Doodling in your text books is bad! I do not recommend it. At all. However, let's say you have to doodle in your text—like, if you don't, you get in trouble.
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An Educator's Reading List of Contemporary Literature, Literacy, and Reading Issues. Visit us at http://www.GoogleLitTrips.com
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Amsterdam to Wolf Hall, Booker winners and bestsellers – authors including JK Rowling, Hilary Mantel, Philip Pullman, Nick Hornby and Ian McEwan annotate their own first editions.
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
I LOVE marginalia!
Imagine getting to look at the marginalia written by authors in their own books.
Personally, I can't read a book without underlining, highlighting, and scribbling in the margins. I love my iPad for the same reasons. It's so easy to color-code highlight and underline and to create margin notes. And, best of all iBooks on iPads creates a special Table of Contents where I can see clips from every highlight, underline and margin note with live links. So highlighting locations for a possible Google Lit Trip in green makes it incredible easy to find those pages.
But, I didn't always write in my books. I used to think of writing in even my own books as being sacreligious. That is until as an adult I read my daughter The Velveteen Rabbit and came to appreciate that wear and tear on loved objects is a true sign of that love.
Ironically, even though I've wriiten in my books now for years, with the exception of those in the process of becoming Google Lit Trips, I've rarely gone back to read my own marginalia. Even in graduate school well into my 40s, when I actually did much more of the assigned reading than I had done in my undergraduate days, I wrote extensively in my books, but hardly ever (if ever) actually went back and re-read my notations. EVEN in prepping for tests. And, yet I always seemed to do fine on the tests anyway.
As an aside, I have on rare ocassion, picked up an old college book I hadn't looked at in decades and found myself scanning my marginalia only to find that in some cases, I couldn't even decipher my own penmanship. And, in most cases, I couldn't for the life of me, figure out what the point of the margin note had been.
What I eventually realized is that the process of creating marginalia as I read proved incredibly affective in keeping my attention focused. It slowed my reading just enough to allow for immediate contemplation and noting in my mind the concepts I was physically noting in the book. And, in my case at least there seemed to be a distinct value in reading a little bit slower because I was looking for stuff to highlight, underline, and create margin notes for that was not a value I got when taking notes in a disconnected notebook or word processing document. Though when taking notes in a notebook or word processor, of course I'd make notations of the pages in the book that the notes referenced, there was a distance between the note and the reference. It was also a clear advantage in not having to write down any original text in order to remind me of the text I was writing a note about.
It all proved quite worth figuring out an acceptable way for the concept to be applied to student reading when writing in the book was indeed a serious crime.
Knowing that traditional note taking worked well for some and not well for others, I never really required the method I came up with. But, saved it as an option for students who I knew had read an assignment but still had difficulty with quizzes. They were "reading" but not attentively and they didn't know the difference.
So I went to Office Depot and bought a bunch of the tiniest post-its I could find. My favorites were about 2x1.5 inches and came in packets with 3-4 pads of one color and 3-4 pads of each of another 4 colors. I wanted them small enough to not "block" the text when in place and big enough to write up to 10-15 words and for arrows pointing at the line or phrase that I would have underlined. Then I'd tell the kids to try an experiment for 3 days and then they could decide for themselves whehter they wanted to continue the practice.
All they had to do was stop briefly at the end of every page and write any sort of note they thought might help them remember the plot events of that page. It didn't have to be sentences. It didn't have to be theme. It didn't have to be what they thought might be on a quiz. Just anything that would remind them of the plot events. I said if "dead dog" triggered enough of a recollection then that was enough of a note.
A couple of tricks worth noting... whatever kids write or draw they should write the note so the sticky edge of the post-it would be vertical and towards the center of the book. This way they could place the sticky so that just the thinnest opposite edge of the sticky could stick out beyond the page edge just enough so they could be easily seen when the book was closed.
I still remember one very typical response from a nice kid who always did the reading but just found it difficult to remember details the next day for class discussion or for a reading quiz. I waited a week after he started the practice and casually asked him if he was still doing it now that the 3-day trial period was up. To my surprise he told me he was not. When he saw the look of surprise on my face, he said, "You know why I quit?"
It hadn't occurred to me that it would be for any other reason than it had been a failure.
He said, "On the first day I did it, I read a page. Then I stopped and tried to remember what happened. And, then I wrote the post-it and went on to the next page and did it again until I'd read the entire reading assignment. But, it sort of took too long because I had to read, then stop, then think, then write before I could turn the page. So the next day, I figured out a trick!"
(He was so proud that he'd discovered this "workaround.")
On the second day I decided to think about what I would write on the note WHILE I was reading the page so that I when I finished reading the page I didn't have to waste any time thinking about what I was going to write on the note. I just wrote it and turned the page."
Of course, I faked a look of pride in his cleverness, though in truth, I was grinning on the inside realizing that I'd simply tricked him into practicing "attentive reading."
He told me that after using "his trick" on each of the twenty-page reading assignments for day two and day three of the trial, he had gotten so good at being ready to write the note that a second light-bulb lit up as he realized he really didn't even need to write the post-it anymore if he just read as though he were going to write one.
His grades took a dramatic turn for the better.
Well, that's certainly not the reasons why authors engage in marginalia, But, here's to authors who write in their own books.
~ http://www.GoogleLitTrips.com ~
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GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
It only makes sense doesn't it?
What if this was adapted ever so slightly so that it would fit on 3M 3 1/3 x 4 inch permanent Adhesive shipping labels (same size as Avery 8164 / 5164 labels) and laid out in a pdf so 6 could be printed on a shingle sheet?
Where might these stickers or labels be placed to get the greatest bang for the buck with both students and parents?
And don't miss the Teachers and Technology graphics a bit lower on the same page.
~ http://www.GoogleLitTrips.com ~
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One spring just before the financial crisis struck, students at Princeton University threw a Gatsby party. "It's going to be big," said an organizer, promising all the trappings of the novel's soirees.
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
Missing the point?
I remember a lesson I learned during my 3 decade stint teaching a high school satire course. It sort of matched what I had discovered about several great satirists including Swift, Twain, and Vonnegut all of whom became increasingly bitter as they aged; Swift in fact, winding up insane in the end.
The lesson? "In far too many cases satire fails because those who get it, don't need it and those who need it don't get it."
Yes. I know. That's a HUGE overstatement to say the very least. I just wish that it was a whole lot less true than it is.
I remember when I first ran across the line, "...to the chagrin of humanity." Somehow the students at such a prestigious University as Princeton; a university that no one gets into without having done remarkably well on his or her standardized and college entrance exams, enjoying a celebration of decadence is different from the high school prom with its limos and rented pants pretendings.
But, these Princess and Prince-tonians are not alone.
Here's only one list of hotels offering a Great Gatsby package, hoping to cash in on living a decadent moment or two being what Fitzgerald, who was no better at believing his own criticism, criticized.
http://www.today.com/travel/hotels-offer-gatsby-gilded-deals-6C9807330
One example? "The Plaza The legendary New York hotel is abso-tively, posi-lutely ga-ga over Gatsby. In addition to speakeasy-style cocktails, 1920s-themed brunches and a display of costumes from the new film, the hotel is debuting a new suite dedicated to its famous patron. Located on the 18th floor, the 900-square-foot Fitzgerald Suite will feature Art Deco décor, period-inspired furnishings and images of its namesake. Rates start at $2,795 per night."
Really? That crazy 3%!
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This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, and in honor of wonderful teachers everywhere, I thought we might pay homage to some of the wonderful teachers in literature. Here are some of my favorites, ...
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
It is both an art and a science.
Here's to the noblest profession of all!
~ http://www.GoogleLitTrips.com ~
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It is the only book I have read five times despite failing to derive almost any pleasure at all from the experience.
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
It's pretty hard to not find articles about The Great Gatsby these days. For those of you who teach the book, this article takes a rather bold "YES-I'm-talking-about-the-pachyderm-in-the-canon" attitude. When I saw the title of this article, I was immediately reminded of my favorite essay topic, "What's So Great About Gatsby?" I only taught the book a few times. The most recent was decades ago (which is my way of saying, "At the time I liked the design of the topic I imposed upon my students because I felt that a very thoughtful case could be built whether a student's position took a stance for or against Gatsby's greatness.Though I should say that it was almost as long ago that I stopped imposing topics on my students, Nevertheless, whether one appreciates the story's position on one of the pedestal of sacred texts or not, it is interesting to read an articulate opposing point of view to the media blitz preceding the grand opening of the newest Hollywood interpretation. Personally, I look forward to seeing the Hollywood elite either at some grand opening "news" coverage on one of those TV shows that specialize in diverting our attention away from important news to the goings on of the Kardashians, and the Paris and Perez Hiltons of the glitterati in their tuxedos and and gowns as they're interviewed about which designer paid them to mention the designer's name. I remember when I first heard that my first, no make that my second, experience with the story left me appreciating, though at a relatively low level, the 97% versus the 3% sort of condemnation of the "haves." Yet, it was remarkably confusing to me when I discovered during that second reading that Fitzgerald's lifestyle pretty much mirrored in disturbing ways the very lifestyle I had come to understand he had criticized so harshly in the story. I can't help but wonder if the Hollywood folks behind the current production aren't in many ways very similar to Fitizgerald. While the country is deeply agitated over the distribution of wealth and its associated influence, the time is certainly right to cash in on the lessons of The Great Gatsby. Does this mean I agree with Schulz's negative appraisal? Not really. She certainly makes several good points in her criticism. But, she also mentions in her criticism the many reasons why the book is so "teachable" in its pretty accessible use of symbolism. Her argument that the character development is pretty flat is probably true, but perhaps if read as an allegory or parable, it is that very flatness that makes it a great vehicle for accessing the deeper messages of the story. Truthfully, I don't intend for this commentary to even address whether Gatsby is great or not or whether Schulz's criticism is convincing or not. My concern is Schulz's underlying question of the canon being sacrosanct. Once published a story is fixed. It is appreciated or not in its time as The Great Gatsby was not. And, sometimes appreciated posthumously. It is the audience that changes. And the individuals within the audience change with every reading, providing they have not thrown their intellectual anchors overboard between readings. But, something happens when a story somehow makes its way to the canon. It's not okay to question the greatness. By default, those who don't like a book must be wrong. When perhaps it's not the reader who is wrong, but the time and place of the intersection of the reader and the writer. That's why we can read a book multiple times and discover the "the book is much better than it used to be;" or, much worse. It's a lesson Siddhartha learned and taught us. It's a lesson Vygotsky recognized. As educators and book lovers we have two passions that are very similar, but not quite identical. In the Venn diagramming of teaching others and loving literature ourselves it is good to keep in mind that a piece of literature may have reached us in different ways than it reaches our students. We are in different places now than our students are and were in different places than they are even when we were their age and first encountered the story. Remember Gallileo, Martin Luther and Martin Luther King jr, Picasso, Elvis, Bob Dylan and Dylan Thomas. All considered great in retrospect. They were all both loved by some and reviled by others for their canon-busting impact in their own time. Most came to be appreciated over time. Just wondering who the Bob Dylan's are for today's youth? Who is making music that I just don't get that may be moving today's youth in the way that Bob Dylan moved me to become a bit more thoughtful; a bit more concerned about my place in the universe. Delete the scoop?
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harper lee, author of to kill a mockingbird, is suing her literary agent for pocketing royalties and signing the rights to the book over to himself.
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
Sigh! What would Atticus Finch do?
Though innocent until proven guilty, I certainly hope justice is served.
I'd hate to hear that the accusation is true and that Harper Lee lost the case anyway.
This saddens me as much as it saddened us all when Atticus lost his case.
Why do bad things happen to good people?
~ http://www.GoogleLitTrips.com ~
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Review of Matthew L. Jockers, 'Macroanalysis: Digital Methods & Literary History' | Inside Higher Ed
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
I wonder if it is even possible to read this article while steadfastly maintaining an unbiased curiosity about it's impact upon literary analysis?
There are so many trigger points that challenge my own ability to be unbiased, that I actually found myself becoming more and more intrigued by the concept of "'Macroanalysis' the anti-sentimental and technophile attitude toward literature defines how scholars understand the literary field, rather than how authors imagine it. The bottom line? Data Crunching as a literary analysis tool.
Lest you dismiss this entire concept too quickly, the article is describing the work of Matthew L.Jockers, an assistant professor of English at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln based upon the work of Franco Moretti who teaches English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. Check out this link to see what literary analysis based upon data crunching looks like.
But, be forewarned, Paradigms may be shaken; or perhaps "rattled" might be a better verb.
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Since being published in the Netherlands in 1947, "The Diary of Anne Frank" has become a staple in American classrooms.
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
It seems as though Anne Frank is making the news quite a bit recently.
From Justin Beiber's self-centered and shallow note left in the guest book at the Anne Frank Annex. http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/14/showbiz/bieber-anne-frank
To what I assumed was well-intentioned, but questionable and certainly insensitive assumption behind the Mormon Church baptizing Anne Frank posthumously. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/21/mormons-posthumous-baptism-anne-frank_n_1292102.html. ;
I don't know, but neither imposing one's"beleibes" or one's beleifs on another without consent just seems a bit audacious; well-intended or not.
However, does the same imposition by parents of their beliefs upon their children, or the children of others fall into a different area of concern?
It is the parents' duty to raise their kids as best as they can, and whether we as educators or neighbors or strangers may recognize that it may not be within our purview to impose contradictory influences. We've already recognized that parents have a right to approve or not approve the viewing of videos they do not want their children to see. We don't have to agree, however, I don't think it's right for any educator to believe they have the right to trump the parent's right to make such decisions.
We've also for the most part accepted the notion that providing alternative options for that child is a professional obligation. However, the touchy edge of this issue is whether or not a parent has the right to make such calls for the children of other parents.
There is a sort of Venn diagram between censorship and professional judgment. There were books I chose not to teach due to professional judgment. And, while teaching The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ALOUD, I chose to replace the "N-word" with "N-word." Yet we would also discuss the controversy over the use of the word both in the book and in contempory times.
And by the way, I happen to think that Mark Twain's use of the original term was quite intentional. And, that the intention was to be abrasive to ethical ears. The book is awash with examples of the negative impact of what many people at the time believed was acceptable behavior. Huck was raised within that society where slavery was defended in churches.
And, the whole point of the story comes down to Huck's coming to realize that his default upbringing was faulty in many ways. Why else did Mark Twain have Huck decide, after spending time with Tom who had not had Huck's experiences, decide that he didn't want to go back to Tom's world?
So, back to the article. The references objected to dealt with Anne's wondering about the vagina and it's role in reproduction. The entire passages is as follows:
"Until I was eleven or twelve, I didn't realize there was a second set of labia on the inside, since you couldn't see them. What's even funnier is that I thought urine came out of the clitoris…When you're standing up, all you see from the front is hair. Between your legs there are two soft, cushiony things, also covered with hair, which press together when you're standing, so you can't see what's inside. They separate when you sit down and they're very red and quite fleshy on the inside. In the upper part, between the outer labia, there's a fold of skin that, on second thought, looks like a kind of blister. That's the clitoris." What would your call be? But, before you answer too quickly... There's certainly no doubt that it wasn't the writer's intention to titillate. If anything, it was more in the nature of simplly expressing a pubescent curiosity in the biological structure of the female genetaila. With this in mind I don't see the issue here of being whether the passage is pornographic. However, even if we excuse the loose use of the word "pornographic," there is still the issue of parents' rights to determine what they believe is the proper approach to sex education for their children. And, again this is not the purview of educational systems to feel they have a right to trump the parents' decision in this regard, whether we feel it is justifiable or not. The two elements and perhaps a third, that I think might be of most concern here have to do with the grade level at which the protest is being made. The parent in this case is objecting to the passage which only appears in a "Definitive Edition" (unedited). This is apparently not the traditional edited edition that has been in standard practice for years. If this the case, the question becomes are all 7th graders ready for this level of "condoned" exposure to the description Anne gives? In my own recollections of my readiness for "sex ed" information when I was a 7th graders, I think my own response would have still been a bit on the "Yuck! That's disgusting" level and certainly not at all as being titillating. Heck, when I was in the 8th grade I could not get through my oral report on the plant Uranus! And, even when I was a sophomore I was really nervous about even listening to my biology teacher say the words "penis" and "vagina."
Yet, I knew a lot of "dirty jokes" about everything sexual, most of which in retrospect were disrespectful and sexist along the lines of those blonde jokes only a bit more sexually focused.
I suppose also that girls in middle school are already quite aware of the biological changes they're going through and might be less "harmed" by the passage.
But boys really are a different animal at that age, many boys are still much more like "big little boys" than like "young men." Some might be less ready or incapable of sufficient maturity or more than ready and/or mature to read such passages.
I would not see the teacher's role in this case as having to "tolerate or take a stand against" censorship. I would see this as an issue regarding professional judgment.
Like showing films in the gray area, if the professional judgment is that the "unedited" version of the book is justifiable, then I don't see an issue with parental permission slips being required, and alternative assignments being available. It would be inconvenient and perhaps even resented, but the question is not whether the parent is right or wrong, but whether the parent has the right to make certain decisions about what their child are exposed to.
So would the traditional edited version be a suitable compromise?
Does the unedited version provide a learning experience of such value that compromising on the traditional version is unacceptable?
I hesitate to mention the last concern that arises in my mind about this objection. Though there is no evidence in the story to suggest that the parent in this article is in any way an anti-semite, we live in times when racism, anti-semetism, anti-immigrationists, gun control advocates and anti-gun control advocates have taken to using "code" language to express their positions. I will just leave it at that. You either already know what I mean or you haven't been paying attention lately. Delete the scoop?
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In theaters May 10. From Baz Luhrmann, the director of Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge, “The Great Gatsby” stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton and Isla Fisher.
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
There's always great potential for the creative English teacher on a film adaptation's official website. Many offer resources they think might be valuable for teachers.
Though what they offer may or may not seem adequate on the surface, what they offer in the eyes of the creative English teacher can be adapted to levels well beyond merely adequate.
As I perused the Gatsby movie official site I noticed several opportunities to build engaging bridges between the contemporary adaptation, the student's contemporary interests, and the original story.
For example, under the GUIDE TO STYLE link, though the first view is just a bunch of images of fashion logos, clicking on each logo takes you to great info on the role of style, or a bit of the history of the brand, or a short film clip followed by behind the scenes interviews with the costume designer.
You know that your students are either openly fashionistas, or sub-counsciously tuned into the clothing trends they choose to follow. Maybe, a parallel project based upon the design of this portion of the website but based upon the various campus groups would be interesting. Or perhaps paralleling the concept here with the fashions of Cyrano or The Crucible or a favorite musical group or the characters on The Big Bang TV show, or they way people dressed in their parents' high school year books or... well, you get the idea.
_____
Be sure to note that when you click on one of the main menu links that there may be a sub menu.
For example, under the ABOUT THE FILM link, the synopsis is pretty minimal. But, if you click on the PRODUCTION NOTES sub link, you'll find a 49 page document. And, it's actually a PDF file so under the FILE menu of your internet browser you should be able to actually save the entire document to your hard drive. _____ Under the SOUNDTRACK link there are audio samples from the film. But rather than using contemporary music, all the film's music was done by contemporary musicians.
Why not consider giving students an opportunity to see if any of their favorite comtemprary artists is on the list and then explore the relationship between what they already know about the artist and the artist's decision to be a part of this adaptation of a classic?
Or perhaps, they might feel intrigued by creating a "soundtrack" for a film entitled "The Great (their name here)." I'd add a little spice by telling them that the production company only had a couple of requests for budgetary and production purposes.
1. For marketing purposes they had to have exactly 12 songs. no more no less. 2. The total play time had to be less than 1 hour so it would fit on a CD.
_____ Be sure to notice that the main menu links seem to run right off the screen on the right. Clicking the right arrow icon takes you to a few more interesting pages.
One is a page of downloadable images that might be useful in all sorts of projects.
But, don't overlook the MONOGRAM MAKER link. Here students can actually design a personalized monogram with their initials, their choice of background shape for the monogram, and then actually create stationery that they can add a message to and send via email or use on a variety of social media posts.
What other creative bridges might be built by you OR by your students?
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"Inasmuch as we may like to reminisce about some of the books we read ourselves as children, this guide to the 50 Best Children’s Literature Blogs is more about modern books which young adults and teachers may want to incorporate into young lives in an educational way."
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
A quick listing of 50 Children's literature blogs with short preview comments and direct links. Way faster than having to find so many good leads oneself.
Just might be a great resource for teachers and their students' parents.
Monique German's curator insight,
April 25, 7:43 AM
Some of these blogs are already in my Feedly reader. It looks like I may need to explore a few more. Delete the scoop?
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"The Last Bookshop" is a delightful 20-minute video set in the future, about the power of reading. "As a lad," says the elderly bookseller, "We all queued up at midnight for a book about a wizard.
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
Maybe it's because it's 1:43 am... How to react to this video? Who is the intended audience? Would it sell to your students? Does it sell to you? Is it charming or annoying? Does it reveal or distort truth?
Is it a beautiful tribute to books as the headline suggests?
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"Custom Literary Thumbprint Portrait: A three-foot-high completely personalized piece of bookish art? The only question is which bookcase you’ll have take down to free up some wall space."
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
I always love running across sites like this that promote a visual presence of reading in our lives.
Not important, but if I had to pick a favorite from this collection I'd struggle for some time between the headboard and the personalized thumbprint!
As I'm contemplating that choice, I do know that several variations of the thumbprint concept could certainly be a very cool classroom project.
The thumbprint symbolic of how very unique each one of us is, is a perfect set for selecting either personal favorite lines from a book, or great books we've been personally affected by, or even just a collection of favorite quotes that have touched us personally. Heck, even a collection of favorite lines from favorite songs arranged as a thumbprint would make for a very engaging personal introspective activity.
This may be an odd way to start, but what if each student was given an opportunity to make an actual thumbprint and then asked to reproduce that thumbprint, (simplified of course) on a larger piece of paper in light pencil. Then they could cover the lines with strips of text, quotes, titles, or whatever as best they can? That would be a truly personal connection to the words they've selected to represent the influence of literature in their lives.
Sounds, like I'm leaning towards the thumbprint...
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Renato Ganoza/Flickr In this era of global competition, test scores are used as the primary benchmark to call out which countries will produce "s
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
If you haven't tuned into Yong Zhao yet, here's a taste of his "other point of view regarding standardized educational assessment structures. __________ FROM THE ARTICLE... "Similarly, in his analysis of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), a test that analyzes how countries score in reading, math and science, Zhao found a negative correlation between attitude and attainment. In other words, the countries with lower scores had students who reported higher interest in the subjects. Zhao analyzed media stories from high scoring countries like Korea and Japan, where students don’t show enough confidence or enthusiasm for subjects in which they excel." __________ Though both Zhao and Sir Kenneth Robinson are both well known within the progressive educational reform community, I'm concerned that they may be significantly under represented in the main stream media that seems to spend much more time and ink on assuming, and therefore endorsing the idea, that standardized testing tells the story without a significant margin of error.
Don't think that there's a possibility that reading assessment is potentially capable of turning kids off to reading while at the same time, providing them with an incentive to become proficient cheaters?
Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gokm9RUr4ME
Don't think that if we inadvertently are "also teaching" the value of cheating that we need not worry about those students might also become adults who take that attitude to their workplaces and businesses?
I often pause and wonder how well Ken Lay, Bernie Madoff, and National Superintendent of the year in 2009, former Atlantic Public Schools Superintendent Beverly Hall did on the standardized tests they took along the way towards their various careers. Perhaps it is time to measure not merely what tools they have or can appear to have in their intellectual toolboxes, but also what they might build with those tools. And of course, that's a foolish notion since what they might build with those tools would be impossible to test. But, taking the simplistic "if-we-don't-have-a-panacea- approach-to -important-issues-then-making-no-change-to-the-status quo-is-acceptable" response would be equivalent to suggesting that Mother Teresa had wasted her time attempting to end hunger, or that attempting to address other issues such as gun violence and health care can't be addressed so the status quo is good enough. Perhaps those of us who do care about accountability in a quality education system, but who have reservations about the existing system's margin of error, might accept a bit more responsbility for helping the media and the masses recognize that the situation IS important enough to invest more time and energy in informing and becoming informed about how we might reduce the margin of error in our assessment structures while also avoiding the misdirection regarding the value placed upon what it is that we're actually attempting to assess. by those whose educations we all care about. Delete the scoop?
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“Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think of life before the war. It's now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching through town. When the Jews of Denmark are "relocated," Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be one of the family. Soon Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission to save Ellen's life.” ~ Goodreads.com ~
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
Google Lit Trips is proud to announce the publication of a brand new Lit Trip for Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.
This Google Lit Trip was developed by Steve Figurelli, a Staff Development Trainer for the Edison Township Public Schools in Edison, New Jersey. Delete the scoop?
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"...(literature) ... is liberally strewn with mothers, from the sea nymph Thetis in the Iliad, who likes to follow her son Achilles to work and suggest better approaches (“Stop trying to give me new armor, Mom! This armor is FINE! Okay?”) and Odysseus’s old mother Anticlea, whom he runs into the instant he arrives at the Underworld. (Q: How did Odysseus know he was in Hell? A: He saw his mother.) There’s Grendel’s mother in “Beowulf,” who goes charging out of the swamp to set straight the people who have been mean to her son after he charged into their mead hall wanting to play. Moving forward in literature, there are plenty of mothers in Shakespeare. The closer to the present you get, the easier they become to shop for.
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
Yes there are certainly many moms in the canon. This charming article ventures to suggest possible Mother's Day gifts for the best and the worst of them.
Just as interesting is the opening several paragraphs where the author contemplates what she might give her own mother by listing what might be considered appropriate at different age levels.
I couldn't help but wonder what teachers of students of the various age categories listed think of her appraisal of appropriateness for that group with which they work every day.
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“It appears that gradually, over time, editors have begun the process of moving women, one by one, alphabetically, from the ‘American Novelists’ category to the ‘American Women Novelists’ subcategory.” –Amanda Filipacchi, “Wikipedia’s Sexism Toward Female Novelists,” The New York Times, April 24, 2013
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
An amusing and thought-provoking piece of interest to literary reading educators. Though the topic of sexism within the publishing world should certainly be of concern to our students, a pre-read before considering sharing it with students is clearly in order.
No obscenity, but references to sexual organs with phrases such as "my lady parts" at least require some professional judgment.
It's satire. It's funny. It's worth important conversations in faculty rooms. And, if not shared with students, it's message is certainly one that has merit in classroom conversations in one way or another.
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Here's a rundown of the best s'cool tools from the first quarter of 2013. These are the tools that had you clicking, sharing, and tweeting away.
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
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Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, "They don't pay me to like the kids." Her response: "Kids don't learn from people they don’t like.’” A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect...
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO!
Any teacher worth his or her salt knows the truth Rita Pierson shares in this absolutely inspiring talk.
I found this video on this page where the title in giant letters was WATCH: How A Teacher Encouraged Her Students With An 'F'"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rita-f-pierson/student-teacher-relationships_b_3203159.html'
I was a bit off put by my assumptions based upon the talk's title. I immediately flashed to an experience I had with a high school math teacher in a local district who told parents at a back to school night that he purposely made the first test of the year so hard that every student would start the year with an "F" in the gradebook.
When asked why in the world he would do such a thing, his response was, "Because I want every one of them to think they need me."
Unfortunately, by the time kids get to high-school they have, like it or not, developed a belief that there are subjects they just "aren't any good at."
And, many high-school kids who believe they "aren't any good at" ________ have already developed mechanisms for dealing with "failure." One of which is to give up at the first sign of "Here we go again. I knew I wasn't any good at _________."
Literary study is no different. By the time they get to high school, many kids who just can't "see" what those crazy literature teachers are telling them is "between the lines." This is particularly true when reading works like those of Shakespeare where reading and understanding what's "on the lines" is challenging enough... or perhaps too challenging for more than we suspect is true.
But, turning the frustrated into the encouraged is an art that we all should take as a highest level professional skill.
It takes practice, particularly when, as Pierson reminds us, teaching isn't always easy.
Loved this line... "And while you won't like them all, the key is, they can never, ever know it. So teachers become great actors and great actresses, and we come to work when we don't feel like it, and we're listening to policy that doesn't make sense, and we teach anyway. We teach anyway, because that's what we do."
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I study, teach, and write about things that non-English professors also encounter every day: words and images.
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
A defense of jargon? They do it in the sciences so why can't we in the humanities?
I love the examples used to illustrate the jargon used by literary scholars.
"focalizer" "heteroglossia" "subaltern" "aporia"
You know, the everyday words of literary scholarship.
The Professor Evan Gottlieb, the author is certainly tuned into a serious problem when he begins with what is certainly a very accurate summary of his experience with students' opinion regarding their high school English and Literary Reading experiences.
"When I tell people I'm an English professor, I frequently get one of several responses. When it's "You're not going to correct my grammar, are you?" I can reassure them that I won't (even if I can't help doing so in my head). Then, depending on the nature of their memories of high school or college English classes, I often hear something along the lines of "I always liked/ hated a) reading novels, or b) writing essays about them." Those who disliked English are usually satisfied when I respond sympathetically; those who remember such activities fondly are generally happy to reminisce about them."
These recognitions are probably not too far off in verifying the findings of the National Endowment for the Arts 2004 (updated in 2007) studies.
see 2004 report Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America: http://www.nea.gov/pub/readingatrisk.pdf see 2007 update To Read or Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence: http://www.nea.gov/research/toread.pdf
Those reports, specifically focusing upon literary reading, contain startling data regarding the literary reading habits of 18-24 year olds; those who have recently graduated from high school. When asked to self-verify whether they could claim to have read as little as a single poem, short story, novel, or play within the preceding 12 months, only 52% could reply in the affirmative. And, this includes those who went on to college.
In a sense, we might conclude that nearly half of the students in the author's classes were among those incapable of passing the low bar distinguishing literary readers from non literary readers. Do we blame this alarming data on "kids these days" or on "those darned iPods" or on "TV" or the "Internet?"
I don't doubt that literary reading is facing significant competition from other distractions, but what if excessive attention to literary minutiae is also playing a role in turning students off to the pleasures, and thereby the benefits of literary reading?
It is unclear as to whether the author's students are lower division or upper division or graduate students. Among those who are upper division or graduate students, as well as among those who have have achieved "Literary Scholarhood," the use of professional jargon, particularly the jargon reaching the levels of minutiae/sophistication used as examples, is probably appropriate and to be expected by those students who have self-selected a focus upon literary reading.
In lower division coursework, a healthy dose of deeper literary analysis is certainly also appropriate whether students are going on to major in English or not. It is the last opportuntiy to instill an appreciation for literary reading at deeper levels as a life long endeavor. However, at the same time there is a delicate balance between enticing and discouraging lower division students into or away from developing a life long reading habit.
If the NEA reports are to be heeded, should we be concerned that we may be failing at nearly the same rate we are succeeding in that regard; even if reading a single poem, short story, novel, or play in a year is the qualification for claiming success?
And, if we take the same question back to the high school English classroom, shouldn't we be concerned that the NEA reports find an even more alarming finding among 18-24 year olds who do not go on to take any college courses? Among that group, those who can not pass the test of self-confirming that they've read at least a single poem or short story or novel or play in the preceding 12 months is somewhere in the neighborhood of 37%!
There is an argument in favor of scholars' use of sophisticated jargon amongst themselves. There is an argument in favor of scholars using sophisticated jargon with students studying to become literary scholars themselves. And there is even an argument for introducing advanced levels of literary analysis to undergraduates regardless of their future career choices. This is also true in high school. However, on that scale of increasing sophistication of a developing appreciation for literary reading there is a parallel issue of the degree to which that jargon turns away more interest in life long reading than it attracts.
It might be useful to compare the argument made by Professor Gottlieb and the argument put forward by actor AND PROFESSOR Alan Alda, also published today...
"Today, the award-winning film and television star is on a mission to teach physicians, physicists and scientists of all types to ditch the jargon and get their points across in clear, simple language. The former host of the long-running PBS series "Scientific American Frontiers" is a founder and visiting professor of journalism at the Stony Brook University Center for Communicating Science, which has just been named in his honor.
" 'There's no reason for the jargon when you're trying to communicate the essence of the science to the public because you're talking what amounts to gibberish to them," Alda said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.' "
see: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/03/alan-alda-scientists-jargon_n_3207738.html
Alda, makes a serious point not addressed in this Professor Gottlieb's article. And that is the professionals in every field need to also consider the impact of their specialized jargon upon the general public.
One need only wonder about those who deny global warming, or evolution, or carbon dating, or who believe that dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time to verify the dismal levels of comprehension upon which a significant percentage of the voting public base their votes.
If the deepest levels of sophisticated learning in science and math and history and the arts proves to only be of perceived value to scholars, then what exactly is their responsibility for passing on the value of their knowledge to the rest of us? If not the scholars, whose responsibility is it?
~ http://www.GoogleLitTrips.com
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What
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
THIS IS FLIPPIN' GREAT!!!
Sometimes we just run across a pretty darned incredible resource for teaching literature. This short video makes the different types of heroes in literature and the roles they play so clear...and best of all, the role they play in our lives.
Can it get any cooler? YES! You can actually "Flip" the lessons yourself and wrap your own lessons around each video.
AND, it just keeps getting cooler. You can use the ed.TED.com site to create a lesson for any video on YouTube! Host that lesson on ed.TED.com
You can assign the lesson and even track your students' progress through the lessons.
And (I'm hyperventilating!) this is only one of several great lessons in literature. Check this out... http://ed.ted.com/lessons?category_id=221
And, literature is only one of several subjects represented.
BUT... just watch this video for an overview of the project. http://ed.ted.com/lessons/dear-subscribers
Probably the most inspiring 2:42 minute video I've seen in a loooong time!
~ http://www.GoogleLitTrips.com ~
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States all across America are adopting standards for what high school freshman and sophomores should be reading. Take this quiz to see how well you know the titles now appearing on many public US high school reading lists.
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
Take this quiz FIRST (really)
and then watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gokm9RUr4ME
and then ask yourself, "What's the problem?"
And then take just a moment to leave a comment below.
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The only thing that may be more anticipated than The Great Gatsby movie is the soundtrack, executively produced by Jay Z. The soundtrack includes music by The xx, Florence + the Machine and Andre
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
Love Gatsby? Just found this site that might make a great bridge between your students' interest in contemporary music and your interest in teaching Gatsby. Here's a list of some of the contemporary musicians on the soundtrack just in case you want to check them out so you can reference them in class discussions.
I'm just wondering how kids might welcome a teacher's modeling the kind of interest in learning more about what his or her students care about that the teacher hopes his or her students might have or develop in learning more about what literature teachers care about.
The soundtrack is executively produced by Jay Z. The xx Florence and the Machine André 3000 Lana Del Rey Will.i.am Fergie Q-Tip Goonrock Nero
By the way, there's no doubt that these artists and their fans will be abuzz on the artist's official websites, Facebook pages, and on Twitter specifically about their work on The Great Gatsby project. Seems like a ripe opportunity to let students incorporate their interest in any of the artists into a personalized learning experience while reading Gatsby.
Something to think about... I can't help recalling the reactions by various English teacher friends of mind when DeCaprio's Romeo and Juliet came out. Many loved it; many did not.
In either case, whether Romeo and Juliet was or Gatsby is great adaptation or not, keep in mind that if it engages your students in an receptiveness to the story, encourage the receptiveness. Treat it like the carrot dangled in front of the otherwise reluctant horse's nose.
By the way, one of my favorite post reading a book and a subsequent film-viewing activities was a brain storming activity built around the following questions...
1. What did the film maker leave out of the film that YOU think was really important in the book?
2. What did the film maker put in the film that the author might have liked even though it wasn't in the book?
3. Which character in the film do YOU think did the best / worst job of portraying the original character?
Students who could list important scenes left out of the movie were pretty pround of their knowledge and discovered their own reasons to critique the film.
Students who could list scenes added to the film that the author might like anyway, were pretty proud of their "seeing" the connection between the scene and their understanding of the author's themes.
Students who could list reasons why a particular character was well or not so well represented, were pretty proud of their understanding of a character's motives and purpose for being in the original story.
The point being, that the students were always welcome to like or dislike the film, but they got the opportunity to express their opinion in a way that let them enthusiastically show what they knew about the author's intentions.
And, yes, it works with film adaptations we love like To Kill A Mockingbird that pretty much left out the importance of Miss Maudie and Aunt Alexandra. And, it works with the worst of adaptations like the most recent adaptation of Animal Farm that put a happy ending on the movie and with the children's book Cloudy with Meatballs that never really did get around to having much to do with the original story.
~ http://www.GoogleLitTrips.com ~
IS's curator insight,
April 30, 2:33 PM
I cannot wait for this film - hopefully it will do the tale of corruption, disillusionment, dreams, glamour and squandered love justice. Fingers crossed - Baz hasn't let me down yet! Delete the scoop?
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"A two-minute break from writing to fact-check something on the internet turns into a half-hour session of surfing the web; a difficult section of a short story in-progress becomes an excuse to repeatedly check my Facebook. I can’t sit down and read a hundred pages of a novel straight through without checking my texts or suddenly remembering that I have to email so-and-so and leave the book lying facedown to open up my inbox, which invariably leads to a chain of online distractions as I open new tabs, follow hyperlinks, and check out what that one girl I graduated from high school with made herself for dinner."
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
Certainly worth some serious contemplation...
I suspect that even the geekiest of technophiles might find a great deal of truth in this confession piece regarding our 24/7 technology-based treasure chest of distractions.
I don't play games or feel a need to check Facebook hourly, But, I'm a real Pavlovian dog when I hear the email bell ring.
I've benefited immensely from embedded hyperlinks and found myself off on lengthy "oh this looks interesting" side trips. Many such side trips proved to be exquisitely serendipitous. But truthfully, just as many proved to be embarrassingly addictive, but a great waste of time that I did not have to waste.
But, I suppose that I shouldn't blame the ice cream that I know is in the freezer when I'm intending to find the salad ingredients and "really" work on losing that extra five pounds I've been meaning to lose for months.
And, I suppose I shouldn't blame the 49ers that I know are playing a big game when I'm intending to do some major yardwork that "I've been too busy" to get to for weeks.
It's true that temptation is a powerful force. But, to blame the temptation is also a temptation difficult to avoid. It's certainly easier to externalize the cause of issues that annoy, aggravate, or test our personal discipline.
And, whether we are prone to jump on the tendency to blame the temptation when it is related to issues for which we might have a negative bias, we might take another look when the temptation is that ice cream in the freezer because we know the power of temptation is not always as easy to resist as we wish it were.
So, are the internet temptations that test our personal discipline something "new"? Looking back, there is no doubt that the temptations are more plentiful than when I was younger. But, in a sense that is meaningless. In those pre-internet days, unaware that the number of temptations would someday appear to have been minimal, were more than enough to test my personal discipline.
I never smoked cigarettes, but I did succumb to serious the serious temptation of wanting to entertain my classmates with my classroom buffoonery.
Whether it was peer pressure to be at the cutting edge of trendy fashions, to have a car that was ridiculously pretentious my personal discipline levels were inconsistent at best.
Today, though I am pretty geeky when it comes to some aspects of technology, I can't help but wonder what percentage of my geekiness is peer pressure related. And, let there be no doubt that there is significant peer pressure tempting up to jump on every "new thing" that comes along or to feel "behind" at whatever it is that is the modern day equivalent of the water cooler.
But what's new about that? I suspect that if I were Adam and Eve tantalized me into tasting the forbidden fruit, I may well not have had the personal discipline to stay focused.
However, it would be unwise to consider that the power of temptation and the weakness of personal discipline has always been with us and thus, conclude that "it's always been that way so there's nothing we can do about it. Or, fool ourselves by concluding that the only thing we can do about it is to reduce the temptation.
Really? Good luck with that.
Perhaps rather than throwing rocks at the temptation we ought to be more mindful regarding our susceptibility to temptation and give some thought as to what we can do about that.
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Have you had success with a particular ed-tech product or service? Want to recognize that product and share your success with your colleagues? Then nominate
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
Anyone interested in nominating Google Lit Trips for this recognition? Deadline is tomorrow!
"Nominations must come from school or district personnel only, and the person submitting the nomination should have a valid school-issued eMail address. No nominations by vendors, please."
eSchool News did list Google Lit Trips as #3 on it's recent listing of Ten of the best virtual field trips. http://www.eschoolnews.com/2013/04/07/ten-of-the-best-virtual-field-trips/
Thanks!
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This French literacy campaign cleverly rewards closer reading. A creation of ad agency DDB Paris, and translated into English below, it has just been awarded an internationally recognized prize.
GoogleLitTrips Reading List's insight:
So whaddya think? Will this ad campaign work?
~ http://www/GoogleLitTrips.com ~ Delete the scoop?
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Okay, sometimes I just can't pass up scooping articles that are a little bit on the odd side just for their entertainment value. And this one is pretty darned entertaining if you temporarily put aside any abhorrence of the practice of students doodling in textbooks.
And, I'd suggest that there is much of value to think about by teachers who themselves are life-long learners.
A few of these are no more interesting than the common drivel that some students believe is incredibly sublime. Fortunately, none approach the obscene or scatalogically disgusting levels that are also occasionally found.
BUT, in a time when education reform focuses heavily upon encouraging our students to be creative thinkers, there are several in this collection that truly are amazingly creative.
Personally, I'm a marginalia guy. I love to scribble notes and ideas in the margins of loved books (EXCEPT OF COURSE MY COLLECTABLES!). I love highlighting passages, and even have a color-coding system for my highlights. For example, when I'm building a Google Lit Trip, I use GREEN to highlight any indications of locations that I might be able to find on Google Earth. It's kind of a mnemonic device since green is a really common color of places on Google Earth. Similarly, when I come across a passage that references a topic that I think might be one where a website link might provide enhancing information, I use BLUE highlights; the mnemonic being that most website links are blue. I use YELLOW for any passages that I thought might make for interesting discussion starters, since YELLOW highlighters seem to be the default for "this is important." And I use PURPLE for any other spots of potential inclusion such as vocabulary words that might be actually perceived by students as being particularly interesting or useful. In this regard, I always prefer that a Lit Trip placemark's limited content be as focused on promoting interest in the story and in reading, so when I do include vocabulary, I want it to be perceived as a cool new word rather than as a new word not perceived as interesting but only as something "I might be tested on."
Remember The Velveteen Rabbit? I had never read the story until I was well into my teaching career. But, I couldn't help but love the concept that as the stuffed rabbit began to deteriorate over the years of being loved that the deterioration itself was the measure of how much the rabbit AND the story had been loved. I kind of feel this way about my favorite books. Marginalia personalizes my relationship with loved books. And, over the years, okay, over the decades when I occasionally pull an older book off the shelf and discover marginalia I'd written way back in college, or much earlier in my teaching career, there's a bit of nostalgia and introspection regarding who I was back then, what I thought was eye-opening, beautiful, poignant, or significant at that time and how I might currently feel given the wisdom-refining influences of the aging-process.
But, of course, we need to discourage the defacing of school books in order to assure their suitability for repeated use. So, I had two methods for addressing the need or desire to doodle or write in the margins. One is that I encouraged students to buy a package of the tiniest size post-its. I pointed them to the small single packets with one pad of each of several colors, though I kept a large supply to give to students.
I wanted the smallest size post-its so they didn't block too much of the page text. I taught the kids to remember to write whatever notes they wanted with the sticky edge at the top. This way they could stick the post-it on the page in such a position that they could let just a thin edge of the color stick out beyond the page. This way they could see the various colors sprinkled throughout the book but not have so much showing when the book was closed to cause problems when thrown into a backpack.
Two advantages became quite apparent to the kids. First, by jotting a quick note about an important passage, it caused the kids to pause for just a short moment which gave them time to contemplate the notion and reasons they were marking the passage. Traditional note taking of course does this, but not "in location." And, that makes a subtle but incredible difference. My notes aren't distant from the source, they are AT the source making it so easy to connect peripheral storyline, to the quick note. The second advantage was that after finishing the story, they have a book with color-coded post-its peeking out of the book. This was considered a great advantage when they then engaged in the post reading closure assignment such as an essay or other project. They realized that finding evidence of "something they sort of remembered" from the story was easier if they could scan that rainbow of post-its peeking out for the color they knew represented a theme or a good quote or whatever.
The only deal I made with the kids was that they had to remove all of the post-its before turning in their books.
I must tell you that there were several students who really wished they could keep those books. And I had a simple solution for that problem. I told them "to lose the book." Then, the policy was of course, that if they lost a book they had to pay for it. And, it wasn't long before some kids were planning to lose their books ahead of time which gave them permission to write in them too.
As to doodling in books, I was a doodler myself as a kid. Though I always doodled on paper. In those days, it was fairly common for me to get reprimanded by my teachers for not paying attention. I was basically a good kid so I tried to stop because I wanted to be good. But, I often found the urge to doodle trumping my attempts to not doodle.
I always remembered this when later in my career, some of my colleagues would express a bit of distain for the teachers who felt that it was okay to pull out their knitting during a faculty meeting.
Yet, some years into my career I stumbled across some research indicating that rather than being a distraction, doodling actually worked quite a bit like white noise in its ability to block out distractions.
Doodling actually was discovered to have an ability to enhance attention; as I came to realize knitting probably had done at faculty meetings.
(see http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1882127,00.html)
Of course, this is not a black and white conclusion. Doodling and knitting can certainly also distract one's attention. But, what is distracting for one might well be focusing for another.
Ironically, there is evidence to suggest that traditional note taking can be quite distracting as one races to scribble down a thorough set of notes during a lecture only to be distracted from the new points being made in the lecture during the time consumed completing the notes on a previous point. (see http://voices.yahoo.com/dont-take-notes-college-students-better-grades-107275.html)
So the other method I employed for doodlers was to invite them, if they had to doodle, to do it on a post-it and when that post-it had no more doodling space, they were to simply stick it in the middle of the page of the book where they were when the post-it had no more space. It wasn't to stick out like the other post-its. It acted more like a bookmark they could flip through the pages to find. Why? Because if they had actually distracted themselves rather than focused themselves while doodling, they had a very easy way to find out where they may have missed something worth reviewing.
It also gave individual students a very clear indicator whether they actually were being distracted or focused by the doodling.
So, we all know about individualized, personalized, and differentiated, Instruction. It might be good to keep in mind that what is worst practice for one student, may well be best practice for another.
~ http://www.GoogleLitTrips.com ~