We plan to add a major unit on film to our drama class this year. This delightful short film reminds me of how easily Digital Natives think and create in images rather than words:
Splitscreen: A Love Story
Splitscreen: A Love Story from JW Griffiths on Vimeo.
Hey folks.
I need help from those of you who read/know adolescent lit. Or just hang around the library and soak up opinions. What can you tell me about any of the books listed at the end of this post?
I'm thinking of developing a better reading list for my 8th graders, and I am intrigued by the "Reading Through the Decades" idea in this article in the ALAN Review.
Coart teaches a 20th century history course to the 8th graders and I'd like to parallel their outside reading with the decades. Kinda. We won't do every decade individually; I think will combine some. Depends on what else we are reading in class and how much good, appropriate lit is available for a particular decade. Right now I'm thinking of doing the '00s/10s, the '20s, the 30s, the 40s and WWII, the 50s, and then maybe lump the 60s-70s together. (It's harder to find appropriate lit for the later decades, and I have other novels to teach late in the year.)
The article I cited gives a solid overview of these books and why they bare important.
I'd like know if you or your kids / siblings / students have read them .....and what you thought of the books.
Boring? Engaging? Controversial? Thoughtful? Controversial? Inappropriate?
ALL FEEDBACK WELCOME
Literature for Young Readers Set in 1900-1909
Dash, J. We Shall Not Be Moved: The Women's Factory Strike of 1909. Scholastic Trade. 1996.
Fall, T. The Ordeal of Running Standing. University of Oklahoma Press. 1970.
Glaser, D. The Diary of Trilby Frost. Holiday House. 1976.
Gregory, K. Earthquake at Dawn. Gary Dean Gullickson. 1994.
Yep, L. Dragon Wings. Harper Collins. 1977
Literature for Young Readers Set in 1910-1919
Adolescent Literature
Armstrong, W. Sounder. Harper & Row. 1969.
Borland, H. When the Legends Die. Lippincott. 1963.
Hesse, K. Letters from Rifka. Puffin. 1993.
Sebestyen, Q. Words by Heart. Little, Brown. 1979.
Thesman, J. The Ornament Tree. Avon Books. 1998
Adult Novel Set in the Decade
Agee, J. A Death in the Family. McDowell, Obolensky. 1957
Literature for Young Readers Set in 1920-1929
Bradbury, R. Dandelion Wine. Knopf, Random House. 1957.
Meyer, C. White Lilacs. Gulliver Books. 1993.
Parks, G. The Learning Tree. Fawcett. 1963.
Smith, B. Joy in the Morning. Harper Collins Juvenile Books. 1976.
Voigt, C. Tree by Leaf. Fawcett. 1995.
Yep, L. Star Fisher. Puffin. 1992.
Pulitzer Prize Winners from the Decade
Lewis, S. Arrowsmith. P.F. Collier. 1925.
Wilder, T. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Harper & Row. 1927.
Be Sure Not to Overlook
Wright, R. Black Boy. Harper & Row. 1966.
A Newbery Award Novel from 1920-1929
James, W. Smoky the Cowhorse. Simon & Schuster. 1981.
Out-of-Print but Worth Locating
Brown, I. Morning Glory Afternoon. Blue Heron Publishing. 1991.
Corcoran, B. The Sky is Falling. Atheneum. 1998.
Drama Set in the Decade
Lawrence, J. and R. E. Lee. Inherit the Wind. Bantam. 1982.
Literature for Young Readers Set in 1930-1939
Angelou, M. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Bantam, 1983.
Carter, F. The Education of Little Tree. University of New Mexico Press. 1979.
Hamner, E. The Homecoming. Dramatic Publishing. 1976.
Hesse, K. Out of the Dust. Scholastic Press. 1997.
Hunt, I. No Promises in the Wind. Follett Publishing Company. 1970.
Kay, T. The Year the Lights Came On. University of Georgia Press. 1989.
Peck, R. A Long Way from Chicago. Dial Books for Young Readers. 1998.
Taylor, M. Let the Circle Be Unbroken. Puffin Books, 1991.
Taylor, M. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Dial Press. 1976.
Voigt, C. Building Blocks. Atheneum. 1984.
Pulitzer Prize Winners from the Decade
Buck, P. The Good Earth. Grosset & Dunlap. 1931.
Mitchell, M. Gone with the Wind. Macmillan. 1936.
Rawlings, M.K. The Yearling. C. Scribner & Sons. 1938.
Steinbeck, J. The Grapes of Wrath. Viking. 1939.
Adult Novels Set in the Decade
Wright, R. Native Son. Harper & Row. 1940.
Nonfiction Set in the Decade
Parks, Gordon, A Choice of Weapons. Harper and Row. 1966.
Drama Set in the Decade (Pulitzer Prize Honoree in 1990)
Wilson, August. The Piano Lesson. Plume Books, 1990
1940-49
Blume, J. Starring Sally J. Friedman as Herself. Yearling Books. 1986.
Daly, Seventeenth Summer. Archway. 1986.
Greene, B. Summer of My German Soldier. Dial Books for Young Readers. 1973.
Knowles, J. A Separate Peace. Macmillan. 1959.
McCullers, C. The Member of the Wedding. Houghton Mifflin. 1946.
Paterson, K. Jacob Have I Loved. Crowell. 1980.
Paulsen, G. The Cook Camp. Orchard Books. 1991.
Potok, Chiam. The Chosen. Simon & Schuster. 1967.
Salisbury, G. Under the Blood-Red Sun. Yearling Books. 1995.
Savin, M. The Moon Bridge. Demco Media. 1995.
Houston, J. W. and James Houston. Farewell to Manzanar. Bantam Starfire. 1983.
Pulitzer Prize Winners from the Decade
Warren, R.P. All the Kings Men. Harcourt, Brace, & Company. 1946.
Michener, R. Tales of the South Pacific. Macmillan. 1947.
Guthrie, A.B. The Way West. Houghton Mifflin. 1949.
Nonfiction About in the Decade
Brokaw, T. The Greatest Generation. Random House. 1998.
1950-59
Cormier, R. Tunes for Bears to Dance To. Delacorte. 1992.
Griffin, J.H. Black Like Me. Penguin. 1976.
Hansberry, L. A Raisin in the Sun. New American Library. 1966.
Kata, E. A Patch of Blue. Warner Books. 1989.
Levine, E. Freedom's Children. Avon Books. 1993.
Pulitzer Prize Winners from the Decade
Hemingway, E. The Old Man and the Sea. Scribner. 1952.
Kantor, M. Andersonville. World Publishing Co. 1955.
Agee, J. A Death in the Family. McDowell, Obolensky. 1957.
Late Nineties Bestseller Set in the Decade
Guterson, D. Snow Falling on Cedar. Harcourt Brace. 1994.
Nonfiction
Hickam, H. Rocket Boys. Delacorte. 1998.
1960-69
Bonham, F. Durango Street. Dutton. 1965.
Curtis, C. The Watsons Go to Birmingham~1963. Bantam. 1997.
Davis, O. Just Like Martin. Puffin Books. 1992.
Hamilton, V. The House of Dies Drear. Macmillan. 1968.
Hinton, S.E. The Outsiders. Viking Press. 1967.
Lipsyte, R. The Contender. Harper & Row. 1967.
Moore, Y. Freedom Songs. Puffin Books. 1992.
Zindel, P. My Darling My Hamburger. Harper Crest. 1969.
Pulitzer Prize Winners from the Decade
Lee, H. To Kill a Mockingbird. Lippincott. 1960. They read it in 7th grade
Styron, W. The Confessions of Nat Turner. Random House. 1967.
Nineties Bestseller Set in the Decade
Waller, R.J. The Bridges of Madison County. Warner Books. 1997.
Be Sure Not to Overlook
Steinbeck, J. Travels with Charlie: In Search of America. Penguin USA. 1981.
1970-79
Cormier, R. After the First Death. Pantheon Books. 1979.
Guest, J. Ordinary People. Penguin. 1993.
Mathis, S.B. A Teacup Full of Roses. Viking Press. 1972.
Myers, W.D. Fallen Angels. Scholastic Paperbacks. 1991.
Soto, G. Jesse. Harcourt Brace. 1994.
Pulitzer Prize Winners from the Decade
Welty, E. The Optimist's Daughter. Random House. 1972.
Shaara, M. The Killer Angels. Ballantine Books. 1974.
I know plenty of these won't make the final cut ...they'd be completely over the heads of 8th graders, or they contain considerable objectionable content.
Also, I know of many good YA books that unpack the German and Japanese viewpoints in WWII; I plan to add some to the 1940s list, or possibly take time to read 2 books during that period.
That said....YOUR THOUGHTS?
I have a confession to make.
I made some decisions that I thought were well-grounded, but two of my team members died. And a tough choice about a dangerous situation has been weighing on my mind ever since. It was a toss-up, a lesser-of-two-evils kind of thing, a choosing of bedfellows. My mind is uneasy.
See, I don't usually have much time for video games, so I've been playing through a few good ones this summer since I have the time.
A well-written game functions like a story: it offers rich, deep characters; it flows along a well-developed plot structure provided by creative writers; it exists in a time and place crafted to enhance the tale.
But unlike a novel, games pull the player into the story as a participant. This kind of interaction is merely a pipe dream in the film world, despite all the 3D hoopla. I guess the old-fashioned "choose your own adventure" stories laid the foundation for what we now enjoy as role-playing or adventure games.
Not all game stories offer real significance, and I don't have time for most intense RPGs. (You won't find me playing Final Fantasy anytime soon.) And a lot of game plots are fun, but it's not like you stay up at night thinking about the experience. (Kinda like "light summer reading.")
Then I played Mass Effect.
I don't want to spoil anything for those of you who might play ME in the future. It's a trilogy; the final segment should release in early 2012. (I'm hoping for mid-February so I can sink a few days of Winter Break into it. Lol)
But I can tell you this much: in the Mass Effect universe, choices really matter.
The story is set a few centuries in humanity's future, when Faster Than Light (FTL) travel permits us to wander the stars. Of course, there's a new galactic threat on the scene, and you play as the badass Commander Shepard. Old hat so far. I'd call it a role-playing first-person shooter.
The game authors created a conversation mechanism for the game. "Conversing" has been around for a while in games, but BioWare makes Shepard YOURS in significant ways. For one thing, you choose among several respnses as you "talk," responses which directly affect the attitude of characters or open/close options for future interaction. In real life, if you cuss someone out they are less likely to help you; in Mass Effect, your Shepard constantly has to decide what tactic to use to accomplish goals.
Even more impressive, your game-playing choices bear direct influence on future plot. Blow up someone's planet? Don't expect those resources to be around later when you need them. And do expect everyone in the galaxy to treat you with contempt. Except the outlaws, murderers, and pirates. They'll love it. You will lie in the bed you make (proverbially) and the whole universe has to live with your choices.
Further, the game developers gave Shepard a voice. Whether you create a male or female character, all of the lines were recorded by appropriate voice actors. You spend the game hearing yourself talk. It's a powerful mechanism for immersion.
Ethical choices stack up. Facing an overwhelming galactic threat, I made certain choices at the end of the first game. Those haunted me through Mass Effect 2, which itself forced me into ever-more-agonizing decisions. By the end of that game, I was questioning my ethics and leadership. Do you save all the lives in the galaxy at all costs? How many lives are "acceptable losses"? War ethics are a mess anyway. Crossing them with intergalactic politics and species magnifies the weaknesses in long-held beliefs, beliefs which affect my actions in the real world.
All good science fiction draws the reader to understand himself more clearly, to see human nature in clear light, to wrestle in a "laboratory" with decisions that would decimate us if we were making them in real life. Mass Effect delivers a rich experience, troubling and thoughtful. Current governments don't need to fly around the galaxy to find people-groups to abuse, exploit, assist, provoke, or ignore.
I'm not going to replay Mass Effect 2 to get a perfect game or fix my mistakes. Life isn't like that. I will carry my own Shepard into the final game with his scars intact, with 3 empty slots on the team as a reminder of the cost.
Apparently,I was spoofed. Normally I can spot hoaxes but maybe it's a sign of my own bias that I really did think the "Should math be taught I schools?" Miss USA video was real. Lol.
In case you missed it:
Haha.
That video comes in response to this one, the real question about evolution asked to the Miss America contestants. You might want to skim it before reading on....
To my point: after watching the girls bang their way through an incomplete understanding of why schools teach what they do, I was struck by one consistency among their answers.
Nearly every girl said that adults should "present all views and let the kids decide for themselves."
Really?
I know "tolerance" is the watchword of this generation but I get tired of such me-centered "truth."
But it's not a matter of choosing between two "truths"; one view is right and the other is wrong, or both are wrong and we need to discover a third, right answer to the question. Creation (at least in the conservative form) and Evolution (in its scientific statement) cannot both be true at the same time.
Teaching both views in schools would at least expose kids to both significant views, but the question needs to be properly framed in its context: a faith proposition. (None of us were there to see the Universe begin, so a final answer will not come through mere observation and investigation. One's presuppositions determine her reaction to the "evidence.")
Why bring this up? It's not to fight over creationism.... Please take that elsewhere.....
I hate the idea that teachers are expected to do nothing but serve a buffet of ideas without guidance.
Wikipedia can do that without my help.
Modern views of "teaching" water down the teacher's best tools: Respect. Authority. Credibility.
As my pupils get older, I give less guidance during discussions (until asked) so students learn to evaluate and discern. But the bulk of my job is always to shepherd students of all ages toward excellent habits of mind. That includes pointing out the wolves, cliffs, and other hazards in the current setting ... not merely letting them crawl all over the landscape wallowing in every mud hole in the name of "self-discovery."
Even my squishy discipline, literature, refuses students the pipe dream of choosing their favorite "truth" from the smorgasbord. The text itself places boundaries on interpretation. Not all interpretations can be right. Complementary in some cases, but always boundaried by the text. Umberto Eco writes about this in one of his excellent essays on literary theory. (I'll link to it if I can find an online copy.)
If we want the proverbial next generation to rise up and do great things, we must stop telling them they get to pick beliefs from a menu unaided, without guidance or consequences. Ideas, like words, mean something.
Teachers need to pick up the mantle of mentoring, and parents should both recognize and encourage this.
Unless, of course, they can't trust their kid's teachers....in which case, why are you subjecting your child to that classroom in the first place?
My blogging life has been in ICU lately; I just haven't felt like writing a whole lot, so I haven't disciplined myself. It doesn't help that my "real" job is heavily mental and that all of my best posts are written while I'm in the shower, far from paper or keyboard. Maybe I should invest in a voice recorder. Lol
My conscience finally got the best of me a few days ago and I am renewing my commitment to WRITE. I don't flatter myself into thinking I have great insights to share, but I hate to ask my students to do something I am unwilling to do... so if they must write, so will I. 
I promise you nothing, dear reader, except a bit of candor, many unanswered questions, and occasional wit (when I manage to be so lucky). In return, I love to read your feedback, even when violently negative LOL, and I hope some good discussions break out here once in a while.
My cultural life has been rich lately with good sci-fi like Mass Effect and Babylon 5. Most of the B5 episodes were written by a single author, J Michael Straczynski, and he served up an impressive story arc. I heartily recommend, though you will have to order the DVDs from NetFlix; the series just got pulled from instant streaming, sadly.
Both B5 and the Mass Effect games ask difficult questions about cross-cultural policy and politics. Backed against the wall, all of us succumb to the intense selfishness of human nature. "It's ok if the world burns as long as my street stays safe." I've shifted uncomfortably in my seat a few times as this pre-9/11 TV show forces me to see parallels with the current financial crisis, political incompetence and gridlock, lack of immigration reform,the health care crisis. Even facing significant crisis and consequences, we fail to work together. Maybe galactic sci-fi is just too optimistic.
whoa! Xanga has a mobile version now!!
awesome.
I love how so many people are using video & music now as a teaching medium. At least hip hop is being used to say something useful. 
The "e-group" youth group kids ("E group" because "we're better than a D-group [discipleship]") came over on Thursday for our first-ever "Eat like a Joscelyn" supper. Joscelyn is working through a number of difficult food allergies right now with uncertain causes. Her current doctor-prescribed diet cuts out gluten, soy, dairy (anything with casein) and nuts. That makes it hard to eat!
Joscelyn calls her diet "non-people food," and we all wanted to walk a mile in her shoes (or at least a meal), so we got together for supper on Thursday. It went pretty well, actually. I found as a cook that the dietary restrictions were, well.... very restricting. But all is not lost.
This starts a series of posts (I hope) of menus from our Eat Like a Joscelyn dinners. If you know of any good non-soy or non-almond dairy substitutes, I'd love to hear about them! Meanwhile, if you are dealing with a restricted diet, or just want to sympathize with someone who does, maybe some of these recipes will help.
MENU
Chopped Salad with Grilled Glazed Steak and Balsamic Dressing
Vanilla Cake with Strawberries and Marshmallow Creme
ALL RECIPES SERVE 8-10; reduce for your own needs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All recipes follow. Here are the steps
1. Prep steaks for marinating in time for dinner (at least an hour before).
2. Begin the glaze for the steak so that it's done in time (takes 45-60min).
3. Chop veggies for salad & make dressing. Dress the salad in a large bowl and set aside / keep chilled.
4. When it's time to eat, sear the steaks: I used a cast iron skillet on medium heat, hot enough to sizzle water instantly. Cooked the steaks one at a time in a little canola oil; 2min on one side and 1min on the other (for medium or med-rare).
5. As the steaks come off the pan, let them rest on a cutting board and immediately top with some of the balsamic glaze.
6. Assemble the salad: Dish out portions of the chopped salad & top with thin slices of steak (cut across the grain). Serve immediately.
Steak Marinade (for 3 lb of top round steaks)
~1cup apple cider vinegar
~1/4 cup turbinado sugar (or brown sugar)
~2 T kosher salt
~1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
~2 T honey
~3-4T good olive oil
ground mustard
garlic powder
oregano
dash of red pepper
Heat the cider vinegar, salt & sugar for about 1min in microwave and stir until sugar begins to melt. Stir in all other ingredients (use seasonings to your liking) and add steaks. Allow to marinate for at least an hour. Make sure steaks are room temperature before you grill or pan-fry them.
Dressing:
from Emeril; recipe from Food Network for Simple Balsamic Vinaigrette:
I shook together in a small salad dressing mixer the vinegar & spices, then added the oil & shook till I got an emulsion. You need at least a cup of dressing to do a large salad, but leftovers (if making a smaller salad) will keep in the frig just fine.
Glaze:
I poked around on the Food Network site and settled on this:
~1 cup balsamic vinegar
~1-2 tsp honey (opt)
Bring vinegar to boil in saucepan over medium heat. Boil down until thick & syrupy -- takes about 40-60min. The honey adds a nice sweetness, but if you overboil, you will get something that hardens too much.
Salad:
Since this is a chopped salad, you can use any greens & veggies in season that you like. Just make sure everything ends up chopped to the same size, around 1" pieces.
GREENS & VEGGIES: Ours included green lettuces (J is avoiding most green leafy things right now at doctor's request, or I would have used arugula & romaine & spinach); cucumber; red peppers; carrots; tomatoes ... chopped red onion on the side.
FRUIT & SEEDS: a chopped Pink Lady apple (dressed with a little fresh lemon juice); toasted, salted sunflower seeds; craisins
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's terribly hard to find a non-soy, non-nut dairy substitute. Right now the best we could find to replace whipped cream was marshmallow creme -- which Joscelyn loves, so it turned out well.
Before dinner, slice up strawberries & dress with plenty of white sugar. Leave on the counter to masticate (the sugar draws out the juices & forms a light syrup).
The Vanilla cake was a gluten-free mix that I really liked. I can't remember the company name; there are only 2 regularly sold in our stores around here; this one has a pastel label with a script font for the name.... the label was periwinkle.
Cake turned out moist & tasty. We baked it in a 9x13 to get flatter squares & topped each square with fresh strawberries & syrup, with optional marshmallow on top -- sticky but yummy!
In his article "The Cost of Overemphasizing Achievement," Alfie Kohn offers a well-written, sharply-clear explanation of why a focus on achievement, test scores, or even just "good grades" tends to be counterproductive in the classroom.
Specifically, research indicates that the use of traditional letter or number grades is reliably associated with three consequences.First, students tend to lose interest in whatever they’re learning. As motivation to get good grades goes up, motivation to explore ideas tends to go down. Second, students try to avoid challenging tasks whenever possible. More difficult assignments, after all, would be seen as an impediment to getting a top grade. Finally, the quality of students’ thinking is less impressive. One study after another shows that creativity and even long-term recall of facts are adversely affected by the use of traditional grades
I can say that my 9 years of middle/high school classroom experience lines up exactly with Kohn's critique of a grades-driven educational system. Nothing annoys me more than hearing, "Mrs Ramey, will this be on the test?" as the prelude question to every lecture, discussion, discovery, or investigation.
As Kohn points out, kids are too smart to thirst for knowledge when their educational landscape is ruled by quantifiable expectations, benchmarks, percentage grades, and the like. I watch very smart students every day choose the easy way out because they see no reason to jeopardize their God-given leg-up in the achievement game. As a rule, I use a vast mix of assessments in my classroom if possible, and different kinds of projects or test quesions offer each student either challenge or relief once in a while. But it's tough to come up with great ideas all the time.
Parents and teachers must work together to combat the educational culture that ranks "achievement" and "success as measured by a number" as more important than effort, real learning, challenge, and curiosity. The most influential and effective agents of cultural change down through history have rarely been "good students."
Read Kohn's article. It's relatively short, and you don't have to be an education expert to grasp his point.
Cross-posted to Teaching Redemptively
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