Halfway Through My Kindle Scout Campaign and Teaching Ninth Graders

On the first day of school I told my ninth graders a story.
There is a jealous baron who must travel, but before he leaves he tells his wife, "Do not leave the castle. If you do, I will punish you severely when I return."
Well, the baroness decides it's worth the risk to go see her boyfriend, so she crosses the river, has a good time, and leaves to go home before her husband finds out. But once she gets to the river, she encounters a madman who says, "If you try to cross the river, I'll kill you." 
The baroness goes for help, first to her boyfriend, who says, "I don't want to get involved, so I'm not helping you." 
Then she goes to a boatman, who will only take her across the river if she can pay him, but the baroness has no money. Finally she goes to a friend and begs her for help. 
But the friend says,"Sorry, you got yourself into this situation. I'm not helping you."
The baroness goes back to the river and tries to cross anyway, but the madman finds her and kills her. 
The End.
I ask the kids: who is the most responsible for the murder of the baroness? Overwhelmingly, they say the baroness herself.
This blows my mind. "What about the madman?" I ask. "He's the one who actually killed her!"
"But he's crazy," they say. "And besides, he warned her that he'd kill her if she tried to cross."
"The baroness is a twat," more than one student remarked. (And yes, I then lectured them about using appropriate language and about my opinions on misogyny.) "Her husband told her not to go. She deserves what she got."
I pointed out that the her husband was most likely abusive, since he threatened to "severely punish her." Didn't matter.
One kid said, "If you're one the South Side of Chicago and your mama tells you not to go outside and you stand out on the sidewalk for a smoke and get shot, then it's your fault."
I congratulated him for his ability to apply fiction to a real-life situation.
A lot of my students lead very difficult lives, so in a way it doesn't surprise me that see the baroness as responsible. Doing so probably helps them believe that making the right choices will keep them safe. I hope that it does.
The point of the exercise is to practice class discussion and to use a story as means of exploring personal beliefs and opinions. In that sense, I think it was a success.
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I am now HALFWAY through my Kindle Scout campaign. It is going well, especially since Candace from Candace's Book Blog is helping me out. Authors, I strongly recommend doing some sort of promotion like I've done. She put together a book blog campaign for me, and to pique reader's interest there's a giveaway for an Amazon gift card. It's definitely helped me get noticed.
But I still have a long way to go. Please, if you haven't nominated The Standout on Kindle Scout yet, click here right now and help me out! If my book gets published you'll get a free copy!

Clause Drama

I try to make grammar as interesting as possible for my 10th grade students. I made this video today, and I'm pretty proud of my efffort! (Of course, when I show it to them I will back it up with examples and practice exercises, but hopefully this will help them get down the concept of what a clause is.)

independent clause vs dependent clauses by osterkal on GoAnimate

Animation Software - Powered by GoAnimate.

Back to School / At Your Inservice

I'm a teacher, and if you gave me an hour I could totally fill it with complaints about how the public education system is broken. But there's one thing I can't complain about:

Getting the summer off is AWESOME!

 Every middle of June through the end of August I get time with my kids, time to write, and  time to stay up in the evening with my husband because I don't have to worry about going to bed early enough to face a classroom full of surly teenagers the next day... it's so, so, wonderful.

But then the summer ends and my life returns to normal. Is normal so bad? No, not really. But returning to normal can be. Before school starts most teachers have a week of "inservice." In theory this is a great idea, because teachers receive the chance to prepare for the coming semester and to talk amongst each other and refine their craft. But it doesn't always work out that way...

Monday:
I had already been to school twice the prior week to get my classroom ready and prepare. So I wasn't too bothered by the idea of being in a workshop all day to learn about Avid teaching techniques, which is the latest attempt by my school district to improve student performance.
The techniques themselves are pretty cool, our instructor was great, and it was fun to catch up with all the friends I hadn't seen since June. All in all, not a bad day. Plus, we had a whole hour for lunch, which never happens during a normal school day.

Tuesday:
Another full day of Avid training, only now the adreniline rush of being back was gone, and I was anxious to start working on lesson plans, make copies, and talk with the principal about our new hires for the year. Being stuck in a classroom all day felt frustrating (probably how my students often feel.)

Wednesday:
I got to school early so I could make copies. Miracle of miracles, the machine actually worked and there wasn't a line! Making copies at the beginning of the school year is quite the task, especially if you have over 150 students, and several packets or worksheets to copy for each class. Add to that the frustration of a long line or the machine breaking down, which happens more often than not, and making copies can take well over an hour. I was out of the copy room in thirty minutes. Triumph!

After checking in with one of our new teachers and making some phone calls I went down to the district convocation, where we spent two hours hearing about all the wonderful accomplishments our district is achieving. After that was lunch. In the afternoon I had to attend a two hour meeting about tenured teacher evaluations. Don't ask me what was said because I've honestly blocked it all out. Then I met with the principal, because I was desperate to get some answers about staffing and scheduling.

At the end of the day I still hadn't had any time to work in my classroom.

Thursday:
We started the day with a three hour staff meeting, where subjects like the new student handbook, hall pass systems, food in the classroom, state test scores, and parent communication were discussed.
Then we had lunch.
Then - gasp! - we had time to work in our classrooms!
I put together some cardboard shelves (bought with my own money) and I was working on a homework agenda system when my phone range. It was the school secretary, telling me that our second new English teacher's background check had cleared, and she was on her way to start working. So I put aside what I was doing so I could show her around.
After getting her acclimated and introducing her to the other English teachers (all of whom helped get her set up) I returned to my classroom to find that the curriculum for the new ACT Prep class had arrived. This is a class I've never taught, and being faced with mountains of reading felt like a mixed blessing.

Friday:
We had all day to work in our classrooms! I spent a large part of the morning trying to find information about the logistics of a college level writing class that one of our new teachers is teaching and..blah, blah, blah. Let me just say that everything took longer than it should have.

But by 3:00 my syllabi were typed, printed and ready, my seating charts were done, and my first day power points were reviewed. All that needed to be done was to check my ceiling proxima - which is like a projector - and I'd be all set.
Only my proxima didn't work. That meant that I couldn't show my powerpoints, and if I want to show movies in my film studies class, I'd be out of luck.
I put in a work order, called down to the tech department, but I heard nothing.
So I said something to the vice principal, and he said, "Oh, don't worry. All the proximas will be fixed between September 19th and October 4th."
After a stunned moment of silence I replied, "I teach film studies. I can't wait that long."
He said he'd do something about it, walked out, and I made alternative plans using an overhead projector for the first couple of days.


I checked one more time that everything was ready, grabbed my ACT Prep materials, including a practice test that I'm planning to take over the weekend, and headed home.

So yes, returning to school can be rough. Every year there are obstacles to overcome, and some years there are more than others. The next time your child has a day off from school because of a teachers' inservice day, and you find yourself wondering what the teachers do with that time, just remember - the teachers are probably wondering the same thing!

Epilogue -
School started on the 6th, and my classes went well. Also, my friend/fellow English teacher Jill fixed my proxima. Film Studies lives on!

How I Celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week

Did you know that this is National Teacher Appreciation Week? Don’t feel bad if the answer is no. I’m a teacher, and it wasn’t even on my radar. I still celebrated though. Here’s how:

Monday: In the afternoon there was an e-mail message from my principal, wishing the entire staff a good week, and telling us to celebrate by eating some complimentary pizza before we all work late into the evening for parent/teacher conferences. That was when I first realized it was my week to feel appreciated.

Tuesday: Early in the morning another e-mail in my inbox; this one was sent to the entire district staff from the wellness committee to let us know we’re all getting a free bottle of water on Wednesday. Well, that spurred a huge chain reaction. Some people thought this was a bad gift because it’s not environmentally conscious, others thought it was petty to dismiss any sort of gift. Then there were the people who commended other people for standing up for what they believe in, and finally there were those who sent sarcastic e-mails making fun of the entire issue (something about organic hemp hankies to wipe away the tears spilled by mother earth.) It was all very entertaining, and turned out to be a far better gift than the bottle of water I drank as I wrote this.

Wednesday: I ran into a newly hired teacher in the copy room. I asked her how it was going.
“Oh my God!” she said, with a laugh. “I worked for years in the private sector. I had no idea how hard this would be. Nothing can prepare you for this job.”
I told her to hang in there, and as I walked back to my classroom to prepare for the final hour of the day I was reminded of my early days teaching, and how far I’ve come.

Thursday: My Creative Writing students had their final short story due today. They were to get ten points extra credit if they read it aloud. I also brought bakery cookies to encourage them to read. Still, only a handful read. They’re a particularly shy class. Expecting to have a lot of free time at the end of the hour, I printed up the last chapter of a book I’ve been working on, but haven’t touched since Pauline was born eleven months ago. I read it aloud to them, and asked for their suggestions on how to proceed. I got a lot of really great feedback! Now I’m excited to write the next chapter, and I have them to thank for it.

At lunch my good friend Jarren was sick and needed to leave school to get antibiotics. She worried that she shouldn’t neglect her after school responsibility of keeping score for the Lacrosse team. I encouraged her to take care of her health and not worry about her job. She hung her head in despair, and talked about how she wants to dig in her back yard in hopes of finding abandoned money, because her full-time teaching job, part-time tutoring and score keeping gigs just don’t pay the bills.

Friday: I plan to go to Eli’s school carnival in the evening, and tell his teachers how much we appreciate them.

I didn’t go into teaching expecting constant praise, or huge perks (like pizza on a night when I’m required to work late or a free bottle of water), but I also didn’t anticipate the national climate we are now in. I can’t remember a time when teachers have been more under attack.
But if I left the profession I would miss it. Every day it seems there is at least one moment when a student makes me laugh. Sometimes I see a kid’s face light up with new knowledge, and occasionally one will contribute an insight into a class discussion that is truly brilliant. And a handful of times, I have had students thank me for being their teacher. Those are the moments I will always carry with me.
So if you want to celebrate National Teacher Appreciation Week, contact a favorite teacher, and thank them. Believe me, it will mean a lot.

Beverly Cleary and Electronic Hickies

The other day I was handing out papers when I noticed one of my female students was sporting a large maroon hickey on her neck. I cringed, but not out of shock. I can name several constants in my life, and highschool students with hickeys is one of them. Yet, as much as things stay the same, they change all the more.

When I was in sixth grade I read Beverly Cleary’s Fifteen and loved it for several reasons. I was infatuated with the idea of a wall-flower type of girl gaining confidence and attracting a cute, nice guy to be her boyfriend. But I also liked that it took place in the 1950s (or was it the early 1960s?). They wore skirts and high heels on dates. They went to soda shops. The way they talked and acted was at once quaint and glamorous.

I was a child of the 1970s and a teenager in the 80s.  Nowadays, that era seems as foreign to the students I teach as Beverly Cleary’s era seemed to me.

And with good reason. When I began writing Following My Toes I didn’t own a cell phone. Sure, I was late to the party on that, but my characters don’t use them either. In fact, an answering machine serves as a major catalyst in the action of the story. I could never get away with writing that today, just a handful of years later.

Looking For Ward centers around e-mails sent back and forth between friends. Today they would Tweet, or check their statuses on Facebook.

Starring in the Movie of My Life takes place in 2006. I made sure to specify so the pop culture references would make sense. Little did I know how important that would be. Melody, an eighteen-year-old, leaves sexy notes in her crush’s locker. Today she would just be “sexting him.” I read in the New York Times that sexting is actually a status thing now, an electronic hicky, if you will. Kids like to have proof of their desireability and experience.

This is terrifying, if you consider the legal issues, the privacy issues, and the potential this holds for destroying a kid’s self-estem. As both a teacher and a parent it weighs on my mind. But as an author, I have to wonder: How quickly am I becoming irrelevent? This question assumes that I was relevent in the first place; to be sure, I’m no Beverly Cleary. But if some day in the future a reader finds the world I describe (with its lack of technology) to be at once quaint and glamorous, well that would be pretty cool. It’s a world I wouldn’t mind returning to, now and then.

Casablanca

Last week in Film Studies we were watching Casablanca. My students never like this movie, and this year's group was no different. I don't think they get it.

They especially don't understand the scene with the dueling anthems. In case you're not familiar with it or don't remember, it goes like this: Everyone is hanging out at Rick's cafe. General Stasser and the other Nazis start singing the Nazi anthem/fight song or whatever you want to call it. Everyone who isn't a Nazi looks upset. Then Victor Lazlo comes in, tells the band to start playing La Marseillaise, and people start crying tears of pride while they sing. The Nazis get mad, and Victor Lazlo's life is now REALLY in danger.

I try to explain to the class; it's about patriotism. People understood patriotism and self-sacrifice at the time Casablanca was made, but are they anything but abstract concepts to us now?

And what does resonate with the youth of today? There are so many vampire stories, and tales of dystopian romance... does that mean that teenagers feel estranged, like the forces against them are evil and unnamed? I'm sure my students would laugh at such a theory. "It's just a book (or movie, or whatever)" they would say, as they accuse me of reading way too much into things. But I find it sad that all the sacrifices our forefathers have made have led us to this place: where we can't even understand what the fight was about in the first place.

My favorite line from Casablanca:
Victor Lazlo - "Welcome back to the fight. This time I know our side will win."

Frankly My Dear, I Don't Give a Dime

My film studies class just got done watching Gone With the Wind. I always follow the viewing with a discussion about Scarlet. I try to ask a variety of thought-provoking questions.

“If Scarlet was a real person, would you want to be friends with her? Raise your hand if the answer is yes.”

No hands went up.

“Why not?” I asked them.

Many answers were murmured at once, but this is what I got: she’s a liar, a cheat, she steals other girls’ boyfriends, and as one boy said under his breath, “she’s a slut.”

I’ve taught this course for many years, and it happens every time; somebody calls Scarlet either a “slut,” a “ho,” or something even worse that I’ll refrain here from writing down.

So then I ask them, “What about Rhett? He was with more women than Scarlet was with men.”

They tell me that it’s different. Rhett wasn’t using these women for their money, he wasn’t lying to them, and he wasn’t mean to them.

The fact that Rhett conceivably raped Scarlet (based on your interpretation of events) doesn’t really seem to bother them at all.

It didn’t bother me when I was sixteen either. In fact, I probably would have said similar things had I been asked those questions when I was in high school.

But now I point out that Scarlet had very few options. She had a family to feed and a home to preserve, and her job options were nonexistent. Her only means of survival was to find a rich man to marry. To do that, she had be attractive, tantalizing, and yes, manipulative. She needed to embody every negative female stereotype that helped coin such phrases as slut and ho.

Of course, Scarlet is a fictional character. However, the reality for women still doesn’t present an even playing field. An article from the New York Times out yesterday mentions how job recovery for women is lagging behind job recovery for men. It also suggests that professionals from jobs which are dominated by women, namely teaching, are more likely to be under fire for being whiny when it comes to things like negotiating rights and pay increases. Firefighters don't often get criticized the way teachers do.

How do we fix gender inequality? How do we move past dangerous stereotypes and double standards? Nobody I know has an answer, and like Scarlet, we all just want to think about it tomorrow.