Working Title

Below are the raw scores for the Unit 3 Vocab Test. These count 1pt each and will be combined with your 4 Antigone SAQs, which will be 20pts each. We will reassess the week we get back. If you need to reassess part of this Vocab, then it will be over these same words. I will provide a study list. (These are NOT in alpha order, so look closely at the numbers.)

511182 12
440360 20
450985 16
438208 17
440757 13
450742 15
440714 15
440713 11
461477 10
440721 20
440316 18
453001 A
440766 18
438163 16
450762 15
440674 18
521661 16
451386 14
438225 15
460486 18
439826 14
440650 16
462061 13
507210 15
453487 16
440722 15
437836 7
461365 17
420735 12
450636 8
438212 18
450408 14
436242 A
440359 12
438288 7
465046 18
509551 10
460828 14
440660 11
440290 11
471419 18
464622 16
474270 18
471534 20
440574 20
536889 A

The theme for this year’s PTSA Reflections competition is “The World Would Be A Better Place If…,” and I have assigned my students to write an original work for a ReadAround in class tomorrow. As I try to do with all assignments, I did the writing along with them. Below is my response to the prompt.

If “ifs” and “buts” were candy and nuts, oh what a Christmas it’d be.

My brother and I always said that when we were growing up, and it’s been running through my mind since we began the Reflections writing. I think about the truth behind that little chant, and I have to shake my head that we had no idea what truth we were actually speaking in our naïve youth. Quite honestly, at the time we liked being able to say the word “buts” without getting in trouble, and we also liked to taunt one another with the implied meaning that, “We don’t always get what we want.”

“The world would be a better place if…” If.: skinny “I” and a meek “F.” So much riding on those two tiny letters. Their appearance is frail, but their power immense.

The truth is, we can’t count on ifs. Ifs are only possibilities, not certainties. They are prognostications of the future. And I believe there is only One Who holds the future.

So, the world would be a better place if we began recognizing that it’s already a better place because.
Because transfers the power we give to the future to a hope we can hold today. Because allows us to recognize what is already right and empowers us to celebrate the times when good has already overtaken evil. Because is the engine that motors gratitude instead of greed. Because embodies the idea that we can take ownership and control of our circumstances, instead of relinquishing that control to the cosmic plotline strewn before us.

When we focus on what we have instead of what might be, we begin to deal in reality. That doesn’t mean to not dream and imagine a world void of hate, despair, death, destruction, bigotry, idolatry, vengeance, violence or apathy. It means that we value how far we’ve come so that we can use our progress for encouragement for the long and tough road ahead instead of chastising ourselves for how far we have yet to go.

Yes, the world could be a better place. It should be a better place. And the world would be a better place IF we begin to focus on the because instead of the if.

(cross-posted at http://alongforthewrite.wordpress.com/)

Actually, I have no idea what you’ve read this summer.  That would be crazy.  Okay, it would be weird.  And creepy.

So I’m not clairvoyant, but I AM looking forward to hearing from all of you about the treasures you found this summer as you perhaps discovered a new author, a new genre or maybe revisited an old favorite.

For me personally, this was a great summer with reconnecting with reading for pleasure.  “But Mrs. Kelley, you’re an English teacher!  Of course YOU love reading!” you protest.  Yes, it’s true that I do love reading.  However, there is a big difference between compulsory reading and simply reading the texts and genres that are entertaining and have no other purpose except to relax.  Or in my case, to intrigue.

I have to admit.  I’m a true crime junkie.  It has been a long time since I have indulged in a good, juicy true-crime account, complete with all the psycho-drama and jaw-dropping information.  But this summer, I started off with just that.  Two, in fact.  Well, before I get into that, let me back up.

I actually started the summer with “Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It” by Kelly Gallagher.  With that, I reflected on my own reading habits as a student and then as an adult.  I realized that in my previous career, I spent all of my time reading client books, newspapers, research materials, etc.  Yes, many of them were enjoyable, but none of them were because I picked them up for pure enjoyment.  Being entertained was a by-product.  It was all compulsory.  I was glad that I had the ability to read, discern and evaluate because it made me successful at my job.  But I finished “Readicide” realizing that I was not doing the very thing I wanted for my students: read for the sake of reading.

So what better place to reignite that passion than to head to Half-Price Books and peruse the True Crime Shelves.  My first book was “Small Sacrifices” by Ann Rule.  Aside from it delivering all the “crazy” I was expecting, I also increased my vocabulary considerably.  It’s true – I literally sat with my dictionary app open on my phone because I was having to look up words that I had never seen in my life. (Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE learning new words.  Quirky.  I get it.)

One book was great, so let’s try another!  Somewhere in my reading, I saw that the author of the book/movie “I Know What You Did Last Summer” actually suffered a horrible tragedy in her personal life.  Her own daughter was murdered.  So yes, I got on Amazon and ordered “Who Killed My Daughter” by Lois Duncan.  I chewed through that in no time.  No really, I plowed through it.  We drove to California on a family vacation, and I read it in the car and was finished by the time I went to bed on the 2nd night.

My mother-in-law, a voracious reader herself, saw the stack of books I had brought to entertain myself and commented on “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn.  It was not what I had next in my reading queue, but she raved about it, so I thought I’d try it out.  Oh man.  If I chewed the previous book, then I most certainly devoured this one. I could not put it down.  My husband thought I’d gone stark-raving mad because I was laughing at one point and then yelling at the characters in disbelief the next.  It’s not a true crime, but it is definitely a nail biter.

After “Gone Girl” I took a little break from reading.  Number one, we were still on vacation, and I kinda needed to interact with my family.  And number two, GG was just so good that I didn’t want to pick up another book and then be disappointed.  It felt like reading on the rebound.  I’d just broken up with one of the best books ever, and I knew the relationship I had with the next book would simply be a continuous comparison to GG.  So I mourned an appropriate amount of time.

On the long drive home, my husband and I decided to enjoy an audiobook, so we listened to “Lone Wolf” by Jodi Picoult.  Honestly, we started it somewhere in Arizona, and it finished – I kid you not – as we crossed the intersection at Old Denton & Frankford.  It was okay, but it was probably just what I needed to get over GG and be ready to move on with my reading choices for summer.

Once we returned home, though, I met a friend for breakfast, and she told me about an expository piece she was reading titled “The Sociopath Next Door” by Martha Stout.  Sounded intriguing.  Picked it up at Half Price Books for under $4 and read it that night.  I don’t even know where to begin with how frightening this selection was.  It explains how 1 in 25 people in America is a sociopath and how they operate by a different set of rules – actually, no rules – than the rest of us.  Don’t let anyone tell you that the truth can’t be exciting.  (Still not sleeping well.)

I looked back at the list of books to read which I had pulled from “Readicide” so that I could pick back up with something a little less frightening.  I looked at available titles at the library, and so many on my list were already checked out with a long wait-list.  But, I ran across a few.  I picked up “Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult.  Not less frightening.  Not a light read.  However, it is VERY well-written and quite thought-provoking.

And this brings me to this week.  I have read our staff development selection “Never Work Harder Than Your Students” by Robyn Jackson and am going to try and squeeze in 2-3 more pleasure reads before school officially starts.  I’ve started “The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat” by Edward Kelsey Moore which came by recommendation from a friend, and it looks like it is going to be quite a hoot.  And also queued up I have “The Devil in the White City” by Erik Larson, a true story written like a novel.  There are stacks and stacks of other books around, and I like knowing that I don’t have to go searching for a read.  When I finish one, I can grab another.

Forgive me.  I’ve rambled.  But that’s my summer reading in a nutshell.  I reconnected with my love for pleasure reading.  I remembered how much I love discovering a word that I am completely unfamiliar with and the thrill of looking up the meaning in the dictionary and wondering when on earth I will ever have an opportunity to use it meaningfully in conversation.  I love being so scared that I screech and amused so that I laugh out loud.  I love looking up at the clock and realizing that I’ve read into the wee hours of the night.

I hope that my students can find a genre, or author, or subject matter that they simply can’t get enough of.  I look forward to going on that journey with them.  I’d love to meet up with them again at the beginning of the next school year and be able to say with confidence, “I know what you read this summer.

I have seen my share of pain.

I have cried my share of tears.

I have to say that there is no grief quite like that of a child.

Creekview High School has lost three of its own in as many weeks.  While I didn’t know any of the students personally, I’ve watched those who did,  grieve and struggle to hold up under the weight of shock, disbelief and heartache.  Carlos’ death, in particular, has been one that I can’t seem to reconcile.  Perhaps it’s because he was so young.  Perhaps it was because it was so tragic.  Perhaps it is because I have watched his closest friends wrestle with guilt and loss.  And I realize there is not one single thing I can do or say or will to assuage their pain.  They weep.  They mourn.  They ask ‘why’ and there is no answer that satisfies.  That will EVER satisfy.  Suicide not only takes a life, it takes with it the relationships and the opportunities to right wrongs and redeem mistakes and answer questions.

I have physically ached this week as I’ve watched these young people grapple with the self-murder of their friend.  I’ve felt the heaviness of their hearts.  The dampness of their tears.  The heat of their anger. And the depth of their despair.  They are young and should be embracing the fullness of life, not the emptiness of death.

As a public school teacher, I am limited in what I can say.  But were I a mere citizen, I would tell them they are uniquely created and therefore uniquely loved by their Creator.  I would tell them that life is a precious gift, and just as we cannot grant life to ourselves, neither should we take it.  I would speak from experience that heartbreak can serve to shape our lives and our contributions to this broken world.  We can spend our lives shackled by circumstance or emancipated through choice.  It is only with hope rooted in the Divine that we can rise each day and face what the world will throw our way.  Today is temporary, but tomorrow is an eternity.

For those who have never taught, know that ‘teaching’ is not a job.  It is a calling.  It is a ministry.  It is a pouring into the youth of our day.  Into each class walks 30 hearts. 30 stories. 30 burdens. 30 futures. Teaching is a responsibility.  It is about more than content, it is about character.  As a teacher, I must constantly remember that I have 50 minutes a day to teacher English.  I also have only 50 minutes to demonstrate kindness, compassion, courage, patience, encouragement, discipline, passion for learning, leadership, forgiveness, confidence, understanding and love.  50 minutes.

When death comes – and it will – there are no observers.  We participate in its ritual, even if it is simply as a witness to its ways.  We are forced to make a choice as to whether we will engage the living or side with the mute & unfeeling deceased.

Creekview will be fine.  Forever changed, but fine.  The students who were once with us but are now gone have given us something to remember.  They have shaped us, each in a different way.  They’ve given us something to think about.  What I am left to consider is that just as I can not be a casual observer in their deaths, neither can I be an observer in the lives of my students.  Relationships matter.

As one of our assistant principals likes to say, “Telling isn’t teaching and told isn’t taught.”  This is particularly true for our population of students who are learning not only the same content of their peers, but a completely new language!  Imagine trying to master Algebra, Biology and World History when you don’t even understand the language in which it is being taught!  Just because our New American students are sitting in the classroom and have “heard” the lessons certainly doesn’t mean that they’ve “HEARD” the lessons.

I have been asked to participate in a training called STELLAR — Strategic Teaching for English Language Learners Achieving Results.   While it takes me out of the classroom a little more than I am accustomed to, I truly believe that it will benefit my students in the long run.  Yes, the strategies and the context of what we practice and discuss in our training sessions are specifically about English Language Learners, but they are also about good teaching.  And good teaching is making sure that the material is accessible to every student, regardless of background knowledge, language mastery or socioeconomic status.

The number one priority for reaching all students is creating a safe, welcoming environment where students feel free to explore, take risks and practice not only their understanding of the content, but their newly acquired English skills.  This will require a conscientious effort and continually evaluating how the content is being delivered and what the students are being asked to do.  I got into the teaching profession because I want to make a positive impact and share my passion for writing and communicating.  What better way to do just that than to play a pivotal role in helping New Americans find their American voice!

I think that’s a STELLAR idea.

It has been a long six months trying to read The Book Thief (Mark Zusac), but I am glad everytime I pick it up.

Set in Germany at the onset of World War II, the book chronicles the life of Liesel who was given up for adoption at age 11 because her mother was too poor to care for her.  Death narrates this often humorous tale and gives the reader a front row seat as to how Death views Life.  The chapters of Liesel’s life are marked by the books she reads, covets, receives and steals.  Hence the title, The Book Thief.

Liesel is introduced as she and her younger brother are on a train going to their new foster parents’ home in a neighboring city.  Sadly, her younger brother dies en route and is buried in a nameless, shallow grave at a train stop along the way.  It is here that Liesel steals her first book.  Once she arrives at her foster parents’ home, her life becomes somewhat “normal.”  But “normal” is characterized by rations, Hitlet Youth rallies, air raids and parading Jews through the streets.

Because Death is the narrator, the voice is so incredibly important because of the tone it sets.  Originally I was thinking of a Ralf Fiennes or Liam Neeson, both of whom have unique voices with a difficult-to-place-accent.  However, a student mentioned Alan Rickman for the narrator, and I wholeheartedly agree!  As for Liesel, I’m at a bit of a disadvantage because I’m simply not familiar with young actresses who are currently working in the industry.  Whoever played the role, she would have to be skilled at conveying emotion and thought through facial expression and physicality.  So much of Liesel’s character is how she observes, interacts and processes what goes on around her.

Every great movie has a soundtrack, and the song that I continued to think of when I read The Book Thief  is “God Shuffled His Feet” by The Crash Test Dummies.  An excerpt from the lyrics follows:  The people sat waiting Out on their blankets in the garden But God said nothing So someone asked him: “I beg your pardon: I’m not quite clear about what you just spoke Was that a parable, or a very subtle joke?”
God shuffled his feet and glanced around at them; The people cleared their throats and stared right back at him.  I can imagine that at some point during WWII the Jewish people (and everyone else, for that matter) had to have looked at God and wondered what in the world was going on?  Was God asleep at the wheel?  Was He just shuffling his feet and twiddling his thumbs?

Would I recommend this book?  Absolutely.  It certainly requires the reader’s full attention and some deep thinking, but the effort and energy is well worth it.  This book is not just about WWII but about conquering even while being oppressed.  Even when we have no freedom, we still have choices…and our choices affect others in powerful, life-changing ways.