American Born Chinese

This book was great. It was fun to be able to grab a book that really falls outside the norm for most of our students. I think that this book would be a great read for students to give them a bit of a break from standard format and still get some great content that can focus on issues like individuality, cultural history, discrimination, identity and acceptance. The story was great and flowed real well, the shifting from the different stories was pretty smooth and I liked how everything tied in at the end. I think that this could be a fun book to teach and get feedback from students.

Night

Over the years I have read quite a few books and accounts of the horrors that ocured in Nazi Germany and the concentration camps, Elie Wiesel's book was by far one of the best tellings of what happened. The level of detail, the shear emotion and the exceptional story telling make this an incredible read. This is a book that I can see using stand alone in an English curriculum or even using parts or the whole book in a Social Studies classroom during the discussion of WWII and the atrocities performed by Germany during the Holocaust.

That being said there are some very graphic details and situations in this book and it will require a lot of discussion in class prior to reading it and also during the course of the book. Because of the sensitive nature of this topic it will be important to remember that there could possibly be students that this topic will directly affect.

Great read though and I think that most anybody should sit down and take the 3 to 4 hours it takes to read this and expand their mind and knowledge.

Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo

For all of us Shakespeare, especially the play Romeo and Juliet, has been done in so many ways and in so many different mediums that the whole idea of teaching it to our students is almost mind numbing. Now I am by no means minimizing the artistic quality and excellent prose that WS put down on paper to be performed. The story in itself is ancient and has been retold over and over again, but the problem lies in the fact that everyone knows this play.

I think that to teach WS you will need to find a way to get the kids involved with the history of the play, understand the context in which the play is written and allow them to find meaning in what is going on without being told. Utilizing modern versions of the story and even some strong media examples may make this more relevant and enjoyable for the students.