Learning Letter

Dear Sean,

This was such a great class. I learned so much about myself as both a teacher and a student.
The work that we did in this class was really great. The book talks were one of the most beneficial things to me. I loved hearing about other's books and reading a book of my own. This gave me a chance to hear about new books that I will definitely be recommending to my students. I have so many new books to read and I could not be more excited. I also loved the mini lessons. These were really cool because they gave me a chance to see how different lessons could be taught. I absolutely loved Kylee and Jessica's mini lesson on Maus with the holocaust victims. I feel like this was such an essential lesson. I hope to use this lesson as well as others in my classroom someday. By seeing all these lessons and teaching my own, it really shows me how teaching can be extremely creative and personable. I think that coming into this class, I was in a weird mindset with teaching and I'd been almost trained to follow the common core to a tee.  However, after this class, I feel much more prepared and relaxed about teaching. Yes, there are still hoops to jump through and clamber over, but I feel like I am much more prepared.
I loved the blog posts. I feel like these are such a great use in the classroom. I would love to incorporate something like this in my classroom someday. All the reading we did was great. I think my favorite would have to be Readicide by Kelly Gallagher. This book opened up my eyes so much. Gallagher really hits it spot on when he talks about over teaching books and not encouraging enough reading in the classroom. This really hit home with me and I have a completely different viewpoint on how to teach novels now. I also loved reading Critical Pedagogy in an Urban High School Classroom. This article really opened my eyes to different ways of approaching education. This article gave great insight on how to help your students be successful. I loved all the reading in this class and I do not think that I would read anything different.
From this class, I definitely feel more prepared to become a teacher. The unit plan definitely helped me see teaching more clearly. I feel like because of that and the discussions in this classroom, I will be a better teacher now. Hearing what my peers have had to say about teaching and participating in discussions both in small and large group has really changed my way about teaching in some aspects. I can honestly say, that because of this class, I will be a better teacher. I learned how to be a better teacher because of this class and that's something that I rarely say. Thank you again for all the time that you've put into this class. I can truly see myself as a teacher because of this class. Thank you again.

-Hannah Kersey

In the Name of God Mini Lesson

This is an amazing read. Man alive. Paula Jolin is an absolutely wonderful author who truly captures audiences with her stunning story. I think there are a lot of teaching ideas that could go along with this book. This would be a book that I am interested in teaching. I think one idea would be to have a full on group discussion about defending one's belief. In this novel, we see that Nadia would just about go to the extreme of killing herself to defend religion. I think this opens a lot of doors with students. I think teachers could either discuss or have students respond to the following question in a journal type fashion: "what are some of your most valued beliefs, can you relate to Nadia at all, how far would you go to defend something you care about?" I think this text is one that students can read and be able to see the world a little differently. I think by writing a letter to the author on how this book changed them would be interesting to see students tackle. I think writing letters to authors is a great way to reach the community and give a writing piece meaning. By having students write to Jolin about what they thought about the book and how it changed them, would be a great tool of assessment. I also think that students would have a lot to say to the author after they finished reading this book. This easily could be a book that would cause some controversy in the classroom. However, I think if teachers preface the book by explaining that, yes the Middle East does have a very negative connotation attached to it right now. However, my hope is that this book will change your mind about some issues that you've heard of recently. I think this book would need a lot of preparation done before hand in order to teach it. However, I think this would be a book that students would remember, and I also think that we as teachers should be comfortable with teaching the uncomfortable.

Romeo and Juliet Mini Lesson

Good old Romeo and Juliet. I personally do not like this play. This is not quite my taste. I am very curious to see how the mini lesson is done on this play. However, this play is required for most ninth graders and I could very possibly teach this play in a future classroom someday. What I would do to make this play a little easier on students is to first introduce William Shakespeare. I think it's important for students to know that he wrote mostly comedies which means that Romeo and Juliet was a little bit different for him. Shakespeare has many more comedies than dramatic plays. I think to do this play, I would have students draw some scenes out from the book. I would give my students certain scenes to work with and draw out as a group. I feel like if 9th graders create a visual of what's going on in this play, they will more likely remember the scene and understand the difficult language. I think another interesting idea would be to ask the essay question: 'Who's fault is it?' I think there are so many different responses I would get to this question which would make Romeo and Juliet more enjoyable for myself. I think if students had this in mind from the first page, they could possibly enjoy this text more. I think the obvious choices are it's either Romeo's fault that they both died or it's Juliet's fault. Students would also need to consider Friar Laurence and the mother and father as well as any other characters they think. This would be written in an argumentative type style as to why their choice is correct. I think students would have a little bit of fun with this and it would be enjoyable to grade. I also think another teaching idea is to rewrite scenes of the play in texting language. I think 9th graders would enjoy being able to make texts out of Romeo and Juliet. This way, students would be tricked into analyzing the play only in a semi fun way. I think there's a lot that goes into Romeo and Juliet. I feel like this can be one of the trickiest plays to teach because there is so much hate out there. I think in a way, teachers can embrace the student hate and almost agree with them. I guarantee at least one student is going to think that these two young-ins are stupid. As a teacher, I would agree with them. Yes, they're stupid, why do you think William Shakespeare wrote them this way? Was this on purpose? Or was he actually trying to convince everyone that they were madly in love? I think by embracing the hate that this play gets, teaching it will become much easier.

Poe Mini Lessons

I loved reading all of Poe's stories and poems. Most of these stories and poems, I have read before. I think there are a ton of great teaching ideas that you can do with Poe. I do believe that full class discussions are hugely beneficial when it comes to Poe. Students could also draw out some of Poe's themes. If students are confused with what they have read, they could take the poem or story, line by line and draw out what they think is happening. This would be an interesting way to see Poe portrayed. If students are struggling with themes, they can draw those out as well. It'd also be another interesting teaching idea to have students discuss or draw out the settings within Poe's poems or stories. The setting usually proves to be fairly important in Poe's works. He usually uses the setting to add to the story and I think students should understand this element. They could either talk about or write about how the settings adds to the overall theme of the poem or story. They could also draw out the setting and this would show how it adds to the story. Students could also watch animated cartoons of Poe's works. If students are struggling to understand Poe, they could watch the the cartoons to help develop understanding. I do not think there are many obstacles with Poe. I do think that he can be overdone in schools. I think that with Poe, you just have to be careful to not overdo it. Some of the themes could be scary to some students but if teachers reiterate that he's one of the best writers of all time, and that his works can be somewhat comical if read correctly. All in all, I love Poe and his works, and I think that he should be taught in extremely creative ways.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie was a phenomenal read. This book hits on absolutely everything and anything that a teenager could go through. I loved how this book was set in Spokane. I think this adds such an authentic element to the book. I personally remember driving through Reardan. I remember driving through this town as a child on my way to a family vacation spot. I love how in this book, we see everything from Junior's point of view. This gives the book a naive and sentimental feel. I think this would personally be a great book to teach. It's a great coming of age novel and I think students would have fun drawing their own comic. This would be a great way to connect kinesthetic learners and visual learners to this unit. Students could draw a comic of their life or any specific event. This way they could be drawing along side of Junior. I think this book would be a great discussion material as well. There are great discussions that could be held about this when it comes to cultural elements. While reading this book, I could not believe that this was one of the most banned books in schools. Yes, it does have some iffy parts, and yes there is cussing and inappropriate references. However, this is told through a teenager's point of view. It's a stream of consciousness type of feel. I feel like everything that is referenced in this book is nothing new to what a 15 year old boy already thinks. I think that there are enough important themes in this book that you could definitely argue it being taught in schools. This book is a great one and one that should be read in everyone's lifetime. Alexie gets across so many themes with coming of age, cultural differences, and change all in an extremely accessible and enjoyable way.

More Than This Book Talk

Overview:
This story focuses around a seventeen year old boy named Seth. The story opens up with Seth drowning. He then wakes up in what appears to be his own personal hell. Throughout the story, Seth struggles to find out what this place is and what it means. Several things seem to be really off. One, Seth actually wakes up in his childhood home in England. Two, Seth is all alone. There is no one around him. Dust covers everything. Looking at it at first glance, this world seems like it’s a weird post-apocalyptic world. Three, whenever Seth thinks of something, it randomly appears. In one part of the book, he thinks it’s weird that there are no animals in this world. As soon as he thinks that, three foxes appear. Dreams also play a vital part in this story. Every time Seth goes to sleep, he dreams extremely realistic dreams that actually happened in his past life. However, Seth suddenly has trouble differentiating his dreams from the reality. He becomes unsure which world he’s actually living in. Seth shows his audience what being alone and struggling with reality can do to a human.

Teaching Ideas:

This text could easily be used when teaching students how to write in an argumentative way or defend their choices. Since this book is extremely open to interpretation, students could argue what they think is actually happening in this book. This text could also be used to teach dystopian literature and themes within dystopian societies. I could envision class discussions on different themes within the book. This text could also be used to show the importance of setting. I think it would be cool for students to draw out a map of this place or what they think one scene of this book would look like.

Rationale:

My eighteen year old sister recommended this text to me. She has a great taste in young adult books and when she started talking about this, she broke out in goosebumps. This was my first time reading it. I think this book is great for juniors and seniors. This would be a great book to recommend to someone who’s in a rut with reading. This book is definitely a page turner and a student could get through it easily. There are elements of this book that deal with suicide, death, kidnapping, and child abuse. While this book does not go into extensive detail, this can definitely be upsetting to read especially with a younger audience.

Obstacles:

Death is prevalent throughout this entire book. The book opens up with Seth’s suicide. Later in this book, it goes into detail about Seth’s drowning. This book can be intense and is filled with Seth cussing at the world he ended up in. I think parents and administrators could see potential issues with it simply looking at the death elements. Much later in the book, there is also a section about child abuse. I think administrators could look at this book and potentially toss it aside because it deals with heavy and dark themes. I do think students could relate to sections in this book. Students could easily relate to Seth’s dreams usually reflect on his struggles through his teenage years and how he felt like an outcast within his family.

Readacide

Readacide by Kelly Gallagher was amazing. I loved reading this book and the insights that came along with this book were extraordinary. Gallagher talks about the "epidemic" plaguing the nation called readacide. Teens are beginning to read less and less and it's showing hugely in schools. One point that Gallagher hits on over and over again is the fact that schools are now taking away novels and replacing them with a worksheet paired with an excerpt from a novel or short story. This is doing nothing. There were so many strategies that Gallagher listed in his book that I want to incorporate into my classroom. For example, SSR. Gallagher talks about the importance of silent reading any book that a student chooses (not one that is academic or for another class). I've always been a huge proponent of students choosing their own book and reading. I know that I will implement SSR in my classroom with no added work or book reports or anything that could discourage a student from reading. Even if it's only for 20 minutes a week, SSR will be part of my curriculum. One of my favorite things from this book was at the very end when Gallagher lists 101 books that his reluctant readers usually love to read. I feel that this is a great resource to give to your students or recommend a book off of this list to encourage reading. I will be using this list and recommending these books in a future class of mine. I also really like Gallagher's idea about how to acquire books for your classroom. Gallagher suggests having your seniors donate one of their favorite books and leaving it as their mark in his classroom. I think this is such a good idea and it's a great way to acquire books that teens actually like. I think the reading epidemic that is happening to teens all over the nation is a very real thing and we as teachers need to be aware of this. I think we as teachers could encourage readacide if we're not careful but I also believe that we are fully capable of curing readicide and encouraging adolescents to love reading again.