Sylvia Plath

I love to go to the New York Times to check out articles about literature and education--I try to print the good ones out for future reference (I might use them in the classroom, after all), and I came upon a site that has a log of all the articles on Sylvia Plath. Her novel The Bell Jar was one of the first books that caused me to fall in love with language. (And the melodrama certainly helped!) I loved her sensory imagery and attention to detail. Strangely, it took me a while to "get" her poetry. I was a freshman in high school, so this was when Shakespeare was just begin to be less elusive.

What other books started my love for literature and language? Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl was the first book that I felt the surge of jealousy over. I read it when I was in second grade and began a diary of my own, which I cleverly named "Kitty." (How original.) I wanted to write well, but nothing interesting ever happened to me, so I wrote about things that happened at home (I'm mad at my dad because he let Chelsea fill the birdfeeder, etc.) and at school (I can't believe Vanessa kissed Clay when Mrs Sivils was gone!) Nothing terribly interesting, but there is an amount of charm to going back and re-reading the concerns of an eight-year-old.

Do I still write? Yes, but not as much as I would like. Teaching the poetry class reminded me of this, although all of my energy went into making the class successful rather than my own writing shine. Once this semester is over (and, for the most part, it will be tomorrow--most everything is due, with the exception of a unit that is due for my Teaching Film, TV, and Media class), I think I will try to set aside half an hour or so a day, just to read and write poetry.

I will also spend several hours a day preparing for student teaching!! I keep thinking--I can't wait until winter break so I can finally relax, but the truth is, I will have to start observing my cooperating teacher (which isn't required, but that seems to be the wisest thing to do), see if I can get trained for the Minnesota Literacy Council and get a volunteer position set up, join those two teacher organizations (NCTE and another that I think is Minnesota Teachers Association, but I could be really wrong), and most importantly, plan that spring teaching experience!!