master. It almost seems like one of the moments when, “All humanity will join together to celebrate one of the outstanding human victories of our century.” As he said in the speech, and as I inferred in the previous paragraph, it seems that only by working together can the world be a better place, just like it started to become in the last chapters of the book. In the speech, he talks about freeing the world from the horrors and injustice of poverty (among other things), and it seems that in the last chapters this hope is shouted at the reader, yelling “Yes! Yes, we can do this, yes, we can make this reality! To the people out there that want this to stop, here is the hope we can look for!” Yes, it seems this whole speech reflects the hope seen in the last chapters of Cry, the Beloved Country.
There are a few main changes to the South African government that seem to be important enough to mention. The government finally recognized the evils of apartheid, and state in the preamble that they know that it was wrong, and that they are changing for the better. Now, instead of trying to be better than others, they unite in their diversity, which is a big change from that of the CTBC setting. The government now promises to improve life for everyone. In CTBC, Paton almost yells to the reader of his desire for these changes, reflected in the description of the slums, of the death of Young Jarvis, and the young mother, now wife of Kumalo’s son. He states the injustices bluntly, and makes sure that everyone knows his desire for change, which the preamble has now so perfectly addressed. Yes, it now seems that almost every issue that CTBC wanted changed has done so. And all for the better."

Probably the coolest thing that happened during the last part of the unit was during one of the days when we were talking about how both groups were going to have to change. All year I have been bringing in music and modern poetry to present themes from literature. As we discussed change, one of my students said, "Mrs. Tyler, this reminds me so much of the John Mayer song, Waiting on the World to Change." Luckily, I had access to that song, so I was able to pull it up, and we listened to it right then and there, and it added a lot to our discussion. Yeah! They ARE making connections after all.

Me and all my friends
We're all misunderstood
They say we stand for nothing and
There's no way we ever could
Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it

So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change
It's hard to beat the system
When we're standing at a distance
So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change

Now if we had the power
To bring our neighbors home from war
They would have never missed a Christmas
No more ribbons on their door
And when you trust your television
What you get is what you got
Cause when they own the information, oh
They can bend it all they want

That's why we're waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change

It's not that we don't care,
We just know that the fight ain't fair
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change

Waiting on the World to Change - John Mayer

My Journey to Teaching

2008-04-26T21:53:00.002-06:00

I have come into teaching as an experienced mother of 4 teenagers, rather than a young person straight out of college, so I have a different perspective on life. I love teaching, my students, and my subject: English language and literature. I am planning on using this blog as a way to celebrate my successes and work through my frustrations.