To the Students of Ms. Watts:

Thank you for reading my book and asking such thoughtful questions. Here are my answers:

1. How can you relate to Addie’s experience?

In some ways I can relate to Addie Ann very easily. I was once a 12-year-old girl. And in some sense, a 12-year-old girl is a 12-year-old girl. We worry about the same things like our changing bodies and our friendships, and we want the same things like happiness and love.

But in other ways, Addie Ann and I are different. This is why I did extensive research that went on for years and years. I did many interviews with women who grew up in the Mississippi Delta and were 12 years old in 1963. A lot of what Addie Ann felt about what was happening in her life was based on what the women I interviewed told me. If you go to the feature page on my website, you can read one of these interviews. (Click here: http://www.shanaburg.com/research3.php)

2. How did you come up with Addie Ann Pickett’s name?

Well, not only Addie Ann’s name, but her whole character popped into my head one day while I was doing a free write with my sixth grade students. (You might already know this, but a free write is when you decide to write for a certain amount of time without stopping. And you commit to write whatever comes into your head.) When I did this free write, Addie Ann just appeared. She had a first and middle name.

Looking back, I had read a couple books set in the South in the sixties that had characters named Adline or Addie or Adele, so maybe that’s why it came into my head.

But the last name is something I really struggled with for years. I kept trying different things. Then one day, I was on vacation with my husband. We were driving down a rural road, when out the corner of my eye I spotted a picket fence. “That’s it!” I shouted. “Picket.” I like the name because you set up a picket fence to separate yourself from the outside world. But as Addie Ann learns, she can’t do that. The world was coming right to her front door. I also liked that name because picketing is a form of protest, and there was plenty of that during the civil rights movement.

(I decided to spell Pickett this way, with a double t at the end, because some people do actually have this last name spelled this way.)

3. What was your motive for writing this story?

When my father told me about the civil rights movement, I was amazed by the courage of individuals who risked their lives because they wanted to live as equal citizens in this country. I was also inspired about how these people managed to overturn the Jim Crow laws of the South by fighting—not with weapons like guns—but with their brains and organizational skills.

Then I learned that in many cases it was children and teenagers who were on the front lines of this nonviolent battle. Well, that was just fascinating to me!

At the time that I decided to write this book, I was teaching sixth grade. My sixth grade students could sniff out injustice from a mile away. They were all about making life fair for themselves and everybody else. That’s why I knew they’d be interested in learning more about this critical period in our country’s history.

4. What was it like growing up as a Jewish person?

For the most part it was great. I took pride in being Jewish. My family had Shabbat dinners together every Friday night, I had a Bat Mitzvah, and I went to Israel. I didn’t think anyone would really notice my religion one way or the other, but when I got to middle and high school, I realized I was wrong. For some of my classmates and teachers, my being Jewish was a problem.

5. Have you ever experienced racism or prejudice?

I never had anything huge and dramatic happen to me because I’m Jewish. What I mean is that no one ever punched me to the ground because of my religion. Instead I had lots of smaller things happen. Over time, those smaller things added up and started to bother me.

For example, when I was in middle school, we all had to take sewing. We all made orange kangaroo stuffed animals. So a student in my class drew a swastika on the stuffed animal he had just sewn. (A swastika is a symbol of hatred against Jews.) He hopped his kangaroo around the classroom and everyone laughed, but do you know who laughed the hardest? The teacher. This is what I’m talking about.

6. Does the story line have anything to do with your childhood?

Parts of it do. For example, I was involved in a love triangle, sort of like Addie Ann, Delilah and Cool Breeze. Also, I had a cat just like Flapjack. Her name was Sunshine. My sister trained Sunshine to come running whenever she went Tweet. Click. Click.

But a lot of the story comes from my research—the interviews I did, the oral histories and speeches that I listened to, and the books and newspapers that I read.

7. Have you ever seen the KKK?

No, I haven’t. But I have heard the KKK. Back in the 1960s in Alabama, my father interviewed what was called the Grand Wizard of a KKK group. The Grand Wizard was what they called their leader. When I was in high school I heard a cassette recording of this interview, and I never forgot the hatred that filled that guy’s soul. It boggled me. It never left me. And I guess that in part writing A THOUSAND NEVER EVERS was a way for me to explore how someone could hate like that. Where does that kind of hatred come from?

Here are the questions for A Thousand Never Evers for Tuesday:

Covers Chapter 15, 16, 17

• According to Addie, what is plantation school?  What did kids do when plantation school was closed?
• Why is education important to Addie’s family?
• Delilah has three dresses and feels that “your clothes gotta match the day.”  Describe each of the three dresses and what Delilah feels they represent.  Pick one of the characteristics that each of the dresses represent and draw an outfit based on it.  For instance, if one of the characteristics was loyalty, what outfit would you design?  Write a two to three sentence description underneath your drawing which explains why it fits the idea you have chosen.
• Who are Lovetta and Marcus?  Why do they have to repeat 6th grade?
• How does Mrs. Jacks describe teaching 7th graders?  Why does she call her students “Midnights”?
• How does Mrs. Jacks feel about Elias?  What was her purpose in talking to Addie about Elias on her first day of school?
• In Chapter 17, Addie describes Delilah as “looking like she’d just come back from the underworld.”  Why?
• What is Mrs. Tate hiding?

I will also print these up tomorrow, along with Wednesday’s questions.  There will only be one hand-out for this week.

Mrs. Watts

Even better, it increases your knowledge, so you’re doing good while learning.  How cool is that?!

The site is called Free Rice and for every word you correctly define, they donate 10 grains of rice to help end world hunger.   I will also add this link to the miscellaneous links on the right hand side of the blog.  Let me know what you think!

I also found another fun site that helps with grammar.  It’s Grammar Ninja! (for some reason, I’ve got the ninja theme going on!).  Are you a Ninja Grammar Master?

I wanted to let everyone know (and in that crazy, hecticness that was today it kind of got lost in the shuffle!) that there will be a celebration at Hogan High on Monday, honoring the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.  It starts at 10 and ends at 11:30 a.m.  I will not be able to attend as I’m taking my son back to my parents (he is visiting us this week-end).  If you go, share what you think in the comments!

Enjoy your week-end and I’ll see you Tuesday!

Mrs. Watts

off the top of your head just like you do your math facts?  Your literary terms! You will see these literary terms over and over and over and over again – all the way through college!  I kid you not!  The quicker you learn them, the better off you’ll be.  As you read, ask yourself questions such as these:

• what’s the theme of this book?
• what’s the conflict?
• How does the setting influence the story?

Etc., etc., etc.,

So, as promised within the next two to three weeks (how’s that for ambiguous!), I will give another test on these terms.  It will NOT be the same exact test that had you at the beginning of the school year.  Start studying now!

Lose your terms?  Then click here!  Questions?  E-mail me or ask me in class.

See YOU tomorrow

Mrs. Watts

When I saw this, I knew that I had to share it with my students.  This is fun and cool at the same time!

Create your own Ninja Text!

We are finishing up Ancient Egypt this week and into next week.  Students will be working in the computer lab at the end of this week or the beginning of next week.  You will be expected to become an expert in some area of Ancient Egypt.  Look through the text for some idea and also check out the various links that I have provided for you on the right hand side of the blog.

Here are some ideas to help you out:

• Pharaohs
• Monuments
• Religion
• Geography
• Role of Women
• Art
• Gods/Goddesses
• Architecture
• Hieroglyphs
• Daily Life
• Farming
• Technology
• Warfare
• Old Kingdom
• Middle Kingdon
• New Kingdom
• Anything else you can think of!

Students were asking me when this was due.  So, I’ll start by telling you that you need to provide me your area of expertise (topic) by Monday, 1/12.

Here is to a great 2009!

See you on Tuesday!

I hope that everyone is enjoying their time off and getting ready to start the second semester with a renewed sense of energy and commitment to achieve your personal best.  Last week, I did absolutely nothing relating to school at all.  That was good for me and it has motivated me to get planning for the next semester this week.  Be prepared to see some changes!

For starters, I’m revamping how we do spelling as I think it is not presenting enough of a challenge.  I’ve noticed that quite a few of my students are B-O-R-E-D, so I’m doing what I can to change things up a bit.  We will be starting our next book in GATE, A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg and also thoroughly examining Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech along with a poem written by a prominent African American woman, Nikki Giovanni. I’m also trying to figure out how to watch President Elect Obama’s inauguration in class as I think this would be invaluable for all of you to see something so historic!

Of course, when we get back from break we will start watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. My plan is to be completely finished with this movie by Thursday, Jan. 8th and your essays will be completed by the following Monday.  We will be doing something a bit fun with the way you’ll write this essay and again, something that I think will offer a unique challenge.

Also in history, I’m looking at perhaps making more trips to the computer lab.  Let me know what you think about this.  It may require that students bring their own printing paper for those things that I need you to print up – so thoughts on this would be welcome as well.

Finally, I’m going to leave you with a couple of “fun” things.  First, Wired magazine compiled a list of the Top Ten Amazing Animal videos for 2008.  Second, if you like optical illusions be sure to check out the Exploratorium’s Optical Illusions page and Sandeep Kerjiwal’s Optical Illusion page.

I’ll see everyone next Tuesday!  I hope that everyone has a good and safe New Year’s!

Mrs. Watts

Reminder that the first compare/contrast essay is due by Friday of this week.  You’ll need to attach the following behind your final draft:  1st draft, buddy conference papers, and compare/contrast notes.  Remember to skip lines and use PEN on your final draft!

Now for something very cute and fun.  One of my favorite blogs online is called Cute Overload.  If you  like animals, you’ll love this blog.  Today, they had this photo.  It put a smile on my face. How about you?

In the past when I’ve had students write a compare and contrast essay, they have struggled with it.  I decided a couple of years ago that I needed to figure out a way to show my students that this wasn’t complicated and that it could be fun.  The one thing that I know as a mom of three that one way to get kids engaged in any activity is make sure that food is involved.  That is when I decided to have my students do a “practice” essay comparing and contrasting candy bars.

Below you’ll find pictures of this activity that I took on Friday.  The students seemed to really enjoy themselves.  We will start writing our essays on Monday and completing them on Tuesday.

We also started working on hieroglyphics in History 1 and 3.  As you can tell, the students enjoyed writing their names in hieroglyphs!