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Los estudiantes en la clase de literatura han elegido novelas escritas en español que les dan la gana de leer como Drácula, Harry Potter, La ciudad de las bestias, Esperanza Renace, El tiempo de las mariposas y otras. 

Para empezar, dedicamos 40 minutos en una clase a la semana para leer; luego, los estudiantes escriben una reflexión aquí en SLATE como una manera de procesar lo que acaban de leer..  Para la tarea, leen 3 reflexiones y responden con comentarios y preguntas.  (Hasta ahora, no hay la opción de hacer commentarios aquí en SLATE así que tenemos que hacerlos en un formato de foro en Moodle.)

Las instrucciones para la primera reflexión:

Después de leer, escribe una reflexión en nuestra página en SLATE sobre el libro.  No importa la cantida sino la calidad. 

Menciona lo suigiente en la reflexión:

• el título de la novela, el / la autor(a)
  
• el género
  
• el trama (hasta ahora)
  
• predicciones que tienes sobre el trama
• los personajes (hasta ahora)
  
• ¿Te gusta hasta ahora?  ¿Por qué? 
  
• ¿El libro se relaciona con algun aspecto de tu vida?  ¿Cómo?  
• ¿Recomindas el libro?  ¿Para quién?  ¿Por qué?
  

¡Espero que los alumnos disfruten la experiencia de leer con libertad!

How did your parents parents effect the way your parents parent you? How will that effect the way you parent your children? FIND OUT IN THIS THRILLING PODCAST.

We all know about the "norm" of clothing that we are all expected to follow. But what if someone was to break this "norm?" In this podcast, you will learn about the experience of one girl and how she did so. Also, you will listen to the different views and opinions on her from students of the same class.

High school is where we experience different things about life. First drama, first crush, first boyfriend, first kiss, and first rejection. This is also the time where the hormones of the teens are on their peak. For example would be making out in the hallway and extreme PDA. Does this affect their education and relationship? Are they passing the school policies? To find the answer I, Pauline Garcia, interviewed a teacher and a student to help me understand and find the answer to the questions.

This is a very interesting story about a man's childhood. I sit and talk with him as he shares with me the trails he went through as a child. I hope you enjoy this story.

Group members: Brenda, Tyrone, and Chris
Music by: Smashing Pumpkins-The beginning is the end of the beginning

On April 14 2010 a group of Freshmen kids were heading out to a place they went to every Weds. But what they did not know is that, On that day it will change their TFI experience forever.

Parents often set "Invisible boundaries" and except their child to have known better of what to do in a situation.

A) "OUR"
Escribe: nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras
1. . . .  familia es bastante grande
2. . . . profesores son bien simpáticos.
3. . . . novias son muy guapas.
4. . . . clases son demasiado dificiles.
5. . . . director se llama Sr. Lehmann.

B) Escribe en español. 'S NO EXISTE en español.
1. She is Allison's best friend.
2. Baird's class is fun.
3. Allen's computer doesn't work.

Aidan walked into the wood, wielding only his trusty axe and a thermos of coffee and whiskey. He made sure to step on each of the individual crusty brown leaves lying on the forest floor. He was thinking about his cabin, deeply secluded in the mountain several miles away. He couldn't quite remember if he had covered his logs with the tarp. He wondered if his dog, Bruce Springsteen, was still howling at the oven.

"Fucking dogs," Aidan thought.

If only he didn't have to travel this far everyday. If only Montana hadn't recently passed the Land Protection Act, Aidan wouldn't have to travel several miles by foot every day to avoid cutting down trees in an "environmental preservation zone."

"Fucking treehuggers," Aidan thought.

He finally stopped next to a tall tree with ripe red leaves. He looked up, savoring the view of the sun shining through the beautiful red leaves. For a moment, Aidan remembered. He remembered climbing in these trees as a youngster. Sharing a picnic with his family in this very spot. For a moment, Aidan was not Aidan the lumberjack, but Aidan the human being.

He then swung his axe into the tree until it fell heavily to the ground.

"Fucking nature," Aidan thought.

A story of how a 6 year old can accomplish something that most older peers would be expected to achieve. How that one accomplishment changed the rest of my life!

"And don't come back!" she screeched as she threw Chris to the ground. "Ouch," Chris thought, "what a strong woman. She just threw me!"

Chris had just been thrown out of his favourite diner. He had been hitting on the waitress, Carmella, yet again. She told him that he was making her uncomfortable, but he didn't listen. He couldn't. Hard as he tried, he could not manage to stop the steady stream of sexual innuendo and just outright profanity that flowed out of his mouth.

With the help of the handrail against which he fell, Chris pulled himself up, lit a cigarette, and walked away. Like a boss.

​I interviewed my grandparents about how my grandfather changed religion to marry. The podcast is based theme of crossing boundaries.

Alex ate her macaroni and cheese in silence. This silence was not one born out of upset or anger, however-- no, this silence was forced. In fact, if she could have it her way, Alex would be talking. Yelling. Singing. She could not, however, because Alex was a mute.

She had been a mute for only 1 year, since the accident. The accident that changed her life. The accident... that changed her destiny.

No, but seriously, it was just a car accident. Her destiny is still probably the same. She just can't talk now.

When you cross a border, you cross a geographic boundary. While interviewing my mother, I learned that there is much more to it then I thought though. You face many struggles and moral decisions as well as new boundaries.

Saturday night I realized that one of the beads on my nose ring popped off. It was late, so I decided to just put it aside and fix it tomorrow. However, the next morning, the entire ring had fallen out, so I kind of panicked. 

I attempted to put the ring back in myself, but I guess it closed up a little and it hurt, so I decided I didn't want to mess with it and went to the place I got it pierced at originally. 

I decided while I was there I might as well get a bigger ring, because I've wanted a bigger one for ages. 

I didn't realize that meant they would have to stretch my piercing, and I guess I wasn't prepared for it. 

The girl put a taper in my nose and started pushing, I was just sitting there thinking ...this hurts... why does this... the piercing itself didn't even hurt... this hurts WOW THIS HURTS 

I started tearing up, and accidentally said "crying is for the weak" out loud. Now everyone there (well my two friends had come with me) witnessed how badass I am and they can't even deny it. 

Christine walked to the supermarket to buy an avocado. She had to stop several times on the way there in order to tie her shoelaces. This did not bother her, however, as the weather was, as she would say, "positively delightful!"

When she got to the store, Christine bought her avocado. On her walk home, her shoes became untied again. She screamed a scream of anger, threw her shoes to the sidewalk, and walked away. Like a boss.

But man was that avocado ripe.

Having more brothers and sisters effect you lifestyles vs. not having lots of brothers and sisters.

This long week has been great. I was surprised that we didn't have school yesterday all because we had like three inches of snow. Then again that is the Philadelphia school system.

I woke up yesterday extra early in the morning to get ready and to make it on time ( I had saturday school this week; I was not trying to be late) I was fully dressed and ready to go to school. While I'm heading out my little brother starts complaining about how there is snow on the ground and he didn't want to go to school. I start to argue with him until he finally makes e go on FaceBook to check if anyone else was going to school. (It's a shame really that I didn't just turn the news on.) None the less I pull out my laptop and at seven in the morning there is a never ending feed flow  from SLAers in particular; some happy and upset about there not being school. I was a it discouraged because I had put so much effort into getting ready that particular day; But i put on my PJ's and sat on my couch.

What's in a school? How about tradition? As said by my best friend and interviewee "High school is a whole different world." Grade school may seem like no big deal but coming from a Catholic grade school based entirely on tradition, this was my story about crossing the boundary by leaving my neighborhood and my peers. This is a story about my parents decision to break the social norm and *gasp* send me to public school *gasp times two*--downtown. 

Musical Breakdown
First Day of my Life- Bright Eyes
Polite Dance Song- The Bird and the Bee
The Book of Matches- Gentleman Auction House
Stranger- Dr. Dog

In this podcast I interviewed my cousin Brandon Carter about his cell phone being taken away from him. He talks about the toll it took on him and his social life, and why parents everywhere should make rules regarding cell phones very clear. Enjoy!

Music - Jingle Bell Rock (Instrumental), Happy Ending (Avril Lavigne), Happy Ending (Guitar Solo)