Why do I always seem to be working on this computer after midnight?

I don't know about anybody else, but I'm losing my "blogging virginity" with this post. I'm a little scared, but I figure most people will be gentle, or maybe I'll just have to get over it with a little therapy later on. Anyway, the name's Fisher, Charlie Fisher, and I like my liquor stirred, not shaken.

Of a more autobiographical and rambling bent: I was born and raised in the Traverse City area of Michigan, graduated in 1988 with a class of 60 friends, and attended Western Michigan University part and full time (whatever I could afford) for four years. During those years I married my high-school sweetheart and played bass in a band called TEd, eventually gaving up on the whole folkfunkpunkpoet experiment but I stuck with the marriage. I transferred to the University of Michigan, liked the school of education better there, and graduted with my B.A. in Education in 1994. Then I went through some dark and discouraging times and wound up in Indiana where I worked as a correctional officer at the Indiana Boys School and later on worked with tramatic brain injury patients. I finally landed a 7th grade Language Arts teaching position at North Putnam Middle School in 1997, and shortly afterwards was blessed with the birth of my son, Zachary, who later on was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome, which in a strange way has made my life richer as well. A little later on I was blessed with the birth of my daughter, Alyssa, who has recently been 'diagnosed' :) with having a high ability level in academics. I began teaching 7th grade English at Lebanon Middle School in 2004, and I currently work with special needs, high-ability, and 'regular joe' students as well. Believe it or not, I, myself, am not my favorite topic. Sometimes I get started these things and I just can't stop.

Where's the future journey going to lead? My immediate goal is to renew my license, so here I am taking grad classes again, but what a useful class we've all found! Thanks for the offering, Janet. Eventually, I'm going to have to 'just suck it up' and enter a graduate program, but I haven't exactly figured that out yet, but I'm definitely narrowing the possiblities.

YA? I've taught The Outsiders for the past couple years, and I was just introducing the book to a couple of my classes today. I read the first few pages, and was reminded that S.E. Hinton's language absolutely casts a spell on these kids. It was cool. I've yet to have a kid complain about this book, and they usually love it. I use literature circles to teach this novel, which is where students select different 'jobs' to complete every couple of chapters and then they share their work with a small group to prepare for quizzes. In light of Tuesday night's discussion, I also noticed that Ponyboy mentions early on that his parents had been killed in a car accident. Now I'm wondering how much of the YA formula (for example: absent or minimal parent influence) has been gleaned from this book that's widely considered to be the first YA book.

I've also taught Red Scarf Girl (a young girl dealing with Mao's Cultural Revolution in China) and Waiting for the Rain (two South African boys' struggles during Apartheid) using a Socratic Seminar discussions. This past fall was the first time I've taught Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine, so it was a little rough, but they enjoyed parts of it. Over the past couple years my students have been to required to chose a book (typically a YA book) for independent novel projects. Thinking about these projects, I'm reminded of our Tuesday night discussion about how students typically come up with simple morals rather than looking for those deeper themes... definitely true. Someone also mentioned a noticeable lack of detail in expository sections of YA novels, and I found that especially true with YA author's descriptions of settings.

Am I blabbing or blogging? I think I'm done. It was great meeting everyone on Tuesday, and I'm excited about our weeks ahead. I suspect we're going to be in for great ride with this class. Later, YA readers!