A Southern Missive

As a 7th and 8th grade gifted reading teacher and in high school as well, I introduce my students to a fine young adult novel, Walkabout, written by James Vance Marshall. It is a fine book to use to teach my students about Australian and Aborigine cultures. The book is generally well-received by the students, a sign to me that the book has dynamics that work with young readers. I teach the book as part of an Australian unit, integrating geography, history, unique vocabulary, botany, and wildlife.  The book helps students think about the issue of survival in a hostile environment.  If you are a reading or English teacher, this is a book you can center their studies around in a unit, one that will teach them more than they intended to learn. If you would like a list of the projects I assign in this unit, or of a test I’ve prepared for the book, I’ll be happy to email it to you. Write me at rickeyp@bayou.com.

I’ve just finished reading a collection of short fiction entitled, Miami Noir, edited by Les Standiford. Sixteen excellent fiction writers contributed their stories, all set in Miami.  It is part of the Akashic Books Noir Series, and reading this one stirred a desire to read the others in the series. I think I’ll move on to the Dublin Noir collection next. You can see all the titles in this series here: http://www.akashicbooks.com/noirseries.htm.

I discovered this book on John Dufresne’s blog. Dufresne is a favorite writer of mine. I found it well worth my time.  As Standiford points out, “Miami is fertile territory for writers who write well and truly of crime and violence and of the dark side of the human condition.” Quoting Hugo, he says the city is the natural place for writers on the edge. As always, when I read good fiction, I learned more than I intended to. There are so many wonderful phrases in the collection, but here are a couple that particularly caught my fancy:

In “Noir Boudoir” by Lynne Barrett, the narrator says, “Here, I got interested in life’s cast-off paper, and started to buy and sell and learn the worth of the worthless” (294).

John Bond’s narrator in “T-Bird” says, “Poker players make fast decisions, always on incomplete information . . .” (242).

If you like good fiction, I would recommend this collection.

I found a great article by Charles Murray, entitled “Aztecs vx. Greeks,” relating to gifted children and the importance of a rigorous course of instruction for them. You can find that article here: http://opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110009541.  I love teaching my gifted students, but some of them are what could be categorized as “underachieving” gifted students. The article inspired me as a teacher, caused me to think again on the importance of what I’m trying to do as a gifted teacher, and gave me ideas for my own instruction. I read through the article with my students. I may have them write a personal essay on the topic as well. I like the article so much that I think next year I’ll start my classes with it. If you teach gifted students or if you have a gifted child, you should take a look at the article.