YALIT/Crit

ELA Classroom Videos

Attached should be my final project on the ELA classroom videos. I will bring hard copies for everyone. I am putting this up for those of you who might have time to be on here before class. I apologize for not doing this sooner. Honestly, I did not realize I could have attached it before. I didn't even notice the little icon (major DUH). I don't know if this will work, but at least I tried. So, here it is for those of you who have time. Otherwise, I'll see you in class shortly with hard copies.Download envsionment_building_classroom.doc

Please give me some feedback!

For part of my project, I am attempting to write a YA Lit. novel (a first for me). I could use a little feedback. This story (it doesn't even have a title yet) is sort of writing itself and I am not completely sure where it is going, although I have a few ideas.

Russell Banks said last night, one sentence tells him how to write the next sentence. This is ringing true for me. Well anyway, please check it out and please give me some feedback, either in the form of a comment or an email. Thanks!!

Teen Book Festival

Hello everybody...this post about the Teen Book Fest in Rochester comes about a week late, but I figure we didn't really have any class time to speak about class related stuff last week anyway.  So, first of all the book fest was really cool.  Not an enourmous turnout, but a large and excited group of young readers and their parents nonetheless.  Everyone we spoke to was just happy to be there and mostly happy to talk to us.  As a future English teacher, the experience was invaluable.  We talk so often in the program about kids that don't read, why they might not, and what we might be able to do about it, that often, I lose track of the kids who do love reading, and are going to be (and are now) excited and engaged members of our classrooms.   Well let me say, and I think I can speak for Andy and  Amanda on this, that I have never been around a more  eager  bunch of young readers. It was a wonderful for me as a kind of reminder that they really are out there.  And you could see on almost all of their faces, that they were not just readers but serious fans of the authors.  I mean the introductions ceremony with all the authors, practically turned into one of those games shows where the Host holds up the huge dial that is supposed to gauge the crowd volume.  The kids were really going nuts for their favorite authors, it was a lot of fun.   One girl I spoke to said she read seventeen of Tamora Pierce's books, and many others seemed to have traveled from far and wide to meet their favorite YA Authors.  It was just a festival of good will, and people who were enthusiastic about reading.  There were librarians and teachers and administrators there from all over the area.  We got to speak to and interview Barry Lyga, author of The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Gothgirl, which Andy for one, really enjoyed, and also later videotaped his presentation.  We got some good footage and will likely be able to share some of it with you in class in a couple of weeks.  I think we are all glad to have gone, and glad that Karen suggested it.  I would absolutely recommend going next year, even better bring your son or daughter or students.  It is well worth the trip.            

Teen Book Festival

Hello everybody, I am writing to talk about the second annual Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival, which Andrew and I (perhaps Amanda et al) are planning to attend on March 31st.  We have been researching the authors a little bit and are starting to get excited.  It looks like its going to be a great day.   Here is a link to the website if anyone wants to check out the list of guest speakers/authors.  We are planning to bring some recording equipment and get some interviews if at all possible, in order to record our experience as part of a Final Project.  Ideally we will be able to talk to students, parents and even authors, like Nancy Werlin.   

I was thinking it would be cool if anyone had particular questions they wanted to ask Nancy Werlin (or any of the authors).  So just let us know, as part of the comments, if anyone has a Question For Nancy Werlin, and we'll make sure to ask her if we can!!!

More Project Talk and Lunch Next Week w/Me

BULLETIN: Here is the conference website address for full program.

Dear Teachers,

We talked a bit more about projects last night. Do use this post to continue to share your project focus. Here is Steve's website for those of you who are planning to do some writing for young adults.

If you are planning to go to Rochester for the Teen Book Festival on the last Saturday in March do add a comment indicating you are going so that we have a better idea of who wants to go.

If you are thinking about another project altogether, do share that here and seek feedback. Get in touch with me if you would like to talk further about your project.

I would like to begin meeting with all of you next week.

If you can have a 1:00 lunch with me in the colloquium (cafeteria on the second floor) in OM on TUESDAY the 6th, please indicate that here.

If you can meet with me on Thursday the 8th for same, 1:00 in the colloquium in OM, indicate that here.

This is a start.

Thanks so much.

Karen

The Beast

Walter Myers "The Beast", is one of those novels which I wish that my teacher had of given me when I was in high school. However, since most of them (teachers) never care about what most students want to read, it is no surprise why we have a culture that doesn't want to do so.

What makes this novel espeacially good for high school students (or beginning readers) is this one very important point: it is not too long. This is why most students fail to read because the first thing their teacher places in front of them when they have a reading assignment is a four hundred page book. If I am in high school just beginning my life, why the hell would I want to sit down and read a 400 page book? It should be obvious that a book this long is not for novice readers but more for experienced readers who are at the point in their lives where they are more fully engaged in the text. This goes into my second point; the book is not a difficult read and the author does not use a lot of complex vocabulary. The reader will not have to look through the dictionary every other page to see what the author is talking about. It is my personal opinion that no author should have to use an abundance of five or six syllable words in order to get his or her point across. If this is a way for the author to intimadate the reader or show that he or she has a "superior intellect" because they have an expansive vocabulary; they may or may or may not succeed in making this point. However, true wisdom comes from when your cannon is short, simple, and to the point. The last point I would like to add is that this book has knowlege and is informative about its topic. There are so many novels out there that are very long but they don't say very much; just a lot of wasted page space.

Literary Theories

I just finished reading the chapter for this week in Johnson/Freedman, and I am very pleased. I have been needing this book for a long time. :) For my project, I am interested in creating an extensive annotated bibliography of books that could be used to teach these theories in my classroom. I have found through my experiences that teaching themes is so difficult with eighth graders, but looking at it from this perspective gives me hope. I have been expecting my students to just eventually "get it" without giving them a foundation from which to build critical meaning. I have found that just teaching the elements of literature is not enough to get them to theme. And because my students are at a point in their lives where they are just beginning to question everything about who they are,this age group is perfect for introducing these theories. This approach also coincides with my curriculum for teaching research. I am always asking my students to critique the texts they encounter, and I use a number of non-fiction pieces as examples, but having a more extended core of novels to choose from for lit. circles and book clubs would be very helpful.  Therefore, I would appreciate any thoughts on titles.  I will have to start collecting them to read.

Project Talk!

Dear Teachers,

Please post ideas you have for your 619 project. Use the list on the syllabus as a guideline but only a guideline.

What are you most interested in? Several of you have spoken to me about writing a chapter of a young adult novel or a short story that might appear in a YA collection. Do check out Steve's website! Steve IS the man!

Writing projects are great ideas. But there are many other things you might work on.

For those of you who are new to some of the technology apps Ray (and Steve clearly) is expert at don't hesitate to propose a technology project. You will find support for that in our class.

Do add a comment in the next week re: your project.

Also, do continue to think about a seminar topic and post it for feedback.

Let's Talk Projects!

I know there isn't a category for course projects just yet, but I'm curious to hear about what some of you are thinking of doing for your project. I really want to write a YA short story. It has been way too long since I've written any fiction; I've always wanted to try my hand at writing something for a YA audience, so it will be great to have the extra push (i.e., the project, its corresponding deadlines and such) to make it happen. I'm going to want to read some YA short stories, perhaps in collections, for Book Club at some point to give me some inspiration!