Education, Stading Style

Image from www.suzannecollinsbooks.com

Have you read The Hunger Games?  You should!

One assignment we do in our Middle School LA/Reading class is a book talk.  This boils down to an oral literary analysis of a book where the theme of the book drives the assignment.  You have to give the theme of the book and support that with a quote from the book, as well as tell about the plot elements that support the theme.  You can’t spoil the ending, though, or you have to redo the talk.  (We’re such meanies, my co-teacher and I.)

The Hunger Games trilogy is coming up often in these book talks.

I reread it this past Saturday with the question in mind, why is this a good book?   Why are my students and my peers enthralled with the story?

1. The idea of the Hunger Games isn’t too far fetched. This story is set in a dystopian future where the annual Hunger Games are televised to the country.  There are betting pools on who will win, contestants are sponsored, and the winners become a type of societal hero.

Super Bowl Sunday approaches, and over 100 million people will watch that football game live.  The winning team will be come superstars (for now) and much money will be won or lost in Vegas over any number of betting scenarios.  Companies have paid millions of dollars to sponsor the event through commercials.  Not too different from The Hunger Games, see?

2.   We are used to the reality television thing, and this story takes it to another level we hope society never attains. The reality show “Survivor” has run 24 seasons, and all of them have watched at one level or another at my house.  “Big Brother” and “The Amazing Race” also have good followings, never mind “Jersey Shore.”  We have no problem watching the train wrecks of other people’s lives.  In a world where life itself is troubled, why not watch the Hunger Games with your neighbors and hold your own child extra tight for the night.

3.  We (adult women) like Katniss. She’s a rebel.  Well, not really in The Hunger Games.  She only wants to survive and if that means she has to poach outside of the regulations, or twist the games into something that isn’t exactly part of the-powers-that-be’s plans, so be it.  She will do what it takes to make it home.  More than that, the only reason she is even in the games is  because of her own personal sacrifice for ones she loves.  Deep down inside, we too want to be like that.

4.  Young women like Katniss. She’s strong and smart, is amazing with a bow, she gets to live a fairy tale for a bit, and she is loved.  She is a far stronger character and role model then say, Bella, from that other popular YA series.  Oh, to have been such a individual at 16 years old!

5.  Suzanne Collins tricks us into reading on. She really does.  The end of each chapter is a cliffhanger, and I don’t know about you, but I have to keep reading.  There is a reason I tell my peers, make sure your children have food available that they can fix themselves since you’ll be reading and can’t be bothered to fix it for them.

6.  The literary experience is satisfying. Insert all the literary critique of a good writer here:  Collins does well with her character development, she uses the setting to support the plot and theme, and she connects with readers.  A four-star book for sure, seeing as I save five-stars for the likes of Tolkien and Poe.

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There’s my two-cents.  What’s yours?

My Creative Writing students contribute to a blog each week, “Write.  Then Write More.” The entries will be mostly guided journal responses, but it will also feature some of their on-going projects.

Right now we are in a writing assignment about point of view:  write a short piece in your ‘go-to’ narrator style (mine is 3rd Person Limited).  Then revise that piece twice so that by the end of the assignment, the story is told in three points of view:  1st Person, 3rd Person Limited and 3rd Person Omniscient.

I want to do 2nd Person point of view writing with the students, but not for this assignment.  2nd Person, where the writer is speaking to the reader in the most simple of explanations,  is incredibly difficult to write in fiction.  I think we’ll have to read some of it, first.

So, gentle reader, read more about Point of View in this article and google “2nd person narrative stories” for more information about the concept.

For the record, I passed the 50,000 word mark last night in my NaNoWriMo “novel” that I began in November.

It sounds trite, but it really does feel great to meet a goal like that. I had to refrain from running about the darkened house jumping up and down in glee.  I settled for a Rocky-at-the-top-of-those-stairs imitation there in our computer room.

50,000 Words! Go me!

One thing I am daily reminded of in the classroom is that we cannot separate “student” from “child.” It just doesn’t work because there is more to who they are than the six hours a day they are in our building.

They are more than Reading CBMs and progress monitoring, more than their math texts and PE class and science labs. They come to us from a family who will influence who they become in profound ways that we can’t recreate in the classroom.

This weekend the majority of our families will celebrate Orthodox Christmas which has made for a festive week. The week before we left on Christmas Break also had its share of excitement in anticipation of December 25. I cannot separate this excitement from who my students are, and it wouldn’t be right to ask them to leave it at the door.

С Рождеством! Merry Christmas!

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless – like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” -Bruce Lee

(Thanks to one of my fabulous Middle Schoolers for sharing this with me!)

Source:LiveScience

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I can see some of my students really latching onto these infographics as ways to report learning. I need to look into how to make them with the time and resources we have available.

I promised the 3rd and 4th graders an online video to display recent work regarding spelling rules.  What I would love is for them to tell me, “Mrs, Stading!  We want to do an online video for _____________!” but I know they aren’t there yet. However, if you are ever going to move forward, you have to start somewhere.

Animoto might be that place for them.  I know it is my starting place.

What I like about Animoto is that it does all the fancy stuff for you…you just add words, photos and videos.  It is also super easy to revise.  For example, the first version of the video doesn’t showcase the student work very well…but the animation is lovely.   So I tried a different version and now it is about the students, and not about Animoto.

The poems were posted, all hung with care
In hopes that the viewers would see learning in there.

Most students chose to have their work displayed on the board.  The rest were okay with display in the classroom.  When I asked one student why he didn’t want it on the board, he replied, “Well, I got a little crazy with it.”

Technically these are first drafts.  I usually have them ‘rough draft’ these sorts of things, but we missed that step this time.

With no formal art instruction, the kids appreciate the opportunity to illustrate.

This poem is clever in its simplicity:  “Santa’s now out:  Wow!”

I pull out poetry for the holidays;  it is an engaging activity with a lot of seasonal flexibility.  My 3rd/4th graders are on the second day of Christmas acrostic poems, with some great products.  I’ll take some pictures and post them.  Best line so far?

Moms work hard!

Interestingly, I told the students that I’d be posting these on the bulletin board outside of the office.  Most students were like, okay.  Some students, however, said, “Mine’s not good enough for the board.”

I like that they know quality work and I want them to always have work that’s “good enough for the board.”  We’ll get there.

I had entirely too much fun on Twitter today.  Friday night I noticed a couple of posts with #pencilchat tacked on (though it looked to start earlier than that).  I’m used to #edchat or #pick-an-elementary-grade-chat, but #pencilchat was new.  I however was on my way to work on my ‘novel’ so I didn’t pursue it.

When I popped back on Twitter this morning, I found quite a few #pencilchats in my feed.  This time I followed it, and kept checking back through the day.  Sarcasm (frustration) was the main type of tweet as people substituted ‘pencil’ for ‘computer’ or ‘technology’ or similar.

I am fortunate to work in a district that embraces the pencil as best we can.  We aren’t a rich district, but we’ve put money into pencils and we have great pencil support.  Every classroom at my school has pencils in it if the teacher wants pencils in it, and if they don’t, there are four dozen portable pencils for the students to use.  It is a good set up and my colleagues and I challenge each other to use pencils for more than just fill-in-the-blanks.

Read more about #pencilchat in this article: “Why #Pencilchat May Be the Most Clever Education Allegory Ever.”