More years than you can bear."
Hilary Mantel, An Experiment in Love
Friday, February 24, 2012
"You're only young once,
they say, but doesn't it go on for a long time?
More years than you can bear."
More years than you can bear."
recent readings.
about a month ago, our charter school's headquarters (that sounds so secret agency, and it's so, so far from it...) sent us lucky middle school English teachers a huge shipment of fiction and non-fiction books for our classroom libraries.
needless to say, we were pretty stoked.
we got so many books that i haven't really had time to sift through most of them, so i've been relying on student recommendations.
on Tuesday, one of my 8th graders had this book lying on her desk:
A Monster Calls
by Patrick Ness
inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd
one glance at the cover, and i was intrigued.
a look inside revealed to me that there were GORGEOUS illustrations on almost every other page. i immediately knew i had to read this book. i asked my student about it, and she assured me that even though she was only a little ways in, it was already fantastic. she had finished it up by Thursday morning, and turned it back in so that i could read it.
i devoured it in a day, and it was MAGNIFICENT.
i've never read anything by Patrick Ness before, but he's definitely on my radar now.
it's about a teenage boy whose mother is dying from cancer. the boy, Conor, has a recurring nightmare that he is afraid to admit, even to himself. he also has hallucinations where he talks to a giant monster made out of a yew tree. it's bizarre, but in the most wonderful way. it's also incredibly touching. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. at our in-service meeting last Friday, another book was brought to my attention:
The Fault in Our Stars
by John Green
now, i have long been a fan of John Green.
it was a couple of years ago that i read An Abundance of Katherines, but i'll never forget how zany and brilliant the main character was. in fact, all of the characters were fantastically written. i couldn't put it down.
and then i read Looking for Alaska.
Looking for Alaska changed the way i think about Young Adult Fiction, because for the first time, i knew that YA fiction had the ability to be witty and exhilarating and devastating all at the same time. John Green was all of these things and so much more.
i'd been steeped in sappy YA novels for so long that Alaska was a breath of much needed fresh air. again, the main character was brilliant. again, the other characters were fantastic. but it was just so...raw. and i hate when people throw that word around...but there's really no other way to describe it. Alaska made me feel as though my heart had been ripped open and exposed to the world, and no realistic fiction YA book had made me feel that way in quite some time. not since Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, which is more historical fiction anyway.
so when i heard that John Green's NEW BOOK was stupendous, i made it a mission to read it immediately.
that same evening, it was purchased and sitting on my bedroom dresser.
i just started reading it today, but it's already making me laugh aloud (i'm sure the cashier at Jason's Deli thinks i'm a little insane, because i was reading and giggling hysterically while waiting for my sandwich...) and sigh with romantic notions.
i'm already anticipating a hurricane of tears to come.
needless to say, we were pretty stoked.
we got so many books that i haven't really had time to sift through most of them, so i've been relying on student recommendations.
on Tuesday, one of my 8th graders had this book lying on her desk:
A Monster Calls
by Patrick Ness
inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd
one glance at the cover, and i was intrigued.
a look inside revealed to me that there were GORGEOUS illustrations on almost every other page. i immediately knew i had to read this book. i asked my student about it, and she assured me that even though she was only a little ways in, it was already fantastic. she had finished it up by Thursday morning, and turned it back in so that i could read it.
i devoured it in a day, and it was MAGNIFICENT.
i've never read anything by Patrick Ness before, but he's definitely on my radar now.
it's about a teenage boy whose mother is dying from cancer. the boy, Conor, has a recurring nightmare that he is afraid to admit, even to himself. he also has hallucinations where he talks to a giant monster made out of a yew tree. it's bizarre, but in the most wonderful way. it's also incredibly touching. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. at our in-service meeting last Friday, another book was brought to my attention:
The Fault in Our Stars
by John Green
now, i have long been a fan of John Green.
it was a couple of years ago that i read An Abundance of Katherines, but i'll never forget how zany and brilliant the main character was. in fact, all of the characters were fantastically written. i couldn't put it down.
and then i read Looking for Alaska.
Looking for Alaska changed the way i think about Young Adult Fiction, because for the first time, i knew that YA fiction had the ability to be witty and exhilarating and devastating all at the same time. John Green was all of these things and so much more.
i'd been steeped in sappy YA novels for so long that Alaska was a breath of much needed fresh air. again, the main character was brilliant. again, the other characters were fantastic. but it was just so...raw. and i hate when people throw that word around...but there's really no other way to describe it. Alaska made me feel as though my heart had been ripped open and exposed to the world, and no realistic fiction YA book had made me feel that way in quite some time. not since Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, which is more historical fiction anyway.
so when i heard that John Green's NEW BOOK was stupendous, i made it a mission to read it immediately.
that same evening, it was purchased and sitting on my bedroom dresser.
i just started reading it today, but it's already making me laugh aloud (i'm sure the cashier at Jason's Deli thinks i'm a little insane, because i was reading and giggling hysterically while waiting for my sandwich...) and sigh with romantic notions.
i'm already anticipating a hurricane of tears to come.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
this is what i want to do with my life.
on writing for a living...
"My dad, a janitor all of his life, once asked me what I did for a living, since he had noticed that I didn't go out to work. I gave him a long story about characterization, plot, outlining, etc. I just didn't feel right saying that all I did was write down my daydreams."
-walter dean myers
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
reason #2:
today, while grading a student's reading response to To Kill a Mockingbird, i found this little gem:
"Everybody in this book is kinda racist. Actually, pretty much everybody today is racist.
My whole group told me that it would get better eventually if I keep reading. To be honest, I wasn't gonna read it; I was gonna sparknotes it. But no I didn't! I knew that doing that is cheating and that Ms. Salinas wouldn't be proud!
...Atticus is defending a black guy named Tom Robinson. Tom is accused of raping Mayella Ewell. In the beginning of the court, everything wasn't too exciting or interesting.
Later on as I keep reading, Atticus was like PWNING Mayella by asking a series of questions."
that's right. that's why Atticus is my favorite literary character of ALL TIME.
because he PWNS.
and also, because i can't resist:
"Everybody in this book is kinda racist. Actually, pretty much everybody today is racist.
My whole group told me that it would get better eventually if I keep reading. To be honest, I wasn't gonna read it; I was gonna sparknotes it. But no I didn't! I knew that doing that is cheating and that Ms. Salinas wouldn't be proud!
...Atticus is defending a black guy named Tom Robinson. Tom is accused of raping Mayella Ewell. In the beginning of the court, everything wasn't too exciting or interesting.
Later on as I keep reading, Atticus was like PWNING Mayella by asking a series of questions."
that's right. that's why Atticus is my favorite literary character of ALL TIME.
because he PWNS.
and also, because i can't resist: 
life lesson 2:
don't spoil the ending.
so, the kids are currently in the middle of a book club cycle.
this basically means that groups of 3 to 5 students are reading the same book. the kids read the book throughout the week and have a page schedule that they're required to keep up with. on Friday, the groups meet to talk about their book.
the most common occurring problem (and the most frustrating one, as far as i can tell), is that some kids insist on reading ahead.
i warned the students at the start of our book clubs that reading ahead would make their Friday meetings more difficult--they'd be tempted to tell the other students what happens next, and they wouldn't be able to participate in discussion as fully.
it just really helps when everyone is on the same page--figuratively AND literally.
anyway, i have groups in a couple different classes that are reading The Outsiders. as you may be aware, i STRONGLY advocate this book's use in middle school classrooms. i've never met a kid who didn't finish the book once starting it. they love the violence, the action, and especially the fact that these kids feel like outsiders--which is a pretty common feeling among middle schoolers.
in one of my 8th grade classes is one such group reading The Outsiders. this group is made up of ALL BOYS, which i was VERY worried about. but i said, "you know what? they all picked the same book. i told them i'd group them according to their book choice, and i'm going to stick with that."
i'm still not sure if this was a good idea.
but it IS highly amusing.
last Friday, we met as scheduled.
i was walking around the room, poking my nose into the other groups' conversations to see how they were faring. i took my eyes off that Outsiders group for ONE minute, and when i looked back, it was like i was seeing a flashback from my dysfunctional family's last Thanksgiving dinner. two of the boys were on the ground under the table, one was curled up in the corner of the room, and the other two were having a heated debate in the midst of it all.
i took a deep breath and made my way over to conquer the chaos.
i'm almost there when i get stopped by the To Kill a Mockingbird group. i'm trying to clear up some confusion when suddenly, one of the two boys who was just under the Outsiders table, Sam, crawls toward me on all four and continues crawling around my feet in counter-clockwise circles. i look up at the rest of the class, which has gone eerily silent. we're ALL trying to figure out what the heck is going on.
i look over at the other Outsiders boys and raise an eyebrow. "okay. what happened?"
Andrew (the other boy under the table) clears it up. he gestures toward the two having the heated discussion. "Chris and John finished the book. and they're talking about the ending. but we're not there yet!"
i looked from Andrew to Chris and John (who had stopped talking and had joined the rest of the class in watching Sam crawl around) and finally looked at Sam once more (he was on his third lap around my feet by this time...) before addressing the class.
"guys, let this be a lesson to us all. you DON'T SPOIL THE BOOK for your friends! look! they BROKE Sam!"
it took a little coaxing to get the group to agree not to spoil any more of the book for anybody. the conversation was put on hold until everyone could catch up, and the crisis was averted. but later, i laughed. a lot.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
reason #1
of why i love teaching:
yesterday was valentine's day.
obviously, this comes as no surprise. however, it was the first valentine's day i've spent single in 6 and a half years.
my fiance broke my heart this past september when he decided that we were no longer making each other happy.
the thing is, he was right. and honestly, i have to be thankful that he decided to call it quits. because i don't know that i would have ever been strong enough to do so myself.
we broke up for a lot of reasons. but that's another story for another time.
anyway. a group of my seventh graders decided to have a "Singles Party" in honor of their single status on valentine's. i agreed to host the shindig in my classroom during lunchtime. it mostly consisted of them talking and eating too many sugary foods.
at one point, the girl who organized the party decided to make a toast of sorts: "here's to being single! all of us in the room, except for Ms. Salinas, are single."
i cleared my throat. "actually..."
they got the drift.
in an attempt to comfort me, the only male student in attendance gestured toward me and said, "the reason Ms. Salinas can't find the perfect man is because she's more perfect than all of them."
who needs a significant other when i've got 90+ students who light up my life on a daily basis?
yesterday was valentine's day.
obviously, this comes as no surprise. however, it was the first valentine's day i've spent single in 6 and a half years.
my fiance broke my heart this past september when he decided that we were no longer making each other happy.
the thing is, he was right. and honestly, i have to be thankful that he decided to call it quits. because i don't know that i would have ever been strong enough to do so myself.
we broke up for a lot of reasons. but that's another story for another time.
anyway. a group of my seventh graders decided to have a "Singles Party" in honor of their single status on valentine's. i agreed to host the shindig in my classroom during lunchtime. it mostly consisted of them talking and eating too many sugary foods.
at one point, the girl who organized the party decided to make a toast of sorts: "here's to being single! all of us in the room, except for Ms. Salinas, are single."
i cleared my throat. "actually..."
they got the drift.
in an attempt to comfort me, the only male student in attendance gestured toward me and said, "the reason Ms. Salinas can't find the perfect man is because she's more perfect than all of them."
who needs a significant other when i've got 90+ students who light up my life on a daily basis?
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