Is there a social justice issue in your book?

Here are some questions that might help you locate where social justice issues might be lurking in your independent reading books...

1. Is this story fair? Why or why not?

2. How does this text deal with individuals and groups? Are the people acting alone and in competition with each other, or does the text help us imagine people working together?

3. What really hard things are happening in this book? Are these things happening in the world now? Where?

4. How different are people allowed to be in this text? Does it assume everyone is happy and good in the same ways?

5. Who has "power" in your book? How does it get shown? Is if fair?

6. At what points do you notice yourself resisting the book, characters or author? What does your resistance say about the book, and what does it say about you?

813's All Star Mentor of the Week: Hannah Seitz

Hannah is an excellent writer, as you will see when you read her post HERE. She can weave together small moment narration and interpretations of a book--and it's all so engaging.  Her blog is hands-down always thought provoking!

813 had a great week for posting. Other favorites:

Mustafa (a good mentor for structure)
Jenifer (a good mentor for processing through an issue)
Pip (a good mentor for going deeper)

I saw a lot of improvement based on the lessons in class in your posts this week, 813.  I also enjoyed the creative writing aspects many of you have added. Keep up the good work!

812's All Star Mentor of the Week: Malik Padellan

Not only was Malik an all star mentor in the writing of his post (he looked at lines from "World on Fire" really closely), he was an all star COMMENTER! Please remember that you need to be following and responding to at least 3 of your classmates posts.

804 All Star Mentor of the Week: Max Piersol!

One thing I'm looking for in your blog posts is whether you are retelling too much versus whether you are developing a theory about the book you are reading (remember our Charlotte's Web work? A theory can be a big idea you come up with based on a micro or macro detail...)

Max came up with an interesting theory based on his reading of It's Kind of A Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. Read his post HERE. Check your entries to see if you have been coming up with theories or retelling too much.

804 in a vocabulary review game frenzy!

World On Fire Video Link

If you want to rewatch the "World on Fire" video we watched in class, you can find it HERE.

804's All Star Mentor of the Week: Pia Wahlston!

Pia's post about Looking for Alaska is beautifully written. Enough said.

812's All Star Mentor of the Week: Nushrat Anisha!

Anisha's post was like reading a letter from a friend. Her voice sounded sophisticated and she made some solid connections with her Harry Potter reading experience.

813's All Star Mentor of the Week: Keiame Lee-Chong!

This week's honor goes to Keiame, whose post was extremely well written and engaging. I loved how she started the post with truly thought provoking questions...not the cliched kind of questions. They really got me thinking as a reader and as a person!

The beginnings of community: the art (and fun) of the comment.

(Much of this is adapted from Ms. Rear's post. Thanks, Ms. Rear!) 


So now that we've all started posting about our reading, it's time to begin interacting with each other by responding to each other's blog posts.

In order to create a tighter knit reading community, you are now required to create a "blog roll" (or "link list") of the blogs that you want to keep up with regularly.  You are required to comment on at least 3 blog posts from your class weekly.  My hope is that you will get to know each other better as readers (and nonfiction writers) and that you will learn from one another. I  will be checking these responses.

A good, thoughtful blog comment might:
* praise interesting ideas in the original post
* ask for clarification of any unclear parts of the original post
* add the responder's own thoughts to original ideas to build strength
* contradict or challenge (respectfully!) by explaining another aspect or asking a question to further dialogue
* contain connections (to the self, the world, another text, or another part of the same text) to deepen thinking about the post

***  AND good, thoughtful blog responses  always
* are respectful and coherent
* use standard vocab, spelling, and grammar (so that everyone can understand)
* show consideration of the original blogger's work and thought

Putting your best foot forward: Lesson #1

Part One: Grammar
One of the biggest differences between writing that stays in your notebook and writing that gets published online is that you have to be on your A-game when it comes to formatting your reading responses.  When you are emailing or texting your friends, that is a different kind of writing and a lack of conventions (following grammar rules) may be appropriate. Our blogs, though, are a way of practicing writing in an academic setting.  Please practice using academic writing on your blogs. I'll be looking for the following conventions that you should already be familiar with on your blog:

• Underline (or italicize) and capitalize the title of your book
• Use purposeful paragraphs when you switch to a new topic or idea
• Capitalization in general: you know what gets capitalized! Don't scare me! 

Part Two: Write for an Audience

Your thoughts are no longer living in your notebook and your peers will be reading your thoughts.  That means that you need to write with your audience in mind.  It is important to think about the following: 

• Give your reader a bit of context so that he or she can understand what you are writing about. Context can be attained in 1-2 sentences and includes the title of the book plus a brief introduction to the character, setting and conflict. For example, "I have been reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, set in a dystopian, futuristic society that forces 12 children to participate in an Olympic-style game, only it is to the death.  The reader is allowed inside the mind of Katniss, the main character, as she fights her way through the games."
• Try to "bookend" your post thoughtfully: use a lead to begin and try to leave your reader thinking at the end. 
• As a courtesy, if you are writing about the end of a book, put a "spoiler alert" in the post so that anyone who hasn't read the book doesn't see what happened in the end, just in case they want to read the book.  It is very possible to write a reading response thoughtfully without giving away the entire plot. 

Using blogs for creative writing...

A few students from 813 all added creative writing aspects to their blogs. Amanda and Nina both included excerpts from their independent writing. Rafaele has a "writing about strangers" series on his.  Love it!

Thought provoking: What is an online identity?

Annie in 804 brought up some really interesting thoughts about the whole concept of posting anything online in her inaugural blog post.  You should read it HERE and leave comments below about what you think about writing online:

• Is writing online different than in a notebook? In what ways?
• In what ways can writing online be liberating? Limiting?
• Do you think that people are more real online or do we create online personalities that project the best of ourselves? Or something else?
• Do you think that teenagers abuse the freedom that being online gives you on sites like facebook? Do people type things they would never say to a person's face? Do you think this is a good or bad thing? Why?

813's All Star Mentor of the Week: Zarrin Syeda!

Zarrin not only wrote convincingly about why we should read Willow, but she delved into some deep issues within the book and took them really seriously. Check out her post HERE.

812's All Star Mentor of the Week: Thai SInger!

Thai just finished the second book of The Hunger Games trilogy and made some really impressive comparisons to power in the world.  I'm pretty sure it will leave you thinking, so check out her post HERE.

804's All Star Mentor of the Week: Ben Futterman!

There was one thing about Ben's post this week that made it stand out from all the others:  research.  Ben developed a theory about something in A Wrinkle in Time and took the time to do some research on it.  Read his post HERE to see for yourself...and then try to incorporate research into *your* post for next week!

Other posts worth checking out...Audrey, Isabelle and Annie!