Recharging the Blog

So... I haven't posted in a while, but I have read a great deal. In 2013, I would like to be a slightly more consistent blogger. (Hopefully this resolution doesn't follow the others to that very sad land of failed resolutions.)

In any case, to get started, here is a quickie post sharing Random House's list of literary insults. I know some people may find it tedious to actually click on the books to see the results and prefer and actual list; however, I like this design choice simply because it means I can pick and choose which insults I would prefer to see based on which books I've actually read. I also happen to like cover art, so seeing it is also a plus.

Design aspects aside, I think it's really great Random House publishing is putting out "articles" like this on their Web site because I think it really shows how much language gives us and can help people appreciate the power of words.

I mean, when I was a kid, I used to really love those "Yo' mama" jokes. If I could have read some of these insults, I think I would have been cooler for it. (Or maybe my nerdiness status would have persisted, but at least now I could look back and say I had that Tina Fey or Neil Patrick Harris persistent awesomeness.)

However, if later coolness is not something that appeals to your students, teachers may be able to tell students that using a quote such as Kurt Vonnegut's, "If your brains were dynamite there wouldn’t be enough to blow your hat off" then they're less likely a) to get beat up by other students and b) get in trouble with teachers. 

A Not So Funny Question

With school winding down, I was able to squeeze in a bit of light reading this weekend. I guess it's a not exactly light reading. Can a book about depression be light?

Ned Vizzini's book It's Kind of a Funny Story is about as close to light as you can get with a story focused on depression. My students finished their EOGs 2 weeks ago. A significant amount of them did not pass and just finished a week of remediation to try and pass again. This set-up reminds me a lot of the high stakes Craig Gilner experiences at Executive Pre-Professional. On the one hand, it's sad to think of the stress and pressure we place on today's youth to "have it all together." At the same time, I have to laugh when I think of Craig's internal monologue where he asks himself, "How can I be so ambitious and lazy at the same time?" That statement reflects a lot of my students. When I talk to them, they all have big dreams. They're convinced that they will be cosmetologists, lawyers, designers and that they will go to these elite private schools. And yet, their work doesn't reflect any of their ambitions.If I bring them missing work to complete so they can raise their grades from an F to a C, they whine and won't do it.

This week will essentially be my last week of after-school programming with the students of Henderson. And really, with Memorial Day and our incentive trip, it's only 2 days. On some level, I think a difference is being made. One of the girls in our Spoken Word apprenticeship had a moving spoken word performance in which she talked about how mistakes and missed signs were learning experiences for her. This girl is one of our tough cases. Sometimes, I don't know whether to just laugh at the absurdity of her disrespect or just shake her into awareness. Most days, it ends up being a large sigh of frustration that I'll laugh about the next day, but still just removes another block of patience in dealing with students. And then, I feel the weight of the task of trying to change the tide for students. This semester has been absolutely exhausting, and when Craig Gilner talks about the "Tentacles," I can feel them.

There's nothing I want more for my kids than for them to realize how much of a difference their attitudes make and for them to experience a shift that will allow them to fully harness their capabilities and be successful. But many days, I just feel as though that message is not getting through and it's getting lost along the way. Where are we missing the mark as educators? From teachers to administrators to supplementary programs, what is the balance between igniting a spark in students and causing them to burn out?

If you're an educator or even just someone who cares about inspiring young people (and not-so-young people), please comment and give your suggestions.

[Okay, so I realized that this is a really depressing sounding post. But I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I just started writing and these thoughts came out first. My next one will focus on the more positive and joyful epiphanies that happened, because it really was a light read for me.]

Getting Creative with Reading

Again, it's been a while since I blogged. My reading has been a little sporadic over the past few months (one of the difficulties of being a teacher and working a lot). But, I have been able to read bits and pieces like The September Society (the 2nd in a series of a new Victorian British detective) and a reread of some of the Chronicles of Narnia. After surveying my reading habits, I have down-scaled my book reading, but I have noticed an increase in the amount of articles, particularly on science, health and education that I'm reading. But, I think one of my big goals for this summer is to reconnect with books. And then, as I was driving down 85, I had a thought that worked in a kind of syllogistic fashion...

A) I have never had one of those epic road trip experiences, like this one...

B) Where would I go on said road trip?

C) I love books, want to spread literacy and do something really creative

Therefore, my big idea is... why not go on a tour of US literary landmarks, dedicate some of these posts and have a video blog that not only gave publicity to these locales, but also got the people's opinions about how these books affected their lives?

National Book Festival and When You Reach Me

I haven't blogged in a while, but I have continued reading. And I have also continued my deviations from the original list...

In September, I had the privilege of attending the National Book Festival in Washington DC. For Citizen Schools, I have been teaching a Story Time apprenticeship and thus I've been working closely with the Henderson Youth Services librarian. I told her that A Wrinkle in Time is one of my favorite books. She said if I liked that book then I should try When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. The book did not disappoint.

When You Reach Me centers around Miranda, a young girl living in New York whose life drastically changes when her best friend Sal gets punched by a kid they don't know. She gets mysterious messages from someone who talks of saving people's lives and talks about things that don't make sense until they actually happen. A Wrinkle in Time is a favorite book among several of the characters and the concepts of time and space proposed by A Wrinkle in Time feed heavily into the book's events.

What I really appreciated about When You Reach Me was not just a nod to one of my childhood favorites, but the deeper themes that run through it. So much in Miranda's interactions with other people changes. And what the reader and Miranda realize is that these changes were necessary and made things better. For me personally, I have a hard time with changing relationships. Even reflecting on this book now, I know I still am not in a place where I handle changing relationships well. It makes me a little sad that this little girl is able to do so, but at the same time, it gives me hope that I can one day do the same.

At the National Book Festival, I had the privilege of meeting Rebecca Stead and getting her to sign my copy. It may be really geeky to say this, but it was an awesome experience to get to tell her that I appreciated how she used A Wrinkle in Time. Madeline L'Engle's book was a huge part of my childhood that just really inspired my love for reading and made me want to be more adventurous, caring and virtuous. I never imagined that modern books that pondered on my childhood favorites would inspire me as an adult, but I am happy to say I was wrong. And being able to share that with an author who is living (since I can't really share it with Madeline L'Engle) was truly fantastic. I strongly encourage all book lovers visit either the National Book Festival or their local ones.

A Break for a Blast from the Past

I am in the midst of moving currently, so my book pile is just a little unavailable at the moment. However, I did have a couple of books left that I could read. I read Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl in the 11th grade. I picked up my copy of the book this past spring at the school book fair. (Got to love Scholastic, right?)

Told from the point of view of Arizona high school junior, Leo, the book recounts his interactions with the mysterious Stargirl who begins 10th grade at his school. It's a story about conformity, love, and finding one's self. In my first reading in 11th grade and my reading of it now some years later, I still find myself highly attached to the characters.

What I find remarkable about the characters in this book is that the traditional cliques don't really exist. Mica Area High School is a huge monolith of non-distinction where "even [the] dorks and nerds had a MAHS stamp on them." I believe this united front makes the exclusion of Stargirl and Leo more pronounced. It would be interesting to see how this drama would have played out if maybe the school had been more like a Mean Girls setting. And I also wonder at which is the true portrayal of an American high school: a setting where everyone is more or less the same or one splintered into little groups. As an adult and educator, I would be interested in asking Mr. Spinelli these questions and his opinions on the matter.

As for my students, I would really love to expose them to this book because of its social connotations and the issues raised by the characters. Things I would want them to get out of reading...

1. Who am I? Do I embrace my quirks, and am I proud to be myself? Is "my self" a self that lifts up others? Stargirl doesn't shy away from who she is. She represents a freedom and honesty in life. I think part of the reason she is able to be this free is because her self is all about doing what is best for others and emptying herself out. Without ego and restraint, she lives her life. How much better would this world be and how much freer would we be if our true selves were all about others.
2. How do I approach others who are different from me? What does loving other people mean? Stargirl shows compassion equally to everyone, even to those who would be her enemies (the rival team's player and alpha girl, Hillari Kimble). Stargirl loves Leo and Leo says he loves Stargirl, but he doesn't have the courage to support her in being herself. I think a lot of times, we spend time trying to figure out how we can make others conform to ourselves, I think I would like to be a person who loves others truly for who they are, without hindering them.
3. How do I live in distinction? The antithesis of Stargirl's vitality is the apathy of Wayne Parr, a boy known only for his good looks and his lack of achievement. This is an idea very close to my heart and personality. Some thing that really bothers me when I'm at the middle school is the attitude of "good enough" with no desire to be better or try one's best at something. We can't be shy to stand up from the crowd and do our best. I truly believe we succeed better as a collective when we are all trying to do our best.

One of my favorite quotes is done by Marianne Williamson, and I think it sums up the message of Stargirl and her story:

"Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do... And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do to the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Starting Some Educational Fire

So I actually finished reading Fires in the Middle School Bathroom a few weeks ago; therefore, this post will not be so much about the content but how I'm going to apply it. To give some stylistic background, the book is written as more of a conversation between students and teachers. Author Karen Cushman interweaves quotes from interviews with a variety of middle school students with advice and strategies.

The book referred a lot to behavior management and how to motivate students in the middle school setting. I have never been one to relate well to students in that pre-teen range. This book definitely gave me some new perspectives about the sway of social relationships as well as balancing between responsibility and support.

Ideas I got from this book:

- reworking incentive systems to make it more "real world" to students

- striving to be more consistent in actions toward students

- allowing for more collaborative work between students

Reading this book came at an opportune time because we were going to our Summer Institute conference for Citizen Schools to begin planning for next year. These two things together have me feeling pretty confident about when the students start back with us on September 13.

Life of Pi Thoughts

I finished Life of Pi on Wednesday. My final summation is that it was excellent, and that it may be my most favorite adventure/survival book that I have read so far. Martel does an excellent job of creating Pi and his story. I think it helps that Pi is not in a conventional place. Typically castaways end up on some deserted island and can live off the land, but one can't really do that in the middle of the ocean. It was cool to feel like every bit of the story had a purpose and the convergence of his life circumstances that allowed him to survive for as long as he did. There are some books where the writing seems like filler, but in this case, everything came together nicely with his life and the purpose of taking it all down. Aside from these points, I also like the second story at the end of the book for the "non-believers." What really strikes me about Pi is his continuing faith. He is like a post-modern Job, flying in the face of skeptics whether it be skeptics of religion or his story.

Favorite moments:

- reasoning to plan of action #7

- explanation of how Richard Parker got his name

- the taming of Richard Parker

- the algae island (from a biological standpoint and also kind of in a macabre way)

- the interview with the two Japanese investigators (the side conversation is particularly funny)

Favorite quotes: (these will come at a later date, when I have both book and internet together, but keep following the blog!)