NEW FEATURE: Book of the Week

uza@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg Uncategorized , , , , , 1 Comment

Hi everyone!

As you most probably know, I love using social media and posting ideas, suggestions, and compelling things online. Over the break, I decided to put my social media usage to even better use by creating more interest around the vast number of books I have in my classroom library. Thus, in an effort to get more students (and staff!) reading, I am going to be posting a “Book of the Week” here on my digital portfolio.

Each week, I will copy the blurb from a selected book into a blog post along with some information about the author. I will then feature the book in my classroom window. My hope is that this idea will garner enough traction that even more books get checked out (literally and figuratively) from my classroom.

If you have any book suggestions, please let me know. I have enough books set aside right now to keep me going until Chinese New Year, but I’d love to hear from other people as well. Which books do you recommend for others?

Don’t forget to watch this space for my weekly update! Cheers!!

Holiday Reading 2: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

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There’s been a lot of controversy surrounding the personal essay as of late. As an IB Language & Literature teacher, I know the IB doesn’t particularly like the personal essay and doesn’t suggest it as an acceptable text type on which students can base their Written Tasks. Earlier this year, Jia Tolentino of The New Yorker wrote an article stating that the personal essay is a dying genre. To counter this, Arielle Bernstein of Salon wrote a rebuttal, claiming that while “Tolentino sees the end of a boom, what we are […] experiencing is an evolution — of writers being encouraged to not simply mine personal feelings for a quick click, but to make connections between the personal and the political more explicit.”

Enter Trevor Noah.

Now, anyone who knows me well knows that I am a huge fan of The Daily Show. This is the show I watch in order to get my fill of politics and global news. I was heartbroken when I learned that Jon Stewart would be retiring from TDS in order to pursue a more noble lifestyle (Jon and his wife Tracey run Bufflehead Farm, an animal sanctuary in New Jersey). I didn’t think anyone could possibly take his place and do a decent job of presenting the news with humour, wit, and just a touch (a touch!) of sarcasm.

I guess I was wrong.

Trevor Noah hosted his first show on September 28, 2015 and I was immediately impressed. He was charming, witty, and included just enough sarcasm to make me think, “Yup. OK. This guy can do it.” He had gained another fan.

In 2016, Noah published a collection of personal essays entitled “Born a Crime.” I put it on my list of books to read, but then never got around to checking it out. It wasn’t until I happened to be in our high school library and saw it on a shelf that I was reminded of my promise to myself to read this book. I took it with me on holidays and once again finished it within a couple of days.

Noah has not had an easy life. In fact, it’s incredible to think of who he is now considering all the adversity he faced growing up in South Africa. One particular quote in his book really stood out; I earmarked it so I wouldn’t forget:

“I never let the memory of something painful prevent me from trying something new. If you think too much about the ass-kicking your mom gave you, or the ass-kicking that life gave you, you’ll stop pushing the boundaries and breaking the rules. It’s better to take it, spend some time crying, then wake up the next day and move on. You’ll have a few bruises and they’ll remind you of what happened and that’s okay. But after a while the bruises fade, and they fade for a reason — because now it’s time to get up to some shit again.” (Noah 90-91)

I think these are some really good words to live by. Take life as it comes. Take the punches. Cry. Let it out. Then get up and try again. In my opinion, Noah’s “Born a Crime” is a great place to try something new.

Holiday Reading 1: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

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Students have been telling me for years that I should read this book. I was always reluctant. Why? I can’t possibly say, but every time I looked at the cover, I thought “this book will make me cry.”

Well, I was right.

I took this book on holidays with me and devoured it within two days. Some on the plane, some in the airport between flights, some on the beach, some by the pool, some in bed before I fell asleep. At one point, I didn’t care who saw me gasping, who saw me holding my breath, who saw me sobbing. It was a real page turner. Anderson writes the way I speak; I felt like I was reading pages from my own teenage diary. My heart broke every time Melinda (the main character) wanted to speak but couldn’t find her voice. My freshman year of high school was much different to hers, but I still felt the pain of not fitting in. Now as a teacher, I think about those students I see in my classes who are voiceless and I wonder if they are going through the same horrible things that Melinda goes through.

God, I hope not.

This is the kind of book I think all young adults should read. And if you’re not a young adult, you should still read it to remind yourself that those quiet kids who sit at the back, who frequently miss class, who avert their gaze, who don’t seem to have any friends … they are the ones we should be paying more attention to.

Perhaps they are harbouring a secret they are afraid to reveal.

Perhaps they are scared.

Perhaps they want to speak, but don’t know how.

Speak to them, and allow them as much time as needed to speak to you.

Secret Santa – 2017

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Lawrence and I are mentor buddies.

We’ve combined our mentor classes together to create one big mentor class. Every morning, we walk into D503 and are greeted by 25 Grade 11 students: some smiling, some studying, and some sleeping. The wonderful thing about this particular group is that they are engaged with what we present them. Whether it’s an activity based on the most recent PSE unit, or a dance lesson as part of #WellnessWednesday, our kids come in enthusiastic & energetic (as long as they’ve had their morning coffee, or so I’ve been told…)

A few weeks ago, Lawrence and I asked our students if they’d be interested in doing a Secret Santa exchange and the answer was a resounding YES! Now, I know that not all of our students celebrate Christmas, but we weren’t trying to make this into a “Christmas” thing; we wanted to make it a “Santa” thing. According to the traditional story, Santa brings presents to all the good girls and boys, regardless of religion or cultural background, and this is what Lawrence and I set out to promote. (note: we assume ALL of our students have been good!)

After selecting names from a hat, students were given a budget of $10 max to spend on their “secret” partner. Each student filled out a GDoc where they answered questions like “what is your favourite sweet (or savoury) treat?” and “what is one thing that makes you smile?” Their responses were collected in a table that the entire mentor group could access; this way, students could use the information to help in their gift selection. Students then decided that the last Wednesday together in December should be our Secret Santa day, and that’s exactly what we did. This morning I came in early and left M&M’s and a candy cane at each student’s seat — a sweet bit of cheer for the morning.

Everyone was laughing and genuinely excited to receive a secret gift from a fellow student. All of our students stayed within budget and came up with creative ways to make their peers happy. It may seem like such a little thing to us as teachers, but it means so much more to them, our students.

If you have any suggestions on how to keep this momentum going in the new year, then please comment below. I’d love to collaborate with others!

Focus on Food: Who We Are and What We Do

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Today we celebrated Universal Children’s Day at UWCSEA East. There were a number of events taking place to help celebrate and raise awareness for the partners of Friends of Fiji, Green Umbrella, and Jakarta Street Kids GC’s. These three GC’s came together to organise a Readathon where students (and teachers) were encouraged to come by the 5th floor, make a donation (books or money), write a story about literacy, and of course, read. At lunch, the GC’s set up their stalls to raise further awareness amongst the UWCSEA community. My focus group, Focus on Food, was also involved in this event, helping to raise money for the Blue Dragon GC, and I am happy to say that we were able to raise just over $100, of which 100% was donated to Blue Dragon.

Just some of the amazing students of Focus on Food!

Focus on Food began as a very small focus group just a few years ago. Our purpose is to increase the understanding of how food affects our health, animals, and the environment. We try to promote a plant-based diet without sounding preachy. Mainly, we discuss topics surrounding nutrition and the sustainability of food. We are all passionate about how to make healthier food choices and we want to share our ideas with the UWCSEA community. Our intention is not to “convert” anyone to become vegetarian or vegan; rather, we want to educate people to make better choices about the food they eat.

Look at all that yummy plant-based food!

Last year, my friend and colleague Mairin Raisdana joined me as a supervisor; together, we have been supporting a budding group of teenagers as they question how food choices can affect their overall health as well as the environment. Today’s event helped to show people that plant-based eating is not just about leafy green salads. We had chocolate fudge brownies (vegan), puffed rice treats with chocolate chips (vegan), guacamole (vegan), pita bread (vegan), tortilla crisps (vegan), as well as hummus (also vegan). According to students, the food was very tasty; in fact, many of them couldn’t tell that the food didn’t contain any egg or dairy products!

I am very proud of our Focus on Food students who worked hard to help support today’s event. When I saw them this afternoon, they looked happy and engaged. I watched from afar as they answered questions and dished out the delicacies. Our next event will hopefully be a movie screening where we can raise even more awareness about how the food we eat can affect the health of our bodies, the lives of animals, and the environment in general. Watch this space for upcoming events!

If you are interested in learning more about our focus group, please contact me at uza@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg or Mairin at mar@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg. We will be sure to pass your messages along to our students.

What does POETRY in Grade 9 look like?

uza@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg Grade 9 , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Just before the October break, I introduced my Grade 9 classes to our unit on Poetry. We studied the requisite terms and looked at different forms of poetry, but I felt that something was missing. There didn’t seem to be the same type of excitement that usually surrounds our study of poetry, so I decided to mix things up a bit.

Enter Taylor Swift.

I told my class that it was #TaylorTuesday (on a Tuesday, of course) and introduced them to her song “Look What You Made Me Do.” Many of my kiddos were excited at the prospect of studying a Swift song in class rather than another poem (note: lyrics are also poetry, so I wasn’t veering too far off the curriculum). We read the lyrics, watched the video, and studied the context (I didn’t realise she had so many feuds with so many different celebrities!) My plan was working: students were annotating her lyrics to look for devices and effects. They were excited again!

An example of how one student annotated Swift’s lyrics.

We spent a long time on this. I scaffolded their learning by introducing them to commentary writing, paragraph by paragraph. I wanted them to really understand how writers (including songwriters) use various devices to create a particular effect on the reader. They created thesis strands and used the PEEEA method (Point-Evidence-Explanation-Effect-Anaylsis) to organise their commentaries. They worked collaboratively to outline and draft their ideas, then submitted them to me for feedback. I’m excited to read their interpretations of Swift’s lyrics of self-reflection. I’ll be using CheckMark (a Google Extension) in addition to my own comments to help guide them as they apply my feedback to their final drafts.

The Fast and the Furious

These #TaylorTuesday lessons (which also took place on Wednesdays) were the perfect segue to a formal piece of poetry (“Nettles” by Vernon Scannell) on which I also wanted students to practice their annotation and writing skills. The difference here is that I only gave them one class period to work on it. No, I’m not a monster; I am trying to get students used to the idea of timed-writing. In both IGCSE and IB, students will be given a limited amount of time to write certain assignments. It is therefore vital for them to get used to writing in a finite timeframe. I call this The Fast and the Furious, mainly because I love Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock), but also because I can see my students’ brains working overtime as they quickly write down their insights and ideas.

What started out with cries of “What? One period? How??” turned into sighs of “Wow. I can’t believe I did that in one period.” I’ll be honest: I don’t think all of my students finished the entire commentary, and that’s okay. What matters is that they used the skills they’ve acquired and tried their best to complete their commentaries in a detailed and thoughtful way.

The efficiency of their writing will come … in time.

 

CultuRama 2017

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I have been a teacher supervisor (one of four!) with CultuRama for three years now. It’s an event that I look forward to every year and I love working behind the scenes. Organising, liaising, and then re-organising … that’s my jam. (note: choreography is definitely NOT my jam)

This year’s CultuRama was different, though. I don’t know if it’s because of the number of students involved (well over 200), or the number of cultures being represented (thirteen), or how quickly the tickets sold out (two days), but there was something special about this year’s show. When we had our meetings and rehearsals, everyone seemed very chill … they knew what they were doing; they didn’t really need us. Even on the night of the show, the students were happily putting on their own makeup, doing their own hair, drawing their own tattoos, all without any assistance from us. I guess this is what happens when you supervise a truly student-led activity. I mean, just look at these photos and you’ll see what I mean …

Yes, the kids were amazing. But in addition to these wonderful kids, we also worked closely this year with the Parents’ Association. As always, the UWCSEA East parents really stepped up to the plate and delivered an incredible display of cultural artefacts and delectable food. Whether their country was represented or not, the parents of the PA volunteered to set up their tables (and bar) and feed the masses both before and in-between shows, and for this we are both grateful and thankful.

Thanks to everyone for making this year’s show the success it was. Your continued support of our students is much appreciated.

 

October Reading: The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson

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A couple of years ago, one of my seniors gave me a book entitled The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared as a thank you gift when he graduated. That book sat on my shelf for a while until one day, I decided to give it a go. I was so enamoured by the story that I had trouble putting it down. I even went so far as to describe some of the plot to my daughter (who wasn’t really interested in the stories of a 100 year old man) because I felt like I had to talk to someone about it. It was that good.

Now fast forward to October 2017. Two days before the half-term break began, I came across another one of Jonasson’s books on the desk of one of my colleagues. Naturally, I snatched it up and took it home, figuring I’d tell her about it the next day. Well, by the next morning, we received a frantic email from said colleague who wanted to know if anyone had taken the book from her desk. You see, she had put it aside because a parent wanted to borrow it for the break! Great minds, right? Well, I pled my case and told her I’d bring it back if she really wanted me to, but I probably wanted to read it more than the parent so could-I-please-take-it-on-holidays-with-me-and-I-promise-to-bring-it-back-and-give-it-to-the-parent??

Thankfully, she said yes.

So I took this book to Bali with me and once again, I inhaled it (not literally, mind you). Jonasson knows how to tell a story. He knows his history and politics, too, and he is seamlessly able to weave these historical facts into his fictional story. I found myself looking up certain things just to see if they are true (hint: they are!). Without getting too much into it, let’s just say that on the surface, it seems improbable that a young girl from Soweto, South Africa could ever have anything to do with the King of Sweden, but she does. And it’s funny. And it’s heartbreaking. And it’s good. And I recommend it.

Go get it from your library, but please ask before your borrow it …

5/5 coffees