changelog @ tengrrl.com: <i>The Worry Web Site</i>
Saturday, March 26, 2005
 Finished The
Worry Web Site (Dell Yearling, 2003). The book is comprised of linked
short stories about students in a British classroom and the various worries that
affect them—problems with parents and step-parents, self-esteem
issues, and first loves. The book is well-suited for fourth and fifth grade students
who face similar worries. Its portrayal of Natasha, a student with an unidentified
disability who uses a wheelchair and a
“special speaking machine,” alongside the worries of all the other
students nicely addresses the many similarities between Natasha’s worries
and those of the others in the class.
The Worry Web Site,
set up by teacher Mr. Speed, links the stories in the book, as each featured
student writes about a particular worry on the Web site. At most, the technology
sounds like an anonymous Web form that students can fill out. After a student
posts, other students in the class can respond. The site seems to be
something like an anonymous blog. Anyone can post, and anyone can reply. There
are classroom netiquette rules, but we don’t really learn anything
about the technology that the teacher has set up to make it all work . Technology
plays the role of connecting the stories, but readers have to guess about what
that technology actually is. There’s no indication, for instance, that
students can access the site outside of the classroom. Readers might guess then
that the Worry Web Site is a local site, available only on this one classroom
computer. There is not enough detail about the technology, however, for readers
to be sure.
Perhaps the undefined nature of the Worry Web Site is an attempt to keep the
book, originally published in Great Britain in 2002, from appearing dated. If
written today, the technology might be described as an anonymous blog, but there’s nothing else in the few details that
would cause a problem.
In fact, there’s nothing really special about the Worry
Web Site. The same sharing of worries and classroom feedback could easily be
achieved with a shared classroom journal. The only benefit of the Worry Web Site
over such a handwritten journal is the posture of anonymity—there is no
handwriting on the Web site to betray the author. Of
course, Mr. Speed knows who writes every message in spite of the anonymous
postings. There is no way to know if Mr. Speed is simply very clever or there
is a backdoor that lets him check the author’s name. It’s likely the
former, however, as even the students are able to guess who posts which worries:
One of the boys wrote that he liked one of the girls a lot. That made everyone
giggle—and Greg went very pink. Hmm! I wonder who he fancies?
Someone else went
on and on. Oh boo hoo, it’s so sad, I miss my dad, etc, etc. We all
know who that was. (p. 4)
Technology plays a role in the stories, then, but a subtle one. The messages
that the students write are always the focus, rather than the technology that
the students use to write those messages. Perhaps, then, the book shows that
technology has become more of a commonplace element of students’ lives.
It just is. There is a classroom computer, and students use it matter-of-factly
during their school day.
Jacqueline Wilson, the book’s author, is a two-time runner-up for the Carnegie
Medal, so I was expecting a bit more from the book. Terry Pratchett won the
Carnegie for The
Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, and Wilson’s book
doesn't really compare to Pratchett’s—yes, I know that Pratchett
doesn't really compare to anyone :) In many ways, The Worry Web Site is predictable
and the stories rather simplistic. It is a good book, but not a great one.
I
would recommend it to students facing worries similar to those in the book,
but those readers with more complex anxieties would certainly need more support
than this book provides. There are suggestions of domestic violence and alcoholism,
for instance, but the student’s worries are treated rather superficially
and the bigger issues rae not dealt with. It is not a book to give to readers
looking for stories about technology. The computer and Web site do not play
a significant role, and students looking for something akin to video game action
will be disappointed.
********** (5
of 10 stars)
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Worked on the Tuesdays lesson, but didn't finish. Mostly I spent the day being angry, pissy, and mad. I seemed to have everything go wrong at work today. Everything. And on top of that, I suffered horribly from dysmenorrhea all day and all night and every moment and I want to take a billion, zillion drugz. (Note the use of a scientific name for things makes them sound worse so that other people will feel even sorrier for you).
Okay, seriously, not quite everything. Duck is now wearing a rabbit costume, complete with cotton tail; and my mother sent me flowers for Easter. I just seemed to have all the real work things go wrong. When the various NCTE websites began stopping this afternoon, I began packing. Went by Great Harvests for unnecessary loaves of bread that I have gorged upon. Went to Pages and used one of my gift certificates to buy these:
- Whale Talk (need to find out about the censorship issue)
- The Worry Web Site (for my collection of tech in child/YA lit books)
- Speak (cuz I never got around to it)
- Click here: (to find out how i survived seventh grade) (again for the tech collection)
- After (cuz it seemed so topical given Red Lake)
Now I just need to find time to read all of them, and the dozens of other books over there on the bookshelf.
Watched most of Possessed (1947)
(“It’s pain that made her this way. Only through major pain and suffering beyond belief can we change that.” and “‘I love you’ is such an inadequate way of saying I love you. It doesn’t quite describe how much it hurts sometimes.”)
Then watched most of The Philadelphia Story
(“I’m such an unholy mess of a girl”)
I finished The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things this evening. I looked at Love and Other Four Letter Words when I was at the bookstore, since I liked The Earth and was so close to finishing, but I just wasn't up for a divorce story right now. I can always get it later. It’s not like I’m miserly about my book buying, as the 12+ sagging bookcases can attest.
When not watching TV, I have been the eating machine. Something is seriously wrong with me. I think I have eaten everything in completely senseless ways today. And I’m still not happy about it. I seem to be eating my way toward something, and I am just not finding it.
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Things that are pissing me off today:
- People who are praying that God will intervene for Terri Schiavo—how do they know God hasn't already intervened? How is it that God's will is only what they decide that it is?
- Michael Jackson's armbands—What the fuck is the point? (there are so many additional WTFs related to Mr. Jackson, that I have chosen only one in the interest of space and bandwidth.)
- From the NYTimes’ QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"My party is demonstrating that they are for states' rights unless they don't like what states are doing."
- CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Republican congressman of Connecticut, on the Schiavo case.
- People who don't remember earlier statements they have made. Example: “The level of insurgency in postwar Iraq wouldn’t be so high if the U.S.-led coalition had been able to invade from the north, through Turkey, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday.”—You go to war where your army is, Donnie. Not where you wish it might be.
- National Vanguard Books
- That I have never and will never have the guts to dye my hair “Pimpin Purple”—and that the unfortunate truth of the matter is that it’s very hard for young girls to dye their hair, get crazy piercings, and buy clothes that their mothers don’t approve of unless they have someone’s credit card. And impetuous airline tickets to Seattle are right out.
- Not knowing what to do with RSS feeds, not knowing enough about Lawrence Lessig, and not being able to understand a single convincing argument for installation “art”
- The fact that the Army raised the maximum age for enlisting in the National Guard and Army Reserve from 34 to 39—because it suddenly made me feel very, very, very old to know that I’m too old even for the new age max. Not that I have any interest in any of this. I just feel very old.
- That I created What Your Shoes Say even though I don’t have a clue what I mean to say or do with it.
- Commercials that suggest people might want to buy shoes that animals try to eat or carry off, that there is a correlation between taking a shower/bath and buying a car, or that Internet connections are sandwiches, that spam is chili, and viruses are jello and whipped cream.
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
- In the week that I have been hibernating, Rubbish A. Toddles, Nosebleed U. Ruckuses, and Litigious D. Glee sent me mail. I'm not sure if they are leprachauns or an odd sect of elves.
- I save too many things for the “right” moment. My pile of unwatched films includes not only The Return of the King but also The Two Towers. That means that I've owned TT for over a year and still haven't found the time to watch it.
- My household inventory clearly indicates that too many of my things are not near where they belong. After all, no one can explain a reason for cereal to be stored in the living room.
- I finished reading Life in the Fat Lane and am about two-thirds of the way through The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things. I still can’t quite like Life in the Fat Lane. How can it go to the trouble of fairly accurate info on prednisone and doxepin (I've taken both), and then create a completely fictional malady? It all feels a little too fake for me. The point wasn't to deal with what a real girl might go through, but to create some kind of Twilight Zone reality that she crosses into. Maybe I'm just too unrealistic about that can and can’t be done in a book. I liked TTYL; but I think I had the same problem with it. It’s not quite real I know what it looks like when teens IM and e-mail each other. Somehow things just were’t quite authentic. I mean what person uses u and r and ppl but spells out with. And where did we find kids who only have one msg window open at a time? Come on. I just can’t square the things in these books that aren’t quite genuine, that tie up in a package that’s just a little too perfect to be real. Maybe I should go back to fantasy.
- Sometimes the sirens are so loud because the fire truck is coming down your street. I am not hearing things. They really are outside.
- Too frequently I have dumped full super-sized diet cokes on the floor of my car through perfectly normal driving. I am very tired of this failure to control my beverages and I mourn the loss of precious brown diet beverage.
- A week can pass and I can get nothing done. No lesson plans posted. No entries. No nothing. Oh, I guess I did write an Inbox section on cartoons and graphic novels yesterday. Maybe that counts as something.
- I don’t seem able to write anything. I have a million starts in this house, piles of notes, jotted ideas. But I don’t ever write. More than anything I want to write a book, but I never do. I never do anything.
changelog @ tengrrl.com: Today's Horoscope Says...
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Today's Horoscope Says...
My exciting horoscope (“Money matters you’ve been concerned with lately will iron themselves out nicely -- very nicely, indeed. All you have to do is cover your bases and be sure that you don't trust anyone your antennae warn you about.”) seemed to be true. And that’s all I’m saying cuz I’m superstitious about such things.
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
For some reason this evening, I am highly agitated. I'm pissed off by Condaleeza Rice and Karen Hughes, though I have no real reason. I watched clips of the two of them, and just got more and more angry with them. I'd rather trust a hungry alligator with a baby bird. Maybe they were just the unlucky people in the news clips this evening. I could just as easily have been pissed off at Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Cheney, and Bush if they had been on the small segment of news that I caught.
I have no idea why I'm feeling so agitated though. Maybe it's anyone on TV. Right now I'm pissed off at Emeril for always making the same damned idiotic jokes. Dear Emeril, No. It's not funny when you insist that a certain area of the studio is "not the cheap seats" for the billionth time. The smell-i-vision thing, not funny. The "oh, yeah, baby, it's a real show" thing, not funny. The "then I said to myself, 'self'" thing, annoying as fuck AND not funny. Why in the hell would I put food in my pocket and go on the subway (or anywhere else)? And, you know, essence is just a handful of seasonings and herbs. I'm just not impressed. As a side-note, that stupid crisco can looking thing that Doc Gibbs plays is annoying as hell. I mute the TV whenever he picks it up. Love and kisses, tengrrl.
Also, if Alton Brown fell in a blender and the liquefied remainders were poured on the ground for toothless bears to eat, it would not be a bad thing. But that's only come up because of a commercial.
Maybe it's just that I hate myself today. I baked a dozen cookies. Why? What was I thinking? Why didn't I do the laundry instead? Or clean something? But no, I baked cookies and made rice and pretty much can't accomplish anything exceptionally useful. I can't seem to succeed. But, and I mean with with complete honesty and conviction, even if I didn't hate myself, those Emeril jokes would still blow.
changelog @ tengrrl.com: Cleaning Up My Act
Monday, March 14, 2005
I seem to be in a tidying phase at work. Many dust bunnies have been evicted.
Created the Inbox Ideas section on gender and fairy tales, for Women's History Month.
Other than this I am most boring. People weep to know me. Various Claudette Colbert movies that I haven't paid enough attention to to bother listing. I have a very long list of things that I should be doing, but that I seem to be ignoring. If only I could get the dust warthogs evicted from my house. Yes, they are that large.
Perci’s entry on her dad was a bittersweet thing. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one dreaming about a father who is no longer here. In my dreams, there's never anything quite so concrete or consistent as Perci describes. I am simply doing various things with the family and he is there. Always insanely complicated things that we seem to be up to. Last night it was something about some play that was being staged and my mother had been in charge of the costuming, which was apparently a whole lot of WWI military uniforms. Presumably that is a twisted throw back to the Vietnam lesson plan. But then suddenly I was bringing dinner to everyone and Daddy was in his chair in the living room, in front of the TV. See? Makes no sense.
When I read Perci’s entry, though, I also just felt really sad. Because when you wake up, it’s like losing him, and I feel stupid for having these very clear dreams about things that can never ever be again.
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Sunday, March 13, 2005
So here's what I need to know. Let's say that you just came in from outside and took off your coat, which is always full of static electricity. Even though you have parted ways with the coat, you are apparently highly conductive. You touch random metal and are shocked. You walk probably 10 or 12 feet from point of combustion and touch the on button on the fan. You get another shock. The fan doesn't turn on. In fact, hours later, plugged into a different socket, it still won't turn on.
So, is this just an odd coincidence or could I actually have shorted out a fan with my static electricity? If it's static, it seems extremely bizarre as I had already touched one piece of metal and the fan is mostly plastic. If it's that the fan shorted out, it was totally out of the blue and is completely bizarre. The fan isn't even a year old. Either way, it's very strange.
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Definitely made up for getting up early yesterday by staying in bed past noon.
Edited Vietnam War lesson plan.
Finally got Netflix out of the house (same DVDs for 3 months = bad use of $$$).
I can’t seem to remember most of the afternoon. I watched most of Mansfield Park, then most of Peyton Place, and all of The Lady from Shanghai and A Kiss Before Dying (the 1956 version). Then I switched to Hercule Poirot.
To be honest, I couldn’t remember most of that. Fortunately TV listings are online so I was able to reconstruct my day.
Oh, and in addition to apparently killing a fan, I began a new book, Life in the Fat Lane. I’m a good number of pages in, so I’ll probably keep going, but rather than hearing about a beauty queen who gains weight, I think I'd rather read a real book from the fat girl’s perspective (in this case, it’s Patty Asher). I just don’t need to hear that beauty queens have a hard time. It’s not that I’m indifferent to the plight of the beauty queen and this girl’s struggles; but it doesn’t feel new to me. I guess the fat girls’ stories are too despressing. No one would want to read about fat girls when there are Princess Diaries and Gossip Girls to read about.
I have been eating a quesadilla while writing this, and the remainder looks like the state of Wisconsin. I do not know what this means other than that I shouldn't be eating quesadilla (or much else).
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Yes, I persist in recording minutiae to “make each day stand out” as Real Simple has instructed me.
Awake and functioning before 10 AM. No one knows why.
Unexplainable inspiration strikes.
Dress and load the car with a portion of the aluminum can collection.
ALL BEFORE 11 AM
Make three trips to the Golden Goat, recycling 41.33 pounds.
Celebrate minor glee in reclaiming garage.
It's only 12:30.
Something is clearly wrong with me. I should be back in bed for a nap.
Balanced checkbook, cleaned up piles of receipts.
Prepare deposit for the bank and drive off to take care of it with the ATM.
Revel in empty garage. 41.33 pounds of aluminum cans take up a lot of space.
Only had to visit 3 ATMs to find one that worked AND had deposit envelopes.
Return home. Hear scurrying squirrel in garage.
Apparently my reclamation was short-sighted. The squirrels own my garage.
Finally watched Ella Enchanted, which sucks
(“Say no to ogrecide! Stop the Giant land grab!”)
and has much NOT to do with the book.
Got cold and made chicken-corn chowder to warm up.
Finished (finally) reading Unexpected Development. It only took 2 weeks.
NOTE: I should make more time for reading.
Minor household cleaning of little entertainment.
Now The Big Sleep is on.
“I’ve got a bottle of rye in my pocket…I’d rather get wet in here.”
Did that line really work at some point?
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Friday, March 11, 2005
So apparently it was a bad idea to get dressed this morning, and then noting that I was early, go back to bed for a nap.
Make a note not to attempt naps 30 minutes before you need to leave for work.
Worked editing math journals lesson, but didn't finish it.
Went to the grocery store, where everything has been moved about in some remodeling scheme to confuse consumers.
Came home and paid bills. Friday night fun. Woo woo.
Watched the exceptionally silly 13 Going on 30. Sorry. No quote worthy of memory.
Now I have The Human Stain on, which seems much more promising, but as it is already late, I won't watch it all now. Befuddlingly, it is on the "Black Starz" channel even though the stars are all white. The plot is about passing, but still it seems like a stretch. Looked up the movie/book and did what what I am sure is a most excellent quote. Who knows if it's in the movie though. Amazon tells us, "Viagra catapults Silk [the protagonist] into 'the perpetual state of emergency that is sexual intoxication.'" Why can't I write sentences like that?
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Apparently The Daily Show does matter because the one night I’m tempted to go to bed early is the one night they have a piece on the SAT. I caught most of it anyway. That will teach me to follow the whims of my heart.
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Hair care really does trump everything.
me + netflix = not working out
Edited book pairs lesson.
Cooked too many things, but ate them anyway
Considered going to bed at 7pm
Must stay up for Daily Show
Put on The Third Wheel—quote:
“I'm gonna beat you like a rented mule, man.”
Considered going to bed at 9pm
Why does my neighbor leave every night between 9:30 and 10:30?
Why doesn't seem to come home?
Daily Show can't be that important
I am told that I am too moody.
I am broken.
Obviously.
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Got up too late.
Went to work with wet hair. Again.
Worked on ASP stuff.
Cleared a month of stupid site maintenance to-do's.
Inspired three-year-old to want to eat branches.
Restructured Captain John Smith.
Wondered why if there are butterfly houses there are not also cricket pens,
roach museums, and spider duplexes.
Got my hair cut.
Downloaded iTunes to my cute pink iPod.
Finished editing Sixteen Cows.
Made mashed potatoes without burning anything or setting off the smoke detector.
Sulked for general reasons.
Failed at being a good person. Again.
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Arrived at work seconds before conference call
Participated in pizza lunch meeting w/o eating pizza
Beowulf, Beowulf, Beowulf
Proclaim Beowulf finished.
Went about non-epic activities
Boss says, "Beowulf needs work."
Went home, being passed by Urbana Fire Truck rushing mutual aid to Champaign
Beowulf, Beowulf, Beowulf
Proclaim Beowulf finished again.
Put bread in oven to toast
Burned edges of bread quite blackly
Smoke detector DIDN'T go off
Ate toast anyway
Looked at Vietnam lesson
Became depressed
Worked on Sixteen Cows lesson instead
Got really tired of the word "Bam!"
Joined Shamu in the pillow palace
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Monday, March 07, 2005
So maybe yesterday’s list of interesting things wasn’t convincing. Maybe you’re back and wondering what I did today:
Went to work.
Attended a meeting.
Wrote the Ideas column for Inbox.
Left work.
Worked on the Beowulf fun.
Cooked dinner.
Set off smoke detector again (with steam?)
Moved smoke detector out of the kitchen.
Finished cooking, noting no burnt bits visible.
Moved smoke detector back to the kitchen.
Worked on Beowulf some more.
Ate snack that was unwise, gaining 50 pounds.
Wrote journal entry as an attempt at fame and glory.
Noticed failure of attempt.
Went to bed with Shamu.
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Sunday, March 06, 2005
According to this month's Real Simple, I can make my life more memorable by taking more notes about it:
From “Jot It Down”
There’s a reason people say time flies. Some of us may think it’s because each day grows “shorter” in relation to the total time we’ve lived. Psychologists say it’s due to routines that make one day indistinguishable from the next. To make each day stand out, jot down one interesting thing you did (even if it’s just “Walked home with Mary”) in your date book. When you take a look back, you’ll remember the moments that add up to your life. [their emphasis]March 2005, p. 20
Unfortunately, I do not know Mary, and I think it would be silly to walk home when I didn’t go anywhere in the first place. Perhaps I can demonstrate why people don’t remember the day-to-day minutia.
Worked on Inbox entry for Tuesday
Washed Hair & Laundry (in different locations)
Took trash to trash can
Cooked dinner
Set off smoke detector cooking dinner
Turned on a lot of fans
Ate parts of dinner not burned
Window shopped online for iTunes downloads and Pratchett books I don’t have time to read
Continued to procrastinate on editing Vietnam lesson plan by writing journal entry
Posted Friday, 24-Aug-2007 17:08:18 PDT
Copyright © 1998-2011 Traci Gardner, P. O. Box 11836, Blacksburg, VA 24060-1836.
These materials may be referenced, linked to, and indexed, but their contents
may not be duplicated without express written consent of the author. See the
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