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 

No more "tourist" readers

Multiculturalism... what is it?  Is it something you teach?  No not really.  Do you study it?  No.  According to Hade, we need to think of multiculturalism as a perspective, a stance, an awareness as we interpret stories and also, as we choose what stories we will teach our students.  The point of a multiculturalistic approach is not to just "fill a gap," a gap in knowledge or experience because of lack of association because of knowledge and experience and differences...  Instead, it is a perspective and awareness in reading that enables us to learn about justice and expose injustice (according to Hade).  Hade's article further informs me of the importance of choosing texts and encouraging dialogue about texts that enable us to yes, suspend disbelief as we are encouraged to do by Tolkein/Coleridge, etc, but it also highlights that all readers weave in knowledge, experience, "baggage" that informs their creation of meaning.  The interactions that take place in the classroom which enable students to identify race, gender, class issues and discuss them facilitate a much more elevated function, as Hade highlights, of "critiquing the world."  This is why teachers have such awesome responsibility and why the "canons" must exist in flux if they exist at all.  At times I admit, I am conflicted in this pursuit as I read books and watch movies.  Can't I just relax and enjoy The Lion King as it is and not worry about assumptions about gender?  I guess the point is that I can, really, and students can too...and will... but, according to Hade, that's "tourist" mode and/or is exists because of different perpectives on what constitutes symbols of gender, race, and class.  As teachers we need to try and elevate students' reading and interest in reading to "a pedagogy of critique, change, and justice."  Freakin' heavy duty stuff and responsibility for us all.  And so I delve further into the world of Mango Street and Maycomb County for Wednesday...

Graphic Novels... Engaging, Nuanced, Multifaceted

Let’s just say I’m very pleasantly surprised at the complexity and richness of graphic novels.  Yesterday I finished American Born Chinese which was an interesting experience for me.  I haven’t really read graphic novels, and I admit I’ve been glancing at the book on my bookshelf trying to get myself to get it started.  Overall, the book was an easy read, something I appreciate on my weekends of reading.  But what surprised me was how the graphics really captured so many character and story nuances and added so much to the overall story.  I didn’t think I would be drawn in, engaged so much.  I don’t know why I was so surprised by this – I guess it has been awhile since I’ve read much in this medium.  My immersion to stories is generally through print-only books --  or movies.  So this was very refreshing. 

The story was rich, poignant, and relevant to young adults today.  We struggle with Jin-Wang as he maneuvers through school.  We experience his drive to fit in, his encounters with stereotypes, and his budding interest in girls.   Jin Wang, Danny, and the Monkey King struggle to find an identity; they struggle to accept themselves… no shoes and all (in the case of the Monkey King).  We learn about tolerance (and intolerance) of other cultures, stereotyping, racism.  Jin Wang…the Chinese-American boy who just wants to fit in.  Danny…the boy Jin Wang wants to be.  And the Monkey King who struggles and struggles to fit in as one of the immortal gods in heaven by mastering the twelve disciplines of kung fu – all to transcend his form as a monkey.

In the end, the characters only come around when they embrace what’s different and unique in themselves.  The monkey is freed from his imprisonment of rock when he realizes “how good it is to be a monkey.”  Jin-Yang finally finds the true friendship he seeks.

I particularly enjoyed reading about the conventions of comics: the importance of the gutter, reading between the panels, closure.  As you poignantly say, “Reader and medium are enjoined in a complicated (yet pleasurable) interplay to unpack the images that unfold before them.”  The gutter encourages the imagination of the reader.  Shading, color, the shape of word balloons knit complex, personal experiences for each reader and make stories accessible through multiple mediums, the multimodality that “The Conventions of Comics” discusses. 

I am drawn to your discussion regarding the New London Group which highlights that “what students [need] to learn [is] changing” and “there is not a singular, canonical English that could or should be taught more.  Rather, educators must begin to shift their understanding of literacy and literacy education to recognize both cultural difference and the rise of communication media—forms of literacy that challenge traditional notions of what it means to be “literate” in society today.”  Just the other day in another class, we watched a presentation intended us to inspire us as teachers.  It compared the amount of information available at our fingertips today versus 15 years ago and talked about the rapid changes in terms of wealth and demographics.  It also compared US educational standards and success compared to other nations such as India and China.  I definitely agree with the point of the presentation; however, I sometimes wonder if enough is being done with teacher education programs to make us better prepared to handle ourselves in the classrooms and keep up.  In every single class we should be leveraging technology, search engines, web sites in creative ways to keep us informed...

What is apparent to me through our blogging experience and through reading the articles you presented, is that technology and/or embracing multiple literacies certainly is a pedagogy that must consider “the multicultural and diverse society that we all live in and broadens our understanding of “literature” to include multimedia and visual forms of literacy.”  I bring up my special education studies because they truly emphasize finding the student access point to learning and building upon strengths.    The Frey and Fisher article demonstrates how they “used popular culture and the media to invite students into school literacy.”  This article really excited me because this presented a real-life example of how two teachers successfully used graphic novels and popular culture to improve students’ writing skills.  The graphic novels and activities engaged the students…acted as “the hook,” and the teachers were able to weave in writing instruction into the creative activities.  I plan to look up more information on these strategies mentioned:

·     Said is Dead lesson to help students use more creative ways to indicate speech versus using the word “said” (21)

·     Triple Sentence Sessions to teach students how to convey several ideas in one or two sentences (21)

·     Language Experience Approach (23)

Some of the ideas I’d explore for lesson plans:

--Have students discuss stereotypes and write about an instance where they tried to fit in and compare to how Jin tries to fit in.

--Explore why graphic novel was a good choice for this book and the story

--Write an autobiographical outline from an episode in the student’s life or a family member and having the student create a storyboard

I googled various lesson plans and liked these ideas:

--http://www.firstsecondbooks.com/teachers/abcLesson.html

--Recommends a good approach with students would be to have students read the book and then have the assignment of looking at portrayals of Asian Americans in several genres of comics back through the 1950s.

--Students could review this site and find more information about the legend of the monkey king:

http://www.humblecomics.com/monkey/

My thinking is a little scattered tonight as I take in all this information (and kids home from school now… Winnie-the-Pooh and Christopher Robin interrupting my thinking).  At any rate, I am looking forward to class discussion.