Out with the old, in with the new. (Guest blogger: Tyler Levinson)

      As this is an English blog, I will write about literature. Thoughout my school life, I have been forced to read many "classic" novels, such as Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, Animal Farm, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. While these novels do have modern appeal, they are not very relatable to today's youth (and if you can relate to Holden Caulfield, I pity you). I feel that novels that are considered "Modern Classics" would be more relatable to today's youth readers, and because they are more relatable, students will better understand the themes and emotions that are being conveyed.
      Now, I am not saying we should do away with timeless classics from such writers as Shakespeare, Steinbeck, and Hemingway, I am just saying that we could cut out some of the literary fat (i.e. Nothing but the Truth and Tangerine).
      If you were on the school board, what modern classic would pick to replace Nothing but the Truth or Tangerine and why? Remember, the book should be relatable for guys and girls and be school appropriate.

Tyler Levinson

A Time To Reflect

It's Thanksgiving.  (Duh.)


Usually, people take this time to list what they're a thankful for and express gratitude.  I'm sure you all have done that a million times in your educational careers.


Here's a twist.  

Most Thanksgivings are spent with family and friends; sometimes, it's with those we only see a few times a year.  When I was a young girl (way, way back...), I remember how older members of my family (and friends) would take this opportunity to give advice to the younger generation. Sometimes it was a simple piece of advice. When I was about 12, Lily, a family friend, told me, "Gina, start using Oil of Olay moisturizer everyday now. You will look young when all your friends look like old hags."  It was a fabulous piece of advice.  Sometimes the advice revolves around life lessons like the advice given by my parents, "It's important to manage your finances. Never borrow more than you can repay."

This Thanksgiving take the time to reflect on pieces of advice you have been given recently or in the past, and by whom. Include everything from the mundane to more abstract ideas about character, getting along with others, and so on.

Let's get a good list going. Part two coming soon.....

The "C" Word

Every year, this topic rears its ugly head.  Cheating.   In fact, cheating came up twice in just the past few days.

The first time, a previous student sent me an email describing an incident.

I got a first-hand look at a serious case of cheating today. A girl got her hands on a test that she was going to take later, and she offered a new friend of mine the chance to work on the problems together so that he could do well on the test. He took it. I was obviously not too okay with it, but it wasn't my place to really do anything.

This is a clear case of cheating.  This kind of cheating will get a student kicked out of most universities.  Case closed.

The second time was just this morning and involved my daughter - in my car - on the way to school.  She was talking to her friend about the homework they had to complete over the weekend. Her friend asked if she finished the history notes.  My daughter replied, "All except for two.  I'll just copy them from you real quick when we get to my mom's room."  Um, I think NOT.  Here's the thing.  To them, that wasn't cheating.  To me, it most definitely was cheating.  And I did not allow the "copying" to happen.

Because these two situations happened within days of each other, I felt compelled to research it more.  Cheating isn't new. It happens. All. The. Time.  This I know.  However, I'm intrigued at how cheating changes over the years.  During my first year of teaching, students used to roll up cheat sheets and put them inside their highlighter pens. (This was also the preferred note exchange method.) Now, technology has enabled it to become easier and (dare I say it?) more acceptable.

Read this article A Cheating Crisis in America.  It was published back in April, but it's still relevant.

What is the point of cheating anyway?  What is there to gain?  Is it the grade? It's just a letter.  Isn't the point of all this education, all this lifetime of learning - just that:  to learn.  If you cheat your way through middle school, then high school, then college, what happens when you get out into the real world?  Will these "cheaters" be able to function in a job?  How?   What is cheating to you? Do you think it's acceptable in certain situations? Why do you think students cheat?

Will anyone answer this:  Do you cheat?  Why?

Edit:  Here is a link to the article mentioned by Howard Ki (thanks) The Shadow Scholar

Update:  After reading through the comments, I am compelled to add a bit to this post.

First, I want to thank those students who are being honest and commenting on this post in the spirit for which is intended.  Indeed, I do not want you all to respond the way you think I want you to respond. You should communicate your true ideas on the topic.  That is the point.  Thank you to those who are doing just that.

Have I cheated before? Well, sure when I was in middle and high school, I did. I don't know a person who hasn't cheated once in his or her life.  Does that mean I can't think it's wrong now? I don't think so.  Does it make me a hypocrite? No. What I know about cheating and how I feel about the subject has guided me to implement some strategies in my classroom to hopefully teach you guys the value of learning.  Anyone ever notice how much collaborative work I allow in my classroom?  Wonder why?  Is there a difference between cheating and working as a team to accomplish a common goal?

Banned Websites?

Each year, I "celebrate" Banned Books Week by pointing out all the banned books which sit on my classroom bookshelves, discussing the ones which you have already read, and the classics you will be assigned to read.  Therefore, when I came across this article in The New York Times:  A Call for Opening Up Web Access at Schools, I was intrigued.  Is the practice of blocking certain websites in schools synonymous with banning books?  


The rules for commenting on this post:
Read the article first. Find some interesting sentence or section of the article and format your comment around that part.  Quote it!  Read comments posted by previous students.  Then, either comment on something original or refer to another student's comment and add your own spin.  Please do not repeat the same mantra over and over again.

Goals

Okay, so now that the school year is underway, I’m sure that a few of you have thought about what you want to accomplish this year. Looking at my life, I’ve started to set goals for myself as I believe all of you should do. What I want to know is this:

• Do you have any goals?
• Why are they important to you?
• Are these goals that you want to complete in one month? One year? Five years? Are your goals something that you want to continue to work on forever? (Eating healthy, helping others, etc.)

Your goals don’t have to be something like “get good grades.” (That should be a priority for all of you.) They could deal with family, school, social stuff, competitions, health, ANYTHING. For example, my two goals are to make the math team for my grade and place individually in the top 25 in state, and to read through the entire list of books on teenreads.com (around 400 books) by the end of my sophomore year.

The key to finding out what your goals should be is to think about what you want out of your life. Once you do that, ideas should come pouring out. Afterwards, it’s all a matter of figuring out how you’ll achieve what you want and getting to work!

Caterina Golner

Period 2 (Class of 2011) :)

My Top Ten List (Again)

Last year, I posted this list of Top Ten:


My Top Ten Ways to Procrastinate Grading Papers
1. Playing Scrabble
2. Reading
3. Watching mindless TV
4. Playing with my kids
5. Cooking
6. Finding interesting articles to blog
7. On-line shopping
8. Texting
9. Facebook
10.  Running (I hate running....)


At the request of a previous student (thanks, Cat), I'm posting a new Top Ten list.   Apparently, you are all boring and falling into the crazy pattern of posting comments that fall into the category of "This is what I think Mrs. Powers wants me to write." Yuck.  (And, btw, I do not want you to DO that - ever. Be who you are!)


Here is my new list......


My Top Ten TV Shows 
Bet you all thought I would list Best Books  or  Grammar Mistakes! Oh, I have a life outside of English; I swear I do. I'll save those two top ten lists for another day.  For now, I will let you in on my dirty little secret addiction: TV.  Here is a list of the shows I never miss!!


1. Dexter
2. Criminal Minds
3. Flipping Out
4. Any Housewives of... (but especially New Jersey)
5. Curb Your Enthusiasm
6. Modern Family
7. How I Met Your Mother
8. Gray's Anatomy
9. In the Middle (edit) GLEE (HOW did I forget Glee?)
10. True Blood and Vampire Diaries (both vampire shows so I'm allowed to give them a tie)


Now, before you comment, here is the biggest rule:  You can comment on my list of Top Ten or another student's list, but you can NOT repeat the same topic.  In other words, no more Top Ten TV Shows lists. Come up with your ideas!!!


For example, you can say, "Hey, Mrs. Powers, I love watching Vampire Diaries, too! My list is the Top Ten _____"  <---  then you fill in the blank!  :-)


Let's have fun and show those personalities!

A Reason to Visit the Principal

I just read this article Go to the Office!

It's really an interesting thought.

How often have you gone to the office to meet with principal?

Who wants to?

Read the article.

Do something fantastic.  I will send you to Dr. Kaplan and Mr. Segarra.