The Hunger Games

See what I mean about the cover having a "Nazi" feeling?

It's summer and the start of reading season. The very first book I picked up was The Hunger Games so it's the first book I'm going to review this year. I have to explain the back story of my experience with this book a little, because I'm not going to give away any of the plot here. Because I walked into this book completely blind and I walked out with the best reading experience I've had in years. So if you really want a synopsis, go google it. But try to not google it too much.

I had seen it around campus, in the hands of many of my students - from the best and the brightest to even DG, The Boy Who Would Do Nothing. The very first time I saw the cover, back in November (during DG's parent/teacher conference no less), I thought it was a historical novel about WWII - the cover seemed to have that "Nazi" feeling to it.

I put it out of my radar for the next several months. I've read enough WWII novels in my pre-teen and teenage years to know what they are generally like, at least in the YA category. If it's not a carbon copy of Anne Frank's story, it's bound to be something like Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan. It's one of the reasons why Inglorious Basterds was so interesting, because it told a different story.

It blipped back onto my radar around spring break when I saw PP (unfortunate initials, seriously bright student) lugging the book and it's sequels around. PP is the kind of kid whom teachers always keep an eye out on - you know, the one that doesn't necessarily stick out in terms of behavior or personality, but I just had to be observant of because he walked around like he belongs in another dimension. If he was older, and if his personality were less sweet, he could be described as having a stick up his butt. But he's just a kid, a really sweet kid who enjoyed my class and let me know that he enjoyed my class often, so I kept a lookout and snuffed any hint of teasing or bullying that came his way. That, and his mother turned out to be an incredible ally during a time when I was battling with some other parents over grades and whatnot.

Not that I would take special observations of a kid solely because his mother is helpful and kind and respects education and educators the way I believe education and educators should be respected. Just saying.

I asked PP how he was enjoying The Hunger Games one day. He said he was enjoying it a lot. I asked if he recommended it. He said he did.

During Open House in the spring, my school has this thing set up with the annual book faire where teachers can request books and the visitors to Open House can buy the books for us. It would only work at a school like mine: the many donations I've seen this year wouldn't have happened in the Title 1 schools I taught at before. Although, if I were a very bold admin, I would set up something like the book requests during book faire time.

Most of the books at the book faire are your usual Scholastic stuff - filler for SSR bookshelves. I knew long before I got the keys to my first classroom that I would not fill it with cheap fillers bought at yard sales and thrift stores. I wanted my shelves to be select, with the goal of quality over quantity.

So I didn't intend to request anything. But I spied The Hunger Games nestled on a top shelf when I went to peruse with some other teachers right before Open House. I remembered what PP had said about recommending it. A kid like that doesn't recommend things lightly. I listed my request, and later that night, when Open House was ending, PP and his mother came back to my room bringing The Hunger Games for me.

I thanked them, and wrote a nice note to be mailed later, and then promptly put it on my classroom bookshelf because it was the middle of May and I was going crazy with the pile up of year-end paperwork, and the only other teacher who teaches the exact same subjects as me broke her water on Open House night, and we had to scramble through a series of subs as well as a horrific grading fiasco.

Once that was all over though, and my advancement and check-out duties were over, I went straight home and plopped down with this book and a bowl of kettle chips.

I didn't let it go until 3.5 hours later when I was finished with all 374 pages. An adult flying through more than a hundred pages an hour gives you a hint as to the difficult of the language used. But oh, was this book sure dense with meaning.

I also immediately bought Catching Fire and Mockingjay on Kindle, and read one each day for the next two days.

Maybe it's because I was over saturated with anime during my college days, but its books like these that strike a match in my imagination and illuminates something I didn't know was there before. It's what all YA books should aim to do, considering the target audience. Well, it's really what all books should do when it comes right down to the heart of the matter.

I can tick off on one hand the number of authors who have hit so deeply in my imagination, and influenced so much of my writing ideology: Philip Pullman, Joan Aiken, Natsuki Takaya, and now Suzanne Collins. Coincidentally, the first four are also young adult novel writers (of sorts). They - plus J.K. Rowling, who leans more towards classical rather than unconventional themes, thus didn't quite rock my literary world in the same sense as the others - are the ones I've turned back to, over and over again in re-reads, whenever I want to escape something in the real world that I don't like.

As a kid, I really believed that poster propaganda saying "you're never without a friend when with a book." I used recess time to read, I held books clandestine-like under my desk during classes, I never leave home without one, and when I am at home, there is always one within arms reach. I didn't have much to escape from as a kid - your usual drama of course, but overall a pretty happy childhood. However, more and more in the grown up's real world, I find things I want to escape from. People I want to escape, because their words and actions infect the space around them with something gross and sticky.

The main character is described, at one point in the trilogy, as "pure." She's definitely not innocent, but I understand what he meant. Katniss, either by nature or circumstance, doesn't let other people's words and actions infect her with their gross stickiness.

And I like that.

Why on earth IS Geometry inserted between Algebra 1 and Algebra 2?

Maybe only mathematicians and math teachers would understand this but it still might be a good read if you are at all interested one person's opinion of why American mathematics education is full of crap.

I would take it with a grain of salt though. It IS important for students to know math facts - just as important as the discovery of mathematical relationships. I don't know any math person who can't tell you what the square root of 144 is. Instantly - off the top of their heads.

This same math person should also be able to explain, in simple terms, why the square root of 144 is 12 too.

And thus, the conundrum.

From here.

It's posts like the picture above that make me want to switch over to Tumblr permanently.

In reality, I just need to work on the content of this blog. It doesn't matter which blogging platform I use - crap will still be crap on either side of the fence.

Tiger teacher

Yeah, yeah, it's a lion, but that's the closest photo I have.

No, I haven't read the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. It sounds interesting, but it's not at the top of the my To Read list. Maybe because I had a Tiger Mother, and so the story would be old news to me.

The commentary surrounding the book is more immediately consuming for me, particularly two quotes from Nancy Gibb's essay in Time.

First:

Their [what Gibbs calls "Choppers" aka helicopter parents] fury at a bad grade is more likely to land on the teacher than on the child.

And this one:

I suspect one reason the book has touched such a nerve is a suspicion among the Choppers that an excessive fear of failure guarantees it - that if you don't let your kids get clobbered now and then by a tough teacher, they'll never have the resilience to thrive as adults in a competitive economy.

These two quotes basically sum up my week. It's the end of the semester, and I gave some low grades to students who can do better than what they got but didn't, because they didn't turn in assignments on time, or showed little-to-no effort, or were just making some jerk wad choices. I clobbered some of my students because I expected better from them.

And the backlash from certain parents towards my choices have been overwhelming. Not just the parent of T, by the way. There are more.

I know I can't give up being a tough teacher. I can't let myself allow students to slack off. I can't slack off myself. It really is a tiger battle with my students. And the path of least resistance is one I don't want to take.

But sometimes, a tiger needs a quiet place sheltered from the battle to lick its wounds.

Huh. So you CAN brand anything

Teaspoons can be branded too. Just ask Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

Found this among all the fine print in my teacher's-manual-that-is-not-my-teacher's-manual-because-I-got-the-textbooks-with-the-wrong-publisher:

"* Pre-AP is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board, which was not involved in the production of and does not endorse this product."

Whoa. I did not realize AP was a registered trademark. I did not realize there was such a thing as "Pre-AP." Learning new things every day.

I wonder how one gets a job with the College Entrance the Examination Board? Because I smell big money there, and also in the curriculum development department of any textbook publisher.

Use Your Head to Get Your Foot in the Door

Some pretty good, practical tips here. It's geared for the MBA crowd, but some of this stuff is relatable for teaching jobs too. It's a decent refresher of how to present yourself in a stand-out, profession manner, without coming across as an automaton. It's a relatively new book too, so there are quite a few good online resources as well as tips on how to maintain a professional digital presence.

I wouldn't use EVERY single tip in the book though. First, a lot of it is too time consuming. Second, a lot of it is too almost-dead-white-guy style - at least for me. Which makes sense, as I'm not an almost dead white guy. Many of us are not, actually.

The New Global Student

I read this book several months ago and really enjoyed it. I don't believe EVERY student should do what the author's kids did. For one thing, there really is an age requirement to doing solo travel. The author was able to go with their kids, which obviously is not always possible for everyone. But I am fully supportive of studying abroad if the student even has any interest in doing it. I would wait until the kid is around 16 or so, depending on the kid's maturity level, for solo trips to unconnected places (i.e. no family or trusted friends to look out for the student).

There are some really nice tips in this book too - for every student, at every stage, not just for studying abroad. It's how I wish everyone viewed education: as a life-long activity, as a multi-faceted, multi-productive way of life. It spans culture/gender/age, breaks barriers, builds relationships, and connects people to each other as well as to whatever they are studying.

The Essential 55

The name of the author of this book jumped out at me when I first saw it, but my brain just couldn't quite place it. Which meant I had to google it, of course, like everyone else of my generation when they want to find out more about something.

I should have known: Ron Clark, of The Ron Clark Academy, the students of which created that "Vote However You Like" song & dance.

The subtitle for this book says, "An Award-Winning Education's Rules for Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child." Fifty-five rules seem a little excessive to me - and there are actually more than that in the book, since many of his rules have sub-rules. Also, to be frank, some of his rules are rather out-dated and culturally insensitive. For example, under "Rule 29: The ABCs of Etiquette":

F. Do not smack your lips and chew noisily. J. Do not slurp. M. You are to use your utensils for eating almost everything.

Although it's applicable to American-style dining manners, I think people need to be more ethnic food savy than that. Perhaps Mr. Clark assume that the individual teacher would have the common sense to teach the appropriate table manners depending on the culture and atmosphere of the diner. I like to think so, since he does have some good tips, and has been an effective teacher in many ways. Maybe it's just that much more important to teach students how their surroundings affect the way people act. It's completely appropriate to slurp Vietnamese noodles, however, I think I would only do it if I were in a Vietnamese food only restaurant. Or Vietnam.

Despite some of the cultural glitches, I was surprised at how encouraged I felt while reading this book. It actually affected my own teaching - I was just so much more energized to do better as a teacher, to do more, to plan increasingly creative learning experiences for my students. It came at a good time too. I was starting to feel a little lackluster in the pedagogy department.

Overall, decent read, if a little culturally un-savy.

Real Education

I didn't know there was a fake education.

Haven't cracked open this book yet, but I'll do a post on it when I get around to reading it. Just wanted to post the cover now because I thought the title was interesting.

Slow Food schools

I'm all about food. I never used to be as a kid - never appreciated it as much as I do now. Never was conscious of it as a kid.

But I'm really enjoying Slow Food Nation by Carlo Petrini. I'm learning lots about food, culture, economy, trade, agriculture, etc from this book.

It's a slow read for me. I get through maybe 15 pages a week. Just letting all the new info simmer and sink in, and rejuvenating my desire to make a school garden at whatever place will hire me.

The Abolition of Man

Ok, definitely not kids' lit, as the tag below says. This book is barely grown-up lit, considering that The New York Times is written at a 7th grade level and all.

In short, this is one dense book.

Dense, but compact. A scant three chapters long, it took me a week to finish it. Then another two weeks to re-read it for actual understanding. The language is a little arcane, which didn't help matters that much. C.S. Lewis lived in the 20th century, yet he tends to write like a 12th century monk. No judging, just an observation. It's probably because he was a professor of medieval and renaissance English.

Still, a very thought provoking read. I'm never not shocked at how education hasn't changed a single iota in the past millennium. Someday, that shock will turn into de-sensitization, I suppose. Until then, I'm ok with being shocked every so often. Wakes me up a little, you know?

Media Mondays: Educating Esme

Not exactly a book for little kids, but older kids might enjoy it.

I finished this one in five hours flat. Four of which were the night before, staying up until 3 AM to finish it. It's not a big book. It's not a classic, or terribly profound. Still, I really liked it. Me - who usually doesn't like books of this nature: self-help, autobiographical, inspirational-under-horrible-circumstances stories. A lot of those books seem so fake, so self-applauding.

Madame Esme may be a little self-applauding (she's a teacher, she HAS to applaud for herself because no one else is going to do it), but she's certainly not a fake. Just like the cover description says, she hangs the clean laundry out with the dirty - her accomplishments and failures out there for all to see.

Which is refreshing. I totally believe in taking the failures along with the successes together. One can't happen without the other.

Two things stuck out to me:

1. Esme's principal at the time used to call her late at night for "pat on the back" conversations. One day, Esme got so sick of it that she let her phone ring until the machine answered it. She woke up again at 3 AM to call her principal back, saying, "I'm so sorry. It's just that you called me so late. I knew you wouldn't call me so late if it wasn't terribly important. So I thought I had better call you back."

The late-night phone calls stopped there. Or I assume it did, the book doesn't really mention it again, either because they did stop, or because the principal started doing other, much more annoying things than late-night phone calls. Which he did.

2. The principal nags Esme about her insisting that the students call her "Madame Esme" rather than the more conventional "Miss/Mrs/Ms." After a huge confrontation, she refuses to talk about it anymore with the principal and storms out of his office. An older teacher colleague stops her on her way to resigning and they have a little conversation. The older teacher says, "You call that a fight? You wait until you've been teaching in the city awhile. See if you can stay here after you come up against the fight. The fight that will prove Mr. Turner's just the captain of a sinking ship. The fight that's bigger than two people in a room. It's a fight that you can't win even though you're right, because you can't win it all by yourself."

Esme asks the older teacher to clarify about "the fight," but the older teacher just shook her head, smiling. Esme decides to stay, if only to find out what "the mysterious Bigger Fight" is.


If the first situation above happened to me, I'm not sure I would have handled it like Esme - before I read her book. Now, I would handle it EXACTLY like Esme.

The second situation has been brewing in the back of my head since March. There is a bigger fight that the governors and the boards of educations and all that crap of two people in a room. It's so big, that it's all around us, and inside every single person in this nation, in the world. Where the "being an educated person" is less of an adjective and more of a characteristic.

It's a pretty disarming book for the reader. I recommend it to anyone who is brave enough to face the truth of what education is really doing to children.