Authors & Texts

We use Stewart Brand's Ted Talk, "The Dawn of De-Extinction," as an example of argument. We build critical thinking skills by pairing this text with other articles on this emerging and controversial science.

We read the title story of the 2007 short story collection, St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by MacArthur fellow Karen Russell. The book is available at the Henderson County Public Library. Here's a video of her interview with the MacArthur Foundation.

Another story we read comes from Sherman Alexie's 1993 collection, "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven." Alexie went on to win the National Book Award for his 2007 young adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. If you're interested, Alexie has numerous videos on Youtube, and many titles available at the library. Here's a clip of him reading to a fidgety class at Salish School of Spokane.

One of the first poems we consider is Mary Oliver's 1990 poem, "The Summer Day." The final two lines read, "Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?" I find these words so moving that I put them on our classroom wall. Here's a great recording of Oliver reciting the poem.