Reading over Spring Break!

After my appointment with the dentist today, my husband and I drove to Valparaiso for a late lunch and some shopping.

One of my favorite stores is Target, and a Barnes and Noble is across the parking lot from the store on the east side of town.  That was the plan---stops at both.  However, I found several good titles as I was browsing the shelves off Best Sellers and Recommended Reading at Target and we never made it to B & N.

During Spring Break I like to read things that (1) don't have to be graded and (2) won't be taught.  I read differently when I teach something --- remembering content, looking for main points, jotting down examples of literary elements or points to include in an analysis.   I like reading our common book, This I Believe II,  but for every essay I read I automatically think of a writing prompt for a journal entry in ENGL 111. 

During Spring Break I read for pleasure.  I read best sellers. I read books I really don't have to remember.  I read books I don't have to think about too much.

What will I be reading in the car as we drive to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina?
Which pages will be turned while I sit on the balcony of the condo (hopefully) listening to the waves of the Atlantic Ocean as they hit the beach?

Here they are:

 

 

I have read several novels by Baldacci and enjoy his writing.  This novel was published in 2014.

Christina Baker Kline wrote Orphan Train which was #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list.

I haven't read anything written by Nicholas Butler (mainly because this is his first novel), but he graduated from the University of Wisconsin and still lives there.  My brother-in-law was on the faculty at Wisconsin and lives outside of Madison for several years.  We really enjoyed touring the state and visiting the capital city.

Thoughts about Red Badge

The Red Badge of Courage is NOT one of my favorite books to read.  If I were to rank the books that I have read from the most liked to the least, Red Badge would be close to the bottom of the list.

Why is this novel then included in the curriculum for ENGL 223?  Why did the juniors at West Central High School read it for many years?  The answer is simple. 

It is teachable. 

Picture this.....a class full of junior boys, after lunch, after a morning of Building Trades or Auto Mechanics at the Vocational School.  They all trek into English class, ready for......a nap.  How does the English teacher keep their attention?  Involve them in the class?  Make the 90 minutes fly by?

Read The Red Badge of Courage.  With parts.  With acting.  The tallest boy in the class played Jim Conklin, the tall soldier.  The boy with the youngish looking face, the one who never said much of anything became The Youth, Henry Fleming.  The loud kid who always cracked jokes and  couldn't sit still took on the role of Wilson, the Loud Soldier.  Any number of other soldiers were played by any number of other students on the brink of nodding off during normal class time.  Add some blood and guts plus ants creeping over a dead guy's face and they were hooked.

From the teacher's standpoint, Red Badge held a wealth of elements that were easily explained and understood.  How can even the toughest students not understand the scene where Henry and Wilson run up the hill with Jim, Jim's death, and the wounds in his hands and his side depicting the crucifixion?   How can students read about all of the RED and the GREEN and the BLACK and GRAY and not recognize the color symbolism?

The story is simple, yet complex.  The action covers a short amount of time.  The characters and the setting are both universal.  Red Badge is really about any war at any time with any characters or any nationality.

So, no, this is not one of my favorite books to read for pleasure.  However, it is one so craftily written that it is a logical choice  to include in a course curriculum and an easy read for those who don't necessarily enjoy spending their time with a book.

Gazing through the Picture Window on a Saturday Morning.......

No, I am not going to write a poem. I don't intend to write anything that resembles any type of genre, except a blog post!

However, I looked up from my recliner, my place for my Saturday morning routine of grading online submissions, to see beautiful snowflakes drifting through the air.  Of course they are not in my living room, but the view through the picture window is beautiful.

Yes, I am tired of snow.

Yes, I am tired of cold temps.

Yes, I am really tired of my concern over the driving conditions each day as I hit the country roads from west of Pulaski to Star City to Royal Center to Logansport and maybe Kokomo.

Today I am concerned about the driving to Pyrmont when my daughter and her family live.  The plan is to go there after lunch, spend the afternoon and evening with everyone, spend the night, go to church in the morning, then attend a baby shower for a friend in the afternoon.  I won't be driving, but my husband doesn't like to drive on snowy, icy roads any better than I do.

But for now....I am thinking of Robert Frost's feelings as he slowed his horses to gaze at the woods on a snowy evening, years ago.  Even though the hustle and bustle of life as we know it was non-existent then, I am sure he faced many struggles in his daily life.  Getting home before dark.  Feeding the horses and ensuring their safety in the barn before he went into the house for his own warm meal.  Cutting and stacking more wood so his family would be warm and cozy into the night.  Even though the challenges and concerns were different, they still existed, just on a different scale.

Here I am, worried about riding in our Ford Escape with four-wheel drive for 40 miles in a little snow.  Not really a big problem.  But even more, I am thinking about my life right now.  Some issues have been weighing heavily on my mind lately, and I am not sure what direction they may take me.  Maybe some reflection on Frost would be appropriate right now.

As I move my head from the computer screen toward the picture window once again, the scene has changed, just in the time it took me to begin this post to now.  The beautiful snowflakes have disappeared to just a fine sprinkle similar to the change from Q-Tip sized cotton to a poof of baby powder.

No parody of Robert Frost's poem!  Just some reflections on our busy lives, the wonders of nature, and life in general.

eBooks

as I type this, I am sitting in a gym at the Ft. Wayne campus, listening to a presentation about eBooks and such.  We were just asked how many of us teach a course using eBooks, and I raised my hand because we are reading Red Badge in another format than the anthology and Gatsby will be the same way.

My question....do you feel comfortable reading a digital form of a book, or do you like to feel the pages turn of a book you are holding in your hand?  Thmk about it.  Will libraries in small towns fade away because everyone has a Kindle?

New Semester! New Blog!

Welcome to the world of Blogging for the ENGL 223 course in the spring semester of 2015!

As we discussed in the Blackboard IM session on Wednesday, February 11, the blog will take the place of a formal midterm exam and a final exam.

Please check the Midterm Blog folder in our shell on Blackboard for instructions, suggestions, and guidelines.

The blogs from students returning to ENGL 223 from the fall ENGL 222 course are shown at the right.  Please click and take a look.