Last Book

The Last book I read was another graphic novel. It was titled Y The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan. This is also a series just like Sweet tooth the series is called Unmanned. That name is really significant because the whole tale is about how there is a freak accident and at the same time all over the world every man, animal and human dies. It is really interesting because there are a lot of key elements that play into this tale that you could use to incorporate into a classroom. This would have to be used in a high school classroom maybe an honors class. But there are politics, science, and obviously huge gender roles to be talked about in this book. Through out the whole book there are a lot of side stories going on through it and at the end they all tie together to lead into the next book. I think the three most interesting parts of this book are first how there is one man who lives but he survives with his pet monkey. You do not find out in the first book why the monkey survives but you do find out that he is going to play a MAJOR role in the following books. Another part that I find interesting is that when all the men die there is a group of females that join together and call themselves the Amazon. They are the revolutionaries of this time. They rome around on motorcycles and take lives, stand their ground they are the rebels that everyone is scared of. They are a cult and to join the cult you have to show your loyalty by not only killing someone and doing whatever the leader wants but you have to also cut off your left breast...it is not explained in depth in this book why they do this but it is expressed that it will be explained later on. The last part that is really interesting to me that I think you can really incorporate in maybe a politics class or something is that when all the men die the whole white house is empty and all the seats are open except one because there was only one women as the seat of environmental processes. Who then got moved up to president because as succession would have it if every seat a head of her dies she would get to be president. But what is really interesting is that there is a small rebel group that is formed to try and burn down the white house and get their power from the republican party. This group consist of the wives of the men who died. I think you could use this to introduce how succession works maybe...This comic book was really interesting and I am really excited to read the rest of the series.

Sweet Tooth

Over break my older brother and I book swapped and he gave me three comic books. I have never really been one for his comic books but I figured I would give them a try because he was reading my books which was a change for him. I just finished the first one last night, it is called Sweet tooth, Out of The Deep Woods by Jeff lemire. The basic story line of this graphic novel is that there is a plague that is slowly killing off all the humans, but when this plague went into activation there was a birth of kids that were born with some kind of animal in them. They were born with antlers, animal skin, fur, hooves..something. Gus is the main character of this novel in the beginning it is only him and his father. They live in the woods together, his mother died of the plague when he was really young. Gus's father tells his to never leave the woods because there is fire and murder and sin out in the world. Every night they pray for their mother that she is okay in heaven and that someday God will take them there to see her. When his father dies, Gus adventures into the woods to bury him next to his mother and at this point in time he gets hunted by two hunters. Luckily, he is saved by Mr.Jepperd who Gus has seen in his dreams before but never in real life. Mr. Jpperd tells Gus that he is not safe and that he needs to come with him. Now being alone with no family, he goes. Mr.Jepperd explains to Gus that there is a lot of people who would pay a lot of money to have someone like him who is half man half animal but that he would protect him and take him to the preserve where all the other ones are begin keep safe. Gus goes with him and along the way gets the nick name Sweet tooth from Mr.Jepperd because at their first meal Gus would not eat any of the meat that Mr.Jepperd was cooking because he did not want to eat another animal, so Mr.Jeppered gave him candy bars. Which Gus loved! As the story progresses they encounter a lot of situations where people try and steal Sweet Tooth, but Mr.Jepperd save's him. But in the end Mr.Jepperd and Gus get to the preserve and Mr.Jepperd turns Sweet Tooth over for a reward that he was promised. The whole story shows that you can not trust anyone except what you were brought up on. That you should trust your instincts and not just believe what some stranger tells you because they have food and say they will project you!
I really like reading graphic novels. Seeing the really detailed pictures to go along with the story really helps to fully understand what the author is trying to get across rather than just going with the images that I create in my head! I am excited to read the next two comic books my brother gave me. I think this is a great way for students who struggle with reading to read. In high school when we were reading The Great Gatsby our teacher has the book in a graphic novel form and each day someone new got to follow along with the graphic novel form. It really helped a lot of my class mates understand better what was going on in the tale. It makes me think if Romeo and Juliet were in graphic novel form would more students understand it better?

Crank Continued..

I just got about 100 pages deeper into Crank and it is so extremely intense. I love this book. There are so many things to love about it. One thing that is really interesting that I think everyone should read it for or at least pick up the book and flip through it for is some of the sonnets are written in the shape of images.( like a house or an arrow) That is self makes the book more interesting I think. With every turn of the page there is something new and exciting to read about our character. She has traveled down to see her dad who she has not seen since her parents have gotten a divorce. While she is down there she realizes all the reasons her mother has left him and still hates him. He is still a drug abuser, a low life, had a low paying job and does not want to clean him self up. He works at a bowling alley under the table where he gets and abuses the drug coke. While Kristina is down there she meets this boy and falls in love stealing him from the girl who lives down stairs. This whole time that she is with this lover Adam, who everyone calls "buddy" she tells him to call her "Bree" her other half. When she is "Bree" she is not her self she does strange things she tries Crank,the "monster." Her father does not stop her, instead he just does a line with her and lets her walk home alone where she gets raped by three men. There are just so many things that happen with in 100 short pages that are so engaging. She has sex for the first time with Adam and Adam's girl friend see's and jumps out of her bed room window. There are a lot of things as a writer that you can incorporate to keep a reader truing the page and I think that Hopkins has really done it in this situation.
As a reader you picture and imagine what is going to happen next and with most box that I have read like the hanging tree I could guess and guess right what was going to happen next but with this book as i flip the page to see what happens next i find that I am wrong and that the writer has thrown me for a loop. As a reader this is something that I look for in a GREAT book. This book i would recommend to any person of all age levels. maybe 8 grade and up.

The End Of Many

I finished Reading a few books and just did not get a chance to blog about them.
Fahrenheit 451- I finished this book in a really fast manor. I have never finished a book so fast. I think because I enjoyed it so much. And the fact that it fit into the society so much today I could really relate to it. This book was written in 1953 and now today has evolved to actually make its self true. The idea that we do not actually need books to read. The idea that technology is going to take over to the world and we are going to lost touch with all the simply things in life, like reading a paper back novel taking in the old moldy smell of the book. I actually just read and article for my other class that they are coming out with the Human Body 2.0 where we wont need to actually ingest food anymore we can just implant these nano-bots onto our clothes that go into out body when we need nutrients. It is so interesting and scary to think about that we could actually not need to eat to survive! That is what I really take from this book that we are missing out on the small things by moving into this modern world that technology is taking over the world and replacing the simple pleasures that we used to enjoy.

Crank

I started reading Crank this past weekend. I picked it up a long time ago in high school and got about 15 pages in and just stopped because I lost track of time. I picked it up again and really loved it. I forgot why I loved it so much but quickly remembered. It is because of the short quick intriguing sonnets that Ellen Hopkins has throughout the whole book.
It is interesting because there are so many different characters portrayed in this tale even thought there are really only a maximum of 5 characters.( up to the part I have read) but it is interesting because the main character Kristina has a split personality. And when she talks both parts of her are talking . Every other line is what she says out loud and then what her other half Krista would say. so it is really interesting and fun to read.
So far the plot of my story is just a broken family, but it gets interesting I can tell because I keep filiping forward and reading the titles of each sonnet.

Collective thoughts

After reading my comments and post, I do see a change in my reading skills. I find my self trying to reach into the book more to find more answers than just what is on the page. When reading 451 I found my self willingly looking for more information on the web, as I finished Hanging Tree I found myself looking deeper into the authors thoughts as I read his words. There is a lot that you can take a way from a book that I think most people miss. I know a lot of people who find reading a chore so they just read because they have to so they are just reading whats on the page. Where as now I feel like when I read and respond to an open forum I find my self re-thinking about what really went on in that chapter and I am able to reconnect my self and mind with the book.

Survey's: How technology aids students with learning Disabilities

Please take these surveys accordingly to help me gather research for my project to show how technology aids students with learning disabilities. It is a known fact that students with learning disabilities learn completely different than the average student. I know form first hand experience. I would not say that I suffer from dyslexia but I grow everyday from my learning disability and intend to help other children see how a learning disability is not a disadvantage at life but an advantage. Most students who have dyslexia use different parts of their brain more than the others, for example I fail to use the part of my brain that helps me with my short term memory, comprehension, spelling, and writing. However other parts of my brain work really fast and well. I excel when it comes to creative wringing, sports,music, and building things. Being able to see things in different ways means that I learn and take in information in different ways. For me technology has always been a MAJOR outlet for me. It it were not for the speedy online dictionary I would not have made it though high school. My brothers and I were also privileged to use Dragon Speak which is a program that as you talk your way through your paper the computer program types what you say. These technologies have help my brothers and I (who both have dyslexia) to get through high school and many classes and over come out disability. If you would be so kind to participate in my survey below and help me acquire information for my project to show what schools and students are missing without technology and how it would be really beatifically if they had small things like Dragon Speak.
Below there are two different surveys the first one if for teachers and the second for students. Please take what ever one fits your situation because the questions are different. The survey is anonymous but your answers will be pulled into a final tally.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?PREVIEW_MODE=DO_NOT_USE_THIS_LINK_FOR_COLLECTION&sm=u3xqnuFvxRMeWBt2HPLtF8qS%2fgOwdqs532uKEV4Dljw%3d

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?PREVIEW_MODE=DO_NOT_USE_THIS_LINK_FOR_COLLECTION&sm=cpdcKDeMmCAJpvbKNN%2bRlxuHcOr4R5gDWfYnjXMuZQ8%3d

Fahrenheit 451

I just started reading Fahrenheit 451, I am really loving it. The main reason I love it is because it is a novel that has basically come true. The idea that we are going to be overwhelmed by technology and it is going to become the new way of reading for us has basically come true. I was just "googeling" the book because I am not that far into it and I wanted to know a little more about the author and I found a few short quotes that are really interesting.
"While the novel does tough on the dangers of censorship, Bradbury was adamant that this was not his focus. The novel is about the dangers of television, he said and his fears that such mindless entertainment would replace recreational free thinking."

To further prove this point here is an segment of a letter that Bradbury wrote to a fellow science fiction writer Richard Matheson:
"Radio has contributed to our 'growing lace of attention! [...] This sort of hopscotching existence makes it almost impossible for people, myself included, to sit down and get into a novel again. We have become a short story reading people, or , worse than that, a QUICK reading people."

This letter was written fifty years ago and now today we can make the connections that this is really coming true. I consider myself a quick reader now, I try not to be but sometimes you just have to be. I know watching my dad every morning read the paper when I was little he was never a quick read kind of guy. He would take almost two hours to read the paper cover to end. Now he goes to work with out reading the paper and just reads what articles he wants on the papers website.

I really am only three and two and a half chapters deep but I have heard a lot about this book and just decided to do some extra research. I also found the meaning of the title very cool. That 451 is the degree that books burn at, and the main character being a fireman.
The idea of cycles I can tell is going to be used a lot in this novel.
Till next time.

Post from Nice Net: Digital Writing Workshop& more...

In chapter six, there are the charts on pages 110-113 about effective writing. I find it so interesting that the old idea of Know, Need to know, and learn or Questions charts are still being taught and revised. I remember in the first grade, second grade maybe learning about KN charts. Know and Need to know charts. Its great to see how this old idea has evolved into such an extensive new idea in hicks writing. He gives so many helpful tips for writers to use as the prepare to write and what I think is interesting and NEW to the chart is the AFTER You Write topic heading. This is something that I wish I had read and been taught a long time ago. It makes you think about what big ideas we were taught in first and second grade that we could turn into new big ideas and elaborate on?
I also think it is interesting how Hicks suggest that as teachers we ask a student or our students to take us on a tour of their social network site and ask them to show us how they create a personal profile using text, pictures and videos. I find this interesting because first off this is something that you most likely would not be able to do in school because the school would probably block face book. But I do wonder how open some students would be with this project. How comfortable would you feel doing this project?
You know what is on your and your friends face book page...Would you want to see what is on your students?

Something that I find interesting about Hicks is that he can relate to a wide range of people. He reaches a lot of different levels in his text. As silly as it sounds, when I read sometimes I feel I am in certain moods were I am in still in the mind set of looking at things a student in a chair looking at the chalk board. Other times when I go back and read Hicks I fell I am reading with the mind set of a teacher and I am sitting at a desk with my balk to the chalk board, yet I can still relate to the text on a different level and gain full knowledge from his text.( that may just be my dyslexia kicking in lol)

A quote that I LOVE. is on page 7, "Teach the writer, then the writing." This quote seems to match my feelings about teaching writing. The way I take it is that you first have to teach the student how to write properly, until the student understands how to write correctly. Then you can correct their writing and form and morph it into what you would like it to be.

Inspiration

I guess when reading the story about Micheal Phelps the whole time I had been looking for inspiration for a goal that I no longer am trying to achieve. When I finished the book I realized that I found a new type of inspiration from this story. Growing up I faced many of the same struggles that Micheal did. He explains that he was always picked on for being really tall, picked on because he could not read, spell or write well. I found that having these same struggles and the same passion for swimming and hard work ethic that he does that we are alike in more ways the one. The main idea that I pulled from all this that I can connect to the classroom and my future classroom is that when it comes to students with learning disabilities sometimes it is not the best idea to single them out in front of everyone but to pull them aside and show them what is wrong with them but on top of that show them what skills they have that are outstanding. In Micheal's case it was swimming and sports. When most teachers (from personal experience I am saying this) deal with students like myself and Micheal they always forget to leave the kids with a positive note about themselves. That I find is most important. Kids who get picked on because of their disability are more apt to quit school or fall into a depression quicker than the average student. Both of my older brothers went to the Gow school, which is a boarding school for dyslexic boys.Being very involved with their lives there. I began to pick up at a very young age what many of the teachers were doing every day that made their students so successful. I actually got to have one on one first hand experience my self by going to their summer school there to hone in on my specific needs to prepare me for high school. What you find at a school like Gow is that the teachers sit right next to you in a class room with no more than 6 kids in it and help you one on one. And no matter what ever if you get the problem or question wrong you will be the one to fix your won mistake because you can. Not because your wrong and wont know the answer because you do not understand math. Modern teachers do not know, feel or understand what it is like to struggle with a disability. Until they have sat in a class room with students who are breaking down the problems and sentences their way. Who knows maybe if Micheal Phelps went to the Gow school he would be leading a whole different life right now because he would have gotten the help and attention he needed in high school growing up. He would not have just passed by. My inspiration that I now took from Micheal Phelps is to not go out there and swim for the gold but just to go out there and make it apparent that kids with learning disabilities no matter the strength of the disability learn 100% different than every other student in the class room and deserve a fair chance to get the grades the deserve and the help they deserve so they do not just pass by.

The Untold story of a Champion

I started reading the Untold Story of a Champion. It is the auto biography of Michael Phelps. Three summers ago I was introduced to his book No Limits and read and re-read it many of times before my senior swim season of high school. This book not only motivated me to finally kick my butt in to gear again for my last season of swim but kick my teams butt’s in gear so that we could all make it together. I was planning on making it to states that year and after reading about the struggles and triumphs that Michael went through to get to where he was now I was pretty damn sure I was going to get there. It was interesting to me that he started out just like any other kid taking swim lessons in a small town pool. I was so inspired that I brought my relay team to sectionals and I Was so well trained and determined that I made it to states that year. I made it all the way to states with that book in my bag. I do not know why but it is the only book that I have ever actually re- read more than 3 times. I can honestly say that a novel and not a poem, quote or lyric inspired me to get up and do something. So now I decided to read the auto biography. It’s the perfect time seeing as I have to read an auto biography and now that is three years later and I am in need of some new inspiration and a little follows up. As I read the first few pages of just simple background information about his family. I started to realize that our family is really what makes us or breaks us. Having only his mother to raise him and take him to and from practices while taking care of his sister and be a lot on a mom, especially when she does not know that she is raising an all-star Olympic swimmer. I am really looking forward to reading the rest of this novel and hopefully get the inspiration and follow up I need.

Back to The Hanging Tree

I took a break from the hanging tree becuase I got caught up with other books I was reading for diffrent classes and I finally picked this book back up and read a few more chapters and it is starting to get really slow.. unfortiounatley. SO there is really not much to blog about except that I am a little disapointed that the book is getting slow becuase I am getting less and less intrested and I just want to know what happend to Gracie and who Hung her or if she hung herself. So I am trying not to jump ahead but just read faster through the boring chapters that do not really give much excitment to the story but just meaning less fluff.

A Raisin in the Sun.

Recently (this weekend), I had the chance to read a Raisin in the Sun. I was always supposed to read this book but never had the drive or determination to read this book.  Until I needed to read it for Drama & Film. I was kinda on edge about reading this book just because I never wanted to read it and now I HAD too so I put my eyes to it and read it. After finishing this play I had the same feeling I did when I started it. Ha plain. I did't really feel a connection or an extreme intrest in this book but When I got to class we are reading the play with the movie Everything is Illuminated. Which we have not watched yet but I have heard really good things about so maybe this will brighten the play more for me and can create more connections for me but right now it is just a play about a man trying/dreaming to be wealthy and to me thats over done and it just seems like a play I have read over and over agian.It reminds me of another less mentaly crazy verzion of Death of a Salesman.

Reply to Post

I Really do enjoy reading Mysteries they are one type of book that really keep me reading. That and poetry. I have never really read a series of books except for The face on the milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney. I read just about every mystery book by her in elementary school! Loved her! As of right now I have not found any connections to lynching but it is something I will keep an eye on and see if I can make a connection. Recently, My grandmother was admitted into the hospital and I went to visit her last night before I returned to school when I was talking to her she was telling me in short burst about her roommate who she had stay there with her. Her story that was fading in and out of her memory some how reminded me of the book. Her story was this; "Well El, I had this sweet quiet old lady (older than me ya know.) she was about 90 years old she came in yesterday. Spent the night. Then she paused to take a drink of water, and restarted her whole story O Ellie did I tell you about my roommate she was about 90 years old she came yesterday afternoon and spent the night after they got her stable. we watched some westerns and we fell asleep when we woke up we had some S*** hospital breakfast and as I was coming out of the bathroom she was being wheeled out for a test and the last thing she saw before she died in the hall way was me smiling like a big goon head with my gown wide open saying Ill see you where the sun only shines. It reminded me that no matter how the character died in this book maybe she wanted to die or maybe it really was just her time to go. My grandmother at 75left happy thoughts in a 90 year old women mind before she died. It makes you wonder that no matter how sick someone is be it the charterer in this book if she was mentally crazy or just a pot head? Or be it someone like my grandmother who has accelerating Alzheimer no matter what it may be death is always around the corner for everyone so no matter our state of mind and no matter what anyone says we should just take the day as it comes and follow the sun where it always shines with a smile like my grandmother does. 

The Middle

Reading further into The Hanging Tree I have found a lot more out about our victim Gracie. However it is not pleasant information for example we find out that she is a very big alcoholic who smokes a lot of pot. This makes the story a lot more interesting because it makes you wonder if she was depressed or under the influence when she died. We also learn that there were a lot of family hardships between Gracie the mother and the detective. I started to wonder If the author could be projecting his childhood through this book because the way some of the childhood memories about the victim the detective and Darlene the girlfriend/best friend are explained with such great detail and out of this world stories one would have to think that a human being could only come up with that if it was real and had actually happened to them. The signs of abuse that the author relays through Gracie’s actions and shaky words as a child is sad and depressing but also work as huge clues towards her death and case. I am still only half way through this book and I can’t help but go back and re- read pages because it feels like I have missed something. This book has got me tangled into it and I love it! I do wonder if Gracie was murdered or just wanted to go out with a big bang.

The Hanging Tree

I started reading The Hanging Tree by Bryan Gruley. This mystery novel is very exciting. It pulled me in with in the first chapter. Granted I am slowly reading it and am only on the fourth chapter but any spare time I have I find my self picking this book up to read it. The twist that they throw at you in the begging is just mind blowing. The fact that the murder victim is found dead in the tree that she created for her town. The tale is that her and her boyfriend back in high school were having a last hot summer night and Gracie decided to take one of her shoes and one of her boyfriends shoes and climb still naked 60 ft high up into this tree to hang their shoes there together for eternity expressing their love. Then ironically she is found hanging in the tree with one shoe missing in the middle of night in the middle of a snow storm. That to me is a hook. I am so tangled into this book. There are so many more little twist and turns with in this book that make it so great. For instance; the detective is the murder victims best friend and the detectives boyfriend is the towns news reporter who is cousins with the murder victim. All three people grew up close to each other making the story/case more interesting and complicated.