Mrs. Pendry is the bomb.com

Writing has been a crucial part of education since the first writing system was devised in 3500 BCE. Recently, however, in classes that have been infamously heavy with writing, writing has taken a back seat to standardized tests such as the SAT, ACT, AP exams, and other state testing. I interviewed a well-known and beloved teacher at West Springfield High School about her opinions of writing and education. Mrs. Pendry is an 11th grade American history teacher who loves her job.

Mrs. Pendry wholeheartedly supports writing as the most important ability in school especially for history because writing forces the students to explain their understanding of concepts, theories, and opposing viewpoints, and allows them express their own opinions. By showing the teachers what the students do or do not know, the teachers are given a better idea of where the students are and what the teachers need to go over again. It also gives the students the ability to gauge their understanding and what they need to review or work on for the next test or essay. Writing is a student’s ultimate opportunity to display their abilities and knowledge.

In regard to the aforementioned standardized tests, Mrs. Pendry believes that the writing portions are important in AP tests and would even have the multiple choice sections taken out in favor of more writing prompts. AP classes are simulations of freshman-level college classes, and in college, there are no Scantrons or anything like that. You have papers to write and take short answer tests to showcase your knowledge and abilities and learning how to write that way in high school is extremely important to your first year in college.

She believes that writing in both history and English classes (along with whatever other writing students are doing) is important because it exposes them to different formats/styles/genres of writing. This exposure leads to being more easily able to follow different formats in college and later in life because not every paper you have to write will be a five paragraph essay. For history and English writing specifically, it’s easy to see the difference. Along with the totally different subjects, history writing requires a historical past tense while English uses a literary present tense which requires a complete change in mindset when switching between writing styles.

In regard to our school’s Writing Center, Mrs. Pendry believes it is a really big help to students. From a history teacher’s perspective, the Writing Center is most useful and helpful when the tutor has taken that specific course because then the tutor already understands and has experienced the format/style of writing that is in that class whether it be a DBQ, short answer tests, or timed writing. Having a tutor who took the class also makes it more beneficial for the student because the tutor will be able to fact check the paper along with checking the writing component. This makes the Writing Center dual purpose and a great asset to teachers across the curriculum.

I finished the interview by asking her about what she thinks would be the ideal education system. In her idealistic mind, the best kind of school is one where everyone is happy. The students want to be there and want to learn. The teachers want to teach. The administrators enjoy their jobs. Her goal is to do everything in her power to make that come true and is obviously very successful because I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t like her.

For any further questions, email me.

No, I don't have my nose in a book, I have my mind in a book.

I started reading at a very young age, and I haven’t stopped since. Books are my passion. Often I read two or three at a time, and I read everything. I mean EVERYTHING. Any book that piques my interest gets read, and even if I don’t particularly like it (which is very rare) I have to finish it. I’m horrible at saying bad things about books, because I think that even the worst book is a masterpiece, a work of art that came out of someone’s mind.

I just finished reading a book called The Girls of Atomic City: TheUntold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan. It’s non-fiction, and it’s historical. However, my favorite thing about the author’s style is that the parts that don’t deal with the mechanics of making an atom bomb are written like a story – she is telling the story of these women who helped build the bomb unknowingly, and writes it as such. The technical side of it is a bit confusing if you don’t have some interest in or knowledge of atomic bombs, but I have a curiosity about how they work, and this book gave me (vague) information about the process of getting and enriching “tubealloy,” which is what the scientists call the element that they are making the bomb out of: uranium. It was a fantastically written book, and if you like history or just atomic bombs, I highly recommend it.

Another book that I just read is called UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn. It is on the opposite end of the spectrum, and is fiction, almost science fiction. The main character,Mina, is a descendant of the Grimm brothers, and has to live through all of their fairy tales to break the curse that plagues all of their descendants: living through the fairy tales. I finished that book a little while ago, but I want to read the next one. I just haven’t gotten around to it yet, because I have stacks of books just waiting to be read. Of course, this one definitely isn't for everyone; it deals with a teenage girl and she has boy troubles and social life issues. A total chick flick, if you ask me. Yes, I read chick flicks and I'm proud of it.

Gillian Flynn is a New York Times bestselling author right now due to her new book Gone Girl. I got into Flynn’s books with Dark Places, which is beautifully written and tells the story of a now 32-year-old woman who heard her family murdered when she was 7 by her older brother, and is looking for the truth as to what really happened that night. I’d say again that I recommend this book, but I’m sure that by now that you realize that I would pretty much recommend every single book I've ever read. I've just started reading Gone Girl, but it’s already wonderful, and I had a hard time putting it down just to write this little snippet about it. The basis of the book is a husband and wife who move to Missouri, and on their fifth wedding anniversary, the wife goes missing. That’s pretty much all I know about it, considering I’m only on page 52 right now. The best part about having a boyfriend that works at Barnes and Nobles is all the new books I get to read at a discount, or books that are his, like these books! (I can't wait to read Sharp Objects, which is another of Flynn's books.)

One of the hardest things to do for me is to recommend books to other people without an idea as to what they like in a book. For my friends, it’s easy, because I know them very well and I know what they like, or what I think they would like. But for other people, it’s a bit harder. Every book is so different, and I pick books up on a whim. It’s usually the title that grabs me, or even just the font of the title. I’ll pick a book up from any section, and when buying books, I look for a bargain as well as a good summary. I own a Nook, and free books are big part of my virtual library. The more books I can buy, the better, so freebies are a must for me. Anything can draw me in, and those things that draw me in are never the reason that I decide I love the book; thus the confusion over choosing books for other people. Usually I revert to the old standby of picking one of my all-time favorite books for my recommendations.

Speaking of all-time favorites, I have a few suggestions for those of you looking for a new book to read, besides the books mentioned above, which are all fantastic!

I love big books, and Tom Clancy nails that on the head with his huge novels. If you like historical fiction, his books are definitely for you. My only qualm with them is that they are heavy (very powerful) reads, and make me think a lot, so I only read them during the summer, when they won’t stress me out.

I don’t even know what to classify John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars as, but it is a tear-jerker and a heart breaker. I read it in one day, and I don’t care who you are, young or old, male or female, if you haven’t read this book, read it. It has a powerful message (which you have to read the book to find out!), and I thought it was astoundingly beautiful. The message coupled with the writing prowess of John Green makes for an amazing book, so GO READ IT. Also, the book is apparently being made into a movie. I can't tell you how excited I am to see it. Okay. Okay. (If you've read it, you should understand that. Go read it.)

I know other people who haven't liked this series, but I love the Inheritance Cycle. It was originally intended to be a trilogy by its then-fifteen-year-old author Christopher Paolini, but turned into a four book cycle when he couldn't fit everything he wanted to into the third book. It also inspired me to start my own writing because he was so young and became so successful. But aside from that, I loved these books, and I've read them so many times that my paper back copy of Eragon is falling apart. This is another book I would recommend that everyone read, even though not all of you will like it (probably). Don't you dare watch the movie though, at least until after you have read the book. Honestly, the movie really stinks, and hardly follows the book at all. It skips so many important events and gets everything wrong. So just don't even bother watching it. It made me angry.

Tamora Pierce is my favorite author. She writes beautifully and her books all have meaning. Plus, most of them have female heroines, and they are written for young adult audiences, so they serve as inspiration for young girls that they can be the one to save the day too. They’re fantasy, set in imagined worlds and involving magic, which has always been one of my favorite things to read, because of the imagination that it takes to create such a book. Pierce’s series are not for everyone, as they are written towards a young audience, but I remember reading them when I was younger, and I loved them so much that I still read them all today over and over.

Go read. Read books. Read news articles. Read the little ticker at the bottom of your favorite news channel. Read something. But go read, because books can change your life. They've certainly changed mine in ways I never imagined.

If you want a recommendation, or just want to talk about your experiences with books or your favorite books, send me an email!

A History of Blogs

*Disclaimer* 

In the spirit of blogging I have decided that I MUST insert every thought that passes through my head as it occurs, regardless of the value of the content to the topic.

So, the teacher gives the class an assignment like any other and I approach it with relative apathy (sadly, like any other) until I realize that it is somewhat unique, as far as assignments go.
I have been told to write a blog.  In all honesty I have never truly held the remotest interest in blogging whatsoever, but I feel as though this is a prime opportunity for me to expand my horizons.  Thus, I am left to decide how to begin a blog about ... well, blogs.
What better place to start than at the beginning?

Progression of the Blog
Blogs began as an online diary sort of thing in the early 1990s; people recorded their day, including details ranging from how the new puppy peed on the carpet to the boyfriend who doesn’t put the toilet seat down, etc.  Nothing that couldn’t be done in a paper journal, but hey, we’re on the computer more and more as it is; we might as well get our money’s worth out of the internet service we already pay for.

By about 2000, the blog had grown exponentially in popularity, and today anyone can write a blog about whatever they want. They range from personal diaries to intense politically themed centers of discussion.
Regardless of the purpose of a blog, one can certainly manage to enjoy them (and if not, then perhaps you can compose your blog about how much you deplore the idea of blogging and the “miserable” lives of bloggers, etc.).
*RANDOM TANGENT* 
Someone ought to devise a clear method of inserting sarcasm into certain forms of text, with some sort of undisputed punctuation.  My life would then be complete. (Am I being sarcastic??? Exactly.)

Types of Blogs
There exists in the vast expanses of the internet a wide range of blogs, and often finding the one you want to read can be somewhat of an ordeal. Thus, I have taken it upon myself to distinguish the different variations for you. The omnipotent Wikipedia recognizes several types of blogs, which I will now attempt to summarize as accurately as possible (of course with some of my own personal opinion peppered in for rhetorical purposes).

·      Personal Blogs – epitomized by such social networking sites as Twitter, they tend to write incessantly of the minor details of life, often posted solely for personal entertainment with the cleverness of one’s own words.  Truly sentimental ones that contain any value almost never rise to fame because the ones composed by egotistical celebrities overshadow the homegrown, quality ones.

·      Corporate and Organizational Blogs – blogs created by companies that are desperate to be the first of their competition to reach their customers in the most obscure ways possible.  They often entice customers to come to their blog by offering some form of compensation for visiting, which I personally have never heard of being useful.  (If you’ve ever visited a blog-type site that claimed to offer some type of coupon sort of deal, and you were successful in redeeming your minor prize, I shall alert the media.)

·      Genre Blogs – these blogs focus on one specific topic, ranging from music to art, politics to travel, badly annotated pictures of cats to badly animated pictures of dogs, etc.  I am almost certain that there exists a blog for nearly every topic our meager human minds could imagine, and if there is not one for the topic of your choosing, one can certainly endeavor themselves into creating one. For instance, no one has established a blog on frozen peas, and, if you so wish, feel free to invalidate this statement by creating a blog dedicated to frozen peas.

·      Media Type Blog – this category includes Vlogs (video logs), linklogs (blogs consisting of links to other sites), photoblogs (picture logs), and the ever-popular Tumblr. These blogs are perfect for those of us who are far too lazy to write and/or too untalented to compose or create anything of worth. BUT, they do know what is in good taste, and can identify and relay quality information to others.

This is not to limit the freedom with which one can create a blog, but rather to attempt to categorize a majority of the existing ones.  Again, the range of blogs on the Internet are vast, many are made just for fun, and others with more serious and professional undertones.

My Blog
So, if I were to write a blog, what would it be about? Well, using this as a dry run, I can honestly say there is no possible way to narrow down all of the possibilities.  After intensively researching many blogs (a.k.a. mindlessly surfing the web for hours on end, potentially damaging my eyesight and as the only sign of remaining life, producing an occasional chuckle every ten or so minutes) I have concluded that I am not yet ready to tackle the business of blogging.
I will admit, I have certainly talked down blogs more than I have admitted to their intrinsic value.

However, as I delved into this new world of writing, I have developed a much greater appreciation for blogging as a whole. Of course there still exists an indeterminable number of people that could not take any activity less seriously, producing only pure garbage that the global community will forever shun and be embarrassed about, but that is not to say that there is nothing out there worth reading. In fact there is much out there worth reading.
And so I encourage you to read and maybe even follow a blog if you haven’t already. Perhaps you’ll StumbleUpon something you enjoy after all.

Thoughts on my "blog" please comment or e-mail me at jacob.martin@studentmail.fcps.edu
Compliments preferred, criticism grudgingly accepted :)