Cafe19

A Gem of a Sentence

2010-11-18T08:10:00.000-08:00

"She stops just shy of me, her gaze taunting, gleaming, dangling the words before me like an apple before Eve--practically begging me to taste." (Alison Noel's Night Star)

Night Star

2010-11-18T08:04:00.000-08:00

Ava laughs, taking a moment to ruffle Rayne's hair, before she pulls her close to one side and Romy to the other, her gaze locked on mine when she says, "It all comes down to your intention. When you put all of your focus on a problem, you just get more of the problem. So before, when the twins were unable to return to Summerland, it was because they were too focused on themselves and their problem of getting here. But this time, their only concern was for Jude, and they got there in an instant. So basically, whenever you're looking for a solution, you are feeling positive emotion--and whenever you're looking at a problem, you're feeling negative emotion, which, as you know, never gets us anywhere. But once you take the focus off yourself and your wants, and instead turn it toward how getting what you want might also benefit someone else, well then, you can't help but succeed," she says, voice soft and sweet. "That's the key behind any success."
- from Alyson Noel's Night Star (pages 214-215)

2010 First Quarter Reading List

2010-10-04T12:11:00.000-07:00

Larsson, Stieg. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. New York: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, 2009. Print.

I will type my annotation--summary AND commentary about one element. (600 pages)

Next entry.

MockingJay Will Not Disappoint

2010-08-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

I've just finished reading the final book in Collins' Hunger Games series. The first two books were great, but Collins takes this one to a new level.This one, like the previous two, sings of the on-the-edge-of-your-seat-can't-put-the-book-down-because-I-have-to-find-out-what-happens-next syndrome.What's different, I think, is her probing much deeper into some very complicated issues.

She tackles war, for example, questioning whether there are really good and evil or good guys and bad guys. Katniss and Gale, fighting for the Rebels, find themselves entangled in a war against the Capitol. But, as Katniss discovers, deciding who are the good guys can be complicated. People who often appear good are sometimes corrupted by selfish motives and ambitions. The "good" sometimes commit atrocious acts in the name of war. Collins seems to question the depths humanity will sink to in the face of war. Katniss, herself, is not immune to examining her own actions, committed in the name of war, questioning whether even war legitimizes torturing or taking innocent lives.

Collins also explores the very complexity of human nature. Gale, Katniss, and even do-gooder Peeta (yes, he's still alive!), find themselves faced with unconscionable choices that test the fiber of their characters. Gale seems content with the violence he feels is necessary to win the war, and tries to convince Katniss to accept it. But, Katniss (and Peeta) seem to never reconcile the ugliness of war.

In the end, once again, Katniss must once and for all end the love triangle that started in book one. She must choose between Peeta and Gale--not an easy choice. I won't spoil it for you: You'll have to read the book to discover which one she chooses. For myself, I'm anticipating a movie. This trilogy would make a great one.

Summer thINK's

2010-08-19T08:59:00.000-07:00

Hearing your voices, reading your ideas about big ideas in the world, was exciting for me. I enjoy peaking inside your minds and engaging in conversation with you. I look forward to the continued conversations we'll have throughout the year.

I wanted to take a minute to share some highlights of your work. With each of you writing three thINK's (or at least each of you supposed to be writing THREE!), it is impossible for me to share all the thoughtful posts, but here's a few worthy of note:

I empathized with Lauren's testing anxiety in her post "ACT Stands for Agonizingly Cruel Test." I especially like her wordplay: "Will I take the test, or will the test take me?".

I also found Crist's post, "Are We Becoming Twits?" intriguing, especially since exploring how social networking is impacting students is one of the ballot choices for BIG IDEAS to explore this year.

Andrea, in her post "Live and Love," ponders the meaning of life and whether our chasing after love ultimately defines us. Russell discusses love as well.. Interesting.

Lauren writes about a book I too found a delight--The Hunger Games. If you haven't read the two in the series, you should. Third is due out next week!!!!

Recently, I've been reading about and mulling over the idea of America being consumed with consumption. Sam's post sort of touches on this notion. It's particularly interesting because he discusses a local issue--the recent tax increase vote.

Finally, Natalie speaks of a photo that shows an Iranian boy playing a violin in a destroyed hall. Her comments about finding hope in even the most desperate situations inspired me.

Thanks to all of you for your work this summer. There were many wonderful posts. I look forward to a great year of reading, thinking, discussion, and writing about BIG IDEAS.

Image Credit: "Bansky Monkey" by kalidoskopika at Flickr

You Decide!

2010-08-17T15:02:00.000-07:00

You're getting your AP English Language textbook the first day of school. Relax, there's no way we will read the entire book! It's only a resource: The world is our oyster, and we can explore anything we want.

I need your help in deciding what BIG IDEAS we want to explore together this year. So, cast your vote by completing the poll below. It's going to be tough, but you have to narrow the list to your top ten votes. Feel free to write in a topic that's not included.

Before you vote, take some time to thumb through your book. Scan the table of contents to see what texts are linked to each big idea. You may want to skim and scan the first page of each chapter, which gives an overview of the topic. Some of the poll choices aren't in the book!

What Big Ideas do you want to explore together?online surveys

On Cartoons and Mankind

2010-05-24T06:32:00.000-07:00

My initial reaction to the video I viewed in Scott McCloud’s blog post is first, awe at the medium—using hand-drawn cartoon drawings to simplify and make visual complex ideas. I’ve been reading much lately about this idea. Scott McCloud, Dan Roam, author of Back of the Napkin, claim cartoons or simple hand-drawn illustrations are powerful tools to help us teach concepts, market goods and services, explain our ideas. We certainly see this technique more and more—in the tutorial videos of Common Craft, in the UPS commercials. I wish I could draw better. Perhaps I’ll start practicing, break out that how-to draw cartoons book I bought the boys for Christmas several years back. I wonder how I might use this in my classroom, to make visual concepts about literature, about writing, about reading. The drawings require thinking metaphorically: basically, as Scott McCloud puts it, to use drawings is to :

make plain, through images, the patterns and concepts you see clearly in your head, secure in the knowledge that even the most byzantine, advanced, jargon-laced topic probably rests on a few fat visual metaphors almost anyone can grok with a little explanation.

It might be cool to have students create such a video, to have them practice this creative metaphorical thinking.

My second reaction is intrigue at the idea of empathetic evolution, the theory that humans are “soft-wired” to feel empathy and that technology has given us the tools to allow us to empathize with our fellow man—on a global scale—and with fellow creatures and with the biosphere. Interesting. The author gives the example of the recent Haiti earthquake, noting how within minutes of the earthquake people twittered details, posted videos on YouTube, and began rallying aid for the people of Haiti. The author claims we are genetically wired to first be empathetic, to desire “sociability, attachment, affection, companionship” and that we show “solidarity with our compassion.” He claims it is our core nature. But, the author claims that our schooling, our businesses, our government, often repress our core empathetic nature, and we resort to secondary natures of narcissism, aggression, materialism, violence. I’m not sure I agree with him. It seems he is saying we are all, by nature, good. However, I think, we are, by nature, sinful—that our first nature is violence and aggression and narcissism and materialism. Call me jaded. Maybe it’s just me, but I have to work really hard at being good!

My Photo Story

2010-05-23T18:51:00.000-07:00

I am a reader. I am a writer. I am me. Click the photo below to learn more.

Home

2010-03-26T20:32:00.001-07:00

Sentence 1

2009-09-25T08:15:00.000-07:00

Her sentence:
The flies--most ardent admirers--dart about my face.
from A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

An appositive phrase set apart with dashes emphasizes--a bit sarcastically--her admirers.

My sentence:
Their thoughts--most unruly soldiers--meander across the galaxy. (Speaking, of course, of my students, whose minds do tend to wander!)

Sentence a Day

2009-09-25T05:05:00.000-07:00

I'm challenging you to join me in a fun project that's sure to make us all better writers and analytical readers.

When we learn to read with a writer's eye, we see syntax--in all its beauty. We notice how author's carefully craft their ideas, making them sparkle and jump and scintillate on the page and sear into our minds and hearts and souls. To learn to wield the pen powerfully and artfully is both a challenge and a blessing.

The journey to this blessed challenge begins with reading carefully, not just to appreciate the story but also to revel in the author's magic.

So, join me in reading and writing a sentence a day. The task is simple:

In your reading (not an Internet search--but your actual daily reading) find a glorious sentence, one that sparkles and speaks to you.
Publish the sentence in a blog post, noting the source and author.
Explain what syntactical structures/devices the author has used.
Using the sentence as a model, write your own sentence that mimics the structures/devices that author uses.
Publish the post, and label it with this tag: sentenceaday.
Make your post title the sentence number: Sentence 1.
Tag it in Delicious with this tag: cafe19sentenceaday. Notice the tag is all lower case with NO spaces.
Repeat for eleven days so that you accumulate 12 posts, each with a professional model and your own sentence. Deadline to finish is Monday, October 12.

I'm doing this with you! Check out my first post.

Photo Credit: Photo modified from original photo by tonyhall.

Narrative of a Slave

2009-06-23T05:53:00.001-07:00