Students Prepare for Election 2012

Middle school students many not be confident in their selection for President of the United States, if they know who is running at all.  Their background knowledge consists of the information they have gained by the highly suggestive political ads telling us that each candidate is a crook and neither can be trusted.

Scholastic Magazine has a page on their site that does a nice job breaking down the candidates and the political process.  You have to dig a little, but there is a lot of information about what each candidate is all about and the obstacles they have to overcome to become president.

http://magazines.scholastic.com/election-2012

Diffen is a fun website that compares anything you can think of.  It does a nice job breaking down the two candidates into two columns and covers a variety of issues.  Some of the content is over my head, but there is a lot of interesting information that may help in your decision when voting time comes.

http://www.diffen.com/difference/Barack_Obama_vs_Mitt_Romney

Middle school students need to think about the fact that whoever wins on November 6 is probably going to make decisions that will affect them directly when they are older.  One good example is college tuition.  It may not possible in the future for everyone to go to college if everyone can't afford it.

Merrill Middle School students can go to my web site to cast there vote for president starting on November 1.  Be sure to be an informed voter.  Don't be swayed by the opinions of others, make your opinion count.

https://sites.google.com/a/oshkosh.k12.wi.us/timothy-kohl/

Sports Books That Will Engage Young Athletes

Money Ball by Michael Lewis was the first book I read this past summer. It took me a long time, not because I didn't have time to read, but because I had to do so much thinking and re-reading to consider the impact the information in the book has for me as a coach of players. I'm not sure why it was so controversial. I suppose if you were portrayed as one of the characters in the book that didn't like Billy Bean, the manager, then maybe you would feel the facts are twisted. Controversy was also risen from the details of baseball life that author Michael Lewis was expected to keep within it's exclusive club.  It does contain some very popular baseball vocabulary that I suppose is only meant for the dugout.  Therefor, I suggest that parents preview the content of the book before their children read it.

Other more kid friendly sports books I would promote to any sport loving kids are the books by Mike Lupica. Lupica does not only write about baseball, as in Heat,  The Big Field, and Wild Pitch.  He also has other sports covered as well, such as Summer Ball, The Penalty Kick, and The Red Zone. So no matter what sport you are into, Mike Lupica has a book for you.

Check out Mike Lupica's website and tell us what books you have read or would like to read:  http://www.mikelupicabooks.com/

Mixed Ethnicity. Is a New Label Needed?

The Latte Rebellion: by Sarah Jamila Stevenson

The Late Rebellion by Sarah Jamila Stevenson takes an interesting perspective into racial discrimination in northern California and the United States.  Asha Jamison, along with a few friends, come up with a plan to make some money to take a trip the summer after their senior year of school.  After an altercation with a fellow student about their mixed ethnicity, the girls come up with the idea for the Latte Rebellion. Being of mixed ethnicity, the girls are constantly forced to choose a racial identity that doesn't seem to fit who they are or who they have become.  The girls use their newly fueled desire to stand up and be identified, to develop a simple manifesto, a cool t-shirt design, and a website to promote their money scheme.  Little did the girls know that their idea would go viral and potentially ruin any plans they had for a trip, friendships, and maybe even graduation.

The Late Rebellion is certainly a book that would fit well in a text set with civil rights and racial discrimination.  It would make for interesting discussion in book talk sessions when compared to the strict racial tensions of the 1930s or 1960s.  It certainly brings into question that racial tensions may have taken on new perspectives. I would recommend it for my mature readers.  The content is certainly appropriate for all middle school students, probably more for the girls, but I'm not sure it is fast enough for what a lot of my students are looking for in a book. It would make a good pool side book this summer.

As Good As Hunger Games?

The Maze Runner:
by James Dashner
The book I have recently read is The Maze Runner by James Dashner. The book is a very mysterious, and enjoyable book. The main character is Thomas who was sent to the Glade by the Creators. The glade is a man-made mysterious place for the kids that were sent to there after an apocalyptic disease has struck the earth. The other kids that were sent to the glade feel that Thomas has some kind of connection with the creators and the only girl, that ironically, was sent there day after he arrived. This was strange because one new kid usually came evey month. One of the problems between the kids is trust. The walls moving and the grieved machines that try to sting the characters that are trying to escape the maze, are also big obsticals to get back to home.

I recommend this book to anyone that likes a science fiction mystery book. This book will leave you hanging, and make you want to read more. I really enjoyed this book and I think everyone else will too

Being a Teenager can be Tough

Top 10 Problems Teenagers Face:
http://sofs.hubpages.com/hub/Its-hard-on-teens
Teens Today:
http://parentingteens.about.com/od/familylife/u/teenissues.htm

Our next next research topic in literacy will be related to teen issues.  Read the attached  website and blog. These sites are from two different perspectives.  There are certainly more related topics.  All students will get to choose the focus of their research.  Students can focus on one specific subject or a variety of topics. We will start by tapping into our background knowledge.  Consider your next book for fourth quarter. Think about the stories and articles we have already read.  What are the issues you would like to know more about as you enter the teen years?

Mr. Kohl

A Lesson in Sudan, Africa

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, the author of A Single Shard, is an interesting perspective into the tragedies of war and famine in Sudan, Africa throughout the last quarter century. I have grown up hearing about the human rights offences that took place in Sudan and Ethiopia, but like many people I didn't understand the conflict. Park uses the true story of Salva Dut, a "Lost Boy" of the Sudan civil war in Africa since 1985, as the basis for the the plot of the book. She connects it to the fictional story of Nya, belonging to the rival Neur clan in Sudan, during 2008 and 2009. The reader follows Salva through his grueling tail of survival as he has to abandon his family in order to escape the battle that has engulfed his home village. The reader follows Salva's life through Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya, crossing deserts, eluding wild animals, avoiding being recruited for battle for either side, in an attempt to reach sanctuary in refugee camps that are almost as grueling as facing the war itself. Salva finally is adopted by an American family where his next life story begins. How can he give back to a country that has so little going for it? This is where the two stories come together.

I recommend this book to all my readers. It reminded me of how the book, Three Cup of Tea by Greg Mortenson, made me understand a little more about the social issues involving the countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. A Long Walk to Water reminds the reader that human rights atrocities in Africa are still a problem. Because there are not vested interests in oil in the region like the Middle East, Americans tend to turn their backs on this corner of Africa.

Can reading a novel like A Long Walk to Water make a person more credible when discussing civil rights or war in which our own country is involved? In other words, How does a story like this make you a smarter person?

Two Different Books, One Very Important Theme

Sometimes I come across a book that allows me to bridge the reading gap between popular adult fiction and the reading levels of my middle school students. I have a few students that have shown an interest in the the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I'm assuming they have already seen the movie and are curious when adults tell them that the book is so much better. It's not that they can't read the book, but in the course of a school quarter, it would consume too much of their time.

 A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg is the perfect compliment to The Help and it is written at a level many of my students can read and share. A Thousand Never Evers compares to the help in that it is also set in the sixties, but in Kuckachoo, Mississippi, instead of Jackson, Mississippi. Addie Ann Pickett and her family all work for white bosses on the other side of the tracks similar to Aibileen Clark and her friends. Addie eventually is made responsible for the care and upbringing of Ralphie, the son of Mrs. Tate.  Addie develops a mother like bond to Ralphie that complicates things as the plot turns for the worst.  In The Help, Aibileen knows all to well about how developing a relationship greater than that of the white parents can complicate things between the boss's children and their black housekeepers.


Addie learns first hand about the hatred of blacks and whites in Mississippi after her own brother disappears defending her against white bullies. She also gets pulled into the drama about the garden that has been left to the entire community by the late Mr. Adams. The white families take over the garden as their own by twisting the words of Mr. Adams will to their favor. The failior of the garden falls on the shoulders of Addie's Uncle Buck and it's up to Addie to find the courage to save her family from certain revenge of white supremacy and a corrupt white legal system.

I will recommend both books to my students.  They both offer an excellent view into life of southern African Americans during a time when segregation, white supremacy, and racial injustice was the black eye of our American history. In A Thousand Never Evers the mystery of Addie's brother's disappearance, Uncle Bump's trial, and her father's death combine with  racial tensions in a community that is showing signs that they might just be ready to cross the racial barriers of the deep south.

Introducing African Civil Rights Through Literature

Burn My Heart and Out of Bounds are two books by Beverley Naidoo that have recieved a lot of attention from the students in my class.  We have been introduced to text sets dealing with civil rights movements throughout history and around the world.  Both books introduced my students to the history of the battle of discrimination racial injustice in Africa.  Out of Bounds is made up of a series of stories told through the eyes of children growing up through Apartied in South Africa from 1948 to 2000. Burn My Heart is the story of two boys in Kenya, one African and one White.  Their friendship is forced to drastically change at the hands of racial hatrid grab both boys and test the trust they both thought was safe.  As the Mau Mau rebellion grows to involve the African workers of the white farm owners, the white government tries to stop the rebellion through intimidation and interrogation.

How does reading about civil rights in other time periods and other countries help readers reflect and understand the civil rights movement in our own country? Is it fair to compare these events to our own country?

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

Hi Merrill Middle School Students! Right now I am reading A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. This story is based on a true story that takes place in the Sudan. The main character has to walk 8 hours a day to make two trips to get water. Can you imagine that for your daily job?

Enjoy!

Mrs. Stephany

Watch the YouTube video about this book by the author!

Interview about the author