What we are doing in classes, and a little "light" reading you may enjoy...

I'm up... it's dark, but not really "cold," at 30 degrees. Snow in the forecast, of course, but nothing that is supposed to amount to even shovel-able. That's fine by me. And the frigid temps are on their way again, starting Thursday. 

Is it just me, or has January just about worn out its welcome this year? Maybe it's the tidal wave of toxicity in the news, maybe it's the long stretches of cold that require heavy coats, boots, gloves, and a lot of patience. Yes, I know the days are getting lighter earlier-- a good thing-- but this month is interminable. 

We are on to week 2 of the new semester, and so far, the kids have been meeting my challenges cheerfully and willingly. The creative writing trio I have are enjoying the prompts, too. Yesterday, we explored the Golden Shovel form; they are having a ball figuring it out. At other times, students have given up quickly when presented with a challenge like this, but not this crew. They are fun to have in class-- if you can even call it a class-- we read some examples, we talk about what they notice first, then I direct their attention to things I think they should see, and then, I pop on some music and they write. There's a bit of social chatter, but that's fine-- they are creating, sharing their work without being instructed to do so, and overall, it's a pleasant 90 minutes in my day. I'm grateful. Today, we will be wading into sonnets, and as luck would have it, my poet-friend Meg Kearney had two new poems up on Vox Populi yesterday. I love when that happens!

The American Lit kids are equally fun; there are seven of them, and we are working our way through the early works, in chronological (--ish) order. They are even enjoying the challenge of Ernest Hebert's The Old American, which is an amazing novel told from the point of view of an indigenous man, ostensibly the son of Metacomet, and it takes place around the time of the French/Indian War, and the unrest in both what will become the northern part of the United States (NH and VT, some NY) and the area around Montreal. It's a well-researched novel, and it employs some narrative techniques that are not the usual fare for high school students: there are parts that are almost told in second person POV, and the text also challenges what readers believe about the history of this area of the continent, the fundamental rights of indigenous peoples, and the complicated relationship that slavery (not African, not the selling of humans) brings up. I recommend it highly; I see that it has been re-released, so it's not as hard to find as it was a few years ago. 

They will be digging into the original draft of the Declaration of Independence today, and developing a critical analysis of the textual strategies used by Jefferson, with a focus on the edits required by the Congress of its time. What I hope they recognize, beyond the fact that it is, essentially, an argument essay, is that many of the abuses of the King are still issues we are dealing with today. As in, right now. If you haven't looked at the document in a while, give it a look. It's eye-opening just how much we have to "rebel" against, given the same list. 

That said, it ought to be an interesting class, part of an interesting day. 

Stay warm, and enjoy reading...

C