Past projects 3
Modern Times (aka books) at SDHS!
Funded Jul 27, 2016Dear Donors,
When I first started teaching at Stuarts Draft High School, I made it my goal to make the classics relatable to my students. However, I seemed to be working too hard for very limited success. To better engage my kids, I would throw in modern stories, current interviews, spoken word poetry videos, and excerpts from New York Times Best Sellers. Students loved these texts, hearing from the voices of their culture, their society. In our fast-changing world, new is relevant, new is desired. I felt like it was time I bought into this truth. Using modern texts like The Invention of Wings, I am teaching my students to read and take notes on literature with "synergy." I ask them to pull from the writing, but also from their own perspectives on the plot and construction. The synergy of the writer's creation and the audience together create meaning. Students come to see the universals, through which they are learning life lessons and critical thinking skills.
In my classroom, reading is thinking. My students take notes from their creative reading, as they come to discover their own understanding along the way. No two students read the same book. They share these personal notes with the class in class discussion. We will discuss the struggles with assimilation and immigration in Joy Luck Club and our world. We will discuss the need for courage when standing against cultural wrongs in The Invention of Wings. We will discuss how we are affected by the loss of a loved one in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I believe in the purity of the humanities. Teaching 16 and 17 year-olds how to become self-aware, critical of social norms, analytical of deeper meanings, and open to the lives and experiences of others. I want them to be stronger Americans. To live better lives, and not just pass a reading test.
Most of the new books donated are included in the later part of my curriculum. We are currently in our 2nd unit, and these new novels will be used in unit 3 and 4. Still, I wanted to share a few quotes my students said to me when they were unpacking the books and reading the summaries on the backs:
"Whoa, these books actually look good."
"Is this by Sue Monk Kidd? Didn't she write the Bees book? I love her!"
"This one is about 9/11? That is cool. I haven't really read much about that. We don't talk about it in school really."
"These are so new and fresh. I like to smell them."
"I call Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Really, if I don't get that one in the book clubs, I am going to not read anything."
"So we are not reading any more Hawthorne?" (No) "Thank God."
"Are these like The Glass Castle?" (Yes) "Good. The Glass Castle was the only book that I have ever liked in school."
To get them to buy in. To agree that I have something substantial to offer. That is my first task as an educator. I believe that engaging literature helps me do that, and offers them more proof of the joy in becoming a lifelong reader. I appreciate all of your generosity and belief in my skills as a teacher, and their prowess as students. You have made my classroom better equipped and I am absolutely grateful.
From my colleague - who used The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime in her English 12 class: "I think students can gain life skills and morals through reading. I think reading books that challenge our students' thinking, offering them new insights, well that is what we can do to make them stronger thinkers. I enjoy reading with my classes, and I especially enjoy watching them enjoy reading. Truly - Thank you!"”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wade
Choices for the Great American Novel
Funded Jul 30, 2016From all my heart, thank you! I believe in my students and I am overjoyed that you believe in them too, as seen with your generosity! I know these books with inspire the young people in my class to read more, to better understand themselves, and to better relate to all the world! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wade
Quench Our Literary Thirst with the "The Glass Castle"
Funded Jul 9, 2012From the bottom of my heart and from the growth of my students' minds, I thank you. Through your gift of 52 copies of Jeanette Walls' memoir, The Glass Castle, you have allowed the students in my 11th grade American Literature classes to fall in love with reading again. So many times, students become complacent in their reading, completing assignments just for the grades and not the enjoyment of the words on the page.
Walls' memoir is enthralling, captivating, and heart-wrenching, the kind of literature that makes a student forget the clock and just keep turning pages. My previous students were completely engaged and interested in the piece. They were perplexed by Walls' parents' choices and then amazed by the children's stalwart willpower in taking care of themselves. Through having their hearts and minds engaged, my students came to realize that reading literature is like meeting a new person in each character, and in doing so, consequently getting to know themselves better.
My current students are eager to start the novel. We are planning on reading it in 2 months and they have already attempted to vote out the modern play unit to get to the memoir sooner, because of all the approbation my other students have shared concerning the novel. This novel is life-changing. Through it, you have given the gift of insight and inspiration and I am so grateful for it. Once again, thank you.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wade