Thursday, April 26, 2007
Well, I thought I had it all figured out...
Reflection on Blog Creation
My only complaint about the project was that the program we learned, Blogger, wouldn't allow us to create links to other documents that aren't already online. This was frustrating mostly on an aesthetic level because I think the site would look a lot nicer that way. I was also frustrated when I tried to post a paper that had pictures placed among the text and those wouldn't transfer.
I think that all in all this blog is an accurate reflection of the highlights of my graduate school career and my own growth as both a student and future teacher.
annotated bibliography
While this website does not pertain specifically to English teachers, it has really great resources for teaching about multiculturalism and, as the title states, tolerance. This site features lesson plans, great articles and links to useful books and other resources.
(2007, Apr 06 ). Lesson Plan Index. Retrieved April 26, 2007, from ReadWriteThink Web site: http://readwritethink.org/
ReadWriteThink.org has a plethora of lesson plans covering practically everything an English teacher could possibly want.
(1998). The National Council of Teachers of English. Retrieved April 26, 2007, from NCTE Web site: http://www.ncte.org/
A terrific resource for English Teachers. This site has blogs, educational journals, lesson plans and members gain access to one of the biggest organizations of English teachers in the country.
Olson, C.B. (2007). The reading/writing connection. New York, NY: Pearson Learning.
This book should be the bible for all English teachers. After spending a semester working with this book I feel I have barely scratched the surface of all the useful activities and perspectives this book has to offer.
Tomlinson, C.M. & C. Lynch-Brown (2007). Essentials of young adult literature. New York, NY: Pearson Learning.
The informational portion of this book is not exceptional but the extensive annotated bibliographies of YA Lit are current and cover every subdivision of this genre.
Link to my super awesome John Brown photostory
This is the first educational photostory that I have made...it's not so good but it's a start...
"Thank You Ma'am" Lesson Plan
This is one of my favorites out of the lesson plans I have created thus far, produced with my dear friend Jessica Dawes.
Jessica Dawes and Jacqueline Lehmann
Teaching English in the Secondary School
Lesson Plan
1. Heading: Strategies for Interacting with Langston Hughes’ “Thank You Ma’am”
Hughes, Langston. "Thank You Ma'Am." Geocites.
2. Context/Rationale: Students will read “Thank You Ma’am” and create a plus/minus
timeline. They will participate in a “show, don’t tell” writing exercise.
3. Note to Observer: Were our activities well coordinated with the main ideas of Chapter 6 in the Olson text? Were our directions for the activities clear and well-stated?
4. Objectives for lesson: Students will make predictions based on the title and opening sentences of the text. Students will gain a broader sense of understanding of the text through the creation of the timeline. Students will use the text to scaffold their own writing and comprehension.
5. Teacher Materials: Chalkboard and chalk, copies of the text
6. Student Materials: a writing utensil
7. Process & Timing:
· anticipatory set: (5 minutes) The students will make predictions based first on the title, then on the first two sentences (“Beat the Author”, Olson).
· input: (5 minutes) The students will read the story, noting important phrases and ideas.
· checking for understanding: (10 minutes) Students will choose timeline events on their own, then come together to discuss it as a class.
· modeling: Teachers will offer examples of positive/negative events.
· checking for understanding: (20 minutes) Students will have time to write a “show, don’t tell” piece using a piece of the story that they select. They will be able to volunteer to share with the class.
· modeling: Teachers will offer examples of “show, don’t tell” writing.
· closure: selected quote from Olsen (1 minute) –“Provided in the following section is a range of pedagogical strategies teachers can purposefully implement in the classroom to help students interact with a text and with each other in order to make meaning. These reading/writing strategies are expressive in nature. That is, they are designed to serve as “a tool for learning rather than as a means to display acquired knowledge” (120).
· independent practice: Students will hand in writing activity.,
Coming To America Unit Plan
I very much enjoyed creating my first official unit plan, hopefully it will be useful when I finally get into the classroom.
Jacqueline Lehmann
Reading/Writing Unit Plan
Professor Jane Gregory
1. Coming to
2. Touchstone Texts:
Jiminez, Francisco. Breaking Through.
Na, An. A Step From Heaven.
Perera, Hilda. Kiki: A Cuban Boy's Adventure in
Yang, Gene Luch. American Born Chinese.
3. Synergistic Texts:
Bode, Janet. New Kids in Town: Oral Histories of Immigrant Teens.
"Ed Video Online." Power Media Plus.
Martinez, Victor. Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida. 2nd.
Ping, Wang. "Syntax." 250 Poems: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Peter Schakel and Jack Ridl.
4. Essential Questions:
-What is the main character and/or their family looking for in coming to
-Do the characters have to give up anything or change to fit in? If so, how do they feel about that in the beginning of the story? How do their feelings change as the story progresses?
-How does the relationship within the family change over the course of the text?
5. Unit Rationale: Over the past couple of years there has been a lot of discussion over immigration legislation in our country. There are many towns and cities with a constantly growing immigrant population. This shift is apparent in schools in these communities as they grapple with the resulting issues such as instruction for Limited English Proficiency students. At an age when teens may tend to be clique-ish and hang out with their peers of the same background, it is important to breed tolerance and empathy towards those who have recently arrived in the
6. Unit Overview:
- Instructional contexts: This unit plan is intended for ninth graders. I would use this in the month leading up to the December break. I think it would be nice to have this follow something more canonical such as Romeo and Juliet because it is much more contemporary than many of the works students read. Students need almost no prior knowledge but some of them might have personal stories that add to the unit. The classroom needs to be an environment of tolerance and safety for this to be successful.
- Reading Structures: The touchstone texts will be read mostly at home though there will be considerable time allotted to SSR during which students may read the course texts if they choose. New Kids in Town stories will be read with a partner, possibly using the reciprocal reading strategy. The poem “Syntax” will be read as a class, and excerpts from Parrot in the Oven will also be read as a class during writing exercises.
- Writing Structures: During the reading of the touchstone texts students will be responsible for dialectical journals (at least 2 entries/week) as well as online responses. For the final project, the letter-writing portfolio, students will be given time in class for brainstorming. They will submit two letters to the teacher prior to the due date and also have time for partner sharing before turning in the final product.
- “Moving into”: Students will choose which touchstone text they are going to read through an activity in which they pick up whichever book appeals to them, open to the middle, and read for five minutes. The process will be repeated a total of three times, allowing them to preview 3 out of 4 books before they decide on one. The following day each group will have a tea party and report back to the class on their predictions for the text (Olson 121).
- “Moving through”: Dialectical journals and online discussion (each reading group will have its own thread and there will be a class-wide thread in case they want to address the whole class). Also each group will create a plus/minus timeline based on the first chapter or segment of the book (there will be time in class to use construction paper, markers etc. to make these). These charts will be displayed on the classroom bulletin board.
- “Moving beyond”: Each group will give a short book talk designed to key other student’s interest in the book. Also see cumulative project assignment for portfolio of letters.
- Cautions: There is a good possibility that those students who have been exposed often to racist attitudes might not be so open-minded to this unit. The most important way to address this is to have created a safe and respectful classroom environment well before this unit began.
7.
- Information and Understanding: Debate based on “Collision Course” (see calendar, day 3). Students will be able use presented information to defend a point of view (not necessarily their own).
- Literary Response and Expression: Dialectical Journals and online responses (see calendar, weeks 3 and 4). Students will be able to respond to text as they read and also to each other’s responses.
- *Critical Analysis and Evaluation: Culminating Project (see handout). Students will be able to analyze one character’s actions and feelings throughout the reading of the touchstone text.
- Social Interaction: Group activities such as tea party and book talk (see calendar days 12 and 20). Students will work cooperatively with their literature groups and respect each other’s opinions and work.
8. Use of Technology: Students will use Blackboard (or a similar online discussion forum) to discuss the touchstone texts. This will be in addition to the use of the more traditional dialectical journal response, and will also allow students the chance to comment on their classmates’ ideas. Students will also create a Podcast or digital story in our school computer lab (which is hopefully equipped with microphones for recording) based on their reading in New Kids in Town.
9. Use of Nonprint Media/Media Literacy: Students may get extra credit by watching television or a movie and finding any portrayal of immigrants. They will write a short paragraph discussing how they are represented and their thoughts about that. Students will also have an in-class debate after viewing On Common Ground: Collision Course and will use facts and opinions presented by the short film as grounds for their side of the debate.
10. Interdisciplinary Connections: This unit could be easily connected to the Social Studies curriculum if they are learning about earlier immigrant groups as part of US History. It could also tie into a study or focus on current affairs in a Social Studies classroom.
11. Heterogeneity and Diversity: This unit allows for heterogeneity and diversity in several ways. Students will be given varied options for extra credit. They will be allowed to choose which major text they will read and respond to. The use of an online forum for discussion will be helpful to those who might not speak so willingly in class. There will also be participation grades given for diverse activities such as writing workshops, participation in a debate and the construction and display of a plus/minus timeline.
12. Alignment with Literary Theorists: This unit aligns closely with Reader Response Theory and Louise Rosenblatt’s notion of the transaction between the text and reader. This is exemplified by the dialectical journals which essentially represent a conversation between the reader and the text. The final portfolio project is essentially a conversation between the reader and one of the book’s characters through which meaning will be created.
13. Class Newsletter:
Attention Students!
You have probably all heard something about the controversy surrounding the
Our next unit will focus on immigration. We will earn about the conflict surround immigration and participate in a class debate. We will create digital media based on a vignette of an immigrant teenager, and we will have fun with some creative writing.
We will spend two weeks reading works about young people immigrating. You will have your choice of work and will be broken into groups based on your choices. There will be significant class time allotted to SSR and a few chances for extra credit (During SSR time you may read your chosen text or any other material). You will respond to your chosen work through Blackboard and dialectical journal entries. Each reading group will give a brief booktalk on December 14. You will be given some class time to prepare with your group.
The culminating project for this unit will be a portfolio containing 5-7 letters written to a character from your work. These should be written throughout the reading process so you will have a head start long before the portfolio is turned in. It will be due on December 19.
If either you or your parents have any questions about this unit, please send me an email at lehman69@newpaltz.edu.
14. Administrator Letter:
Dear Principal So-and-so,
I thought that you might be interested in hearing about the next unit that I have planned for my ninth grade classes. In light of the recent and ongoing debate surrounding immigration laws and border control I have decided to study the American immigrant experience with my students. We will learn about the controversy through current news reports and other media as well as read both true and fictionalized accounts of immigrant children and teens.
I thought you might like to join our class for a day of multimedia presentations on Friday, November 30. The students will have created podcasts or digital stories based on a short vignette they will have read about one teen’s experience. Please let me know if you would like to attend, and if so which periods you might be available.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Jacqueline Lehmann
15. Culminating Project Assignment and its evaluation:
The Final Project for this unit will be a portfolio of 5-7 letters that you will write to any one character from your book. These can be in the format of a friendly letter. In your letters you can ask the character questions, talk about situations they have been in and share your opinion or what you would have done, or simply empathize with the events of their life. These letters should span the plot of the book ,a dn be sure to include quotes from the book or specific references.
I would like you to be creative in your writing craft. Feel free to use any of the literary devices we have learned about. We will also do a writing activity or two that may give you some ideas.
I suggest that you write these as you are reading instead of waiting until the end of the book so that your reactions will be fresh. I will collect two letters on December 10th. Of course you may hand in more than two for feedback if you have them completed. I will comment on your work and you will get a class participation grade for turning them in.
You will also be given class time to work on your portfolio with a partner. The final project will be due on December 19. Please see attached rubric.
On December 19 you will be asked to read a portion of any one of your letters in front of the class. This is not mandatory but you will be awarded extra credit if you choose to read.
| Criteria | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Inclusion of textual references and/or quotes | Does not include any references or quotes | Uses few references or quotes or uses them in a nonspecific way | Uses references and quotes to support ideas | Uses references and quotes often to enhance and further ideas |
| Use of literary devices | Does not use devices | Uses devices incorrectly or hardly at all | Uses literary devices | Uses literary devices effectively to create a unique voice and style |
| Clarity | Writing is unclear or does not make sense | Writing sometimes is unclear | Writing is usually comprehensible | Writing is consistently logical and comprehensible |
| Depth of analysis/critical awareness | No effort made to explore beyond the events of the text | Little critical thinking about the events discussed | A solid grasp of the implications of the character’s actions | Writing reflects outstanding analysis of the text |
| Spelling, grammar and punctuation | Writing is unintelligible due to errors | Quite a few language errors | Few errors | Almost entirely free of mistakes |
16. Lesson Plans:
Lesson Plan #1
1. Coming to
Ping, Wang. "Syntax." 250 Poems: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Peter Schakel and Jack Ridl.
2. Context/Rationale: Yesterday we finished a class debate about immigration, which was based on a video that the class viewed. Today we will read “Syntax” and do a couple of writing activities based on the experience of being an outsider, whether that means not speaking the dominant language or not fitting in socially or culturally.
3. Note to Observer: Was this method of reading the poem effective an thought-provoking?
4. Objectives for Lesson: Students will read and respond to “Syntax” (NYS Standard #2, Using Language for Literary Response and Expression). Students will participate in free-write and share response with the class (NYS Standard #4. Using Language for Social Interaction).
5. Teacher Materials: copies of “Syntax”
6. Student Materials: pen and paper
7. Process and Timing:
- anticipatory set: 5 min-One student reads “Syntax” aloud, and then the students read poem again, each jumping in to read a line.
- input: 5 min-Students will respond on paper to the poem. 5 min-Students will turn to a partner and discuss the poem. 10 min-Students will write about a time when they felt like they didn’t fit in, belong, or understand the people around them.
- modeling: Teacher will write along with students.
- checking for understanding/sharing: 10 min-Students are invited to share anything they’ve written.
- guided practice:
- closure: 5 min-Brief discussion of whether there are similarities between experiences that students shared or spoke about.
Lesson Plan #2
1. Coming to
Jiminez, Francisco. Breaking Through.
Na, An. A Step From Heaven.
Perera, Hilda. Kiki: A Cuban Boy's Adventure in
Yang, Gene Luch. American Born Chinese.
2. Context/Rationale: Yesterday the students chose which text they wanted to read and reading groups were formed accordingly. Today within reading groups students will have a “Tea Party” as a pre-reading activity. They will make predictions about the text based on the clues they are given. Tomorrow we are going to have a period of SSR, which we have been doing usually once a week since the beginning of the year. This way students who chose to do so can get a solid start on their text.
3. Note to Observer: Did the classroom become unruly or was it managed well during the activity?
4. Objectives for Lesson: Students will think critically about the clues they are given (NYS Standard #3, Using Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation). Students will come up with predictions as a group and report them to the class (NYS Standard #4, Using Language for Social Interaction).
5. Teacher Materials: prepared index cards with clues, a set for each group made for their book
6. Student Materials: paper and pen
7. Process and Timing:
- anticipatory set: 5 min-freewrite making predictions based on the cover of the book
- input: 5 min-instructions for tea part, move into groups
- modeling:
- guided practice: 10 min-teacher moves around room as students piece clues together
- checking for understanding/sharing: 10 min-students report predictions to entire class
- closure: 5 min-Each group member should have prediction written down so they can look back on it as they read the book and think about how accurate they were or were not.
Lesson Plan #3
1. Coming to
Jiminez, Francisco. Breaking Through.
Na, An. A Step From Heaven.
Perera, Hilda. Kiki: A Cuban Boy's Adventure in
Yang, Gene Luch. American Born Chinese.
2. Context/Rationale: Yesterday we had a period of SSR to ensure that every student has had the chance to read at least the first twenty pages of their touchstone text. Today we will create a plus/minus timeline as a during reading activity to encourage students to think critically about events as they unfold within the text. This activity might also serve to peak students’ curiosity about works other than the one they have chosen.
3. Note to Observer: Did the activity itself seem easily applicable to all of the texts with which the students were working?
4. Objectives for Lesson: Students will assign positive or negative values to significant events (NYS Standard #3, Using Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation). Students will agree on a timeline within their group and create a copy together for the bulletin board (NYS Standard #4, Using Language for Social Interaction).
5. Teacher Materials: Construction paper, markers, glue, glitter, etc.
6. Student Materials: copy of their touchstone text, paper and pen
7. Process and Timing:
- anticipatory set: 5 min-discuss one event from “On Common Ground” and ask students to decide if it was a positive or negative event. Discuss the disparity in opinion.
- input: 5 min-Give directions for activity
- modeling: 3 min-show sample timeline teacher made of video
- checking for understanding/sharing: 25 min-teacher moves throughout the room and sits with each group as they create their timeline
- guided practice:
- closure: 5 min-discuss process of creating timeline, display them in classroom
Lesson Plan #4
1. Coming to
Martinez, Victor. Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida. 2nd.
2. Context/Rationale: Yesterday the students created a plus/minus timeline. Today they will participate in a writing exercise, which is designed to help students be more creative and focused on their writing craft as they create their portfolio of letters. After we complete this activity students will be given a few minutes to brainstorm with a partner from their group ideas for the cumulative project.
3. Note to Observer: Is the environment in my classroom comfortable enough that students seemed willing to share their work?
4. Objectives for Lesson: Students will understand the difference between telling and showing in their writing (NYS Standard #1, Using Language for Information and Understanding). Students will write “showing” paragraphs based on simple sentences (NYS Standard #2, Using Language for Literary Response and Expression).
5. Teacher Materials: Sample sentences from Parrot in the Oven
6. Student Materials: pen and paper
7. Process and Timing:
- anticipatory set: 5 min-teacher will write “showing” sentences on the board, discuss whether or not they are “good” sentences
- input: 3 min-directions for writing exercise and 2 prompts
- modeling: 2 min-teacher will read one example that they have written ahead of time, will also write along with students and share during sharing time
- guided practice: 7 min-teacher and students work on writing
- checking for understanding/sharing: 10 min-students are invited to share
- closure: 5 min-talk about whether or not the products are more interesting or better than original prompts
17. Timeline: 40 Minute Periods
| | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| Week 1 (1st group extra credit option) | 19 Part One of “Collision Course”, group choice for extra credit | 20 Part Two of “Collision Course” | 21 Debate Directions and team formation, prep | 22 Debate | 23 “Syntax” and writing workshop |
| Week 2 (2nd group extra credit option) | 26 partnering activity and story selection “New Kids” | 27 computer lab for podcast and digital story production | 28 computer lab | 29 computer lab | 30 presentations |
| Week 3 (3rd group extra credit option) begin dialectical journal and Bb responses | 3 book choice activity for major work | 4 tea party activity in reading group | 5 SSR | 6 plus/ minus timeline in groups for first segment or chapter | 7 show, don’t tell writing exercise, brainstorm with partner for cumulative project |
| Week 4 (4th group extra credit option) continue dialectical journal and Bb responses | 10 SSR/ 2 letters due | 11 SSR/ letters returned | 12 SSR | 13 group prep for book talks | 14 book talks |
| Week 5 | 17 partner share of cumulative project | 18 ?? | 19 project due, class share | | |
18. Unit Overview Handout:
I wanted to create a unit that would study an issue that would be current and relevant to my students and their lives. I thought of using the theme of immigration to explore ideas of culture, belonging and tolerance, ideas that are extremely important for young adolescents to consider.
I have created a four and a half week unit plan for ninth graders that examines the experience of coming to the
The students will choose which of the four touchstone texts they want to read for the remainder of the unit. The works vary in difficulty and I have also included a digital story. All are Young Adult texts. With these texts they will participate in a tea party activity, create a plus/minus timeline, and perform a book talk with their group. There will also be writing activities interspersed within the unit. The culminating project will be a portfolio of 5-7 letters than they have written to a character in the text. This will give them a chance to demonstrate their comprehension of the text as well as express their ideas creatively.
Bibliography
Touchstone Texts:
Jiminez, Francisco. Breaking Through.
Na, An. A Step From Heaven.
Perera, Hilda. Kiki: A Cuban Boy's Adventure in
Yang, Gene Luch. American Born Chinese.
Synergistic Texts:
Bode, Janet. New Kids in Town: Oral Histories of Immigrant Teens.
"Ed Video Online." Power Media Plus.
Martinez, Victor. Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida. 2nd.
Ping, Wang. "Syntax." 250 Poems: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Peter Schakel and Jack Ridl.
Helpful Websites:
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/newamericans/
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/default.mspx
Unit Inspirations
This unit was inspired by my commitment to building tolerance and a sense of community amongst my students. Throughout my graduate school career this has become increasingly important to me, though I cannot say that this unit was particularly inspired by any one person or course.
Like many other things in my life, this unit was partially inspired by the time I spent living in
Portfolio and Memoir Excerpt (Women's Autobiography)
Writing memoir turned out to be more of a challenge than I had expected...
Jacqueline Lehmann
Finding Meaning in Retelling
When writing autobiography, one is of course drawn to the life experiences that are the most telling of one’s history and identity. Often the most significant times of ones life occur while traveling.
Travel writing as a genre of autobiography has a long history but the field has changed in recent years as humanity becomes increasingly mobile through faster methods of travel. “People are traveling widely, not from need but from curiousity, and the travel literature which reflects this curiosity is a most legitimate form of ‘literature’” (Hilton 837). It is important to first consider why travel itself can be a vehicle for personal transformation, and second why travel writing is hence so important.
One experiences the world in a completely different way when in unfamiliar surroundings. “…Awareness is heightened, routines left behind…” (Roorbach, 422) and the traveler must adjust to existing, for the time being, outside of their comfort zone. Most Americans lead lives mired by daily routine. Breaking out of this pattern is not an easy feat.
Yet there is so much to be gained by spending time in a vastly different location. As Mark Twain said, “travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts…Broad, wholesome charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime” (Caesar 24). It is impossible to see one’s own world in the same manner after being part of a wholly different world for any period of time. “When many of the tings you fervently believe or practice are turned upside down by your experiences in another country, you can’t help but develop a little healthy skepticism toward your own beliefs…This kind of immersion travel really cures national and personal smugness” (Asma 4).
When a trip becomes a pilgrimage the implications for the individual’s development are even greater. A pilgrimage does not necessarily have to take place through the traditional religious sense of the word (defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “a journey {usually of a long distance} made to a sacred place as an act of religious devotion”). A pilgrimage may also take place through “the act of physically going to a place of symbolic meaning” (Becker 7). These types of journeys represent “performative rituals because they are dependant on the body and because the going to and the being there all require preparation” (Becker 9).
A pilgrimage differs from a trip or vacation in that “there is a purposefulness which separates it from the randomness of travel. The intention of such a journey is not to change the world, but to change oneself and to achieve a level of understanding, consciousness, and spiritual transformation while connecting with the energy of others who have trodden the same path” (Becker 11).
The purpose of travel writing should be, then, to allow the reader a glimpse of what the author has seen as well as insight into its implications for the author’s being. According to Hilton, travel writing will continue to grow in prevalence as, “despite the gross commercialism which prevents their development, the literary forms characteristic of today are the movie, the television program, the newspaper-and travel literature” (Hilton 837). One who has been fortunate enough to travel, especially on a personal pilgrimage, is also fortunate enough to have the means to write in a form that is both relative and influential. “Such are the responses of those who travel to respond. Pilgrims who come armed with cameras,…notebooks, all in preparation to creatively reuse the traumas of the past. Not to hide from them, or to hide them from us, not to obscure, but to clarify knowledge by moving it through the body, allowing it to leave its mark on us…” (Becker 21).
“Sip-ha roi baht.” The ticket agent smiled at me through the window as I reached for my money belt. I glanced back to where Christina slept, sprawled on a cement bench with her arm around her pack.
I reached into the pouch of my money belt where I kept my bills and pulled out what should have been a few thousand baht. I thumbed through my money and found a sum total of five hundred baht.
My heart immediately began to race. I mumbled “nung na-tee,” and backed away from the booth. The line for train tickets began to move past me as I checked my money belt again. Sure enough, it was all but empty.
I stumbled over and shook Christina. “Wake up, Chris, my money’s gone.”
She rubbed her eyes and squinted at me. “What?”
“My money, it’s almost all gone. I…I don’t know what happened.” I sat down next to her and fought to avoid tears in the crowded
“That’s impossible. Did you check your purse?” I handed it to her and she pawed through my things.
My heart sank as I realized what must have happened. The night before, on the hot and stuffy bus from Chiang Mai I had taken my money belt off, put it in my purse and had fallen asleep with my bag on my lap. Someone must have gone through the bag while I was holding it and found my cash. And they had been nice enough to leave me small change.
The unfairness of the situation hit me like an upset stomach. I had been saving money for weeks for our trip to
Christina tried to smile at me. “At least you found out before we got on the plane.”
“Yeah…I know, I better go to the ATM. I would have been real screwed if we had gotten to Siem Riep before I realized.” According to Lonely Planet’s guidebook, there were still no ATM’s in
“I’ll go pay for the train tickets,” Christina offered. “Close call.”
A few hours later we boarded a tiny propeller plane with about twenty other people, most of them farang like us. I tried not to feel nervous about the flight. All that was ruined when Christina grabbed my hand and said, “This plane is so small that if we die no one will even miss us.”
I shot her a dirty look, but I squeezed her hand at the same time.
The little plane bumped and skidded down the runway and somehow managed to take off. I felt a sense of relief until I noticed that there were clouds leaking through the vents into the cabin. I decided against pointing that out to Christina and closed my eyes until I felt the plane getting ready to land. This trip had already turned into the adventure of a lifetime. “While…traveling to a designated place, the act of getting there is as important as the arrival” (Becker 10).
We made our way through customs quickly since we had gotten our visas while still in Chiang Mai. The tiny Siem Riep airport looked more like a bus station than a center for international air travel. The stagnant, humid air inside added to the stifling atmosphere.
We grabbed our packs and went outside. Immediately we were accosted by several taxi drivers, each promising to know the best deals on guest houses. We chose the driver who seemed to be most friendly and spoke English fairly well.
We quickly discovered that in
The guest house that he brought us to was affordable and seemed clean enough. It was a nondescript, two story building with a small office and restaurant on the ground floor. We thanked the driver, even though we knew he would be getting a commission from our business, and agreed that he would drive us to the temples in the morning.
Once in our room, we cranked the air conditioning, took turns showering, and fell quickly asleep.
The next morning we awoke to the blaring of static on the radio. It was
We groggily went through the motions of dressing and gathering our things for a day spent outside in the brutal April heat. (In
Our cab driver drove carelessly through the narrow streets, skirting stray dogs and vendors rolling carts to their daily locations. It was clear that tourism was the main industry in Siem Riep as the streets were lined with guest houses, restaurants, and the occasional small shop. Even at
On the outskirts of town we passed a “Children’s Hospital” whose sign beseeched donations from passers-by. Our driver told us that the hospital was renowned for its work on land mine victims.
We saw the famed Grand Hotel d’Angkor, which has “five acres of gardens, a large swimming pool, tennis courts and a health spa….it had been renovated…at a cost of several million dollars…One night’s lodging was more than a year’s salary for the men who had restored it…” (Carrier 74).
We arrived at a gate that resembled the entrance to a theme park and paid twenty dollars American for a three day pass into
As we walked across the wide stone bridge straddling a vast reservoir and leading to what was supposedly one of the largest religious monuments in the world, the sun began to peek over the hundreds of spires and towers of the temple. A few palm trees grew almost as tall as the central tower, silhouetted against the pastel sky. The scent of the fresh morning air was occasionally interrupted by the smell of vendors frying eggs. Entering the huge courtyard, I found it hard to assure myself that I was really there, that this was my life. “This feeling of dissociation often accompanies arrival at a much anticipated place or event and causes a sensation as if one were not actually all there, or that the experience was not really happening. Or that if it was happening, it was in a dream, or then if in a dream someone else’s dream” (Becker 8)
There were hundreds of people around, but the quietude of the moments of sunrise seemed to enchant all.
As soon as the sun completed its ascent, the temperature began to rise noticeably. I was already beginning to sweat as we made our way towards the central tower.
The steps leading up the front of the tower hardly looked safe. They could have been no more than five inches wide, and there was at least a foot of height between each step. My camera swung around my neck as I swallowed the feeling of vertigo. I did not look down to where Christina climbed below me.
The view from the top was well worth it. I felt like I was the heroine in an Indiana Jones movie. Before us lay a maze of spires and columns, and beyond that the
In the small room at the top was a shrine to the Buddha, much like the shrines we had been seeing all over
The climb back down was even less inviting than the climb up had been. My size six feet had always seemed small before, yet here I had to turn my foot sideways for it to fit safely on each step. We sat for a minute at the bottom to catch our breath and decided to explore the many passageways of Angkor Wat before moving on to any of the other sites.
I felt like a little kid as we ducked through the hallways. I shot roll after roll of film, each frame seeming more perfect than the last.
As I stood in a vestibule connecting two hallways waiting for Christina to catch up, a Khmer man approached me. He was dressed in black pants and a white, long-sleeve, button-down shirt. We nodded “hello” to each other, and suddenly he started pounding his chest with his fist, still smiling at me.
I turned my head to look for Christina, feeling unsure of exactly what was going on. I turned to look back at the strange man as my ears picked up on an echo within the chamber.
I looked at him quizzically. He nodded and very deliberately pounded his chest again. My ears had not deceived me. There was definitely an echo each time he hit his chest. I returned his smile, feeling now only slightly guarded, and he nodded at me as if to say, “Now you try.”
I pounded my small fist against my chest and, sure enough, an echo sounded. I started laughing, partly out of relief and partly out of fascination. When Christina finally rounded the corner, this is how she found me, standing opposite this man, laughing as we both pounded our chests, letting the sound reverberate. She shook her head at me, gave a wai (bow as a sign of respect) to my new friend, and kept walking. I also waid and said, “Aw khun,” (thank you in Khmer) and followed her, still giggling. Some of the mysteries of
We walked along the pathway leading to Ta Phrom, one of the temples that has been left much as French explorers found it, with the jungle threatening to swallow the structure back into oblivion. I heard classic Khmer music emanating from the woods. It sounded mystical and sweet in the rainforest, and I hurried to catch a glimpse of the musicians.
We rounded a corner and saw four men in the band. One of them was missing a leg, one had a stump for an arm, and one looked like his left eye had been sewn shut.
These particular ruins were a mesh of shadow and light, filled with more shrines and countless headless statues. (Many of the heads have been stolen as relics over the years.) In some places a passage would end with a “Do not enter” sign, beyond which the temple walls had avalanched and lay still as they had fallen. 
“Everywhere around you, you see Nature in its dual role of destroyer and consoler…” (Asma 222) Giant strangler figs seemed to be the only thing keeping parts of the temple intact. “Their giant trunks, roots, and vines wrapped themselves around the ruins like gigantic boa constrictors, crushing and swallowing the overturned stones…” (Ung 68)
The remains of
We flew to
The bustling city was a strange mix of Khmer culture with French food (cheese products were readily available) and architecture. Yet it somehow retained the look I had seen in other cities in
No matter what time of day it was the streets were filled with motos and vendors. “One of the main ways Khmers in Phnom Penh practice their Buddhism is by subjecting themselves to traffic…The ‘roads’ can only be charitably described as ditches…If you have to turn left, you just drive straight into oncoming traffic and hope everyone sees you…” (Asma 16). I had grown used to the familiar site of entire families riding one motorcycle, five people with no helmets, and one person surely holding a television or a suitcase. In the intensity of
In preparation for our trip Christina and I had both read First They Killed My Father, a firsthand account of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. The book was written by Loung Ung, who like many Cambodians lost more than half of her family during the genocide. It would have been callous to visit the great religious monuments of
We decided to visit Tuol Seng, which was once a school and had later been turned into a torture center by the Khmer Rouge. The entire cement building seemed to be crumbling, and the air felt like it held a constant chill. I felt like I had swallowed a tennis ball as we walked past the tiny chambers that had held prisoners with barely enough space to lie down.
Much like the Nazis, the Khmer Rouge had been meticulous record keepers. There were pictures of every person who had been housed there with their number pinned to their clothing. One young boy had his number pinned directly through his skin. The faces of defiance, anger and fear were impossible to look away from. We learned that when the Vietnamese drove the Khmer Rouge back into the jungle, there were only seven survivors out of the 17,000 souls to have entered Tuol Seng (Asma 153).
It was hard to believe that this was part of the same history as
Near the end of the tour there was a guest book. We leafed through it, and found a range of inscriptions, some thanking those who ran the museum for helping them find out the fate of their family members.
The driver we had paid for the day wandered lazily through the museum behind us. He mentioned that both of his parents had been killed when he was a small boy. He wondered if we also wanted to see the Killing Fields. This is where many of Tuol Seng’s prisoners were taken to be executed and dumped into mass graves.
I felt obligated somehow to say yes even though I felt emotionally wrought. We drove through the countryside on rutted dirt roads; the car sounded like it would fall apart at any minute.
We passed bamboo huts built on top of stilts with random livestock running through the yards. The houses became more scarce the further we got from the city center. Christina and I didn’t say much to each other on the car ride. I tried not to focus on how exhausted I was and tried rather to enjoy the air conditioning for the time being.
This time the driver waited in the car. We walked slowly around the shallow pits. A group of young girls ran into our path and started yelling “Cheese!” I had heard of this scam and was prepared, though their huge smiles and black eyes were a tempting photo op. If we had fallen for it they would have demanded money.
They begged for money anyway. A constant stream of “Please, I need money, I go to school,
Christina and I wondered to each other where their parents were. We were hardly able to absorb the significance of the site we were seeing with the constant haranguing of the children. Finally I took a photo of them, realizing that they weren’t going to leave our sides until we got in the car and left. On the way out we quickly viewed the monument built to those who had been slaughtered at the Killing Fields. After such an overwhelming day the glass tower filled with skulls seemed almost surreal. “We felt the nightmare of the past, unequivocally and left transformed, decidedly different from when we arrived…” (Becker 6)
Christina and I sipped our Beer Lao at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club, which overlooked the intersection of the
I had paid for our beer with Thai baht and was given Cambodian riel as change. Cambodian currency is so devalued that the 80,000 riel I had received was worth about two US dollars. There was a group of young girls, probably around twelve or thirteen years old, standing in the street just outside the ring of security guards. A couple of them had babies tied around their necks. I thought it would be fitting to give the riel to them. I had developed the habit of buying food for beggars during my travels but my change was hardly enough to buy a bottle of water.
I had the money in my hand as I stepped off the curb. Instantly I was mobbed, the girls grabbing and clawing for the money. All of my learned Southeast Asian restraint was abandoned as my
Christina looked at me, wide-eyed. “Guess that’s why they have security guards.”
The next evening after a twelve hour van ride we arrived at the Cambodian/Thai border. It had been the longest journey of my life. For the first hour after leaving
We had also survived several harrowing “ferry” crossings. There were no bridges outside of the city. Three times our van was driven onto a raft fashioned from bamboo and plastic barrels, outfitted with an outboard engine. Three times said raft landed safely on the other side of the lake. At each stop people would board and exit the van. Some of them carried sacks of rice, dried fish, and one had a dead chicken partially covered by a sack. Upon having my passport stamped for re-entry into
In 1975 the Khmer Rouge took over the capital,
I felt really angry when I realized that in school I had never learned anything about what had happened in
Telling my story of my pilgrimage to
I can’t help but feel that if every world leader were forced to visit and spend time in a country so scarred by war, they would not be so ready to do battle over money, oil or “principle.” I realize that this is idealistic, and the hardened hearts of those who are in the position to push the proverbial button would likely not be changed by such an experience. I, however, will never be the same. This feeling has become so important to me that this January, three years later, I will again visit
I felt my soul shift in
Works Consulted
Asma, Stephen T. The Gods Drink Whiskey: Stumbling Toward Enlightenment in the Land of the Tattered Buddha.
Becker, Carol. “
Caesar, Terry P. “The Other Way Around: The Question of Travel in American Travel
Writing.” Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics 3 (1983):23-37.
Carrier, Scott. Running After Antelope.
Hilton, Ronald. “The Significance of Travel Literature, with Special Reference to the Spanish and Portuguese-Speaking World.” Hispania 49.4 (1966): 836-845.
Him, Charinthy. When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge.
Iyer, Pico, ed. The Best American Travel Writing: 2004.
2004.
LaFleur, William. “Points of Departure: Comments on Religious Pilgrimage in
And Japan.” The Journal of Asian Studies 38.2 (1979): 271-281.
Mason, Mary G. “Travel as Metaphor and Reality in Afro-American Women’s
Autobiography, 1850-1972.” Black American Literature Forum 24.2 (1990): 337-
356.
Roorbach, Bill, ed. The Art of Truth: Contemporary Creative Nonfiction.
Ung, Loung. First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of
Jacqueline Lehmann
Marjane Satrapi-Persepolis
While reading
There were so many significant events that I had a lot of trouble narrowing down the most important. Certainly the first was when Marjane and Mehri went to protest (p 38) on their own. This streak of rebellion becomes more apparent in Marjane’s character as the story continues.
The next key event was when Marjane’s parents stop sheltering her from the horrors that were taking place around her. She hears stories of torture (54) and begins to realize the brutality that comes with the regime of oppression. The process of stripping her innocence is furthered when her uncle Anoosh executed (70), and when she sees violence with her own eyes (76) for the first time. All of these events contribute to Marjane learning to live in defiance offear. Though many children in
When Marjane cuts school and is reprimanded by her mother, her reaction is to go and smoke a cigarette in the basement (117). For many young adolescents this is a significant act of rebellion. Marjane even announces that she “kisses childhood goodbye.”
It is not long after that cigarette that the most final act of separation takes place, but it is not by Marjane’s choice. When her parents send her to
Jacqueline Lehmann
bell hooks-Bone Black
What stood out to me most in Bone Black was the way the narrator changed from first person to third person and back again every couple of chapters. It seems that the chapters dealing with the most serious subject matter such as death, spousal abuse, etc. are written in the third person while the more light-hearted segments are written the first person. This has the effect of somehow distancing
This memoir deals with so many issues of identity development. “Her mother says to be friends at school is fine but he cannot come to their house. She is shocked to find that racial barriers exist in her house, disappointed, ashamed.”
I can remember a similar moment in my own life and remember feeling exactly that way. I had hidden my relationship with my first boyfriend, a Puerto Rican, from my parents for as long as I could. I must have anticipated somehow that it would not be acceptable, even though my parents always taught me to be tolerant of other races and cultures.
When my folks found out they kept asserting that their disapproval of my choice did not mean that they were racist. I couldn’t get over feeling that it did. They just didn’t want their little girl dating a Hispanic boy, but interracial dating was fine for other people.
I remember feeling very disillusioned with my parents who had up until this point always seemed fair and just. Our relationship suffered because of this.
Jacqueline Lehmann
Reading Lolita in
“Then, of course, from time to time I would make part of me return, like when I wished to defy an obstructionist figure of authority and I would leave a few strands of hair out and make my eyes reappear, to stare at them uncomfortably.” (168)
I really enjoyed reading about different methods of resistance employed by women in
Both works clearly represent the theme of writing as resistance, but the differences and similarities lie in what methods both females used in their own lives at the time being.
The main similarity I saw was in that both characters would leave out strands of hair from their veil, which seemed to be based on both works, a widespread gesture of resistance.
Marjane’s physical or appearance resistance occurred through her embracing of the punk-rock style, wearing jeans and sneakers etc. This seems to make sense as a way many teenagers or adolescents would choose to express their rebellion. Nafisi however is a grown-up, and that is seen in how she chooses to resist. Nafisi pretends that she is invisible while wearing the veil and robe, almost internalizing the anonymity that is forced upon her by the political situation in
Resistance in both of their worlds manifested itself differently through social situations. Marjane and her parents would go to parties with drinking and card games, two things that were strictly forbidden. Nafisi and other women formed their reading group as an act of subversion. The idea of these secret sorts of societies existing despite an oppressive regime illustrates that resistance and hope often intermingle. If one doesn’t have the strength to resist injustice, one has practically given up hope already.
Free Write 1
I shifted my weight on the hard ground. My hips dug in if I lay on my side, my backbone hurt but I stayed on my back, looking up. My sleeping bag felt like it barely existed, and my pillow (my purple down jacket rolled up and stuffed inside itself) was only a little more substantial. The desert air was cold; I was wearing almost all of the clean clothes I had left.
The stars twinkled brightly in the clear sky. I took a deep breath or two, getting ready to close my eyes. Out of the last few days this moment was crushing as a low point. I couldn’t stop admonishing myself inside my head, and when he and I said goodnight I couldn’t tell if he was mad at me.
I never should have trusted myself with the map. I know I’m no good at reading maps. But the campground didn’t look that far from the interstate, just like the last town we had passed through looked big enough on the map that I thought for sure there would have been a gas station there.
And here we were, bedded down in the
I finally stopped berating myself as I felt sleep tug at the corners of my mind. The last thing I heard before drifting off was the yowling of a lone coyote.
Free write 2
She was the saddest girl at the eighth grade dinner dance. She had spent hours getting ready even though her date had dumped her out of fear. She had tried to hope that tonight would be different somehow.
She should have expected it. As soon as he told her that his girl cousins were waiting outside to beat the crap out of her there was nothing to do but sit down among the green and white balloons and streamers and cry. Some of her friends took time out from dancing with their dates to try to comfort her but nothing would work. He sat across the gymnasium watching her every move. All the guys knew that they were not allowed to dance with her.
Todd and Crystal came over to her in between songs. “Look,”
“Then he’s going to go after Todd…” she blubbered.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the dance floor. “I want you to look at me. Don’t look around. Just dance. Pretend he’s not here.” He took her face between his hands and centered her gaze on his.
She could feel all eyes on her as they began to dance. In that one moment she felt defiant and strong. She didn’t want the song to end.
When it finally did she thanked Todd and Crystal and resumed her seat. It was almost time for her mother to come. She felt anxiety rise as the clock ticked forward. She wondered if his family had really come to defend his honor.
She watched from the glass doors in view of the chaperones. When she saw her mother’s car she bolted for it, got in and fastened her seat belt in a matter of seconds. “Okay, let’s go,” she said, trying to sound cheerful.
She knew her mother could tell she had been crying. Her face was puffy and most of her eye makeup was gone. This had been a constant theme of the last couple months-her parents would ask what had happened, she would not tell them, and they would fight. They wanted to go to the police and get a restraining order. But when she told him that that was going to happen he responded, “That’s fine. But the cops can’t keep my family and my friends in check too.” She was terrified that if her parents did call the police his thus far empty threats would begin to come true.
Her mother started to press the issue. She felt hysteria rise within her chest and she couldn’t control it. She heard herself screaming, cursing, saying awful things she didn’t mean as if the night’s tension had finally broken within her. Her parents couldn’t really understand what was going on, what it was like going to school and knowing that the teachers all thought it was her fault for dating him in the first place. They didn’t understand that every option seemed riskier than the one before it and the safest thing to do seemed to be to wait for an end to somehow come.
Like a small child she wanted to kick and scream and throw a tantrum. Her mother was upset now, speaking more quietly but still trying to find out why her twelve year old daughter had left a dance so visibly upset. The last thing she remembers of her hysteria is raising her foot to kick the dashboard of the car in frustration. She didn’t consider the heels she was wearing. A crack the shape of a spider appeared in the plastic of the dashboard. When she realized what she had done she finally calmed down. They drove the rest of the way home in silence.
Reflective Statement
This course has definitely furthered my appreciation for autobiography and memoir, which is something I was hoping for when I signed up for the class. Looking at a wide range of women’s works through the different themes we found has helped me learn to look at autobiography in a different way-by not just reading the work superficially, but seeking to make connections to other works I have read.
I also really enjoyed the creative writing aspect of the course. It has been a long time since I have taken a class where I got to write creatively, let alone share that work with my classmates. It seems that everyone in our class has bonded to a certain extent, in that we all feel comfortable sharing with each other and supporting each other’s creative endeavors, even those that are painful. We have all grown as readers, writers, and as people.