Friday night I got to hear Nicholas Sparks speak at North Central High School in Indianapolis. I was looking forward to hearing him because I am a fan of his books, but I was impressed with him as a speaker and person as well as a writer. He was very entertaining and funny as he told his story about how he became a writer. No, he did not dream of being a writer as a kid. Instead he dreamed of running track in the Olympics. After running track in high school, he won a full athletic scholarship to Notre Dame and set the school record (that still stands today) as part of the 4 by 800 relay team. An injury his freshman year ended his track dreams. He wrote a novel that summer because his mother was tired of him moping around. That one didn’t go anywhere.
He majored in business and bounced around in different jobs after graduating. One day he woke up and realized that he had lived the past twelve years without working toward any dreams. He decided to seriously pursue writing a novel. He wrote a story inspired by his wife’s grandparents–it became The Notebook. He’s been writing ever since–not romances, but love stories.
I was even more impressed by how he gives of himself. With so many best-selling novels and movie adaptations, he could live a life of luxury. Instead he coaches track at a public high school in New Bern, NC. The track team he coaches brought home four individual championships at the last national track meet. He enourages the boys he coaches to pursue their dreams and helps make it possible. He has even had some of the boys move in with him and his family when they had nowhere else to go. Many of the track team members go on to college with scholarships. He and his wife also started a private Christian school in New Bern. I wonder if I could teach there?
I wish many of you could have been there to hear him. I did learn, though, that the Marion County Public Library sponsers a writer to speak every year. Past speakers have included Eric Carle, Gary Paulsen, E.L. Konigsburg, and many others. I plan on keeping my eyes open for next year’s guest writer. Maybe I’ll find out about it early enough to plan a field trip.
Last night I went to hear Wally Glover speak at the library about his trip to hike to Base Camp on Mount Everest. It seemed fitting since several books about climbing Everest have come across my path this year. The first one is John Krakauer’s Into Thin Air. Krakauer was on Everest in May of 1996, one of the deadliest days in Everest’s history. Ten people died on the mountain during a huge storm, including two expedition guides. As a journalist, Kraukauer gives him impressions of what decisions may have lead to the tragedy. It is an exciting description of the courage and strength that mountain climbers must possess to survive the trek through the dead zone at the top of the mountain–5 1/2 miles above sea level.
The second book is Mark Pfetzer’s My Everest Story. Pfetzer was the youngest person, age 16, to attempt to summit Mt. Everest. His first attempt was in May of 1996. The storm that killed ten climbers kept him in Base Camp 4 and prevented him from climbing the summit. He tried again next year, but had to turn around short of the summit. Even though he didn’t make it to the top of the world, he holds the records for being the youngest to summit several other challening mountains. His story shows what you can accomplish with enough determination.
I have both books in my room. I highly recommend them for incredible, real life adventure.
Dear Readers,
A snow day is a great time to curl up with a good book and a mug of hot chocolate. I’ve been scanning the newspaper and browsing through one of my magazines, Discipleship Journal. This afternoon I want to finish a John Grisham book I started before Christmas–Playing for Pizza. As you might guess, it’s not one of my favorites. I really don’t like Rick Dockery. He’s a spoiled third-string quarterback in the NFL. After completely losing a game (and a 17 point lead) in the last few minutes of a game, he is out of a job and desparate to play football–anywhere, for any one. That’s how he ends up playing American football for the Parma Panthers in Parma, Italy. Confronting his culture shock does help Rick grow up a little bit, but I’m finding it hard to care much about him. Since I have less than 100 pages less, I’ll go ahead and finish just to see what happens.
How are you coming with reading the books for your author research project? Go ahead and post your reactions to the book and any questions you have about it on your page. Other readers (including me) may be able to help you out. I am working on creating links with your pages. Thanks to those of you who added links yesterday.
As you learn how to do things with edublogs, please post them as well. Add a tag for edublogs tips so we can find it.
Happy reading!
Dear Readers,
I hope you are enjoying your snow day today. The sledding is great down the hill in our yard. I hope to walk through the woods later this afternoon. I think both the sledding and the hike through the snow will be great writing opportunities. What could you write about your snow day? A poem? A memoir? If you are so inspired, write something about the snow and post it on your page. I’ll share if I come up with something.
Dear Students–
I have responded to your posts from yesterday. You will notice that your grade is not on there. See me for that information. I have noticed some things about your letters that might help you in the future.
- Remember do quote (copy) an important passage from your book. It should be a paragraph or so that shows something important about a character, event, setting, theme, author’s style, etc.
- Don’t just summarize the story. Tell me what the story makes you think. I’ve tried to ask questions that get you to think about the books you read this way.
- Use the sentence starters to help you get thinking.
Some of you posted drafts of your memoir instead of your letter about a book you read. I responded to those as well. Keep working on them. You’ve got some interesting experiences to share.
Mrs. McGriff
Yes, I’m talking to you—even if you still don’t consider yourself a reader right now. Your Reading Journal and our class reading/writing blog is a place for you, me, and your friends to talk about books, authors, reading, and writing. We’ll write back to you with our observations and thinking. Our letter-essays and responses will become a record of the thinking, learning, and reading we did together.
Each letter-essay should be at least two pages long and written as a personal, reflective response to one book that you have read—not a series of paragraphs about several books. Take a long look at one book that intrigues you. You will write to me, but friends are also welcome to respond on the blog.
Before you write, look back over your Reading Record. Which title that you’ve finished would be most enjoyable to revisit as a fan? What book that you’ve abandoned—or finished to the bitter end—would be most enjoyable to revisit in a slam? Once you’ve decided, return to the book. Skim it, and select one passage you think is important, in terms of how you reacted to the books’ theme, problem, character development, plot, or author’s style. Choose a chunk of text that you think shows something essential. In your letter-essay quote (copy) the passage you chose and write about why you think it shows about the book, author, or your response to either.
What else might you do in a letter essay? Tell about your experience as a reader of the book. Describe what you noticed about how the author wrote. Tell what you think the theme might be. Tell what surprised you. Pose your wonderings—your questions about the author, the characters, the structure, the voice, and yourself as a reader. Try the sentence openers I provided to help you get thinking and writing. Be aware that a good letter-essay is one that teaches you something you didn’t realize about your book, or yourself as a reader, before you wrote it.
I do want you to follow these guidelines for these letters so that I can keep at least some of my sanity: (I know, it’s probably a losing battle.)
• Write your letters on notebook paper or post on our blog.
• You may write in pen or pencil, as long as it is dark enough for my poor, old eyes to read.
• THINK about what you read and write.
• Date your letters in the upper right-hand corner.
• Use a greeting (Dear __________), and a closing (Sincerely, )
• Don’t forget to mention the title and author of the book.
• Capitalize and underline the title (The Outsiders).
I look forward to reading your letters or comments on this blog.