Book Review: THIRTEEN REASONS WHY by Jay Asher

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author, book review, books, Education, Jay Asher, Life, Literature, reading, school, students, teacher, teaching, Thirteen Reasons Why

Image from goodreads.com

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker — his classmate and crush — who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

Hannah’s voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out why.

Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a first-hand witness to Hannah’s pain, and learns the truth about himself — a truth he never wanted to face.

(Story synopsis from book cover)

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher has been on my reading list for a while now, however I just got around to reading this book over Thanksgiving Break. I had heard mixed reviews about the book, but I can truly say

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Building Relationships

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Education, English teacher, English Teachers, high school students, Life, literary analysis papers, school, student relationships, students, teacher, teaching, thankful, Thanksgiving, Time

I was reminded again today just how important it is for teachers to build relationships with their students. It is always important to take an interest in the lives of your students. Some students are not as open as others, but they will always notice that you care about their lives, their interests and how well they are doing in your class. Working with high school students it is sometimes easy to forget, but they need the involvement and attention almost as much as some of our elementary kids. Our high school students are at critical moments in their lives, and they appreciate knowing that their teachers care about them and have their best interests in mind.

Today as my students were typing

Wait, Did I Just Hear the Word “Finals”?!?

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collaboration, Education, English teacher, English Teachers, final exams, school, students, teacher, teaching, Time, Winter Break, World Lit, writing

Just like the students, teachers are also often surprised at how quickly the school year seems to go by. To me it seems just like moments ago that I was starting the school year off at a brand new school, teaching a brand new set of students. Yesterday though, I got an email (as did the rest of the staff) with the schedule for 1st semester final exams. :O Final exams?!? Already?!?

Thankfully, this year

Get Those Creative Juices Flowing

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career writing, college application essay, college essays, Education, English class, English Teachers, essays, Life, Memoir, personal narratives, school, seniors, students, teacher, teaching, World Lit, writing, writing prompts

Recently I’ve been working on planning a writing unit for my World Literature and Composition classes. As is almost always the case for teachers and their planning, I have had to come up with some alternative choices.

“Can We Use I In This?”

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Education, English Teachers, papers, pronouns, school, students, teacher, teaching, writing, writing papers

As I start preparing my students for the Literary Analysis paper they will be writing next week and the following papers for the semester, it is important to keep this topic in mind. It is a common question that I get from students, and I feel this post from a fellow educator and blogger clarifies the issue…especially for teachers.

What's Not Wrong?

A recent writing assignment in my college composition class involved telling about a change experienced or witnessed by each writer. One student told about an interesting situation (too personal to be detailed here), but her language was convoluted and highly formal. I almost felt like reading it required wearing a tux.

I told her, “I can’t find you in here.” She said, “Well, maybe it’s because I took out all the Is.”

“Didn’t you have to flip a lot of these sentences to get the Is and mes out of here?” I asked.

“Yeah, but I didn’t know we could use I in this.”

“Can we use I in this?” is a question I’ve heard many times as students begin to frame a new piece of writing, even writing that is obviously personal in nature, such as a reflection on a book or passage, or a college…

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Book Review: LOOKING FOR ALASKA by John Green

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Alaska Young, author, book review, books, classroom library, Education, English Teachers, John Green, Life, Literature, Looking for Alaska, Pudge, reading, school, SSR, students, teacher, teaching, The Fault In Our Stars

Cover image from goodreads.ocm

Miles “Pudge” Halter’s whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the “Great Perhaps” (François Rabelais, poet) even more. Then he heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.

(Story synopsis from goodreads.com)

Originally I had started reading Looking for Alaska back in July. At the time I believed that I would have enough time to read this novel as I also was reading the books that I needed to learn for the new classes that I would be teaching this school year. That was only partially true…