Literary Halloween

Today, we took a break from the curriculum. Instead, I dressed up as Hermione Granger, and I told the students that if they called me a Mudblood, they'd get detention. I had them write Halloween journals that could be about school dances, parties, costumes, trick or treating, tricks, treats, candy, bobbing for apples, jack-o-lanterns, haunted houses, haunted restaurants, haunted schools, cemeteries, ghosts, ghouls, goblins, vampires, vampire bats, psychos, physcho mermaids, trolls, penguins, garden gnomes...And then I read them Edgar Alan Poe's Masque of the Red Death while they quietly doodled and colored (a tactic that hopefully helps them relax into the story).

I love having my kids write journals. I see them playing around with form and content; being creative; and writing! It helps me track their writing improvements as well. I'm thinking about having contests and awarding the student who writes the most; maybe I'll buy some cheap, cool prizes at the Dollar General. I know it promotes competition, blah, blah, blah, but I want to encourage them to do even more, even better. Some of them write close to 200 words when 100 is an A+.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Title: Coraline
Author: Neil Gaiman
Interest Levels: 5-8

While exploring her new home, Coraline finds a door that opens into a long corridor, leading her to another version of her own life. She meets her Other Mother and Other Father, who dote on her with delicious food, cool clothes, and the attention she craves. However, there is one distinct difference between her Real Parents and her Other Parents...her Other Parents have buttons sewed in where their eyes should be. And in order for Coraline to be able to stay with them, they need to remove her eyes and sew in the waiting buttons.

Genre: Fantasy/horror. Magical/other world.

Recommended to: Readers who liked Chronicles of Narnia, Alice through the Looking Glass

Themes: Apart from the obvious theme of learning to overcome one's fears, there's also the theme of learning to really see other people. For example, Coraline finally learns "the crazy old man's" name, and he finally learns that she's Coraline, not Caroline.

Y.A. Literature Conference

I went to a Bureau of Education and Research conference in Mesa on Friday: The Best of the Best in Young Adust Litereture: 101 Classics in Young Adult Literature and How to Use Them in Your Program by Bonnie Kunzel. Kunzel was amazing, providing well over 100 book talks, a 300 page manual (consisting mostly of annotated titles), rationals for allowing adolescents to read graphic novels, and ideas on how to organize and implement this literature.

As my mom said, "It's great to walk out of a conference feeling like you can set the world on fire," and I certainly did on Friday afternoon. The conference was better than the entire semester course on Y.A. lit that I took as a graduate student. I'm now determined to read more Y.A. titles and perfect the art of the book talk!

Arizona's the dumbest state

Old news but had to post it: VT was ranked the smartest state, while AZ came out last. For the rankings, check here.

Considering what they pay their teachers, all I can really say is, "Ha ha!"

PA is number 10. Yeee-ah!

Maybe Dat's Your Pwoblem Too

Poem recommendation, starring Spiderman with a speech impediment:

I read Jerry Hall's "Maybe Dat's Your Pwoblem Too" to my kids yesterday, and they loved it! I'm not accustomed to having a classroom of students laughing at something related to Language Arts, but yesterday, they were! I practised beforehand and had the NY-speech impediment accent down.

"I can't even/buin my suit. It won't buin. It's fwame wesistent!"

My quest:

If you have any funny poems/stories/articles that I can share with my students, please send them my way. These kids have amazing senses of humor, and with the lives many of them lead, they need to laugh. Not to mention that it makes learning (gasp!) fun.

Frumpy English Teacher Pt. 2

My cheerleaders want to give me a makeover at the party I'm throwing for them on Thursday!

I said, "Why? I don't need a makeover."
T. said, "Yes, you do."
I replied, "No more than you do."

Ha ha!

I've stopped wearing pony tails, and I'm wearing a dope skirt, dope boots, and earings that MATCH today, so thbbbt to them (although I still might let them make me up just to amuse them.).

Slipping through the Cracks

Yesterday, I was discussing with my neighbor her reasons for pulling her son out of Alchesay High School and enlisting him in an on-line charter school instead.

Her basic reason: He was getting straight A's and not learning a single thing. And, as she put it, he's not a genius, so obviously there was something awry.

Since he started the on-line school late, he signed up for algebra (which he took here last year) rather than geometry (which he'd be too far behind in). And he's currently got a C- in a class that he took last year!

This story is indicative of the problem within education here on the rez (although I do not know the cause). Every year, teachers struggle to get their kids up to grade level, and every year, teachers fail. We teach at grade level or below, failing our students who are far below grade level and failing our students (few though they are) who are above grade level. It's not surprising that a high percentage of the few Native Americans who make it to college end up failing or dropping out.

And how does standardized testing help? It only forces us to feel the pressure to teach to grade level, treating each student as a standard when what we really need is training in differentiated instruction and individualized assessment (how much did your student learn and develop?). Accountability is all well and good. But standardized tests only aggravate the problem, helping to ensure that reservations remain places of poverty, squalor, drug abuse, and hopelessness.

Fall Break on the Rez

I found out that one of my student's older brothers died in an accident over fall break. Of course, I don't know the particulars, but I've had several students write about it in their journals (he was also the cousin of another student of mine). M., the sister, wrote that her "fall break was cheap." Cheap here means lousy, lame. She's only missed one day of school, and in class, she seems quite untouched. I'm curious about why. Is it shock? Is it cultural? Or maybe she just wasn't that close to her brother. I don't know. But I'll definitely keep an eye on her and try to be there if she needs an ear. From the journals, it sounds like there were quite a few nasty car accidents on the rez over break.

PBWiki

I answered my own question about classroom wikis, and for those of you who may be interested, check out pbwiki, a site that helps you make your own free public or private wiki. I'll post my class wiki when it's up and running.

Questions, questions, questions

I'm wondering if any of you out there know how to set up a class Wiki? I'm sure it's easy enough, but I figured I'd throw the question out there in case someone could it explain it. I once knew, and I wish I had all of my school notes organized and here in Arizona. I had my students in my publications class write Wiki articles, and now we need to publish them!

Also, for those of you who are teachers, what is your philosophy on taking a weekly break from the curriculum? I was thinking about starting to do just this after a short weekly quiz on Fridays. For example, Friday's would involve a 5-10 minute study activity, a quiz, and then, for the rest of class, activities different from, for example, Whale Rider, such as exploring SLAM poetry, read alouds of funny short stories/poems, SSR, and word games. Any thoughts?

Whale Rider

Yesterday, I had students write paragraphs, with topic sentences and all, about how Ms. L could be a better teacher, and I got some brilliant suggestions. I discussed their ideas with them today, and I promised to try some of them, including weekly progress reports, giving more examples of expectations, book clubs, field trips, etc.

I'm starting a new unit with my students; we're reading Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera, and today, we started with exploring maps, examining where the story is set and the migratory pattern of the whales that are featured in the story. The unit has been taught by previous teachers, so it's a chance for me to relax from trying to reinvent the wheel. I imagine I'll be doing some tweaking, but for the most part, I'll enjoy learning with my students the similarities between the Maoris and the Apaches (both groups appear to have many similarities). Despite groans and grumbles that the book sounds boring, most students loved working in groups and exploring the maps.

Frumpy English Teacher

School's back in session:

Nothing makes you feel like a frumpy English teacher like being told that you need fashion advice by a bunch of 8th graders. Maybe I do need fashion advice. Or maybe what I really need is a larger salary. Oh, the shopping I could do if only I had the funds...

And besides, do I want to take their hair advice? Do I want to wake up and spend hours with a curling iron when I could be sleeping/reading/sipping coffee? Here, a resounding, "No! Bleep that bleep!"

Finally, do I want to encourage young adolescent crushes on teacher? No. So let my hair be frizzy, let my sweaters clash with my earings, let the makeup dry out in its drawer at home!

(Everyone reading this does realize that tonight I will choose my outfit carefully, including matching jewelry, re-examine it, question it, mull it over, try it on, and then laugh at myself.)

If only I could wear hoodies and jeans to work!!!!

Rez Sunset, Whiteriver, AZ

Oregon Sunset

Starfish on the Coast

Back from Portland, where I spent two days on the coast, near Tillamook. I felt so at home there, thanks to the warmth of my friend and host and thanks also to the environment and surroundings.

Now, back on the rez, where I was to teach intersession language arts, but classes were canceled due to poor turnout. Going to enjoy the rest of my break by hiking around the rez and Monument Valley.

I had to drive to Phoenix yesterday to work out teaching cert. issues. I'm growing more and more convinced that our government doesn't really want teachers to teach. But then, I'm awful with paperwork and bureaucratic mazes. I'm always amazed by the drive to Phoenix from the rez, however: green buttes, jutting mountains that look like inactive volcanoes, saguaro and cholla cacti, giant bolders and rock formations, canyons and red rivers. Despite the errand, the views made the drive worthwhile.

Elijah-man

My K-girl in Portland's in love,
Maybell's hitching an aircraft from I-town to P-town
(Ithaca, New York, wuzzzz up?!!!!! McCrusty do da biz),

and they found my grey-little Elijah-man.

I'm busted flat broke
and happy as a Cheshire.