Hello all, and welcome!
I know! I know! Summer always feels too short....and this year, it certainly felt too rainy, but it's time for something new. I'm excited to welcome you to this adventure. I know that sounds corny, but it really is an adventure to learn...at least, it always has been that way for me. I hope it will be for you, as well. Last year, I spent time learning and thinking, and part of my thinking centered on the idea of "American-ness": what does that mean? Why do so many millions of people around the world long for the kinds of freedoms and opportunities we often take for granted because we have enjoyed them all our lives? How did those ideas get started? Who shaped those ideas? Why have so many risked and lost their lives for America over the two-hundred plus years of our existence as a nation? Why is it important to consider such ideas when you're sixteen or seventeen years old and studying American Literature because the Lincoln school district says you should? We'll start the year off with the Summer Reading test, and a writing project that begins the conversation about being American. Then, in the spirit of making the American ideal really live in our classroom, I want your views on how we can approach the study of the literature for this year. Seriously. There are innumerable ways we can interact with each other, the texts, and the ideas, and I don't want to be the only one who has a say in deciding that since I really believe in the wisdom and beauty of "many voices, one song." Please think of and use this space as a tool for growth: nobody has "all the answers", but all of us together can go to places we'd never have thought of on our own. And that can really be an adventure. Welcome aboard.
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