SCIENCE FICTION

“Those who don’t build must burn.  It’s as old as history and juvenile delinquents.” – Faber, Fahrenheit 451.

Fahreinheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.  I struggle with the title I’ve given this theme.  Maybe I should have called it “Purpose” in the face of adversity.  There is a kind of adversity called “inertia” that needs to be addressed.  If I’m a middle school kid, they send me to school every day and, oddly enough, the teachers expect me to exercise self-discipline and, well…work!  I ignore this and play instead, but they have the audacity to send things home to do as well!  Again, I ignore this, go home and play, drop down at about 10:00 or 11:00 and start the whole thing over again the next day.  I think my purpose has been pretty well defined.

If we’re going to teach kids the value of persevering, maybe we should also help them become aware of the need to break through their own matrix of reality.  This is what happens to Montag, the protagonist of Fahrenheit 451.  “It was a pleasure to burn,” and life is pleasant in his world of burning books and seeking entertainment.  Then one day he meets Clarrise, who causes him to contemplate things he has never before considered and asks him the haunting question, “Are you happy?” 

At its most basic level Fahrenheit 451 is about censoring books, but it also addresses another kind of censorship – the censorship of human purpose.  In this futuristic tale the central character journeys a dangerous path of awareness that threatens the social/political organization of the oppressive society in which he lives.  His struggle to break through what he had formerly seen as benevolent may cause students to consider the value of persevering beyond the adversity of their own perceptions.

HISTORY

“Victory belongs to the most persevering.” - Napoleon Bonaparte

Women at War by Brenda Williams.  This book is one of a series of picture books for young people on WWII.  Women at War looks at the role women played during WWII.  In easily read paragraphs with lots of photos, the book documents how women’s lives were changed by the circumstances of war and the impact of their contributions to the outcome.  What could be more adverse than war?  I wanted to chose something that would touch on that subject. This book offers a look at perseverance from a different angle:  the kind of collective perseverance required to save not only oneself, but a nation. 

POEM SET TO MUSIC

"If..." by Rudyard Kipling

This poem is really about being a grown up, which apparently doesn’t have much to do with age.  George Washington was a “grown up” at 14, but we have 26 year olds who aren’t “grown up?”  What is maturity?  Maybe it doesn’t have so much to do with age as with the way you respond to what life throws at you.   It’s hard to see how one can develop a persevering character without the attributes of maturity mentioned in this poem.   Likewise, it makes clear that achieving real maturity takes perseverance.

ASL MUSIC VIDEO

THE CLIMB 

Lyrics:
I can almost see it
That dream I am dreaming
But there's a voice inside my head saying
"You'll never reach it"

Every step I'm taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking

But I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I'm not breaking

I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep going

And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on

'Cause there's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Somebody's gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

Keep on moving, keep climbing
Keep the faith, baby
It's all about, it's all about the climb
Keep the faith, keep your faith, whoa

I don't listen to pop music, and I've been wondering who Miley Cyrus is for a long time.  I can see how this song of hers would be very inspirational to young people who face challenges that seem endless to them.  These lyrics cast struggle in a different light:  it is temporary.  It too shall pass.  Don't give up, but embrace your current challenge as an opportunity for growth!

BIOGRAPHY

“Life is not a spectator sport.  If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you’re wasting your life.” – Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson Plays Ball by Robyn O’Sullivan.  Jackie Robinson broke the barrier of segregation in American professional athletics – but not without facing great adversity for doing so.  And that was only the beginning of what this American hero was able to achieve. I’ve chosen this biography, which is part of the National Geographic History Chapters series, over others because it gives all the core essentials of Jackie’s life and the adversities he pressed through in a way that will meet the needs of struggling readers.  It is written for students at a print-focused stage, but the layout – the book jacket, photos and format - hide its simplicity from the reader, steering the mind away from the fact that it is intended for a less advanced reading audience.  This is important for struggling readers who would easily be embarrassed by material that appears to be for younger readers.  In addition, the simple vocabulary and less complex sentence structure help ELL students to comprehend the text more easily.

MORE POETRY

If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere. - Frank A. Clark

Black Whiteness by Robert Burleigh.  In 1934 former naval officer Admiral Richard Byrd undertook to live alone for six-months deep in the arctic wilderness.  There he researched the arctic weather and, using himself as a subject, documented the limits of human endurance.  His efforts laid the foundation for future exploration in that forbidding place.  Robert Burleigh’s illustrated text of this amazing man’s solitary mission is aimed at younger readers, but it’s so uniquely executed that much older students would find it compelling.  Most written documentaries of this sort are, well…boring.  However, Burleigh uses a kind of poetic format, intertwined with excerpts from Byrd’s actual journal entries.  The words are few but eloquent, and the illustrator’s artistic presentation captures the deathly cold and loneliness of the experience.  Admiral Byrd’s accomplishment is an excellent example of determination.   The question of why he was willing to put himself through this gives us much to contemplate!   This book would also pair well with another book I plan to include in my theme, Life as We Knew it, a fictional tale of survival after a global disaster.

POETRY

“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.” – George Washington Carver

Carver: a Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson.  A man far beyond his time, George Washington Carver was born to slave parents but went on in a quiet and determined way to become one of the 20th century’s most influential scientists.  His accomplishments include developing crop-rotation methods that moved the south beyond its dependence on the cotton industry, revolutionizing the use of the peanut and other crops, as well as numerous other undertakings.  He used his gifts to forge a path for African Americans through the resistant forest of higher education, but made clear that his goal was to benefit all humanity.  Many biographies found in school libraries are either dry and informational or flowery and childish, usually nothing that would really appeal to middle school students.  Marilyn Nelson uses a different approach, telling Carver’s story through a series of poems that show us all aspects of the man as artist, inventor, writer, teacher and more.  The poems offer a rich opportunity to teach about inference and poetic images that capture the dignity, humility and faith of a man who moved mountains of social injustice through his accomplishments.   Photos and short explanatory notes are also included to draw the reader in to learn more.  In this clever way, Nelson documents the many obstacles Carver faced from all directions.  The book testifies of a true hero whose virtuous life offers an example of courage and perseverance to any young person of any time.