What is Courage?

There's nothing like hearing an author or poet read his or her work aloud. A friend of mind sent a link to a public reading of A Wreath for Emmett Till read by the poet Marilyn Nelson. Click on the site to hear her read.

I hope you've experienced a restful weekend. My internet has been down, so I'm lucky I can even post now and am especially lucky to have not lost power this weekend. I hope you have all stayed warm. I have been anxious to read your posts from the radio diaries, and now that I can, I have to say that I'm impressed with your reflections.

Bring your books with you tomorrow - Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman or Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry , and we'll check them in. You'll need your textbooks starting on Tuesday, so you'd better dig them out of your bedrooms or lockers so that you can bring them to class.

Inquiry for Monday: What is courage? Of all of our reading this semester, from Odysseus to Miss Jane, Roll and Mockingbird, from the radio diaries to interviews on Face to Face, how has courage been tested and demonstrated? How does this issue relate to our personal lives and to the world? How are adolescents faced with the test of courage? This is a topic we'll explore for our next writing. We'll be free writing about this topic on the blog today.

This week we'll enter the Italian Renaissance period!