Looking for Alaska

!! AWESOME BOOK ALERT !!

Thanks to the wonderful Miss B.R. (ex-student of mine) at the end of last year I was the happy recipient of a copy of Looking for Alaska - a young adult novel by John Green. As usual, I planned to read far more than I did this summer (Yes, even English teachers need to take a break from reading) and never got to it. As the school year came closer I knew I had to read it before B.R. asked me how I enjoyed the novel. Well, I read it in about a week and recommend Alaska to everyone - students and parents alike!

The plot line follows a slightly awkward teenage boy as he ditches his public school in Florida for a private school in Alabama in search of "the great perhaps" (basically he wants to get a life). He meets some very cool friends, falls in love with a gorgeous and crazy girl, pulls off some really good pranks and everything comes to a slamming hault on one fateful day that changes his life forever.

Its an easy, enjoyable read with some very funny and real teenager moments. Yes, I will admit to laughing out loud at certain points. Yet, the novel also gets at the core of how awesome and horrible it is to be an adolescent simultaneously.

Please, please read this novel and let me know what you think. I have an extra copy if anyone wants to borrow. I warn you there are some very inappropriate jokes & some drug abuse so make sure you're up for those before reading.

Back to School

One of my favorite TV commercials of all time is for STAPLES. A dad and his two children are shopping for school supplies and the holiday song "Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is playing. The dad is skipping through the aisles with joy while the kids look like their lives have ended.

Even as a teacher I find this hilarious because I know that feeling.

No one likes the summer ending - the free time, the hot weather, and the opportunity to do absolutely nothing is heavenly. It is also important for us all to take time off, appreciate the hardwork we have put in and enjoy the simple things. Too many times during the school year it feels as if life is flying by and summer helps slow us down.

Yet I will admit to having the back to school itch which includes buying more school supplies than I need, reorganizing my electronic folders, redesigning my website and even posting a blog entry. I'm excited to meet my new students and tackle all the literature for another time. Each year I evaluate what worked and what didn't, making assignments and activities better and better. I like that feeling of - progress.

I have to say when I was teaching a while ago, I worked with middle schoolers. I loved their energy and positive attitudes - which for high schoolers is dependent on how much sleep they've gotten - but the problem was the middle schoolers were very black & white thinkers. They also never challenged what I said - that was fun for a while but got "old." What I love about teenagers is their desire to discover things for themselves, weigh the options and decide what they believe - not just mirror what I believe. Watching that process is why I come to work every day.

You end up seeing someone become themself.

Humans Love Stuff

Now for most of you the alarms are probably going off: "Stuff?Stuff! Miss Macdonald is using one of her banned words!" Right you are, but to prove a point. Usually, I banish such a vague word from writing but this time - it is worthy. Go with me...

In Lord of the Flies one of the major topics we look at is how the boys interact with the island. We see them crash land creating a deep scar, set the mountain on fire, manipulate and kill creatures as well as break rocks. There are no "tree huggers" here. As the boys claim the island as their own "This belongs to us," it becomes apparent that the boys lack a certain awareness of how their behavior affects their surroundings. They burn down their own natural resources 'for goodness sake!' (Shakespeare phrase).

I was recently sent this link by a friend and mentioned it in class. To my surprise, I had actually seen a youtube video that you all had not! It starts a little slow but it is a video showing us the "Story of Stuff." All the stuff we buy comes from somewhere and has a deep impact on our planet, similar to how the boys have a lasting impact on the island. Note the comparisons that neither the boys nor modern American culture seems to fully grasp what they are doing to the only environment they have to survive on.

Movie Magic by Krissy McCusker

As I have previously posted I have a deep affinity for the Frou Frou song "Let Go" and believe it would work perfectly for the final scene of Catcher in the Rye when Holden has his epiphany at the carousel scene, that being: all children need to "fall" in order to learn from their mistakes. I have thought about this so much that I can see the scene playing through my head when I listen to the song - even when I'm not teaching Catcher.

This was getting to a point where I needed to do something about it and lacking any knowledge of filmmaking I went to the only film source I had: Krissy McCusker. A former MVP of Miss Macdonald's G Block class, Krissy was most well known for her film "Lady of the Flies" which will be shown in June. "Flies" demonstrates McCusker's own ideas of what would have happened if girls, not boys, had been stranded on the island. It also has phenomenal bloopers and end credits.

The question was: would Krissy dismiss my idea as that of an overly ardent English teacher or would she accept the proposal to craft my daydreaming into a reality? With a big sigh of relief, I hereby announce the film version of "Let Go" - the Catcher in the Rye version by Krissy McCusker. One million thanks to Krissy for taking me seriously and truly bringing to life what has been in my head for the past several years. I LOVE IT!

Happy Birthday, Will

I wonder how many students happened to realize that today is when we observe Shakespeare's birthday. I also wonder how many will wander onto my blog expecting an entry. For those few, I would not want to dissapoint...

I have tried to explain my completely normal appreciation for The Bard before, but on what many historians believe to be his birthday I shall try again. I have this quotation on a poster in my classroom (which sadly falls down all the time - how did the builders not realize that nothing sticks to cement block?!). It is taken from a memoir called Will & Me by Dominic Dromgoole, a theatre director. I added a few items in parentheses to help illuminate his point:

Shakespeare stains every surface of English life. He is woven into our history, our most private selves, even our landscape. Since our primary tool for understanding and expressing all these is our language, and since he dominates that language so completely, it is foolish to underestimate his influence.

Many of the words we use he invented (monumental); Many of the cliches we fall back on were his new minted truths (eaten me out of house and home); and many of the sentiments we live by he first thought (for goodness sake!)...

Shakespeare's great volcanic eruption of words (1700 invented words & phrases) carved out the verbal landscape within which we have lived ever since. Other languages and cultures have vitalized and reinvigorated that wordscape, but, thus far, they are only pitching their tents on Shakespeare's broad plain.

If that does not sell you on the importance of Shakespeare, here is a condensed list of phrases we use now (400 years after his death) every day. Some of these we use so often you might even be surprised that one man gets the credit for inventing them!

A fool's paradise—Romeo and Juliet
A foregone conclusion—Othello
A tower of strength—Richard III
All the world's a stage—As You Like It
An eye-sore—The Taming of the Shrew
Beware the Ides of March—Julius Caesar
Breathe one’s last—Henry VI, part 3
Budge an inch—The Taming of the Shrew
Come full circle—King Lear
Come what may—Macbeth
Cowards die many times before their deaths—Julius Caesar
Crack of doom—Macbeth
Dead as a doornail—Henry VI, part 2
Devil incarnate—Henry V
Dish fit for the gods—Julius Caesar
Dog will have its day—Hamlet
Done to death—Much Ado About Nothing
Double, double, toil and trouble; fire burn, and cauldron bubble—Macbeth
Eaten me out of house and home—Henry IV, part 2
Elbow room— King John
Et tu, Brute! –Julius Caesar
Every inch a king—King Lear
Fair is foul, and foul is fair—Macbeth
For goodness sake—Henry VIII
Foregone conclusion—Othello
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears—Julius Caesar
Give the devil his due—Henry IV (In the song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia")
Good riddance—Troilus and Cressida
Green-eyed monster—Othello
I have not slept one wink—Cymbeline
In my heart of hearts—Hamlet
In my mind's eye—Hamlet
Into thin air—The Tempest
It was Greek to me—Julius Caesar
Kill ... with kindness—The Taming of the Shrew
Laughing-stock—The Merry Wives of Windsor
Lean and hungry look—Julius Caesar
Lend me your ears—Julius Caesar
Lord, what fools these mortals be!—A Midsummer Night's Dream
Love is blind—The Merchant of Venice
Merry as the day is long—Much Ado About Nothing
My own flesh and blood—The Merchant of Venice
Not a mouse stirring—Hamlet
Now is the winter of our discontent—Richard III
O, Brave new world—The Tempest
One fell swoop—Macbeth
Out, out, brief candle—Macbeth
Parting is such sweet sorrow—Romeo and Juliet
Pomp and Circumstance—Othello (Think graduation song)
Sorry sight—Macbeth
Star-crossed lovers—Romeo and Juliet
The be-all and the end-all—Macbeth
The course of true love never did run smooth—A Midsummer Night's Dream
The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers—Henry VI, part 2
The naked truth—Love's Labour's Lost
The play’s the thing—Hamlet
The lady doth protest too much, methinks—Hamlet
The world's mine oyster—The Merry Wives of Windsor
Though this be madness, yet there is method in't—Hamlet (we say: method in the madness)
'Tis neither here nor there—--Othello
To be, or not to be: that is the question—Hamlet
To thine own self be true—Hamlet
Too much of a good thing—As You Like It
We are such stuff as dreams are made on--The Tempest
We have seen better days—As You Like It
Wear my heart on my sleeve—Othello
What’s done is done—Macbeth
What's in a name?—Romeo and Juliet

Happy Shakespeare's Birthday! Celebrate by renting a movie based on his work like: '10 Things I Hate About You' or 'O' or 'Loser.'

I too, Sing America

This year the poetry unit looks a little different. Instead of going over a random smattering of poems from the textbook, the sophomore teachers revamped the selection to focus on "man vs. society" a major concept in the curriculum. Stereotypes in categories of gender, race and social class run rampant in poetry. One poem we looked at as a class is "I too, Sing America" by Langston Hughes - an itty bitty poem that packs a punch. Here is a video made based on the poem that shows the power of using images, music and words.

Cell phones love English!

This morning I had an epiphany: cell phones love my English class. And if you really stop to think about it, it makes total sense. Often disregarded as just another technological device, a cell phone's sole purpose is to help you communicate with others. They listen to you laugh, cry and tell the stories of your life. They help you reach out and text someone.

Before, I used to get upset when cell phones went off in my class - breaking my train of thought, distracting my students, not to mention breaking school policy- but now I see there's a reason for it: cell phones desperately want to participate in my class. They want to share their opinions and feelings about the characters communicating in the novels. And so, they call out in song, buzzes or beeps. Imagine being so limited all you can do is hum the latest Kanye West song when you want to make a contribution to a discussion? Tragic.

I consider the close to 20 cell phones I've taken from students this year (and placed in my desk until 1:55 when they can be picked up) and realize these cell phones WANT to be in my desk. They WANT to spend the day listening to others discuss and communicate. I mean, let's be honest: who wouldn't?

I think it best, for now, to silence cell phones so that they may listen and learn in quiet - where they can be left, snug in your bag, to ponder whether Holden's life would have been different if he had a cell phone as opposed to going into phonebooths repeatedly.

Or, better yet, at the beginning of the class, give me your cell phone so I can put him (or her) in my desk to enjoy the cadence of my lessons as they roll on throughout the day.