October 2009 archive
Dear Readers–
I don’t know if Suzanne Weyn has four books out yet, but if she doesn’t, I’ll be anxiously waiting for her to write two more so I can add her to the list of Favorite Young Adult Authors for your research projects. I just finished her second book, The Bar Code Rebellion over the snow days last week. It is the sequel to The Bar Code Tattoo. In both books, she does what good science fiction writers set out to do: create a believable future that is not so far from our own. She takes present day concerns and extrapolates them to a terrifying conclusion. In the first book, Kayla must decide whether or not to receive the bar code tattoo when she turns seventeen. The government is requiring everyone to get these tattoos to streamline the flow of information. Cash has not been used in years. Instead, people use an electronic cash card (sound anything like ATM or debit cards?). With the tattoo, people don’t even need to use the card–all the information is tattooed on your skin along with your medical history and insurance and any other information you might need in life. No need to worry about losing a card or expriencing identity theft. But is there a more sinister aspect to the tattoo beyond safety and convenience? Kayla becomes convinced that the tattoo is evil and becomes an outcast by not getting the tattoo. All around her people, including her parents, are having their lives destroyed by the tattoo. What other information is in it?
The Bar Code Rebellion picks up Kayla’s story as she and other resisters travel to a protest in Washington, DC. The protest becomes a trap to round up resisters and tattoo them with the bar code against their will. As Kayla flees across the country on a search for answers, she discovers that there are others like her–one of whom is pretending to be her while speaking for Global 1, the industry behind the government. After meeting the second one, Kayla realizes there is even more to her story:
“Kayla realized that it meant there were four of them, three of whom could see visions of the future. Could the girl in the desert see ahead, too? She moved the picture of the child and the burning house to the bottom of the pile and looked at the next drawing, a desert landscape with a blue tent standing in the middle of the vast desert emptiness. “I’ve had a vision like this, too,” she told Kara. I saw this same scene in one of them, only I didnt’ see the tent.
“Crazy,” Kara mumured. “I should tell you that I’m pretty sure somebody’s looking for me.”
“Your parents,” Kayla guessed.
“No, I don’t know who it is, but someone tried to grab me the other night when I came back late. Another time before that, two men chased me. I can’t let them get me. I have a feeling the know I have visions.”
Kayla recalled her meeting with Eutonah in the Waters Shed jail. She’d warned her that Global-1 was looking for her–and not just because she didn’t have a bar code tattoo or even for her supposed involvement in her mother’s death in the fire. Why, then? And why were the searching for this other girl, Kara, who was identical to her?
Suddenly Kayla’s problems seemed much bigger and more complex than they had been before.” (Wyen 93-94)
Kayla shares many traits in common with these “twins.” All have a talent for art and an innate resistance to the tattoo. Will she discover the evil secret behind the bar code tattoo before it’s too late? Will she have to choose between Mfumbe and Jack, two handsome resisters who both are attracted to Kayla? Yes, there is even romance amid the intrigue.
Weyn has created a fast moving story that explores many complex and controversial ideas. How do you balance a need for information in our society with the need for privacy for individuals? How far should science go in the research and application of cloning and genetic manipulation. These are all concerns we are addressing today. Will our choices lead to the chilling future portrayed by Weyn? I hope not, and through her characters, Weyn suggests that the human will is too strong to give in without a fight.
Monday – Poem: “Dharma” & “Man and Dog”
Practice craft and peer conference. Students will brainstorm synomyms for “walk.” They will look in the first draft for boring verbs they can replace with specific verbs. Students will learn to “crack open” an image by asking questions about what it looks like, sounds like, feels like. Then they will do a peer conference to help each other add those sensory details.
Homework: Choose 5 words for word study. Read 30 minutes and record on Reading Log.
Tuesday – Poem: “Love that Cat” & “Cat Smile”
Type drafts of memoirs. Students will type the draft of their memoir if they have not done so already. They may also work on their memoir book project that is due Friday.
Homework: Read 30 minutes and record on reading Log.
Wednesay- Poem: “Dog in Bed”
Thoughts and Feelings. Students will lread “Backing Up” and highlight where I included thoughts and feelings. The will then look for places they can add their thoughts and feelings to their memoir. They may continue typing and working on their book projects
Homework: Three to five pages of writing due. Read 30 minutes and record on Reading Log. Complete Word Study
Thursday- Poem: “Primetime”
Evaluate book projects. Students will use the rubrics for the essay letter or video book trailer to evaluate one of my example projects.
Homework: Word Study due. Read 30 minutes and record on Reading Log. Get Reading Log signed.
Friday– Poem: “A Reason for Black”
Turn in book projects! Students will post their completed letter-essays or video book trailers on their blog.
Homework: Read 30 minutes and record on Reading Log.
Happy reading!
Celebrate writing today! It’s official. Today is a new holiday–the National Day on Writing. How can you join the celebration? By writing of course! You are all writers. You write at school. You even write at home–just check your Facebook, MySpace or Twitter accounts. Have you ever made a list or written an email or texted a friend? These are writing, too. Writing surrounds us everyday in many forms. Take a minute and think about how writing surrounds you.
Celebrate by sharing your writing today! How can you do that? Well, post your poem or other writing on your blog page. Comment on your classmates’ writings. How can you connect with their words. Tell them something like this:
“Your description of __________ reminded me of this time in my life. ”
“I can relate to your experience in this writing.”
“You’re writing made me think about _____________.”
One way to celebrate writing is to share your writing with an audience. Connect with your readers. Here are some possibilities:
Post your poem on your blog.
Enter the poetry contest for Poetic Power. The deadline is December 10, 2009. If at least five of you have your poem selected for publication we will get a free copy of the book for our classroom.
Submit your six word memoir to Smith Magazine. Join the six word craze!
Submit any writing to the National Gallery of Writing. I submitted mine today. It’s the poem “What is Writing For?” that I published on earlier post. Read it an comment.
How have you celebrated writing today?
Bad Boy by Walter Dean Myers
1 – Cory R
7 – Paris P., Morgan R., Rebekah W.
Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl
3 – Nathan B., Savanna C.
6 – Kyla R.
8 – Haley B.
The Cage by Ruth Minsky Sender
3 – Dakota S.
5 – Brad H.
6 – Jessica D. (LET), Kendra E. (BT), Shelby H. (LET), Taylor M. (BT), Destinee S. (Let), Leigh Anne S. (BT), Hannah R (LET)
Caught by the Sea by Gary Paulsen
3 – Shania J., Brad S.
6 – Tyler C., Braden R., (Let) Carla V.
7 – Eli Y. (let)
8 – Haylea C. (BT), Chris H., Jackie T. (BT)
End of the Spear by Steve Saint
1 – Allie F.
3 – Alex R.
7 – Keina J. (Let)
Facing the Lion by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton
5 – Melina M., Lyndi S.
7 – Cammi S.
Finding Fish by Antoine Fisher
1 – John F.(let), Johnny S.
8 – Vanessa S. (Let)
The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer
1 – Tosha B., Sara C., Cody C., Heaven H., Dani M., Jason S., Savannah S., Shelby W.
3 – Chris C., Savanna C., Samantha C., Josh F., Breana H., Savannah J., Lauren L., Maddy M. , Cheyenne R., Makayla S., Keisha W.
5 – Zonnie A., Kelsey C., Whitney J., Raven L., Ashley M., Ellen P., Chelsey R., Megan S., Jesse S., Jayde S., Katie T., Harley T.
8 – Mitch D. (let), Becky M.
My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen
1 – Sean N. (let)
3 – Cody B., Shane C.
5 – Carl C., James C., Nathan O., Marvin R.
6 – Noah C. (BT)
7 – Kyle D. (let), Frankie G., Jaimee L., Courtney N., Laura O., Erika R. (let), Cammi S. (let)
8 – Nancy B. (let)
Night by Elie Weisel
1 – Devin G., Walter P.. Austin S.
3 – Taylor H., Nick N., Alex W.
6 – Tori W. (BT), Emily W. (BT)
7 – Shelby B., Kayla C.,(BT) Destiny E., (BT on Kayla’s) Morgan K., Kyla R. (LET)
8 – Nathaneal B.
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
1 – Marty C.(bt), TJ M.(let), Siera R., Lacey S.
7 – Justin M.
Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton
1 – Abby A. (bt), Teisha D., Ali K. (bt) , Baley W.(bt)
3 – Taylor D., Ali L., Mikayla O.
6- Claire M (let).
7 – Apache F., Brittany R., Briana S., Suann V., Rebekah W. (BT)
8 – Elisabeth G. (let), Hudson K. (let), Josh M., Alyssa N., Ciera O., Stacia S., Mikaela S. (Let), Kelby W.
Writing is for the heart,
emotions tumbling out of my pen
and filling my page
with shouts and whimpers,
tears and laughter.
Writing is for the mind,
advancing my thoughts
like pieces on a chess board,
gathering arguments
like clouds before a storm.
Writing is for the voice,
whispering in the quiet moments,
straining to be heard above the hubbub,
crying in the wilderness,
seeking to change the world.
Writing is for the world,
for you and me,
to connect our hearts and minds and voices.
I wrote this today during the ITW conference (where lots of writing teachers get together to share their best ideas and get inspired to torture you (my students) with more writing activities. As you might guess, the theme of this years’s conference was “What is Writing For?” How would you answer this question? Leave me a comment or write a post of your own on your page.
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Here’s my first attempt at creating a book trailer. Le me know what you think.
I slowly slid into the seat of my mom’s 1976 Toyota Corolla station wagon and gripped the steering wheel. From outside the car, the driving examiner barked instructions: click the left turn signal, click the right turn signal, tap the brakes. So far, so good. I felt pretty confident about the written part of the driving test I had just taken. After all, I regularly aced tests at school, and I had studied for this one. No, it was the next part I was worried about—the driving test.
I glanced over at the examiner who had taken her place on the passenger side and was already busy scratching notes on her clipboard. She didn’t have her seatbelt on! Should I ask her to put on her seat belt? Was this part of the driving test? Or would she be offended? I didn’t want to get off to a bad start.
I decided to ask—hesitantly. “Would you please put on your seat belt?”
“I don’t wear a seat belt while giving a driving test,” she replied icily.
Uh-oh. It looked like I was off to a bad start.
I pulled out of the parking space, relieved that I didn’t back into any cars on the way out. I hated backing up.
As I pulled onto the road, only the clipped words the examiner barked out for directions broke the ominous silence. I grew increasingly nervous at the examiner’s lack of response. How was I doing? I felt the sweat begin to gather between my shoulders and trickle down my spine. The air conditioning in Mom’s ten-year-old car was no match for a hot June afternoon in North Carolina. The backs of my legs stuck to the vinyl seats every time I shifted my foot from the accelerator to the brake. When would this torture ever end?
Finally, the examiner (she never did tell me her name) asked—no, ordered—me to turn onto a quiet residential street and pull to the side. Was it time for the three-point turn? I was ready for that. No, she told me to back up. Did I mention that I hated backing up? At least it wasn’t parallel parking. I knew I’d never get my driver’s license if I had to parallel park. Little did I know that backing up would prove to be just as great a nemesis. .
, I slowly turned and looked behind me. No cars in sight. That’s a relief. Then I turned back to the front. I found that if I looked in the rearview mirror, I didn’t get as confused about which way to turn the steering wheel as I backed up. My mom had shared that trick after about the tenth time I ran off the driveway into the grass, narrowly missing the mailbox. I was so intent on backing straight that I missed the deepening frown of the examiner next to me.
Soon after, we pulled back into the parking lot at the license branch. The examiner opened the door and swung a leg out to leave, and she still hadn’t said a word other than to give me directions. I couldn’t stand it anymore.
“How did I do?” I asked in desperation.
She glanced down her nose at me as if the answer should have been obvious. “You failed,” she said. “You stopped too quickly and didn’t look behind you as you were backing up.” .
I failed? I stared in disbelief as her heels clicked across the asphalt. She never glanced my wav again as she continued scribbling notes on her clipboard and disappeared behind the glass doors to the license branch. Did she, the almighty driving examiner, not care that she had just devastated my entire life?
I failed reverberated through my mind. Heartbroken and downcast, I stared at the duct tape covering the cracks on the dashboard so I wouldn’t have to see the expectant faces of my mom and boyfriend. How could I face them after this? How could I even tell them I failed? How could I, who aced every test I’d ever taken, fail the driving test? Who failed the driving test anyway? No one I knew. At least school was out and I wouldn’t have to face my classmates.
Slumping down in the back seat, I handed the keys over to my mom. I could barely hear their words of comfort over my sobs. What did it matter if this examiner had failed every other teenager on their first attempt at getting a driver’s license? That didn’t mean I should fail. I didn’t want to come back tomorrow or next week to try again. I had failed and my world was coming to an end.
Of course, I did go back. Who could resist the call of the open road and the freedom to drive along it? Not me. I did manage to pass the driving test the next time, with a different examiner, of course. I still stop too quickly (just ask my husband). I still hate to back up. But I have learned that my world does not end with failure—as long as I don’t have to back up.
This is Banned Books Week–not a week to burn your books, but a week to remember that we are free to read. All across the country, though, books are challenged in schools, libraries, and classrooms. A few people seek to limit the books available for everyone to read. Some of my favorite authors have had protests to remove their books from classroom and library shelves: Madeleine L’Engle, Laurie Halse Anderson, Patricia McCormick, Ellen Hopkins, JK Rowling, Mark Twain. Many of you are reading books that have been challenged. In some places the books have been removed from the shelves. In other places, the books remain. As a teacher, I believe that students should have access to a wide variety of books. Not every book is for every reader, but I think most of you are capable of choosing books that are right for you. I believe that one or two people should not have the right to tell everyone else what they can or cannot read. I believe in the power of words and of story to teach life lessons. If someone reads about a character making terrible choices, they can experience the consquences through fiction rather than real life. Check out this video of frequently banned books. Are there books you are reading? Frequently banned books
If you want to find out what your classmates think about some of these books, check out their blogs. Ellen Hopkins writes novels in poetry that deal with some tough issues. Sierra R. is reading Crank, the story of a girl who gets addicted. Maykayla S and Harley T. are reading Burned, a story of violence and abuse. Lauren L is reading Go Ask Alice, the diary of a drug addict. One of the most popular books right now is Cut, by Patricia McCormick. Ciera O, Amy H, Ciara F, and Allie F are all reading it. Robert Cormier is a tough writer who does not believe in happy endings. Kirsten G is reading his book Tenderness. Cammi S is reading Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, and Kendra E is reading The Color Purple by Alice Walker.
What do you think? Should you have access to these and other books? Why?
Laurie Halse Anderson (author of Speak, Prom, Fever 1973 and more) has a very thoughtful post on her blog in response to some of her books being challenged in schools and libraries.