A Year of Reading!

This has been an amazing year. A year of reading, really. I have never had a group of students more motivated to read than this group. Not only have they taken on the tasks of reading and discussing deeply what we have required for class, but they have independently become searchers and researchers of great literature. 

 We finished our Giver series today. Although these books were not part of our testing curriculum (and by that, I mean they were pure read alouds...for listening pleasure), we have learned so much from these books. Life lessons mixed with deep analytical discussions of literary devices were the name of the game with these books. I have learned through reading these this year that beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder. I also feel that delivery is everything. Although Lois Lowry can be quite somber in her literary quest for great plot, she also has such poignant and beautiful themes. I chose, as the sole reader and guider of these read aloud days, to focus not on the trees but the forest. The forest (no pun intended...for those of you who have read The Messenger) was a magical place for us to have real conversations throughout our entire year about character and social issues such as honor, truth, love, kindness, and overall good vs. evil in our world. As far as literary analysis goes, I had students picking up on such intelligent topics as dramatic irony and point of view, an author's use of characterization as well as foreshadowing and flashback. Where some teachers spend a year knee deep in work sheets, we accomplished these same goals by reading for pleasure and simply having conversations. What a way to end a year. It has truly been a journey of discovery this year. The main lesson we walked away with today, was that there is evil in this world that we can only fight with good. Evil feeds off of tragedy. Evil was finally destroyed today with love, generosity, selflessness. I can't think of a better lesson for us all to learn than that. 

 Kwaylon and Mrs. DuBose reading Freedom Crossing

Free book grab!

A group of eager students! They have decided that Lois Lowry must write another book in the series. They are writing a summary of what it should be, and I will email it to her for them. Can't wait to get her response!

Final Stretch

We are in the final stretch of the school year. What we have been preparing for since August has too quickly come upon us. All school years seem to fly by, but this year especially for me. Since November I have known that this would be my last year to teach at Madison Crossing. I fought the idea hard initially, when my husband informed me that his firm wanted to send him to Houston. I said, "Absolutely not! I will not go!" I meant it too. How could I leave such a school as this.

 I have had the pleasure of working for two principals who have given me the foundations of my educational philosophies. My first "real" experience as I call it, was in Los Angeles, California. I will always hold Charlotte Lerchenmuller at the top of my favorites list. She was a no holds barred kinda gal who let you know exactly what she thought. Lucky for me, she didn't think I was too bad. She, and most of my colleagues at Emerson Middle School, showed me what it means to fight for students. I left California thinking I'd never find another principal as decisive and progressive as Charlotte. When I moved back to Mississippi, I stayed home with my children for two years. At the time I couldn't have imagined going back to the classroom. I had found my calling. Stay at home mom! At the end of that two year season in my life, however, I felt something tugging me back to the classroom. It wasn't just any classroom I wanted though. I had always remembered the motivation received from my reading professor at Mississippi College. For it was she who instilled a love of teaching literature in me. I had heard she was now principal at a Madison County school. I wanted to know which one. After doing my research and finding Dr. D'Amico at Madison Crossing, I sent her an email expressing my interest in working for her. The past five years have been nothing short of a true blessing. Not many teachers are empowered to teach the way we are at Crossing. We are trusted to do our jobs. We are motivated and inspired by one of the most decisive and progressive leaders I've known.

As I have grown as a teacher, I have found that both of these ladies' educational philosophies (although vastly different) drive my desire to dive more deeply into the issues we face in public schools today. Oh how many problems there are, too. Do I have answers? Of course not. I am not nearly as intelligent as the educational reformers out there making their tracks. What's bizarre though is that I find myself agreeing wholeheartedly with both groups. Over the Easter break I picked up a copy of Michelle Rhee's book, Radical. I know what my California friends would say to that! As I was reading it, I kept saying things like, "Hmmm, that's a good point." See, for the past eleven years as an educator, I have held true to my beginning roots that marched the steps against high stakes testing within our schools. But the more I read from Rhee's book, the more I kept wondering what I truly believed. So as soon as I finished it, off to the bookstore I went. I wanted a book as opposite from Radical as I could find. I wanted to know the opposing arguments. For as creatively driven as I am in my classroom, I need statistics and data to convince me to buy into someone else's ideas. What I concluded was this.... I don't stand completely on either side. I see both points of view. I understand the side that says we have to be competitive and hold students and teachers accountable. I understand the side that says that there's not a one size fits all test for our nation. So, as I embark on the final months of my school year, I will trudge on enthusiastically and with deep motivation to seeing that my students leave with more knowledge than they came to me with. I will both prep them for "THE TEST" and foster their creativity through literature and art. I will fight the good fight until the last bell rings.....Then I will move to Texas and continue in the fight with my own children.

Beauty in Tragedy

Today, we finished the third book in Lois Lowry's Giver series. For twelve years, The Giver has been my favorite. Today, however, The Messenger became my favorite. Today was proof for me that books are meant to be shared, discussed, and analyzed. I love reading alone, but there is no greater joy than a group of people coming together to witness true beauty through words. I was given the amazing opportunity to experience heartfelt emotion twice today with both of my classes. As I read the final chapters, tears came to my eyes and I had to suppress the urge to have a student finish reading aloud so that I could gather my emotion. I finished though, and was privy to a crowd of faces that caught the same connections I did. The students felt the same bittersweet feelings as their teacher as we realized our main character was willingly and tragically sacrificing himself for the world. He was a true HEALER! We had a brief class discussion afterwards but suggested they save their thoughts for the blog. Tonight's assignment is for them to respond with their thoughts. Below, I share the most poignant passages from today:

    With difficulty he leaned painfully toward her, so that his ear was near her mouth.
    "We need your gift," she whispered.
    Marty fell back in despair. He had followed Leader's instructions. He had not spent the gift. He had not made Ramon well, had not fixed Kira's crooked leg, or even tried to save his little dog. But it was too late now. His body was so damaged he could barely move. He could no longer bend his ravaged arms. How could he place his hands on anything? And what, in any case, did she want him to touch? So much was ruined.
    In agony and hopelessness, he turned away from her and rolled off the blanket and into the thick foul smelling mud. With his arms outstretched, his hands touching the earth, he lay there waiting to die. 
    He felt his fingers begin to vibrate...


    Gasping, Matty called for his gift to come. There was no sense of how to direct it. He simply clawed into the earth, feeling the power in his hands enter, pulsating into the ruined world. He became aware, suddenly, that he had been chosen for this....


    Kira smoothed his hair. "He called himself the fiercest of the fierce."
    Leader smiled. "He was that. But it was not his true name."
    Kira wiped her eyes. "He so hoped to receive his true name at the end of this journey."
    "He would have."
    "He wanted to be Messenger," Kira confided.
    Leader shook his head. "No. There have been other messengers and there will be more to come." He leaned down and placed his hand solemnly on Matty's forehead above the closed eyes. "Your true name is Healer," he said.

Perspective

As my Sunday night winds down, and I prepare myself for the school week ahead, I decide to sit and read through some old writing samples my students did one morning just as a warm up exercise. They wrote it months ago and put it into their portfolios. Since it wasn't a serious assignment, I put off looking at them. Some things go into their portfolios that are not graded, and this was one of them. Tonight, as I read them, I took much delight in the fact that my students have become story tellers. I gave the students one line that they were to incorporate any where and any way into a brief narrative. They had 15 minutes to write it. Below is a sampling of what I read. Tonight's updated blog highlights three of my story tellers. If there were more hours in the day, all of my fabulous writers would be here. Their turns are coming!

Mission: to take one phrase and build a narrative around it.

Result: a lesson on perspective 

HOPE RAINEY

One day, I was playing on the playground. Children knocked me over and shoved me when we were lining up. Suddenly, a warm hand yanked my arm. I was being yanked to the side.

            “Stop it!” I screamed. “Let go!”

            “I’m not a kidnapper!” an annoyed voice said.

            I looked over. It was a boy my age I had never met before. He had shaggy blonde hair and deep brown eyes. Twigs and weeds surrounded the forest floor. My shoes got caught occasionally. We stopped. He pointed me toward the opening in a tree.

            “I’m sure you’ll be pleased. It’s surprisingly large once your inside,” the boy said with a happy grin.

            “Tell me why you brought me here,” I said.

            “Well, one day I found this place and I had to show someone. You were the only person who seemed normal against all those screaming children,” he said with a snicker. “I was feeling lonely,” he admitted shyly.

            “Well, you shouldn’t just grab people. The teachers will be looking for me and my parents will flip out!” I cried out.

            “You’ll be back soon?” he asked…but still wouldn’t let me go.

            “Take me back!” I screamed.

            “Not until you look inside.

            “Fine,” I gave in.

            There were gray stones leading to the opening of the tree. They were beautiful and appeared almost man made. They were in shapes of all kinds. The tree seemed too small for a house. Inside, I smelled sap. Shiny hardwood floors covered the small round room and a spiral staircase creeped down down down to a dark basement. It was cold and I realized that I was underground. There were wooden chairs intricately carved around a soft brown rug. The floor was made of dirt. I was stunned! There was a wooden shelf containing lots of books. I made my way dazed to the outside again. I searched and searched, but the boy was nowhere to be found. Suddenly, feeling very afraid of the woods around me, I dashed back to the playground.

            “Good Heavens!” Ms. Smith said. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

            Still to this day, the boy has never been seen again.

NICK BROWN

          He pointed me toward the opening of the tree.

          “I’m sure you’ll be pleased. It’s surprisingly large once your inside.”

          I stepped in.

          “Welcome to Wonderland.” He said

          “Wow, thank you for bringing me here. I…I… don’t know what to say.”

          “You’re welcome.”

          “This isn’t mine, is it? It can’t be!”

          “Yes, it is. Well, only part of it. You see, this world is divided into three parts. The dark side, the rain side, and the light side. The one that you own is the light side. Enjoy your stay at Wonderland,” his face seemed kind. Then something changed. He smiled an evil smile. “And remember,” he said, “don’t go to the dark one.”

          “Who’s the dark one?” I asked.

          …TO BE CONTINUED

  

NICK FULLER

He pointed me toward the opening of the tree.

          “I’m sure you’ll be pleased. It’s surprisingly large once your inside.”

          I walked in and saw that it really was huge inside. I yelled out that I’d take it. The man left and I went to the store to begin buying new things for my new house. I bought a bed, a television, a couch, and an Xbox. I was living great in my new house. Then the sound I’ll always remember. Smash! Crack, Crash! Snap! My tree house was going down. I managed to escape and looked behind me to see a tornado had taken my tree. I was left alone in the woods and didn’t know where to go. My path back to the city had been destroyed. I searched for days and just as I was about to give up I heard a BEEP! It was a car horn. I began running with joy. I had finally made it back to the city.

One day, a man asked if I wanted a city house. I said, “I’ll take it!”

TRUE LEARNING

The students brought in their "silent film strip" photo assignments today. They were assigned the task of transforming themselves into a character from WWI, the Roaring 20s, or the Great Depression. We will begin our discussion of WWII tomorrow, and used this assignment to remind us of the events leading up to that war. The students went above and beyond the call to action not only with creativity, but also with historical content. Their stories were told as a silent film would tell a story. They took ten photos of themselves with a sign in front of them with the words telling their tale. Some students even included family members in their photos/stories. I could tell as I read them today that the students really put forth full effort into researching these historical eras. I am confident that they learned more from this one assignment than from a week's worth of reading from a textbook. They were so proud of their work and also wanted to see their friends' stories. So, we took a little time today to view all of the "silent films" and learn from our peers. Who says hard work can't be fun? Not us! Stay tuned for our next project. This week the students are taking these characters from their stories and giving them an extensive list, via collage design, of character traits. We will use this project to dive further into our discussions of an author's use of characterization. Art, creativity, problem solving, language arts, reading skills, and history all come together as we progress through this unit of study. In the midst of all this FUN learning, we are taking MAP tests in our computer labs. There has been much talk and discussion, even boycots and strikes in regards to high stakes testing during a school year. There has been much debate on how disruptive it is to real learning. In my humble opinion, the only classroom interrupted from such tests, are classrooms that allow that to happen. I am all for accountability...teacher accountability, at that. But I will not allow standardized tests to stand in the way of REAL learning. We don't focus much in my classroom on test prep. I usually give my students a "pep talk" before we enter into the computer lab to begin our tests, but I cannot and will not disrupt our creative juices to prep for tests. There's a famous movie quote that says, "If you build it, he will come." I think about that line often in my classroom. If we, as teachers, build foundations and learning skills with motivation and inspiration as our guide, then test scores will come. I'm not worried about what a test score says about my students. I see with my eyes. I hear with my ears. Everyday, these students impress me with their intellect...intellect that is far beyond what a standardized test measures. WAY TO GO TEAM DUBOSE!

It's All Coming Together

I have been anxiously waiting for this term since August. I always look forward with anticipation to third nine weeks for several reasons. This is what we have been leading up to for 18 weeks now. Our author study on Lois Lowry is such a rich journey and experience. My students are eager, after already completing three of her books, to hear more of her stories and about her life. As we enter into this new term of school we will continue in our Giver quartet. We thought this would just be a trilogy until Ms. Lowry, herself, graced our blog with her presence to announce that the fourth installment would be published in October. As soon as it hit the shelves, I picked up five copies. I have read it, and it is such a wonderful culmination and completion of this series. With that said, we are on our third book in that series. The Messenger is the first of the four books that allows its readers to begin seeing connections through the first two books. The students will see how Gathering Blue and The Giver come together in this third novel. We are also embarking on a wonderful adventure through her memoir, Looking Back. Ms. Lowry's life story, told through pictures of her childhood and quotes from her stories, is both amusing at times as well as heartbreaking. While reading this memoir, the students make connections between an author's real life and their stories. They are able to see how an author takes personal life experiences and uses them to create fiction. We will become authors once again this term to create our own memoirs.  Lois Lowry's collection of novels would not be complete without Number the Stars. This beautifully written work allows us a glimpse into a Jewish family's struggles during the onset of WWII. The students have also chosen a Lois Lowry book of their own to read independently. What great insight we are gaining as life learners. We are entering the world of an author. Each week the students will design photo projects that connect both with the memoir and with WWII. This week the students are telling a story through pictures. They are working on taking ten photos of themselves. These ten photos must tell a story from the perspective of someone from WWI, the roaring twenties, or the Great Depression era. These are the events we have dsicussed in class that led our country to WWII. I am looking forward to seeing what creativity my students have in store for me. Please stay tuned, as their creativity is shared in the coming days and weeks.

Rage Against the Dying of the Light

In honor of Charlotte (6), Daniel (7), Rachel (27), Olivia (6), Josephine (7), Ana (6), Dylan (6), Dawn (47), Madeline (6), Catherine (6), Chase (7), Jesse (6), James (6), Grace (7), Anne Marie (52), Emilie (6), Jack (6), Noah (6), Caroline (6), Jessica (6), Avielle (6), Lauren (30), Mary (56), Victoria (27), Benjamin (6), Allison (6)....
....I vow to:
Hug my children more
Protect my children at all cost
Read to my children daily 
Find joy in each child's uniqueness 
Remember that children need love more than daily oral language
Start and end each school day with a smile