Review and Thoughts on the Class

1. I have learned that teaching is hard work, but that it can be fun and exciting. The possibilities are endless on how to bring texts and ideas together, and I think that the more creative I get with the presentation, books, and formats of my class, the more we will all learn, and the more fun we will have doing it. I like the socratic seminar, and I hope that I can use it in my own classroom someday--it gives everyone a chance to speak at an even level.

2. I actually enjoyed all of the books. I was not familiar with most of them before the class, and this class served as my introduction into the world of graphic novels--I will never be the same! I might take out Harry Potter or Twilight, I liked them both, but I don't think that they are both necessary. The Book Thief was an absolute Gem!!!

3. Actually, I do think that having the classics with the less traditional books would have been helpful. I realize that we are a bit short on how much time we have to read so many books, but rather than just discussing how the books relate, it would have been neat to see them together and get into more in depth discussions about it.

4. I think that my strength is my passion for literature and finding new ways to make it relevant. I think that my weaknesses are and will continue to be my own anxieties about the responsibilities of teaching, and understanding good time management. Getting to actually teach a lesson helped a lot to see these weaknesses come into play, and I am able to start thinking about how to improve.

5. The group teach was helpful because I have never done anything like that before. It was a bit scary and frustrating in trying to plan out without having any concept of how the lesson delivery might possibly go, but I learned a lot. I learned that planning is good, but execution is very important. I also learned that it wasn't quite as scary as I thought. I absolutely think that group teach should be included. I feel a little better about going into methods now that I have at least a little experience.

6. Yes and No. It helped to be able to get my thoughts down, but it was hard to remember to do it every weak. I think it would have been more helpful to me if the assignment was to blog, say, every 2 or 3 weeks and group the books together for comparison. I might think about doing blogs with students because it is a neat way to communicate, but I'm not sure how strict I would be about it.

7. The only thing I would say is that I wish we were able to do a second group teach :D, and that classical literature would have been a big help, since many of the books we read are not already built into the curriculum.

Overall, this class has been a wonderful experience. I learned so much from everyone, and I think it was neat that we are all in different places at the moment--teachers, undergrads, grads. But I felt like we were all treated as colleagues rather than just students, and that helped me to gain the confidence I needed to be more assertive and speak my mind (I tend to have a problem with that in many of my other classes). I think I would like to bring that attitude to my own classroom. A little respect goes a long way.

Harry and Draco

“He turned back to Harry. “You’ll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don’t want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there” (108). Harry paused a moment as Draco’s words sunk in. Just this morning he was at home with the Dursleys, partly hiding from them, and now here he was on a train headed for a wizarding school and faced with another just like the family he left behind! “Can’t I ever get away from this?” Harry thought to himself. He grinned slightly, however at the thought that perhaps he would soon learn to deal with such people. Maybe, just maybe, Harry could teach this Draco fellow a lesson. It simply wasn’t right to live as pompously and obnoxiously as this fellow clearly did. Harry caught Draco’s eye and extended his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, and I am sure that your help will be appreciated once we get to schoo,l” Harry said with a smile. Draco looked pleased with himself. Shaking Harry’s hand, and slightly excited by the prospect of having the most famous student to have ever attended Hogwarts as an ally, he missed the quick look that Harry was giving to Ron. Ron smirked in pleasure as he realized that Harry’s pleasantness towards Draco Malfoy was all a ploy. Patting Draco on the shoulder, Harry stood. “Well, it was great talking to you, but I, uh, need to talk to Ron here, and well…” Harry’s voice dropped to a whisper, “you know how it is,” he said nodding his head towards Ron, “I need to let him down easy.” Draco gave Harry a wide, knowing smile. “All right fellows,” Draco said with a slight laugh, “ I’ll see you both at Hogwarts.”
Once Draco had left, Harry turned back to Ron. “Sorry about that,” he said, “I guess I’m just tired of people like that pushing me around!” Harry sat down as Ron leaned back on his seat. “I know that you are planning something, Harry,” Ron said, “What it is, though, I can’t even begin to imagine. The Malfoy’s are famous in our family. Did you know that Draco’s father once stole his professor’s invisibility cloak? The poor man was half blind and thought he had left it in his office. It took him a week to figure out that someone had stolen it, and by then the whole school was in on it. My dad was the one who told the truth, and the Malfoys have never forgiven us for that.” Harry glanced about before leaning in, “I have an idea, perhaps we could…”

I realize that this isn’t the most excited fanfiction out there, it would have been interesting to see Harry and Draco team up, but unless Draco were to be won over to Harry’s side, I think I would have lost respect for Harry. I decided to make Harry plot against Draco because I felt like he sat back too often and let people take advantage of him. Sure, putting the guy in his place like Harry does on the train is good, but I think it would be fun to have Harry a little conniving. As the book goes on Harry is more and more willing to push back, but I thought it would be fun to have him start the war with more of a bang than he does.

Harry Potter

First let me say that I LOVED this book! I remember all the press surrounding these books when the series first came out. I never had the opportunity to read it before since the school I attended was very strict and forbid students from even bringing it to school (I had a friend who covered the cover of the book in a brown paper bag cover like a text book and read it during lunch!) In any case, as with the last book, I probably wouldn't have read it anyways because of its insane popularity and everyone's obsession with it (Somehow that turns me away from wanting to read those books). With all of that, I thought that Rowling did an excellent job in creating a new world that coexists with the real world. I guess Rowling probably had many of the same moments of grating cliches that Meyers had, but the beauty of Harry Potter is in the details. A new sport/past time with specific rules listed out; a three-headed creature protecting a strange mystical object; unicorns; flying broom sticks; magically growing hair; owls; secret train platforms. She has such an imagination! I would actually enjoy using this book in my classroom. It isn't a complicated text, but the story is multi-layered, the characters do develop as the story goes on (Harry's aunt and uncle are a bit flat, and so are many of the other characters, but it does get better). I think that it would be beneficial to use the text to help students start out a creative writing project. In a social studies class (and combined with the English class) during middle school, we were required to make up our own country with laws and hobbies and everything. We created a map using all the various parts we learned in social studies and then wrote a creative writing story about the people who lived there. Rowling's book could be a good starting point or example of how to do something like that.

Twilight

After months of pretending that "Twighlight" didn't even exist, I finally decided to break down and read it. I suppose I thought that anything that caused such a craze among teenagers (teenyboppers as we so affectionately refer to them as) would be a waste of time. However, I must admit that I was a little curious about what all the rage over this book was about. So, alas, I broke down and read it. In less than 24 hours. It is incredibly addicting! I started the novel at 10 pm and finished it by 10 the next morning. It is not as if the writing is all that complex or moving, but the story envelopes the reader and won't let go. In fact, I was so hooked on this book after reading it that I ran to Blockbuster and rented the movie (a huge disappointment after reading the book!)

In any case, I really like Kelly Byme Bull's analysis that part of the pull on readers for this book is in the characterization. Bull writes, "Readers are drawn into this story because the characters are intriguing and develop complex relationships as the story progresses" (113). I think she has a point. There were points in reading the novel that I winced at the cliches that Meyer uses, and yet I couldn't put it down. In fact, Meghan and I discussed this very issue last week. I kept wondering what is going to happen as Meyer took me deeper and deeper into the plot and into the character's thought processes and I was hooked.

I can't imagine using this book in the classroom, although many of the students would certainly love it! Still, I'm sure that we could pull out themes from the novel that coincide with other, more traditional literature. Perhaps using a few pages or chapters would be beneficial. The other way I can see using this text is in a writing class. Meyer clearly excells at characterization, and it would be interesting to study how exactly she pulls us into the story as an example to be used in developing their own stories.

Final Project Ideas and Information

Topic: Inclusion of students with a reading disability in the secondary English education classroom.
Questions:
1. What kind of testing accommodations are appropriate for students with a reading disability.
2. What curriculum changes are appropriate for students with disabilities? (Is it appropriate to
give students with an LD the same material as given to other students? If we give them
separate material, is there a way to help them "fit in" with the rest of the class?)
3. What kinds of techniques are beneficial to help students with a reading disability develop and
progress towards goals (as stated in IEPs).

I found a great deal of information on this topic. A reading disability is especially important to be aware of when teaching English, and if a student is labeled as having a disability in high school levels, it will likely be quite severe (since many districts require a 4 year achievement gap before providing any special education once the child reaches the secondary education level). Also, students with learning disabilities are the most common group to "include" in the general education classes--partly because this group makes up about 50% of students with disabilities, and because those who only have a learning disability are less likely to cause classroom disturbances. I think the difficulty will be narrowing down what areas I am looking to use in my paper. Pennsylvania supports in inclusion, but many other states are more hesitant, so it is a controversial issue. Further, the question of full inclusion is still being debated. I think I will need to focus on full inclusion, though, because that is going to be the extreme example. There are problems with this too, though. I am not sure if I need to talk about the different resources that English teachers would have--as far a consulting with a Special educator, co-teaching with a special educator. There are just so many possibilities of how this situation would be handled. It is a little overwhelming, but I am looking forward to narrowing down what I am focusing on and getting into the writing.

Persepolis

After a good experience with "American Born Chinese" I found myself anticipating the week when I would read "Persepolis". Is was interesting to see how Satrapi would develop her adolescent girl character and deal with the tough issues that she faced in the Iranian Revoluation. Like "The Book Thief" I appreciated having an Iranian character, because, like the Germans during World War II, I often consider the common citizens in Iran to be just as radical as their leadership. It was also a fascinating read because previous to this book, I never really knew anything about the Iranian Revolution. I feel that it is an important issue that still affects the world today, and since the US was connected to the circumstances, I am disappointed that none of my American or World History classes discussed this particular Revoluation at all.

I also think that this book would be wonderful to use in a classroom setting. As we saw with the article, there is definitely a place for Graphic novels in the classroom, and this one in particular would be a good fit. Satrapi deals with some tough issues--growing up amidst war, conflict, religious zealousness, and so on. She handle's it well, and like Liesel in "The Book Thief", we are again dealing with a young girl who is caught in the middle of something that she had nothing to do with starting. Although most American students have probably not been in the middle of a Revolution, the issues that Satrapi deals with are relateable in the sense that they are--aside from the setting--the same issues that a typical American teenager would be faced with. Satrapi gets a lot of information out for such a small book, and so few words. Like the article said, it can be a starting point for so many things, and since Graphic novels can portray emotion through both pictures and words, it is the perfect place to address the issues of war and struggles.

Thoughts on: The Book Thief

This book is, by far, my favorite book so far this semester. I became emotionally involved with these characters. It took me about a week to finish it, and each night I would be anxious to see what happened to Rudy and Liesel. I saw all of the forshadowing, and "Death" even comes outright and talks about parts of the ending, but in my mind, I still hoped that somehow everything would turn out alright.

I wonder how many stories from the point of the Germans during World War II there are. It almost seemed strange, because I have this perception that all of the Germans were in on it from the beginning. Most books focus on those who are being dominated by the Germans who step out and try to help someone else being even more oppressed, but I guess I never thought about it happening in Germany, too. I became sympathetic towards the town and its people. Even Rudy, who wasn't even in on the plot to save the Jewish man, was a sympathetic character. I think the author used children as the main characters because we are more likely to see them as innocent and sympathetic while we might automatically assume that the adults were already corrupted by Nazism.

I also found the narrator--Death--to be absolutely fascinating. He is omniscient in that he is outside of the story, and so his blunt details about what will happen and what he will see is incredibly effective. In the end, I struggled with how the whole street could be blown to bits-it frustrated me to no end. Why would the author even create Rudy if he was going to kill him off in the end? Why does he spend so much time letting us get aquainted with that character who wants to be a runner and who likes to get into trouble with Liesel and who is her ever faithful friend (though he wants to kiss her) if he is just going to be another casualty? But this is relevant to the war that is going on around them. How many children, even younger than Rudy, died during the war? How many were forced to join the army and fight for something they didn't even understand or believe in? Who is it that said "war is hell" ? So often, I think of World War II from the position of a spectator who isn't even personally connected with it. This book is perfect for people who need to see it as something that is relevant and personal. I think students would find it difficult to deal with at first--it is a hard and depressing subject--but if we ignore the issue, we may find ourselves back there in the first place.

I was reading my book report book and the author talked about how he taught the book "Night." He got in contact with the local synagogue and found out that some of the survivors from the Holocaust were living nearby. The teacer contacted the woman, and even though she had never spoken about her experience after the fact, she wanted to talk to the class because she had heard some people say that what happened to her had never really happened. One of the most touching parts of this story was when the kids asked to touch her arm--and the numbers tattoed on it from the Nazi camp. Something they had heard about was now something they could experience.

If I were teaching this, I would think about showing a few clips from the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." It is also a very sad story, but again, it is told from the perspective of a German family. The mother first tries to ignore the fact that her husband is running a concentration camp--and many lies are told about how it is really a "work camp" and how the Jews are benefitting from it--but they experience its horror first hand. (I won't give away the ending in case someone hasn't seen this movie yet).