This is my other professional life. When I'm not looking at books or computer screens, I'm looking at monitors and well, computer screens.
Monday, January 31, 2011
NHL All-Star Weekend
This is my other professional life. When I'm not looking at books or computer screens, I'm looking at monitors and well, computer screens.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
A book about Nothing by Janne Teller
Nothing is a morbid, philosophical mind-bender by Janne Teller. Denmark is the setting for Teller's story, and the name she chose for the town is thought-provoking itself. Taering is a Danish word for "corrode, consume and eat through". The young teens in the town assimilate to their town's namesake.
Pierre Anton is a nihilist who walks away from his schooling to while away the hours in a plum tree. He accosts his former classmates on their way to school with his doctrine that life has no meaning. "Nothing matters, so nothing is worth doing." he proclaims. This infuriates his former classmates, who first try to pelt him with stones to change his perspective. When this fails, they vow to collectively build a "heap of meaning".
They found an abandoned sawmill where they decided to create their heap. At first, they brought favorite items like Dungeons and Dragons books, earrings, and sandals. Resistance began to develop as more meaningful items were suggested for the heap. Suggestions soon became vengeful demands. Their demands for each other became more and more insidious, until morbidity began piling on the heap: a child's exhumed coffin, a sacred prayer rug, the town church's large crucifix, and other horrifying, life-altering sacrifices.
By stripping themselves of their most valuable or sacred items, the teens sank to demoralizing behaviors. Their trials to create a heap of meaning irrevocably changed the teens' personalities. Sophie was a girl who became eerily calm in the process of brutalizing, macabre actions. "...she was rubbing off on the rest of us. What was to happen was a necessary sacrifice in our struggle for the meaning." Everyone had to participate in losing something precious to them for all to experience the loss. Their ultimate loss occured with Pierre Anton's reaction to their sacrifices.
Nothing is a read-alike for Lord of the Flies lovers. Teller's style of repeating words and using reverse superlatives throughout the book help the reader pause to experience the emotions of the characters: "little bit, tiny, little, smaller, nothing." Although the content is far too morbid and grotesque for the middle school ages, I would love to see a teacher take on the challenge of using this with an advanced high school literature course. Existentialism is a difficult concept to teach, but this novel paints a vivid picture of the experience.
Pierre Anton is a nihilist who walks away from his schooling to while away the hours in a plum tree. He accosts his former classmates on their way to school with his doctrine that life has no meaning. "Nothing matters, so nothing is worth doing." he proclaims. This infuriates his former classmates, who first try to pelt him with stones to change his perspective. When this fails, they vow to collectively build a "heap of meaning".
They found an abandoned sawmill where they decided to create their heap. At first, they brought favorite items like Dungeons and Dragons books, earrings, and sandals. Resistance began to develop as more meaningful items were suggested for the heap. Suggestions soon became vengeful demands. Their demands for each other became more and more insidious, until morbidity began piling on the heap: a child's exhumed coffin, a sacred prayer rug, the town church's large crucifix, and other horrifying, life-altering sacrifices.
By stripping themselves of their most valuable or sacred items, the teens sank to demoralizing behaviors. Their trials to create a heap of meaning irrevocably changed the teens' personalities. Sophie was a girl who became eerily calm in the process of brutalizing, macabre actions. "...she was rubbing off on the rest of us. What was to happen was a necessary sacrifice in our struggle for the meaning." Everyone had to participate in losing something precious to them for all to experience the loss. Their ultimate loss occured with Pierre Anton's reaction to their sacrifices.
Nothing is a read-alike for Lord of the Flies lovers. Teller's style of repeating words and using reverse superlatives throughout the book help the reader pause to experience the emotions of the characters: "little bit, tiny, little, smaller, nothing." Although the content is far too morbid and grotesque for the middle school ages, I would love to see a teacher take on the challenge of using this with an advanced high school literature course. Existentialism is a difficult concept to teach, but this novel paints a vivid picture of the experience.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
January 2011
What a whirlwind month! We hit the ground running right after our winter break.
The entire 8th Grade worked on a Causes of the American Civil War project. This team-based activity required teams of students to research a topic with quality print and online resources, find and properly credit photos and correctly cite all their sources in MLA format. Students were required to take hand-written notes to help process the information, rather than the common copy-and-paste method of acquiring information. We have some more work to do in that area, but the project was an overall success!
I am currently teaching my very favorite lesson - The Camera Eye. I come from a family of amateur photographers, myself included. I have a photography 'museum' set up where students can see, touch and read about the various types of cameras, film and editing tools from 1908 through today. Students learn about the history of the camera, use the SMARTboard to touch and learn about the anatomy of the human eye, and how the parts of the eye are similar to the mechanics of a camera. The students have so much fun touching real film and looking at the parts of the camera. Next week, the science teachers will work with the students dissecting a cow eye... ewwww! The local newspaper even came out to do a story on our lesson! I have a great time sharing my passion for photography and my family history.
All our teams are now on a rotating schedule to ensure that all our students have access to quality reading materials. It is so important to allow students to take ownership in choosing what they want to read. It helps them develop their identity as readers.
January continues to be a busy month with so many activities planned! We will the 6th and 7th grade classes for an inferencing lesson using "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" and Charlie Chaplin films. Renaissance research is up next for our 6th Grade Social Studies classes. We have Computer Skills testing and a WCPSS workshop planned in January too!
Our Battle of the Books team is in the home stretch for the upcoming Battle of the Books competition in early March. Most of the books on the list have been read, we are meeting twice weekly to drill on our questions and we try to sneak some fun activities in too, like popcorn and a movie next week. The movie is based on "My Dog Skip" by Willie Morris, but it is still fun to point out how the movie script is different than the text.
Ms. Craig, Ms. Shepard and I are moving forward on a new venture to create a local "Guys Read" chapter at WMS. Guys Read is a program created by award-winning author Jon Scieszka, who believes that boys will find interest in reading if we can teach them how to find books they will be interested in reading. This boy-friendly club will focus on hands-on reading and making literacy fun.
We invite our community leaders to stop by to see how much our students benefit from our School Library Media Center. Feel free to call me to set up a visit. We can also use male guest speakers to talk with our Guys Read club about the importance of reading in your daily life. My office number is (919)365-1677.
The entire 8th Grade worked on a Causes of the American Civil War project. This team-based activity required teams of students to research a topic with quality print and online resources, find and properly credit photos and correctly cite all their sources in MLA format. Students were required to take hand-written notes to help process the information, rather than the common copy-and-paste method of acquiring information. We have some more work to do in that area, but the project was an overall success!
I am currently teaching my very favorite lesson - The Camera Eye. I come from a family of amateur photographers, myself included. I have a photography 'museum' set up where students can see, touch and read about the various types of cameras, film and editing tools from 1908 through today. Students learn about the history of the camera, use the SMARTboard to touch and learn about the anatomy of the human eye, and how the parts of the eye are similar to the mechanics of a camera. The students have so much fun touching real film and looking at the parts of the camera. Next week, the science teachers will work with the students dissecting a cow eye... ewwww! The local newspaper even came out to do a story on our lesson! I have a great time sharing my passion for photography and my family history.
All our teams are now on a rotating schedule to ensure that all our students have access to quality reading materials. It is so important to allow students to take ownership in choosing what they want to read. It helps them develop their identity as readers.
January continues to be a busy month with so many activities planned! We will the 6th and 7th grade classes for an inferencing lesson using "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" and Charlie Chaplin films. Renaissance research is up next for our 6th Grade Social Studies classes. We have Computer Skills testing and a WCPSS workshop planned in January too!
Our Battle of the Books team is in the home stretch for the upcoming Battle of the Books competition in early March. Most of the books on the list have been read, we are meeting twice weekly to drill on our questions and we try to sneak some fun activities in too, like popcorn and a movie next week. The movie is based on "My Dog Skip" by Willie Morris, but it is still fun to point out how the movie script is different than the text.
Ms. Craig, Ms. Shepard and I are moving forward on a new venture to create a local "Guys Read" chapter at WMS. Guys Read is a program created by award-winning author Jon Scieszka, who believes that boys will find interest in reading if we can teach them how to find books they will be interested in reading. This boy-friendly club will focus on hands-on reading and making literacy fun.
We invite our community leaders to stop by to see how much our students benefit from our School Library Media Center. Feel free to call me to set up a visit. We can also use male guest speakers to talk with our Guys Read club about the importance of reading in your daily life. My office number is (919)365-1677.
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