Adora's Blog

Summary Outline of Traveling-Wisconsin, New York, and Washington DC

2009-07-01T18:12:00.000-07:00

Honestly, I didn't feel up to writing a full-length essay at 9:13 Eastern Standard Time at night, so I decided to make an informal outline--to prepare for a future essay--instead. Prewriting, right?

1. Wisconsin
a. Saw (driving by) Dairyland Greyhound Racetrack. I have never seen a
dog track. I'm not entirely sure these are humane, so I just wanted to
clarify that I'm not endorsing dog racing! I also saw the Keno Drive-in Theater--I've never seen a drive-in theater before, either.
b. I presented using a Promethean Activboard to teachers from the Kenosha Unified School District at Mahone Middle School in Kenosha. I'd like to thank the incredibly hard-working Mary Salani (KUSD) and the endlessly resourceful Dagmar Ladle (Promethean) for their help in making the keynote, and the following breakout session, a success. I presented on "A Kid's Eye View of an Activclassroom" and "Activideas for Activstudents," the latter about differentiating teaching in a gifted classroom.
c. My first brush with wild Wisconsin weather! There was a tornado in Kenosha; it missed us by a few miles (thankfully) but we saw wild winds and torrential rains--well, that was, before we got evacuated from our hotel rooms to the hallway. It was the first time I had seen a black-greenish sky, and it was truly the definition of ominous.

2. New York
a. We flew into LaGuardia and took the bus (hurrah public transportation) and the subway to our hotel.
b. I appeared on Fox News and Friends. I was part of the "Pint-Sized Prodigy Pundit Pit." The other "pundits" were Jonathan Krohn, who shouted and gesticulated wildly during the whole of the event, and the far less paroxysmal Moshe Kai Cavalin, an eleven-year-old college graduate.

3. Washington D.C.
a. We saw quite a few museums. My favorite by far was the Newseum, a museum about news--and a very new museum as well! I believe the museum was around for a while, but that it moved to a new building in DC quite recently. It features huge glass elevators, newspapers delivered daily to the entrance area, and many interesting exhibits about journalism including an excellent "4D" video.
b. We also saw the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History. I most enjoyed an exhibit called "The Secret Life of Ants." To roughly quote one of the information tablets--"There have been million of ant deaths in turf wars in the suburbs of San Diego." It really makes looking at ants different! However, we did visit DC in high tourist season and as a result the museum was crowded and stuffy.
c. NECC! NECC! The very reason for my visit! The National Educational Computing Conference, or NECC as it's commonly called, is an annual conference taking place in locations across the country (it will be in Denver in 2010). I presented for Promethean, the renowned interactive whiteboard company. I spoke about using the Activboard in the classroom to excite kids. My audience included teachers, technology coordinators, and administrators from all corners of the globe. I really enjoyed working with the enthusiastic people at Promethean. GO BIG ORANGE!

From DC!

2009-07-01T12:56:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone! I am currently in Washington DC (but I will be heading to Yellowstone soon.) I appeared on a TV talk show, "Let's Talk Live." Below is the video--I pasted in the embed code and I hope it works.

Quote of the Day by Adora

2009-06-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

"It is good for me to experience hardship, for I shall be less inclined toward it as an adult." - Adora Svitak

P.S. I'm not really experiencing "hardship"--this quote was inspired by my hurried efforts to make a presentation for a surprise video conference (which was canceled anyway). But in general I live a fairly luxurious life.

The Kitchen At Night (as opposed to the light)

2009-06-11T13:31:00.000-07:00

The Kitchen At Night (as opposed to the light)
Adora Svitak

I have a habit of staying up late, and I have a worse habit of eating late. At night the kitchen is forlorn and dark and desolate, like a beach after all the swimmers and sunbathers leave, but littered with small treasures here and there—and the stars in the sky are sometimes visible from the windows.

In the morning, the kitchen is busy with the hum of a worn-out dishwasher cleaning worn-out dishes, and a soymilk-maker, a novelty of sorts, chugging away with a “vroom-vroom” usually reserved for blenders.
My mother moves to and fro in an overstated hurry, stacking dishes with clattering thumps in the cupboard, gathering spoons and forks and knives and dumping them, without sentimentality, into the silverware drawer. Light shines through the windows on a sunny day; the rain patters up against them on a bad one.

In contrast, the kitchen at night is empty, unoccupied, like a museum after closing hours or a city street after curfew, though our house has not the dignified grandeur of a museum, nor the steady rhythm of the street.
In its solitariness, the room is peaceful and serene, no noises but my own footsteps treading light across the floor. It is restful and quiet—for there is no mid-morning hustle and bustle at 10:00 at night.

At night, the kitchen does not endure too many a visitor. It has guardsmen to keep you out—Fear and Hostility, and the frightening illusions of creeping shadows in the blackness. The black lamp in the adjoining room is transformed into some malevolent magic creature.

And yet—call me illogical—I love the kitchen, late at night.

Story Written with Second Graders via Video Conferencing

2009-06-09T10:34:00.001-07:00

Tiger is dad
bat is mom
two rabbits are aunt and uncle
clown is child

Clown-Jack
Aunt Annie
Uncle Dave
Mom-Tracy
Dad-Charles Sam

On summer vacation, the entire family is going on a trip to Hawaii to visit Aunt Annie and Uncle Dave.

It was very hot, dry, and noisy inside of the airplane. Jack fidgeted nervously. He hated standing in lines. His parents didn’t like it either. His dad, Charles Sam, was wagging his tail. While wagging one’s tail is good for a dog, Charles Sam was a tiger. He was not in a very good mood. Jack’s mother, Tracy, was zooming around at high speed. This was normal for a bat.
“Flight attendants, close the airplane doors,” they heard the pilot’s voice through the airplane loudspeakers.
Finally the line inched ahead, and Jack was able to catch a glimpse of their seats. All the seats were shaped like large O’s, and they were colored blue with green polka dots and red stripes. Inside each circle of seats was a round wooden table.
“Finally,” Charles Sam grumbled as they were able to sit down. “We’ve been waiting in line for--I think about an hour.”
“Fifty-nine minutes, actually,” Jack said. He was very good with time.
Tracy stopped flying and swooped down, perching upside down from the table.
“It’s so weird when you do that in public,” Jack complained. Jack was a teenager, and becoming more embarrassed about his parents.
“Quiet!” Tracy responded.
They settled in for their 5-hour flight to Hawaii. As they took off, Jack stared out the window at Los Angeles. It looked very strange from the sky.
Jack spent most of his time on the plane playing his Nintendo DS, until it ran out of batteries and shut down halfway through the flight. Then he started playing tennis with the flight attendants, until a passenger complained about “the horrible racket.”
“You have to use a racquet!” Jack said.
“Not that kind of racket, Jack,” the flight attendant said, and apologized to the passenger, “We’re very sorry, sir.”
So then Jack tried to get to sleep, but this was very difficult because his father was snoring very loudly. Jack was surprised the plane was able to withstand his father’s roaring snores.
Finally, they landed in Hawaii. Jack was glad that he had dressed in a T-shirt and shorts; it was very hot. Well, actually, it was kind of like Los Angeles.
“It’s stifling,” his father said. “All this fur I haven’t shed yet. And it feels so wet!”
“Stop complaining,” Tracy said, zooming around at high speed. “Dave and Annie will be here in a few minutes. They have an air-conditioned limo.”
“Sweet!” Jack said, and jumped up and down. He was looking forward to his trip in Hawaii.

Story Written with Second Graders via Video Conferencing

2009-06-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

Story Written With Video Conferencing Students

2009-06-08T13:26:00.001-07:00

Crazy is a red-nosed clown. He wears a blue striped hat and matching shoes. Crazy was in the rainforest of the country of Tigerworld after being banished from his hometown, Bindingtown, for, as the mayor put it, “being…well, just being CRAZY!” Crazy did not see anything wrong with being himself, but apparently everyone else did, so he left, riding on his best friend, a white bat named Batty.
As they flew in the cold morning air, Crazy saw a fleck of orange through the thick canopy of trees.
“I think that’s some kind of soil,” he said, “but my eyes aren’t very good. Oh well. It’s some type of clearing, I’ll bet. Drop me off.”
The bat nodded, and with a great “Wa-ma-hiya!” Crazy jumped off and landed right on top of a snoozing tiger’s head.
“Grrrrrrrrr!” the tiger roared.
“Ooopsie,” Crazy said, and started sneaking away.
“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr--no you don’t!” the tiger exclaimed, and pounced--but Batty was still in the area, and Crazy had grabbed onto his wings just in time. The tiger missed by a bee’s knee.
“Yowwwww!” the tiger, Lightning, shouted in frustration.
But Batty’s wings were delicate, and Crazy knew he could not hold on for too long. So he dropped--right on top of the tiger’s back. The tiger turned around and around in circles, growling and biting at Crazy, who by this time had slipped down to the tiger’s tail.
Meanwhile, Chocolate the rabbit was hungrily looking about for carrots. There were not too many in the rainforest, he reflected sadly. Just then, he saw a flash of orange.
“Hmm. I didn’t know carrots in the rainforest moved,” he thought, but without any hesitation jumped forward. He saw a little blue man hanging onto the huge carrot.
“It’s mine!” Chocolate bellowed for good measure, then chomped down on the wriggling orange carrot.
It was not a carrot, unfortunately.
“Yowggrrrrrrryowyagrrrriboohooowaaaaaaaaaiiieeee!” a tiger shouted, and leapt up into the air--Chocolate swore ten feet. The tail came off, but it was a very nasty tasting tail. Rabbits do not eat meat.
“Bleeech!” the rabbit said, and spat out the tail. Immediately, the tiger turned around and grabbed the tail.
Crazy was still holding onto it at this point. He was in a state of shock.
Ribbon the rabbit was extraordinarily angry. His entire store of carrots--carefully saved over one and half years--was gone in an instant--stolen by that scoundrel, that wretched orange animal, Lightning the tiger. Cats aren’t supposed to eat carrots, Ribbon thought bitterly.
“I’ll get him,” Ribbon said aloud.
With this in mind, he crept out of his burrow and, seeing some amount of commotion regarding the tiger, thought it would be a perfect opportunity.
“This one’s payback, tiger!” he yelled as he tackled the tiger’s two front paws, tenaciously holding on and thus preventing the tiger from moving. Unfortunately, Ribbon had forgotten that tigers have teeth.
Unfortunately, Lightning had forgotten that a bat was in the area.
So as he bent down to chomp Ribbon’s head off, Batty swooped down from out of nowhere, grabbed the tiger by the ear, and pulled with all his might so that the tiger was hovering a few inches above the ground--and so was everyone else.
“That’ll teach you a lesson,” Batty said.
Apparently Batty had forgotten that you weren’t supposed to talk with your mouth full, because everyone dropped out of the sky and landed right on top of a passing rhinoceros.

THE END
Moral of the story: Don’t talk with your mouth full.
Also, don’t land on tigers.
Don’t steal carrots.
Don’t steal carrots from grumpy white rabbits in particular.
Don’t mistake tigers’ tails for carrots.

Story Written with Video Conferencing Students

2009-06-03T11:56:00.000-07:00

It was a hot, humid day in the middle of the rainforest. Peter Cottontail, Whitey, Fluffy, and Greenhat--a rabbit, a bat, another rabbit, and a clown--were stuck in the rainforest.
The rabbits had been hung up on a tree branch by their ears; Greenhat had been hung up by his hat (which was blue), and the bat by his feet.
“What a dreadful mess this is,” Fluffy said grumpily.
“This is very nasty. I haven’t had my breakfast,” Peter Cottontail said worriedly. “I can’t go too long without breakfast. It’s a very important meal.”
“Oh, be quiet, you!” Whitey the bat snapped. “You’re always going on about breakfast. You were the one who ate all of our food last night.”
“I was hungry,” Peter shouted.
“Quiet, you animals!” Onka, a chihuahua, yipped at them. “I can’t stand your chattering. You’ll be cooked soon, I’m sure.”
“Cooked?”
“Cooked?” the two rabbits said at the same time. It was a rabbit’s worst fear.
“I’ll be back in two minutes to check on you,” Onka said. “By that time, the water should be nice and hot!” he cackled. The animals stared at each other in fear from their perches on the tree branch.
“We have to escape!” Peter Cottontail said.
“Well, that’s easy,” the bat said in a dignified voice. “The villain Onka overlooked the fact that bats hang from their feet anyway.” And with that, the bat released himself and started flying, soaring over the tree branch.
“Hmmm…that gets me thinking--” the clown said. “Maybe we can flip ourselves over until we are untangled, then land on the ground and RUN!”
“Worth a try,” they replied.
They spun themselves dizzy, and it seemed like an eternity before they landed. They had landed successfully--but right in the middle of a bush of thorns. Just then they heard Onka’s shouting and yipping as he raced toward them.
“Run!” shouted Peter Cottontail.
He tore away from the thorny bush--and that is the story of how he lost his cottony tail.

Story Written with Video Conferencing Students

2009-05-29T11:52:00.001-07:00

a frisbee, something you can throw, someone getting hit on the head with something, unconscious

snuggly

Russia, the Ural Mountains

A Russian guy, named Vladimir
A tourist radio salesman, named Funny.
A rabbit who talks, named Tibbar

Vladimir had been wanting to climb the treacherous Ural Mountains for all his life. When he was a little boy, his father had held him up to see the summits of the great mountains and said, “Some day you’ll climb those, son.”
His father had died almost eight years before, and Vladimir wanted to make sure he got to the summit of at least one mountain before he would pursue a normal job, which his mother was pestering him about.
Now he stood looking at the impressive snowy peaks, with a backpack filled with bottled water and trail mix. His pet hamster, Retsmah, was snuggled securely inside of his inner jacket pocket. He also carried one pair of snowshoes and a coil of rope.
He started climbing determinedly on the steepest--but shortest--path to the summit. It was hard work, and it felt as though the path was going straight up instead of at a slant.
“You get it easy, Retsmah,” Vladimir muttered.
He finally came to a non-snow covered area where he could sit down and eat some trail mix. He gave some hamster pellets to Retsmah and pulled out his own food bag when he heard the noise of great paws behind him. He jumped and turned. Behind him stood a huge white beast with ears sticking out of the top of its head.
A Yeti! Vladimir thought.
“Aieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” he shrieked, and fell over in the snow as a result of his quick jump and shock.
“My goodness, humans do frighten easily,” the “Yeti” (Tibbar the rabbit) said in a bored voice.
“Yes they do--but not when they’re trying to sell you a radio, top-grade, stainless steel applications, one hundred and forty different channels, accessible everywhere--”
Now it was Tibbar’s turn to jump. Behind him stood a tall, strong man with a handlebar mustache, wearing an outlandish outfit of bright yellow pants with fluorescent green polka-dots and a purple shirt with red stripes.
“Who are you?” the rabbit sputtered.
“I’m Funny, radio salesman, at your service. As I was saying, the Model 1000 Radio has lots of excellent features, perfect for someone on-the-go like you. It fits on any window of your car, on your hand, in a bracelet, on your neck, in the pocket--” “Enough! I don’t want a radio!” Tibbar shouted.
“Oh, but you will, when you hear about this radio’s great capability to blast sounds everywhere! No one will be spared! Music you want to play will be played throughout the land because of this radio’s high-powered speakers and incredible ability to broadcast the sounds of the ancient dinosaurs. Here, I’ll show you.”
“No, you fool--” Tibbar shouted, but Funny had already started up the radio. Tibbar heard a great incoherent bellow from the radio. Vladimir jumped up, thinking that the Yeti was about to eat him from the dinosaur sounds, and ran for his life--up the mountain.
He ran so quickly, snowshoes, hamster, trail mix and all, that he reached the summit in no time flat. But then he turned around and saw a tall man in bright clothing in fast pursuit and fainted for the second time that day.
“Stainless steel applications!” he heard the man saying before he went unconscious. And it is still a tale told today of how Vladimir, hamster, snowshoes, and trail mix slid all the way down the Ural Mountains into the town of Ufa on the European side, and all because of a rabbit and a radio salesman.

Poem Written with Video Conferencing Students

2009-05-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

I do not like walking my dog
It is a chore of a horrible jog,
For in pooping, he's quite precocious
And often can get ferocious;

The poop smelled like a baby's diaper
That hadn't been changed in months
I was in a coma from the stink
Of those odoriferous fecal lumps.

My dog has a habit of biting
At the leash, as though fighting,
As he pulls away, I fly in the air
Then land with a thump on my hair

My dog does not like walking with me
For he's always trying to run
He'd get out of the state if he could
My dog is just no fun.

Story Written with Video Conferencing Students

2009-05-27T11:52:00.000-07:00

Michael (clown)
Urkel (brown rabbit)
Peter Rabbit
Phil (bat)

Setting: in a candy shop (Goody-Goody Gumshop)

Plot: candy fight

Urkel Fickelstein, a distinguished gray rabbit, somewhat in his elderly years, was putting chocolate-dipped carrots on the shelves at the Goody-Goody Gumshop when three loudly bickering animals walked in.
“May I help you, sirs?” he asked politely, although he could not help but wrinkle up his nose at one rabbit’s outlandish attire. Urkel hated the Packers, and the colors the other rabbit wore clashed with his own loyalties to the Vikings and the Jets.
“Yes--get us two chocolate-dipped carrots, forty-eight Gumblestein Gumdrops, eighteen hay-wafers, and one gigantic Hershey’s Kiss.”
“Yes--they’ll be right with you,” Urkel said, bowing and retreating to the back room, where he kept his bulk supplies.
“Whatever could they need such a humongous amount of candy for?” he wondered out loud.
“We’ll need it, believe me,” Michael, a clown, snarled. Urkel jumped. He hadn’t realized that the clown was there.
“Here are the gumdrops,” he said, handing a huge sack to the clown.
“Hurry up with it, mister!” the clown snapped as he ran back to his friends.
Urkel started stacking up hay wafers in plastic wrap, but he was startled by the sound of breaking glass. He dashed out to investigate, and was shocked to find Willy Wonka bars littered all over the shop floor and his stain-glass window broken by a barrel of liquid sugar. In the midst of it all, the rabbit, clown, and bat were hurling huge gumdrops at each other while bellowing expletives. Urkel covered his ears. He hated foulmouthed customers.
“You! I’ll get you!” the bat shouted, and dropped a gumdrop right on top of Urkel’s head. The old rabbit winced.
“Stop it, you ruffians, or I’ll call the police on you! You owe me one hundred dollars, plus one trillion dollars for the damage to the shop!” Urkel roared with all his might. Roaring did not come naturally to rabbits, but he did it like a lion. Everyone froze in place and then started running like crazy (the bat flying.) Urkel suddenly thought of an idea. He filled a spray gun he had in his back room with extra-sticky liquid sugar, honey, and chocolate liquid as well as some partially melted gum, then ran after the fleeing animals. He aimed at the bat and sprayed straight and true right at the bat’s wings. Clogged by the heavy, sticky liquid, the bat sagged and finally descended onto the ground, struggling wildly.
“Wait there, hoodlum!” Urkel bellowed as he ran after the others. As the rabbit hopped away, Urkel sprayed some right below Peter Rabbit’s feet, so that when he came down, he stuck to the pavement.
Finally, he aimed at the clown. “Hmm,” he thought, and came up with an idea. He shot the most gummy part of his spray right at the clown’s hat, then, coming in closer, dragged the hat down and looped it around the clown’s feet so that he was stuck in a comedic--and very uncomfortable position.
Urkel heard footsteps behind him and turned to see a large pink pig. It was the sheriff. “What seems to be the trouble here, Mr. Finkelstein?” the sheriff, a lumbering pig, asked gruffly.
“These bunch of hoodlums stole candy from me and broke glass in my store,” Urkel said indignantly.
“Right. We’ll have them pay a fine of one trillion dollars,” the sheriff said and pulled out a spray gun of his own.
“What’s in there?” Urkel inquired.
“Goody-goody gumdrops,” the sheriff responded with a smile.

---

Moral A: Never get in candy fights.
Moral B: Never steal candy.
Moral C: Never vandalize candyshops.
Moral D: If you commit the above crimes, pay the fine.

I was thinking...

2009-05-21T10:01:00.000-07:00

My mom said to me recently as we were looking at videos of my earliest school presentations, "Adora, you've come a long way."

This got me thinking--whenever anyone says that to you, respond, "Sure, I've come a long way--but in which direction?"

In this manner, you'll be able to tell if it's a cleverly masked insult. In my case, it wasn't...but who knows, it's possible!

-Adora

Adora's Elluminate Presentation: A Kid's Eye View of an Innovative Classroom

2009-05-14T20:48:00.000-07:00

On May 14th, 2009, eleven-year-old published author Adora Svitak presented her program, "A Kid's Eye View of an Innovative Classroom," to over 140 teachers from places as diverse as Amherst, Massachusetts to British Columbia, Canada; London, England; and Brazil and Portugal. Adora's presentation focused on "innovative classroom tools" that teachers could use in their classrooms to get kids interested in reading, writing, and learning.

Speaking through the online interactive web-conferencing system Elluminate, Adora was able to talk into a microphone headset connected to her computer, highlight important points on the interactive whiteboard, and answer teachers' questions while streaming live video from her house in Washington State. The response was generally positive. One viewer said, "Very engaging and inspiring"; Joseph M. from Pepperdine University said, "Thank you and keep up the good work."

The link for viewing Adora's session is available at: https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/event/playback.

Just click on Adora's presentation title, "A Kid's Eye View of an Innovative Classroom," at the top.

Mother's Day

2009-05-10T09:19:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

One of the most confusing things my older sister, Adrianna, and I have to face is that our mom never wants anything for Mother's Day--never wants anything material, that is. Nothing that we could buy in a store--nothing that she could get for herself.

This is all very well and creative and touching in theory, but it's hard. Because when you realize what our mom can't get by herself, it ends up being something like two hours of piano recitals for the family (Adrianna) or our dedication to learning Chinese. Do you know why lots of people stopped making homemade gifts? Buying them at a store is just easier. (I'm not saying that I'm advocating stopping making homemade gifts; I think that they really show a person's care and love.)

So I think there should be a sort of Mother's Day chart. We have the guide for anniversary presents--on your first anniversary, you get something made out of paper (traditional) or clocks (modern), cotton (t) or china (m), leather, silk, wool, etc. We should have exactly the same kind of guide for Mother's Day, based on how long your mother has a.) been a mother (starting with the birth of the oldest sibling) or b.) been your mother. This would make an occasionally confusing holiday a whole lot easier.

Random Ponderances and 10 Events of the Day

2009-05-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

10 Events of the Day

Sadly, I haven't updated my blog too often; I've been fairly busy. Here are a few of the things I did today:

1. Fed Minnie, our pet guinea pig, and brought her upstairs so she could play;
2. Ate breakfast while listening to the NPR comedic news-quiz show Wait Wait Don't Tell Me;
3. Helped my mom with accounting the family finances (fun, isn't it?)
4. Did some weeding and checked on my amateur garden;
5. Went to the bank with my mom, after which we walked to the library, after which we walked to the Saturday Market;
6. Bought some local cheese from Samish Bay Cheese at the Sat. Market;
7. Supported local industry and another young artist by buying a handmade letter-opener from the thirteen-year-old woodturner, Daniel Franklin (www.pensbydaniel.com)
8. Walked home, up the arduous Education Hill that, from a distance, looks like it's going straight up into the air--that's how steep it is!
9. Arrived home and began eating cheese.
10. Started writing this blog post.

Random Ponderances

I was thinking about natural selection and Darwin's theory of evolution recently and a thought came to me; with our new advances in technology, science, and medicine, we are in effect halting or slowing down natural selection--among our own species, at any rate--by pioneering new treatments for the ill and elderly, who, in the past, might otherwise not have lived. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing; I cheer on all the new innovations we develop to help the less fortunate. However, you have to wonder what the effects of our advances will be a few thousand years down the road?

I was thinking about the saying, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the hill." I would like to add, "But really, the grass on both sides is wilted and brown." Or maybe, "The grass is really just an optical illusion; the hill is covered in weeds." Or, "Granted, we're all color-blind." That might be a little more accurate.

Reading Incentive Programs

2009-04-23T21:27:00.000-07:00

A free personal pizza…a tub of Whole Foods ice cream…a box of doughnuts…a backpack—if I offered all these items to you for free, you would probably assume that I was kidding. But these are just a few example items that grade-school kids can get by…community service? Charitable donations? Paying money? Nope. Reading.

Many libraries, including my own local Redmond Regional library, offer reading incentive programs, often funded by philanthropic arms of companies such as Pizza Hut. You get a sheet on which “reading coaches”—parents, teachers, or guardians—sign their initials and the date to prove that you have read at least 20 minutes.There’s nothing wrong with the libraries that set up the reading incentive programs; understandably, the libraries want to get more people (especially the new generation) to read. What makes me angry is that kids do need incentives to read. The Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) website listed a few common complaints kids have about reading: “It's boring[…] I don't have the time[…] It's too hard […] It's not important […] It's no fun.” When kids complain about the food on their plates, we tell them that there are starving children in Africa. How are books different? Many people across the world do not have the chance to access reading material. We need to impress upon kids that the ability to read, and the presence of books, is a privilege and a great opportunity for them to learn.

One of the reasons kids may not embrace reading as much any more is that they have many other forms of recreation to distract them, from texting on cell phones to video games and sporting events. However, a big part of life is prioritizing. We need to compare the value of, say, Kung Fu Chaos, an ultra-violent “brawler game” (Xbox.com) to The Grapes of Wrath, an American classic that eloquently depicts the struggles of Depression-era people. Which one do you think sounds better?

Adora Svitak Now On Twitter

2009-04-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

You can follow me on Twitter by going to www.twitter.com/adorasv.

I'm not too crazy about the 140 words limit, but I will keep it posted with any major events.

-Adora

21st Century Piracy

2009-04-21T11:58:00.001-07:00

In my humble opinion, piracy has lost its glamor. In the days of old, pirates were (or at least portrayed as) swashbuckling, cutlass-wielding daredevils. Today, they're a raggedy bunch of Somali hoodlums who ride around in speedboats and take hostages. Obviously, it's a different time; wielding a cutlass won't do you any good on today's waters, what with advances in weaponry. At the same time, guns don't create too much positive media coverage. What's a pirate to do? I have some tips for the Somali pirates' PR division:

1. Get way cooler clothes. Think bright colors, sashes, and maybe plumed hats.
2. Evoke images of the olden days by purchasing a few sturdy parrots. If you teach them well enough, they may be able to conduct your hostage negotiations for you.
3. I know that there really is not much of a government in Somalia, but get someone in a position of authority to give you some papers making you a privateer, a pirate who is commissioned by a government to fight or harass enemy/foreign ships. This does two things--makes you feel less guilty about stealing cargo because you have someone important behind you, and just may give you some measure of legal protection.
4. Publicize yourself as 21st Century Robin Hoods, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Generally, all you have to do is steal cargo from ships and spend money in your area. And from what I've heard, you're doing that already.
5. Think of a motto/slogan/logo, like "Giving New Hope to Disenfranchised Somali Fishermen," "Give Us Your Cargo or Give Us 1 Million Dollars," or "Spreading the Wealth Through Economic Recycling on the High Seas."

200th Post!

2009-04-21T11:34:00.001-07:00

I noticed on my blog dashboard that my blog is now at 199 posts. Thus this must be my 200th post. I'd welcome everyone to take a look at the archives, especially when I started writing in 2005.

Below is a video of me teaching.

Poems Written with Video Conferencing Students

2009-04-20T10:50:00.001-07:00

Below are two poems written with video conferencing students. One is about hated food, another about a hated chore. Poetry is a great way to vent your feelings...in this case, it was apparently hate.

--

I really don’t like stuffing
It simply does not taste right
Stuffing is too stuffy
It doesn’t please my sight

I really don’t like oatmeal
It simply freaks me out
The lumps and bumps in the oatmeal
Really make me pout

I really don’t like peas
They’re mushy and gushy and squishy
They’re round and bloated and green
There’s something a little too fishy.

--

Cleaning up after the dog
Is the most dreaded chore
Of all the tasks in the house
There is nothing I hate more.

For the dog uses the house bathroom
As though he’s one of us
Next he’ll buy a set of socks
And wear them to the bus

But the dog will sneeze and slobber
All over his new suit of clothes
And he will rip them to shreds
And then slobber all over my bed.

Limerick Written with Fifth-Grade Students

2009-04-16T11:22:00.000-07:00

Today I video conferenced with fifth graders, teaching Poetry Made Easy. At the end of the session we wrote a limerick about one student's cat, who plays dead.
--

I have a cat that plays dead
Perhaps it wasn’t fed
The cat fell down to the ground
The family gathered around
They put him in his bed.

--

These were some of the other ideas students came up with:

a dog lying on back for belly rub

dog that sounds like a cat when he growls

When rabbit wants to be petted, the rabbit bumps against the cage

Cat that plays dead

Dog hangs head out window

Dog tries to talk

Compare Contrast Outline

2009-04-15T10:53:00.001-07:00

I was teaching Expository Writing 101: Compare and Contrast Essay to an assembly of sixth-graders today, and we decided to compare/contrast Skittles and M&Ms. To the students I spoke with: great job, and feel free to write the actual essay! This is our outline:

--

Point 1: Texture and Shape

1. Skittles are gummy
2. Skittles are round.
3. Skittles are smooth on the exterior.

Point 2: Color

1. Skittles come in blue, red, yellow, green, purple and orange.

Point 3: Flavor

1. Skittles taste fruity.

Point 1: Texture

1. M&Ms are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.
2. Round
3. Smooth

Point 2: Color

1. Same colors as Skittles with brown
2. You can get a photo printed on an M&M

Point 3: Flavor

1. M&Ms are chocolate
2. Some M&Ms have peanut butter

The Evils of the Disintegration of the English Language as Brought About by Texting

2009-03-27T16:39:00.000-07:00

Thx. G2G. LOL. ROTFL. OMG. Don't you hate texting lingo? Call me old-school, but I do. I can understand it (I knew every single one that I listed, for instance), but that doesn't mean that I have to agree with it. As they say, know your enemy.

What's wrong with abbreviating words to save time, some ask? It's more than abbreviating words to save time, in my opinion. It's slowly chipping away at the very foundations of the English language.

Besides, any one who has enough time to type out thousands of text messages a month--and "For a teenager to send thousands of text messages a month is not unusual," said John Johnson, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless (Washington Post)--could be spending their time more constructively, by volunteering at a soup kitchen or finishing homework.

For someone who doesn't even have a cell phone, I might seem a little too zealous about getting people to stop using text lingo. Why am I so fired up? It's all about writing. Teens are beginning to slip text lingo into their formal writing assignments. According to the USA Today, "two-thirds of teens admit in a survey that emoticons and other informal styles have crept in." Not only is this annoying to teachers, who have to decipher it, it's not conducive to their education. I was teaching a professional development session recently and a teacher who taught high school criminal justice mentioned that many of her students use texting lingo in their cases, which is worrying, not just because they're in school, but also because that's not something you can do in a court of law.

Some people say that text lingo is a shortcut. There are no shortcuts in life. Eventually, using text lingo will catch up with you and you'll have to take the long way home. But that's enough for now.

G2G.

On Teaching and Learning

2009-03-26T18:37:00.000-07:00

By teaching, I think that I have cultivated a deeper awareness of learning. As I say at the end of my "kid's eye view of the classroom" professional development sessions for teachers, "Only when we know how we learn can we really know how to teach."

I see manifestations of this when I teach writing; I remember that I learned through imaginative, creative exercises, not a list of boring instructions. As a result, I try to apply the same principles--the importance of using creative exercises to teach a seemingly boring concept. One example of a typical type of persuasive test prompt is "During independent working time, your English teacher frequently plays soft, calming music which you would like to change. Write to convince your English teacher to play the kind of music you prefer as background for independent working time." Some argue that a "realistic" prompt is good practice for kids to use persuasive writing for something practical. But my argument is that, if you want to get kids excited about something like persuasive writing, you should not be focusing so much on practicality but rather on creativity. So when I'm teaching persuasive writing (and also how to speak to your audience's interests) I use prompts like "Aliens have decided to destroy Planet Earth. You have to persuade them to save your planet. P.S. They like chocolate, soccer, and sunny weather." This encourages kids to have a fun time, trying to think from the perspective of an alien, etc., so that they think less about how dumb persuasive writing is (not that it is!) and more about using persuasive writing techniques--and that will help them pass state tests.

Discrimination Against Short-Statured Persons in Public Places

2009-03-08T20:54:00.001-07:00

Discrimination Against Short-Statured Persons in Public Places
(as experienced by the author)

Recently I have had my rights compromised. The unfortunate event occurred at Costco in Kirkland, WA. Being in close proximity to our house, Costco is one of many food-shopping destinations that we patronize. One of our favorite parts is getting samples from the many tables set up around the store. Actually, that’s what my sister and I spend the majority of our time in Costco doing. Sadly, Costco seems to enforce a hideous rule which does not allow children to get samples without parental accompaniment. I thought originally that this rule was created perhaps because the Costco administration was worried about allergies, but I suppose not, for when I went to get a sample of sweet potato French fries from a table, the grouchy lady (who, my sister noted with obvious glee, was of Asian descent) handing out samples said, “You need your parents!” I said that I didn’t have any allergies. She responded, “I don’t care if you have no allergies, you get your parents!” Needless to say, I did not return to that table.

Such a thing happened again later that hour. I was about to get a sample of an energy drink when the lady (who was considerably nicer about it) told me that I would need my parents. However, I was made doubly angry about this because my older sister, who is only 13 and thus still not an adult, was allowed to get the same drink without so much as a “wait a second.” It made my blood boil. So I dragged my mother over there and managed to get the sample.

This is yet another example of shameless discrimination against those of us who happen to be shorter than the general adult population, and one that I was determined not to just let go by. As a result, I wrote this blog post, and I hope that you will record any instances of similar things happening to you or others.