Blog Reflection

  At first I dreaded the blogging assignment simply because of ignorance.  I had never blogged and as most, I tend to fear the unknown.  As time progressed through the semester, and I was given the opportunity to self reflect, share experiences, and discuss readings of mine I began to enjoy the experience.  We can all learn a great deal from ours and other’s positive and negative experiences.  It would be an injustice to oneself and one another if one failed to utilize means, such as blogging to share these learning experiences.   We have this wonderful networking/communication avenue at our fingertips and without being pushed to explore blogging, I feel I truly would have missed an incredible learning opportunity.  I only have two wishes regarding the blogging assignment.  One, I wish I would have had more time to devote to my blog. There are so many other things I would have loved to share. Second, I wish I was equipped enough to format my blogs in a more appealing way.  The layouts of my blogs always seemed to have some formatting error, which I was too ignorant to correct.  I do intend to try and keep up with my blog.  (That is if time permits.)      

More Later----------------

Book Review

____________________________________________________________________________________                                                                  Author:  S.E. Hinton

Realist Fiction

Brittney K. Wells

11/28/2010

S.E. Hinton

"I don't think I have a masterpiece in me, but I do know I'm writing well in the area I choose to write in," she commented to Dave Smith of the Los Angeles Times. S.E. Hinton is credited with writing realist young adult/ adolescent literature and confidently claims to have chosen the right audience. "I understand kids and I really like them. And I have a very good memory. I remember exactly what it was like to be a teenager that nobody listened to or paid attention to or wanted around. I mean, it wasn't like that with my own family, but I knew a lot of kids like that and hung around with them.… Somehow I always understood

                         them. They were my type."

  S.E. Hinton, a talented American author who grew up in Tulsa, OK, took on the pen name in 1967. S.E. is the initials for Susan Eloise.  To eliminate the knowledge of her sex to readers was reason Hinton chose to go by the pen name S.E.  Her career as an author ignited with the publication of her first novel and timeless classic, The Outsiders.  Astonishingly, Hinton was, merely 17 years old.  Not only was she extremely young to gain a publication, but she has even been referred to as the most successful novelist       among the adolescent and teenage audience. The Outsiders was a major success among teenagers, selling more than four million copies in the United States alone. The book's popularity enabled Hinton to attend the University of Tulsa, where in 1970 she earned an education degree and met her future husband, David Inhofe. However, gaining fame and fortune at eighteen was not without problems—Hinton had writer's block for several years.  

  Following college, other literary works of Hinton’s include:   That Was Then, This Is Now (1971), Rumble Fish (1975), Tex  (1979),  and Taming the Star Runner (1986).  She is credited with writing realist young adult literature. In 1988 Hinton received the first Young Adult Services Division/ School Library Journal Author Award from the American Library Association.  Between publication of Tex and Taming the Star Runner, Hinton spent time starting a family and working on set as an advisor for film adaptations  of The Outsiders , Tex, That was Then, This is now, and Rumble Fish.  Moreover, for Rumble, she even took part in writing the screenplay.  These adaptations were a result of demands from young audiences.     

  Hinton published two books for younger readers, Puppy Sister and Big David, Little David, her first

 picture book.  Hinton chooses to keep her life intensely private living in Northern California.     Hinton claims to have been writing since her adolescent years.  It has been said her career started so early due to lack of entertainment in Tulsa.   Furthermore, she began writing her first masterpiece while her father was sick with cancer as a means of escape and the time in which it took to write was about 1.5 years.  She let a friend read it after the fourth draft, who felt Hinton to be extremely talented and the piece of work worth showing an advisor.

  Although Hinton’s works have been few in number, the content and talent exhibited is not reproducible and is worth commending.  Hinton’s website is   http://www.sehinton.com/ . 

Opinion of Book                                    

Although classified as a young adult novel for adolescents, The Outsiders is truly a novel for all age groups. The story, one of enlightenment, set in Small town in the 1960’s, was a critical time for conflict around the world.  While the Vietnam War and the peace loving hippy era was taking place, Malcolm X and the Black Panthers were emerging.  As today, different classes of people existed all leading different types of lives.  Even though conflict was possibly more prevalent during this time frame, conflict is forever occurring and is something in which we must work on and resolve daily.  Prejudices verses acceptance is a way of life.  Naturally, over the course of one’s life, what one encounters may differ from someone else.  This fact does not however change the reality of consequences one must endure.  In life we teach children to follow what is acceptable; however, in this novel, one will find themselves rooting for the underdogs, the greasers, without a doubt. Furthermore, the novel exhibited great examples of classism and stereotyping.

Character Synopsis:

              Character traits in The Outsiders played a major role in the impact on plot development.  Ponyboy may be labeled as smart, but lacks common sense.  Darry is the greaser who could have been a Soc had he wanted.  Steve Randle is part of the Greasers’ gang, yet he is unkind to Pony.  Two-Bit Matthews is one who always had an opinion to throw in and Steve Randle’s parents give him beatings, never any love or approval.  Soda pop gets drunk on   life, but never actually drinks alcohol.  Dally is the Greaser who has the most hate in him.        

 SUMMARY: 

  Like all high schools, different groups of friends exist, just as in life different classes of individuals exist.  In The Outsiders, the opposing groups are the Socials, referred to as the “socs” and the Greasers.  The setting was in a small town in Oklahoma at a vacant lot, park, hospital, streets, stores, a rundown country church, and the train yard.  The novel was narrated by Ponyboy, a greaser, who may also be identified as the protagonist constantly antagonized by the “other side”. 

  The novel jumps off with Ponyboy walking home alone after a movie.  While outnumbered, he gets jumped by the Socs.  At the open drive in theatre, Dally flirts with Cherry and Marcie.  While Ponyboy, Two Bit, and Johnny walked two social girls home from the movies, the Social’s boyfriends, Bob and Randy see.  Naturally they wanted to rumble.  Because Darry was infuriated with Ponyboy, he slapped him.  Rather than fight back, Ponyboy runs off to the park with Johnny to cool down.  When the Socials tried to drown Ponyboy in a fountain, Johnny kills Bob with a knife.  Johnny and Ponyboy asked Dally for help.  He gives them a loaded gun, money, and directions to an old abandoned church in Windrixville, where they were to hide.  Ponyboy and Johnny then hopped on a freight train and went to the old abandoned church in Jay Mountain.  Ponyboy and Johnny ran into a burning church and saved a small child’s life.  Ponyboy and Johnny ran back into the burning church to rescue missing children.  A beam breaks and the boys are rushed to the hospital.

  Ponyboy has a concussion. Johnny has a broken back and is not expected to live.  A rumble occurs between the socs and greasers.  The greasers win.  Dally grabs Ponyboy and goes back to the hospital to see Johnny.  Unfortunately, Johnny dies.  Soon after, Dally robs a store with an empty gun; however, police shoot and kill Dally.  Too much to take in, Ponyboy becomes very sick, losing consciousness.  Soon after, Ponyboy goes back to school but is still very affected by the chain of events.  Quite frankly, he loses focus; however, Ponyboy is told he must write a paper or he will fail school.  Ponyboy then begins writing the first words of the novel.

More later--------------------------

Book Talk

Author:  Richard Peck
Realist Fiction
Brittney Wells
11-27-2010



Richard Peck: A Great American Novelist of timeless piecesof art!



About the Author:

"I want to write novels that ask honest questions about serious issues.

A novel is never an answer; it's always a question." "I believe I have

one theme in all of my books and I want to get it across to all my

readers every time and that is this: You will never begin to grow up until

                                                                                               you declare your independence from your peers." "What me on a career as a writer? A mother who read to me before

 I could read, and teachers who never put a grade on a rough draft."  It is utterly impossible to settle on one quote and stop listening to Peck’s wisdom.  Peck is a Newberry award winning American novelist.  Moreover,Peck has won a multitude of  awards for his works.  His target audience is young adult and the genre includes:  horror, caper, mystery, occult, social commentary, comedy, realism and historical fiction.  Before writing, Peck taught school (English), and one might conclude he gives his former students credit for his success as a writer.  "Ironically, it was my students who taught me to be a writer, though I was hired to teach them.”   I find it hard to believe, however, Peck failed to teach.  He is constantly teaching even though he officially left the classroom to live by his hand.    Don't Look and It Won't Hurt was Pecks first work of art.  Peck graduated from high school in Decatur, IL, earned a bachelor's degree in English in 1956 at DePauw University, and then a master's degree at Southern Illinois University. 

Opinion of Book:                  

“Delightful!  - a true page turner-an all time favorite-A TIMELESS CLASSIC”

                                                                                               --------------------Brittney Wells

Character Synopsis/summary:

It is with humor and verve that Richard Peck, in his book, The Teacher’s Funeral, crafts the story of a young boy’s coming of age meshed with the coming of the new technological age of the early 1900’s (setting).  The town the novel took place in was Hominy Ridge. 

“If your teacher has to die, August isn’t a bad time for it,  ”says Russell Culver, the protagonist, who tells the story from a first person point of view.  Indeed, from the perspective of Russell; his younger brother, Lloyd; and his best friend, Charlie Pharr, the demise of their despised teacher, Miss Myrt Arbuckle could not have come at a better time.  They have high hopes that the Hominy Ridge School Board will not be able to secure a new teacher in time for the 1904-1905 school year.  However, much to their chagrin, the boy’s older sister, Tansy is hired as their new teacher.

It is no secret that Russell and Charlie see no point in furthering their education, as the two have plans to take off for the Dakotas to work on the new fangled, steel threshing machines on the vast farm lands prevalent in that area.  Russell’s dad is patient and wise when dealing with his son’s longings.  Aunt Maud, Russell’s deceased mother’s sister, serves as a surrogate mother and plays an essential role as a teacher in the novel; however, her importance is not evident until the end of the novel and is shocking to the reader. 

On the way home from Miss Myrt’s funeral, enter one Eugene Hammond whose Bullet race car almost mows down the Culver’s horse-drawn buckboard.  Here again, Peck meshes tradition with the coming of a new age.  Eugene is one of Tansy’s suitors, but in the end, he does not suit her.

As school takes up, we meet Glenn Tarbox (the only member of his family, as Peck would put it, to darken the door of the school) as well as the other students of the one room school house).  In addition to Russell, Lloyd, Charlie, and Glenn, the class includes Flopears, Pearl, Lester, and the youngest and most delightful Little Britches.

The last character of note is Aunt Fanny Hamline, who, at first glance, seems like nothing more than a nosey old biddy who is intent on bringing Tansy down.  Little do the readers know that she will become a teacher herself when she opens her heart and home to Glenn.  Even more, for Tansy’s formal observation, Aunt Fanny helps Tansy create a presentable classroom, one of which to be proud, when she donates a prized possession, her husband’s flag.

Throughout the school year, there are moments that will have the reader rolling, especially during times as entertaining as when Little Britches recites a slightly off-color rhyming verse.  Against Miss Tansy’s demands of reporting to class with the first dong of the tower bell, Russell and Lloyd (with their father’s “approval”) wind sheets tightly around the bell so it can not call them to class.  The boys are quite surprised when they hear the clear peel of a bell on the first morning (which is also known by Tansy’s father).  Again we see Mr. Culver’s quiet, gentle way of teaching his children and attending to their needs.  Furthermore, on the first day of school, smoke is smelled, alerting everyone to the fact that the privy is on fire (a direct result of Charlie and Russell’s early morning smoking of Buggy Whip). 

Tansy repays them by keeping them plenty busy at school.  When one of the Farboxes plants a little surprise in Tansy’s desk, causing quite a commotion, Tansy skillfully turns the disruption into a teachable moment.  Glenn and Russell almost blow up the school on the morning of Tansy’s all-important observation by the superintendant of schools, who is coming to determine her “fitness” as a teacher.  Tansy swears they intentionally tried to ruin her chances of approval and is “deaf to reason”.  Then there is the priceless moment when Little Britches proves she can put letters together to make words, and she writes, “See the fat man.” However, she also exhibits an extraordinary ability with numbers as she displays her multiplication skills.  That, along with Glenn’s impromptu science lesson and Tansy’s display of knowledge, leads the superintendent to pronounce Tansy qualified to teach.

Peck brings these characters and events to life with a hefty peppering of figurative language, personification (“The lamp in her hand hissed and spat.”  p 91), idioms (“It’s still summer said Lloyd, who never knew when to button his lip.”  p 60), similes (“as warm as July, too warm to be bound up like a mummy under my shirt.  p 68”), metaphors (the mush war ashes in my mouth p 61), alliterations (Sweet Singer of Sycamore Township), hyperboles (“Then farmers drove the dogs through the nettle hedge so they were scalded and scraped all at once and ready to be gutted and carved into cutlets and tongues.”), and sensory imagery (“As warm as July, too warm to be bound up like a mummy under my shirt.  The hedges burgeoned, and the fields were heavy with bounty.  It was an evening to inspire songs in praise of Indiana, of moonlight fair along the Wabash and the breath of new-mown hay from the fields and candlelight gleaming through sycamores.”  P 68)

And in the final chapter, Peck understands that he must give his readers a glimpse into the futures of the characters his readers have come to know and love.  Is everyone successful, as we would hope, or is there a failure in the group?  Read this captivating novel to find out!

Highlight:

            “When Miss Tansy’s students come to a crossroads, which path do they take?  What are the influences of their decision? ”   Who said it takes a whole village to raise a village?

Hook, Line, and sinker:   

And in the final chapter, Peck understands that he must give his readers a glimpse into the futures of the characters his readers have come to know and love.  Is everyone successful, as we would hope, or is there a failure in the group?  Read this captivating novel to find out!

More later-------------------------

Book Review

 

Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi:

A Math Adventure

Author:  Cindy Neuschwander

Fantasy

Brittney Wells

11/11/2010

About the Author:  Cindy Neuschwander

“I was teaching second grade in an international school in Germany and a colleague shared an idea for teaching math to young children.   She suggested that stories with mathematical themes or content would teach mathematical ideas more powerfully.  I tried using a book to do this and found she was right.  When I went home to the United State that summer, I found there were very few books in this area so I decided to try to write one myself.  Although the ideas in my first book were mathematically clever, I knew my writing was not very sharp.  I took a writing class at a nearby university and learned how to better communicate my ideas.  In this way, my book writing career was born.”  Moreover, Germany is not the only abroad location in which she has resided. 

  Today she is settled and teaches third grade in Dublin, CA as a Mathematics education specialist, but has also taught at the high school level.  She continues to write,  where she focuses on incorporating geometric concepts.  

  

In fact, Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi, written in 1999, is a part of a series which includes:  Sir Cumference and the Round Table:  A Math Adventure, which covers a multitude of disciplines.  These books as well as her others help incorporate literacy across the curriculum.  Not only are her books enlightening, but they are quite humorous.  For example, the diameter multiplied by pi is the mathematical formula for circumference, which may be difficult to remember.  Half of the diameter is the radius, which happens to be the name of Sir Cumference’s son.  This is an entertaining play on words, considering Radius, is half his father and half his mother.  Was his name a coincidence?  I think not. 

Conerning her personal life, she is married to a physician and has a son, who attends college.        

Opinion of Book:        

                “I chose Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi:  A Math Adventure because it was well written, humorous thereby holding my students attention, and it correlated with geometric math frameworks .  More Specifically, the point of the story related directly to G.8.7.5:  Model and develop the concept pi (π) is the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of any circle.” Since we just started the geometry section,  I felt it was the perfect opportunity to integrate literacy into math.  Integrating reading a book to the class I believe helped comprehension of the concept by holding their attention, as well as help commit the concept to long term memory.  The students thoroughly enjoyed the lesson, especially since it was an alternative approach to learning, which was further enhanced.  Sometimes you need a change, and a good one is always beneficial and fulfilling.  I know the students thoroughly enjoyed the way this concept was taught, possibly because it was a different  entertaining approach regarding a difficult concept to grasp. 

                Furthermore, it proved how math and literacy go hand in hand from every aspect.  For problem solving to take place, math, a different language, must be interpreted by reading.  Throughout life, just as Radius had to utilize problem solving to save his father, we will encounter problems we must overcome and solve. 

                Formulas needed are often quite hard to remember, especially over time.  ("when you don't use it, you lose it!") This book I strongly believe will enable students to remember the formula for future reference.  An example would be standardized tests.

Summary:    

                Sir Cumference and his son, Radius were having a peaceful lunch one day until Sir Cumference got indigestion, which was described in the book as “fire”.  Doubled Over, the father ordered Radius to run and find a cure quickly.  Radius runs to the castle and gets a potion that is labeled “Fire Belly”.  Believing this to be the medicine his father needs, Radius rushes back and Sir Cumference consumes immediately. 

                The medicine was however not the correct medicine.  Moreover, the medicine he consumed turned him immediately into a fire breathing dragon.  Radius runs back for help.  Other Knights see fire, unaware of the situation,  and want to vanquish the dragon. 

                Radius discusses the matter with his mother, who claims a potion to change him back to his normal self must be found.  Furthermore, she warned Radius he only had until early morning to accomplish this intense task or his father would be on the constant run in another form or be slain by the other Knights of the Kingdom. 

  Not losing momentum, Radius then tore the Doctor’s office apart until he found a “curious looking container with a set of spoons and a poem”.  

The poem or riddle was written as follows: 

                                           “Measure the middle and circle around,

                                            Divide so a number can be found,

                                             every circle great and small ,        

                                              the number is the same for all. 

                                             It’s also the dose, so be clever,

                                             Or a dragon he will stay …….

                                                                                             forever”. 

                He researched the topic by consulting, observing, and assisting the two carpentars and his cousin, Lady Fingers, who was making wheels with spokes and pies with strips of dough, respectively.  This information drove him back to the poem located on the potion bottle. 

  He knew what medicinal potion to administer to his father, yet the dose was questionable, and he was under a great deal of pressure, especially since time was of the essence.  Saving his father required a higher order of thinking or problem solving.

Highlight:

                The setting is during Medieval times involving the castle and surrounding territory.  The plot of Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi:  A Math Adventure involves Radius, the protagonist and also Sir Cumference’s son, searching for a curing dose; however, he was doomed for conflict.  Moreover, many antagonizing elements in the story played a large role.    

  Sir Cumference depends on Radius, who must basically perform a scavenger hunt and then think abstractly to calculate the answer.  Therefore, the second conflict involves the mental pressures Radius must endure, all the while not helped by the  time crunch.   The last conflict consists of Radius trying to save his father from death by the Knights of the kingdom, who saw the fire breathing dragon as a threat.

Hook: 

·         Does Radius determine the correct dose of medicinal potion to save his father.

·         Does Radius find the correct dose in time?

·         Does Sir Cumference remain a fire breathing dragon or get slain by the dragons?

                              Read this book to see if Radius saves his father,

                              Sir Cumference, and also to learn an important

                              concept regarding pi.  There is even a humorous

                               tidbit of how π, pi received its name.

              

More Later.....