Books!

I've been reading a lot lately. I think it's got something to do with the "15 minutes of silent reading" time at the beginning of each of my classes. (I like to model good reading behavior so they know what it looks like, so I'm usually sitting at the front of the room with a book in my hand. Rather than puttering around at my desk.) And since I've had the time to get started on a book, I come home and would much rather be reading instead of working.

So I've gotten through a few. And now I have to talk about them.

River Secrets, by Shannon Hale

I'm a huge Shannon Hale fan. She has a way of writing stories, novels that are more folktales than books. They usually have some kind of magical element, but the characters are real and memorable enough that you close the book with a smile and satisfied sigh. And they're funny. This is the 3rd in a series of 4 (the others, I believe, are The Goose Girl, Enna Burning, and a new one coming out soon...).

Hole In My Life, by Jack Gantos

This is a real-life memoir about a few years of Jack Gantos' teenage and early-20s life, when he was involved in doing drugs, selling drugs, giving up drugs, and serving prison time. But how could someone who has messed up his life so much go on to write and publish a book? He made some terrible choices, yes, but he wasn't dumb. In fact, while in prison he wasn't allowed a notebook to write in, so he used a jail-copy of "The Brothers Karamazov" and wrote in the margins and in-between the lines. His manuscript was his ticket out of there. It was a tough subject and not really the escapist reading I'm used to, but I couldn't put this down, even though I was reading it on my cruise!

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

I'm sure you've heard a lot about this one, but I sure liked it. Now that I look back on it, I realize that you have to be able to appreciate Jane Austen before you can read this. It's 85% Austen and 15% zombies. So, as awesome as the zombie/ninja fighting parts are, if you're not in the patient mood required by the majority of the language, this book isn't for you. Wait for the movie. ;)

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

Wow, even thinking about this book still gives me goosebumps. I tend to read in the oddest places considering the subject matter: prison and drug dealing in the Bahamas, and post-apocolyptic, ashen-gray American wasteland on a family trip to Moab and Arches National Park. But, you know, Jack Gantos did take a boatload of drugs from Florida to the Northeast, and I connected with his sea-legs and yearning for land as I read on the cruise liner. And just as we drove through miles of southern Utah, "the man" and "the boy" in this novel traveled onward down any road they could find in search of food and safety and survival. Arches is gorgeous beyond any poetic description I could imagine; McCarthy uses the most gorgeous language to describe the least attractive world imaginable. In short, it was a beautiful book about horrible things. If you can handle that, read it!

Impossible, by Nancy Werthin

This is a YA lit novel that I would recommend to a much wider audience as well. It's a modern-day story of a girl named Lucy, a senior in high school, just turning 18...but it's based on the idea behind the Simon and Garfunkle song "Scarborough Fair." I kinda didn't want to say that because I think it gives a bit of a wrong idea... Basically, I loved the book more for the "true love of mine" aspect than the fantasy element. Their relationship was very...worthy. Not even a Mormon novel, but a great emphasis on family and commitment.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Anne Shaffer and Annie Barrows

My friend Jenny recommended this to me - actually, she loaned me her copy - which is the only reason I read it, because I certainly would not have picked it up judging by the title. What the...!? I mean, what *is* Potato Peel Pie? It's only a fringe idea, but I think they wanted to make the title memorable. Ok, it worked: I haven't forgotten. And I am so glad I read it. It's set in 1946, in a small British island in the English Channel working to heal itself from being occupied by Nazi Germany. But it's told all in letters, people writing back and forth to the main character Juliet living in London. I'm not kidding - I felt like I got to know these characters so well that in the week or so it's been since I finished the book, I've missed them! I want to know how they are now. I wish I could stop by for tea and just chat. It was lovely and poignant (nice buzzword) and darling and thoroughly enjoyable.

Now I'm reading "Bleachers" by John Grisham, and it's...fine. But mostly I'm desperately searching for my next favorite. What have you read lately? Any recommendations?

"Having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card." ---Arthur

A Picture Is Worth A Long, Convoluted Story That I Don't Really Feel Like Telling

So I went on this cruise.


Ok, I knew Emily was there, "butt" I had no idea about this photo. Sneaky, Lisa.


One day we went snorkeling.


I look like this ALL the time.

I took this picture, and almost took the fish too, but they said not to disturb the creatures, something about an "ecosystem" or whatever, I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention.


Another day, at the fancy onboard restaurant, I ate escargots. For those of you who don't "hablo espanol," escargots is Spanish for THE NINO. I mean, snails.


Aye aye, Captain Me. Worry not: I steered us in the right direction.

Another time, we went to the beach. White sand, clear warm water... delish. The cruise line actually owns this private island in the Bahamas, called Cococay. Ok, so maybe it was artificial, but so is Tang and we still love that!

This is me and a coconut tree. Rhyme!!


Here's me and Lisa. Then there was this time I bought us all virgin strawberry daiquiris, and the waitress couldn't stop being amazed that we didn't drink alcohol. And then we won 2nd place in the "Name that Tune" contest, and everyone couldn't stop being amazed.


In a word, the sunsets on the boat were truly spectacularly colorful Caribbean sunsets. Oops, that was four words.

When I got home I had sea legs for about three days...but I'm still glad I went! Snark aside, it was truly unforgettable.

Elaeagnus angustifolia

For the past month, as I drive around with my windows rolled down inhaling the warmer air, I've been searching for the source of my favorite summer scent. I knew it was some kind of blossom or flower that bloomed in late May/early June because it's the smell of school ending, the smell of relief and burdens lifted, the smell...of freedom. (Bear with me here.)

Finally, on my way home from a late WalMart run the last week of school, I turned a corner and a gust of well-timed wind breezed the delicious odor right into my face. So I pulled over, walked back, and thought of Gandalf: "When in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose." And there it was!


Of course I had no idea what it was called, but I've since learned that its common name is Russian Olive (an ornamental tree famous for hardy roots that can grow in dry soil). I also learned that it's now classified as an invasive weed.

Gee, thanks.


It's not just the shiny green-grey leaves and tiny aromatic flowers that make me love this tree, though. It's the history. Let me explain: You've seen The Mask of Zorro, right? Catherine Zeta-Jones' character Elena comes back to California after being raised in Spain (with no knowledge that she was born on this continent) and is given a flower by a native woman. When she smells it, she recognizes the scent. Later she finds out they used to hang it over her crib.

So I mentioned to my mom how much I loved the smell of this tree (not calling it a weed) and she explained, "Remember the field? There used to be a whole line of Russian Olives next door."

Of course! Growing up there used to be an large empty tract of land between my house and the church on the corner. We used to play for hours in the overgrown grasses and untamed shrubbery. It only makes sense that the aroma of the trees was implanted into my memory, indelibly connected with the ideas of freedom, summer, and play.

*Sigh* I'm so cool, I don't even know I'm cool.

Seriously, I'm not even looking forward to the already-fading blossoms to be replaced by some yellow, olive-looking fruit. One man's weed is another man's pleasant childhood memory.

I Can Has Chevy Malibu?

So.....I bought a car this week. Trust me, it was a really good deal, and I got a loan with a solid interest rate, and it's basically legendary.

I had to take a picture with me driving. Pretend the car is moving.

It's already been broken in: my good froommate Lisa and I drove up the canyon to enjoy a nighttime view of the valley listening to Kerli's "The Creationist" which is a great bass tester song, if you ever wondered.

But...you car is never really broken in until a 2 year old drives it. Cue Mckay! Thanks, next-door neighbor kids.

Getting the keys ready...

Putting it in gear...
Adjusting the radio....
Turning on the A/C...
And we're off!




Pay no attention to the crazed smile on my face. I assure you, it was a very safe ride.

Not that there's anything wrong with that

So really quickly, I just wanted to share a story...

Last week one day was "Day of Silence" where students who are members of the GLBTQ club at school went all day without speaking, wearing pins that explained they were representing the unrepresented.

After first period I picked up a sheet of paper from the floor. One girl had stuck a pin to it and wrote to the boy sitting behind her, "Do me a favor and wear this today to give voice to people who don't normally get a chance. Pleaz!"

Underneath, in scrawly handwriting, he wrote back, "I only support hot lesbians."

I laughed so hard I couldn't even throw the note away.

Spring break? Spring fix!

Shout out to you non-graduated folks! This is the weirdest April for me. Usually this is the craziest, busiest, stressfullest time of year. You're finishing the semester, cramming for finals, writing papers, finishing projects. You're also stricken with cabin fever, spring fever, and senioritis. And usually a cold or two brought on by sheer exhaustion. Plus you have to worry about moving home, summer plans, packing, getting a job...and leaving all your school friends.

Not this year. This is the first April I've had in a good seven years where it's not like that. School's been normal - I still have work to do, but just your usual amount. But there's still this whole May thing to deal with before I even think about getting out of school (June 5th, in case you're wondering). I even had a spring break last week! It's been strangely and seriously chill. (And I wasn't meaning to talk about the weather, but that's been chill, too.)

"Oh, you had spring break?" you ask. "How was it?" Great! I went to Las Vegas with my former roommate Lisa and stayed with her family. Enough? Ok, I'll put up a picture or two:

We went model home browsing...it was delicious. This was the cleverest little niche directly to the left after the entryway of one home. I love the stairs setting it apart from the rest of the room! But the best was the three-part hot tub in the backyard of one home, complete with heated waterfall over decorative rocks. Do people really live like this?!?

While in beautiful Las Vegas be sure to visit historic Las Vegas Boulevard (The Strip). I could watch those Bellagio fountains all...night.

Some gorgeous flowers from the grounds at the Las Vegas LDS temple. We didn't make it there until Monday, which is when it's closed, but I did get to appreciate the landscaping.

Please appreciate my obvious photography skills by comparing the slope of the roof of the temple to the parallel line of cloud made by a passing jet. Thank you.

And then, I drove all the way home. We left at 11 AM and I got home at 7:30 last night. Mmmm...good spring break. How was yours?

Cheers,
Beckie

They call it "Teacher Work Day" because all the other days we're just playing around

It's been so long since I've blogged I don't know where to start! Result: A buncha randoms.

* So I finally get a day off school and what do they do? Make me come in anyway to read papers and put in grades. The nerve.

But in the end I really enjoyed reading all 150 student essays on different themes in The Old Man and the Sea. Time flew by. One student put in two of the required three direct quotations from the book, and for his third he said this: "As is sung in Dr. Horribles sing-along-blog by Captain Hammer, " It may not feel to classy begging just to eat, but you know who does that? Lassie, and she always gets a treat. So he wonders what his part is cause hes fish-less and depressed. But home is where the heart is so his real homes in his chest. Everyones a hero in their own way." Then he went on to discuss why Santiago was a hero in his own way. Not bad, a shameless plugs go. Though I would've preferred money taped to the back of the paper...!

* The next week when the kids saw their grades, I got to hear a lot of sob stories. I mean, so many student simply decided not to do their paper! How could they not realize that essay was worth 30% of their grade?? I was forced to enter in many more F's than I had ever imagined. At first I felt horrible about it, until I realized that it was their choice. They had the knowledge, but refused to put it into practice. Lame.

* One student, unfortunately, had a legitimate excuse for not finishing his paper: his mom, who had been on life support all week, passed away the day grades were due. But what really surprised me was that he showed up for my class first period the next day! I guess sometimes we deal with grief and change by going on as usual, searching for sameness and routine.

* Another student, however, simply wasted his time in the computer lab and turned in nothing, so his grade was also nothing. Saturday, the day after I'd posted his failing grade, he emailed me to following sentence: "its (name) i wana know if i could do the old man and the sea essay cus i dont want a F" I had three really good reasons for him: A) It's Saturday, I shouldn't even have to be checking my email; B) You had your chance, you blew it; and C) Your poor grammar and spelling in your request doesn't exactly endear me to raising your grade. Still, kudos for being the ONLY one to email me about the essay. Even though I didn't let him, it was stil nice to know that he cared... slightly.

* Yesterday I didn't have to go to school because I went to a seminar at the Salt Palace called "The Best Books of the Past Decade for Teens and How to Use Them in Your Program." The presenter was an awesome teacher/librarian from an all-girls junior high in Silicon Valley, California who went through an extensive list of new book options for students. My favorite could be a textbook called "From Hinton to Hamlet: Building Bridges between Young Adult Literature and the Classics" which I believe has been my life's focus ever since I picked up Harry Potter; I've constantly felt this need to defend newer books to those obsessed with the "literary canon" or any who might dismiss contemporary fiction for lack of "literary merit." Fie to them! Just because it's new doesn't mean it can't or shouldn't be taught in schools. In fact, here's one thing the presenter pointed out:

"With the exception of complicated plotting, all the traditional literary elements typical of classic literature are present in most contemporary novels for young adults--flashbacks, allusions, irony, metaphorical language--though they are used less frequently and at times less sophistocated levels."

So the moment I got home I headed straight for the library, checking out 6 or 7 of the books he'd presented on. One of them I finished entirely last night. I'll get a list of these new books soon. I'm pretty excited about it!

* Today (and yesterday, with the sub) my classes listened to music to identify uses of Metaphor and Simile in the lyrics. How awesome am I!!? I wish I had me as a teacher! Here's a list of the songs we used:

• Simon and Garfunkel: I Am A Rock
• Rascal Flatts: Life is a Highway
• Natasha Bedingfield: Unwritten
• John Michael Montgomery: Life's a Dance (thanks, Emma!)
• Disney: Candle on the Water
• Guster: Satellite
• The Killers: Human
• Donny Osmond: I'll Make a Man out of You
• Smashing Pumpkins: Bullet With Butterfly Wings
  
• Incubus: Drive

I have to say, I was really impressed with how they picked out not only the obvious ones, but further metaphors I hadn't even thought of from the songs. That's kind of why I put that Killers song on there, because I have no idea if there even is a metaphor in it, so I wanted to see their thoughts. Oh, and that Mulan song was chock full of 'em! It really was a way fun lesson.

* "Gang Awareness" week at our school culminated today in an assembly (during 2nd period, optional at teachers' discretion) where students played some games answering questions about gang-related facts and statistics, and two former gang members spoke. One was from California, of Mexican descent, and now is just finishing his master's degree at the U; the other was "Poly" and from Seattle, apparently a place rife with gang activity. The first rambled a bit and lost the students' interest, but the second... it was amazing to see how the entire assembly was in the palm of his hand. His story was intense - once while heavily involved in his gang, his girlfriend broke up with him and he almost killed her, which snapped him back and made him realize he needed to change. When he finished, the applause was real. I'm glad we had it - it was really needed at my school.

* Oh, and the school newspaper came out yesterday, full of April Fool's jokes like "our school is getting uniforms!" and "it's now required for everyone to use the communal showers before class" and "school news writers jailed after newspaper prank goes horribly wrong." Clever stuff.

The Old Man and Planet Earth

If I haven't blogged about school, it only means I've been focusing that much more on school! There's always so much to do and I always find myself planning what might come next.

This past week we started a new unit on Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. I'm still trying to adjust my lesson plans for the fact that there's only one classroom set of books. This means I can't possibly assign 50 pages to be read as homework and then spend class time discussing and analyzing a novel. No, most of each 90 minute block period is spent actually reading the book out loud. In a way I quite enjoy it, because that way I can stop every few paragraphs and explain what's going on for ELLs and other students who might not catch every word. It just takes a whole lot longer to get through even a short novel like Old Man.


Of course, I like to explore every angle I can when talking about literature, so it's mostly my fault that it takes so long to get through. For example, to talk about the setting of the book I not only showed them some PowerPoint slides on Cuba and talked about Fidel Castro and the US economic embargo, but I also left the last twenty minutes of class free so we could watch part of that most excellent BBC miniseries Planet Earth.

If you really knew me you would know I love watching that beautiful compilation of nature and animal footage. The excuse was that my students would get a better feel for what kind of fish the old man Santiago would be dealing with - all the life under the sea that he probably didn't realize existed. And some that he definitely knew about:

It's one of my favorite parts, when they capture the great white shark leaping out of the water and snarfing down a seal in ultra-slow-motion. I swear this big guy KNEW he was being filmed and deliberately posed for the camera over 10 feet out of the water with a freshly dead seal in his mouth. Delicious. (The shot, not the seal.)

There are still more scenes from other episodes I'd like my kids to watch, especially one part where it shows the giant sailfish that look just like the old man's marlin, and schools of tuna and dolphins that shared the Cuban ocean with him.

In the meantime, though, we've got to get into the text itself. I might have days where they will read silently, but it's looking like I will be reading most of the book out loud. It's really not that bad - after three weeks I think my voice is finally getting used to saying the same thing six times in two days. Really, my 1A class is nowhere near as good as my 3B, because by then I've done it enough times to be quite prepared.

Right now I'm looking for a way to have them make some kind of posters or decorations to put on the walls of the classroom. It's still looking quite bare - dark and gloomy from the oppressive green of the chalkboards, lacking the clean white look of dry-erase boards in the other rooms. I've requested white boards two separate times but nothing's been done. And now with all this talk of getting a new school built, I doubt they'll spend the time or money to fix up rooms that are going to be demolished eventually anyway.

Ah, well. For now, I'll do the best with what I've got. And try to blog a little more about it! :)

Faithfully

Are you prepared to take the oath?

Yes.

I, Beckie Sheffield, do--

I, Beckie Sh--

--Do solemnly swear.

I, Beckie Sheffield, do solemnly swear.

That I will execute the office of English Teacher to the 10th graders at Granger High School faithfully.

That I will execute...?

---Faithfully the office of English Teacher...

The office of English Teacher to the 10th graders at Granger High School faithfully.

Faithfully?

Faithfully, sir.

Faithfully execute the office, or execute the office faithfully?

Both, sir. So, help me!

I hope you all saw or heard Obama's Oath of Office this morning, as well as his address to the nation. Otherwise you won't understand what the heck I've been talking about.

It is so---what's the word? fitting? ironic? pleasantly, slightly symbolic?---that our new president was sworn in for his new job the same day I signed the contract for mine.

Yep, starting Monday, the 26th, I will be responsible for teaching 6 classes of Sophomore English at Granger High School. The former teacher was also the school's football coach who took another job coaching at Taylorsville High. Instead of hiring me to teach AND coach, though, which surely would have proved disastrous, the school has hired another coach and I'm taking over the missing English classes.

It's a hard thing, to take over in the middle of a year, but I had a pleasant realization as drove from the school to the district offices this morning. I heard Vice President Biden sworn in, and then enjoyed a pristinely beautiful new musical arrangement of the Quaker hymn "Simple Gifts" by John Williams. (I told you I loved that man! He's simply brilliant, proving it yet again!) How would it have been to be one of those performers? Up there with Itzak Pearlman and Yo Yo Ma. Here's what the clarinetist had to say about it. And they performed flawlessly.

Then Obama came on.

The first time I'd heard his name was two days after I got home from Chile in July 2007. It seemed everyone was talking about him on the news, and I remember looking one of my siblings (Anna? Or Thomas?) and asking, "Obama??" And the response was, "Yeah. They've already made every joke about it." Little did we know!

And then today John Roberts and the oath of office. Does it really matter where the word "faithfully" goes? Should the modifier go before or after the subject and verb? Aren't you excited to have many lessons on adverbial order and misplaced modifiers after this event?!?

Then we'll move on to studying Obama's speech itself. What kind of persuasive elements did he include? How did his use of parallel sentence structure make the message more powerful or memorable?? To what effect were his uses of pathos and ethos in his rhetoric???

From a new English teacher's perspective, I love our new president already. And I'm glad he got his job the same day I did.

I hope he will do his job faithfully, as I, faithfully, do mine.

And if his last name is Williams, I will marry him.

I've discovered anew my love affair with Williams... Both John and Ralph Vaughan. Let me refresh your memories:

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Early 20th century English composer of symphonies, choral music, and arranger of traditional folk songs. You may remember him from such LDS hymns as "I Saw a Mighty Angel Fly" (#15) or "For All The Saints" (#82). More famous ones include "All Creatures of Our God and King" (#62) and "If You Could Hie To Kolob" (#284).

Let's tangent onto that last one. Vaughan Williams wrote a piece for string orchestra and harp called "Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus." It's like 13 minutes long but extremely poetic, lush and gorgeous. I had the privilege of playing it at the Solo and Ensemble Festival in Olympus High's orchestra my senior year.

So what are Dives and Lazarus? It's from a lesser-known parable in Luke about an extremely poor man named Lazarus and an unnamed rich man ("dives" is apparently Latin for "rich man") who make opposite choices in life and end up in opposite places for the afterlife. The beggar Lazarus barely even eats the crumbs from the rich man's table (shades of a U2 song there?), but nothing is shared. When they both die Lazarus is carried up "into Abraham's bosom" (which I assume means paradise) and Dives to...a very warm place. A fascinating story, if doctrinally incomplete. Look it up.

All I wanted to say was the song is beautiful and even if you don't like the "Kolob" rendition you should love Vaughan Williams for it. (There's also a Christmas version here.) And I haven't even mentioned "The Lark Ascending," which is 17 minutes long and yet you never want the violin solo to end. And "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" is a string masterpiece. It's featured in the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, and I remember the Oscar orchestra playing it every time that film was nominated for something that year. Apparently the theme from the song is also a hymn that I would love to hear sung in church someday. (Let's ask Robert Cundick if he'll arrange it for us!)

So Ralph Vaughan Williams, I love you. And apparently you have a great last name, because I also love John Willams. (And if you really knew me you would know that already.) Remember how in the summer of 2003 I made a 5 CD John Williams tribute? I sorted tracks from his film scores into categories of Themes, People, Quests, Spirit, and Flight. For example, in the last one I noticed how many songs he writes about people flying:

"Flight to Neverland" from Hook
"Flying Theme" from E.T.
"Main Title" from Superman
"Cadillac of the Skies" from Empire of the Sun
"Fawkes the Phoenix" from Harry Potter 2
"Suite" from Close Encounters of the Third Kind
"Journey to the Island" from Jurassic Park

And since I made those CDs he's written a dozen more film scores. It's not only that his music is technically brilliant, it's the pervasiveness of his fame that astounds me. People worldwide can recognize the themes to Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and Jurassic Park. Every two years we hear his Olympic Themes without realizing that he did them. Within two measures you can feel the imperial power of Darth Vader; within two notes you can feel imminent death of a shark attack from Jaws. The man cannot be overpraised.

Side note: In my Wikipedia searchings, I discovered that John Williams's son Joseph Williams is also famous: for a while he was lead vocalist for the band Toto, author of one of my favorite guilty pleasure 80s anthems "Africa" (here is a link to their hilariously hideous music video); and he was also the singing voice of adult Simba in The Lion King, heard in "Hakuna Matata" and "Can You Feel The Love Tonight." Ha!

Well, now you know more about these two Williams, more than you thought you'd ever know, and you can never un-know what you've just known. Aren't you glad. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go listen to "The Asteriod Field" track on The Empire Strikes Back soundtrack - one of the greatest action cues of all time. Mmmm mmm mmm!