Is it Such a Smart Idea?

School districts have always been in a hurry to acquire the latest technological marvel. When I was kid (and I know I'm dating myself here), filmstrips and 16mm movies were big. School districts all wanted the latest audio-visual equipment. It made everybody think they were on the cutting edge of education. Then it was television, videos, computers, CD ROMs, DVDs and now? Now it's - ta da - the Smartboard!

Educators get very excited with the mere mention of the word Smartboard, as though students are going to become geniuses as soon as their little fingers come in direct contact with one. I realize that Smartboards are pretty nice. They're big interactive computers on large boards and kids love computers, right? They are undoubtedly good teaching tools. But why can't school districts wait until the price comes down a little? And why do they try to stock every school with a supply of Smartboards when we need basics like books?

I'm a little annoyed because, sigh, here they go again chasing down the next technological thingamajig when the sad little library they transferred me to is standing there with its half-empty shelves and my students are asking me for the latest Spiderwick Chronicles book, or if I have May Bird and the Ever After, or Skippyjon Jones, or some new Percy Jackson books (I don't have any). Aaarrgh! It's all so frustrating! If you want children to become better readers, you have to offer them more good books.

So, I expect that within five years or so, Smartboards will be languishing in the storage closet along with those outdated computers and dot matrix printers that also cost thousands of dollars while kids will still be checking out the books we purchased ten years ago, books that don't feature videos, play music, have flash drives or display pop-up ads. The truth is, books last longer and probably do more to shape lives than machines. Machines are tools. Books are windows on the world.

Voice?

There's a lot of discussion among writers about "voice". But what is it? Editors claim it's probably the most important element of writing. They can help you fix the plot, the wording, the action. But voice? That's one element an author must grapple with all alone.

I've decided that the only voice an author really needs to worry about is that of the characters. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think voice refers to the personality of your characters. In a well-written book, the main character's voice or personality shines clearly through within a few pages of the first chapter. Maybe within a few paragraphs or sentences, even. Take, for instance, the voice of Death in Markus Zusak's novel, The Book Thief (Knopf, 2006).

HERE IS A SMALL FACT. You are going to die. I am in all truthfulness attempting to be cheerful about this whole topic, though most people find themselves hindered in believing me, no matter my protestations. Please, trust me. I most definitely can be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that's onlys the A's. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me.

Within a few sentences, Zusak has given Death a distinctive, snarky personality. He's intriguing and you keep reading. Or at least I did.

Writing style, though? That something else again. Cynthia Rylant, for example, has a distinctively simple and beautiful writing style that permeates all her writing, whether it's picture books, novels, autobiography or poetry. It's always there and easily identifiable. J.D. Salinger and William Steig also have a distinctive writing style and each very different from the other.

It seems that an author must establish the voice of the main characters almost immediately but that style is something he or she develops more slowly over years of writing. Style is more subtle. I think it has to be. Highly stylized writing detracts from the voice of the characters. Writing is always such a tricky balancing act.

Anybody have any thoughts on this?

Some Good News

I haven't blogged much lately. Too many things cropped up at the same time. After vacation, I had a children's lit. class I had to prepare for. After two class sessions, I can say I'm enjoying it but that it's a lot of work -- a lot of dragging books from one school to the next, of preparing book talks and figuring out some activities we can do with our "students" (fellow teachers). Lucky for me I'm not doing it by myself. I'm teaching the course along with a few of the other library media specialists. After getting up before daybreak and teaching all day, nearly everybody looks a little glassy-eyed but they all say they're enjoying it. Yay!

I do have some good news to post. My youngest son, who graduated from SUNY Oswego in December, just landed a teaching job!! He went for an interview last week, did a demo lesson, and spoke with the superintendent. He'll begin the job in September. This is the son we worried about, the one who never liked school. Being ADD, he had trouble sitting in his seat, getting organized, staying on top of his work. We tried him on ritalin, then another drug to help him focus but he hated all of them. They kept him awake at night, they made him gain weight. He didn't feel like himself. So, finally we took him off the drugs and sometimes he did well in school and other times he struggled. With much arm twisting, he finally agreed to give college a try. He struggled a little in his first year, but after he discovered a field that interested him, he stuck to it and graduated. Along the way, he even found he liked history and writing from time to time.

I signed up for Chautauqua this summer and now wonder if I have any business going. I'm sure everybody will be so far above and beyond me that I'm a little fearful of the whole thing. One part of me longs to go yet another part wants to hide someplace. I have no desire to be in the spotlight. I wonder if they'll have us read our work out loud (cringe). Anybody know?

I know I'm rambling. But it's nearly spring and I'm restless.