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Call for Proposals

A New Way of Classroom Communication

In a typical classroom the teacher-student communication usually goes something like this: the teacher poses a question, the student answers in the form of homework, then at some point in the future the student receives the teachers response in the form of a grade (usually after the topic has passed). Sometimes a student is even blessed with a one-on-one conference. The advancing world of technology and the use of blogs are helping to shape a different, more effective type of communication in, and outside, the classroom. By using a blog, teachers can comment more quickly on a students work helping with the revision process, and it proves to be easy and open communication that is ready at a student’s fingertips. These spaces can present a place for collaborative thinking on certain topics or help with the peer revision process that is vital between students. A blog can also allow those students in class that are afraid of face to face criticism from peers a chance to voice out their opinion and receive feedback that takes some thought rather than a snide remark one might blurt out in class. Students are constantly on the Internet as it is and blogging poses a new form self-expression students are already familiar with from their experiences with social network. Participants will learn that a blog should be an extension of the classroom and should not take place of discussions that already exist as long as they are presented in the correct manner.

Bibliography

Hicks, Troy. The Digital Writing Workshop. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2009. Print.

Scarlet Letter

Though I haven't finished Scar Tissue yet I decided to pick up The Scarlet Letter over the weekend. It was a book that I had long dreaded reading, but knew someday it was one I must overcome. It had never been assigned to me in high school and listening to my peer’s say how everyone has obviously read it before made me feel like I was missing out on something, even though it was a something most people groaned about.

After reading it I, unlike most people, actually enjoyed it! I got right into the story and felt as if I could sympathize with Hester's alienation at some points. Although she had sinned and was forced to wear the scarlet letter on her chest, she held strong and taught her daughter from her mistakes. I also loved that one of the main themes dealt with identity. By accepting her sins, Hester then could do some soul searching to find her true self. Though this seems like an outdated text it can really help to provide students that the feeling of insecurity of not knowing who you are is okay at times and eventually you will find yourself. When they find who they truly are, it might not come with the sublimity of sunlight and the profound expression of ripping the scarlet A off of their chest, but it helps to work towards that goal.

It also helps to show how you can change the way others look at you to show them who you really are. Hester's society had characterized her as a woman who had committed adultery and that’s about it. Though she was forced to wear the letter, she had complete control over how people viewed her wearing it. She seemed to wear it loud and proud, not of the sins she committed but of how she was turning herself around to teach her daughter to do the same. Even when she was allowed to take the letter off, she refused because that would mean she accepted it as a symbol of shame and sin rather than forgiving herself and allowing this piece of fabric to become part of who she is.

Over all I actually loved this piece of work. Although my students may hate me in the future for assigning it, I think I will anyway. I am somewhat grateful that my teachers in high school never assigned it to me because I wouldn't have read it in the same lens as I did now. I wouldn't comprehend it completely and just throw this valuable piece of literature far from memory. I can't wait to read it again in a couple of years in order to see what else I can learn from it!

Scar Tissue

The book I chose as my next adventure is the story of Anthony Kiedis's, the lead singer from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, life. It shares the same name as one of their songs, Scar Tissue. It was recommended to me by my friend who is not much of a reader at all. So when he told me it was one of the most interesting books and he couldn't put it down once he started it I knew that it'd be worth reading. I was right. Even in the introduction I was hooked. He tells about how he is almost killed on the street while waiting for a friend to finish a drug deal. Most of the entire book is about drugs, so if you're one that is easily disturbed by drug use it might not be the book for you. This is the first book I have read that I'm completely immersed in, yet I have nothing in common with in any way. Included with the book is photographs that explain some parts of Anthony's life. Something that relates specifically to this class and what I thought was pretty fun for my friend to tell me is the fact that the bands songs make much more sense when you listen to them when their names come along in the book. I've only come along three of the songs but so far it's pretty interesting. I wen't on a forum where people were trying to decipher the meaning behind the song "Green Heaven" but it is not a "deep" song at all. Tony wrote it after reading a National Geographic article about dolphins and then took some type of drug and those two things together become "Green Heaven". Although I love this book, I'm not positive it is appropriate to all audiences. I wouldn't recomment it to my students unless they were seniors becuase of all the sex, drugs and rock and roll that is supressed within the pages of Tony's life.

Response: TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY

Something about this book definitely grabbed hold of me, I honestly couldn't put it down even if I wanted to. I tried very hard not to spill anything because I know many of my peers had said they wanted to read it as well.
*I realized not even five pages in that this book did not follow the typical story of a suicidal teen girl. Once I was introduced to Clay I knew that this storyline was out of the ordinary, but not until about halfway through was I sure that this book was not about a girl who had been teased about her weight or had been raped, but one who had been a witness to many horrible events. This I feel made the story have so much more impact on me. To me Hannah felt like a girl just like me, who had a heart of gold and didn't want to do wrong by anybody, even if it hurt her in the process. Right away I was taken by her stories, how each little instance caused such a horrible affect.
*I was hooked right from the start. Before Hannah's story actually starts, we see Clay going through the motions of what happened after he got the tapes. It is only a few short pages but I knew right then and there that I needed to find out what got Clay to this point.
*The whole "dumb boy" idea quickly faded away from memory. I realized that it was actually Hannah Baker's story with Clay Jensen as her catalyst to let it come to surface for the reader. In ways it helped to explain Hannah as well.
*I honestly can't figure out what made me want to keep turning the pages. At first I wanted to know where Clay came into the tapes. What number was he? What the heck did he do to her if he loved her secretly? Did she know? These are all questions that came into my head as I was reading, much like how Clay had his own questions. I figured after I found out what had happened to put him on the list I would become disinterested, but nope I fooled myself. I then wanted to know who the thirteenth person was. Who was this mystery person that she wanted to take the tapes to hell with as she stated?
*I was definitely able to relate with Clay. I actually had a fellow classmate commit suicide in high school. Nobody knew it was coming, there weren't any signs. We just came in one day and he was gone. There was a text sent around the school the night before but we all thought it was another one of Richard's jokes this can't be real. It all became concrete when I saw my friends faces the next day, somber and pale. I didn't know how to react so I was silent, I tried helping my friends out instead of thinking about myself because the truth was that I had secretly wanted to tell him about the crush I had on him since our eighth grade play but never had the guts. It was a hard situation to deal with. None of us were left with any clues as to why he did it, he left no note. We just have our own imaginations to try and justify why he wanted to leave us so soon. Reading this book helped me to understand that there are many reasons why things like these happen and by relating with Clay it made me feel like I really knew the characters in the book.
*Jay Asher did a phenomenal job in explaining the story and the situations. He let Hannah's life lead the book but had Clay there to justify the events that happened as well as allowing the reader to see the reactions to the stories from a source other than Hannah.
*I don't believe that this book is "great literature" but it sure is an interesting read. It is very simple language and it very easy to understand. They fluidity of the book keeps the reader flipping the pages. It is one that I would definitely recommend to any aspiring teachers. Not only is it interesting but more likely than not one of your students will probably pick it up at some point.

TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY By: Jay Asher

    One day at the pool my sixteen year old cousin, Kali, came up to me telling me about this book her friend was lending her.  She said, "Yeah it's about some girl who kills herself.  I'm not sure what else it's about but it has won a lot of awards and everyone is reading it."  This got me thinking and so I finally asked her what the title and author was and I decided to check the book out for myself.  Sure enough it was about an adolescent girl in high school who commits suicide.  I figured okay this will be the usual, this can't be that good.  Boy was I wrong.

     I picked up the book around 7:15 Sunday night and read the inside sleeve, something I always do so I can settle myself into the situation the book is dealing with. This is what I find inside:

     CLAY JENSEN'S FIRST LOVE

         records her last words.

      Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch.  Inside he discovers sever cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker- his classmate and crush- who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

     Hannah's voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons she decided to end her life.  Clay is one of them.  If he listens, he'll find out why.

    Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide.  He becomes first-hand witness to Hannah's pain, and learns the truth about himself- a truth he never wanted to face.

After reading this I felt that I had been lied to. "This is a story about a stupid boy!" I thought.  But I decided to crack open the book and read it anyway to see what everyone was raving about.

    I started not sure what to expect, but what I did find was awesome.  I found that beyond finding out Hannah's reasoning behind her suicide, there is the story of Clay, the boy who loved her from afar.  It was romantically tragic and sort of pained my heart. 

     As I was reading, my roommate was urging me to go out for my friends birthday party.  I told her that after I was done reading for the night I would get ready and we could leave.  What I didn't tell her is I didn't want to put the book down!  By 9 I already had half the book finished, granted I would have been a lot further without all the distractions of people walking in and out of the room.  So we went to my friends party and when I got back that night I actually set an alarm to wake up and finish the book.  I'm not a morning person at all so this was surprising to me, but I needed to find out what happened!  The next morning I woke up and within an hour and a half I had finished the book, fully pleased with the entire thing.  

     There were some intense points, but what can you suspect from a suspense novel.  At the end of the novel there are thirteen questions in which Jay Asher, the author, answers about the book. One question asked if he was worried that the book would be hard for some people to get through because of the intense issues.  His response was:

     "Definitely. And that's why I focused on writing this as a suspense novel. One, it makes the reader keep turning the pages. And two, there are a lot of people out there who- for a variety of reasons- have a hard time stepping beyond their own ideas about certain subjects to explore the lives of others. So I wanted the readers to focus on the characters caught in the middle, rather than the issues themselves. Some people, primarily adults, would rather there be no books dealing with controversial subjects, even if those books help start a dialogue between teens and adults.  Thankfully, I've heard from a lot of parents and teachers and librarians who are using that book for that very reason."

     I found that Jay Asher handled all the issues Hannah had to deal with in a manner that was not offensive or would make someone feel squeamish while reading.  The subjects dealt with in the novel were just stated and what the reader actually saw was the characters reaction to that situation and how it affected them afterward.  

    As an aspiring teacher I would definitely recommend this novel to my students.  It is mostly a female fan base but I feel that if a male student were to pick it up he actually might enjoy it.  I have already convinced my mom, and three other friends to read it and they are all fighting over who gets it next. That's when you know that it's a good book!