Thursday, November 29, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
NCTE - New York 2007
I was able to catch Beah's speech at NCTE in New York! He was awe inspiring and actually answered the majority of the questions we posed during class discussions.
1) He commented that people falsely assume that the healing process is instantaneous. He is still healing from his memories and his dreams which still haunt him. He continues to have night terrors and nightmares, but understands that he has to deal with them. He says he remains sane by saying to himself after having a bad dream, "I am in America in Brooklyn, what could possibly happen?" (West-White's inner monologue: Of course the crowd roared with laughter for multiple reasons: no doubt we all realize that our neighborhoods are not as safe as we would like to think, or because we have misconceptions about "unsafe" areas within America and that they deserve to be "unsafe".)
2) He was quoted as saying that he has killed more people then he would like to remember. Again, his response to this was that he is still healing and his past is apart of who and what he is and can't erase the past without effecting his future.
3) In Sierra Leone, he stated that the teacher was the only person with a book, so if you wanted to read the book you had to be nice to the teacher and run extra errands to gain favor. Thus, he was shocked when he began school at Oberlin and went to the bookstore and was give his books. He said he remarked, "Are you serious? These are all mine? To keep?" He used this to also comment on how his fellow classmates took so much for granted (Americans as well).
4) He stated that although he believed in God, he did not follow one religion. His father raised him Muslim and he attended schools to learn to read the Quran. His mother was Christian and he loved the songs and praise that occurs within Christian churches. His present mom (the lady in NY) is Jewish but practices Buddhism as well. He stated that all the religions share the basic tenets, but he doesn't know what religion he will experience...
5) He stated that he wrote the book in chronological order and that it was originally 500, 1.5 spaced pages. He felt no one would read that many pages from a new writer so he focused on the two main stories found in the book: childhood in Sierra Leone before the war and the victory of overcoming obstacles. (I didn't take notes, so I am pretty sure these were the two points. This is why I figured I better write this and send it out before I forget any more.)
Here are a few videos of Beah:
http://fora.tv/fora/showthread.php?t=728
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K4yhPSQEzo
Furthermore, as you probably know, much of the talk around this year's convention centered on technology. I attended a presentation by Kylene Beers and this is what she had to say:
As she visits more and more schools throughout the country she is finding a digital divide along racial lines. It's not that minority students aren't using technology, but much of the technology she has witnessed them using is the computer as a glorified electronic workbook for remediation. She further stated that she can walk down the hall and find white students doing things with technology such as uploading projects to the internet, creating digital stories (with a purpose), etc. She is saddened by the fact that simply putting minority at the back of the bus is not the issue, but rather not allowing them on the bus at all.
Since many of the new jobs created in the future will demand much techno savvy, not instructing and engaging them in meaningful uses of technology is almost criminal. Especially since not doing so will limit their employability, skills and quality of life. Take a look at Google's job application for further evidence. Also, google "lit trips" which have been created with Google Earth to highlight the places within a novel where the characters live, travel, author info, etc. for all grade levels.
First, you will need to download Google Earth if you have not.
http://earth.google.com/
Many novels have been done for you as a teacher, (Kylene demonstrated using Grapes of Wrath) but if one isn't there. Find out how to create one and go for it... I know you can do it!
http://web.mac.com/jburg/GoogleLit/Home.html
What's New in Google Lit Trips...
November 18, 2007: Lit Trip for Robert McCloskey's Make Way for Ducklings
October 27, 2007: Lit Trip for James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
October 6, 2007: Step-Guide for Creating Route Paths for Google Lit Trips
Here are a few other sites:
http://elemenous.typepad.com/weblog/2007/03/mapping_literar.html - this is also a good example of an eduation blog
http://web.mac.com/jburg/GoogleLit/Lit_Trip_Tips.html
1) He commented that people falsely assume that the healing process is instantaneous. He is still healing from his memories and his dreams which still haunt him. He continues to have night terrors and nightmares, but understands that he has to deal with them. He says he remains sane by saying to himself after having a bad dream, "I am in America in Brooklyn, what could possibly happen?" (West-White's inner monologue: Of course the crowd roared with laughter for multiple reasons: no doubt we all realize that our neighborhoods are not as safe as we would like to think, or because we have misconceptions about "unsafe" areas within America and that they deserve to be "unsafe".)
2) He was quoted as saying that he has killed more people then he would like to remember. Again, his response to this was that he is still healing and his past is apart of who and what he is and can't erase the past without effecting his future.
3) In Sierra Leone, he stated that the teacher was the only person with a book, so if you wanted to read the book you had to be nice to the teacher and run extra errands to gain favor. Thus, he was shocked when he began school at Oberlin and went to the bookstore and was give his books. He said he remarked, "Are you serious? These are all mine? To keep?" He used this to also comment on how his fellow classmates took so much for granted (Americans as well).
4) He stated that although he believed in God, he did not follow one religion. His father raised him Muslim and he attended schools to learn to read the Quran. His mother was Christian and he loved the songs and praise that occurs within Christian churches. His present mom (the lady in NY) is Jewish but practices Buddhism as well. He stated that all the religions share the basic tenets, but he doesn't know what religion he will experience...
5) He stated that he wrote the book in chronological order and that it was originally 500, 1.5 spaced pages. He felt no one would read that many pages from a new writer so he focused on the two main stories found in the book: childhood in Sierra Leone before the war and the victory of overcoming obstacles. (I didn't take notes, so I am pretty sure these were the two points. This is why I figured I better write this and send it out before I forget any more.)
Here are a few videos of Beah:
http://fora.tv/fora/showthread.php?t=728
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K4yhPSQEzo
Furthermore, as you probably know, much of the talk around this year's convention centered on technology. I attended a presentation by Kylene Beers and this is what she had to say:
As she visits more and more schools throughout the country she is finding a digital divide along racial lines. It's not that minority students aren't using technology, but much of the technology she has witnessed them using is the computer as a glorified electronic workbook for remediation. She further stated that she can walk down the hall and find white students doing things with technology such as uploading projects to the internet, creating digital stories (with a purpose), etc. She is saddened by the fact that simply putting minority at the back of the bus is not the issue, but rather not allowing them on the bus at all.
Since many of the new jobs created in the future will demand much techno savvy, not instructing and engaging them in meaningful uses of technology is almost criminal. Especially since not doing so will limit their employability, skills and quality of life. Take a look at Google's job application for further evidence. Also, google "lit trips" which have been created with Google Earth to highlight the places within a novel where the characters live, travel, author info, etc. for all grade levels.
First, you will need to download Google Earth if you have not.
http://earth.google.com/
Many novels have been done for you as a teacher, (Kylene demonstrated using Grapes of Wrath) but if one isn't there. Find out how to create one and go for it... I know you can do it!
http://web.mac.com/jburg/GoogleLit/Home.html
What's New in Google Lit Trips...
November 18, 2007: Lit Trip for Robert McCloskey's Make Way for Ducklings
October 27, 2007: Lit Trip for James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
October 6, 2007: Step-Guide for Creating Route Paths for Google Lit Trips
Here are a few other sites:
http://elemenous.typepad.com/weblog/2007/03/mapping_literar.html - this is also a good example of an eduation blog
http://web.mac.com/jburg/GoogleLit/Lit_Trip_Tips.html
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