There is a kid in Oregon who loves CHAINS. He loves it so much that he wrote an original song about it and then made this video. Be sure to watch all the way to the end. There is a surprise there that might bring tears to your eyes. That’s what happened to me.
OMG!
I love it! What a wonderfully creative way to express his deep response to Chains! A great tribute to your work, Laurie.
Sweet!!!
That’s awesome! I want to read it again now. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
This is SO COOL!
Wowwowwow. He gets an A in EVERYTHING.
Wowowowowow!! LOVE IT!
I hope if he lives in the Portland Metro area, he submitted that for the Signal to Noise competition!
As a native Oregonian, I salute this young man!
Wow. He wins at LIFE.
*scuttles off to youtube to tell him so*
So awesome. That’s very cool. Thanks for sharing and thanks to the kid for going above and beyond in sharing his enthusiasm for the book with the world. 🙂
Truly amazing and inspiring! What a creative young man! Not only did he internalize your story, your characters, and your message, but he connected the dots from the Revolution to the Civil Rights Movement. Thanks for sharing it.
brenda
Amazing! Thank you for sharing. This warms my English teacher, book loving, teen loving heart! He got the book and he made some amazing connections! I’m planning to use Chains with my middle schoolers next year and will definitely show them this!
That kid is BRILLIANT!
So are you.
chains
I love it. I will definitely be sharing it with my 8th graders this week. How much longer until Forged?
Why I love kids.
This elegant young man is why I love kids!
Now that is crazy awesome!
That is so cool! (He’s from Oregon! Yay!)
THIS IS INCREDIBLE…
I. Love. THIS. What a talent, and what a great way of knowing you are heard! Laurie, I’d love to post this to my FB page, would you mind? This is truly the definition of tribute. I love there are people of great heart alive.
Re: THIS IS INCREDIBLE…
Go right ahead and post!
what a talented guy. the song great and the video is very well done. i think he’s got a bright future ahead of him!
I know this kid!
He lives in Southern Oregon. He’s my middle school choir teacher’s son. Really cool kid.
This guy has shown a streak of multi-media creative genius. I have a whole new appreciation of rap. Thank you for sharing.
This is a beautiful thing! I LOVE art inspired by other art.
Grade- A
I can assure you Isaac got an “A” on his project. It was very impressive. This project was a great way for him to use his talents! His strength lies in the performing arts and his family is very supportive of that. Great Job Isaac (and family 😉
Our class read 3 novels related to slavery. Each student had a choice of 14 different projects to complete for their final. We have some wonderful sculptures, dioramas, posters, composed songs, newspapers, scrapbooks, critical review essays, murals, poems, and a couple other music videos. I have taken pictures of most of the projects. I would be happy to share them! We got some wonderful responses from our students.
I work in a “team-teaching” situation with another language arts teacher. Combined, we have about 80 projects for each novel from our 8th graders. Please let me know if you would like to see other projects related to CHAINS.
Sincerely,
Natosha Mickson (and Deb Jensen)
Scenic Middle School
Central Point Oregon
natosha.mickson@district6.org
What a talented student, and kudos to these teachers for giving an assignment that allowed their kids to be so creative. And hats off to Laurie for the great book that inspired it all!
Re: Grade- A
You are a fantastic teacher. Thank you for allowing your students to think outside of the box and express their love for literature.
Times are tough in teaching right now, but it is fantastic to see teachers who are still doing a great job.
Re: Grade- A
Thanks a lot. Trust me, it takes a village, and all of the ideas for projects weren’t originals or mine to start with. We are a bunch of thieves when it comes to teaching ideas.
Amazing Kid! Love his whole family.
Woot! Go Isaac! I’m such a huge fan of Laurie Halse Anderson this is awesome! Isaac’s mom was my choir director, so I know for a fact that music runs in his blood and he is so gifted in the arts, I’m not surprised he came up with this. 🙂
I just watched this with my nine-year-old son, what an amazing and powerful video. And how wonderful it is that your book inspired him to make it!
What an amazing and talented kid! Issac, you rock my socks!
And Laurie, what an awesome feeling it must be to know that your words grew outwards and planted seeds of further creativity.
🙂 His name is Isaac, I know him!
chains video
What a talented and inspiring young man. He represents what all us writers wish for…a reader who connects in a profound and moving way to something we’ve written. Congratulations!
chains video
This just goes to show you never know who your work will touch. I’m sure this young boy doesn’t either. Wonderful. I’m glad he chose to share that will all of us but mostly you. “;-)
Chains: The Music Video
This is, by far, one of the most creative video’s from a kiddo I’ve ever seen. What a talented young man. Thank you so much for sharing it. SA
GREAT JOB!
I also had his mother as my choir director back when I was in middle school.. this goes to show how powerful the combination of creativity and encouragement can be. Nice work Isaac. Keep up the enthusiasm. You will reap the benefits even more later on in life.
Re: Grade- A
You folks are rocking the block like Mr. Spock in your approach to student reaction to literature. Isaac did a great job on this. It’s great that the kids can express themselves and even the author of the book can see/hear about it!
I am planning on reading aloud Chains to my classes next year, so I am glad that you posted this. It will be so fun to share it with my students next year. I am sure they will be excited to see the possibilities with technology and creativity, and it will be icing on the cake that it was by a fellow Oregonian!
Oregon Boy: Chains
This is our Isaac, one of the star performers in the Teen Musical Theater of Oregon’s productions. We LOVE Isaac!! See him in other videos and pix at: http://www.cmtoregon.org
Chains
Impressive. That is one creative kid! Very thoughtful.