Blogging Break

Matlacha Sunset, Caitlin McLemore, 2012

I had the best intentions of writing more frequently when I began this blog, but have not found the time to do so. At this time, I would rather focus on reading, rather than worrying about blogging. If you are interested in connecting with me or following me through the world of books and educational technology, find me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/edtechcaitlin

Middle School Reading

Sixth grade students read Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli and The Cay by Theodore Taylor. The students have been busily working in our maker space to create a physical representation of something meaningful to them from the reading.

Students worked as individuals, pairs, or in small groups depending on what they wanted to represent. Students are also presenting their creations, including specific quotations from the book that relate to their symbol. This process required further analysis of the text beyond simply reading, encouraging students to think deeply about word choice and meaning.

Below is a brief slideshow of images from the design process.


Two-Sentence Reviews:
Stargirl: Mica High is very normal, full of very normal students - until Stargirl appears on the scene. Will Leo choose Stargirl and individuality, or fitting in with the crowd? (4 out of 5 stars)
The Cay: A white boy and an old black man are stranded on a small island after a shipwreck. The two must get along to survive.

Toms River

Don Fagin's Pulitzer prize winning work on Toms River is eye-opening for the reader. This book caught my eye recently when a new order of non-fiction was delivered to the library. The reason it was so alluring? First, the name of the town (and title) stand out on the cover and spine in a prominent white font. Secondly, my parents lived in Toms River during the 1970s and 1980s, where one of my older brothers was born. An award-winning book with a personal connection made Toms River a must read for me.

The modern day story begins in the 1950s, when a chemical plant is constructed in Toms River, New Jersey. The journey continues through to the present, where there is no clear conclusion, as the story continues in other locations (mainly China). Interspersed with the current happenings of Toms River is a detailed history of chemical manufacturing, environmental regulation, and the development of epidemiology. The chemical plant is not the only cause for concern, as other illegal dumps and shady deals happen in this normally sleepy coastal town.

Toms River was an excellently crafted story clearly deserving of the Pulitzer Prize. Fagin was masterful at weaving the history and modern events together to create one unified story. The cast of characters was dizzying, and the details throughout the years were numerous, yet Fagin's writing spurred me to keep reading. A bit technical at times, this was not a quick read. I would recommend Toms River to readers interested in non-fiction, especially history or science.

If you want a second opinion on the book, Abigail Zuger, M.D., of the New York Times wrote a review of Toms River entitled "On the Trail of Cancer".

Read Newbery Challenge

In the Design Den this week, an Upper School English class is creating symbols from their reading of Siddhartha. This picture shows some brainstorm sketches on the IdeaPaint whiteboard walls. It is great to have entire walls dedicated to brainstorming, sketching, and creating! I may write a dedicated post later on this project with more details, but wanted to include a brief update for now.

Later on in the week Middle School Geometry will be creating cardboard shapes using the laser cutter and Microsoft Publisher. It will be interesting to see what students create.

In addition to the Design Den projects going on, this week I had the pleasure of giving a brief presentation to the 6th grade reading classes at my school on the Read Newbery Challenge. The students are participating in a class-wide Newbery challenge, where each student must read at least three books from the Newbery winner or Newbery honor lists. I talked with them about my Read Newbery challenge, where I read all 93 (at the time) winners, in order, then blogged about each one. I also made a settings map. The blog and map are linked on my Google Slides presentation.

Haikus

I am trying to make a dent in my "to read" pile of library books. I feel somewhat guilty keeping these books to myself - if the books are on my shelf, no one else has the opportunity to read them. I decided one way to make myself feel better was to get the children's novels out of the way, since I knew that I could complete them quickly.

Each of these books took about an hour to read - Olive's Ocean maybe an hour and a half. All were enjoyable, but my favorite of the three was Lois Lowry's The Willoughby's. I am not surprised, one of her Newbery winning novels, The Giver, is one of my all time favorite books to read.

To add some variety, rather than writing a traditional review or synopsis, I decided to get out of my comfort zone and write a haiku poem for each one. Please excuse the quality, I do not think I have written a haiku poem since I learned about them in fifth grade English.

Olive's Ocean

Girl learns to grow up

at her Grandma's ocean house.

Getting old is hard.

The Willoughby's

Lois Lowry - win!

Absurd, clever, so funny.

Maybe happy end?

The Magician's Elephant

Two orphans, alone.

Elephant! Alone, no more.

Magic makes it real.

The Magicians Trilogy

I first read The Magicians and The Magician King in 2012, when I discovered the then incomplete trilogy in our school library. As a huge Harry Potter series and fantasy genre fan, I was thrilled to find a "grown-up" magicians world in which to immerse myself. Lev Grossman relies heavily on classic and popular fantasy writers, yet masterfully creates his own unique world. This fall, I was happy to re-read the first two books in preparation for reading the final installment of the trilogy, The Magician's Land.  

In the trilogy, Grossman explores how flawed human beings would react when presented with the dangerous yet powerful potential of magic. Grossman's world is dark and filled with dynamic, flawed characters that make the reader want to root for them - in spite of their many, major mistakes. From college to adult life, Quentin Coldwater and his classmates learn about magic, then learn about how to live with magic. The answer is not always easy, but the journey is life-changing. 

Highly recommended read for any C.S. Lewis, Harry Potter, or other high fantasy fans!

Notable quotes from The Magician King

And she had those things that one likes about magicians: she was disgustingly bright and rather sad and slightly askew. (32)

The beginning, the laying down of the fundamentals, was always the worst part, which he supposed was why so few people did it. That was the thing about the world: it wasn't that things were harder than you thought they were going to be, it was that they were hard in ways that you didn't expect. (97-98)

Genuinely social people never ceased to amaze him. Their brains seemed to generate an inexhaustible fund of things to say, naturally, with no effort, out of nothing at all. (206)

Magic: it was what happened when the mind met the world, and the mind won for a change. (232)

We can't all be heroes. Then who would the heroes fight? It's a matter of numbers really. Just work out the sums. (265)

Everything was chance and nothing was perfect and magic didn't make you happy, and Quentin had learned to live with it, which it turned out most people he knew were already doing anyway, and it was time he caught up with them. But you didn't forget that kind of happiness. Something that bright leaves a permanent afterimage on your brain. (291)

They were fixing the world. But Quentin preferred it broken. He wondered how long it would take. Years, maybe - maybe he could go home and not think about it and it would all happen after he was dead. But he wasn't getting that impression. Quentin wondered what he would do if magic went away. He didn't know how he would live in that world. Most people wouldn't even notice the change, of course, but if you knew about it, knew what you'd lost, it would eat away at you (...) Everything would simply be what it was and nothing else. All there would be was what you could see. What you felt and thought, all the longing and desire in your heart and mind, would count for nothing. With magic you could make those feelings real. They could change the world. Without it they would be stuck inside you forever, figments of your own imagination. (304-305)

Why should the gods be the only ones who got magic? They didn't appreciate it. They didn't even enjoy it. It didn't make them happy. It was theirs, but they didn't love it, not the way he, Quentin, loved it. The gods were great, but what good was greatness if you didn't love? (305)

Fangirl

Another win for Rainbow Rowell. Her books all read differently - mostly realistic fiction, with some fantasy peppered in - but different styles make each book unique.

Fangirl is about Cath, a fan-fiction writer, becoming an adult during her first year in college. She encounters hardships - boys, difficult classes, fighting with her twin sister Wren, a roommate - but through it all, still writes in Gemma T. Leslie's alternate world of magic and mystery.

The Simon Snow series reminds readers of Harry Potter, both in the subject of magic and huge popularity among youth. The experiences Cath has dealing with loving a children's series and yet growing up are experiences I can relate to as a huge Harry Potter fan.

Cath is a quirky but fun protagonist that has a strong cast of supporting characters in her world. Even the villains of Cath's world are interesting additions to the story, providing challenges for Cath to overcome and grow as a person.

You won't be disappointed in Fangirl if you love fan-fiction, quirky romances, nerds, and Rainbow Rowell's writing!