School starts on Monday, and I can't help but feel dreadfully unprepared. The super-sweet posters I ordered for my classroom won't arrive until the second week of school. My teaching load did get slimmed down to six sections of four different classes (2 sections of English 12, 2 of English 10, 1 of Creative Writing, 1 of College-Credit English). So that's a good thing, I'd say. Any suggestions for a good novel for the English 12 class (it's British Lit.). Last year's class read 1984, but that doesn't feel meaty enough for the modern novel portion of the class. Any suggestions would be much appreciated...
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Made an emergency trip to the vet two nights ago. At the faculty/staff picnic, Boone somehow got himself some meat which conveniently lodged itself in his esophogus. After a terrifying 40 minute ride to the vet, we got everything taken care of and he's back to his wagging, chewing, barking-self. Much trouble as he's been, I wouldn't trade this dog for anything. He sleeps in the bed these days, watches television on the couch, and will sit if you give him a treat.
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I'm not the biggest fan of twitter, but I have found one that I think is pretty funny...
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Congrats to Keith for all his recent poem-publishing ass-kicking. Though, I have to say, it does make me anxious about all the poems I currently have out in the wind. Ever notice how hearing about others' acceptances makes you remember how long it's been since your last one? But it doesn't make me any less happy to hear about good people (and good poets) getting their work out there...
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My latest obsession: Sarah Jarosz. In this video, she's 17. Since, she's turned 18 and released a CD that has yet to leave my stereo...
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Killer opening line of the now:
"The knives are calling"
from Aaron Baker's "Spirits of the Low Ground"
(Mission Work, Houghton Mifflin, 2008)
6 comments:
For Brit Lit: EM Forster's Howard's End is one that I love.
If you're looking for something more contemporary for your British Lit class, you might want to skim the Booker Prize list. I had a Brit Lit professor who had her classes read the winner every year. I read Anne Enright's The Gathering. It had adult themes though. In that class we also read A Room with a View (Forster), A Room of One's Own (Woolf) & Nice Work (David Lodge- I didn't like this lol)
What about White Teeth by Zadie Smith? Or A Clockwork Orange?
I remember lots of reading for h.s. brit lit, but most of it was old English and medieval stuff (Beowulf, Rape of the Lock, Sir Gawain, etc). I would have loved it if we spent a few weeks learning about contemporary British writers, like Zadie Smith, Salman Rushdie, and Nick Hornby.
I also recommend White Teeth, I read it in AP English Senior year and it was the best book we read in terms of accessibility and quality of discussion.
Thanks for the suggestions ladies. I ordered White Teeth today in hopes of convincing my Principal that we should replace 1984 with Zadie (her and I are on a first name basis, we're mad tight)...
That Twitter is Fing incredible. How the hell did I not hear about this?
Wow.
And thanks for the nod and encouragement. Don't worry, the acceptances from all the ATA poems will start rolling in soon.
And keep us in the know when they do...
Thanks for the happy words, Keith. I'll definitely keep y'all posted on submissions/acceptances. Starting to get antsy--ready for some good news.
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