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lindsayj3/4 4:07 PMhey guys!
sliles3/4 4:07 PMhi ladies
AnnaR3/4 4:07 PMhey
AnnaR3/4 4:07 PMthis is cool!
sliles3/4 4:08 PMwe're suppossed to be getting to know each other
sliles3/4 4:08 PMhow was everyone's day?
lindsayj3/4 4:08 PMIt was decent.
AnnaR3/4 4:08 PMokay, I guess... nothing special, but I have a band concert tonight
sliles3/4 4:08 PMnice
lindsayj3/4 4:08 PMthat's always fun
sliles3/4 4:08 PMi'm done with classes after tonight
lindsayj3/4 4:09 PMme too - except I have class until 10
sliles3/4 4:09 PMi'm coming to that class tonight
AnnaR3/4 4:09 PMthat's a pretty late class
sliles3/4 4:09 PMno kidding
lindsayj3/4 4:09 PMyeah its awful
sliles3/4 4:09 PMit's three hours long too
lindsayj3/4 4:09 PMbut after that, its Spring Break!
lindsayj3/4 4:09 PMfinally!
lindsayj3/4 4:09 PMAnna, when is your Spring Break?
AnnaR3/4 4:10 PMI'm not really sure, but its only about 3 days
sliles3/4 4:10 PMbecause of all the snow?
lindsayj3/4 4:10 PMis that because you guys have had so many snow days?
AnnaR3/4 4:10 PMyeah
sliles3/4 4:10 PMi remember those days
lindsayj3/4 4:10 PMthat's no fun
AnnaR3/4 4:10 PMsnow days are great, but they take away our break
sliles3/4 4:11 PMyeah but with as many snow days as you guys have had...that's a lot more time off than spring break would give you
AnnaR3/4 4:11 PMI'm ready for one, the teachers have really been packing the work in
sliles3/4 4:11 PMeven though you were probably stuck in the house for most of the time
lindsayj3/4 4:11 PMI don't like the snow - I love when it gets warm and I can wear flip flops!
sliles3/4 4:11 PMyeah they like to do that
AnnaR3/4 4:11 PMsnow is fun but it gets boring after a while
AnnaR3/4 4:12 PMI love to go sledding
sliles3/4 4:12 PMi haven't gone all winter though i heard the golf course is a good place to go
lindsayj3/4 4:12 PMwe have a pretty big hill over where I live by the old middle school
lindsayj3/4 4:12 PMexcept you have to climb the fence
AnnaR3/4 4:12 PMI go on the golf course sometimes, but I normally go at Margaret beeks, because its closer to my house
sliles3/4 4:12 PMwhere is that?
AnnaR3/4 4:13 PMits... behind the kroger on main street
sliles3/4 4:13 PMoh yeah
sliles3/4 4:13 PMnice
lindsayj3/4 4:13 PMI worked there last year
lindsayj3/4 4:13 PMwith second graders
AnnaR3/4 4:13 PMthat sounds like fun
AnnaR3/4 4:13 PMmy sister was in fourth grade there last year, so I guess you didnt meet her
lindsayj3/4 4:14 PMprobably not
lindsayj3/4 4:14 PMI didn't get to leave second grade very much
sliles3/4 4:14 PMso anna i'm curious as to where you take riding lessons around here
AnnaR3/4 4:14 PMI ride at a place called Harmony Hills in giles county
sliles3/4 4:14 PMi boarded my horse there a few years ago
sliles3/4 4:14 PMdo you know carly tilson?
sliles3/4 4:15 PMdoes she still work there?
lindsayj3/4 4:15 PMI know Carly!
AnnaR3/4 4:15 PMyeah, I dont think so
sliles3/4 4:15 PMnice
sliles3/4 4:15 PMyeah we went to high school together
lindsayj3/4 4:15 PMcool
sliles3/4 4:15 PMbut she is a year younger than me
AnnaR3/4 4:15 PMI haven't seen her in a while, but I think Simar is still there
sliles3/4 4:15 PMdoes she have simar there?
sliles3/4 4:15 PMi didn't even know
sliles3/4 4:15 PMyeah we did 4-H and a lot of the same shows for years
sliles3/4 4:16 PMsmall world
AnnaR3/4 4:16 PMfun! I used to be in 4-H but I was running out of time
AnnaR3/4 4:16 PMto do homework
sliles3/4 4:16 PMhaha
AnnaR3/4 4:16 PMthats my main problem. haha. I do too much stuff.
lindsayj3/4 4:16 PMHey Anna, do you know if Courtney McCoy is coming today?
AnnaR3/4 4:16 PMI dont know. I dont think shes here.
lindsayj3/4 4:17 PMok thanks
lindsayj3/4 4:17 PMher Web Pal wanted to know
AnnaR3/4 4:18 PMI'm not exactly sure who that is, though. I'm so pathetic, I really should know
lindsayj3/4 4:18 PMits ok - she was just curious because now she's stuck in a room with a bunch of boys
lindsayj3/4 4:18 PMhaha
sliles3/4 4:18 PMwhat time does your school normally end?
AnnaR3/4 4:18 PMhaha
AnnaR3/4 4:18 PM2:20
sliles3/4 4:18 PMso you guys had to stay after for a while
AnnaR3/4 4:18 PMbut I get home at about three because of the bus
AnnaR3/4 4:18 PMa lot of people went home, but I hung out in Ms. Hale's room
AnnaR3/4 4:18 PMdid my homework
sliles3/4 4:19 PMcool, less to do tonight
AnnaR3/4 4:19 PMyeah, especially because of the concert. I really wont have any time tonight
sliles3/4 4:20 PMso anna in my last email i asked what kinds of books you've been reading lately, since you said that you were an avid reader
AnnaR3/4 4:20 PMlately I've been reading the Odyssey. That sounds really... ummm... something
AnnaR3/4 4:20 PMintellectual hehe
sliles3/4 4:20 PMi don't think i even got around to reading that until college
lindsayj3/4 4:20 PMwow that's really impressive
sliles3/4 4:20 PMokay we have to start talking about the book now
sliles3/4 4:20 PMhaha
AnnaR3/4 4:20 PMokay
AnnaR3/4 4:21 PMI heard that we had to read the Odyssey in honors english next year, so I decided I might as well
sliles3/4 4:21 PMshould we start with a flow chart question?
AnnaR3/4 4:21 PMI guess so
AnnaR3/4 4:21 PMI'm not sure how this is going to work
lindsayj3/4 4:21 PMyeah I'm looking for mine right now
lindsayj3/4 4:21 PMok got it
sliles3/4 4:22 PMokay - my first question is why did Avi choose to write this book as a documentary?
lindsayj3/4 4:22 PMwell, for one, it made it a lot more interesting to read
AnnaR3/4 4:23 PMit showed all the points of views, instead of just one
sliles3/4 4:23 PMand what kinds of advantages/disadvantages would there have been if it had been written in first, third, or even the omniscient point of view
lindsayj3/4 4:23 PMif it had just been written from Phillip's point of view, I think we would have sided with him, and thought Miss Narwin was a bad teacher
lindsayj3/4 4:23 PMor if had just been written from Miss Narwin's point of view, we would have agreed with her that Phillip was out of line
sliles3/4 4:23 PMand vice versa
sliles3/4 4:24 PMyeah
AnnaR3/4 4:24 PMI agree. the way it was written, we got to see the reasons behind what she did
lindsayj3/4 4:24 PMIt made it a lot easier to read as well.
sliles3/4 4:25 PMI think another advantage to the documentary style is that we got a really voyeuristic feel, like a fly on the wall, getting to see everything
AnnaR3/4 4:25 PMYeah. We're like God, watching over the stupid little people on earth who don't understand each other
lindsayj3/4 4:25 PMhaha
lindsayj3/4 4:25 PMthat's an interesting way to look at it
AnnaR3/4 4:25 PMhaha
lindsayj3/4 4:26 PMI never considered that, but now that you mention it, I did feel like a fly on the wall
sliles3/4 4:26 PMalthough i did wish at times that we could be able to see what the characters were thinking
lindsayj3/4 4:26 PMespecially when they were in the Assistant Principal's office, because that's usually not a place you hear things unless you are in trouble
AnnaR3/4 4:26 PMI guess we can form a more informed opinion of what was happening, and who was right
sliles3/4 4:27 PMi also think there was something very exciting about getting to read all of those memos going back and forth between the teachers and the administration
sliles3/4 4:27 PMyou don't normally get to see that kind of stuff
AnnaR3/4 4:27 PMI was about to say that
sliles3/4 4:27 PMhaha
AnnaR3/4 4:28 PMthis style of writing doesnt provide for much description of people's feelings, or any description at all, really
sliles3/4 4:28 PMright...a lot of Phillip's journal entries were really concise
sliles3/4 4:28 PMand didn't provide a lot of insight as to what he was thinking about everything that was going on
lindsayj3/4 4:28 PMsame with Miss Narwin's letters to her sister - they basically just told her what we already knew
AnnaR3/4 4:28 PMI guess most guys don't write very detailed journals
AnnaR3/4 4:29 PMespecially our age
lindsayj3/4 4:29 PMthere wasn't a lot of feeling in it besides the unfairness that we had already heard about
lindsayj3/4 4:29 PMthat's true - I don't know any guys that keep a journal
sliles3/4 4:29 PMdid that strike you as uncharacteristic?
AnnaR3/4 4:29 PMyeah. I was like... whoah,
sliles3/4 4:29 PMthat phillip kept a journal?
sliles3/4 4:29 PMit did for me
AnnaR3/4 4:29 PMyeah. he really doesn't seem like that kind of guy from the rest of the descriptions
lindsayj3/4 4:29 PMI didn't really think of it that way simply because I saw it as another genre that the author was using
sliles3/4 4:30 PMbut that is something i hadn't considered
sliles3/4 4:30 PMwhat kind of guy does phillip strike you as?
AnnaR3/4 4:30 PMyes, the story couldn't have been told as well without his opinion
lindsayj3/4 4:30 PMwell, I felt kind of bad for him, because he didn't mean for it to blow up like this
lindsayj3/4 4:30 PMhis dad really pushed it
sliles3/4 4:30 PMyes
AnnaR3/4 4:31 PMhe's kind of a troublemaker, but he's smart too.
sliles3/4 4:31 PMi think that his dad was living vicariously through phillip
sliles3/4 4:31 PMbecause he was frustrated with his job
lindsayj3/4 4:31 PMoh yes, definitely, with the whole track thing
AnnaR3/4 4:31 PMnobody really understood what he had done, they took things the wrong way
sliles3/4 4:31 PMand being pushed around at wrok
AnnaR3/4 4:31 PMyes
lindsayj3/4 4:31 PMand his way of getting closer to Phillip was by overly agreeing with him about Miss Narwin
lindsayj3/4 4:31 PMThere were lots of teachers that I didn't like, but my parents just told me to suck it up
AnnaR3/4 4:32 PMI guess he felt like that would be a good way to support his son, to show him he was on his side, not just in this issue
sliles3/4 4:32 PMwell i think that pushing the issue and telling phillip to stand up for himself was how his dad really wanted to be
AnnaR3/4 4:32 PMyeah, I was kind of suprised though that his parents went so far in this issue, but I guess they didn't understand exactly what had happened
sliles3/4 4:33 PMeveryone went far with this issue
sliles3/4 4:33 PMpatriotism is such a touchy subject in this country
lindsayj3/4 4:33 PMyeah and no one really bothered to stop and get the facts
AnnaR3/4 4:33 PMif they had known that he was just humming, not making a big political issue, they wouldn't have been so supportive of him
AnnaR3/4 4:33 PMstanding up for himself
sliles3/4 4:33 PMi think if phillip had picked some other outlet to aggravate his teacher, it wouldn't have gotten nearly as blown up as it did
sliles3/4 4:33 PMi know
lindsayj3/4 4:34 PMI think it was interesting that no one seemed to know if he was singing, or humming or what
AnnaR3/4 4:34 PMyeah. everyone thinks that patriotism is such a big deal
sliles3/4 4:34 PMyeah, even though it seemed very clear at the time that he was humming
lindsayj3/4 4:34 PMThis was also written right around the time of the Gulf War
AnnaR3/4 4:34 PMthe other kids in the class weren't even paying attention
sliles3/4 4:34 PMand then afterwards everyone lost that clarity
lindsayj3/4 4:34 PMand based on what's been going on lately, patriotism seems to explode when our country is at war
AnnaR3/4 4:34 PMyeah, and the media tried to make it more sensational
sliles3/4 4:34 PMyes, something we talked about last week in the MOO was what if this had been written after 9/11?
sliles3/4 4:35 PMwhat other kinds of issues would have been confronted?
lindsayj3/4 4:35 PMdiversity would have been a big issue
lindsayj3/4 4:35 PMand accepting people and not discriminating based solely on background
AnnaR3/4 4:35 PMyes, how do you think they could have worked that into this particular plot though?
sliles3/4 4:36 PMremember how after 9/11 suddenly every billboard that you passed on the highway carried some message like "we love our country" or something like that
sliles3/4 4:36 PMour patriotism was amplified by about a hundred after that national crisis
sliles3/4 4:36 PMi think that if this had been set after 9/11 it would've been an even bigger deal than it was
AnnaR3/4 4:36 PMyeah. and if you weren't being so crazy about it, people thought you weren't patriotic
sliles3/4 4:37 PMso how would people have reacted after 9/11 if they had read in the paper that teacher wouldn't let her student sing along to the national anthem
lindsayj3/4 4:37 PMoh I think people would have gone nuts
AnnaR3/4 4:37 PMthey would have been even more vindictive towards the teacher
sliles3/4 4:37 PMshe would've been out of there asap
AnnaR3/4 4:37 PMdefinitely
sliles3/4 4:38 PMand you know what i really hated was how they used Ms. Narwin's letter asking for that grant and turned it around on her
sliles3/4 4:38 PMsaying that she wasn't in touch with her students anymore
lindsayj3/4 4:38 PMyeah that was pretty pitiful
sliles3/4 4:38 PMand dirty
AnnaR3/4 4:38 PMyeah, they seemed to be mean to her even before the big thing happened
sliles3/4 4:38 PMno one stepped up to defend her
lindsayj3/4 4:39 PMI understand budgets and there not being enough money, but surely there was some other way to turn her down
sliles3/4 4:39 PMand she had been working there for so long
AnnaR3/4 4:39 PMthey could have found some better reasons
AnnaR3/4 4:39 PMI guess not many people respected her
lindsayj3/4 4:39 PMI felt bad that they ran her out of her own school.
lindsayj3/4 4:40 PMShe was the principal's teacher at one point!
sliles3/4 4:40 PMi think that people respected her in the end, they just weren't the right people
sliles3/4 4:40 PMyou know?
lindsayj3/4 4:40 PMI would hope there would be some respect for a former teacher.
sliles3/4 4:40 PMi think the students there who knew what actually happened respected her
AnnaR3/4 4:40 PMthe kids seemed to like her
AnnaR3/4 4:40 PMyes I agree. but some of them took that even too far
sliles3/4 4:41 PMhow do you mean?
AnnaR3/4 4:41 PMlike the girl.. I dont' remember her name
sliles3/4 4:41 PMwho got mad at phillip?
AnnaR3/4 4:41 PMyes
sliles3/4 4:41 PMi vaguely remember that
AnnaR3/4 4:41 PMshe didn't seem to want to consider his side at all
sliles3/4 4:41 PMwell i think a lot of the students felt that way about phillip
sliles3/4 4:42 PMwhen the issue got blown up
sliles3/4 4:42 PMand they knew what really happened
sliles3/4 4:42 PMbut it wasn't all phillip's fault that the issue got so big
sliles3/4 4:42 PMa lot of it was on his parents and that reported
sliles3/4 4:42 PMreporter
AnnaR3/4 4:42 PMyes
sliles3/4 4:42 PMand the kids didnt' know that
AnnaR3/4 4:42 PMthe rest of the country only got part of the story, and the students got the other part
sliles3/4 4:42 PMright
lindsayj3/4 4:43 PMSome of Phillip's friends didn't even think it was a big deal.
AnnaR3/4 4:43 PMthey thought he was blowing this out of proportion himself, jsut to get a lot of publicity
lindsayj3/4 4:43 PMHis one friend just kept meeting him after school to go running.
lindsayj3/4 4:43 PMpoor kid didn't want publicity
AnnaR3/4 4:43 PMhe didnt seem to even care about what was happening
lindsayj3/4 4:43 PMhe just wanted to get out of her class
AnnaR3/4 4:43 PMthe friend
AnnaR3/4 4:43 PMyes
sliles3/4 4:43 PMand he wanted to be on the track team
lindsayj3/4 4:43 PMyeah, and he didn't even get that
AnnaR3/4 4:43 PMnobody listened to him
lindsayj3/4 4:43 PMso really, no one won in this book
sliles3/4 4:44 PMi thought one of the saddest parts was when he came to Ms. Narwin to ask to do extra credit work
lindsayj3/4 4:44 PMpoor Miss Narwin takes off somewhere and Phillip ends up at a private school
sliles3/4 4:44 PMso that he could try to get on the track team
AnnaR3/4 4:44 PMyes
sliles3/4 4:44 PMand they were both just in a lose/lose situation
sliles3/4 4:44 PMand nobody could do anything about it
AnnaR3/4 4:44 PMnear the end of the book it was all out of control
AnnaR3/4 4:45 PMnobody could stop what was happening, or even explain
lindsayj3/4 4:45 PMyeah, I just wanted it to end so it would stop snowballing
sliles3/4 4:45 PMi know...and the worst part is that if they had just had a simple parent teacher conference the whole thing would have been solved
AnnaR3/4 4:45 PMif they'd done something at the beginning, this wouldn't have to happen at all
lindsayj3/4 4:45 PMbut then we wouldn't have a book
lindsayj3/4 4:46 PMhaha
lindsayj3/4 4:46 PM
sliles3/4 4:46 PMi think there was an extreme lack of communication among the administration
AnnaR3/4 4:46 PMyes. they didn't tell each other what was really happening
sliles3/4 4:46 PMwhich just contributed to that snowball effet
sliles3/4 4:46 PMeffect
AnnaR3/4 4:46 PMI guess they all thought that they themselves could resolve it
AnnaR3/4 4:46 PMmaybe
sliles3/4 4:47 PMlindsay do you have any flow chart questions you want to ask?
lindsayj3/4 4:47 PMWell, one thing we talked about in the MOO last week that sparked a whole lot of discussion whas the issue of truth.
sliles3/4 4:47 PMright
sliles3/4 4:47 PMi was thinking about that earlier
sliles3/4 4:48 PMwe talked about that in my room as well
lindsayj3/4 4:48 PMand basically, what was the truth in this book? and who got to decide that?
AnnaR3/4 4:48 PMeveryone had a different idea of what the truth was
sliles3/4 4:48 PMi think that everyone had their own version of hte truth
sliles3/4 4:48 PMyeah
lindsayj3/4 4:48 PMI think that it all comes down to the media, because they decide what they are going to tell people.
sliles3/4 4:48 PMjust as we all do in our day to day lives
lindsayj3/4 4:48 PMFor example, in that radio show, the DJ didn't even want to hear from the guy who was trying to defend Miss Narwin.
AnnaR3/4 4:48 PMall the other people didnt get the chance to see what we saw, they just knew what the media said
sliles3/4 4:49 PMpretty much all of the outside stimuli that we encounter every day contributes to how we perceive things has how we form our own truths
lindsayj3/4 4:49 PMIt makes you wonder how much is being left out when we watch the news or listen to the radio.
sliles3/4 4:49 PMwhich brings us back around to critical literacy
AnnaR3/4 4:49 PMyeah, we have to rely on them to tell us the whole truth
lindsayj3/4 4:49 PM
sliles3/4 4:50 PMi think that when we watch the news and other tv and take in other forms of media we have to keep in mind that we're probably never going to get the "whole truth"
sliles3/4 4:50 PMit's always someone's perception that we're being fed
AnnaR3/4 4:50 PMyes. I guess the best way to try to get a realistic view of something is to read as many different versions of the story as possible
sliles3/4 4:51 PMyes, and to kind of dissect what we read
AnnaR3/4 4:51 PMbut even then you couldn't really tell what happened
sliles3/4 4:51 PMthat is true
sliles3/4 4:51 PMa limitation to the format i guess
lindsayj3/4 4:51 PMand that's a lot of extra trouble that most people aren't willing to go to
lindsayj3/4 4:51 PMits just easier to take in what they tell us and believe it
AnnaR3/4 4:51 PMyes
lindsayj3/4 4:51 PMwhich is why the media has so much power
AnnaR3/4 4:52 PMyes, if the media started saying something, pretty soon, the entire country would believe it
sliles3/4 4:52 PMi think though that if you start to condition yourself to perceive things in that critical way, you start to see the world differently
sliles3/4 4:52 PMi agree that it is a lot of work but when you do it, it's amazing what you discover
lindsayj3/4 4:53 PMnow its just a matter of convincing people to do it
AnnaR3/4 4:53 PMif you start thinking more critically, you can get a better veiw
AnnaR3/4 4:53 PMview
lindsayj3/4 4:53 PMthere's a lot of lazy people in this world
AnnaR3/4 4:53 PMyeah
sliles3/4 4:54 PMyes and unfortunately those are the kind of people who are willing to just take things at face value
lindsayj3/4 4:54 PMok its break time
AnnaR3/4 4:54 PMok
AnnaR3/4 4:54 PMcya!
lindsayj3/4 4:54 PMsee you back in 5 minutes
sliles3/4 4:54 PMyeah i'm hitting up the bathroom
AnnaR3/4 4:54 PMok
sliles3/4 5:00 PMi think we need to go to room 2
lindsayj3/4 5:04 PMAnna are you in here?
AnnaR3/4 5:04 PMsorry
AnnaR3/4 5:04 PMhaha
lindsayj3/4 5:04 PMThat's ok - we were just wondering what happened.
lindsayj3/4 5:04 PMWe have to go to Room 2 now/.
AnnaR3/4 5:04 PMok room 2