Walk a Mile in Dai Sijie's Shoes

In English II, we are now two-thirds of the way through Dai Sijie's novel, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. In many ways, this novel could be considered a work of historical fiction in that while the story may be fiction, it is certainly based off of historical events that our author most certainly encountered.

For this week's blog entry, I want you share how this novel has increased your understanding of what it was like to grow up during the time of Mao's Cultural Revolution. In what ways has Sijie given you a more vivid understanding of re-education? How is learning about a time in history sometimes more intimate when it comes from historical fiction rather than from reading a true historical account?

The Privilege of Reading

Last week in English II we began a new novel, Dai Sijie’s Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress”. Set in Communist China in the early 1970’s, the novel centers around two teenage boys sent to be “re-educated” in a rural Sichuan village. While there they attempt to navigate their new surroundings while still holding onto the values instilled in them by their parents as part of China’s “intelligentsia”.

One of the central themes of the novel is the danger of knowledge, particularly in a society that finds freedom of thought and expression to be an insidious threat to the state. In Communist China, nearly everything “western” is considered subversive and, as such, all forms of western art are banned. Soon the boys surreptitiously gain access to western literature by the likes of Balzac and Voltaire and, while this opens up a whole new world for them, it also puts them in tremendous peril.

Serendipitously, we are starting this novel just a few weeks after National Banned Book Week. This is a week dedicated to celebrating the freedom to read and those behind National Banned Book Week seek to highlight those books most frequently challenged, empowering educators who see the benefit these books could bring to a classroom discussion. It might surprise my students to know that the most recent list of the top 10 most challenged “young adult” books includes I Am Jazz, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Hate U Give, and 13 Reasons Why. Other well-known works that continually are challenged include The House on Mango Street, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and The Giver.

For this week’s blog entry, I want students to familiarize themselves with the list of most banned books. Have you read any of these books? Why do you think they might be challenged? Is there merit to those who say that these books are dangerous? How far would you be willing to go to read something that had been deemed “illegal” by your community?

Grading Yourself

This Friday signifies the end of the first quarter of the year. Since we've reached the halfway point of semester, I thought a little English teacher humor would be appropriate here. This comic appeared in "Pearls Before Swine" a couple of years ago and I figure some of my students might agree with Rat, having spent a couple of months with me already.

Part of the grading process at Sage Hill School includes quarterly comments. In addition to giving students a progress report of their grade in my class up to this point, I'm also asked to write a short comment in which I give them some constructive feedback regarding my experience teaching them so far. While hearing feedback from me is important, I also think this is a great time to do some self-reflection too.

For this week's blog post, I actually want students to reflect on their work in English II so far this year. Write a comment to yourself, critiquing your work so far this year in English II. Where are you succeeding? Where can you stand to improve? Set one or two goals for yourself in second quarter. Be kind but constructive.

Serving to Learn, Learning to Serve

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." ~ Margaret Mead

This week we kick off Tenth Grade Service Learning! Today we had an orientation on Sage Hill's campus, and next week we will welcome 4th grade students from Scholarship Prep, a nearby charter elementary school, where our students will spend the year working with fourth grade partners on writing and literacy. This is a great opportunity for the Sage Hill students to really own their service learning experience as they develop and then execute their own lesson plans for each visit.

During the orientation, we briefly discussed why we call our service component "Service Learning" rather than simply "Community Service". For this week's blog post, I want students to expand on this conversation a bit more by reflecting on what they hope to gain from this year's Service Learning experience. Tell your readers why you think we spend so much time and energy on Service Learning at Sage Hill School. Identify two to three goals you have for this year in relation to service learning and what you hope to improve on from last year.

Worth a Second (or Third, Fourth, Fifth) Look...

Writing is hard. Actually, I take that back. The actual act of writing is not all that hard. Now writing something that you feel accurately demonstrates your abilities and effort, that can be hard. But it can also be extremely rewarding.

Two weeks ago, English II students wrote their first in-class essay. We then spent a day talking about what makes a good thesis statement. Last week, students got the opportunity to revise their original in-class essays or write brand new ones based on what they've learned so far regarding my expectations when it comes to thesis statements and analytical essays.

For this week's blog, I want you to reflect on how this process went from beginning to end. Did you go into the in-class essay confident? How did you feel at the end of the timed essay? Did the thesis statement workshop clarify your understanding of why a solid and specific thesis statement can make or break an essay? How was the revision process? When you re-read your original in-class essay did it live up to what you remembered of it?

Like anything, the best way to get better at writing is to keep doing it. Writing drafts and revising your work can also be a huge asset when it comes to making sure you are clearly executing an argument you are proud of and ready to submit. Let you readers know what you've learned as a writer so far this year!

The Power of Storytelling

This summer, English II students at Sage Hill School read a selection of short stories from Chimamanda Adichie's collection The Thing Around Your Neck. The first story we read was called "The Headstrong Historian" and is set in the late 19th century during Nigeria's colonization by the Europeans. As a descendant of colonized people, Adichie is inherently interested in ideas related to knowledge, power and subjugation. We see this when, in "The Headstrong Historian", Ayaju, a woman of slave descent, states that she wants her son to "learn the ways of these foreigners, since people ruled over others not because they were better people but because they had better guns...." In today's class we also discussed three other Adichie stories, "A Private Experience", "The Thing Around Your Neck", and "American Embassy". In all of these stories, as well, characters grapple with how outsiders (the media, politicians and governments, etc.) can try and manipulate real events that happen to real people for their own profit or gain. From these stories and, as shown in the quote above, Adichie is incredibly interested in storytelling and who gets to tell those stories.

For this week's blog post, I want you to reflect on Adichie's quote above as well as our discussion of the three short stories mentioned previously. How has your experiences in the short time we've been in this class already begun to change and shape your understanding of power, privilege and who gets to tell the stories?

Kicking Off A New School Year!

It is hard to believe, but we are starting another school year this week at Sage Hill School and I am excited to be teaching another stellar group of English II students. This week, they will be creating their own blogs and writing their first post. For this introduction to their reader, I have asked them to create two word clouds: one that is a representation of who they are and what is important to them and another about what values matter to them most. I cannot wait to see what they come up with! In the meantime, you can take a look at my own word clouds below:

For my "Who Am I?" word cloud, the biggest words besides my name are "Danny" and "Emily", for my husband and my daughter as they are the most important things in my life. Other words of significance include "Ruby", who is my dog, "teaching" which is my profession and my passion, and "running" which I love to do and which I consider my daily therapy. "Podcasts" shows up because I have a fairly long commute and am obsessed with multiple podcasts including "Criminal" and "Death, Sex and Money".

The biggest words in my "What Do I Value" word cloud are "integrity" and "humor". Integrity matters to me because I truly believe you are only as good as your word. The moment you compromise your integrity you really have nothing left to stand on. I also greatly value my own sense of humor (it is the way I connect most with people) and well as humor in other people. If you can make me laugh (and laugh at yourself) then we are going to get along just fine. I also believe in inclusivity and kindness as we all have to inhabit this earth together and the more we can learn from each other through respect and understanding, the better we will all be. So that's a little about me. I can't wait to learn about you!