Disconnect to Connect/Feed

Seems like my week to forget things and to be forgotten.  The chaos of this semester and life in general is getting to me.  And so I'll do my final blog post on Feed .  Last week in our presentation I ended our class by discussing how we as teachers, in many ways, are the "feed" to our students... an awesome responsibility really.  Some days I wonder if I'm truly up to the task: am I patient enough? knowledgeable enough? hard-working enough? smart enough? unbiased enough? am I good enough?  do I care enough?  I just don't know.  I guess we'll see.  Through this class, I mean it when I say that I've become much more fully aware of the responsibility we have as teachers to be passionate about learning yet we/I need to learn to allow students to discover their own thinking.  I know that I'll need to work on tweaking my approach to engage the students fully to make decisions on their own.  I fully expect to learn from my colleagues and hope I get placed in the fall with teachers who are beyond excellent at showing me the way. 

As for the book Feed I find that I refer to it a lot.  I actually recommended it to several people lately: my soon-to-be-ex-husband who is obsessed with his social networking business and several people at the MAWCA conference I recently attended.  Although it's not a book that inspired me by its writing or fulfilled me through its characters, this book's message certainly resonates and strikes a chord with me personally.  My marriage became the world of Feed in many ways in its last 2 years.  As my husband aggressively pursued his world of creating his social networking software company and basically worked non-stop to "achieve" his life-long dream to make a lot of money, I retreated into myself and my young children and certainly out of the fast-paced career I had been in for almost 15 years.  Feed's dystopic world with its almost total reliance on technology and focus on consumerism, a world where human thoughts were controlled by the Feednet connection in brains, was fast-paced, exciting, savvy.  Yet, there was little connection amongst humans, little concern for the world around, and there was a void of unplanned time.  I didn't love the characters in Feed.  Titus was uncaring.  Violet was too intense.  The friends of Titus were superficial and lacked any depth.  As I said in class, I guess all of this is the point of the book.  To me the book is a warning that we all need to "disconnect" from the feeds of media, of social networking, of the Internet, of consumerism... and we need to remember what it means to think before we communicate, to make decisions alone, to truly connect, to truly care.  Time "disconnected" to "connect" is definitely time well-spent.  This allows us to see what is really happening in our lives and in the world around us. 

Do I dare disturb the universe? Onwards armed with new strategies

Do I dare disturb the universe?First of all, I’d like to thank all the students in the class.  You make me realize that, indeed, I am making the right choice by returning to teaching after such a long, long time away.  I am very impressed with all of you and have really enjoyed exploring the amazing books and articles we read this semester.  It has been a dynamic learning experience for me, one housed in a comfortable, safe, and supportive environment.   It’s hard for me to believe a few of you are freshmen.  It really gives me hope for our future (and I am not always an openly hopeful person).  Thanks especially to my team members on the group project.  It has been a real creative endeavor!  Even though we haven’t gone yet, I feel like I’ve learned a ton in the process already.

I do believe this class could transform my teaching approach.  Importantly, this class taught me strategies which could save me.  I’m not quite there yet in my study of teaching and strategy implementation, but I have certainly been armed with a bevy full of approaches I can utilize in my teaching.  I plan to at least try to take more of a guide-on-the side approach to teaching.  I and the students (I underline because I won’t be in the driver’s seat all the time) will explore literature and cultural and historical influences on thinking.  I mentioned before that what I’ve learned could save me:  I have a tendency to take on a lot and really have to watch burnout.  Through this class I’ve learned strategies to direct and support learning in such a way that gets students more engaged as they explore learning themselves. YET, did mention that I still have to monitor myself for burnout?  Quite frankly, I’m at a tipping point this semester with all the schoolwork, family life, part-time job, and other things.  So I know, burnout is something I need to sidestep.  At any rate, the real question is, “Do I dare disturb the universe.”   It’s funny that one of the first readings we did this semester asked Prufrock’s question?  Do I dare?  I’m still worried that when push comes to shove that I go back to my old, probably more lucrative career.  I hope I stay strong.

Strategies:

·         Literature circles:  I love this and really enjoyed the class we had focused on this.  This is a great way to keep students engaged in the material.  By giving them choice of books and flexibility with roles, you really give students strong teasers to get them into the reading.

·         Gallery:  What a great idea!  I can see this applied in many different ways.  I was surprised by how much I took in looking at other people’s write-ups.  It is a great, fun idea for many projects.

·         Very targeted supplemental reading:  The additional articles we had to read to accompany each of the books really enhanced the overall experience of the main book.  I realize that this is a key to furthering student understanding.

·         Graphic novels:  Use them: taps into a multi-modal reading experience.  I loved American-Born Chinese.  I’m on the fence with Manga Shakespeare but am much more open-minded then I was.

·         Ask and Answer:  good strategy to get students thinking about the literature and coming up with questions on their own.

·         Visuals:  I liked how we used pictures, drawings, videos, etc. to learn more about the content.  Seeing this really makes me realize what can be used in lessons to build access-ways to learning.

·         Perspectives:  give students different perspectives, e.g. study the Book Thief about a German girl and then Night about a Jewish man: both during WWII.

·         Drama:  I hope to create opportunities for using drama in lesson plans.  Clearly, in our class alone there are many budding actors on the verge of a breakthrough.  I loved when students had to vote for/against teaching books in the classroom.  Very funny.  Erin and Nate were so hilarious (oh wait, isn’t that Heidi’s word?).  Also enjoyed when we translated excerpts from Early Modern English into language used today.  Cassie encouraging me to use creative language;)  Also loved the stereotyping exercise we ran through Group 1’s presentation.  Fun.

·         Music:  I really enjoyed the narrating Shakespeare with music.  Great idea!

·         Blogging:  Didn’t think I’d be a fan.  I also wasn’t sure if folks would engage/read as much without more formal assignments.  I  was surprised at how effective it was.

·         Tweets:  Okay, so I haven’t been a fan of tweeting to date.  But, I was really glad to get an opportunity to try it out with a pseudonym.  The assignment was fun.

·         Creating own vignette:  Creative writing on vignettes really was a great way to get into the thinking of the writer and/or the time.

Other tips:

·         Be sure to use WAIT time.  Dr. Mortimore gave me a key piece of advice: when I ask a question and first don’t get a response… count to 5 in my head before continuing to see if students respond.  I need to do this!

·         Be careful with the homework you assign:  be sure it is directly related to the lesson’s objectives; make sure instructions are clear.

·         Use a website to keep assignments and reading materials in a single repository.  I have/have had other classes in which it can get confusing because assignments keep changing and/or materials are passed out.  Planning up front will help avoid this.

·         As YGBB mentioned, “learning is social.”  I need to ensure I engage students in meaningful social activity in the classroom.  Group work can be fun and extremely informative.

In teaching as in life, my motto is to play the ball where it lies.  In life there are many things I don’t have control over and the best I can do is develop a strategy to move forward.  In teaching literature I’ll have heterogeneous classrooms: students will have different needs, strengths, weaknesses, personalities, and supports at their disposal.  I will choose various methods, many of which I learned more about in this class.  I hope to inspire students to search for knowledge, be open to new ideas, and learn how to live in the modern ever-changing world.   Yes, it’s a world of “feeds.”  Sometimes it is a world in which it’s hard to know who is controlling my thoughts or whether I am thinking or am capable of thinking freely.  And I admit, I sometimes like to remember The Growing Tree without thinking, “Why is the tree a woman?”  And yes, I like to just sit and watch The Lion King without thinking Nala, you should have “stepped up.“  Undoubtedly, there’s so much about life I can learn from the study literature.  So onwards I hope to go…  Round 2 or 3 or 4 career-wise?  Who’s counting?

Feelings -- to -- No One is to Blame -- to -- Beat It... Oh my! Cheaper than therapy...

So, I need to choose 3 songs that at one point in my life I connected to.... so here goes.  Can't write too much 'cause I"m OVERLOADED by end-of-semester.

Ironically, the first song I'm going to choose is a super-cheesy song.  I'm only choosing it because I think the story is kind of ironic and funny really as to why I connected to it in one point in my life.  It's the cheesy song from the 70s?  called "Feelings."  I was living in Hong Kong at the time and had one of my first real jobs: teaching English in Hong Kong.  My boyfriend and I went to dinner at a revolving restaurant which at the time was super-posh for our shoestring budget.  I was wearing this horrible brown dress that I wore all the time in my classrooms...  my intern's budget didn't handle name brands.  At any rate, at one point my boyfriend waved over a Filipino band and then he got down on one knee and pulled out a ring.  The people at tables around us looked over... smiles abound.  And then the band started playing..... a romantic love song??  Nope.  They started playing, "You've lost that loving feeling."  My soon-to-be-husband started waving his hands and saying NOOOO not that song... something else.  So then they started playing the cheesy love song called "Feelings."  Not the most romantic choice for a marriage proposal.  But hey, sometimes you gotta roll with it:

Feelings lyrics
Feelings
Nothing more than feelings,
Trying to forget my feelings of love

Teardrops,
Rolling down on, my face
Trying to forget my, feelings of love

Feelings,
For all my life I'll feel it
I’ll wish I've never met you, girl
You'll never come again

Feelings,
Wo-o-o feelings
Wo-o-o feelings
Again in my heart

Okay, second song.  I'm choosing this just because I really used to love Howard Jones.  He actually came to Dickinson College in Carlisle and may have been one of my first real concerts?  I can't remember.  It may have been INXS.  At any rate, I love this song....  It's called "No One is to Blame."

No One Is To Blame lyrics
You can look at the menu
but you just can't eat
You can feel the cushion
but you can't have a seat
You can dip your foot in the pool
but you can't have a swim
You can feel the punishment
but you can't commit the sin

(chorus)
And you want her
And she wants you
We want everyone
And you want her
And she wants you
No one, no one
No one ever is to blame

You can build a mansion
but you just can't live in it
You're the fastest runner
but you're not allowed to win
Some break the rules
and live to count the cost
[- From :http://www.elyrics.net/read/h/howard-jones-lyrics/no-one-is-to-blame-lyrics.html -]
The insecurity is the
thing that won't get lost

(chorus)

You can see the summit
but you can't reach it
It's the last piece of the puzzle
but you just can't make it fit
Doctor says you're cured
but you still feel the pain
Aspirations in the clouds
but your hopes go down the drain

And you want her
And she wants you (wants you)
We want everyone
And you want her
And she wants you (wants you)
No one, no one
No one ever is to blame
No one ever is to blame
No one ever is to blame

Finally, I guess I have to put a song from the Thriller album.  I think that was the first record (yes "record"... not download and not CD) I purchased.  I must have been in 6th grade?  Again, not sure.  I do remember that my older brother had purchased it and wanted to be the ONLY one in the family who owned it.  So I had to hide the record between my mattress for fear that he might discover it.  I played it on my record player with my friends only when he wasn't home.

Beat It lyrics
Michael Jackson Cover

They told him don't you ever come around here
Don't wanna see your face, you better disappear
The fire's in their eyes and their words are really clear
So beat it, just beat it

You better run, you better do what you can
Don't wanna see no blood, don't be a macho man
You wanna be tough, better do what you can
So beat it, but you wanna be bad

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right
Just beat it, beat it
Just beat it, beat it
Just beat it, beat it
Just beat it, beat it

They're out to get you, better leave while you can
Don't wanna be a boy, you wanna be a man
You wanna stay alive, better do what you can
So beat it, just beat it

You have to show them that you're really not scared
You're playin' with your life, this ain't no truth or dare
They'll kick you, then they beat you,
Then they'll tell you it's fair
So beat it, but you wanna be bad

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right
{ From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/a/anoop-desai-lyrics/beat-it-lyrics.html }

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right
Just beat it, beat it
Beat it, beat it, beat it

Beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or who's right

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right
Just beat it, beat it
Beat it, beat it, beat it

Beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or who's right

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Just beat it, beat it
Beat it, beat it, beat it

 

 

So I wrote this pretty quickly but does it tell me something that I go from "Feelings," to "No one is to Blame," to "Beat It."  Maybe that's the true story!

Has anyone else in class even heard of the TV show "Moonlighting" ???

Really, am I the only one in class that actually watched a show called "Moonlighting" that was mentioned in the article I read, "Shakespeare and the At-Risk Student"?  Just wondering.

All of this talk about Shakespeare reminds me of my first (and really only) experience teaching Shakespeare.  I taught in a Chinese college in Hong Kong for a year and a half in the mid-90s.  I’ll never forget when the student group assigned to cover Romeo and Juliet absolutely BLEW me away with their lively, memorized, engaging, full-on dramatic rendition of the play.  They had rewritten the play to key scenes and designed it all to run about 30 minutes.  Students memorized and delivered their lines in a virtually flawless performance.  All students wore full costume.  Juliet even perched on a desk as she called out to Romeo.  They may have even kissed?   I can’t remember. The Chinese students used some of the most precise enunciation they had used all semester.  The students wrote to me later in their journals that the project was one of the most inspiring they had ever done.  Admittedly, it was their creativity and their drive that produced the good work they did.  I only facilitated and acted as the guide-on-the-side.  It was a real lesson to me on the importance of letting students free so they can create freely. 

Gleaves, Slagle, and Twaryonas supply inspiration and ideas I’ll definitely use in their article on “Shakespeare and the At-Risk Student.”  As a future special education teacher, I expect to sometimes question whether I should be using multiple modalities and alternative/modified texts for teaching harder texts.  I like that these authors embrace the idea that “at-risk students could not only present and perform, but be appropriate audience members.”  The teachers espoused the belief that “all… students can understand and appreciate the works of William Shakespeare.”   I found it interesting that Patti introduced her sophomore students to the text by first watching a film, e.g. she introduced The Taming of the Shrew by first having students view Zeffirelli’s film of the play, starting Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.  They ended the class by viewing the Moonlighting spoof (strangely enough I vaguely recall when this came out).  Patti used Zeffirelli’s Hamlet to  help students connect to the drama.  She also used scene-by-scene summaries, character poems, improvisation, and journal writing (and the Moonlighting spoof again).    All of this emphasizes that the multi-modal approach is critical to engaging students, particularly at-risk students.  This all comes back to the importance of creating multiple access points to text and learning.  With at-risk students, there is a likelihood that a text-only approach would not engage and would not appeal to all students’ strengths.  The multi-pronged approach of video, writing, reading, speaking will appeal to a wider variety of the student strengths in order to encourage learning.

Clearly, a key part of teaching Shakespeare is ensuring students can connect to the text.  I particularly liked Patti’s point that having students present complete scenes is unwieldy and perhaps too daunting for students who are at-risk.  She instead had students choose single incidents and improvise the scenes using their own language and dialects.  Patti found these improvised incidents “increased success” and further engaged students.  David suggests that students need to become familiar with Shakespeare, audiences of the time, and “Elizabethan customs, belief, and family life.”  Through studying this, students compare and contrast their own lives with life in Shakespeare’s time.  He used Papp and Kirkland’s Shakespeare Alive! (1988) to guide students in this study.  I definitely need to check out this book!  I liked how he assigned small groups a chapter; students had to select five things from their chapter and present the information back to the class.

 The teachers’ descriptions of their efforts to engage these at-risk students in the Shakespeare Celebration inspires me to provide similar opportunities for my future students to participate and “own” such an event by choosing and planning the medium for contribution.  Students could provide art or projects for display, present text from Shakespeare through dramatizations, skits, videos, reenactments,  or choral reading, be a master of ceremony or stage manager.  Each student chose a project for the event.  The teachers noted that the key elements to the event were that the study and performance should be fun and that the effort should focus on collaboration in the classroom.  The results were that  students improved their attitudes toward their responsibilities, gained renewed or new found confidence as learners, and enhanced their self esteem.  I hope I’m creative enough to get this going in my own classrooms!!

I finished the Manga Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet, but I’m just not sure I love reading it over the original Romeo and Juliet.  I need to think on this a little more.   At this point, I’d prefer to stick to the original.  I might, however, give students an opportunity to read this in a group project.  Or maybe, I’d take a scene from the original and compare it to this.  I guess I’m still getting used to the idea of the graphic novel.  I feel like there’s so much we can do with the original, and like the teachers in “Shakespeare and the At-Risk Student,” I do feel that all students can appreciate the work of Shakespeare in some way.  At any rate, I am very interested in hearing the responses and ideas of my classmates to this debate.

Thank goodness our class isn't held in Dauphin Room 101...

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

I'm not going to make much sense tonight.  There are some days when novels like 1984  may not be quite the novel you need for life and inspiration.  Today is one of those days.  Lighter fare would be welcomed but that's me... that's me right now at least.  I did, however, choose to read this book; it's something I've wanted to delve into for awhile.  Yes, there are days that I prefer to not think and worry about what I could and should be thinking about... the freedoms I should appreciate. This week maybe not ideal, but I proceed.

More pause is required for serious daring within.  Some thoughts I've contemplated through the reading:

1.  The power of literacy.  The unpower of ignorance.  The unpower of literacy.  The power of ignorance.  In 1984 we read the slogans of the Party.  I'd be wiped out in an instant: challenged on discretion;  physical pain unacceptable.  Yet, the theme of literacy and its effects, the focus on words/language/vocabulary/nuance and access to it streams throughout many of the books we've read recently:  The Book Thief, Night, Feed, 1984, Anne Frank.  Elie Wiesel's efforts to capture his experiences through words as a way forward into the future.  Liesel's efforts in The Book Thief to gain access to words and books.  Nazi efforts to discourage non-Party reading.  Feed's view of the future and the negative impact of non-free-thinking, non-influenced decision making, and little contemplative thinking at all.  In the world of 1984 the destruction of words is seen by many as a beautiful thing, yet Winston recognizes this as just part of the effort to make "thought-crime" impossible. No longer do we need 50 words for "good" and 50 words for "bad:" now good/ungood all based on one single word.

All of these works focus on literacy, the power of words, the power of creativity; it's all contrasted by the efforts to crush this power to support totalitarianism.  1984 presents a dim view of humanity's future through its presentation of the almost-Nazi-like effort by Big Brother to eliminate words.  1984 takes it even further so that the effort to achieve acquiescence, docility comes not just from burning books and eliminating access but by eliminating actual words and any nuances in language.    All history becomes rewriting; history essentially is eliminated.  It's a dismal view of the capacity within humanity. 

2.  Are we really capable of love?  Are we not really just in survival mode all the time? The views of human nature are startling in 1984  as in Night.  We saw real-life son stealing food from a father in Night.  We saw Winston turning in his lover because he couldn't stand the torture in 1984.  Winston is reborn, recommitted to life through his love affair but in the end just ends up fending for himself.  His belief in friendship through O'Brien faulty.  Humans who cope well in love with no serious roadblocks end up giving in.  Is there truly a brotherhood or family unit?  Maybe abuse of power simply pervades. 

As I said, the book presents a dismal view.

Did I mention I may need some lighter fare in terms of reading right now?  More discussion to come in class.

Sleeping or deluded? Lights to action

And again, I am stunned by our reading.  This week I was fortunate enough to read Night by Elie Wiesel: an account of Elie Wiesel’s memories as he is taken from his home and struggles to survive in the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald at the end of WWII.  We see yet another perspective of lives in WWII.  The Book Thief gave us a view into some of the experiences of Jews in WWII through Max and other glimpses of Jews during the holocaust: being marked with yellow stars, being thrown out of homes, marching to camps.  We see all this through the eyes of Liesel, a German child.  With Night, we encounter an intensity of experience through the eyes of Elie, who was a Jewish child during the holocaust; his experience is hard to even fathom.  We get an understanding of the horrors and horrific acts committed against Jews in World War II.  We see a startling view of the depths of evil in humanity. This view of our base degradation and capabilities will penetrate any reader and is horrific.  This book does not leave me.

After I finished reading the book, I wrote in my journal “what are we doing to help the world and those in it?  What am I doing?”  Not enough.  Not enough.  I hear calls for movement. 

In Wiesel’s Nobel Price Acceptance Speech in 1986, he reminds us that we must take action for “action is the only remedy to indifference, the most insidious danger of all.”  He reminds us that “one person of integrity can make a difference, a difference of life and death.”    Wiesel’s writing is a call to take sides for humanity.  Wiesel talks about how his boyhood self, before he discovered the “Kingdom of Night” – “The ghetto.  The Deportation.  The sealed cattle car.  The fiery altar upon which the history of our people and the future of mankind were meant to be sacrificed” – turns to his older self and says, “Tell me… what have you done with my future, what have you done with your life?”   Wiesel reminds us that “[W]herever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views” that we must “take sides.” 

There’s so much running through my head after reading this book.  Wiesel understandably questions, “Where is God?”  How does mankind inflict this suffering on others?  How do we?  What are we made of?  What really constitutes our souls?  Who are we at our base?   What are we doing to bring change? to save lives?

I’ve sat in inaction for awhile now doing very little.  I thought I would know more about life and God and people and myself by this point in life.  I look to my children and my family and my friends as guides towards answers or resolution or peace.  We’ll see if there’s real action.  “We know that every moment is a moment of grace, every hour an offering; not to share them would mean to betray them.  Our lives no longer belong to us alone; they belong to all those who need us desperately.” 

It’s nighttime now.   “To sleep.  To dream.”  Maybe the answers and action will come.

More on ideas for teaching this powerful book Wednesday….

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office and the spurns

That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscover'd country from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

[Hamlet]

"I am haunted by..." The Book Thief

* * * RENEWSTEW DICTIONARY MEANING #1 * * *

haunted--

preoccupied, as with an emotion, memory, or idea; obsessed OR disturbed; distressed; worried

 

The last note from our omniscient narrator, Death:  "I am haunted by humans" (550).  When I finished the other books we read this semester, I was able to immediately put my thoughts into words.  But with this book, I sit and wait for the words to come.  Ironically, words are such a key symbol throughout the book.  And so I'll struggle in my blog.  I cannot do this book justice in any of my writing, so I'll just simply state:  this... book.. was... so... goooooooood.  I am haunted.  Maybe I'll try to rewrite my submission tomorrow as I'm in that state of silence, regret, and sorrow when you finish reading a good book; it's hard to write.

In The Book Thief, Death narrates the story of Liesel Meminger as she navigates through desolating and devastating sorrows that occur in her young life in WWII Nazi Germany: the death of her brother, the absence of her real mother.  She finds love and friendship again through her foster parents, her friend Rudy, and the Jewish "fighter" Max hidden by her new family in their basement.  Yet, she again moves on to desolation and devastation with the events in the end of the book and the total decimation of most of the love in her life.  The book--character, plot, symbolism--provides moving insight into a perspective of Nazi Germany that is painful, startling yet passionately brave.  "The sun stirs the earth.  Around and around, it stirs us, like stew" (519).  As Liesel watches the Jews march down the road to Dachau, “to concentrate” (388), she notes that "The world is an ugly stew,...so ugly I can't stand it" (520). 

It was very, very hard to put the book down, and I loved that.

At nine years of age Liesel arrives in Molching Germany on the train with The Grave Digger's Handbook, a book she stole from the burial site of her brother.  As we progress through Liesel's story as she adjusts to her new life in her foster home, we track life in WWII and the rise of Hitler.  We also see Liesel's struggle to learn to read; we journey with her in her pursuit to steal books.  She even steals from the mayor's library.  She steals a dictionary and begins tracking words:  happiness, forgiveness, fear, word, opportunity, misery, silence, and regret.  As she progresses in her literacy, in her knowledge of atrocities, and in her pain--Liesel frames her world with these words: "I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right" (528).  She manages to escape and live but her words are also used to poignantly experience the enduring losses that weave through her life.  Yet she lives and experiences joy through her new “sight” in living and literacy.

There's really so much you could write about and explore with students in this book:  Death as the narrator/use of foreshadowing? Liesel as a character of hope?  The power/symbol of words?  Characters?  The title of the book and Liesel's pursuit of books?  themes? 

It's a long book and yes, it covers some violent/difficult themes.  It's probably more appropriate for later years of high school.  But, it's an intriguing, gripping read, and I think students will become engaged in the writing and in the history surrounding the period of the text.  With this book students will want to immerse themselves in the thievery (book thief), analyze the dreams and failed dreams it addresses (dream carrier), and “shake out” their own words as they write on key themes it explores (word shaker). 
I can really see class discussion taking off.  Thanks for putting this book on our syllabus!

Check out interesting video of Markus Zusak talking about the book:
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Thief-Markus-Zusak/dp/0375842209