Over the past few weeks, students in Mrs. Mary Rice’s honors English class have been working hard to create there very own renditions of a “Faustian Bargain.”

In the story Dr. Faustus a very intelligent scholar sells his soul to the devil and in return, the devil grants the man his every wish for a number of years. The students in Mrs. Rice’s class have been making their own versions of this exchange. They are making up stories that involve a character giving up something of long term importance for something of immediate gain. The ideas the students have come up with ideas that vary from a jungle scene to an ocean scene, and they involve all different kinds of characters such as lions, fish, and llamas.

After the students come up with an idea, they ponder on ways to share it. They can do a skit, a puppet show, or pretty much anything else they can come up with. The students create the scenery, the character, and the voices in each scenario.

All of this is in preparation to read the classic novel, Dr. Faustus. After the skits the students of Mrs. Rice’s class read about the real Faustian Bargain. The main purpose of all of this was explained by Mrs. Rice, “I am really aiming for students to understand how sophisticated authors layer stories together. The layering indicts the original story in some ways and affirms it others. Lots of times young people think that they have to come up with an entirely new story, which is not the case. One of the traits of brilliant authors is that they can tell an old story in way that sounds fresh and relevant for modern audiences.”

Mary Rice of Springville Junior High was recently appointed to serve as State Coordinator of the Achievement Awards in Writing Program for the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

The NCTE Achievement Awards in Writing competition is open to juniors in high school and recognizes writing excellence based on the students’ samples of their own best prose or verse, and on impromptu themes that are written under supervision. The State Coordinator receives entries and directs the work of the state judges. For more information on NCTE’s Achievement Awards in Writing, please visit here.

The National Council of Teachers of English, with 50,000 individual and institutional members worldwide, is dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. For more information, please visit here.

Bailey Penrose reading War of the Worlds in Mrs. Rice’s 8th grade English class.

Christopher Taylor
SJHS Staff Writer

Out of all the different genres in reading, science fiction is one of the largest. Stories from this genre can contain anything from time travel and stories about the future to alien invaders.  Many of these stories were inspired by the writings of H. G. Wells. Mrs. Mary Rice’s eight-grade English class is reading War of the Worlds, which is a book about invaders from Mars by H.G. Wells. According to Mrs. Rice, the class will be reading and analyzing the many different facts and philosophies used by the author, along with studying its interesting and exciting narrative.

Along with reading the book, the class will be making their own “apocalyptic broadcasts” just like the reading of the book that was broadcast in 1938. After the somewhat realistic broadcast of the book aired, many people were frightened and thought that the books event were real. People contacted neighbors and friends, and widespread panic ensued.  Many English classes only study the radio broadcast when learning about War of the Worlds, but Mrs. Rice’s class is unique because they are studying not only the broadcast, but the actual book as well.

Many of Mrs. Rice’s students are excited to read War of the Worlds. Eric Harrison, a student in the class, said, “It’s really awesome because it’s not an everyday story; it’s very different and exciting.”  According to Zachary Droubay, another student in the class, the book is detailed and interesting.

“One of the most interesting things about science fiction in the late 1800’s is that authors predicted a lot of the technology that we have today. But they did this with literary theory and philosophy instead of science,” said Mrs. Rice. Obviously, we haven’t had any invaders from Mars or time machines, but writers like H.G. Wells predicted other things like people traveling into outer space. Hopefully, reading books by these authors will help students like the ones in Mrs. Rice’s class to think about the future.

What is it that girls can’t wait for any longer? It’s New Moon. Many girls have been anticipating the release of New Moon, the second of four movies in the Twilight Saga.

Mrs. Mary Rice, an English teacher at SJHS, said she got into the series when a friend told her that Stephanie Meyer was going to be talking about Twilight at BYU. She then went and  read the books.

As much as the books are loved, most can agree that they aren’t perfect. Victoria Ireland, an eighth grade student, said, “The beginnings are really slow.” Savannah McNitt, another eighth grade student, said, “Bella is so ditzy.”

One of the greatest things about this book is the characters. Many people fight over who is better, Edward the vampire whom Bella is in love with, or Jacob the werewolf, whom is Bella’s best friend. According to Savannah, she likes Jacob because he is cuter in the movie. “I like both; it just depends,” said, Victoria.

So whether they are a Jacob fan or Edward fan, lots of students and teachers are excited for this movie.

Mrs. Rice’s students prepare for a group discussion.

Hayde Blanco
SJHS Staff Writer

Do you remember those essays you had to do when you were in school? Well writing here at Springville Junior High isn’t too hard to find. Especially for those students who would like to have a better understanding and were brave enough to take Honors English.

Honors English here is taught by only one teacher, and that teacher is Mrs. Mary Rice. According to her, in Honors English students have more choices than students in other English classes. Instead of Mrs. Rice choosing what the class will study, it is, “Whatever the students decide to do,” said Mrs. Rice. “Students pick from a reading list and the subject that has the most votes is what they get to work on.”

Ninth-graders Whitney Norman and D.J. Barnes both agree that their favorite thing they have worked on is reading Dracula. Whitney said, “Reading it as a class helps me understand it more than when I read it alone.”

People may think that Honors English is a class where they do nothing but work, but students sure do like this class. Whitney said, “It’s just a lot of fun!”  D.J. also likes the teacher. D.J. said, “She interacts with her students more than any other teacher I have met.”

Mrs. Rice has a lot of fun projects planned out for the students in Honors English. According to Mrs. Rice, these projects will be writing, dramatic and presentational projects. So think again, maybe Honors English is a class that eighth grade students might want to take.

Mrs. Rice teaching her sixth period class.

Jose Martinez
SJHS Staff Writer

For years, many families from Latin America have arrived to the U.S. searching for work, education, and freedom from oppression, poverty, and at times Communism in the case of Cuba. So many are not able to speak English, but at Springville Junior High School, English and English as a second Language teacher Mrs. Mary Rice wants to make a difference and help Hispanics learn English and not suffer in the American life.

“If you are an ESL student, you come to a place called school every day and spend about six hours with people your own age who are talking and communicating with each other,” said Mrs. Rice.  Students who are in ESL at Springville Junior High are learning English but also learning to socialize with each other; students sometimes find it hard to completely learn the new language but most of them pull through and they learn the basic vocabulary in a 3-5 year period.

“During this time, students can also learn to speak without an accent or minimal traces,” said Mrs. Rice.  Not all students will learn English fluently like others who have lived in the United States for most of their lives, but it is possible and kids have to want to learn and learn successfully, and just stay out of trouble.

“It is easy to think that children who came to this country do so voluntarily, but that is  almost never the case,” said Mrs. Rice.  Most Hispanic children come here do to difficult situations in there home country, while some kids choose to get an education and grow, others decide to take the wrong road by choosing gangs, drugs, prostitution and so on.  Some Hispanic kids choose to do these things over getting an education.

Every student that decides to join Springville Junior High to learn and grow is welcome.  Mrs. Rice knows this and is willing to help all her students so they are ready to tackle life head on.

At Springville Junior High School, room 54 is full of astute thinkers reading advanced books. The eighth grade students of Mrs. Mary Rice’s class have been reading Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” and “The Black Cat.”

“We used this text as an opportunity to learn vocabulary and also to acquaint ourselves with the Gothic or Dark Romantic style,” said Mrs. Rice. She went on explain that before reading the text, the class explored the contrast between dark and light, the exotic adornments on the cathedrals that coincide with the rich language of Gothic writing. They also explored the ways in which Gothic art invokes certain conflicting emotions. The students then tracked those ideas throughout reading “The Masque of the Red Death.” Finally they shared their experiences by writing dialogues on what they thought might have happened at the masques, made masks, and then performed the dialogues in class.

Following their projects on The Masque of the Red Death, the eighth grade students read Poe’s “The Black Cat.”  Mrs. Rice explained, “For [The Black Cat], we explored the idea of an unreliable narrator, a concept popularized by Poe.”

To explain the idea to the students, the class held a “sanity hearing” for the narrator. In this, everyone in the class wrote witness statements based on characters in the story while some students were lawyers. Mr. Brian Rice’s English class served as the jury. Mr. Rice’s class listened to testimonies, evaluated arguments, and delivered a verdict.

To finish their studies on argument, the students read articles on possible ways Poe might have died. The students then built mini arguments on the possible ways. “One important idea for students is that they are rarely in a position to prove or disprove phenomena, but they can use evidence from text to make a convincing argument,” said Mrs. Rice.

Students enjoyed Mr. Poe’s writing. Hayde Blanco, a student in the class, said she loved his descriptive words. Lyndsee Mecham simply said, “He was an interesting writer.” Both Hayde and Lyndsee said their favorite text was “The Black Cat.”

Mr. Mikesell is one of the English teachers who supervises the after school writing lab at Springville Junior High.

Cody Woolsey
SJHS Staff Writer

Most students at Springville Junior High have not yet heard of the important news – there is an after school writing lab for students. Students can use this writing lab to finish assignments on computers or get help on their writing assignments.

“The writing lab is everyday after school from 2:40-3:30 except Wednesday,” explained Mr. Mikesell, an English teacher at Springville Junior High, “We have English teachers there everyday. They can help you with any writing assignment, and can help you learn how to use computers.” The supervisors are Ms. Neeley, Mrs. Bass, Mr. Mikesell, and Mrs. Rice, all English teachers at Springville Junior High. They are there the whole time to help students with anything they need.

According to Mr. Mikesell, the environment in the writing lab is a very calm, peaceful, laid back environment where students can get their work done with very little interruption. It’s a place where, teachers hope students can feel calm and know that they can get help if they need it.

In the past, very few students have shown up to the writing lab. This is its second year being used and the supervisors hope that this year more students will show up.

“The writing lab is in room 22 – a computer lab; there are plenty of available computers for students to use, if needed,” explained Ms. Bass. If you need to finish your writing assignments or need help understanding how to use computers for school, the writing lab is the place for you!

SJHS student Delon Lier shows off the origami airplane he made in math.

KresLynn Knouse
SJHS Staff Writer

Although end of level testing has been winding down, classes have not stopped just yet. Every teacher at Springville Junior High has been coming up with creative ideas on how to end the year with some interesting assignments.

Mrs. Corrin Gleave, a math teacher at SJHS, is one of these teachers. “We experiment with origami airplanes and modify the folding and paper used to achieve a desired result. For example, some students choose to fold a plane for distance where others prefer height, tricks or aesthetics. The students then conduct test flights and gather data. This data must be represented in an infomercial and be mathematically accurate. I film the infomercials, and we spend a couple of days watching them.”  She assigned all of her math classes the same project, and the classes have been working on them all week.

The Spanish and Chinese classes plan to celebrate by playing a game of soccer.  “We’ve been waiting to play for a while now, I’m so glad we’re finally doing it. I heard the Spanish classes won all their games, I guess we’ll find out soon!” said Dean Robertson, a ninth grade student currently taking Mandarin Chinese.

The Honors English classes have been finishing up their unit on Dracula, and Mrs.  Rice’s classes have started their own “To Do Lists.”

“The To Do lists are student generated lists of projects to complete before the end of the year. They represent a chance to revisit and revise assignments completed earlier in the year according to a writer’s workshop model which helps the students maintain an identity as a writer,” said Mrs. Rice, “I love to observe and participate in the literate practices of my students. I am really fascinated with the artistic sophistication, which includes writing that lives and grows in this community.”

Although some may be guilty of counting down the days until the last day, students have been enjoying these final weeks of school, thanks to our creative teachers here at SJHS.

To improve mobility for Springville and Mapleton, the Utah Department of Transportation is expanding 400 South in Springville from I-15 to Main Street. Construction began in the summer of 2008 and the major construction activities will be complete, and the roadway will open in the fall of this year. The whole project will be completed in the spring of 2010.

The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) is going to rebuild the existing freeway exit, add a lane along southbound I-15 between the two Springville interchanges, widen 400 South to four lanes from I-15 to Main Street in Springville, and build a new bridge over the Union Pacific Railroad at 1500 West and replace the existing bridge at 400 West.

Mrs. Kathryn Crandall, teacher at SJHS, and her family own a ranch near the construction, and when asked how the road construction affects her family’s ranch she said, “It creates a lot of traffic that makes it difficult getting equipment back and forth to the other side of the freeway.” She also said, “It will be worth it in the long run.”

Mrs. Mary Rice, another teacher at Springville Junior High, said, “As part of my responsibilities as a teacher, I occasionally visit students. The road construction has made it difficult to visit students who live in certain neighborhoods.” She also said, “I hope that the people who live in those neighborhoods will have access to safe, reasonable traffic flow patterns, and I can go back to home visiting with ease when the construction is over.”