As a recap, here’s what we’ve done so far.

We’ve read a summary of the book.

We’ve gathered some additional information about the book and why it was and remains popular.

• Source 1
• Source 2
• Source 3

Now we are considering multiple perspectives:

• A Washington Post opinion article ”We’re Teaching Books That Don’t Stack Up” by Nancy Schnog
• An English teacher’s blog post
• Amazon reviews
• Barnes & Noble reviews

Finally, here’s what the State of Colorado says in its Reading & Writing Standard 6 

• Standard 6: Students read and recognize literature as a record of human experience. In order to meet this standard, students will
• know and use literary terminology;
• read literature to investigate common issues and interests;
• read literature to understand places, people, events, and vocabulary, both familiar and unfamiliar;
• read literature that reflects the uniqueness and integrity of the American experience;
• read classic and contemporary literature, representing various cultural and ethnic traditions from throughout the world; and
• read classic and contemporary literature of the United States about the experiences and traditions of diverse ethnic groups.
• Rationale
  • Literature records human expression in such forms as speeches, poems, novels, stories, nonfiction, essays, plays, films, biographies, and autobiographies by male and female speakers and writers. The study of literary traditions offers a perspective on enduring questions, a glimpse into human motives and conflicts, and a sense of the beauty and power of spoken and written language. In addition, literature transmits and transforms culture; it also enables students to think, communicate, and participate in society. The study of literature and writers of the United States honors the heritage and cultures of all people who live or have lived in America, and it thus helps students develop an understanding of our national experience. A comprehensive literature program fosters habits of reading that carry over into adult life.
• GRADES 9-12 -As students in grades 9-12 extend their knowledge, what they know and are able to do includes
  • reading, responding to, and discussing novels, poetry, short stories, non-fiction, content-area and technical material, plays, essays, and speeches;
  • using literary terminology accurately, such as theme, mood, diction, idiom, perspective, style, and point of view;
  • identifying recurrent themes in United States literature; and
  • developing and supporting a thesis about the craft and significance of particular works of literature, both classic and contemporary, from a variety of ethnic writers. For students extending their English/Language Arts education beyond the standards, what they know and are able to do may include
  • comparing and contrasting stories, novels, poems, and other forms of literature from different countries, time periods, or cultures;
  • using novels, poetry, short stories, non-fiction, autobiographies, plays, essays, speeches, literary criticisms and analyses, and any other literature to explore academic, personal, or career issues; and
  • understanding the common themes in the literature of the United States and in world literature.

Now here’s the challenge: Take into account your personal thoughts about the book from your last posting. Consider the messages of the Washington Post article and the blog entry from the Colorado teacher. Combine those with the reviews you read on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and factor in Standard 6 from the State of Colorado. Reply with a comment to this entry in answer to this question: Is reading The Scarlet Letter a a worthwhile and meaningful academic endeavor for this class?

In forming your initial response make sure you reference all the contributing perspectives as well as any you may have run across. Your responses are available to the world, so represent yourself well by using the proper writing conventions. You may get responses from others around Colorado or the world, but we’ll start with replying to the replies of at least two of your classmates.

Also, your answer here will form the kernel of your own blog post where you will address one of these statements (more on that in class later, though),

• Why we need to read The Scarlet Letter.
• Why we don’t need to read The Scarlet Letter.

When I was a junior in high school and I was deciding that I wanted to be a teacher, I never thought I’d be doing anything like this. The Internet, at least as we know it today, didn’t even exist and here I am loving the adventure and enjoying learning new things. Nothing in high school or even most of college prepared me for any of this with the exception of teachers and professors who wouldn’t leave me alone. For cryin’ out loud they kept pestering me to pay attention to the details, to think through what I was doing and saying and preparing, to take nothing for granted, to question when I was curious, to take chances, and on and on and on.

It didn’t matter what their subject areas were; they were all teaching me those same things, and those are my goals for you. You’ll find some traditional elements in this class and you’ll find some things you may not have expected. That’s me, though. I have both teacher and principal licenses and I probably spend way too much time finding and trying new technologies that bring people together. I love video (both console and computer) games -something, I’m afraid, I’ve passed on to my son – and I like playing board games. I love reading books and talking about them, but I also blog and read lots of blogs. Sometimes Facebook evaporates too much of my time when I should be doing other things, but I won’t friend you until you graduate from high school -nothing personal, that’s just one of my boundaries. I love living in Colorado, but I would be happy if the only time I ever saw snow again was when I planned a ski trip. You get the idea.

So, here we are, teacher and students setting off on a new online adventure in a vehicle called American Literature & Composition, me and my games, books, blogs, and you with your…your what? We’ll find out beacuse our words matter. That’s what you are going to find out if you don’t already know it. It will be the theme running through our class: Words matter; do yours? To whom and how do you know?