Free Rice Campaign

Make use of the games and also help end world hunger!

American Literature syllabus

I have been really busy at school and new chores and obligations pile up continuously.

I've been working on the syllabus of American Literature course (which actually focuses on the literature of the USA). The title of the course is deliberately broad :)

The course itself consists only of 35 lessons, so you can imagine, I cannot really introduce the whole mountain of good literature that has sprouted from the United States which is a great pity.

I would really like somebody to comment on what I've put together this far and maybe help me make this course a bit better for next year. It's a work in progress. We have had about a third of the lessons thus far and I've only been able to cover SO LITTLE. I feel overwhelmed.
They do have to read one book and make a presentation - so that will be about 3-4 lessons as well.

The address is here: http://iamkirjandus.pbworks.com/w/page/49659057/IAMcourse12
Feel free to use the materials that are useful and give me advice on the ones that need improvement.

"Moment"

I'm reading "The Freedom Writers Diary" (which I bought at the ASU Bookstore, together with a pile of other books, now resting comfortably on my bookcase) and I'd like to share this beautiful poem with you. It moved me deeply.

"Moment"

Let him wish his life
For the sorrows of a stone
Never knowing the first thread
Of these
Never knowing the pain of ice
As its crystals slowly grow
Needles pressing it on the heart

To live forever
And never feel a thing
To wait a million lifetimes
Only to erode and become sand
Wish not for the stone
But for the fire
Last only moments
But change everything

Oh to be lightning
To exist for less than a moment
Yet in that moment
To expose the world to every open eye
Oh to be thunder
To clap and ring
To rumble into memories
Minds and spines

To chill the soul and shake the very ground
Pounding even the sand
Into smaller pieces
Or the mountain
Brooding, extinct
Yet gathering for one fatal moment
The power to blow the top clean off the world
Oh to last the blink of an eye and leave nothing
But nothing unmoved behind you

Vincent Guilliano - January 9, 1991

What would you choose: to live an eternity and not change a thing around you, or exist for the blink of an eye and alter everything?

DESERT FLOWERS

On New Year's Eve, one of my cacti gave me an unusual gift: a flower. It lasted for just one night, so as to say goodbye to 2011 and welcome the new. I admire its fragile, delicate nature, springing from rocks, a hard soil, and very little water... and I think that we humans are sometimes a bit like that. We can bloom where we are planted, no matter how adverse our surroundings may be.

Interesting

Hello, well school is about to start, and these two days we have received some workshops, today's workshop was interesting, they talked about homework and how to be careful with things like directions, and that it has to be meaningful. Then they showed us this video:

I liked the whole idea, and I liked the fact that students advance at their own pace, and that even though in classes we can have students of the same age, they will always be very different.
It would be nice to use these kind of web pages to let students practice in their house.

You can find very interesting videos on http://www.ted.com/ they have different subjects, so if you are ever interested, check it our :)
I hope you like the video :)

2012