MBR Hear That Trumpet Sound - One Crazy Summer

Read:

Noe. J.,  Johnson, N (1999) Getting Started with Literature Circles. Christopher-Gordon Publisher, Massachusetts

Williams-Garcia, R., (2010) One Crazy Summer: New York HarperCollins

Reason for reading: Reading Noe and Johnson has had a specific influence on my reading for entertainment. I use to read 5-10 books a week and had to structure my reading more toward academic because of my coursework. Recently, I began scheduling time for reading for myself the same way I do for my literature students. The adjustment has been wonderful. At the heart of this revival has been One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams –Garcia. Noe and Johnson talk about what is worth worry about and what is worth letting go. (p.32) A lot of my personal writing involves some type of time travel. I take my characters through time to connect with emotional or dramatic points of their past to inform their future. One Crazy Summer took me on such a journey.

After our family relocated to Oakland California (2908 Harper Street) My three brothers and I were forced to engage hippies, the Black Panther movement and the death of our national icons, King, X and Kennedy our promised saviors. My father was a minister at the time and I read many a leaflet and pamphlet of propaganda during those crazy years and then quietly found my own voice at Golden Gate Park where my Uncle Russell Lacey played golf and the park became my platform.

“Hear that trumpet sound?

 Change is coming round and round.

 Round that corner fast,

 Snap this frozen place and twist that Golden Gate.

 Hear that trumpet sound?

 No it won’t rain around here,

 But the wind will blow and blow that trumpet sound.

 Yes, hear that trumpet sound.

The journey Delphine. Vonetta and Fern take to California from New York "One Crazy Summer, allows me to hear "that trumpet sound" once again. 

MBR: Reading Interpretation as a Function of Identity

Reading

Holland, Norman N. "Reading and Identity: a Psychoanalytic Revolution." Twentieth Century Literary Theory: a Reader. Ed. K. M. Newton. London: Macmillan, 1997. 204-209.

Reason for reading: After our group discussion last week it was important to discern the idea that a poem, book or story could have multiple meanings and that interpretation was based on the readers emotional or experiential connection to the text. Rosenblatt was key for me, in being able to better understand writers such as Poe, Shakespeare, Frost and others from a broader perspective and really interact with the text and better share with my students. I believe that we do look at text through the lens of our identity. However, there is more involved within the interaction as noted by Iser, Poulet  and Fish.

Note: This article was of particular interest since it was referenced in Tomkins. The notion of interpretation as a relationship to identity or better noted as a “function of identity”. Holland in this article uses a lot of Freudian terminology to support his theories and be critical of others in the field of reader-response theory.

Holland, Norman N. "Reading and Identity: a Psychoanalytic Revolution." Twentieth Century Literary Theory: a Reader. Ed. K. M. Newton. London: Macmillan, 1997. 204-209.


Also important to note that I am reading Ernest Hemingway's Under Kilimanjaro and Carver a Life of Poems by Marilyn Nelson for entertainment. (It's about time)

My Five Selections for Literature Circles and Encouraging Dialogue

1.  The Giving Tree

Author:  Shel Silverstein Publisher:  Harper and Row, 1964.

Summary and Criteria for Selection: The Giving Tree is a wonderful story about a relationship between a young boy and a tree. The tree provides the boy with what he thinks he wants. I want to use this story in literature circles to get students to ask themselves questions about what they want and at what expense do we get our way. Using The Giving Tree in a literature circle allows for meaningful discussion about giving, sharing and friendship. 

2.  Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge

Author:  Mem Fox Publisher:  Kane/Miller Publishers, 1995.

Summary and Criteria for Selection: Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge is a little boy who lives next door to an "old people’s home."  He is a friend with all of the residents, but his favorite is Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper and he helps her find her memory.  The story helps students to discuss ageism and Alzheimer’s Disease. Relationship to literature circle: Understanding prior knowledge is one of the most valuable assets that they bring to the classroom.

3.  My First Garden

Author: Tomeki Bogacki Publisher:  Frances Foster Books

Summary and Criteria for Selection: This is a wonderful account of a man remembering a garden he created when he was a boy. At the same time his own son is starting his first garden. The book is a metaphor about growing, heritage and renewal. The book My First Garden also gives me the opportunity to ask students questions about how they choose books and discuss the value of literature circles and diversity.

4.  Book Title: Jazz on Saturday Night

Author: Leo and Diane Dillon Publisher:  The Blue Sky Press

Summary and Criteria for Selection: A cultural look at jazz and music from Duke Ellington to Miles Davis. The book Jazz on Saturday Night allows me to share my music experiences and nurture a sense of wonder and imagination.

5.  Book Title: All the Colors of the Earth

Author: Sheila Hamanaka Publisher:  Morrow Junior Books

Summary and Criteria for Selection: A story of diversity and culture and I really enjoy the connection between the illustration and the text. My hope is that I can help students make connections between the text they read and feel they can be a part of the story. As I reread the story I feel that the use of nature and animals is profound and students can embrace the words with a lesson about how do you see yourself and how do you connect with the text? 

Mindful Branch Reading

(To Read)    9/12/11

• Roen, D., & Karolides, N. (January 01, 2005). Louise Rosenblatt: A Life in Literacy. The Alan Review, 32, 3, 59-61.

• Author: Karolides,  (as cited by Tomkins)

• Note: Trying to understand and review the impact that Rosenblatt has had on both reading and literature is daunting. She is referenced so much in the reading. 
• Reason for reading: I want to really utilize LLSS 528 to understand and learn about the giants of reading from both a critical and transactional stance or discourse. The richness of literature is not just reading a book. 

Significant Literary Event in My Life as a Reader:

There were times in my life when I really thought that I had it all figured out. My life and the relationships around me fit into a nice little box and everything was as it should be. I read a book by R.T. Kendall called Total Forgiveness. When I first read the book, I really just skimmed it and because there were so many people around me that I thought that needed to get their lives together I began giving Total Forgiveness away as Christmas and Birthday presents. Most of these people would get back to and let me know how "the book had transformed their lives" and made them feel more complete. They thanked me profusely and I went on with my life.

Then my life took a drastic turn. I was at a writer's conference and R.T. Kendall was speaking and doing a book signing. I met Mr. Kendall and his wife and he shared with me the story behind the story. My favorite aunt passed away two days later and then my uncle died suddenly. Just as I felt all was well, my brother too passed away and I knew I was not OK. It took me some time and I began to realize that I hurt and issues that I had not ever dealt with. I decided to investigate the issue of "forgiveness" in my life. Most of this was happening while I was pursuing my Masters in Elementary Education and things in my heart were getting darker.

Reflection: 
I dusted off my original copy of the book and read it again and it became a new book to me. I learned that it was not others that needed to make changes in their life but me. Changes in how I approached my past, my family and my friends. Each day became this new gift because I learned that it was "OK" to not always be "OK". The book really helped me be a better teacher because "students" are not always "OK" either. This journey lead me to The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. The connection is that in The Giving Tree no matter how far away the boy gets in life he comes back to the tree where life was real.

Total Forgiveness by R.T. Kendall allows me to do two things. One, is to always be able to regroup, forgive and start over. The other is that I learned to forgive myself for things I thought were broken forever. I am listening to Total Forgiveness on audiobook and it means even more today than ever.

Learning Log Week 2 - Darryl Bryant

Learning Log Week 2: This week’s reading really allowed me to refocus on my own experiences with reading. When I was an elementary student in the late sixties and early seventies, I read for learning and also really connected with the text. Whether reading Richard Wright, Dick Gregory or S.E. Hinton the continuum of reading was never satisfied by any one book or poem. Tomkins’ An Introduction to Reader Response Criticism forced me to assess what impacted me as a part of my environment and what connected with me as a reader. Such works as Maya Angelou’s I know why the Caged Bird Sings and The Malcolm X Story by Alex Haley literally drove me to dig into each word to learn about my heritage and respond to waves of emotion that often went unanswered.

            It was in this search for answers that my world was shaped. Values, motivations and assumptions were molded.  I reflected and an obligation to life-learning was committed. Swafford (2005) and Mills et al (2004) as pontificated by Rosenblatt (1978) our matriarch of Reader Transactional Theory may better posit whether reader response criticism was birthed from discussions by I.A. Richards or out of the continuum of readers’ responses. However, I know that my sixth graders will be reading A Thousand and One Nights and The Count of Monte Cristo and hopefully experience and learn concurrently.

Rosenblatt defines literature as the experience the reader has with the text (Rosenblatt, as cited in Swafford, 2005).  This seems to be the argument that threads commonly through this week’s reading and is well documented. Four decades later,  I personally found all three readings relevant and meaningful. I plan to continue to assess the texts, short stories and poems that my students engage and ask questions that check for understanding and embrace connections. I would like to build bridges between aesthetic and efferent stances while also focusing more on experience versus genre (Swafford and Akrofi, 2005). The biggest challenge moving forward with the reading from this course and the teaching in my classroom is to look for effective ways to measure both transactions and experience in the exploration of literature.

Mindful Branch Reading

(To Read) 9/6/11

• Rosenblatt, L. (1985). Continuing the conversation: A clarification. Research in the teaching of reading, 29, 349-354
• Author: Rosenblatt, Louise (cited by Swafford, p. 24)
• Note: When I look at literature there are so many components that allow us to connect with students. Reading is an art that we can teach learners to experience and to make a transaction.
• Reason for using:Reading Swafford and reconnecting with Rosenblatt allows me to better define literature. I am working with the parents of students that really want to know how my class will help their child prepare for college. I want the parents to realize that for me to do this we need to work together.

(Read) 9/11/11

•                Rosenblatt, L. (1995). Continuing the Conversation: A Clarification."Research in the Teaching of English 29, 349-354

•                Author: Rosenblatt, Louise (cited by Swafford, p. 24)

• Rosenblatt reiterates that "the reader surely brings something to the table when interacting with the text."                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
• Reason for using: Reading Swafford and reconnecting with Rosenblatt allows me to better define literature and to be practical about the reading process and the impact that reading can have on children if we allow them to be engaged in the process.  
• Note: Interacting with text is more than actively looking for a framework in which to categorize the reader but an opportunity to deeply engage the learner. 

The Under Just One Tree Blog

For years I wanted to get started with Blogging. I have always been a very private person but the techie in me wanted to stay connected with people regarding my readings, writing and music. Reaching out during LLSS 528 class has come at the right time in my life and I look forward to connecting with everyone and building authentic relationships. I write screenplays and really enjoy listening to and writing music.

I write music reviews for an international magazine and hope to finish a project before the end of the year. I also plan to do more writing in 2012.  Yes, 2012 since I am so engaged in teaching and academics this semester. I will share more about Under Just One Tree if anyone asks.

Happy Blogging,
Darryl