new address

I have moved this blog to a new space. Catch it over at theenglishist2.wordpress.com.

planning for fall

I'll be teaching composition this fall, and I'm trying to decide what my course will look like. I'm a big fan of analysis, particularly rhetorical analysis, so the big thing is figuring out a final project and then sequencing my course to lead to that. What I'm thinking I might do is...I don't know yet. Maybe design a superhero? I think that would be fun. But is it final project worthy?

So far, I have one major assignment planned: Rhetorical Analysis of a Space. I've been wanting to do that for a while, so now is the time. But that's all I have! I know the first three assignments should be analyses and the last two or three should be creating/designing arguments, but...what? Ugh. This is the part that's both frustrating and fun. Frustrating because right now I have NOTHING. Fun because the lightbulb moment will be worth it.

Options so far:

Identifying Arguments - Summary
Understanding Arguments - Rhetorical Analysis of a Speech? (I've done this before, and it's safe. But surely there is some other thing that can be analyzed successfully here.)
Understanding Arguments - Rhetorical Analysis of a Movie
Understanding Arguments - Rhetorical Analysis of a Space
Creating Arguments - Peer Interview (The basic idea is to interview a classmate, do a profile page based on the interview, and then create a magazine the interview would appear in)
Creating Arguments - Design a Superhero???? Sounds cool but might be confusing. Only because I would have to figure out how to plan it.

ARGH. I am also out of practice with teaching comp, so it's going to take some time. I'd also like to do a photo essay, which would be interesting.

So, yes. That leaves me with two definites for assignments: Summary and Rhetorical Analysis of a Space. Lovely. I only need to fill in three more assignments and twelve to thirteen more weeks of the semester.

trio of book reviews

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: I liked this book, but not as much as I wanted to. Mostly because (a) it feels like a set up for the next book [which it most certainly is] and (b) I really wished it had been told in multiple POVs. Because I really, really wanted to know what some of the other characters were thinking, and it frustrated me that I couldn't! Also, in that way, the outcome becomes kind of predictable with the first person narration and all. Anyway, I am interested in reading the next book [out in September!]. Plus, shipper alert! As you do.

Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure: "Revenge is living well, without you." -- Joyce Carol Oates. As you can guess, the memoirs range from the supremely awesome, like the Oates' one there, or kind of lame. It made me think about how I would describe myself/life in six words (it's hard), and I think I'll use that as a revision/writing concisely assignment. Oh, and it also made me think of using Twitter in the classroom. EDIT, STUDENTS. EDIT LIKE THE WIND.

My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison: Hey, so I liked this one way more than I thought I would! It is really kind of awesome because it surprised me by doing some unexpected things with the story. There are two main threads to the story: (a) Be careful what you wish for and (b) Don't underestimate yourself. LOVE. It features a surprisingly strong heroine--okay, three strong female characters, actually--and is kind of fun. Great for the beach. I had started it, set it aside, and then picked up again and read it in two days. I would've finished it in one except I was tired. Good times. It also seems like there could be another book featuring the same fair godmother, so it'd be interesting if the author did that. The book also offers a unique way of looking at/rewriting/retelling fairy tales, which would also make an awesome assignment and give students a different way to think about it.

Quotes!

Fairy's side note: Adults are constantly telling teenagers that it's what's on the inside that matters. It's always painful to find out that adults have lied to you.

Fairy's side note: Guys can smell desperation. It triggers an instinct in them to run far and fast so they aren't around when a woman starts peeling apart her heart. They know she'll ask for help in putting it back together the right way--intact and beating correctly--and they dread the thought of puzzling over layers that they can't understand, let alone rebuild. They'd rather just not get blood on their hands.

But sharks are different. They smell the blood of desperation and circle in. They whisper into a girl's ear, "I'll make it better. I'll make you forget all about your pain."

Sharks do this by eating your heart, but they never mention this beforehand. That is the thing about sharks.

TELL ME ABOUT IT.

Dope Sick by Walter Dean Myers

Dope Sick by Walter Dean Myers, I didn't really like that much. The ending annoyed me a lot. I liked what he was trying to do more than how it actually turned out. The book was a super quick read, and it was intriguing (it's about a guy who skin pops heroin and what happens when he gets involved in a bad drug deal), but...I don't know. It just didn't sit right with me. I have to say that I did love the very subtle (or not) religious imagery/overtones. That made it super fun. The book was worth it, though, for this one exchange:

"Yo, Kelly, you got ears, bro, but you don't hear all that tough," I said. "Everything that's me ain't all my fault."

"That's the deal," Kelly said. "You got to find a way to make your life your fault."

"No, man, what I got to do is to get through today," I said. "And if you don't know what that's about, then you probably ain't black enough, or ain't poor enough, or ain't been beat down enough to get next to it."

It just perfectly encapsulates everything. As always, the book is about being a participant in life versus being a spectator, about making choices and taking responsibility versus making excuses. That much I do love.

March books

Alice on Her Way by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor: This book is part of a super popular series that I have never, ever read (and, honestly, only heard of because of research for my class). That said, I liked it quite a bit. The series does tackle lots of issues. In this book alone there was: sex (Alice goes to a church group, her friend gives a hand and blow job), an abusive relationship, interracial dating, a mention of molestation, etc. And even though the book stood well alone (we decided as a class that it did), you can tell that there were larger conversations about most of these issues ongoing in the series. I kind of want to read them all now, but there are a LOT of books. Maybe I'll just start with the high school years. That might be a fun summer project.

The Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson: For a book that has such a clever premise (Disney characters come alive after dark; they're trying to take over the world--Maleficent is the villain in this one), I am sorely disappointed in how cliched it is. The one black kid is a tall, athletic, and angry male? The main girl is so mysterious with a secret and the main (average white) boy can't quite figure her out? The nerdy (white) boy has red hair and knows everything? The other two girls that are part of the team are completely useless, so much so that they disappear from the action at the end? There's a character named JEZEBEL who totally manipulates the black kid with her sexiness? I mean, SERIOUSLY? That is totally lame. I read the whole book because I wanted to figure out just where it was going, but I am so, so turned off by the lazy and lame characterization that I don't even know if I can comfortably give it three stars for being an interesting enough read. The more I think about it, the more I kind of hate it. It's like Hero in that way.

Princess Diaries 10: Forever Princess by Meg Cabot: I really, really enjoyed this book and thought it was a fitting end to the series. The characters were in fine form, and I loved all of the plot threads and how they came together. Also, I love Tina Hakim Baba and Michael Moscovitz forever and ever and ever. Plus also, Mia was really enjoyable in this book, which is great, because she's one of my favorite Cabot heroines. So that made me happy. Also again, I learn so much science and psychology reading these books that it's kind of ridiculous.

You Know Where to Find Me by Rachel Cohn: Oh, this book. I loathed it kind of a lot. First of all, it's a fat girl narrative, and I hate, hate, hate fat girl narratives. (A fat girl narrative, btw, is a story all about how the main character is fat and she hates herself for being fat and fat, fat, fat, fat, FAT.) By the time I realized I was never going to get that turnaround from it being a fat girl narrative to something more (like in The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things), it was too late, and I was kind of invested in the end of the story. The fat girl narrative is especially troubling because the main character's cousin is SEVERELY depressed and also skinny. So I really needed her to get over the fat girl thing and be about something else, but she never was! And I just wanted to punch her and the author in the face because it made me so angry.

The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex: Hey, so this was super cute and fun, and the main character of the adventure was a BROWN GIRL. Yay, that made me happy! It is kind of absurd and strange because it's about what happens when aliens take over the Earth and then other aliens come to fight those aliens, but it had great, great commentary on race relations and Manifest Destiny and privilege and also family. Good times.

Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott: This book will haunt me for the REST OF MY LIFE. It is so freaking disturbing, omg. I seriously couldn’t put it down, and I doubt I will ever, ever forget it. Ever.

February books

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta: I didn't love it as much as the friend who recommended it to me did, but I did like it quite a lot. It did take me quite a while to get into, and I only stuck with it because (a) it felt like a payoff book and (b) my friend promised it would pay off. I wasn't disappointed. Everything came together really well. Um, a brief summary is that the book is about this girl Taylor who is at a boarding school and has to confront her past. I seriously can't say more without giving away the entire plot, so. Check it out. A quote:

I remember love. It’s what I have to keep on reminding myself. It’s funny how you can forget everything except people loving you. Maybe that’s why humans find it so hard getting over love affairs. It’s not the pain they’re getting over, it’s the love.

A Likely Story Book 1: Likely Story by David van Etten: THIS BOOK. It's about a girl who WRITES A SOAP OPERA. It is super fun and cute and fluffy and. SHE WRITES A SOAP OPERA. I just...I cannot even capslock that enough. ALSO. Her mom is a soap star and the whole thing is about SOAPS and the main character is living her own soap opera what with being a cheater and having mom drama and all, and I just...SHE WRITES A SOAP OPERA. I was having serious reader's block when I read this and it totally helped break my slump.

Confessions of a Serial Kisser by Wendelin van Draanen: This was...not that good. Oh, it was totally readable, but I wasn't that enamored of the character at all. I am glad that it was a fluffy post-divorce thing where she's obsessed with kissing and doesn't go around sleeping with boys to dull the ache left in her heart or whatever, but still. Great last line, though.

Oh, also, I was attempting to read Dreams from My Father by [President] Barack Obama, but it got boring and I have too much other stuff to read. I got about halfway through and read enough to know he's a really good writer even if he did switch to his mother's POV during one scene (in his memoir. UM). But it just wasn't keeping my interest.

January books

The Road to Paris by Nikki Grimes: Very fast read about a young girl who gets separated from her brother while in foster care. I found the book lacking in detail where I wanted it, even as Grimes paints a clear, complete picture of everything that happens. Just a little too sparse for my tastes. Delightful read, though.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman: Hey, so, I read this for my reading group (book club for grad students, basically), and you may have heard that it won the Newbery. WELL. Clearly, we are psychic. Anyway, while I was reading the book, I didn't think I would like it, but when I finished...I realized I did. Here's my favorite quote from the book:

You're alive [...]. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you're dead, it's gone. Over. You've made what you've made, dreamed your dream, written your name. [...] [T]hat potential is finished.

Secret Spaces of Childhood by Elizabeth Goodenough: I had to read this for class, and some of the selections were an absolute chore to get through.

trifecta of book reviews

Hell Week by Rosemary Clement-Moore: This is a sequel to Prom Nights from Hell, a book that I enjoyed very much, so I was excited to see that it seems to be an ongoing series. What I like about this book is that the characters are interesting, there's a complex female friendship, and Clement-Moore doesn't shy away from the concept of religion in her demon fighting. What's also really cool is that she tackles sororities as being an excellent site of evil because of the rituals and secrecy already inherent in them. (For the record: sororities are not bad in and of themselves, but the cloak of secrecy around them allows--in the book anyway--dirty dealings to go on kind of without question because of the secrecy. If that makes sense.) Reading the book, I was kind of on the fence about how I feel about it, but the more I think about it (and the fact that I think about it after reading!), the more I like it.

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan: I had actually tried to read this before and didn't really care for it so quit. Mostly I found the narrative really annoying. Like, REALLY annoying. However, after seeing the movie, which I liked a lot, I gave it another go. I still find the narrative annoying, but it was easier to get through because I kept picturing the movie in my head. I also still much prefer the movie to the book. (One of my favorite bits from the movie--the bit about holding hands--was lifted straight from the book.) But the book wasn't quite as obnoxious as I first found it. Don't get me wrong! It is still obnoxious. Just not so much that I couldn't get through it this time.

Also, I've read some of the reviews over on Goodreads that complain about the language, and I have to say that although I, too, was annoyed by the dropping of the f-bomb and the fact that the girls referred to each other as "bitch," I found that to be pretty realistic, so it didn't bug me as much as some of the other reviewers.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling: My favorite two tales are "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" and the "The Tale of the Three Brothers." Otherwise, I found the stories cute and/or horrific, depending. It's an easy breezy read made better by all of the anti-censorship comments and the fact that Dumbledore uses "simulacrum." I seriously got a kick out of that. Here's an anti-censorship bit:

Mrs. Bluxam believed that The Tales of Beedle the Bard were damaging to children, because of what she called “their unhealthy preoccupation with the most horrid subjects, such as death, disease, bloodshed, wicked magic, unwholesome characters, and bodily effusions and eruptions of the most disgusting kind.” Mrs. Bloxam took a variety of old stories, including several of Beedle’s, and rewrote them according to her ideals, which she expressed as “filling the pure minds of our little angels with healthy, happy thoughts, keeping their sweet slumber free of wicked dreams, and protecting the precious flower of their innocence.” […] Mrs. Bloxam's tale has met the same response from generations of Wizarding children: uncontrollable retching, followed by an immediate demand to have the book taken from them and mashed into a pulp.

Hahaha! I love that so much. I plan on using that excerpt when we get to Harry Potter in the class. How the authors respond to censorship is kind of a big deal and that she did it pretty explicitly in one of her books is fantastic.

Bridge to Terabithia, Day 2 (spoilers)

One of my students said he wasn't upset by the end of the novel because "it's just a book." I couldn't even respond to that. My other students laughed.

We had an interesting discussion about (SPOILER ALERT!) why Leslie had to die in the novel. They actually gave pretty well-thought answers about character and lessons learned, etc. In the end, I was like, "Well, sometimes people just die, don't they?"

On Wednesday, I have to remember to tell them that that's a flat answer that's unacceptable in papers, but I wanted them to stop thinking so darn much. The whole point of the book is that sometimes these kinds of tragedies happen, and they are unexpected and just kind of suck. (I mean, there is more and it goes deeper, but that's basically it.)

One student did say that she was mad at Jess for not inviting Leslie along to the musuem, and that she wanted him to somehow prevent Leslie's death, so I thought that was an interesting response.

We did talk about why the book is banned (religion, death), and they seemed interested in that. I don't know. The first couple of weeks are always kind of weird discussion-wise because the students are just getting used to sharing their opinions with the class, so I'm hoping we can start getting a little more interesting/involved as the semester goes. So far, I have a good group. Almost all of them are participating and they have smart things to say, and that's always a plus. We'll see how it goes.

Bridge to Terabithia, Day 1

Today we opened our discussion of Bridge to Terabithia. As usual, I had them start with telling me about the book, getting a feel for what's going on in it. We talked a lot about Jess, Leslie, and their relationship. None of that is very exciting or unusual, I guess.

Anyway, we talked about the "safe spaces" for Jess in the book, and identified them as Teribathia, Ms. Edmunds, and art. We also talked about the implications of them all being secret, and the necessity of them being secret AND safe. Mostly, it came down to an issue of freedom. Jess controls his art and can take it as far as he wants, he's able to dream freely in Terabithia, and Ms. Edmunds doesn't ridicule him about the things he loves, so with her, he's able to be himself whereas with his family he has to constantly try to be what they want.

I had my students preview the theme of the novel using the first half of the story. Unfortunately, quite a few of them missed the boat on the theme being a statement, so I'm hoping that fixes by Friday. If not, we'll have to do a writing exercise that turns their fragmented theme ideas into actual statements. Not my idea of fun.

A little less than half of the class has read the book before, so it'll be interesting to see how Friday's discussion goes as we talk about the ending.