Problem Solving

Here was a Dad's solution to his kids water bottle exploding in a backpack.


The student was worried that their book would not dry in time for me to grade their annotations. So freaking out - the kid asked their dad what to do. The dad suggested that they put it in the microwave. Well the sticker, that the book store put in to make sure no one steals the book, was still attached to the inside cover. That sticker has metal in it. So when they put it in and turned it on the book set on fire.

Mom was not home at the time of this event.

-happy ending - The student did get full credit for their work. They had awesome annotations.

Advanced 10

I have dislexia.

I was in classes that helped me with reading from 2nd to 5th grade. I tested out of RSP when I went to middle school but still struggled with reading. My 8th grade English teacher refused to let me go into advanced English or Spanish when I went on to high school.

Now I teach advanced English. This is insane to me. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE it. I've had advanced 11 for a few years now and l.o.v.e. it.

This year in my mail box I got the memo that I would be teaching Advanced 10. I was a little shocked and then progressively excited.

I found out what the books are and now I'm interested in adding two more supplemental books to the list. We have four books for supplemental reading and I would like to be able to let students choose four - these are the four that are already on the list

Joy Luck Club
Native Son
All Quiet on the Western Front
Things Fall Apart

Core Lit:
Of Mice and Men
Night
Julius Caesar
Animal Farm

If you were going to add two titles what would they be?

It's world lit - I was kinda hoping for a good piece with a latino/a background.

Thoughts?

Night and SR projects

So because I don't have children of my own - I have to boast about the 'children' I am in charge of at school.


This Student read The Book Thief









This one read Because of Romek by David Faber
It's hard to see but she wrote a quote from the book and his number






This student read In My Hands by Opdyke - It's the biography of a Catholic girl during the Holocaust who saved Jews by hiding them in the basement of a Nazi official




I'm so proud of my little cherubs!

a week to go

So a lot has been going on over the past few weeks.

I had the amazing opportunity to be nominated for the Crystal Apple Awards and received runner up. I was able to speak for a moment and really was amazed by the outpouring of love and support from my fellow teachers and the members of the LDS church who host the Awards.

My brother Evan got married this past weekend. He had been dating Rachel for three years and they were engaged last summer. We had a wonderful time and I'm so happy for them.

This is the last week of school. It is always the hardest week of the year. I would rather be experiencing the first week - it's the amount of grading the last week that kills. It feels like you are in the last moments of watching the sand fall out of a timer. There are so many emails and so many parents wondering what is going on with their child. I would love to be able to say to them. There is currently nothing you can do to save the grade, but if you have the ability to make a time machine and go back to force your kid to do their homework - then we are in business.

I want to take my camera to school tomorrow and take pictures of some of the amazing projects my sophomores did to capstone our Night unit. I had them choose SR books that would connect to Night. Their project was to make a memorial to honor those 11 million lives lost. They did so well. I'm so proud.

It's been a wild few weeks. And I know that this post is a bit all over the place. When summer starts in a week I promise I will sound less crazy!

Shut Up!

"No really Shut Up!" - me
"Mrs. Parsons it's true I really like this book" - D
"Shut your face, you are lying to me" - me
"I was talking to my mom about it - and even turned off the TV this weekend so I could read more. Know how I promised I would get to page 88 - well I did it!" - D

I almost started crying. This is the same D we have talked about before. Please be aware that I wasn't really telling him to shut up - I really don't like saying that - it was that I was so shocked I couldn't believe what he was telling me.

I have a list of books the kids can pick from for their supplemental reading. And looking at the list and knowing D's ability I picked something that wasn't on the list.

I suggested that he pick up Monster by Walter Dean Myers


It is a really amazing story about a young man in prison and his struggle with the court and his life.

I read it for my adolescent lit class in college and fell in love.

It's written like a screen play rather than a typical novel.

Knowing a bit about D's reading level I knew it would be good for him - okay let's be real I really hoped that it would be good for him. I just really wanted him to read something, anything.

And it turns out - he's reading. He's reading and he's talking about it with his mother. He liked it so much that he had taped himself reading it. He even said that he told his friends about it - and they are now planning on checking it out from the library after he is done reading it.

I'm still shaking my head in disbelief. Utter and true joy - but also disbelief.

Oprah likes to make people cry.

I watch Oprah - I dvr it - I know some of my friends think I'm crazy for watching. But I learn things and I know about the world. That and I find her kinda crazy so it's fun to watch what she might do next.

Today she had a smattering of guests and then she highlighted a middle school in Florida that had created a flash mob. (A flash mob is dancing that appears out of no where but is completely choreographed) This school had rewritten the words to a Black Eyed Peas song to that it talked about books. So like the sap that I am I see 1500 students singing about how awesome books are and what happens to me. Nerd Alert - I tear up.

I was just sitting in amazement that those kids would be so into singing about books!

And now for your viewing enjoyment - and a little search from YouTube: Please enjoy!

An amazing tale.

I just got done reading The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. It is a historical fiction piece about Dinah the only daughter of Jacob and Leah. It made me aware of so much history and culture that I really didn't know a whole lot about.

It was beautifully written. Diamant does an incredible job of building characters that have been known for so long and yet breaths new life into them. The amazing love that they have for each other really inspires me. I was so interested in the rights of passage that the describes. That Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, and Zilpath love Dinah with such passion and delight. They take her into their arms and love her so uniquely compared to the way they love their sons. They treat her with such respect once she is able to wear the belt of womanhood.

Historical fiction is not normally my genre - I love post modern lit and YAL - But this struck a cord in me that I have not had with previous books. I picked it up because this was the choice for this months book club. I'm really looking forward to discussing it with my friend in a few weeks. It will be interesting to see what they have to say about it.

Have you read it? What did you think?

A Must Read

This is one of the most amazing books I have ever read. 552 Pages. Don't let it scare you. It's worth ever moment. Liesel is a character that I fell in love with instantaneously. She is rambunctious and kind - strong and fragile. I finished the book on Saturday and I find myself thinking about the different transitions she goes through and challenges she is faced with.

It's a book that is meant to be young adult fiction - that's where you'll find it if you head into any bookstore. The thing that I found so profoundly beautiful was that it made me less afraid of death. Death narrates and takes the reader with him as he follows the life of one little German girl during WWII. He is constantly around her and touches her life in so many ways but is there somehow to help her - to guide her - even when she doesn't know it.

A group of women that I work with are in a book club and this was the choice for this session. I know it's odd to say but I enjoy reading about the holocaust. It helps me to comprehend the bigness of that entire time period. I am teaching Night this semester and am trying to create a list of supplemental books that I can present to sophomores that will make them think. really think about the gravity of the fact that they are part of the last generation to be alive and meet someone who survived through such a dark time.

How do you get kids to care about something that happened 'so long ago' and seems so far away from their little suburban lives? When really there are still so many things that the world is still trying to get past in relation to all of this?