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What will the project dynamics be on a project staffed with 3mdps, a PL, and myself, a summer UG intern? Just got staffed and will be hearing more on Monday from the team, but it came across as an interesting staffing composition.
Have the feeling I'll be making quite a few slides as the only junior. Anyone staffed on a similar case composition?
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Rising Star
Additional Posts in English & Language Arts Teachers
I’m a 7th grade ELA teacher in Texas!
a High School English Teacher
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I didn’t get to read Slaughterhouse-Five in high school, but many of my classmates with different English teachers did. A friend recommended it, so I checked it out. It changed EVERYTHING for me. Vonnegut quickly became my favorite after that, and still is my favorite to this day. Slaughterhouse-Five and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater should be required reading for all Americans.
“ To Kill a Mockingbird” was my favorite because it opened my eyes to injustice in the judicial system, and I loved the characters. A close second is Miller’s play “The Crucible” for similar reasons. Now many schools don’t teach Lee’s novel anymore just because it was written by a white woman. I personally don’t find fault with that, and there are many contemporary pieces that can be paired with it like “Just Mercy” or Angie Thomas’s “The Hate U Give”—both authored by people of color. I love variety and comparing/contrasting!
Much of “To Kill a Mockingbird” depends on how you teach it. The book may be criticized for the “white savior” aspect and that should be taught, and another view is that Atticus failed at saving TR. He went against society’s unwritten rules and lost. You could also look at the “drunken white trash” stereotype through Bob Ewell, as well as the abuse it’s inferred he inflicted on his daughter. And we look at Boo as a mentally challenged person and/or a recluse and how society treats them. And then there’s interracial relationships and the expectations put on girls through Aunt Alexandra. We discuss all these aspects, how they are presented, and their merit and their criticisms. The reason I love TKAM is because when you look at all these views, we learn that life isn’t black and white; it’s all different shades of gray. TKAM shows that society has many different layers.
I read and enjoyed and learned from a lot of books but The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay will always stick out because it was the first time we'd read a book for class that wasn't like ~fancy literature~ and it was so accessible and beautiful and good.
The Catcher in the Rye. I loved how edgy it was for a 9th grade classroom. A gay character, the F word, and the Holden Caulfield-Mark David Chatman connection. And then there’s the whole philosophy about dying nobly for a cause vs living humbly for one. All great stuff for a growing boy.
"A Separate Peace" by John Knowles. I'm not sure why I was so compelled by the story, but I can still feel the gut-wrenching impact of the death of one of the characters (names left out to avoid spoilers). In fact, it may be the only book I actually read for a class (sophomore English with Mr. Sparks in this case).
I wasn't the most eager reader in school, despite majoring in English in college (back in '87-'91). I guess that love for reading found me in my sophomore year of college.
I read classics prolifically in high school, by choice. I honestly do not remember the books that were assigned to me in class, but I do remember borrowing a book assigned to another student for her class. It was Ayn Rand's "Anthem." It made a big impression on me because I had never considered a world without personal freedom. I have since taught it in my own classroom.
"Pride and Prejudice" because it was satire perfection
gonna date myself here:
* "go ask alice" by anonymous.
for two different history projects: "rise and fall of the third reich" by william shirer; and "the day that kennedy was shot" by jim bishop.
i followed up on "fahrenheit 451" with ray bradbury's collection of short stories: "the illustrated man."