Your Literary Days
You can take the teacher out of English class but you’d be hard-pressed to take the English class out of the teacher! This week, your Days in Sentences will have a literary bent, so start scanning your library shelves and digging deep down into your literary memories to come up with a novel that best represents the kind of week you’ve had. Are you relating to a certain character? A certain plot? A certain conflict? Stretch the limits of your imagination and make those analogies work!
Paul seems to sum up the bureaucracy of schools with this simple but apt quote from Tom Saywer: “Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.”
Ilya recalls Julius Ceasar when she asks “I came, I powerpointed but did I conquer?” She’ll find out in October if her coursebook does indeed conquer the prize.
Jeff is channelling the spirit of Pete Bancini in a week in which One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. ‘Nuf said!
Kate makes a text-to-text connection this week, inspired to read The Eyre Affair after seeing her son take on the role of Mr. Rochester in a stage adaption of Jane Eyre.
Lynne sends us a mini-essay this week on Henry James’ Portrait of Lady:
Along with my birthday this week, (a youthful 62, thank you)…comes a rich memory of a favorite character ever youthful, Isabelle Archer. In Henry James’s Portrait of a Lady, Isabelle defines what it means to be alive to the world. She is one of James’s most endearing heroines as she makes her progress through the “old world,”(Europe) attempting to take everything in without losing her integrity or independence (American). In her openness, of course, she defines vulnerability and ultimately falls prey to the cold, unyielding villain, Gilbert Osmond.
I am trying to remain open to the world while staying alert to the possibility of any Gilbert Osmonds—real or metaphoric— who enter the portals of my world.
Kevin expresses that wish of wishes: to travel in time, a la Einstein’s Dreams, so he can leap ahead to the end of the school year and still go back to polish up the loose ends of his writing curriculum.
Ken celebrates World Environment Day (June 5th) with this literary gem:
This was not just an ordinary day,
one when the half-moon and sun together
peeped into limpid pools cracks and hollows
on boulders dozing like pitted gargoyles
along the far beach-line, and fixed their gaze
through soft-puffed light cloud so that what one missed
the other glimpsed: a painted paradise.
Bonnie discovers a kinship with Lillian Hellman in her memoir, An Unfinished Woman, in a week where she feels crazy but enjoys being unfinished.
Matthew hits a literary hat trick with this contribution:
I have felt pride with prejudice and punishment without crime in a week full of fury and not so much sound that signified nearly everything.
Stacey’s kids are in a race to the finish as they attempt to read 100 read-aloud books before the year is out (they’re at 76 books!).
Anne professes to be less than familiar with the sci-fi genre but we can all relate to that Twilight Zone feeling, as she felt during a presentation when she discovered a conference participant without an e-mail address and an audience that seemed scared of their computers!
Nancy is host to Days in a Sentence | Kevin's Meandering Mind wrote:
[...] very-much pregnant friend, Nancy, has agreed to host this week’s Day in a Sentence (Will she write her sentence on the week of [...]
Posted on 04-Jun-08 at 3:04 am | Permalink
Stacey from Two Writ wrote:
Where do we post our day in a sentence? Here or on our own blog? (I’ve only done this once before and cannot recall.)
Thanks Nancy!
Posted on 04-Jun-08 at 3:07 am | Permalink
Paul Bogush wrote:
“Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.”
Mark Twain
Tom Sawyer
Posted on 04-Jun-08 at 3:12 am | Permalink
Illya Arnet wrote:
Hi Nancy
You are so right about teachers.
Here’s mine:
I came, I powerpointed, but did I conquer? The answer awaits in October.
(today I presented a coursebook for a prize, but the prizes are announced in October)
Greetings
Illya
Posted on 04-Jun-08 at 4:08 am | Permalink
Bonnie K wrote:
Great idea, I have to think now about just the right novel.
Bonnie
Posted on 04-Jun-08 at 4:28 am | Permalink
Jeff Wasserman wrote:
At this point, I can think of nothing other than One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
I’m Pete Bancini.
Posted on 04-Jun-08 at 5:04 am | Permalink
Kate Foy wrote:
Aha! Easy. I had the pleasure of seeing my actor son on stage playing Mr Rochester in Polly Teale’s adaptation of ‘Jane Eyre.’ And this nudged me to re-read Jasper Fforde’s ‘The Eyre Affair.’ If you haven’t read this wonderfully witty and clever literary novel, do!
Posted on 04-Jun-08 at 5:25 am | Permalink
Lynne Culp wrote:
Love the challenge.
Along with my birthday this week, (a youthful 62, thank you)…comes a rich memory of a favorite character ever youthful, Isabelle Archer. In Henry James’s Portrait of a Lady, Isabelle defines what it means to be alive to the world. She is one of James’s most endearing heroines as she makes her progress through the “old world,”(Europe) attempting to take everything in without losing her integrity or independence (American). In her openness, of course, she defines vulnerability and ultimately falls prey to the cold, unyielding villain, Gilbert Osmond.
I am trying to remain open to the world while staying alert to the possibility of any Gilbert Osmonds—real or metaphoric— who enter the portals of my world.
Posted on 04-Jun-08 at 7:32 am | Permalink
Kevin wrote:
Here is my sentence:
I wish I could step inside a chapter or two of “Einstein’s Dreams” (Alan Lightman) so I could step forward in time to end the school year while at the same time jump back in time to finish up all the loose ends dangling around my writing curriculum.
- Kevin
http://tinyurl.com/29lsgd
Posted on 04-Jun-08 at 3:48 pm | Permalink
Ken Allan wrote:
Kia Ora Nancy.
It being World Environment Day today 5 June 2008, here’s my day in a sentence:
This was not just an ordinary day,
one when the half-moon and sun together
peeped into limpid pools cracks and hollows
on boulders dozing like pitted gargoyles
along the far beach-line, and fixed their gaze
through soft-puffed light cloud so that what one missed
the other glimpsed: a painted paradise.
Posted on 05-Jun-08 at 2:36 am | Permalink
Bonnie K wrote:
I just followed you directions Nancy, and stood in front of my book wall moving slowly from book to book, remembering the ones I loved and maybe wishing I could fit myself into them this week. Coming up short, I found my way to
Lillian Hellman’s memoir,
An Unfinished Woman
I read this one as a young teacher, just before I began directing high school theater. I could never direct one her plays but she came along with me as I grew into myself.
Hopefully, I’m still growing,so I’m going to take the title of this book,
An Unfinished Woman. That’s how I’m feeling this week, unfinished and even though it’s making me crazy at the moment, it’s a good thing to feel unfinished.
Bonnie
Posted on 05-Jun-08 at 4:24 am | Permalink
Mathew wrote:
I have felt pride with prejudice and punishment without crime in a week full of fury and not so much sound that signified nearly everything.
Posted on 05-Jun-08 at 6:40 am | Permalink
Stacey from Two Writ wrote:
Today I declared the start of Picture Book-Palooza since my students want us to reach 100 read aloud books this year (we’re at 76).
Posted on 06-Jun-08 at 8:54 pm | Permalink
Anne Mirtschin wrote:
Sometimes, I feel like I have had a “science fiction” week (but as I am not a fan of science fiction, I cant even give a title), but it was real. When I presented at a conference on Friday, I was horrified to find out that one teacher did not have an email address and dismayed at the lack of confidence in using computers by many other staff.
Posted on 08-Jun-08 at 3:33 am | Permalink
Bonnie K wrote:
The comments are rich. I’d like to see everyone’s voice in the post.
Bonnie
Posted on 08-Jun-08 at 5:49 am | Permalink
Mathew wrote:
Thanks for hosting.
Posted on 08-Jun-08 at 7:30 am | Permalink
Kevin wrote:
Beautiful words all around.
Thanks for hosting.
Kevin
Posted on 09-Jun-08 at 3:05 am | Permalink
Kate Foy wrote:
Lovely to connect through these great books. Amazing how we’re connected still through so many treasures of the 19th century.
Posted on 11-Jun-08 at 4:29 am | Permalink
Newest Blog Carnivals | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... wrote:
[...] Days In A Sentence addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Flarryferlazzo.edublogs.org%2F2008%2F06%2F11%2Fnewest-blog-carnivals%2F’; addthis_title = ‘Newest+Blog+Carnivals’; addthis_pub = ”; [...]
Posted on 11-Jun-08 at 4:59 am | Permalink
Tweenteacher wrote:
After my tumultuous faculty meeting where teacher yelled at teacher and the petty squared off against the collaborative, I found myself thinking of Raphael Sabatini’s Scaramouche who writes he was “born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.”
Posted on 11-Jun-08 at 8:35 pm | Permalink