Invisible Man Book Review

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is the story of a young black man whose name the reader never learns. He is a young man from the South who is haunted by his grandfather's deathbed warning against conforming to the wishes of white people because the young man sees that as the way to be successful. After a series of multiple incidents, He builds himself a room in the cellar of an all-white building and hibernates there contemplating his relationship to reality and the invisibility he feels is caused by his race. He lives in that hole until he runs into Mr. Norton one day in the subway and realizes that he will no longer conform to white expectations of him. www.bookrags.com

It is a great book, but I would only recommend it if your students are at a very advanced level.  It is over five hundred pages and requires in depth evaluation of symbolism and a decent knowledge base of history and its references.  I definitely should have at the very least waited until my students had practiced reading some less complex novels.

Freeology

Freeology is a great site with TONS of free graphic organizers.  CHECK IT OUT!
http://www.freeology.com/

GREAT POEM

At the Cancer ClinicShe is being helped toward the open door
that leads to the examining rooms
by two young women I take to be her sisters.
Each bends to the weight of an arm
and steps with the straight, tough bearing
of courage. At what must seem to be
a great distance, a nurse holds the door,
smiling and calling encouragement.
How patient she is in the crisp white sails
of her clothes. The sick woman
peers from under her funny knit cap
to watch each foot swing scuffing forward
and take its turn under her weight.
There is no restlessness or impatience
or anger anywhere in sight. Grace
fills the clean mold of this moment
and all the shuffling magazines grow still.

from Delights & Shadows, Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA 2004

Literacy Night

I told my students about the literacy night we were going to have in Janurary, where they will be acting out Macbeth and reading their poems.  The majority of them were ecstatic.  I was pleasantly surprised.  That also was exciting to me because I realized it was only like a month until Janurary. 

Advice

I don't know how many other fellow classmates feel this way, but I don't think anything can prepare you for how hard your first year is going to be.  Everyone told me it is going to be awful.  You will think you won't survive.  I honestly thought that these people were nuts; how hard can it be?  Wow, reality really kicked me right in the butt and the face.  It has been unreal.  Some days I swore the entire way home (an hour and twenty minutes) that I was not going back.  I would just have to work at McDonalds or something.  I wish I could say it gets easier (there are easier days), but many are just that bad.  I can only hope that year number two shows improvement.

TEACHER TUBE

I don't know how many of you have heard of teachertube, but it is really awesome.  It has lots of fun and interesting vidoes related to teaching topics teacher tube

Facebook, Facebook

I would love to find a way to interact with my students through facebook professionally.  So many of them tell me they have no computer access, but they can always get on facebook.  I plan to use it as a tool to interact on a classroom basis for next year.  I think it could be more relatable and interactive to the students than a blog, for my students anyways

One of my PLAYERS

They just lost to Texarkana this week; they have had one heck of a year though.  They are some dedicated football players

AP 101

AP, so far this year, had done two completely opposite things.  I feel like my life is a walking paradox.  It has stressed me beyond belief.  That is one reason I have had so much trouble keeping up with my work.  I am that ocd student who has to have my work done.  Honestly, I spend so much time trying to figure out what I am supposed to be doing to prepare students for this AP test that I hardly have time to exhale.  However, my kids in AP have absolutely lifted my spirits when I needed it the most.  They have told me they learned more in a week than they learned in three years.  All I can say is that I send up a little prayer every night that this gets easier.

School Projects

I really need some good ideas for fundraising ideas.  I have an incentive program I would like to do with my English Department.  The school said it was a great idea, but the kids would have to pay for it themselves.  That doesn't seem like much of a reward program, and the "prize" is on a Sunday afternoon.  IDEAS?