My Hero

There are a small handful of living people I would like to meet: Alice Walker, Arundhati Roy, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Timothy O'Brien. Friday night I had the amazing opportunity to meet Timothy O'Brien, author of one of my favorite books of all time: The Things They Carried, a book about the Vietnam War that I blogged about here. Incline Village read this book for their community read and invited O'Brien to speak at Sierra Nevada College for an evening.

Jason and I, giddy with excitement, arrived hours early. As soon as we arrived, we saw O'Brien from a distance in his trademark outfit of jeans, blazer and baseball cap. We were lucky enough to have him sign a copy of Going After Cacciato before the talk, which meant we got to have a short conversation with him about teaching his books.

The best part of the evening, however, was listening to O'Brien talk about his experiences. As I sit here and type this, I struggle because what I really want is to transport everyone I know back to that evening to hear O'Brien speak. I have written countless paragraphs that I subsequently deleted because I am unable to capture the essence of that evening.

So instead of trying, I will leave you with a quote that has echoed through my weekend: "Bullets and bombs can kill enemies. Yes, that is true. But bullets and bombs can can also manufacture enemies."

Three Books and What I Am Reading

I was pondering literature lately, and I asked myself the question What are three books every American should read? Yes, I do occasionally interview myself, but rather than seeing it as weird, let's all just see it as part of the English teacher/blogger/scrapbooker that I am.

Maybe if I spent more time contemplating this subject, I would have a different list, but for now here are the three I chose:

1. Timothy O'Brien's The Things They Carried - Besides being a work of genius, this book contains themes that I think everyone ought to consider, namely that war must not be taken lightly. When we invaded Iraq, I wanted everyone to think about O'Brien's quote: ". . . [I]t seemed to me that when a nation goes to war it must have reasonable confidence in the justice and imperative of its cause. You can't fix your mistakes. Once people are dead, you can't make them undead." But many consider this novel as much about storytelling as about war. In fact, O'Brien himself has said that the theme of the novel is that stories can save our lives. Just remember that none of the stories are meant to be taken literally because, as the narrator explains, "A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth." Sometimes a fictional element is more truthful than a factual element.
2. Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible - Simply because Americans should know how much of mess our country sometimes makes of other countries' business and how missionary work abroad is often more grounded in arrogance than kindness.
3. Shakespeare's Hamlet - Who can't relate to unrequited love, fear, and step-parent issues? Plus, there is so much tragic beauty in the language.

I have too many books going right now. What I want is a good novel to sink my teeth into, but at the moment, I am reading some interesting and thought-provoking nonfiction books:

• Milton Chen's Education Nation - I love his idea that we could be a country that values education and learning so much so that education becomes the focal point of what we do in our communities - parents taking parenting classes, summer science projects, etc. Plus, I find nothing more exciting than reading about schools that are successfully innovating and reinventing education.
• Hayes Jacob's Active Literacy Across the Curriculum: Strategies for Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening - Definitely for educators, this book outlines ways schools can increase literacy. I wanted something with researched-based ideas on teaching grammar, which isn't what this book is, but it has given me some ideas nonetheless. I am reading this for an independent study curriculum development course I am taking, which means I have to consciously set time aside to read it or I never will.
• Sharon Salzberg's Loving-Kindness: the Revolutionary Art of Happiness - Even though this book just arrived in the mail yesterday, I am already two chapters deep. I love it. My friend and I are going to read it together. Geek that I am, I love books that have exercises in them, as does this one.

Happy reading!

A Few Deep Breaths

I read an email today from someone who had judged senior projects in which she lamented the quality of grammar in students' portfolios and asked if we are really graduating students who "who cannot reliably write grammatical sentences." 

Now, first of all, I feel compelled to say that I am open to hearing what people have to say about what they see in our seniors' work, and at that same time, I expect that it be balanced and not solely criticism. We know we have areas to work on; we also know there are a lot of strengths to what our students produce. I say that because I don't want people to feel they can't dialogue openly with me.

But with that having been said, I am going to drop her comment, even though I have a lot I could say. But as my day is winding down, I am not pleased the I am focusing my energies on such a short - albeit negative - moment of an otherwise wonderful day. So for that reason, I am going to end my day with a list of ten things that made me happy today:

1. I was able to give blood today. This made me happy because my iron is often one silly little point below the cutoff. It also made me happy because, as a baby blood donor, I get treated like a very special person when I walk through the doors of United Blood Services. Case in point: today I was told today I was "a very special person." Who wouldn't love that?
2. While donating blood, I had fifteen lovely minutes of quiet time to myself.
3. At The Salvation Army store, I found three - count them THREE, pair of pants for my son. As a boy who loves to play with trains, he wears out the knees of all his pants, so much so that patching doesn't do any good. So I am always looking for pants that will fit him for a reasonable price.
4. My students made me laugh today - a lot.
5. My students wrote very sweet things in their letters to next year's seniors.
6. After they took a shower, I got to sit with my kids for over a half an hour reading an Ivy and Bean book. This especially pleased me because Ivy and Bean are chapter books for girls, but my son was still happy to sit quietly in my lap and listen to the story about two girls getting themselves trapped in a crawl space.
7. The Senior Project Committee chose the recipients of our senior project awards. Some very deserving -- and probably unsuspecting students -- will be receiving these awards next week.
8. We had a nice family dinner tonight. It's simple. We do it every night with a few exceptions, but I feel lucky to have my two kids and my husband at my dinner table with me every night.
9. My kids cleared the table, took out the recycling, and cleaned up the living room. 'Nuff said.
10. In a few moments, I will be reading another chapter from Tina Fey's book Bossypants. This book isn't for everyone. You have to like her sense of humor. If you do, this book will make you laugh out loud - literally.

So, yeah. I guess I have become a little bit of a Pollyanna lately, as someone mentioned the other day. But as I am learning to let things go, I am increasing my capacity for happiness and making life better for those around me.

Cheers to the little things like a blood donation appointment and a chapter book!

A few more prompts

Next prompt:  Try. What do you want to try next year? Is there something you wanted to try in 2010? What happened when you did / didn’t go for it? (Author: Kaileen Elise)


For 2010 I wanted to try a picture a day for a year. I made it all the way through August, but then I could not stomach the idea of sitting in front of a computer and editing and uploading pictures. With an online master's, your participation and even your textbook reading all take place online. I got really sick of the computer. But I do not regret my decision to stop the project. There will be other opportunities.

For 2011, I want to try to simplify my life. That's why I put the photo of the stop sign up: I want to remember to STOP and think before I act, to stop buying and to stop taking on extra responsibilities.


I am ready for this - I spent the last month not shopping at all, and I have truly enjoyed it. I can honestly say that this time around, I did not feel the urge to buy anything. In the past, I limited my purpose to environmental issues mostly, so I could buy digital items and services. This time, I looked at environmental issues, financial benefits, and attachement issues. I found it refreshing to not buy anything but groceries. I didn't even miss the almost daily latte and have instead learned to appreciate a good cup of loose leaf tea. And I appreciated more of my attentions being diverted from things to activities and people.

Partly what helped make this easy for me is that my husband decided to join me this time around. Having the most important people in your life onboard with these kinds of decisions is so incredibly helpful.

Another thing I want to try in 2011 is a residential retreat. I am not sure I will be able to fit it in with all the other traveling I have scheduled, but I am certainly going to look into it.

Healing. What healed you this year? Was it sudden, or a drip-by-drip evolution? How would you like to be healed in 2011? (Author: Leonie Allan)


I had some great down time this summer. Reading especially helped heal me. Because I read so much for work, it was especially nice to revisit the concept of pleasure reading. I read Shantaram, which I loved, as well as some cheesy mysteries. For my trip to Dallas, I am taking The Book Thief. I am terrified of flying, which is always allayed by a good, gripping read.

This "healing" was a slow process, but as the summer unfolded, I become more enthusiastic about everything.

For 2011, I would like to be energized by my travels and by having some free time. As I mentioned before, I am putting my master's on hold starting in a few weeks, and because I am no longer department chair, I have less work to carry home at night. Consequently, I hope to have some more time to play - to hang out with my kids, to cook, to read, to craft, and to meditate.

More 2010 Review

For the blog review of 2010, Gwen Bell asks, "Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it? (Author: Gretchen Rubin)."

The last thing of 2010 that I made was definitely a scrapbook page. During the Christmas break, I spent a lot of time in my crafting area making cards and pages. I loved it and found it completely reeneergizing. While working on my master's, I have very little time for play, so the break from both work and school was much needed. I have six more weeks of this program before I take an extended break so that I can focus on my Teacher of the Year resonsibilities.

Let Go. What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why? (Author: Alice Bradley)


This question gives me stomach knots. I haven't completed the letting go, but I decided in December to change dentists. This upsets me. I kind of bonded with him over this last year. I like him and have finally started getting the work I needed because he helped me work through some of that. But then I discovered that he is on his third round of probation with the state examination board. Time to move on, unfortunately. The problem is that I have serious loyalty issues and feel that moving on is disloyal even if I think it is better for my pocket book and my health. I have struggled with coming to terms with this.

Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011? (Author: Cali Harris)

I discovered the 365 picture-a-day community, and even though I didn't finish the project, I did enjoy chatting up fellow 365ers and getting and giving feedback.

What I'm Reading

I think that the sun is finally beginning to shine in more ways than one. It's hard for me to post when I am so exhausted; however, I think I'm creeping out from hybernation right now and thought I'd take advantage of my energy level and post here.

I have been reading a lot these days. I have two books for work - The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien and Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. How lucky am I to read two of my three favorite books for work. It doesn't get much better than that, I tell you. The students seem to be liking both books. Well, I should say my juniors seem to be appreciating Invisible Man. It's not exactly a joy read for them, though they can appreciate its artistic value.

I am also reading The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee on my Kindle. It dragged at first. I felt it was just another Great Gatsby set in Hong Kong during WWII, but then the Japanese invasion hit, at which point the story got a lot more interesting. It is weird that there are two plot lines going, one in the 1940s and the other in the 1950s. The title character is from the 1950s plot thread, but I'm almost half way through the book, and that thread has barely been touched upon, resulting in what I feel is a somewhat disconnected narrative overall. I also had trouble keeping track of all the characters, but as it turns out, I didn't need to. In the beginning, it's hard to shake out who are the important players. Still, it's an interesting read. At this point, I would recommend it.

Smile!

This last week has been rough, so I've been avoiding blogging at the risk of sounding whiney. I am still reading and thoroughly enjoying The Happiness Project. Gretchen Rubin is inspiring in her self-reflection and her structured method to acheiving happiness. I respond to that kind of thing. I do wonder how she can sometimes state facts and studies without actually citing them, but there must be something I am missing. Oh, and if you're looking for a good gym-read, this is it. It's engaging while also being a very light and easy read.

Meanwhile, I am still not shopping, still turning off lights, still encouraging my daughter and my students to recycle and whatnot. I am surprised at how easy this month has progressed in terms of me not shopping. I am liking the quieter weekends sans Old Navy, Target, and Famous Footwear. Things seem slower around here when we're not spending three hours of a perfectly good weekend day shopping for socks for one kid, a sweater for the other, nylons for me, and . . . well, we don't spend a lot of time shopping for Jason. He doesn't want much, and when he does want something, it's usually fast because he runs into Best Buy knowing exactly what game or headphone set he wants.

I am excited that I have a plan for the first charity project of the year for DD and me. We are going to work at The Educator's Closet hanging and organizing clothes. The Educator's Closet serves two functions: They take old office supplies and house them for educators to use, and they also organize clothing drives, coat drives, etc. for local families in need. I think this is a great starting project for the two of us. We'll be doing one a month for 2010.

And for my enviro sharing for the day: Did you know that "[r]ecycling 1 ton of plastic saves 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space?" 'Tis true, according to Earth 911.

***

I have a lot to smile about - kisses from my kids, the smell of herbs on my hands, and the approaching three-day weekend. What's making you smile these days?

Best of: Recap and Project

I have been following Gwen Bell's Best of 2009 blog challenge for December. I have covered quite a bit. Before I move on to today's blog, I want to clarify something. The blog on Focused and Fearless basically counts for best book, while its author counts as best new person, and the associated retreat counts as best workshop. For a book I wasn't that thrilled about reading, it made a huge impact on me and my practice.

Today's topic is "project." What did you start this year that you're proud of.
It took some time to ponder this one. For quite some time, I could think of nothing. My projects aren't huge; they are, nevertheless, projects about which I feel some pride. The first is the organization of my crafting space, which I blogged about this summer on my other blog. It's so much easier to work in that environment now, and the space invites creative play.

I did start organizing my files and desk area, but that -- sadly -- never really materialized past the purchased labeler and some nicely labeled files. I need more follow-through there.

The other project that I am feeling pretty good about has to do with the senior project. I am working toward making the project more technologically friendly. The senior project is, after all, supposed to prepare students for the "real world," and truthfully what could better prepare them for this current world than technology? So I took all our forms and made them Adobe forms.

However, the one project I am most anticipating is the new digitial portfolio we're going to be piloting. To prevent as many glitches as possible, I made a template that students will be able to work out of. It's in Word, but you then publish it as a web page so that the links work fluidly. Someone can scroll down, page by page, or click on links from the table of contents and then back again. I'm crossing my fingers that it plays out well and that we don't have tons of judges without portfolios to view for whatever reason. But I think it's worth the effort and time it has taken me.

Best of 2009: New Person and Best Book

This one is a hard one for me. I've met a lot of new people - I do every year as a teacher. I like a lot of them; in fact, I like a lot of them a lot. Lots of people from Dharma Zephyr have made an impact on me, but none of them are new. I've also gotten to know some people better who then kind of became new people to me because of the new impressions they made on me:

• Ben, a special ed teacher, and his wife. They're both incredibly dedicated to their professions, their politics, and their son.
• Corina, the person who will be our new SP Coordinator. She's uber organized and professional.
• Our superintendent. Underneath that stoic persona is a man who cares a lot.
• Kenley, the daughter of a couple friends of mine. She was born early in 2009. She's so adorable, unique, and cute that you can't help but adore her. She's a special needs baby who is the happiest baby I have EVER met.
• Jenny, Kenley's mom. I always saw her as a super business woman. After Kenley's birth, a new Jenny was revealed to me, one who is loving and adoring and yet a fierce advocate for her daughter. She has inspired me.

All of these people and more have made an impression on me, but I think the one person who most impacted me is someone I never got to really know personally: Shaila Chatherine, who wrote the book Focused and Fearless (the book that I have chosen as best book of 2009) and who taught one of the day-long retreats I attended.

I went into this book dragging my feet. I knew it was about the jhanas (euphoric states that arise from deep concentration), and so I expected that I would get little out of it. I may never in my life time reach a jhanic state and will certainly not do so any time in the near future. So when the sangha chose this book to read together, I thought it would likely not mean much to me.

But I was wrong. First of all, much of the book deals with elements that apply to all Buddhists and that must be well-developed in order to begin jhanic practice. Things like equanimity and concentration. In fact, Catherine's chapter on equanimity is the best I have ever read on the subject. I must have read it three times. So as it turns out, the book had quite a bit of application for me.

Plus, a new focus of meditation was opened to me. Before I had just tried to quiet my mind or I would sometimes do metta (loving kindness meditation). But after doing concentration practice, I learned how powerful concentration practice can be. With concentration comes quiet; with quiet comes peace; with peace comes happiness. I grew a lot in my practice as a result of Shaila Catherine's book and retreat.

So thank you to DZIMC for choosing this book and introducing me to this amazing person and thank you to Shaila Catherine for being such a knowledgeable person and for sharing that knowledge with us.

Achebe Vs. Conrad (or Achebe Vs. Me) Part II

I have been thinking about the topic of my last posting quite a bit since I last posted. Tonight, I sat down and in Yahoo typed Achebe and . . . . Before I could type Conrad, Yahoo filled it in with "Conrad." It seems I'm not the only one concerned with this topic and not the only one to defend Conrad and still admire Achebe.

Caryl Phillips writes for The Guardian, "The lecture has since come to be recognised as one of the most important and influential treatises in post-colonial literary discourse. However, the problem is I disagree with Achebe's response to the novel, and have never viewed Conrad - as Achebe states in his lecture - as simply 'a thoroughgoing racist'. Yet, at the same time, I hold Achebe in the highest possible esteem, and therefore, a two-hour drive up the Hudson River Valley into deepest upstate New York would seem a small price to pay to resolve this conundrum."

Phillips writes about his discussion with Achebe, and I must say that some of what Achebe says is convincing:

"...If Conrad's intention is to draw a cordon sanitaire between himself and the moral and psychological malaise of his narrator, his care seems to me to be totally wasted because he neglects to hint, clearly and adequately, at an alternative frame of reference by which we may judge the actions and opinions of his characters. It would not have been beyond Conrad's power to make that provision if he had thought it necessary. Conrad seems to me to approve of Marlow..."

Okay, I see his point. It's kind of what I thought about the narrator of Things Fall Apart.

Achebe goes on to say, "Africa as setting and backdrop, which eliminates the African as human factor. Africa as a metaphysical battlefield devoid of all recognisable humanity, into which the wandering European enters at his peril. Can nobody see the preposterous and perverse arrogance in thus reducing Africa to the role of props for the break-up of one petty European mind?"

I'm tired and have thoughts that are not making their way into the world of words, so I'm going to just say, "Okay, Achebe. I hear ya'."

Achebe Vs. Conrad (or Achebe Vs. Me)

Warning: This is a very English-teachery kind of post, so for those of you who thought talking about literature in school was akin to torture, move on, my friends, move on.

I am reading Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. I really like the story and the cadence of the language. The metaphorical, almost lyrical, story telling is enchanting.

But I should tell you that I procrastinated reading this book for a very long time because Achebe once gave a very famous speech in which he called Joseph Conrad a racist because of what he wrote in Heart of Darkness.

Now, I am not the biggest fan of Heart of Darkness (although I celebrate its literary value), but I have to say that anyone who calls Conrad a racist is completely missing the point of Conrad's book.

Back up: Why does Achebe call Conrad racist? I can see why, I guess. The story is about a man who travels into the heart of Africa via the Congo to retrieve a man lost to civilization. I can see why superficially someone might know the plot and think, "Conrad likens Africa to man's heart of darkness. He is calling the Africans evil; therefore, Conrad equals racist."

The fallacy in this syllogism is that Conrad isn't calling Africans evil. What he is really saying is that all men (humans) have within them the ability to act in evil ways. But at an even closer reading, we see that the story's theme rests here: the true barbarians are not the natives whom we call "barbarians," but rather the white European colonialists who conquer, rape, murder, enslave and mutilate other human beings all for greed. "The horror! The horror!" that Kurtz malents is not the horrors of the Africans, but the horrors of the white settlers.

I feel oddly defensive of Conrad and his story.

And my defensiveness of Conrad kept me from reading Achebe's book for a long time (seven years to be exact). As I expected, however, I am enjoying the book except that if Achebe can call Conrad a racist, then I can call Achebe a sexist. The narrator speaks about how the main character deserved to be able to beat his wife because, after all, she wasn't home in time to make dinner, but it was the Week of Peace, so he had to be punished. Later, we learn that the main character is proud because he can see that his son will be able to control his wives. There are a few other tidbits here and there.

I would never call Conrad a racist, and I am aware that Achebe isn't the speaker here, but rather the narrator. But if he can read so superficially, a part of me wants to do the same to him.

But I won't. Well, I guess I just did. But I will enjoy the last few pages of his book that I haven't been able to put down.

The Engaged Spiritual Life

I've finished Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriquez, which I enjoyed, and am now reading Donald Rothberg's book The Engaged Spiritual Life: A Buddhist Approach to Transforming Ourselves and the World. I'm not very far along, but am loving it. I only wish I had someone to read it with, as Rothberg gives exercises that he suggests you do with another person or a group.

He explains that this book is about "both inner and outer transformation." He explains that "our real work is the same whether we attend to ourselves, to our families, to our communities, or to a larger society and ecosystems."

Right now I'm reading the section on the Five Precepts. He focuses first on three of the precepts: the first (non-harming), the second (not taking what is not given), and the fourth (wise speech). Then he groups together the third (not abusing sexuality) and the fifth (not abusing substances).

His approach is systematic in that he takes the precepts and looks at them in three different domains: the personal, the relational, and the collective domains. So for the first precept, he asks us to take three steps that are taking inventory of our patterns, paying attention to these patterns, and then making changes to these patterns in how we live our lives.

Although I'm reading on, I am going to take the exercises one week at a time, which means that this week I will focus on the first precept of nonharming. The actual precept is avoiding killing, but as Rothberg suggests, all the precepts have an implied positive action, not just a negative pattern to avoid. This means that the first precept is about not only not killing and not harming, but also working to assure others are not harmed, in short, taking action to prevent others from harming others.

So I'm off to take inventory.

Metta.

Writing in Books

So one day not long ago, one of my friends picked up one of my books and gasped in shock as she flipped through it. She had seen my writing this book. This started a discussion.

My friend is an amazing poet. She reads voraciously (as voraciously as a mother of two lil' ones can). Although she is now a computer teacher, she is also a certified English teacher. She loves books.

I don't really read voraciously, and I'm a horrible poet, but I do love books.

The interesting thing is that our perspectives on the issue of writing in books were polar opposite:

She, loving books, sees writing in books as destroying something valuable, not valuable in a monetary sense, but valuable in an this-is-important-to-my-life sense.

I, loving books, see writing in books as engaging in a conversation with the author. The amount of writing in a book can often indicate how engaged I was with its content.

For her, it's destruction. For me, it just enriches the experience.

What I'm Reading and Bilingual Education

I just picked up Richard Rodriguez's book Hunger of Memory. It's labeled as an autobiography, but it reads more like a collection of essays dealing with his transition as he learned to speak English. In fact, one of the chapters, "Aria," is often included in essay anthologies.

I am enjoying it in a way that only an English teacher can. Rodriquez has this command over language as an artistic tool that is rare. As I read this book, I sink into the language and get cozy with it. The story's there, but it slowly creeps its way out from under the eloquence of the storytelling. His focus is on the effect of what happened, not the happening, so there is a great deal of philosophizing and reflecting.

My one problem with it is that he weaves into the story his arguments for opposing bilingual education. The problem with it, as I read it now, is that his arguments are outdated. The book was first published in 1982, when the only argument for bilingual education was that it took the fear and alienation out of the education system for non-native English speakers. So Rodriquez tackles and counters that argument. Now the debate has changed, and research has been conducted that seems to validate the efficacy of bilingual education.

Let me qualify: Education research is a tricky subject. The education of a child involves so many factors that it is difficult for researchers to cull out the causes to a particular effect. Case in point: At the conference I was at this week, we discussed the Time magazine ranking of high schools. If you are unfamiliar, here's their criteria for ranking: the number of students enrolled in AP classes. That's it. Nothing else. Just that.

Most educators roll their eyes at this. What makes a school "good" is much more complex than the number of kids enrolled in AP courses. One person pointed out that there is a great deal of evidence that shows that this criteria actually does relate to the quality of the school. Schools with high AP enrollment fare better in almost every manner gauged. My argument is that much can be playing into this. Maybe the school is fed into by a community that values education. Maybe its feeding middle schools are phenomenal, and so the students are more capable of taking AP classes. In this instance, the students, not the school, make the school "good." Maybe the school is in the Midwest with a very small immigrant, and therefore ESL, population, making the comparison inequitable.

These schools may still be "good," but the Time's list of the top best school implies that it's something that comes from the educational system, not its student population, that make a school "good." Humans are complex animals, their brains being probably the most complex organ therein. So who's to say what's accountable for its development?

Research can also be misused. Another case in point: As a result of No Child Left Behind, districts have to bring in training that's research-based to help teachers improve in their teaching strategies. We brought in this company that does a T4S (Teach for Success) protocol where three people come into your classroom, observe and check off boxes. They're looking for whether or not you do things that have been proven to be effective, like make your objective clear to your students. (One problem with this system is that are countless ways to make your objective clear, but because they are observing a 15 minute window, they want you to write it on the board and say it at least one time during the 15 minute block. It becomes a little forced, and therefore not authentic, IMNSHO.)

One of their requirements is providing a "literacy-rich environment." According to the T4S protocol, I have to have posters for kids to read, post student written work, and face books out in the front of the room, like Border's does with the occasional book, making it more enticing.

Now I'm a very practical person. I don't like fluff, and I don't believe that kids really learn anything from a poster of a cat hanging from a tree with a cute, pithy statement underneath it. I believe that as a high school teacher, my job is to instill a love for learning in my students by what I do, not by how I decorate my room.

I know, however, that this extreme thinking is a bit of a weakness on my part and that I could put more thought into my room. So a few years ago, I contacted the T4S company for my district and asked for more info on a literacy rich environment so that I could spend some time thinking more concisely about my room and how I put it together. They had no articles on hand, so they handed me their bibliography. I was only able to track down one of the articles.

In this research they had taken two teachers, one who was considered to have a literacy rich environment and one who was considered to not have a literacy rich environment, and compared how their students valued reading, how much they sought out reading, etc. You can probably guess the result. The crux is that the creators of this study defined "literacy rich" not by how many posters a teacher had up that a student could read, but by what she did in the classroom. Did she encourage kids to read when they were done with their work early? Did she read to them daily? Did she have a place for them to go to read comfortably? I haven't read all the research, but the one article I could find didn't say anything about the elements we are actually judged on. The research was also done in elementary classrooms, and somehow some people out there don't get that a 16 year old is quite a different animal than a 6 year old. My take is that the research has been misused.

(Wow! This is getting long. And a little off topic.)

So back to my point, there has been some research to show that bilingual education is effective, but we must take any educational research critically because it's a tricky little beast, educational research is. In Hunger of Memory, however, Rodriquez doesn't really deal with research. He deals with the humanity of the issue. He argues that although being forced to learn English by immersion (and his family all agreed to speak English at home, which is very unusual), he believes he lost something but gained a lot as well. I'm not done with the book, so I can't comment completely on it now. I can say that Rodriquez had a rather unique situation with parents who committed to speaking English at home and being a very devoted, book-wormish students himself, so his atypical experience can't necessary be compared to the more typical immigrant experience.

But I still love lingering in his words, his sentences, his images. It's poetry in prose. And for me, it doesn't get much better than that.

Just for fun

I love this picture of DS, even though traditionally it doesn't fit anything considered a normal portrait. It captures his go-get-it-ness. He's a blast.

On another note, his language development has been a little slow. The doctor is concerned that he has "lost" some words. Apparently this is one of the first signs of autism. Surprisingly, I am very calm about this. He hasn't been diagnosed at all, but no parent wants to hear that a word. Nevertheless, I feel pretty certain that things will be okay - that he probably isn't autistic and that if he is, we can still be a happy, loving family.

What I'm reading - I am reading two books right now. For work, I am reading Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. I LOVE this book, but don't recommend it for everyone. It isn't a happy read. Ellison deals with the theme of self-identity, which is important to me probably because I'm a high school teacher and see young people dealing with issues of identity every day. I love this book so much that I almost named my son Ellison after the author. (We decided it was too close to Allison.)

The other book I am reading is called Hooked - Buddhist Teachings on Greed, Desire, and the Urge to Consume. This is a collection of essays by Buddhists on comsumption and its consequences. I'm reading it as prep for my Hungry Ghost talk I'm giving next week. I am loving the book, finding it enlightening and entertaining. I really enjoy reading essays, and since cunsumption patterns is a topic I find interesting, I am finding it fascinating.

School has gotten a lot more enjoyable now that I'm done with the research papers. I'm incredibly proud of my students for all their hard work and am glad to come out from beneath the heap of research papers. Now I have a ton of grading for AP, but it isn't nearly as overwhelming.

What I'm Reading Right Now

I have a number of books going. (Normally, I'm a one-book-at-a-time person.)

I am reading two Tim O'Brien books for my classes - The Things They Carried and If I Die in a Combat Zone. I thoroughly enjoy both of these books, one a fictional account and one a memoir of the Vietnam War. I LOVE the Things They Carried. The first story in the book entitled "The Things They Carried" is about the things the soldiers carried - literally and figuratively. He writes about how they carried pictures of their girlfriends and the ghosts of their fallen comrades. He writes about how they carried weapons and their guilt over being afraid. The carried beer and shame. It's truly a wonderful piece of fiction that my AP students enjoy.

If I Die is a little more straight-forward, but still a very interesting account of the war. My English IV students are really interested in the Vietnam War. They have a lot of questions and know very little about the war. They want to know why we went to war and who we were fighting and why the soldiers weren't treated well when they returned. I think they see themselves a lot in this book because they know that many of their classmates will be joining the military within months, or sometimes days, of graduating. They are completely quiet when we talk about the war. It's heaven for an English IV teacher. :)

I am also just starting Three Cups of Tea, which is for my book club. Don't know too much at this time.

I have been slowly reading Thubten Chodron's Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path, which accompanies her guided meditation CD. It's very instructive and includes a style of meditation I haven't yet played with. I am enjoying it.