Whale Talk - The End

Well, dearest reader of mine, the unit is over. Officially, 100% over. Discussions were had, journals were written, reflections were done, and the projects have been handed in (and are in the process of being graded). Its bitter sweet. The end of the year is nearly here (that's sweet), but our journey is over (that's bitter).

Over vacation the kids had to complete an in-depth character analysis project, and to my delight they didn't even complain about it! They had stickies shooting out of their books the Friday before break, and when we returned only 1 student was without a project (he never does anything, so I wasn't surprised). I also had papers due in two other classes, so I haven't begun grading the WT projects, but I'm super excited to read them!!

Anyway, with everything else done, I felt like we (me in particular) needed to wrap things up. Just saying, "the end" did not feel right. So, we did three things on Tuesday in class:

1. Chalk Talk (The kids each get a marker, and have to go around to pieces of poster paper and write responses. They can respond to each other or to the question. There is no talking. It's nice because it gives them ALL equal opportunity to say their peace)
2. Discussion (of the chalk talk)
3. Unit Evaluation

Our chalk talk questions were:





When we were done, we had this:




I was really, really impressed with their responses. I was most impressed, with how appalled they were at the thought of a book being banned.

We had a discussion for nearly 25 minutes JUST about book banning. A few kids wondered whether some topics would be TOO inappropriate for students, but couldn't come up with what. We even looked up the Top 10 Most Banned Books, and none of us could get it. I was really, really proud. I resisted the urge to insert my opinion, but I didn't need to anyway. My students really, really understood that it's not ok to censor people. Ever.

We didn't spend a lot of time on what they would ask Chris Crutcher (the author), because most of them wanted to know what inspired the novel. Maybe, just maybe, I'll write on their behalf and find out. Who knows?

The last chalk talk was what the characters can teach us. Again - Blow. Away.


I wasn't just blown away by their chalk talk either. We were short on time, so instead of addressing the actual poster, I went around the room and had each student tell me what they learned. It would be easy for freshman to blow this off and say silly things. Not this group. They said things like: "Don't judge a book by it's cover" and "Everyone has a story".

Our last order of business (if you've been paying attention), was a unit evaluation. When I do something totally new, I like to see what the kids think. It's something I learned from the fabulous Mrs. Manhart. Here's the evaluation (only the front; the back had open-ended questions):



I was so excited to see that the majority of them thought that our opening activity was EPIC. I worked so hard on that, for so long and it paid off. They also really enjoyed their reading journals. Most of the time, I just had them write their reactions, but the comment that I got from many was that they liked being able to say what they think. The thing they hated was vocab, which I basically knew. It could have been better, but was the last worry. I was most impressed that about half of them thought the character analysis project was EPIC. They actually enjoyed the project!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They liked it, they said, because the felt like they got to know the characters. Kids engaging in a novel - I'm dying over here. Seriously.

And, even though I haven't graded them, here are a few project photos. The cover needed to be creative and reflect the character.

I could keep going forever and ever and ever. I truly could, but I won't. In the interest of time, and energy, I will end this post with a few thoughts.

On the unit: I just loved it.
On my students: I love them.
On you reading this: Thank you!

On Whale Talk: Wow.

Unattainable

I've spent the past several days wanting, and needing, to write a post that isn't related to school. I've been inside my own head, trying to figure some things out. And now, here I sit at 8:30 on Friday night trying to decide whether the things I discovered inside my head are things that I can articulate. With two nights of insomnia behind me, I've decided that even if I fail, this is worth a shot.

I wrote a post about a month ago about faith. I just reread that post, and I'm not in the same place right now. I still have faith in a lot of things, but I'm discovering that I have to work, sometimes hard, to keep faith. I'm not alone here, I know. I know that faith is something you have to work at, and that in working at it, you build faith. But, at what point is it supposed to pay off?

We - especially young women - are bombarded with images of fairy tale endings in life and love. How often does that really happen? I know, I know. You can't believe everything you see, read, or hear. BUT, I often feel like we set ourselves up to fail in faith. We have, at least I have, expectations that are really not realistic.

Maybe part of faith is figuring out that our expectations are unrealistic. Maybe, just maybe, faith is deciding that reaching for something you may not attain is better than not trying at all.

Whale Talk - Day 10

I'm on vacation, which explains why this post is coming nearly 4 days after the class it's about. What can I say? I'm almost as bad as the kids when it comes to procrastination - only I don't wait until the actual night before to get things done.

Friday before vacation was bitter sweet. It was so, so sweet because it's vacation, and after the endurance run from February to April it's needed. It was bitter because Whale Talk is essentially over. The reading is done, we've discussed the characters and plot, and all that's really left are the projects assigned on day 4. So, that's what we did on Friday.

I went over the project, again, and answered a lot of questions. We talked about expectations, and the kids looked at examples of the same kind of analysis project on William Golding's Lord of the Flies. I think they rather enjoyed looking at examples because one of them belongs to me. Yes, I still have most of the work I did for British literature in 11th grade. I'm that kid, but it's come in handy several times.

Once we were done reviewing project guidelines, I gave the kids time to work. They used it - mostly. I helped some find passages, helped some with structure, and I also packed my stuff so I could peace out ASAP.

I won't see my honors class again until April 27 - a week and a half from the last class we had. I have high expectations for these projects, and I hope I haven't given myself expectations that are too high. Some of the kids in my class will, without a doubt, do excellent work, while others will do just enough to get by.

I really wish I had had more time to spend on this novel. I'm really sad that it's over, and while I love Shakespeare, somehow Romeo and Juliet doesn't seem like much of a follow-up act to this novel.

Whale Talk - Day 9

Yesterday was the class I had anticipated since we started reading this book. The kids were finally done with the novel, and we could talk about everything ... the full circle of the plot, the ending, just all of the things that I've had to avoid since we started. It was great. The whole time we were talking, I kept thinking to myself, "I should have taped this. I don't want to forget anything." Then, I starting thinking, "Just be here. Right now. Listen, you'll remember what's important." So, I decided to wait to write this post. I wanted to let everything settle, so that I could cover the most important things. There's so much more I could write here, but I still have two class periods to go through and reflect with the students. Stay tuned to see the final, final moments.

_________________________________________

We started class with a 3ish minute think time for the students; I asked them to write down the words, and phrase that they thought of when they finished the novel. This is what we came up with:


Some of them were really dissatisfied with the end of the novel, but they also weren't entirely sure what had happened throughout the whole thing. So, we started at the beginning of the reading (chapter 14). It wasn't the most exciting chapter, but some great and very important things happened. One included Heidi (Rich Marshall's stepdaughter - biracial stepdaughter). She scrubbed her arm with a brillo pad. Until it was raw. The silence in my classroom when we talked about that was so loud. That topic didn't last long, because we moved on to discuss Heidi's mother, Alicia.

It was Alicia who brought Heidi around Rich. In the eyes of my ninth grade students she's just as bad, if not worse that Rich. She, according to them, is supposed to protect her kids no matter what. She shouldn't get the second chance given by the Jones family. One student blew me away, though. She brought up how hard it would be to just cut Rich out. That doing so could be just as bad for Heidi as having him around, because he's a dangerous guy. Still, though, they didn't think Alicia should be around her kids at all because she goes back to Rich over and over. Then, Ms. Davis jumped in ...

I watch enough SVU to know that taking a child away from everything she knows is just as bad as having one abusive parent. It's hard to explain that to kids, though. They can't wrap their heads easily around the idea that people who make mistakes don't always learn from them the first time. There are some who still don't like Alicia, and who think she needs to be locked away, but they considered her point of view, and that's what I wanted.


Some other conclusions drawn during our discussion of chapter 14:
- Chris Coughlin is a big deal - and he LOVES TJ Jones.
- Mr. Simet's speech at the winter sports banquet shows the very best things about all of the Mermen.
- Icko is the man.
- The Tao Jones showed us what The Tao is about.

Most of our discussion surrounded the climax of the novel (which I refuse to give away, although I'm dying to - go read the book, so that we can talk!). If I try to sit here and write about what we said, I'm inevitably going to give something away, so I'll tell you the following:

In reading the climax, a girl who "hated" this book cried, a class that talks constantly was dead silent, and we all heard a little whale talk in the advice "not one minute for revenge".

One more found poem ...

I got this late, but it's too good NOT to share.

A Found Poem inspired by Whale Talk
By J.O.
Superman
A symbol of the universe.
As pale as chicken gravy
and eyes as dull as automobile primer.
The stud that is as tall as I can stretch.
In a cloud of Dust
ready to take the bullet.

His cape.
A symbol of excellence
offers up whatever we need,
whenever we need it.
He's a Barbarian in my eyes.
But that's my judgement.
He goes about as far over your head
as you can go without escaping gravity.
He goes above and beyond.

In hear the voice.
The universe.
Superman.

Whale Talk found poems

For Weekend homework, I gave the kids the following handouts:

I love found poems, and wish that I had spent more class time explaining/demonstrating because the products would have been stellar. I got some great ones, despite my lack of time, and decided that I wanted to share a few. So, here you are:

By G.L.
He's the nicest mean-looking dad in the world.
Hop into my babe mobile and I'll buy you a milkshake.
He's pale as chicken gravy and his eyes are dull as automobile primer.
Kids flock around my dad like he was created by Walt Disney.
Children trying to climb a glacier.
That would require a considerable outlay of energy.
There is nothing more than sound of heavy breathing.
Everything is relative.
Aquatic helmets.
Barbour the barbarian.
But with element, it is a soul stealer.

By B.L. (male)
Love is ...
being ready to take a bullet
two pizzas for Simon
Spock in his Vulcan mind
it is the universe
and the children climbing glaciers

By B.L. (female)
I hear the voice
the voice
I will forever remember
she looks into my eyes
I was interested
three syllables
a symbol of excellence
of energy
it's a soul stealer
she
says
I
love
you.

By A.H.
Respect the soft water.
Bottom level aquatic, big deal.
Allows real outsiders.
Take advice Barbour the Barbarian.
Voice, Action, symbol of excellence.
A small group is far more
the universe says swim.
Focus, the sound of breathing.
Instincts, whatever I have to do.
Forever remember the fiercely competitive.
The rest is history.

By A.D. (and me)
Children,
both twelve, don't know
the sensation of ignorance.
They are luckier than they know.

Whale Talk - Day 8

Well, the two chapters I sent home over the weekend provided a little bit of a reprieve from all the intensity that we had read, and that they will read for Wednesday. These two chapters set us up with just a little more reinforcement that Mike and Rich are jerks, TJ is amazing, John is the epitome of a good man, and the other characters provide a rich background to support that. So, our discussion wasn't overly involved today.

Mostly, the kids talked about Andy Mott. We found out in Chapter 12 how he lost his leg, and let me tell you, it's about as tragic and disheartening as anything in this book. I don't want to give much away (because I'm hoping if you haven't already, you'll read this book), but Andy is a hard ass for a reason. The kids in my class were pretty shaken up by the whole thing. They also keep admitting that they don't totally believe that everything in here is plausible. Here are the reasons why they find this novel hard to believe sometimes (in their words):

1. Every character has a major life problem.
2. There is too much abuse in it.
3. The characters are too different to actually get along with each other so well.
4. People don't really open up and bond the way the Mermen have.

At the end of our discussion today, I addressed several of these "concerns" along with others. Here are my rebuttals, as well as a summation:

1. Jackie, Simet, Georgia, and even Simon don't have off-the-wall problems.
2. I didn't directly address this.
3. Sometimes people bring out the best in each other because they are so different.
4. I talked about this one in a previous class/post.

Summation: It's called fiction. In order to believe any work of fiction we have to suspend reality (I explained this further to them as being able to accept the far fetched). In this book, we don't even have to suspend reality that much. When we did our opening activity, the majority of the class said they wouldn't give Andy Mott the time of day. Is that still true? (They said no, FYI). Well, that's the point that Crutcher is making here. For instance, I could pull a slacker, jock, special education student, and loner aside in Old Town High School, and if I got to know them, I would learn something. That's what makes this believable - that we have to look beyond the surface level in order to really see people. We all make judgements - I know I do - and that's human nature, but we also have to be willing to take another look.

Then, because I admitted to being judgemental sometimes, they wanted to know what judgements I made when I first met them. I told them, but really, that should be dealt with in another entry altogether.

Some kids have finished the novel, and are dying to talk it out, because the end is rather shocking. You can see SOMETHING coming, but not what does, and boy-oh-boy, even I can't wait until Wednesday to see what they think.