Satchel Paige

I was excited to see how short Satchel Paige was :) At first the format interfered with my reading, although I have read and enjoyde graphic novels in the past (Neil Gaiman's Sandman), I didn't think the text or content fit the format. To me it seemed like historical fiction, and I am not use to reading about those experiences in such a "new" way. I did find myself engrossed, especially because I love baseball so i was caught up in the often "play by play" narration of the game. I think this format would appeal greatly to reluctant readers, as well as enhance comprehension because the font allows for more meaning to be easily tranferred, like when one of the Jennings twins yelled at Paige, calling him "a washed out ******," of course that would be emphasized regardless, but the ability to increase the font size helps too.

Very Interesting article from NY Times on Matt De La Pena's book being BANNED! READ!

March 19, 2012

Racial Lens Used to Cull Curriculum in Arizona

By MICHAEL WINERIP

TUCSON — Ana Verdugo is a fan of Matt de la Peña’s young adult novels; she read his “Mexican WhiteBoy” in two days.

Like the lead character, Danny, Ana is a Mexican-American whose family does not have much, is being raised by her mother and has a father who spent time in jail.

Like Sofia, the lead female character, Ana, a high school junior, is hoping to go to community college, where she wants to study accounting. “Most books I read, I don’t know the people,” Ana said. “This book is the truth.”

Last fall, she had the idea of inviting Mr. de la Peña to Tucson High. “I didn’t think he’d say yes,” she recalled, “but maybe he would.”

For the next several months, Ana and the school librarian, Amy Rusk, worked to raise $1,000 for his speaking fee. It was not easy — their most successful bake sale netted only $124.

Still, on Tuesday morning at 8:30, Mr. de la Peña walked into the Tucson High library, although there was a surprising plot twist.

On Jan. 1, after a new state law targeting Mexican-American studies courses that are perceived as antiwhite was upheld, it became illegal to teach “Mexican WhiteBoy” in Tucson’s classrooms. State officials cited the book as containing “critical race theory,” a violation under a provision that prohibits lessons “promoting racial resentment.”

For those who have read the book, like Ana, it is hard to figure. In “Mexican WhiteBoy,” the hero’s hope is to become a pitcher on his school’s baseball team.

The novel’s story is pretty much the American dream.

Andrew LeFevre, a state spokesman, said that while the Education Department had found the Mexican-American studies program out of compliance with the law, it was the Tucson district’s job to decide how to enforce the ruling. “I think the district said: ‘Let’s be safe and collect this material. We don’t want a teacher from Mexican-American studies to use it in an inappropriate fashion.’ ” he said.

The conflict dates to 2006 when Dolores Huerta, a labor activist, gave a speech at Tucson High, telling students “Republicans hate Latinos.”

Tom Horne, the state education superintendent at the time and a Republican, sent his deputy to the high school to convey their concerns. But students saw the visit as an attack on free speech, and 200 walked out in protest.

Ka-boom. Mr. Horne accused the district’s Mexican-American studies program of using an antiwhite curriculum to foster social activism. At the time, the program served 1,400 of 53,000 students in the Tucson district, which is 60 percent Latino.

In 2010, after several attempts, the Republican-controlled Legislature and the Republican governor passed a law prohibiting classes that advocate overthrowing the government, are designed for students of one ethnic group or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of treating pupils as individuals. The state wanted Tucson’s Mexican-American studies program disbanded.

When Tucson officials resisted, the attorney general’s office issued subpoenas. Investigators obtained textbooks, PowerPoint presentations, teachers’ college theses, exam prompts, poems and lyrics from hip-hop songs.

Class lessons were singled out over apparent political bias, among them “From Cortes to Bush: 500 Years of Internalized Oppression.” Seven texts were ordered removed from all classrooms, including “Chicano! The History of the Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement” by F. Arturo Rosales and “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” by Paulo Freire.

“Mexican WhiteBoy” fell into a category of books that could no longer be taught but could be used by students for leisure reading. To get an independent assessment of the program, the state hired a consultant, for $110,000, to conduct an audit.

The audit found that while some aspects of the program needed changing, it was doing a good job. It noted that students who took Mexican-American studies were more likely to attend college, and that the program helped close the achievement gap. The state ignored the audit, calling it flawed.

John Huppenthal, the new state superintendent, told a reporter that he was fighting a war. “When we encountered this situation, we did what Hannibal did to the Romans,” he said. “This is the eternal battle, the eternal battle of all time, the forces of collectivism against the forces of individuality.”

In January, facing a $15 million penalty from the state for failure to comply, the Tucson resistors threw down their arms. Administrators went from room to room, collecting hundreds of copies of the seven textbooks.

Mr. de la Peña’s visit, which began in October as a literary event, had political implications by March, although little he said was directly political.

Mostly, he told the 300 students his story of reluctant reader to successful writer. He explained that, half-Mexican, half-white, he had grown up speaking no Spanish; too white for Mexican kids, too brown for whites.

He got to college because he could play basketball. His hope was to play professionally until, in one of his college games, he guarded Steve Nash. (Nash: 36 points, 4 assists; de la Peña: 3 points, 1 assist, 8 turnovers.)

He told them that if they were serious about writing, they had to be ready to accept lots of failure. He once wrote a poem for a girl he liked, but after reading it, she never spoke to him again. His goal as a writer, he said, “is to give grace and dignity to people from the other side of the tracks.”

“If you are Mexican-American, embrace it,” he said. “If the classes are offered, take them; if not, try to get them back.”

Mr. de la Peña donated his fee to buy 240 copies of his books, which he gave to the students. “I want to give back what was taken away,” he told Samantha Neville, a reporter for the school newspaper, The Cactus Chronicle.

As for Ana, this may have been the greatest day of her life. Having finished all four of Mr. de la Peña’s novels, she is now reading “The Lucky One” by Nicholas Sparks, about a Marine’s search for a mysterious woman in a tattered photo he finds, who turns out to be strong but vulnerable.

“It’s not the same,” Ana said. “I don’t know anybody like that.”

E-mail: oneducation
@nytimes.com

Finished with Monster

I think the ending of the book exposes who the real monsters are. I am happy Steve was found innocent, and actually surprised too. I felt he was, but I know how the whole innocent until proven guilty saying works too. Often, if you are a minority you are always guilty in the eyes of certain people. Why did Steve's attorney turn away at the end? That part proabably bugged more than anything else. And that will plague him for a long time, it is difficult not to let other peoples reactions and perceptions sink in to your skin.

I like how at the end Steve says he is looking for one true image of himself. I think what he reveals in this last part is that although he is not sure who he is, he has the power to define himself, he is the camera man, he is in control of his life. There may not be that true image because life, just like on camera, all rests on perception and the perspective.

TGIF

Ok, I have been a bad blogger as of late. I was very excited earlier this week to begin Ball Don't Lie, but unfortunately the book has sat on my desk untouched, and actually buried under tons and tons (literally!..well not really...) of papers! AP Lit and Comp, AP Lang and Comp, and two vastly different classes of English III....AIS meetings this week, and LTED 626...MY OWN children are coming home with notes from THEIR teachers requesting more help with homework....Let's see if I can finish off this semester without a nervous breakdown....
At least that's the optional read! I am used to putting off what I want to do and instead focusing on what demands I have to meet, so W.D. Meyers, I am reading your Monster right now. I personally do not enjoy this book. I think it lacks depth and is not dynamic enough for me so far. I do think many students would like it, and it would show them a kid maybe similar to them, who wants to be tough on the outside, but inside is scared and never wanted to be in any kind of trouble. I do think Steve is innocent. I think he would have admitted it in his "movie" if he was not. One part of the book I really do like is him pretending his life in jail is a movie. He says nothing seems real, and it is like he is watching someone elses life, and so to put distance between him and his life he is "making a movie" out of his experiences in jail. I think it is a cool way for this caharcter to survive mentally, and it shows in my eyes that he is innocent. He is a kid, and his love for film and his success in his film class show that he is a good kid. But good kids can get themselves in trouble...and that is what I like about this book. So many people have a negative perception of urban students. When Is ay I work at Edison the response I get make me so angry "Oh that must be tough" or "Wow you are one brave soul" or "I bet the kids are real bad." I love my students. 4 weeks in and I love them. They are good and smart and amazing and the environment that surrounds them is often a negative one. It is very difficult to be and act a certain way when the environment you are raised in is conducive to a certain type of ....don't know the word I am looking for. It is like expecting to grow an avocado when you are planting in an apple farm. ??? get it? both fruits are good, but they both grow under different conditions and come in packages that insist they be different....I hope I did an ok job trying to demonstrate that kids are kids, just like fruit is fruit, but there are some differences and its natural and you cannot blame an apple for being an apple, or an avocado for being an avocado. Anyway, my students are often victims of their environmnet, much like Steve was, and now he is scared and the evil prosecuter...."monster" how dare her. Now poor Steve is starting to believe it. Reminds me of A Lesson Before Dying when the prosecutor calls the man on trial a hog, and his grandmother is set on making her sure her grandson goes to his death a man :( so sad.

Can't wait to start this week's reading!

I am very excited for my "optional" read this week! It is Matt De La Pena's Ball Don't Lie, and though I am not a huge basketball fan, if it is anything like his last book, I am sure to love it!

Finished with Hunger Games

Ok, this book kept my attention....and I admit...I was enteratined, and I can say I liked it....but at the same time there was so much I did not like and just made me feel dumb.....

Like the crazy outfits...I am sorry, I just could not fully believe, by into, or take seriously the girl on fire...all the prep and the parading of them and ceremony, I don't know, I truly dislike reality tv shows and how scripted they are too....all aspcts of them bug me, and so of course this did.

I think what really bothered me was that they could dress people up, interview them, test them and score them, and watch them die. It's just weird and I want to say (stupid!) I know it is making commentary on how our society functions, but I just (as everyone has probably noticed in my other responses) have a hard time bying in to things that I cannot "imagine"...I do have a good imagination too...some things though, just do not sit right with me....The whole soap opera love affair too...just...I dont know, not a book I'd push on to students...and actually I was asked to. I guess the RCSD ordered a bunch for the tenth graders and i was asked to take a box and give them to kids to read. I was like...whoa...I have a TON of books I can reccomend to students, this one....not so much....

Hunger Games

I really like Hunger Games so far because it is easy to read and descriptive. I need something easy and enjoyable right now. Katniss decsribes and sets us up well to visialize the setting and her district. She seems like a smart and resourceful girl. I know this is set in the future, but the way they way she hunts and attempts to live off the land, and the way they decribe the hungergames themselves, and the "Dark days" seems more like a time a long time ago, nothing any civilized society would think up or lead to. Sadly, I need to admit that based on the other books we have read so far this semester (Breadwinner, Book Theif, Yellow Star) perfectly good and modern societies impose and commit horrific inhuman monstrous acts againts human beings. But my kid...NEVER. I COULD NOT WOULD NOT put up with this. The idea that so many are ammuesed by the Games is sickening, and....I wonder if today's reality shows are any match in analogy for this. I personally cannot stand reality shows. I have not gotten too far, but I am glad Katniss took Prim's spot, because I don't think we'd have a possibility at a rest of a book if she didn't....