A New Year, or, How This Old Dog Tries Some New Tricks
It’s that time of year again—the beginning of the new school year!
This year promises to be novel in some ways, and the same in others. Speaking of novels, there are some new books I will be trying out, but I will also be returning to some tried and true favorites. There is even a book I will be returning to after leaving it aside for seven years! I am making new developments in old curriculum, and also creating new curriculum from scratch. I am re-starting my afterschool book club with a new theme. My classroom got a new layout that I am excited about, but there are parts of it that I didn’t touch at all. In all, this school year promises to have a lot of the same beauty I have come to love about my job, but also carries potential for new and exciting ways to enjoy literature. I hope to be able to share that with you here as we go along.
A glimpse of some things I am looking forward to, both new and old:
Island of the Blue Dolphins
One of the unsung heroes of my literature curriculum is Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins. Somehow, I almost never share anything about it, but it is positively lovely. I usually begin reading it with my 3rd grade students first thing at the beginning of the year. The story is completely gorgeous and inspiring in its simplicity. It details the years (and years and years) that a young woman spends alone on an island after she jumps off of a ship to save her younger brother. Over the course of the story, you see her rise from the ashes of her former life into a lifestyle she creates entirely herself. It is a beautiful love song to independence, human strength, and compassion. I cannot wait to return to the island with a new group of students.
“The Island of the Blue Dolphins was my home. I had no other.”
Anne of Green Gables
To anyone who knows me personally, or who has followed along with Tending Roses for a while, seeing Anne on this list will not be a surprise. Anne of Green Gables, the girl of my heart, will always signal a wonderful new school year. She is my go-to first read with my 5th grade students every year, and she never fails to delight and enchant them. I am already imagining the expressions of the students in that class, whom I have grown to love so much over the past three years, as they uncover Anne for themselves.
“It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.”
Holes
I taught Holes by Louis Sachar for my first two years as a literature teacher. Being perennially dissatisfied with my reading lists (which is less a problem with the books than it is with my desire for perfection), I replaced it with something else. But, my wonderful friend and literary kindred spirit, Lisa, reminded me of Holes recently and I thought I’d give that excellent story another whirl. I’m eager to return to Camp Green Lake where there is no lake, and to hang out in the Wreck Room with the D Tent kids.
Coincidentally, my son and I have recently bonded over our fanatic love of Sachar’s series, Sideways Stories from Wayside School. I hadn’t read those since I was his age (six), and boy do they hold up! Hilarious!
“A lot of people don’t believe in curses.
A lot of people don’t believe in yellow-spotted lizards either, but if one bites you, it doesn’t make a difference whether you believe in it or not.”
Sidebar:
Getting our books signed by the man himself!
Super-coincidentally, I met Louis Sachar this summer! He’s been on tour in my area for his new book, The Magician of Tiger Castle (which I have yet to read). I was delighted by something he said. When asked how he felt about writing a book for an adult audience when he had previously only published stories for children, he looked at us with a little laugh and said, “Even if this book is not for the children of today, it is still for the same children I once wrote for.” As one of those former children, I think that is a lovely sentiment.
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc by John Everett Millais
I have long been fascinated by Joan of Arc. Imagine my delight when it came to my attention that Mark Twain wrote a delightfully reverent story about none other than that young warrior! The wonderful aforementioned Lisa is again to be thanked for bringing this to my attention. I can’t wait to share this one with the 5th grade class this year. I will definitely be writing more about this one soon, and it will soon receive the Pressed Rose Classics treatment.
“I like Joan of Arc best of all my books; and it is the best; I know it perfectly well.”
Performance & Poetry
Now that my poetry class has been a couple of years in development, it is really taking shape in a way that makes me excited. More and more, I will be implementing performance as a part of the class. Poetry, after all, has always been a form of art that is meant to be spoken and heard. Performance : Literature :: Lab : Science. When the students embody the poetry we study, they understand it on a whole new level as it becomes part of them. In the words of one of my students last year, “When I have to recite the poem, it forces me to understand it better. As I practice, I realize things about the poem I never noticed before.”
“The Reading Fellowship”
Happily, I am able to offer an afterschool club this year… a book club I am calling “The Reading Fellowship,” where I will be reading/discussing the Lord of the Rings trilogy with students from 5th-8th grade. After my recent experience with the trilogy, I am excited to share my enthusiasm with the students. I used to lead a book club I called “The Adventure Book Club,” and we had a great time reading fun stories like Treasure Island, Dracula, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and more. We laughed riotously every week and have inside jokes that persist to this day, four years later. We had deep discussions about good and evil, especially when we read Dracula. We also re-enacted our favorite scenes from each section and recorded them—I will never forget the ship we built out of chairs so one of my students could stand on it, using a yardstick to “shoot” Israel Hands (Treasure Island), who was perched on top of my teacher desk, ready to fall back onto a pile of pillows. I can’t wait to get that energy back in my life.
Of course there are any number of other things I could put on this list. The beginning of the new school year always comes with a trillion and one things to be excited about. But for now, these are the things sitting in the front seat of my mind as we head into the 2025-26 school year (tomorrow!). I think it will be a good one.
And, in case you like this sort of thing, here are some pictures of my new classroom set up. I’ve been mildly disappointed with it for years, but I think I may have finally hit upon a winning layout.
I have a teeny-tiny class this year—only 9 students!
Our free reading library and supply shelf, along with the bulletin board that helps keep us organized.
Each week, I share a poem with my homeroom class (the 3rd graders). It stays up all week and I try to mention it or quote from it often. Also, you can see some cute pins my students and friends have given to me over the years. It all started with Aang ten years ago.
Our monthly calendar and weekly animal fact!
“Irworobongdo,” or, “Painting of the Sun, Moon and the Five Peaks;” a Korean artwork I adore. I saw it in all the palaces I visited in Seoul two years ago, and it plays a part in the K-Drama, “The Red Sleeve” (my favorite—not for kids, though).
I have dubbed this “The Cozy Corner.” There are games and puzzles in that cabinet for free time, that rug is soooo comfy to sit on, and those pillowcases are inhumanly soft.
My favorite feature of my classroom. The weight of the knowledge of the ages, handed down through stories, decorated by Anne, Gilbert, my own embroidery, and origami from my students. Topped by Aslan, student art, and a miniature replica of a Korean national treasure.
The most important phrase in my understanding of pedagogy, and the source of inspiration for the title of this blog. Lovingly hand-drawn by a student as a Christmas present several years ago.
A darling 7th grade student chose her two favorite poems from my poetry class and framed them for me, along with a beautiful write up of why she will remember them forever.
If you have read A Single Shard, you know. If you haven’t, you should.
Mission Control.