Book Notes

A second grade teacher (one who has made me feel very welcome this year) stopped by the library and asked if she could help and I jokingly replied that she could work with me to write a grant that connects the library to Comm Arts and involves a Writing Marathon at the Zoo and she said YES!!

Not only did she just say yes...she has brought the other 2 second grade teachers on board. She is outlining the science MIGS that will link to the activity and I am researching books that I could order for the library related to the study of animals in various genres. Our goal is to create an anthology (maybe a digital anthology?? what do you guys think??) and have an author's party for parents in the library in the evening.

I am so excited!!! I am also interested in any feedback from you (are you out there liz? everybody?). I've found some poetry books to order focused animals, we have several non-fiction books, wanted to include a few fairy tales...

I thought about ordering digital cameras that could be used to create the photostories as one of the genres...but am I getting too complicated?

This is an idea (to write a grant) born at OWP that will hopefully coming to fruition! (Of course, there's no guarentee that we'll get the grant, but I'll give it my best effort!!!)

laura b.

The classroom blog is up!

School starts in two days and everything is coming together nicely. After watching Barb and Keri three or four times do demos on blogging, I finally have everything in place to implement a classroom blog. It has not been an easy task, but my powers of persuasion, if you describe kneeling , pleading, and crying as powers, have finally paid off. I was very excited the first time I saw the blogging demo. My biggest frustration came when I realized I would have to wait a year to try it in my classroom. Well, it is finished and you are welcome to take a look. I would love any comments that might make the blog better.

http://www.millerhighschool.blogspot.com/

I am still looking for a video hosting sight. I can't convince the powers to unblock Youtube. So, if you know of one, please let me know. I am using Google video right now, but their site is still somewhat primitive.

Good luck this year. I look forward to seeing everyone at our fall meeting.

Paws for Great Books!

Dear Friends,

I haven't taken time to blog in a long time...so I actually feel rusty! The blog team, however, is at it again and thought they'd like to share their new slide show. (Casey, the blog is certainly looking snazzy!)

Hope you are all having a great start to your new year!

Thanks

Friends,
I just want to say thanks for teaching me so much, and influencing the way I approach writing in my classroom now. The project wasn't exactly easy for me, but as I incorporate all that I have learned into my planning I sit back and must admit that I am indebted to all of you. I won't be at the writing retreat, but I look forward to getting back together in September. By the way, when is that?
Again, thanks for everything. I love reading this blog, and feel like it is an amazingly nice way to keep in touch.

Professional Writing Retreat

Hi, All,

It sounds like the Writing Retreat in Columbia was awesome. Thanks for sharing your expeirences. I wanted to tell you abut the NWP Writing and Technology Professional Writing Retreat I attended at Lied Lodge in Nebraska City, NE. I felt like all we did was eat. Breakfast at 8:00, lunch at 12:00, dinner at 6:00. I don't usually eat that regularly, and I never had a chance to feel hungry. Lied Lodge was a beautiful place. We did a short writing marathon which was a great way to get to know my new small writing group. One person was a music teacher from Burke, South Dakota, another was a doctoral student from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and one was a speech therapist from Marshall University.

It was a joy to have big chunks of writing time, and the time spent made me excited for our own writing retreat in October (thank you Laura and Kelly). I did learn about some cool new tech things. Have you heard of Google Docs? I am addicted to it. I was thinking that we might be able to use Google Docs for an alternative type of small writing group. You could post whatever writing that you want us to read, and then whoever is involved in the group will have a week to respond. Please take a look at this site. I think it would be really cool to incorporate into the classroom. Let me know what you think about it.

I don't think they have funding for the technology retreat next summer, but make sure and apply for one of the other two professional writing retreats offered by the NWP.

I wanted to add a picture of the retreat, but the pics I have are terrible. When I get some more I will upload those. Instead, I have treated you to a picture of Murray, now Murr-Dog (don't ask me why). Julie S. was kind enough to share with me a circus outfit for him, so here goes Julie. What do you think?

Summer Reading...Need advice

Students within our department are required to read during the summer. My students (seniors) are required to read three texts...one required, two chosen from a list. So far I've had no complaints.

The freshmen read Lord of the Flies, and the juniors read The Giver and The Good Earth. These were chosen by the teachers and were pulled from our curriculum as well as the national curriculum list (although The Giver is quite young (as far as the reading level) for juniors.

So I was approached today by admin to choose new books that were less controversial... that there have been parental complaints this summer. I immediately answered "okay", but less than 2 seconds later I said..."no, not okay."

This is a slippery slope I'm not willing to slide down. Our teachers have valid reasons for choosing the literature they chose and they plan to utilize the themes in these books with discussion and writing within their own classrooms...(at least I'm hoping these teachers chose these books for some valuable educational reason.) If we change books, who's to say someone else won't complain? Can we please everyone? If we do that, will we please no one?

It's a rough way to start the school year and a definite downer for teachers who are excited about the year getting underway. What do you guys think?

Are there alternatives? Can we put a list out there and allow the students to choose from the list? Does that defeat the purpose of having classroom discussion on a specific piece of literature? What are the purposes for reading. The New York Times ran an article last week that promoted summer reading for kids in order to keep their minds engaged with something academic over the break. And Ive found, for the most part, students enjoy having the reading to do over the summer.

Is it truly possible to say "Read whatever you want" and students will be able to understand themes and realize emotional or intellectual development within the book's characters and/or possibly within themselves without discussion with others?

We'll see how this plays out. I've asked to meet with admin and the parents to find out what exactly the problem is with these three texts. I'm open for discussion, but I'm not open to change a classroom plan b/c one parent decides it would be better for her children. Options, or opportunity for options,I'm fine with.

By the way...it's one parent...the same parent of two children...one child is a freshman, the other a junior. And the junior apparently is now coming forward to say how disturbed he was as a 9th grader (two years ago) while reading The Lord of the Flies. We had no idea. (And that book is only for the College Prep class.)