YALIT/Crit

Chinese Revolutions

I hope all of you are well and enjoying your vacation. The sun isn't shining in California the way it should be but I'll take it anyway I can get it. I have been doing some research that I thought I might share with you. Just check out how many revolutions China has had since 1911!

1) Xinhai or  Republican Revolution 1911-1912, began with the Wuchang Uprising on 10 October and ended with the abdication of the emperor Puyi on Feb 12

2) Second Revolution 1913, seven southern provinces rebelled against Yuan

3) Constitutional Protection War or Third Revolution 1917-1922, A series of movements led by Sun Yut-Sen to resist the Beiyang gov. between 1917-1922 in which Sun re-established another gov. as a result

4) Northern Expedition or Nationalist Revolution 1926-1928, Main objective was to speed up the Chinese revolution against feudalism and imperialism plauging China after the Republican Revolution and the attenpt to unify China under the Nationalist banner by ending the rule of the local warlords.

5) Chinese Civil War 1927-1950, which led to the founding of the People's Republic of China also known as the Communists Revolution.   National Party vs.Chinese Communist Party

6) Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 1966-1976, In the People's Republic of China was a struggle for power within the Communist Party of China, which grew to include large sections of Chinese society and eventually brought the entire country to the brink of civil war.

7) Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, were a series of demonstrations led by students, intellectuals, and labor activists in the People's Republic of China. People were critical of the Chinese Communists and many had started to call for a democratic government.

I know you may wonder why you should care but I found it interesting to see all the radical changes that this country has undergone in just under 100 years. Nationalist Party fought Communists party and then Communist Party is divided within itself. It may be another revolution for a democratic government if enough people are willing to fight, powerful!

Good News

Good Morning All --

Yesterday I learned that there will be a maternity leave position open at Greene CSD (where I teach) next year for 9th grade.  This is new news, so it has not been posted yet.  I would suggest though that if you are interested, or know of anyone who is certified Secondary English, that they get their resume/cover letter/application in ASAP.  Good Luck!

Lindsay

Walter Dean Myers

Just letting everyone know that the Myers seminar is up and comming and all those who want to attend should let me know before May 3rd. I only have two folders but just in case more than two people want to attend, I will print out extra copies of the web site addresses. This way, even if you don't get a folder you can still answer your seminar evaluation questions because all of my information derives from those websites. However, you must let me know if you are going to attend, this way I can print out extra copies if there is a need.

"Adirondack Tragedy" Talk...

Hello all...Just saw that Joseph Brownell, geography emeritus and co-author of Adirondack Tragedy is giving a talk about the famous and oft spoken of Murder Case, which we have been all over this semester.  I guess he is some kind of expert or something.  I can't go because I have class.  Just figured I'd pass it along.

Date: Wednesday, April 11th

Time:  4 to 4:30 pm

Location:  Memorial Library, 2nd Floor...(thats our Lib at Cortland...for all you people like me who don't know the names of any of the buildings around here)

Changing the Canon! Mixing it Up!! What's Appropriate for Kids to Read in School?

Do read this ED WEEK article focused on the continuing dialogue about what's appropriate for adolescents to read in school. The article is especially relevant in the context of the books we have been reading for 619. Please read and comment.

Here's the first paragraph:

"Chanelle Brown hasn’t found much she can relate to in the classic texts assigned in her English classes at Evanston Township High School. A top student, the junior has toiled through The Odyssey, All the King’s Men, The Scarlet Letter, and other standards, she said, while many of her classmates at the suburban Chicago school have given up reading them altogether.

“The themes are kind of dead now,” she said, “and I don’t feel like any of the stories apply to me.”

No Dentist Left Behind

I stumbled upon this essay over spring break and thought some of you would find it amusing. As the title of this post may suggest, it is a playful but thought-provoking jab at No Child Left Behind. It was written awhile ago (2002, I believe), so some of you may have read it before. Nonetheless, check it out:

http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/no-dentist.html

Website of Interest

Just thought I would pass this along. It's a bookstore, but it has some titles (books/films) that we don't normally see in the mainstream. It's not all young adult, but our titles from class are included. Check it out! http://www.rainbowbookstore.org/

Recent Data Released on High School Seniors' Reading Proficiency

Recent figures released by the NAEP suggest that in the U.S. high school seniors' reading scores have dropped considerably. Take a look at how our students did on these literacy tests.

Not surprisingly, the International Reading Association survey of literacy leaders around the country lists adolescent literacy as an "extremely hot topic;" in fact, the topic is at the top of a short list of "what's hot and what's not."

As many of you noted last week in your discussion of the JAAL article, despite the declining scores and the primacy of adolescent literacy in the discourse, much of what we do in schools flies in the face of what research tells us about what motivates adolescents to read and how we might keep them reading.

One of the most disturbing outcomes of the NAEP testing is the lack of a critical literacy. As texts ask 17 and 18 years olds to understand increasingly complex material, only a very small % of them are successful

Do read these articles. Take your time They'll be here all week.

An Opportunity for Publication!!

Dear Teachers,

I sit on the NYS English Council Board and this weekend I had opportunity to talk over the possibility of your doing some writing for publication in THE ENGLISH RECORD, the NYSEC journal.

The next issue is focused on PERSEPOLIS, a title that NYSEC adopted as its first "book club" choice. You can join that forum on the NYSEC website. I do need to check, though. Perhaps you have to be a member.

The publication editor is also looking for short book reviews. THE BOOK THIEF came up!!

I would like to see the PERSEPOLIS lit circle collaborate on writing a short article on their lit circle experience with this memoir. The editor is also interested in articles on ANY graphic texts suitable for use in 7-12 ELA classrooms.

I am willing to offer this as an option in place of writing the paper on A NORTHERN LIGHT.

I am also offering the opportunity to do some writing for publication in THE RECORD for project credit and/or the second paper.

I would like to encourage writing a book review on a title of interest. Why not start with THE BOOK THIEF? Anyone??

K

L.A. TIMES Book Prize Finalists!

Thought you'd be interested in the short list of L.A. TIMES (nice to hear from the other coast!) YA book prize finalists. Note this post's title is a live link. I'm not sure it shows as such.

OCTAVIAN NOTHING by M.T. Anderson
TYRELL by Coe Booth
AN ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES by John Green
JUST IN CASE by Meg Rosoff
THE RULES OF SURVIVAL by Nancy Werlin

We're reading Green's earlier novel, LOOKING FOR ALASKA, which has had better reviews that ABUNDANCE. I had the Rosoff in my hand yesterday at B&N and didn't pick it up. I should. TYRELL is a title I've been wanting to introduce into this class. Like RULES, it focuses on a teenage male who is trying to keep his family together, this time in an African-American community in the South Bronx.

I'm hearing great things about it.

Looking forward to THE BOOK THIEF discussion. Check out this site to learn more about literature circles