Just a reminder, next book club meeting is:
Tomorrow, Thursday 29th
Backstage Coffee
6:00pm
We are reading:
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
If you don't have time to read the entire novel, come and talk with us about a short story or other novel you have read by Nathaniel Hawthorne or just come and give us some different ideas on how to teach the novel and Hawthorne as an author.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Links to Tarayn's Google Sites
~Tarayn
Young Adult Literature:
https://sites.google.com/a/mscd.edu/tms-young-adult-lit-project-2010/
Canon Literature:
https://sites.google.com/a/mscd.edu/canon-literature/home
Lesson Planning Ideas:
https://sites.google.com/a/mscd.edu/my-lesson-planning-ideas/
Shakespeare Works:
https://sites.google.com/a/mscd.edu/shakespeare-guide/
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
BNW: Discussion Questions
Hello Again,
I prepared a few discussion questions for Brave New World. I tried to find and create questions that were geared towards the classroom.
I prepared a few discussion questions for Brave New World. I tried to find and create questions that were geared towards the classroom.
Brave New World Questions
1.
What is the significance of the title? How does
Shakespeare hint at the novels intentions?
2.
What is the significance of the World State’s
motto, “community, identity, stability? Isn’t “identity” ironic?
3.
The controller uses subliminal messages to
create happy children. The messages are a way of getting rid of questioning.
How does our society use the same approach?
Advertising and Media. Slogans for
commercials.
4.
How real is the dystopian world that Huxley
creates? What similarities do you see in our everyday life?
Soma: Prescription drugs
Amenities: happiness
Lack of religion
5.
What is the significance of the lighthouse?
Lighthouses are used to symbolize
epiphanies and understanding of greater ideas.
6.
Why does John choose unhappiness and death over
a fantasy world?
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Tonight is the night!
Finally guys and gals, the annual Metro State Book Club meeting is here. Don't fret my pet, what you are reading is not a mirage or a figment of your imagination. The book club is really meeting tonight, I promise.
Speaking of reality or lack there of, how real are the dystopian worlds that our novels present to us? Hmm...I'm not sure. I think I will ask my book club members this question, and many others, tonight at 5:30 at Rooster and Moon. If you not there then you must have a good excuse. Only a fool would miss this opportunity.
See you all tonight and make sure to bring those very expensive, educated, Metro State thinking caps. You will need them!
5:30PM
Rooster and Moon (10th and Bannock)
Speaking of reality or lack there of, how real are the dystopian worlds that our novels present to us? Hmm...I'm not sure. I think I will ask my book club members this question, and many others, tonight at 5:30 at Rooster and Moon. If you not there then you must have a good excuse. Only a fool would miss this opportunity.
See you all tonight and make sure to bring those very expensive, educated, Metro State thinking caps. You will need them!
Rooster and Moon (10th and Bannock)
Thursday, June 14, 2012
A Dystopian's Paradise
The YA world has a new love, and that love is a dystopia...novel, that is. Our teenage readers seemed to be absorbed in many recently released dystopian novels. There is the ever popular (and awesome) Hunger Games series, Above by Leah Bobet, Ashes Ashes by Jo Treggiari, Empty by Suzanne Weyn, and the Uglies series. These are just a handful of what is on the market. Although, most of the novels will never be taught in a classroom, it is important that we understand how to properly teach a dystopian novel, while still keeping the student's interested.
The main dystopian novels that are being taught in the classroom are Brave New World, 1984, and Hunger Games. Our next book club meeting is dedicated to revisiting these influential post-modern predictions. We've split the group up so that some of us will be reading Brave New World and some will be reading 1984. We've all read Hunger Games so we will take turns talking about the novel.
If you would like to attend and haven't been to a meeting yet, please feel free to read any of the listed novels. I, personally, am very excited to revisit Brave New World. I read the novel as a senior in high school and it will be interesting to see it from a (slightly) more mature perspective. :)
Monday, June 11, 2012
Further Information
If you are interested in further recommending or teaching either of the novels I read, here is some additional thoughts and information.
Oh, by the way, did I mention it's also a movie? This could potentially help visual learners if you wanted to incorporate a few scenes from the film.
However, there is a good reason to know about this series. For one, it is very popular and two, it is going to be the next YA movie. The City of Bones movie will come out in 2013 and is sure to be the "next big thing" in the teenage world. As a teacher, it's good to be on the up and up.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Book Talks!
We met on June 6th and shared our book-talks with one another. Each member shared a minimum of two books and here is a brief overview (read: sloppily typed word document) of our discussion. Soon each book will have a more in-depth entry :)
Between Shades of Gray
By Ruta Sepetys
o
Author did a good deal of research!
o
Fifteen year old Alena just got into art school;
o
Stalin’s Police knock on her door
o
Her and her brother and mother are taken away
and put into cable cars and ride for six weeks.
o
She sends messages to her father by drawing
pictures instead of writing for fear of being found out; she finds people who
are trustworthy and passes the pictures along
o Themes of heartbreak, death, and massacre.
o Character and plot development needed – too many questions left unanswered: did her father ever receive the letters or pictures?
o Beautiful language
Why We Broke Up
By
Daniel Handler
o “Word
Vomit”; stream of consciousness type of writing
o Min
= narrator
o Letter
to Ed; her ex-boyfriend
o Each
item is the reason they should have broken up earlier
o Novel
wraps up; conclusion includes hints from earlier in the text
o Kind
of book that will “bring you back” to high school days
o Female related
o Elements of visual literacy (pictures)
o Prince Honor Book
o 3-4 Stars on Goodreads
Exit Here
By Jason Myers
o
Male protagonist
o Bitter;
similar to Holden Caufield
o Rich
kid complex
o Social
dynamics
o
Drug Use
o
Cussing
o
Recommended for older teens
o
Shows the consequences of drug use
If I Stay
By Gayle
Forman
o
Story of a young female narrator who is in a
coma
o
Struggles with whether or not to stay alive or
let herself die
o
Metaphysical relationship between the narrator
and the world
o
Process of death
o
Quick read
o
Middle and High School
o Struggles with the choices she has made
o College, having sex, e.c.t….
o Discussion questions at the end of the book
City of Bones
By Cassandra Clare
o
Becoming a movie
o
“Addicting”
o
Prequel is Clockwork
Angel
o
Recommend the prequel first
o
Better feminine character – “not a [typical]
female idiot”
o
Not very appropriate for younger teens;
o Not well written; recommend for a summer-reading book
o Not something that Bri would “ever ever” teach J
o 3 perspectives
o “Shadow Hunters” – Keep the underworld protected
o Better than Twilight not as good as Hunger Games
The Golden Compass
By Phillip Pullman
o Middle
School-ers
o Fun
read for pre-teens
o
Difficult enough to challenge students
o Literary;
“beautifully written”
o Teachable
o
Teachers can choose which topics to teach and
which ones not to
o Parallels to Narnia Series
o Fantastical but deep [demon as sub-concious]
o Religious and political side if you choose to look at it that way
Love
and Obstacles
By Alexander
Hemon
o Bo"th
feet in one overlapping world"
o Collection
of fictional stories about day-to-day life
o No
plot; “this is how it is” type of stories
o Does
not deal with the more interesting sides of war
o Teach
it to twelfth graders; for more mature audiences
o
Teach excerpts
o Each
story jumps into the setting
o “Beautiful
Prose”
VietnaAmerica
By GBTran
o Graphic
Novel
o Written
and illustrated by
o Puzzle
pieces represent what makes up his life
o Illustrations
are “amazing”
o True
story based on Tran’s life
o First
generation Vietnamese born in America;
parents escaped before the fall of Saigon
parents escaped before the fall of Saigon
o Parents left half of their family back in Vietnam because they didn’t make it out
o The whole book is about his family telling him to go back to Vietnam
o When he gets there he finds out that he is the same age as his father was when he left Vietnam
o (parallel between his lfie and his father’s life)
o Book parallels narrator’s journey to Vietnam and his parents escape
o Difficult to keep up with
o Recommend for Juniors and Seniors
o Identity issues
o Discussion on traditions; how traditions are lost
o Book about finding history and finding his roots
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