GENERAL COMMENT FROM MARTHA
First of all, thanks to everyone who's responding to my blog! Finding something new every time I log on to my blog is so cool, and it reminds me of that juicy anticipation I used to feel when someone would hand me my yearbook after signing it, and I couldn't wait to sequester myself to see what they'd written . . . okay, so here's my comment:
This evening, I read Elizabeth's blog on SMASHED. It is possible that Elizabeth's Radar of Loathing registered higher in response to this book than my own Radar of Loathing registered in response to SPEAK. All that is to say: I'm pretty sure that I have a lot more respect for Laurie Halse Anderson's writing craft at least (and, in this case, Elizabeth has a point. Anderson is a much better writer.) BUT, it was very very interesting to read Elizabeth's (as always) insightful comments. And so I responded to her blog. And I noticed that Deanna responded to Elizabeth's blog. THEN, COOL COOL COOL, I returned to MY blog, and noticed that Deanna responded to MY review of SMASHED, too! What an awesome dialogue. I really lurve this blogging thing. And, here's what I said to Deanna:
Deanna -
Thank you for responding to my blog, too. I read Elizabeth's blog earlier this evening, and posted a response as well. It seems to me that, regardless of the title or author, our conversations in class and on-line always come back to: Do we want to open a Pandora's box in our English/Language Arts classroom? And if we do, then how are we going to justify that choice to our administrators and the greater learning community at large? What are some of the reactions we should anticipate from our students' reading of a controversial book? Can we name specific strategies that we will employ as teachers when we are faced with (anticipated and unanticipated) dramatic reactions from students and our learning community at large? These are interesting, challenging, exciting questions. I continue to thoroughly enjoy our spicy debates!! -- Miss Martha
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Tracking down all of this blogging and responding is tough! I follow a link from Katherine's site which takes me to Katy M's blog. From there I am off to Miss Martha then Deanna then Elizabeth. Some of the strands are so interesting as people who don't really seem to talk much or sit close in class, interact online more. Ah, blogging and the developing social context of a pre-service teacher methods cohort....
MAT action research project anyone?
Post a Comment