Book Recommendation: DEAD END IN NORVELT

Dead End in Norvelt stars an awesome kid named Jack Gantos, who finds himself very, very grounded after shooting a gun his father brought back from World War II.  In Jack’s defense, he had no idea the gun was loaded when he aimed at the distant drive-in movie screen for some participatory, non-sanctioned viewing.  On the other hand, Jack’s also a kid who, when his mother asks him, “[D]oes your dad know you have all this dangerous war stuff out?” Jack replies, without skipping a beat, “He always lets me play with it as long as I’m careful,” which, as he himself points out a second later, “wasn’t true.”  In fact, Jack quite clearly recollects his father telling him that “This swag will be worth a bundle of money someday, so keep your grubby hands off it.” 

This book reminded me a little bit of The Teacher’s Funeral, in that it’s set in the midwest, and in a different time period (granted, the two books are set years apart, but it’s all history to the modern reader, especially the modern reader under age sixteen).  It’s funny and sweet, and I think it would appeal to kids who like books with crazy facts in them about everything from war to mummies, as those are just the kinds of facts that appeal to young Jack.  Plus, there’s a bunch of dead people, and obituary writing, and mystery, plenty of bloody noses, and an old plane that might just get off the ground again.  It’s all just kind of great, a book that takes flight from the very first scene, with a little boy and a Japanese gun and a distant drive-in movie screen.   

This Week in Language Arts...

This week in language arts, we'll be working with the rough drafts of the persuasive essays, editing and revising.  Though we often think about writing as a solitary endeavor, I believe that once a draft is complete, the writing process becomes shared.  I tell students that the more readers they receive feedback from the better.  I know that even in graduate school, I could always find something useful from every reader; in critique sessions, that could mean ten or more readers giving me ideas about how to improve my work.
In the beginning of the week, we'll talk about effective critique partners and how to give feedback.  (Here's a handout that summarizes the expectations and steps for critique groups.  And here's a chart students fill out to give one another feedback.)  Students will become editors, responding to each other's work.  I'll read the essays and give feedback too, so that every student will finish the week with a stronger version of his or her essay.  One of my favorite things about being a writing teacher is this: seeing a piece of writing evolve and improve and shine.  This is a great week to witness that process.

Book Recommendation: DELIRIUM

Love is beautiful and wonderful and amazing.  Sometimes.  It is also the root of some of our very deepest pain.  If you could protect yourself from the pain, would you give up the wonders?  Lauren Oliver’s dystopian novel Delirium is about a society that has decided that’s exactly what they want: a nice, even existence with sensible life pairs that are assigned at eighteen, pairings that will never cause either party any pain.  It’s a society that has found a cure for love.  One catch: you don’t get to choose whether or not you want to take the antidote.  It’s required.

Enter Lena Haloway, a seventeen-year-old who has been counting down the days until her eighteenth birthday, the day she will receive the cure.  She lives with the fear that she might catch the disease of love before she gets the antidote, a disease that could jeopardize the life of safety and contentment she’s long seen as her due.  And then, on the day of her evaluation, Lena finds herself saying that Romeo and Juliet is “beautiful” when she’s supposed to say “frightening.”  And then she says that her favorite color is that of the sky “Right before the sun rises…the pale nothing color,” when she’s supposed to say “Blue.”  When a herd of cows painted with the words NOT CURE. DEATH comes storming through the labs, Lena catches a glimpse of a laughing boy, and her world starts to fracture.

I love a book with a great question at its center, and that’s definitely the case with Delirium.  I mean, I love “love,” but I’m not sure I’d say that if I were suffering a broken heart.  Is passion always better than security?  Is freedom better than safety?  Is one perfect kiss worth the pain of loss?  I know what I’d say—and it’s pretty clear where Oliver stands—but I not only followed Lena’s evolution with a rather ravenous zeal, I’m also looking forward to seeing where her decision takes her in the sequel: Pandemonium.

This Week in Language Arts...

This week students will continue to work on their persuasive essays.  They will write outlines and rough drafts.  We'll talk about the importance of a concession paragraph, and students will write concession paragraphs about their topics.  Here's a link to the pages about concession paragraphs in the persuasive essay packet.

This might be a good week to read some of the essays students wrote in previous years such as this one about an ice rink in the valley or this one about gun safety classes in schools.  Reading model essays is a great way to see the big picture as we work through the steps to completing such a major essay.

This Week in Language Arts...

This week students will begin researching and developing arguments for their persuasive essays.  We'll begin with a research overview, reviewing key research concepts such as the parts of books (index, table-of-contents, etc) and types of reference books (encyclopedias, atlases, etc.)  I'll also introduce the key concepts of essay structure.
Then, working with a driving question, students will begin researching their topic and developing a thesis, writing supporting points, and discovering evidence.  We'll be working in the library, but students are encouraged to research at home too.
By the end of this week, students should have completed pages one through eleven in their persuasive essay packets.
On Friday, students will turn in their research overview and their research log (a daily record of a student's research into his or her essay topic).

Due on Friday...

The following assignments are due on Friday, November 2nd:

-Write Around (This was an activity in which students came up with a persuasive topic/question, wrote about their opinion, and passed it to classmates who also responded to the topic.)

-Zinn “Bill of Rights” Analysis
-"Sweet Land of Liberty” Analysis
Links to the assignments are available here.