Schooled Chapters 11 and 12

Chapters 11 and 12 are important chapters. These two chapters involve much commotion. If you don't belive me, see for yourself.

On the ride to school, the class throws an absolute party on the bus. The bus driver, Mr. Rodrigo keeps his eyes on the road afraid of witnessing something he should not. While the jocks ambush Cap, Mr. Rodrigo has what seems to be a heart attack. He becomes unconscious and falls in the isle. Cap jumps into the driver seat and asks for directions to the hospital. A girl named Naomi gives him directions to the hospital. Naomi is actually in the group of jocks but is the nicest one in the group. The police chase Cap to the hospital where Cap is arrested for underage driving. Cap is released but has one last chance to show the cops he is a good kid. For those of you that do not know the police have seen Cap drive underage before and were not happy about it. Rain is very proud of Cap. She also informs Cap that she is getting stronger and should be on her feet and in Garland in a few weeks. The next morning, Cap does his Tai Chi to calm himself before going to the Halloween Dance meeting. Cap needs to attend this meeting because the jocks set him up and elected him class president. While doing Tai Chi, Naomi shows up and practices along with him. Cap is shocked at this. At the meeting Cap answers honestly, admitting that not one part of the dance is set up yet.

But can you blame him? I cannot blame Cap for not setting up the dance yet. He has a lot on his plate right now, plus this is not something he wants to be involved in. When you are not interested in something it is hard to be excited about it. Were you ever in a situation like this? Honestly, I have forgotten to do many things my parents have asked me because it is not a high priority to me, even though it is to them. What about you? Have you forgotten to do something vital in your life?

Finding the Meaning of Life Early

Jeremy Fink and Lizzy Muldoun are working in "community service" after "vandalizing" Harold Folgard's law office. They were in the office looking for the keys to Jeremy's dad's box. As their punishment, Lizzy and Jeremy have to work for a man named Mr. Oswald. He is a wealthy pawn broker who is moving to Florida. Their job is to help deliver items that people gave to Mr. Oswald's grandfather, Ozzy, (the original pawn broker) for money. The people were only kids when they pawned their things. For Jeremy, the job is more than delivering items to random people. It is also about hearing the sad stories behind the possessions. To me, the stories all are parts of the meaning of life. For example, a lady named Mrs. Billingsly gave Ozzy a Winnie the Pooh book that she loved and shared with her best friend, for money to buy a dress. The dress was for a ball to welcome women to society, and a man who eventually became Mrs. Billingsly's husband saw her in it. So, she learned a lesson, because she lost a friend forever, but she did get a husband.

If I was in that situation, I would get a wife first and reunite with my friend later. What would you do?

The HBWReads Blog is Being Featured at the #140edu Conference

On Tuesday, August 2nd, I have the privilege of speaking at #140edu: Exploring the State of Education NOW Conference at the 92nd Street Y, NY, NY.  My topic: The Buzz Books.  

A while back, I was asked by the conference founder, Jeff Pulver, to participate in this conference, and if so, what did I have in mind to talk about.  Immediately, I thought of the Buzz Books and the HBWReads blog.  Reading, to me, has been a difference-maker in my life, taking me from a place of shadows and ignorance, to one of luminosity and understanding.  

Scholars have recently been examining the state of reading today among the general population of children in grades 5-12, and the statistics coming out of their work paint an awful picture.  There are extreme ramifications upon our society if we raise a generation of non-readers.  So, we as a school, looked at what we thought of reading in general, and more specifically of summer reading.  We looked at reading phenomena like the Harry Potter books, the Twilight Series, and more recently, the Hunger Games trilogy.

We saw something there that caught our eye.  

Reading is a social endeavor, and it's done best when we can talk about books with people we have an interest in.  When we read a book that is outstanding, the first thing we want to do is to run and tell someone who matters to us all about it and recommend it to them.  We wanted to capture that somehow.  

When I get on stage on Monday, I'm going to talk about that idea, but I am also going to talk about the work that has been done by all of the students and teachers at the site so far this summer.  Looking back at the statistics I shared the other day, we have had wild success in terms of readers and traffic through our site.  We have had conversations around books that would not have otherwise occurred.  We are making reading viral, and helping to spread it through not only our community here in Verona, but also in other parts of the county and world.  Don't underestimate the power of your thinking.  

The conference will be live on the web, and as soon as the information is posted as to how to tune in, I'll pass it along here.  (Here is the Ustream address if you are interested in catching the conference.  I go on roughly at 11:45am)

Keep up the great work!

Getting Ready to be "Schooled"

I'm looking forward to Gordon Korman's booked entitled Schooled. I've only read No More Dead Dogs and enjoyed that, so I'm expecting to be pleased. I understand that this story is about a boy named Capricorn (Cap for short) who has been home schooled by his grandmother until an accident forces him into a typical classroom. Reading about different types of lifestyles has always intrigued me, and here's what I'm thinking:

We only have one life to live, right? So we start off living it the way our parents set it up for us. If that works for us, we duplicate it to some extent. I loved my life growing up in small-town NJ, and although I may have ventured away for college, I happily created a very similar life for my own family. But what if? What if I were raised completely differently? How would my thoughts and views on things have changed? How much does my environment affect the way I think, act, and feel? I may still look like me, but naturally I'd feel differently about many things. It wouldn't make me wrong, just different! Consequently, I look forward to Cap showing me a whole new perspective. It will be refreshing to see how his experiences have shaped him, and this leads me to something else I'm thinking:

The world NEEDS people who are all different! We understand that on some level, and yet much of the world's problems stem from the fact that we can't accept people who think differently than us. So, Cap, prove to me what I already suspect. Different is refreshing, different is entertaining, and different is more than just OK; it's necessary. Our lives are short and we can't experience everything. That's why reading is so great; it allows me the chance to encounter these different people, different places, and different experiences.

I leave you with this question: Have you recently enjoyed a character in a book who was totally different than yourself? If so, I suspect you grew without even realizing it! I, for one, am looking forward to being "schooled!"

Mrs. K. Smith

Some Statistical Updates

Good afternoon and Happy Summer to everyone!

I wanted to take this opportunity (it's my turn to post today) to give you all some updates on who is reading our writing and just how far and wide we are reaching with our summer reading reflections.  However, before I do that, it goes without saying that the writing, both by the teachers and by the students, has been terrific so far, and it shows your commitment to this project. 

Reading has always connected us to people, be they our friends or neighbors, schoolmates or parents, we have always used reading as a means to share information, ideas, breaking news, and our thoughts on the world around us.  Through this blog, we've been doing what we've always done, only now we are making our thoughts available to a much larger audience. 

So, on with the statistics..

Above you can see the six most popular posts we have had since the writing officially began on June 17th.  If you don't see one of your posts up there, give it time, some of these have been around for over a month!

 

We have had visitors from ten different countries since we began, with over eight-thousand of them from the United States.  Looking at this, I'd love to challenge you all to double this by the end of the summer, and to see how many different countries we can reach!  

Lastly, these are our total pageviews for the last month and for all time.  A pageview counts as any time a web browser (like Internet Explorer or Firefox) loads a web page.  These number are astounding!  Your writing is being read by so many people far and wide.  

Wonderful job!

Here are my challenges to you for the rest of the summer:

• Increase the number of readers on our page to include people from more than the ten countries we have already.
• Keep connecting the stories to your own lives.  Our posts with the most reaction seem to be those where the writer makes a connection between the book and their own experiences.  
• Spread the word among your friends.  The more people we have talking about our books, the better!!

Jeremy Fink: Desperate for Dad

Jeremy's new friends, Samantha and Rick, wanted to help him find the missing keys to the "meaning of life" box. So, they invited Jeremy and Lizzy to their apartment to use their Ouija board to try to talk to Jeremy's dad. Unfortunately, the seance didn't work.
Jeremy would be amazed if he could contact his dead father. He spends a lot of time thinking about ways to do it. For example, he is interested in outer space and time travel. Earlier in the book, he thought that if he could use time travel, he could go back to that day when his dad died and change it. Then, he used a Ouija board to communicate with his father, even though he wasn't sure it would work.
It seems like Jeremy will do anything to try to be with his dad. I can't blame him for trying. Would you do the same thing? Do you believe in time travel and Ouija boards?

Among the Hidden

I just finished reading Among the Hidden while on vacation here in Omaha, visiting family and friends.  Mrs. Fusaro's post addressed many of the major ideas that the book raises, so I will attempt another entry point for discussion.

This book made me think about families and farming.  I was especially interested in the relationships between Luke and his mother and father. I thought it was difficult to watch the Garner family trying to survive after the government had made so many restrictions on how they could make a living. This was a stress on the family, especially when Luke's mother had to start another job.  In addition, Luke's father is constantly obsessing about the farm, and neither parent has much time left for Luke.  I couldn't even believe that Luke was no longer allowed to sit at the table for meals!  I know that Luke's brothers, Matthew and Mark, will probably continue in their father's footsteps as farmers, but what can Luke do for a living when he gets older if he remains hidden? I realize that he's only twelve, but he has to have dreams to nurture!

I always laugh when I tell someone in New Jersey that I'm from Nebraska and they ask if I grew up on a farm. The first and last farmers in my family were my great-grandparents. Modern farms out here are big business; corn and soy as far as the eye can see. Obviously, as I blog here from Nebraska during the heat wave, the news includes reports about the crops. If corn prices go up, it means higher food prices for everyone.  This reminds me of the futuristic world of Among the Hidden.  Isn't it wonderful that good literature can connect to you wherever you are?

Among the Hidden is one of the best books I've read in a long time! It was a real page turner.  I plan to read the entire series. Until next time,
Mrs. Grannemann