Stuff We Are Reading
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Recently- quite by accident – I shared a book about the Beatles in a basic skills class. It was sticking out of my backpack: Sgt. Pepper at 50. To my absolute surprise and delight, my students were inspired by the look, the sound, and the legend of the Beatles. Who knew? We are now developing…
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I’ve created a discussion board on Canvas called “Book Out of Your Past.” Here I tell my students the selection they submit will tell us a lot about them. You know, like “You are what you read.” I’m not asking for a book review, but I want my students to reflect on their reading experience.…
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In my English classes this week I’m asking my students to create “Stuff We’re Reading” tab at the top of their writing blogs. I want them to hold on to what they read. What’s wrong with that? My only request for them is not to write a “book report.” I would prefer for them to…
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This summer I’m trying to emphasize group work. We’ve developed CANVAS groups. We’re working on Google groups and Google Slides. The goal is for my students to listen LESS to me and talk MORE to each other. It’s called learning through collaboration. So, we’re reading T.C. Boyle’s award winning short story “The Love of My…
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This week I ask my students to re-examine the novel they just read — The Tortilla Curtain. Much of the behavior they read about on the page, they can see right before their eyes in their own communities. In 1995, author T.C. Boyle wrote about a racial division in this country. Sadly, the hatred and…
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Earlier this month, I participated in a UCR writer’s workshop/conference. I shared thirty pages of my Mexicali writing with other MFA grads. They diced it, they sliced, and they handed it back to me with their critiques. I’m so happy I went. I often tell my students I write best with the anticipation of someone…
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This week my students hand in the first drafts of their community profiles. I’ve asked them to approach someone in their community with an important story to tell. We’re writing of teen-age pregnancies, gender issues, the threat of deportation “Put yourselves in someone else’s shoes,” I tell my students. We’re searching for a deeper understanding…
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In a few of my classes, we we are reading a sixties novel. Along the way we discuss Cesar Chavez, Vietnam, The Moonlanding, The Women’s Movement. Our research papers explore civil rights, political upheaval, and drug abuse, among other important social and historical trends and events. Recently, I read to them something about the tragic…
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We’re fast approaching our second week of the semester, and I’m asking my students to share a “Book Out Of Their Past.” My hope is to generate a discussion of positive reading experiences on our class discussion board. I know. I know. We are all stressed and confused for what is happening around us. Some…
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This first week of the semester I assign tuff-stuff, cause and effect essays in many of my classes. I ask my students to examine difficult decisions they have made in their lives. I ask them to pause, reflect, and open up. For example, if my students are anything like I was at their age, they’ve…