Archive for October 17, 2011

Bystander — the Play!

“Tell me and I will forget.

Show me and I will remember.

Involve me and I will understand.”

Chinese Proverb

And on that note, look at this amazing, full-page newspaper ad . . .

Pretty cool, don’t you think?

The group that’s putting on the play, Concrete Temple Theatre, has even started their own website about it, called “The Bystander Project.”

Check it out by clicking insanely . . . here. The idea, from what I can gather, is for this adaptation to travel to other schools, other districts, where students will put on their own versions of the play. Which I think is absolutely brilliant, in terms of using drama to explore these issues in a safe but powerful way. What better way to learn empathy than to stand in the shoes of another character?

Don’t forget to SAVE THAT DATE: November 4, 2011. Maybe I’ll see you there.

When Sharks Attack

This is terrible.

Just awful.

That poor child, swallowed by a shark — a land shark, if my identification is correct — and somehow, still smiling.

Thank you, Best Week Ever!

Poetry Friday: “In a Red Baseball Cap” by James Preller

Just dug this unpublished poem out of the file cabinet, must have written it about 25-30 years ago, so might as well finally see the light of day. I always liked this one, that connection between the boy and Willie Mays, the white ball a communion wafer, H.D.’s companionship of the flame across time, space, generations.

Speaking of my lifelong love affair with baseball, one of my happiest moments as a writer was the day I published this book, which felt like an outpouring of years and years of baseball thoughts, dreams, memories . . .

I love the new paperback cover.

Pirate Crossword: Free Teaching Tool for “A Pirate’s Guide to First Grade”

Forgive me, it’s an unusual blog day here at the jamespreller.com factory. I’ve been unloading some stuff from a found file. Here’s a nice companion for my book A Pirate’s Guide to First Grade, illustrated by Greg Ruth. If you click on the puzzle, you could print it out to share with students. Just saying.

VoiceThread: Another Teaching Tool

Follow this link to see how one Media Specialist used VoiceThread to make my book, Hiccups for Elephant, illustrated by Hans Wilhelm, come alive for young readers through the use of puppets and children’s own voices.

Again, I apologize for the lack of attribution.