Friday, September 25, 2009

S.L.O.B Character - What I Did This Weekend

Pick any character from chapters 1-6 of The Secret Life of Bees and write a blog post as if you were them. Describe what they did over the weekend.

Use their voice and their style of vocabulary. Who did they see and interact with? What did they do? Remember, what you are writing about is in addition to what happens in the book. You are making up an extra “scene” in the book that we haven’t read yet.

I will link to examples of students’ blogs as people write them this weekend so you can get some ideas.

Requirements:
- 3 full paragraphs
- Spell check
- Include a relevant, interesting photo

Email me with any questions. I’m open to creative variations of this assignment if you want to go a slightly different way with it. Just email me in advance.

Due: Tuesday before class

* Same assignment due for MWB

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Letters, Literature, and Portraits

In response to President Obama's speech to students our class wrote letters to the President. Using proper business letter formatting, some of the missives expressed thanks for the message in the speech or congratulations on becoming the first African American to be President.

Other letters addressed issues like students' concerns over the upcoming health care legislation or worry about how money was or wasn't being spent to fix our current economic situation.

Shane was concerned about international trade with China, Cristina expressed her thoughts on the length of the academic school day, and Jeremy broke from the crowd and wrote a letter to Governor Schwarzenegger instead about how budget cuts are affecting us all.

Our letters are being sent out tomorrow so I hope to hear soon that perhaps some of the students receive a reply.

While our class reads The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, a few students are taking on the challenge assignment of reading Matt de la Pena's book, Mexican White Boy. A coming-of-age novel set in National City, San Diego, Mexican White Boy deals with issues of identity and race, issues that parallel what we are studying in the Secret Life of Bees.

This morning we spent time identifying the character traits of Lily and Rosaleen, two of the main characters in The Secret Life of Bees. Afterwards students picked from a list of characters from the book and created portaits to represent them. Each portrait had to include a quote that exemplified their character. Hannah depicted Lily and chose this quote to show us who Lily was, "Standing there, I loved myself and I hated myself. That's what the black Mary did to me, made me feel my glory and my shame at the same time."



Friday, September 4, 2009

Favorite Fictional Heroes

Create a blog post that describes one of your favorite fictional heroes. Make sure you:

1. Spell check

2. Include a relevant photo

3. Introduce your hero

4. Explain why they are one of your favorite heroes

5. What is so special about this hero (to you or to others?)
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Offred from the book the Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood is one of my favorite fictional heroes. She lives in the near future in a totalitarian theocracy. 99% of women are sterile but Offred is not, so she is controlled by the government because of her ability to have children. Her husband was murdered and her own child was taken from her to be raised by another rich family that can't have kids of their own.

She has always been one of my favorite female heroes because of her gut wrenching internal strength. She's not a super-hero; she has long, long periods of depression and despair, but when it comes down to the wire, she takes action that would frighten weaker people and helps the cause of the rebels in the book. Offred is what happens when oppressed people fight back against their oppressors. There may not be happy endings, but there is movement in the right direction that eventually leads to cataclysmic change.

Offred is striking to those who read this book because of the way she writes her story as a personal narrative. You are reading her thoughts in a journal format and you feel like you're peeking inside her brain. Sometimes it gets almost awkward as a reader as you experience things she is submitted to that should be kept private, instead you feel the pain she goes through right as it is happening.

The author has written this book so it is believable. You feel like it could be any country in the not so distant future after a potential chemical or nuclear attack wipes much of the population out. Offred is what happens to the "little people" in that society and yet, she becomes one of the most important players in the rebel movement.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

30 Things You Didn't Know About Me - Part Two!

I did this last year with my class and learned sooo much about my students. If you want to read last year's list, click here. If you want to read Mele's list, go here!

1. I just read the Twilight series (all four books in four days). They were good.
2. I like leeks.
3. I speak French.
4. I can't roll my tongue.
5. I'm allergic to nickel.
6. I have five nieces and nephews and one more is on the way!
7. I love yoga.
8. I live on a sailboat.
9. I can make a fire without an incendiary device.
10. I got hit in the head with a shovel once.
11. I know how to build a snow cave.
12. I was charged by a moose.
13. There's nothing I enjoy more than a good book and free time to read it.
14. I grew up in Alaska.
15. I have met President Clinton and President Fox (of Mexico).
16. I've taught myself to be a better cook.
17. I got married in November and adore my husband.
18. I love making crafts.
19. My favorite dog is an English Bulldog, then a French Bulldog.
20. I can't stand the taste or smell of yogurt, sour cream or cream cheese. Blech.
21. I couldn't swallow pills until I was 13 years old.
22. I speak Spanish.
23. I am going to sail around the world in 2013.
24. I have a nervous habit of pushing my cuticles back.
25. I want to go to graduate school and possibly study law.
26. I didn't want to leave France when I lived there.
27. I ride motorcycles.
28. I'm addicted to http://www.etsy.com/
29. I play World of Warcraft, For the Horde!
30. I really want to make some brownies right now but I don't have the ingredients :)