New Book

Hi all! I just wanted to tell you that I have stumbled upon a great new book quite by accident on my zooba.com book club. I have started reading it and I think it is great for High School aged children. It is "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" by Bill Bryson, and it is so steeped with Pop-culture that I think kids will really relate to it well. My boyfriend is actually thinking of looking into using it next year if possible because he teaches a Pop-culture class at Eastern H.S.
A little about it:

The narrator is Bill Bryson, as the story is a memoir with embellishments included, and he describes in great detail how it was when he grew up in Des Moines, Iowa in the 1950s. He talks at length about how the world worked, what was going on with him and his family, and the things he did to cope with it all. He tells some of the most hilarious stories, including one about how he supposedly burned a hole in his uncle's head with a magnifying glass! I have laughed out loud several times.

So if you want something cool to read that is Young Adult, look into this book!

Reading Rocks

Hi fellow classmates and Sara...
I just wanted to take a moment to let you know that I had a true time of peace which came in the form of reading last night, and I want to encourage you all to find time, or to MAKE time for this very thing. I waited anxiously all week for my copy of "Maus II" to come from Amazon.com and Tuesday when I got home from class, it was there, waiting on my doorstep like a present. I love getting things like that in the mail, because even though I paid for it, it feels like opening a gift. Does anyone know what I mean? In a way, I guess it is a gift to myself.
I decided that I would try not to begin reading the second half of "Maus" until I had time to read the whole thing. This didn't last. I began it while babysitting, continued after my Wednesday English class, on the way (while walking) to see Dr. Kadjer, to my car, and finally I settled into bed, in my PJs, snuggled under my down comforter, and shut my door, lit my candles and finished the book. I read and read and read, until I finally reached the last page. I am usually so beat at the end of every day that I could never stay awake to read so much. However, I experienced quite an awakening of the senses...I wanted to get up and tell people about the book, about how it made me feel, about how it could be used in the classroom. I wanted to share it with students, with my brothers. In other words, I couldn't fall asleep right away for thinking about it. It felt like taking a mini vacation in a way.
I realized that I want so much to bring this sort of experience to my students in such a deep, passionate way. I realized that it will be difficult and will make me crazy in the process, sometimes, but that the struggle to bring the joys of reading, the escape of it, to them, will be worth it. I will begin with my HAT for this course, by studying their reading strategies, and moving into the use of literature circles and book talks. I will continue with writing a proposal to get funding from a Target grant for an after school book club for students. I will succeed, at least in some way, because of my passion.
Just wanted to share these musings with my colleagues, and my esteemed professor. Good night & GO CARDS!

Literature Circles III & Graphic Novel

Two things to talk about this morning: my latest literature circle experience and the graphic novel I have read for next week. Our literature circle spent time discussing Burger Wuss by M.T. Anderson yesterday, and we had what felt to me like a very productive conversation. We began by discussing the main character Anthony, and kind of branched out from there by talking about how he interacted with the other characters. This seemed to work for us when we discussed Harry Potter, no reason to change it. The difference between the two meetings was that our discussion revolved almost totally around the characters this time, whereas last time we spend more time exploring themes and specific events in the novel. I learned that the direction the conversation goes should be determined by the novel, and I hope to convey that to my students in the Spring when I teach using Literature Circles. I really want to teach The Book Thief for this unit, but it is unfortunately not in paperback, and not affordable for the students in hardback. That saddens me because it is one of the realities of Public School; there will always be something that you want your students to experience but can't because there isn't any money for it in the budget. :(
Back to our discussion and the dynamics of our lit circle...
I felt that we had fun with this book, and made some connections with one another that we may not have made without the activity, which made the time spent on the books and the activity worthwhile in my mind. I felt that I got to know the colleagues in my group a lot better than if I hadn't been in this group with them, and I also feel that I gained new knowledge and perspectives on the reading that I wouldn't have otherwise. This is what I hope to re-create in my own classroom soon.

Now, the really fun part of this BLOG: the graphic novel. I must admit that I was completely skeptical about reading a novel of this genre because I have all kinds of preconceived notions about comic books. I also didn't think I would be able to engage in a book like this because of these feelings. Boy was I surprised and delighted by being proved wrong! I read Maus I for this assignment because I had heard such good things about the author from my friend John, who got to hear him speak when he was here at U of L, and who has some experience with graphic novels. I also wanted to keep moving with the Holocaust literature in light of the experience I had when reading The Book Thief. I really want to open the study of this era up to my students beyond the stories of Anne Frank and Night. Those are great, don't get me wrong, but students need alternate perspectives, and honestly, most of the emotion involved in those two novels is lackluster at the high school age for many students because they have already read the stories, or heard a lot about them.
I was so shocked at the depth of emotion captured in Maus; I guess I didn't expect to be "wowed" by a book of this genre. It is amazing how the author can accomplish this depth with so few words, and with his incredible illustrations. I really think this type of novel will work with students, and I want to encourage the reading of them in my own classroom. I would like to read more, so I have chosen to buy the box set of the whole Maus story, and to read the second book for my next Young Adult novel. I am so interested in being knowledgeable about the graphic novel, and in learning from my students what they know that I may not. I am thinking of surveying the students tomorrow (11th graders) on this topic, so I will let you know what I find out.

Literature Circles II

So our first meeting with the literature circles went well, though there are a few things our group decided to change for next week. We read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, or in some cases, re-read it, and it was very easy to pick up a new thread of conversation when we were together. Before we began, we had not assigned roles, but instead we came up with 8 subjects for discussion, wrote them down, and referred to them throughout our ~45 minute talk. I couldn't believe how fast that 45 minutes went! We began by discussing the relationships Harry had with some of the other characters in the book, and how we defined them in the grand scheme of Harry's life/experience at Hogwart's and outside of it. We explored the villains of the novel, the over-arching themes, the parts we liked best, the connections to other authors in the same genre,our personal thoughts on the writing of J.K. Rowling in general, how this would work in a classroom of adolescents, and also the adolescent issues within the novel. We each took our turn explaining our thoughts in detail, and I know that I had a great time talking with everyone present.

My favorite part of the discussion was definitely the responses from the two people in our group who had never read any of the series. Only having seen the movie, they thought they wouldn't really enjoy reading the stories in this form. HA! Not so much. Jessica is hooked, I think...and if you ask me, it is hard not to be hooked. We actually discussed why it is that J.K. Rowling hooks you in after only a few pages, and decided it was her brilliant use of foreshadowing, and the conversational tone of her writing. The story is easy to read, but uses rich, descriptive language to convey meaning, and there are many sly references to things that will happen in the next book, which compels you to read on. Tricky, that woman, tricky.

We decided that next time we will change only one thing; we are going to come prepared with specific quotes from the text to guide our discussion of Burger Wuss by M.T. Anderson. We will touch on each of the eight questions from this first meeting, but we will bring in specific quotations to backup our points, rather than discussing the events in the novel from memory alone. In this way, I think we will add depth to the discussion and possibly even come up with more stuff to use if we ever decide to use the text in our classrooms.

Literature Circles

I just have to share this information with the class (well, Sara, since no one seems to leave me comments), in case anyone is interested in really trying to do a Book Club or integrate literature circles into their classroom. For my Methods course, Jessica Hickerson, Jen Ubel and I have chosen to take Dr. Kadjer's advice and buy the book "Reading and Writing Together: Collaborative Literacy in Action" by Nancy Steineke for our Literature Circle requirement. We are reading this book to try and get insight into the collaboration process, and to hopefully get some ideas on how to use it in our classrooms very soon. Our group tends to advocate the use of collaboration as much as possible, because we operate on the philosophy that students learn a WHOLE lot from their peers, and are often more interested in doing some work if they can interact with one another.
This text is WONDERFUL! It is so down-to-earth, and is written in a narrative style that is very easy to follow. It is the best $25 I have spent in a long time. It has helped me get really excited about trying out these literature circles, even in a school that doesn't really embrace group work for fear of discipline issues that may arise. I know I can make it work, and Steineke points out that if you aren't afraid to make mistakes, reflect upon them, and change things to make them work better, these literature circles can really work. She even takes the time to show her readers the mistakes she has made by adding little vignettes called "Trial and Error"; some of them will actually make you laugh out loud. It has been refreshing to read such a book among all the dense, handbook style texts that we have to buy for graduate school.
So thanks, Sara, once again...you have helped my group so much by suggesting this book!

NCTE Email

I hope that everyone in our class is a member of NCTE because their monthly email updates are WONDERFUL! I found a very interesting article on Adolescent Literacy today that is available for any members to read:


Excellence in Literacy Instruction

Reading in Middle and High School
Like their younger peers, only 31 percent of eighth-grade students scored Proficient or higher on the 2005 NAEP reading test. Yet the literacy demands for success in school and in life are rising.

NCTE supports educators who are striving to meet the needs of middle and secondary level readers. This includes acknowledging that adolescents are already reading in multiple ways and helping these readers grow their competence through engagement with various types of texts, encouraging wide reading for various purposes throughout life.

For more information on adolescent literacy, see "A Call to Action: What We Know About Adolescent Literacy and Ways to Support Teachers in Meeting Students' Needs" at
http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/category/read/118622.htm

I also got really excited because I discovered an interesting writing project that helps provide hope for children who are struggling to achieve literacy in other, more under-developed and impoverished countries. The whole premise of the project is that if we teach students to have compassion for those less fortunate and make them aware of social problems across the globe, they will have a much better chance of growing up to become adults that affect positive change in America and the world. I truly believe that students have such a hard time focusing on anything that doesn't directly affect them because they are so self-centered (in general) at the adolscent stage of development. As teachers, I don't see why we can't take it one step further than the program of studies and integrate humanitarian projects into our curriculum. This project in particular has two sections: the first calls for artistically talented students to create portraits of children in orphanages around the world to help them build/maintain a sense of identity and heritage, while also giving them a keepsake as they don't really get to keep many things because they are always moving from place to place; the second is more pertinent to my classroom in that it calls for students of any grade level to create story books, SRIs, art projects that tell a story, etc. for children in Uganda or India who have been victims of slavery or war and are striving to achieve literacy against all odds. The first project I will send to our Art teachers at Fern Creek, the second I would like to try in my classroom. There is no reason we couldn't work on the project with Juniors after our unit on Contemporary Literature, giving them the chance to include the writing in their portfolios if applicable and also allowing them to complete a portion of their Community Service requirements for graduation.

So, I was just a little excited and wanted to share!! Have a great week!

Just a quick note

I finished my filming this week and I just got a chance to drop it all on Movie Maker. I felt a renewed sense of my passion for teaching, and also in my quest to start a Book Club at Fern Creek. As part of the documentary, I asked students to indicate whether or not they are interested in participating in a Book Club, and the response was almost 100% yes, across ages, ethnic groups and achievement levels. I love it! I didn't have enough space on my movie to put that info in, but it also helped me get excited about teaching. I have been pleasantly surprised with the responses of my students, and also in their willingness to participate in my project. I had students fighting over who would go next! My greatest sadness with the whole thing was that I had to cut some of the footage. It caused me great distress to choose which parts wouldn't be included!
One other thing I wanted to mention: I tried very hard to include a diverse sample of student responses for my video project. I thought that this would help to give me a preview of what I can expect next semester. Also, I only used students that I will have in class, so that I can make it a point to try and use their suggestions in my teaching practices.
More later!