CMIS Evaluation Fiction Focus » teaching ideas http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:07:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Trailer Tuesday: American Born Chinese http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/11/24/trailer-tuesday-american-born-chinese/ http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/11/24/trailer-tuesday-american-born-chinese/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:30:20 +0000 judij http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/?p=2349 American Born Chinese broke new ground when it became the first graphic novel be nominated for the US National Book Award and also the first to win the Michael L. Printz Award in 2007.

It skilfully intertwines the legend of the Monkey King with a story of immigration and cultural heritage, and speaks to all who have struggled with identity and belonging with a relevance far beyond just the US experience. The contribution of colourist Lark Pien to the extrardinary look and feel of this book should not be overlooked.

9781596431522

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The creator

The text

Reviews

Interviews with Gene Yang

Awards

Read More

]]> http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/11/24/trailer-tuesday-american-born-chinese/feed/ 0 Trailer Tuesday: Bog Child http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/11/17/trailer-tuesday-bog-child/ http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/11/17/trailer-tuesday-bog-child/#comments Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:21:30 +0000 judij http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/?p=2153 Four books. Only four, yet all have been on the awards radar and some have received great honours indeed.  We can but speculate what else the late Siobhan Dowd might have written had her life been longer. But we can celebrate these four marvellous books and the richness that her writing has brought to young adult literature. The first Carnegie Medal to be awarded posthumously was for this week’s featured title, Bog Child (2007), which was finished three months before Siobhan Dowd’s death.

9781862305915

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The author

The text

Reviews

Articles and interviews

Awards for Bog Child

The other books and their awards

A Swift Pure Cry (2006)

The London Eye Mystery (2007)

Solace of the Road (2009)

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In memory of Alison Lawrence: friend, colleague and valued Fiction Focus reviewer

11 November 2009

]]> http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/11/17/trailer-tuesday-bog-child/feed/ 0 Trailer Tuesday: Nation http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/11/10/trailer-tuesday-nation/ http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/11/10/trailer-tuesday-nation/#comments Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:16 +0000 judij http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/?p=2003 After ten years of Discworld, Terry Pratchett (Sir Terence Pratchett) has created a very different world in Nation (2008). Set in n a parallel universe rather like our 19th century South Pacific this is a multi-faceted disaster-survival / coming-of-age story that explores many themes.  There is no book trailer as such for this title, so here is Terry Pratchett talking about how Nation came to be  (the US cover is featured):

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The author

The text

Reviews

Articles and interviews

Awards

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  • A list from the CMIS database
]]> http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/11/10/trailer-tuesday-nation/feed/ 0 Watching about reading http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/11/07/watching-about-reading/ http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/11/07/watching-about-reading/#comments Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:46:11 +0000 judij http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/?p=2047 EOTWBanner

A new Canadian television series, Empire of the Word, will be one to watch for on our screens.

Alberto Manguel will host the TVO series that is based on his History of Reading. The press release sounds enticing:

Empire of the Word explores how reading and writing were born; how we learn to read; who or what might prevent us from reading; and the future of reading. Eight years in the making and shot in 15 countries, the series journeys from prehistory to present day and beyond, illustrating how reading and writing are inextricably linked to human evolution and existence.

The fourth and final episode looks at the future of reading, with reference to the terrific interactive webiste Inanimate Alice.

Empire of the Word has an accompanying interactive mystery, Lehka’s Journey. The first two of eight episodes are already online along with some interactive word games.

The program airs in Canada at the end of this month. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait too long to see it here.

Manguel’s 2007 Massey lecture series, The City of Words, can be purchased from several sources as a CD, but does not seem to be available in mp3 format.

]]> http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/11/07/watching-about-reading/feed/ 0 NaNoWriMo http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/11/01/nanowrimo/ http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/11/01/nanowrimo/#comments Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:55:43 +0000 judij http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/?p=1916 header

It’s November, and it’s NaNoWri Mo – National Novel Writing Month. National as in US, of course, but an interesting concept nonetheless.

The website explains how it all works, but in essence, by the end of this month the aim is to have a 50,000 word novel in the bag. Not of publishable quality, of course, but perhaps a first draft of something more promising.

Here are the rules. It might be a fun way of keeping students engaged in these twilight weeks.

POSTSCRIPT: 3 November

John Green on NaNoWriMo, the writing process, discipline, revision and the permission to be far from perfect. This is on of his Vlog Brothers videos – he’ll be updating his NaNoWriMo reflections daily.

]]> http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/11/01/nanowrimo/feed/ 0 Teaching the Cultural Revolution http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/10/30/teaching-the-cultural-revolution/ http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/10/30/teaching-the-cultural-revolution/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:08:11 +0000 judij http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/?p=1863 545399_f930538cfbWith the film of Mao’s Last Dancer attracting audiences around the world, and the books continuing to do so well, interest in China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) is high.

A free 146-page study guide addressing this period in history has been developed by the Facing History website. Although based around Red Scarf Girl (Ji-Li Jiang), much of the content is relevant to any narrative of the period, including Mao’s Last Dancer.

Included is:

  • An historical background essay by China scholar Professor William Joseph, Wellesley University
  • 19 historical documents, some in full color, including propaganda posters, photographs, government documents, poems, newspaper articles and more
  • Suggested activities designed for literature and history classrooms
  • Timelines of the Cultural Revolution, a history of modern China and a map of China
  • Suggested teaching strategies to strengthen students’ skills as readers, writers, listeners and critical thinkers

The Facing History website encourages students to think about their role in the world and the moral and ethical decisions that must be made as global citizens. It’s a site that warrants some exploration.

The study guide can be downloaded here.

Image from flickr used under Creative Commons licence.

]]> http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/10/30/teaching-the-cultural-revolution/feed/ 1 Stitches http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/10/17/stitches/ http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/10/17/stitches/#comments Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:12:43 +0000 judij http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/?p=1648 David Small’s graphic memoir Stitches has been named as a finalist in the Young People’s Literature category of the 2009 US National Book Awards.

While there has been some debate as to whether this is the right category for his story, there is no doubting the power of it, as the book trailer reveals. You could do worse than to use the simplicity of this trailer as a starting point to analyse how other graphic novels / memoirs are constructed. There is no sign of publication of Stitches in Australia yet, but it looks like one to watch for.

The CMIS database has a list of graphic novels and memoirs here.

]]> http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/10/17/stitches/feed/ 0 Have you seen our other ones? http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/07/30/have-you-seen-our-other-ones/ http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/07/30/have-you-seen-our-other-ones/#comments Thu, 30 Jul 2009 06:11:28 +0000 janning http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/?p=640 …our other blogs of course.

The blogroll widget in the sidebar will link you to other blogs written by CMIS team members. You may like to check out today’s Tech Focus blog post about Book Trailers. While you are looking at the sidebar scroll down to see FF’s VodPod collection of book trailer videos.

Know of a good book trailer video? Let us know and we will add it to our collection so all our blog readers can find it.

]]> http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/07/30/have-you-seen-our-other-ones/feed/ 0 What will yours look like? http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/07/29/what-will-yours-look-like/ http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/07/29/what-will-yours-look-like/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:51:10 +0000 janning http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/?p=638 Create your Own YA Book Cover

still

Following recent discussions about differences between Australian and US book covers and Justine Larbalestier’s ‘Ain’t That a Shame’ post …

This activity is a great way to get your students actively involved in critically evaluating the impact and influence of book covers.

We would love to see any covers you, or your students create. If you are not able to host your images on your website send them as email attachments to cmiseval[at]det[dot]wa[dot]edu[dot]au and we will create a gallery and tell 100 Scope Notes where to find them.

Thanks to Travis at 100 Scope Notes for this!

1 – Go to “Fake Name Generator” or click http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/

The name that appears is your author name.

2 – Go to “Random Word Generator” or click http://www.websitestyle.com/parser/randomword.shtml

The word listed under “Random Verb” is your title.

3 – Go to “FlickrCC” or click http://flickrcc.bluemountains.net/index.php

Type your title into the search box. The first photo that contains a person is your cover.

4 – Use Photoshop, Picnik, or similar to put it all together. [Note: SumoPaint is a great, free online image editor.] Be sure to crop your image and/or zoom in.

5 – Post it to your site along with this text.

If you create a cover, drop by 100 Scope Notes and let Travis know – He’s going to post a gallery.

]]> http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/07/29/what-will-yours-look-like/feed/ 5 short & scary http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/05/27/short-scary/ http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/2009/05/27/short-scary/#comments Wed, 27 May 2009 03:40:20 +0000 janning http://cmisevalff.edublogs.org/?p=539 Do your students like to write?

In May 2008 Black Dog Books published short: a collection of interesting short stories and other stuff from some surprising and intelligent people

This anthology featured both new and established writers and illustrators and royalties went to the Big Brother Big Sister charity organization.

Black Dog Books invites students to write and submit a poem, short story or illustration for short & scary: a whole lot of creepy stories and other chilling stuff. Each entry should be no more than 800 words and will be considered on its own merit.

If the work is accepted it will appear alongside such well established authors and illustrators as Terry Denton, Andy Griffiths, Gabrille Wang, Sally Rippon and Carole Wilkinson.

Please contact Karen Tayleur at black dog books via email at karen@bdb.com.au if you would like more information or to submit a piece of work.

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